Country Music Marathon Race Report

I was TDY again, so here's my Country Music Marathon race report, a week late...

I took last friday off from work and drove up to Nashville. I made it around 3:30 pm and went straight to the expo. The expo was nice, a bit busy, but I quickly got my race number and goodie bag and went to find my hotel. I found the hotel by around 5, checked in, and walked down to Applebee's for some pre-race pasta. After that, I settled in, got ready for the race, laid out everything I needed, and watched some hockey. I got in touch with Leo and planned to meet up with him, Wes, and Bryan before the race.

I woke up at 4:30, ate a bagel, put on my race attire, and drove over to LP Field to catch a bus to the start. I made the buses by about 15 minutes before they stopped running, so I kinda cut it close. I made it over to the start in Centennial park, found Leo and company, and found our place at the start. Soon enough, we were on our way.

Looking at the weather report that morning, I knew it was gonna be a little warm, but I didn't know that it was gonna be an underestimate. The temperature quickly rose as the miles accumulated. Around 6 miles in, I knew this was going to be a huge effort. I started to slow down and some early hills took their toll. My knee was starting to hurt again, not too badly at first, but by the time the half-marathon split came along (Wes and Bryan were only doing the half), I needed to walk a bit. Leo walked with me up the hill at the 12 mile point, where he said his knee was having the exact same problem.

We came to the conclusion (whether this is true or not is to be decided, but it assigns blame, so I'm going with it) that our knee issues were due to the ING Georgia Marathon. Most of the race was run on the right side of the road, and all the roads were crowned (they slant down to the sides so that rain water doesn't accumulate in the middle). That caused one leg to take a shorter stride than the other, so we went with that blame, since it was in the same knee.

As we walked more and ran less, our knees hurt more and the temperature rose. After the race ended, the temperature read 91 degrees with 80-90% humidity (read: suck) I was horribly dehydrated, so much that at one point my nose bled quite a bit. I got it under control and started taking about 3 cups water, 1 cup cytomax at the aid stations. I was still bad at the end of the race, but I felt better towards mile 20 or so.

The bands on the course were actually quite entertaining. For not being a country fan, I enjoyed having them to look forward to. Walking most of the second half of the race meant it went longer in between bands, but I enjoyed listening to them perform as we walked past.

Leo and I eventually finished in 5:45 (a new personal worst for both of us) and I think 15 minutes before the cut-off. Only about half of the 7500 marathon runners finished, so I'll take the bad performance as a boost, but not much of one. It was too hot, and its only going to feel hotter in the Keys. I'm gonna get one of those Badwater hats and some ice-bandanas to help me keep cool during the race. Gutting it out in Nashville through the heat proved to me that I can play the mental part of the game. I wanted to quit a few times but I kept walking, knowing that a finish was within reach and that it was good training for the Keys. Hopefully I'll run a smart race and get plenty of awesome support from my wonderful crew (Emily) :)

As for my marathon buddies, our next planned trip will be the Disney race weekend in January of 2010, Leo and I are doing the Goofy's Challenge, but we'll see what comes up in between now and then.

And so the adventure continues...