26, 26, 26

Yesterday was the big day! After all the anticipation I was all nerves. Matt stayed at my place that night and I warned him the night before that I needed to be up at 4:30am to start getting ready. His job was to talk with me and make sure I was calm and focused for the race. He did a great job and even cracked a few jokes for me so I felt less nervous. Matt made a good point too, "All nerves mean is that you really care about what you're doing. If you didn't care, you wouldn't be nervous for it." Thanks for the positive vibes bro.

I headed out the door to a bitter cold morning. I was able to get a parking spot right by the start/finish line and apparently I got there so early the volunteers hadn't even finished setting up. The website said the race would start at 7am sharp so at about 6:30 I figured I had better use the bathroom, check a bag, and then head to the start. It was freezing! I looked around for the bag check and found out it hadn't been set up yet. I headed back for the car to stay warm and some of the other runners asked if people were lining up yet. I said no and mentioned I was just looking for the bag check. They kindly reminded me that we were right next to the finish line so it wasn't exactly necessary to check a bag when we were this close. Duhh!

My friend Allie text messaged me at that point, all the way from Malaysia. With the time difference it was still early evening for her and she was at work. She called me and we talked for about 15 minutes as the race start was delayed by 30 minutes. I told her how my Powerade had spilled in my gear bag so my visor, dry shirt, and a few other essentials were completely drenched and therefore I was having to ditch them before the race even started.

Then it was time to head to the start. It was fun to be there at the start. There were so few runners none of us were really packed in like you usually are at a race. We were able to stand comfortably and chat with each other. I had met a gentleman, named Steve, when I was looking for the tents earlier and we had decided to stick together for pacing at the start. He wanted to run an 11 min/mi pace which was perfect for me to start out with. We stuck together through the first half of the race and stayed close to a 11-10:30 pace.

The first few miles we were out there were awesome. Steve and I chatted about out past races and future goals. It was nice to have someone out there to chat with. The volunteers were also great. That early in the morning, when it's that cold out, and you're only just starting such a big run having happy smiling faces cheering you on is an amazing inspiration. My birthday headdress definitely made people cheer too! As much as I feared I'd look like an idiot, it was probably worth every embarrassing moment, just because it kept people cheering for me the entire way. Other runners, spectators, and volunteers all shouted "Nice hat!", "Is that a turkey on your head?", "Is it really your birthday? Happy Birthday!".

At the beginning of mile 6 my cousin Whitney was waiting there. She had birthday balloons and birthday hats. "Go JoJo go!" I was so happy to see her. It was the first familiar face I had seen along the way and I knew at that point I wasn't out there alone.

It was only another mile down the road when I saw my parents and brother. They had just gotten to the Jaguar dealership I made sure to point out to them. It was the start of one of the big hills early in the race and I could definitely start feeling my hip flexors start to tighten at that point. When I saw my family it was just enough of a distraction that I was able to get past the pain and not even notice the pain. We made it to the top of the hill and started heading down Peachtree on a downhill all with a little push from my family.

As we started heading towards Peachtree Industrial the crowds thinned out and Steve and I realized we were towards the back of the pack. Steve had stuck in there with me and had been pacing really well, but around mile 8 or 9 he was starting to be pretty quiet. At mile 10 he mentioned he was hurting pretty bad. I tried to keep him encouraged and reminded him that we were almost to the halfway point and we'd be turning around to go home soon. Our pace slowed at that point as Steve was struggling.

We saw Bharti for a brief moment. She was so cute, all bundled up on the corner by herself. There was no missing her. There is only one Indian girl sweet enough to stand on a street corner for her friend to pass all of 30 seconds. I guess I gave her one second for every year she is old ;) (that was just for your 30th birthday Bharti, :O ).

Right after the midway point I had to say goodbye to Steve. He was a great running buddy, but decided that the full might be a little too much for his body if he continued past the pain threshold he was at. I said goodbye and I started out on my own. And I was really alone. At that point I was really at the back of the pack and the pace car was in front of me. Not good. I had to book it on the downhills at that point to make up some time. I ended up getting beyond the pace car a few miles down the road, but at that point everything was playing catch up and I was pushing myself much faster than my 10:30 pace to get back on track. I had a couple of 9 min splits.

I started to get nervous at that point because the course was being picked up as I was going along. As I'd approach aid stations they were disassembling them. Not good. That meant I was going at a pace that the course would be closed by the time I finished. Not to mention I needed to make sure that my family and friends didn't bail on me or get scared and think I had gotten hurt.
As I approached my family again I tossed them my jacket, and begged them to call ahead to my cousin to have the Powerade ready for me when I saw her a couple of miles down the road. I was preparing myself to finish the course with my own aid stations created on the fly.

I finally passed mile 17 which meant I was now in the single digits to countdown. That's probably the first point when I thought "I can do this." It was also a part of the course I ran time and time again with my friend Sowmya. I remembered all the nights out there with her when we'd go just a little bit further each time and I thought, "Well, this time I'll go just a little bit further than we went before."

I did that all the way until I saw my cousin again. Whitney was there with her dad, Fran, and my little niece Cameron was on his shoulders. They were all cheering and Cameron was blowing a noise maker. I could not help but get super happy to see them. They were jumping up and down and I was so tired and starting to feel a little dehydrated. I bent down for the Powerade and felt my legs go to jelly beneath me. I popped back up as quickly as I could, unscrewed the cap (which I promptly dropped), and chugged as much as I could knowing it could be my last time for the rest of the race I'd have the opportunity to get fluids.

Whitney asked if I wanted her to run with me. I looked up ahead and I knew Cardiac Hill was approaching and I was already starting to hurt. I nodded yes and she set off with me. She was bouncing along and she was smiling ear to ear. I was so happy to have her with me. She talked to me and reminded me that I could do it. If I hadn't have had that, I think I would have been to disheartened to keep my energy up for the next couple of miles on that hill. One thing I knew, was that if my cousin, the mother of two was willing to get out there with me and go a mile with me I could suck it up and finish. Thank you sooo much Whitney for being there for me!

It wasn't too much longer before I saw my parents again to give me water. Oh man, so happy to see them again. Talk about having your #1 fans there for you.

It wasn't too much longer before the pick up crew for the race knew who I was. At every aid station I would approach just as they were pulling up. Then they'd pass me along the way. It started at mile 16 with "Is today your birthday? Happy birthday!". Then the next stop was "Hey how old are you anyway? 17?" Yeah, sure buddy, flattery will only motivate me to run meet you at the next aid station. The next stop was, "Hey, I have a great birthday present for you. Here's some Powerade." Some of them played jokes on me. "Hey, what does your hat say?" When I replied "Happy Birthday!" he replied back "Well jee thanks, but it's not for another couple of weeks." Haha very funny! How can I focus on how much pain I'm in when these guys are cracking me up?

At mile 22 my VMO injury flared. With every step I could feel the muscle pulling and it was immensely painful. I kept going though. It wasn't too much further that I heard party horns and people shouting my name. It was Emma and Emmanuel out on the corner with a big sign! I was so happy to see them I could have cried. Here was my best friend, who had trained with me the entire time and she was there to push me on. I knew that if she could finish the first half marathon we did with knees swollen like grapefruits then I could get through these next 4 miles. I kept on trucking.

Just up ahead was my parents and brother again. This was the mile I had dedicated to my younger brother Matt. I shouted to him "Hey Matt, this one is for you!" He yelled back, "Well hell Jordan, I'm annoying enough it ought to encourage you to pick up your pace a little bit more." Haha, yeah, truer words were never spoken. I guess I owed him some running time, after all, he spent most of his childhood running from me.

The next few miles were pretty lonely. There was no one out there and my iPhone had fallen out of the sleeve when I passed my parents, so I had to hand it off to them and run without anything those last 3 miles. I just concentrated on my dedications at that point. Every person I had dedicated the race to flashed through my mind. There were points when the memories and the pain simultaneously made me start to get teary eyed. Then I would get happy to think that within just a few short moments I'd be accomplishing something truly great.

Then I rounded the home stretch. I could see the Olympic rings which were marking the Start/Finish line. I picked up the pace. Some of the other finishers reported that the clock was counting down to the 5 hour mark. That was also good motivation, to try to get in under 5. I went as fast as I could for that last .2 but in the end it wasn't enough to get me in under 5. I finished in 5 hours 1 min.

This is by far the best birthday I have ever had. No party, no gift, no speech, or card could ever come close to this feeling. Knowing that I fulfilled a major goal and had all of my family and friends there the entire time.