Boso family adventures!: The knoxhills half-marathon

Well, I did it. I ran my first half-marathon. And I loved it. This past weekend, Lee and I took off my old stomping grounds of Knoxville, TN starting at World's Fair Park, winding through campus, past the Torchbearer, along the TN river, through the old, gorgeous Cherokee neighborhood, along a covered trail path, back through campus and ending on the football field. Seriously, could they make a half-marathon more catered to me?! (I mean, maybe if they gave you a cup of coffee instead of energy gel. That would be amazing. Maybe we should work on that.)

Saturday, we headed to the runners' expo to pick up our race packets and to shop around. While there, I saw a shirt that said "The Knox hills marathon". Many people warned us that the Knoxville course was very hilly. We politely thanked them, then went on to say "We've been training in Summersville! It seriously can't be that bad!" We laughed at the shirt and went on to explore downtown. (Which has really turned super fun! When I was there, it was nothing more than some swanky hotels, an art museum, and a bunch of banks. Now, it has boutiques, theaters, cafés, restaurants, and on Saturday, had a sidewalk chalk competition! Where was that 8 years ago?!)

Saturday evening, we had dinner with one of my best friends, Rachel, and her family. Our kids hadn't met each other before, so it was a super sweet moment for us. (But we were too busy wrangling kids to take a picture.)

Sunday, I woke up with a pit in my stomach. I did NOT want to do this. After I ate and had my coffee, I realized it was time to get dressed. The nausea grew. We headed downtown to the start line and saw all of the people (7,500 total runners for all of the races) and got more dreadful. We immediately hopped in line for the portapotty and I began to appreciate what challenges most people had to endure to be there that morning. The start times were the same for the half and the full, so I was surrounded by people who were excited and nervous. Some wearing wacky outfits, some wearing shirts for an organization or a cause, many taped up and wearing braces. For most of us, the start line was months before and the finish line was simply showing up to the start line.

Once the race started, the excitement was everywhere. The UT band was our send off and we were off and running! With water stops and portapotties every 2 miles, I was wondering where these people were when I was training?! As we went through an old neighborhood, encouragement signs were everywhere. My favorite read "You can't quit! You're not the pope!"

We had driven the course the day before and were sure that the "hills" were merely "inclines" an we'd be fine until mile 11. I quickly laughed at this philosophy as we climbed hills most of the race and realized that "Knox hills" was a well-earned name for this course!

Between miles 8 and 9, a familiar pain that I experienced on my 11 mile run sprang up into my right hip. I stopped several times to stretch, but was getting little relief. As the race progressed, a blister formed on my left foot from trying to compensate for the pain on my right. At this point, my times were slowing and I knew I was going to miss my 2:15 goal, but knew if I could run through the pain, I could not exceed my ceiling of 2:30. In the middle of my 9th mile, I looked at my watch and knew that Lee (if finishing in his projected time) should be crossing the finish line (an impressive 1:45:57!), and this gave me a push. I was close. Really close.

I had my playlist on "shuffle" and was wishing I could have arranged my songs before the race started. As I was entering my 12th mile, God decided to show off and "Whom Shall I Fear?" began to play. It was the pinnacle. Tears steamed down my face as I began to not think about what others had done to come this far, but what God did in my life the last 12 weeks of training and all of the time we had together and He was there to carry me to the finish line. A 2:26:21 finish was my official time and I was proud of it. We sat in the stands, eating the awesome food they provided to the finishers as I soaked in the TN sun, enjoyed my family (including my brother), and loved talking to one of my by-chance-not-by-blood sisters and seeing our children interact. Full circle as I am in Neyland stadium.

At the 3:15 mark, we witness a woman l enter the stadium and she literally danced her way to the finish. Why hadn't I thought about that?! (Maybe bc if I had stopped to do that, my hip wouldn't have made it to the end?!) It was the perfect moment to soak in.

I can't wait for my next half (and am not sure I'll ever want to tackle a full). Now, to find a flatter course...

The morning of the race