Last Thursday we packed up the Hybrid and took off for Nashville! Our first family road trip! Karmann will be leaving the state of Florida at the early age of 4 months! Kris has planned on running the Nashville Marathon since Sarah and Charlie moved up there. It was going to be Kris' 3rd marathon in 5 months!Karmann was a real trooper and traveled great! We drove to Valdosta GA and stayed in a hotel Thursday night and then got up early Friday and headed to Nashville. Though the trip was only supposed to take a total of 10 hours, we managed to get there in about 12. Friday, Grandma and Papa Stenger also took off from Illinois and headed to Nashville. Not only were they coming to see Kris in the race, but also to graciously be baby sitters for an evening so Sarah & Charlie and Kris and I could go to the DMB concert at Vanderbilt.
At the starting line, I met up with an old friend from Danville, Amy Olson, and her husband Brian, who was also running the full marathon. We touched base when Amy posted on her Facebook page that she and her husband were signed up for the Nashville race. I emailed her and told her we were going to be there too! So we found each other that morning and hung out following the guys throughout the morning. The guys were close in the starting corals and pace, so it worked out well! It was good to hang out with her and meet her husband and catch up on the last 12+ years since we saw each other!
The conditions for the race were less than optimal. There was a heat wave in the Midwest that weekend and it ended up to be around 90 degrees by noon. Needless to say, Kris was not expecting it to be that hot. There are also a lot of hills in Nashville! Needless to say, he still finished with an official time of 4:05. Pretty good!!! Steve, Deb, Charlie, Sarah, Karmann, Amy and I walked about 7 miles between the starting line and finish line to see the guys at different mile markers. We were lucky to fins shade for most of the time, but the course did not have a lot. Kris was close to dehydration at the end, but luckily was able to avoid the medical tents. Once he filled up on electrolytes and fluids, he was fine.
That night, Sarah & Charlie and Kris and I went to see the Dave Mathews Band in concert at Vanderbilt Stadium. Despite the heat during the day, it was the most beautiful weather for the outside concert - absolutely perfect! This was a much needed "date" for Kris and me and brought back a lot of college memories! The show was great and all our favorites were performed and more! After sleeping in Sunday morning and having a big breakfast with the family, we packed up the car and headed down to visit Kris' other sis Keri and family in Columbus, GA. The 6 hour journey was going well until about 1 hour outside Columbus when Karmann hit her car seat limit!! Poor thing - we felt so sorry for her! She had just been on a whirlwind weekend and stuck in the car seat and was getting tired and she just lost it! So the last hour or so Kris and I tolerated her screams until she finally crashed asleep and by that time we had just about arrived to their house. We got to have a quick visit with Keri, Choy, and Amara (and a great dinner too!) that night and headed to bed fairly early. Keri had to work on Monday and Amara had school, and we had to get back. So after sending Amara off to school, Choy helped us pack up again and we headed on our last leg back to Orlando. Karmann was much better this time and actually slept for the last 4 hours on the road! We got home in one piece and decided though we had a great trip, next time we would just fly directly to Nashville!
Below is a link to the rest of the photos...enjoy!
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