Sweet Home Alabama (or Roll Tide)

This is likely to be a rather lengthy entry, so sit back, grab a huge cup of coffee and read on. It’s been about a week since the Mercedes Marathon, and we are beginning to feel normal again. We got a sports massage yesterday, and after 5 days of not running, we went out and did 6 miles this morning at an easy pace.

I am truly grateful to God for allowing us to experience a wonderful trip to Birmingham last weekend. We made it!! We achieved the goal of a personal best time of 4:12:24, an awesome experience. Cindy overcame her foot injury, battled her way through some IT Band pain, and cousin Lee brought us home (more on that later). God is truly good. He gave us great weather, protected us from injury on a crowded course (see below), and once again taught us the importance of perseverance in life.

Special thanks to the Mckinney family of Birmingham. Uncle Roddy, Aunt Janice and cousins Lee (wife Lara) and Danny. You guys were awesome!! Best family in Birmingham (inside joke for Lara). Lots of carbs and good company! We really appreciated Roddy and Janice opening their home to us and providing the pre-race nutrition, transportation and a nice, warm bed. John and Jessica really enjoyed the televisions and the pool table in the man-cave.

As for the race itself, here is a mile-by-mile breakdown.

Mile 1 9:17 A good start. A little fast, but the streets are so narrow and crowded, you almost have to run faster just to defend yourself.

Mile 2 10:04 Purposely pulled back a little here, trying to find the right feel. The pack is still really thick at this point.

Mile 3 8:59 Not sure the mile marker was in the correct location here. We didn’t feel like we picked up the pace, but look at the time!

Mile 4 10:41 Ditto

Mile 5 10:04 Finally beginning to settle into some semblance of rhythm.

Mile 6 9:38 The Green Springs Ave hill (Red Mountain, will see it again mile 23). I’ve never seen Cindy get angry during a race until now. It would appear our marathon pace is the same as the pace of the back-of-the-pack half-marathoners and for the second year in a row, we were hemmed in while trying to attack this hill. This was almost full-contact road racing. The race organizers really need to find a way to split the two courses sooner.

Mile 7 9:58 And now an editorial comment… for the love of Johnny Kelly, will some race director PLEASE have enough chutzpah to enforce the “no headphone” rule? Twice in this mile, I almost collided with a slower runner who cut me off while I was trying to pass. The reason for the near-disaster? These other runners were wearing headphones and could not hear me when I approached and called out the standard “on your left” warning. The second incident caused me to stop completely and throw up my hands to warn the other runners behind me.

Mile 8 9:16 Finally!! The half-marathon course goes its own way. We got into a good rhythm here. The pack thinned and we start turning some consistent splits.

Mile 9 9:33 SoHo. Home of Tria market. Best in Birmingham. It is to die for!!

Mile 10 8:21 Saw Roddy and Lee, our official support crew this year, for the first time. Dropped the outer layer of clothing by the light of the silvery moon (inside joke).

Mile 11 9:28 Heading down to the greenway by Lakeshore drive.

Mile 12 9:21 We felt like we’d finally hit a good rhythm here. Running through a nice, quiet neighborhood. The fans that were along the route were very enthusiastic.

Mile 13 9:51 Halfway home. Time to get serious. The course really flattens out at this point. A good time to relax and enjoy the solitude of the greenway.

Mile 14 9:24 Lock it down.

Mile 15 9:35 Easy does it, one step at a time.

Mile 16 9:49 Cindy said that the IT Band on her right leg began hurting her about here. There were a couple of severe uphill sections crossing over bridges that likely worsened the pain.

Mile 17 10:11 Entering Mountain Brook here. There is a big hill on Cahaba Road that acts as the welcome mat. Evans found a vacant port-a-john. Yay!! Time to go wee-wee.

Mile 18 9:26 We saw Roddy and Lee again here, and this time Lee jumped in and ran with us until mile 24. Lee is a former track standout at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. He has been fighting some knee pain recently, but plans to join us for the full race next year. Lee was a nice bandit, he didn’t take any assistance from the aid stations. He kept us in stitches for most of the time.

Mile 19 9:45 We passed the Mountain Brook Country Club here. This is funny, on a bright, warm, sunny day there were no golfers on the course. These people must be so rich they just use the course for decoration!! Interesting factoid… land is so scarce in Mountain Brook that we passed several locations where someone bought the lot, demolished the house and rebuilt a custom home on the same location.

Mile 20 9:52 Evans almost hit the wall at this point. His sinuses were draining and making him nauseous. Too close to home to quit though, must keep pushing.

Mile 21 9:26 Two runners ahead of us almost missed a turn here and Lee called out to them to turn around. In return for his good deed, he received an embarrassed look of thanks.

Mile 22 9:52 Heading up Red Mountain for the final time. I remember Lee looking around and beginning the mantra, “We Are…. Marshall!!”

Mile 23 10:24 Up the mountain, it’s the biggest hill we’ve ever climbed. For our Cape family, just imagine the hill in front of Woods Hole Country Club at the CCM, stretched out for almost two miles. Just for fun, Lee ran the final 100 meters of it backwards.

Mile 24 9:04 Kicking for home. Lee dropped out here to get his car. Roddy was here and took some good pictures.


Mile 25 9:51 Cindy stopped for about 30 seconds to stretch her IT Band so that we could have a really good kick at the finish.

Mile 26 8:59 Great last mile!! The stretching helped Cindy’s pain. We felt so strong. The adrenaline took over and we felt very relaxed, knowing that, barring disaster, we would get the PR.

Mile 26.2 2:14 The finishing chute was fantastic!! The crowd was incredible. The announcer noticed our FTC singlets and we heard a few “Go Falmouth!” cheers from the crowd. Cindy even started blowing kisses when the announcer said she was “stylin’ and profilin’!!”



After the congratulatory call from the President, we showered, ate, napped, ate, watched the UNC game, ate... get the point? It's not really about the running, it's all about the food. Next race? Cape Cod Marathon, October 2008, inching closer to Boston. Ashleigh came home for the weekend and brought Michael with her. Jessica has another basketball game tonight. Stay tuned.... more news to come!