The Land of Gu and Sport Beans

Well, it's official, we have our race numbers and we're nearing 40 hours until race time. And by race time, I mean when Corral 1 will be let loose to roam the streets of Nashville and Cliff will be waiting in Corral 22 for at least another hour. Me? Oh, I'll be in Corral 27, wondering if I should just set up a tent where I am and forget the whole race thing altogether.

I jest, I jest. Well, at least about the setting up a tent part. It'll be close to 8:30 or 9am by the time I actually start running, so I'll see you at 6pm. Okay, okay, someone's got the funny bug. My stretch goal is 3 hours (shoot, I shouldn't have admitted that), but my cinch goal is just to finish. I can handle that, don't you think?

Anyways, most of the people we're around who are running are Cliff's co-workers (who have these awesome blue wicking t-shirts that I'm totally jealous about). Cliff took a trip down with Shane to visit The Land of Gu and Sport Beans, otherwise known as the Health & Fitness Expo where race participants pick up their race number, info packet, time chip, t-shirt, goodie bags, and any other free gear they can fit inside said goodie bags. I braved lunchtime car and people traffic and headed out there just in time to pass them going out the door and ventured in alone.

The whole system is rather painless, and I was pleased to see that there are at least several Corrals behind my own and that I was not the only person in my line. I told Cliff yesterday that I wish he ran slower or I ran faster so this didn't feel so much like a solitary endeavor. We laughed when I said "solitary" though considering the thousands of people who will be out running/walking/etceteraing as well as those who show up to cheer and provide musical entertainment.

This is going to sound so hokey, but when I left Vanderbilt's campus this afternoon to head to the Expo, I was driving part of the course (on West End) and the reality of what this race means and stands for hit me so hard I burst into uncontrollable tears. It was like everything I have ever been or hoped to be in this city, from Belmont, to Vanderiblt, and every place in between that has held some memory or some meaning in the last near decade (from the time I started coming to Nashville on trips with mom) will be my backdrop on Saturday. And not only that, but the sense of accomplishment and achievement - determination and follow-through, and the very idea of crossing a finish line nearly a day after turning in my final assignments of grad school, after 19 years straight... man. I'm getting choked up just writing this.

I'm just so grateful for this opportunity. And I'm going to go ahead and say I'm grateful for the hundreds of people that show up to cheer friends and strangers alike along their way. My heart brightens everytime I think of that and anxiously await my first experience on the other side. I'll see you there. Just look for the girl with the pomegranate-colored face (because I really turn purple when I run) and the big block letters spelling KRISTINE on the front of her tank top.

Signing out until then (possibly),
27050

p.s. my 24th birthday is in a month to the date.