St. Jude Music City 1/2 Marathon, Nashville, TN...

Yesterday, I had the opportunity and privilege of running the Music City 1/2 Marathon in Nashville, TN. The proceeds from this annual run go to support the mission of St. Jude Children's Hospital, which provides care to children and families battling pediatric cancers. The total number of participants was upwards of 26,000+ runners!

I was able to do this race with three of my Union Anesthesia classmates (Josh Donnan, Lauren Hamrick, and Ashley Burdette). We all had a blast over the weekend enjoying all that Nashville has to offer...the food, music, energy, and of course, the race itself.

The weather was beautiful yesterday, and as the horn sounded indicating the start of the race, I felt a sense of excitement and accomplishment from the culmination of many months of training and hard work. My classmates and I have been committed to a rigorous training schedule, meeting together three days a week to run and train. It has been a great way to build friendships and to relieve some of the stress from school.

I was proud of my three other classmates who ran the race. We all finished the race with great times, but most importantly, we all FINISHED and were able to support St. Jude and the important work and ministry that is carried out there on a daily basis.

We had some t-shirts made specifically for our run in order to show our support for St. Jude as well as to promote Union's Nurse Anesthesia program. I am including some pics from the race below. Please feel free to check them out. What a great weekend!

I think this pic was before the race:

The back of our shirts....RUN. BEAT CANCER.

Me, finishing up the race...I was glad to be done, but felt a great sense of accomplishment.

 Our group, post-race (L to R: Me, Ashley, Lauren, Tiffany (Josh's wife), Josh).

 Josh and I celebrating our victory and showing off our hard-earned medals.

 Pooped!