St. Jude Half Marathon part two

Jessica and I did the St. Jude half marathon again this year and we PROMISED each other that it would be a yearly tradition.

This year we got to stay in Memphis with my friend Malerie who lives about 3 blocks from the start of the race. It was so nice. So we enjoyed Mal's cute neighborhood, her roommate's dog (Rufus) Central BBQ and a quick drink at Earnestine & Hazel's to calm our pre-race nerves.

I LOVE anything that says St. Jude (my alma mater for Grade School).

Mal's friends were playing at E & H's.  They consisted of a banjo, accordion and a clarinet. They even played Material Girl. They were so fun!

Jessica and I pre-race (I lost my "fanny pack" and had to race with my SJ bag--DO NOT RECOMMEND)

Had to remember this---we are running for their lives.  Honestly the stories alone are worth EVERY OUNCE of pain I'm in.

Our Race #'s

PANDA at the ZOO.  Made me think of my AOII girls doing the Jingle Bell Run in Oxford!

VICTORY Never felt so good.  Jessica ROCKED it and beat her time by over 30 minutes. I beat mine by about 24 minutes.

Post Race Fuel up-- that BEER was AMAZING.

Rufus also was proud of us!

Had to get a shot of the medal with my bib and some VitaC. I love that stuff

Overall, this race was SO different than last year's.  Jessica and I made that comment multiple times.  We weren't as nervous, yet we forgot tons of things.  I lost Jessica around mile 4 and thought I would catch up but had a MASSIVE collision with a lady during the St. Jude portion. I wasn't paying attention and she was stopped taking pictures.  I also felt super sick around mile 9 and took an extra long water break (which if I hadn't, I probably would've beat 3:00 mark)

I also need to remember to get new shoes.  My FEET were killing me and I have the massive blisters to prove it.

And I just heard on the news that this Marathon weekend, 18,500 runners participated in and they raised over 5.7 million dollars towards research.  That may sound AMAZING (I was like WOAH!)  but it costs 1.8 million a day to provide the research and treatment so that NO FAMILY pays anything.

This year I dedicated my race to Lane Goodwin & Noah Hoskins strength and courage during their fight with cancer (both lost their battle on Earth this year).  Lane is the cousin of a sorority sister and Noah is the brother of a sorority sister.  Both made HUGE impacts on their community and brought such awareness to the disease.