Weigh In, Country Music Marathon pt. 2

Weigh In

WOOOOO HOOOOO!!! I only gained 1 pound from this past weekend’s road trip. It could have been worse!!! I didn’t go as crazy on this trip as the last one.  Here’s what I ate out at the road trip: Thurs Supper – Salmon Roll Up (It was really good) with chips and salsa plus a few brews. Friday Lunch – Salmon on salad at Broadway Brewhouse + few brews. Friday Supper – few brews. Sat. Breakfast – Sausage, Egg, and cheese biscuit, hashbrown, and coffee from McDonalds. Sat. Lunch – Big Daddy Burrito from Broadway Brewhouse with salad + diet coke + 1 beer. Sat. Supper – Rice, Beans, and 2 chicken enchiladas plus chips and salsa, and two of the best margaritas in town (the restaurant claims they are) + few beers and shot of tequilla at concert. Finally, Sunday Lunch – Triple prime cheeseburger, fries, and diet coke from Ruby Tuesday. (I ordered a hamburger and they brought me a cheeseburger, go figure?)

Enjoying a brew at the Broadway Brewhouse

German Beer sampler from the Flying Saucer in Nashville

I drank a little more than anticipated, but hey, it was a road trip. I still can’t believe I only gained one pound. Trust me, this past Monday and Tuesday I have been eating very little and flushing my system out with water.

Country Music Marathon Pt. 2

One interesting thing happened at the marathon. I witnessed a shirtless man run out onto the course with his hands held high screaming about something. I thought it was pretty funny. After just a brief moment the police tackled him and took him away in an ambulance. Strange thing was this guy looked like an elite runner, he was pretty buff and had on running shorts and running shoes.

It rained a good bit after the race and we had a little lightening and thunder. It’s no fun being out in the rain without an umbrella!! Also, I’ve read a lot of complaints about how the race was handled from the Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon people, and me personally, I thought they handled it pretty well, but of course I didn’t train my butt off for a full marathon and have the race cut short. The headliner concert was also canceled that night. It didn’t look like it that night on Broadway St., there were lots of people out. Way more than the SEC basketball tournament from last trip.

There were a lot of nervous people out there at the finish line. I loaned my phone to three different people that didn’t have their phones, and they couldn’t find their party. One lady was shaking so much, she couldn’t type on the phone, I had to type the message for her. To me, the coolest part was when I loaned the phone to a gentleman from up North, he told me about how nice everyone in the South is, and that made me feel good. He said everybody from his hometown is mean!!!

Let’s see, ah, the after party. I hung out with Danny and a few of the runners at Broadway Brewhouse after the race. I was pretty tired, and thought my legs were going to fall off, but it was a good time. One of the ladies had a very funny Gu story (In case you’re not familiar with GU, it is an energy gel used by athletes). She was running her half marathon and before the first mile, her friend in front of her heard a loud pop, when she turned around her friend was covered in Gu. Someone had stepped on an unopened pack, and it covered her (I believe) pretty much from head to toe in Gu.

The Biggest Loser

As you know, I tried out for the The Biggest Loser for the first time a couple of months ago in Nashville, TN. I didn’t make it on the show, but I got to meet a lot of cool people that auditioned.

It was funny that on my second trip to Nashville, Biggest Loser played a big role in the people that I hung out with. First, there was Ted. I had supper with him on Thurday night at the Flying Saucer. Ted is an art teacher at one of the Nashville elementary schools, and he has a lovely wife and little girl. Today is actually Ted’s birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TED!!!!

Then on Saturday at the race I got to meet Jackie Evans from Biggest Loser season 5. I got pictures of Dan and Jackie running their very first half marathon. I spoke with Jackie briefly, and then later that afternoon we briefly chatted on Face Book.

Dan Evans from Season 5 of The Biggest Loser running his first Half Marathon

Jackie Evans from Season 5 of The Biggest Loser running her first Half Marathon

After the race I was hiding out under a tree debating whether or not I was going to hike to my car, which I didn’t exactly remember where I parked, or I was going to walk across a very steep pedestrian bridge to Broadway St. (Remember, it was raining!) Then I spotted Emily and a few of her friends. Emily also auditioned for the Biggest Loser and I believe this year’s audition was her second time through. She made it pretty far in the process, but got the dreaded bad news about not being on the show the night before the marathon. They told her that she was too normal. WTF???

Anyways, I decided to walk the dreaded bridge with them, and we were closer to her car than the Broadway Brewhouse where I was meeting Danny. She gave me a ride over to the Brewhouse. If was funny that I was so tired that I didn’t want to walk the block to the Brewhouse, but hey, I had been standing for four to five hours and I had walked four to five miles!!!!! Plus I just walked the pedestrian bridge from hell!!! (to me it was anyway)

Later that afternoon, Emily and I grabbed a bite to eat at a local Mexican restaurant, and we wanted to go to the Dan Evans concert (yep, the biggest loser guy is also a country music singer) but we had like 2 hours to spare before the concert, so we hung out at a cool little bar (which there are a lot of cool little bars in Nashville). Then we headed over to the concert.

The concert was on the rooftop/patio at a bar/bbq restaurant on Broadway. It was really, really crowded and we were able to eventually sit at the bar. A while after the concert started, I looked to my left at the bar and it was Jackie Evans. I almost didn’t recognize her without her BL swag on. I introduced her to Emily and took their picture:

left to right, Emily and Jackie Evans

Emily is about to start up her own blog. Also, her and a friend are going to try to make it to the Mercedes Marathon Relay in Feb 2011, where they’ll run a portion of it. That relay is my big, big goal. My goal is to actually RUN a portion of it, and this time I am actually training for my goal!!!

Oh I almost forgot to mention what my dumb a&* did. When we went to the bar after the Mexican Restaurant, I dropped my cell phone in a stream of water as I got out of the car. My phone sunk to the bottom and water was flowing over, under, and through my phone. This was the most expensive moment of the trip for me. I didn’t leave for home the next day until I had acquired another phone. BLAH!!!!!

To wrap things up, I learned a lot about taking pictures with a lot of gear. It’s tough!!! I found out that although I was in better shape now that when I weighed 632 lbs, I was still out of shape for photographing a marathon. Also, I found out that the people I meet because of the Biggest Loser Auditions are the greatest benefit of going to them. There’s more than just getting on the show!! Also, to the other Biggest Loser hopefuls out there, please don’t view BL as the only way you’ll get the weight off. Every one of us holds the key to our own potential!!!!

Photos

Here are some of the photos from the 2010 Country Music Marathon: