Nash-Hill Country Music Half Marathon

Yes, I made sure the name said "Nash-Hill." Holy Moly I had no idea how many hills are in the Rocky Top state! Ok, maybe that should have been a clue. So here goes with what I remember from running 13.1 miles...

The marathon started at 7 AM. So, the alarm went off at 4:15 AM. That would be 2 mornings in a row we had to get up in the early 4 AM hour! Jason and Paul picked us up at 4:45, and we were off to the races.

As you can see, there were a lot of people We parked the Jeep at LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans. It was incredibly organized, as they ran city buses between LP and the starting line in Centenial Park, which is located near the campus of Vanderbilt University. When we arrived, it was raining. This was about 5:45 AM.

Some of the things that we needed to take care of were potty breaks, breakfast (bananas, Dunkin Doughnuts), hydration (bottle of water), coffee (Jason and Chandra), and surprisingly... another potty break. Oh yeah... Paul needed to drop off his goodie bag - they had UPS trucks that would shuttle them between the start and finish. I'm serious, this race was incredibly organized!

So, we headed to our corral. Chandra, Jason, and I were in the 21st corral. That means about 20 thousand people were in front of us. Paul started in the 4th. The thought is the slower you are, the further back you would be. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the starting line in our corral. Once there, they wait 3 minutes, and then send you on your way. The first mile was uphill. It wasn't bad, and actually it was cool to look back and see how many people were behind us.

Around mile 3 we started heading our way down Music Row. That's where all of the recordings get done for all of the big bands. It was cool to see the different places. I remember seeing the Sony studio, and I remember seeing banners out front congratulating various bands - Rascal Flats, Miranda Lambert, etc.

Getting back to the hills, yes... this was a hilly area. When we reached the top of mile 4, there was a guy yelling on the sidewalk, "For all of you out of towners, 'Welcome to Tennessee... the Rocky Top state!" Ha! We headed into mile 5 and suddenly everything got crowded. You see, we had to share the road with those who had already run what we were doing. So there was one way going out, and one way coming back. One of my memories was running through a neighborhood and the families who had come out to watch us. Little kids in their PJs were cheering us on. I also remember an old man, he had to be about 100, sitting in his wheelchair yelling, "Everyone gives me 5!" So I ran over and smacked his hand.

Still in that tight crowd in miles 6, 7, and 8, I remember passing a church where they were doing praise/worship music. It was incredible! I actually started applauding them, and they responded! It was such a great moment. Running, while it was rough, was nice because the weather was sunny (as you can see in the photos), and they had a lot of drink stations/fruit stations.

I honestly don't remember mile 9 too much, but I know that when I hit mile 10 I looked at Chandra and said, "I gotta turn on my iPod." See, we had talked that entire time. Now, I was hitting my limit. I was tired. The hills had done a number, not only on my stamina, but also on my left knee. The bands were great, but I really needed my own music at that point. Plus, it was in an industrial area and the crowds were a little thin.

We headed into mile 11 and there was a split - that's where we broke away from people running the full marathon. I felt a little "lesser" as I saw them run away, but I know that my day will come in October when I'll be doing that. Even though this was a half marathon, it was a full marathon in my book! Miles 11 and 12 took us back into the city. This picture on the right is us heading away from the industrial part, and on the right is the Farmer's Market. It was a pretty sight, and I told Chandra that I hope we don't have too many hills left. Well, my hope was wrong... just look at what awaited us!

We hit mile 12 and had to venture around the heart of the city. It was pretty cool, but I think I was at that point of, "Ok... I've run enough. I'm done!" Chandra was in total agreement, too. Dallas is quite flat, so our training was probably not on par with the other Tennesseans. Once we meandered our way through the downtown streets, it was time to head to LP field. I remember how great the crowds were here - they were screaming things like, "Way to go runners! You're almost there! You look great!" We turned a corner and there we saw LP Field. Whoo Hoo!

Chandra and I ran across the bridge (over the Cumberland River) and headed into the THOUSANDS of people that were waiting. The crowd was huge! They were cheering everyone! It was very exciting, and you had this feeling of , "Wow... I just did something REALLY big and people are very excited!" We crossed the finish line in 2 hours 22 minutes, which is faster than our goal of 2 hours 30 minutes. Our pace was 10.44/mile - average speed was 5.6 mph, and at one point we were running 7.4 mph. Here is a link to our actual route and results. You can also see the elevation that we had to run: Nashville

When it was over, we all met up at the Jeep. It was great. We were tired... sore... exhausted. But we had accomplished a goal! It was amazing! So for me personally, I completed the first of 3 goals this year. I look forward to running Chicago (October) and White Rock (December). But the best thing was that we did it together... and I'm glad to have friends who want to run with me!