Nashville Country Music Half Marathon

We had a great road trip down to Nashville this weekend. Nacho AC represented at the Country Music Half Marathon (me, Betsy, Caroline, Heather, Holly, Shreena, Nicole, Karah all ran). We didn't get settled until about 5pm on Friday, but after sitting in a car for 8 hours I felt I need to shakeout, so I went for a somewhat hilly 5-mile run, which may have been too much, but who knows. Had to settle for turkey and swiss dry at Arby's on the way down because there are no healthy quick serve stops in the south. We had a good "pasta dinner" at an Italian restaurant down the street, plus a glass of wine, figured it's all for good times and didn't think I would run that fast anyways.

I woke up at 5:30 a.m and took the customary 20 minute hot shower to loosen up my legs, then had a banana and bagel for breakfast. After the team photo I warmed-up for a mile and headed to the start. I wanted to keep it as conservative as possible because I wasn't expecting much better than 1:15 given my fitness and the rumored hills. I had glanced at the elevation profile the night before and the hills looked nasty, down 150 feet over the first two miles, then net 250 foot gain over the next four miles, followed by 6-7 miles of downhill, plus a nasty climb during mile 13. I was real safe over the first couple miles, hitting 5:35 and 5:33 before starting my climb. (My target pace was about 5:45 but considering the downhill this was perfect).

I got back on pace during the climb and as I started back uphill I estimated I was in around 7-10th place and figured I'd stay there for now. I didn't know my place because we started next to the marathon and there were some marathoners in front of me. I passed a couple guys on the climb but tried to stay patient and wait for the downhill. Once we were at peak elevation (around 10k - 34:30ish) I allowed myself to accelerate with the downhill and started picking people off. The next three miles I averaged around 5:25 and moved up into 3-4th by 9 miles. I didn't know my place at the time, but there were still a couple people in sight so I gradually worked up toward them. By mile 11 I had passed everyone within sight and just had a cyclist along side of me, plus a 10 second cushion on the guy behind me. Finally after 12 miles I felt ready to bonk, and had one last 75 foot climb before the downhill finish. Luckily I got through that fine and kicked to the finish. It wasn't until I crossed the line that someone told me I got 2nd place, and a better-than-expected time of 1:13:34. I definitely surprised myself. Sometimes all you need to do is get the competitive juices flowing to see a great result and that definitely happened for me yesterday.

Splits as follows: 5:35, 5:33, 5:46, 5:43, 5:43, 5:24, 5:30, 5:41, 5:19, 5:28, 5:35, 5:50, 5:45, 33.
1:13:34

I caught up with Ryan Hall at the Nissan expo after the race and briefly reminisced about high school (Al Bundy, four touchdowns, 1 game ;). Later, I got an invite to the VIP expo for the awards ceremony (free food and beer), as well as VIP passes to the Patron Platinum Club and backstage access for the Montgomery Gentry concert for me and the girls. A pleasant and unexpected surprise to the great result. My PR team and I hit the town after the concert and they tried to get me on stage with a house band, but a little too late. Bummer because I definitely would have milked that one.

Great weekend... benefit of 5 straight 45-mile weeks.