Las Vegas Marathon 21 Club
Nashville Country Music Marathon
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There is nothing like traveling to a city for the first time. I've driven thru Tenn before, but never been to Nashville. What a wonderful city for music lovers and party goers. The downtown area is alive well past midnight, with just about every bar filled. Elite is expecting record numbers this year, 24,000 runners for both the full and the half. I don't know the breakdown by full versus half, but with both sharing the first 11 miles of the race it is going to be crowded.
Got in to Nashville Thursday night and just wandered the city for a bit. You can spot the runners everywhere you go, even those not wearing the event t-shirts. Watched the street life for awhile, saw a live band at the Hard Rock, then called it a night. You know that the most important night for sleep is the night before the night before, right? Anticipation for the race is building! Everywhere I look there are runners checking into hotels or just walking around town. On Friday I did a touristy thing, the General Jackson Steamboat, followed by the trip to the Expo. As I said earlier, very crowded place.
This was my third marathon and I think that the Vegas Expo was the most enjoyable, even though the RNR's are bigger. The Expo was well run and you get thru all the stations quickly. I was pleased with the freebie shirt and got talked into buying one of those "I finished" shirts. I know, it's bad luck to buy a finishers shirt before the race, but I wanted one! For PF Chang's marathon it took 2 weeks to get one in the mail. The Penguin was there signing books, someone from Devine was there for the 2006 LVM - he looked really bored and his exhibit reflected that, lot's of young women in skimpy outfits wandering around. What a place to hang out for an afternoon.
The hotel I stayed at was offering an all-you-can-eat pasta buffet for $14. This was kind of pricey. First off, what marathoner wants an all-you-can-eat buffet the night before the race? Second, its pasta! How can that cost $14? I paid and ate just to avoid the 2 hour wait at the Spaghetti Factory. Runners everywhere, excitement is in the air! Got to bed early but couldn't sleep. My Suns were losing to the Lakers again. Damn Ref's! My soapbox moment: I know, and everyone else knows, that the NBA wants the Lakers in the playoffs for ratings and ad money, but come on! Can they be any more one sided! Ok, I'm done ranting.
All week long, and on the news Thursday and Friday night, the weather forecast for race day was not changing. Thunderstorms and 60% chance of rain. The Race packet included instructions for handling severe weather. Someone at the hotel mentioned that the rain would not come till the afternoon. I was not looking forward to running in the rain, don't do much of that here in Arizona. The skies were angry come marathon morning, like an old man trying to return soup at a deli. (Seinfeld plug). It was dark, cloudy, and starting to rain as I walked the 1.5 miles from the hotel to the finish line, where we caught buses to the start.
With the Expo, Start, and Finish all in different places, it was hard to decide where to get a hotel. I chose one in the downtown area next to the Expo. There were lots of bus options available so you could have picked a hotel anywhere. The start area was Centennial Park. Lots of space for runners to gather and prepare. Lots of porta johns, food and drinks, and a large group of massage trainees. That's who works these races right? Trainees? For some reason there is a replica of the Parthenon in this park. I'm going to have to see the real one in Greece one of these days.
The rain had stopped when we got off the buses, thank goodness. The corrals were easy to find and get into, and it didn't seem like they were making sure you got in the right one. One thing I noticed was a serious lack of stunt runners. No Elvi to be seen - although after the race I saw a picture of at least one. The race started off on time, 7am. But it was about 20 minutes before my corral got going. I was in the 13th, based on a projected 5 hour finish. There were a lot of spectators along the course for the first half, and this was probably because this part of the race went thru neighborhoods. There was not much of this course that was flat. Although the grades were gradual, it seemed like we were always going up or down. Contrary to the weather reports, the sun came out and the temps had to be in upper 60s/lower 70s. This, with the earlier rain, made it quite hot and humid. Thankfully there were a lot of garden hoses pointed at us. Great job Nashvillians!
As expected, 24,000 runners made the first half pretty crowded. Not that I am complaining, watching all of these people does pass the time, but I was kind of glad when the halfers split off at the 11 mile mark to head towards the finish. The bands were great, loud, and mostly country. I think there were also some unofficial bands located along the course. Didn't notice any cowbells, but did see triangles!
Ok, time for a race update. I wasn't expecting any sun, so I didn't bring/put on lotion. I'm sporting a good sunburn right now because of this. The heat and humidity were also taken their toll. Each water stop I was getting powerade and water. Powerade I drank, water I dumped on my head. I was also running thru more garden hoses that morning that I ever did as a kid. 70s never felt that hot before. Halfway thru the sky became more overcast, the sun disappeared, and the winds kicked up - head winds of course! When I was training for this marathon I was hoping for a sub 5 finish. I was also trying to avoid re-injuring my knee, so most of my workouts were low impact (eliptical). Big Big Big mistake. When you train low impact, you do not prepare your body for the impact of 26 miles.
Although I was on track for a sub-5 marathon and a PR, somewhere around the 12 or 13 mile mark I started sensing problems along the top of my feet. Reluctantly I slowed down to a run/walk method for awhile, which gradually turned into just a fast walk, then a slow walk. Somewhere around the 16 mile mark the 5:00 pacer went by, then the 5:30 pacer, and my hopes of a PR were changing into just a hope of finishing. The last 6 miles were incredibly painful. I finished 25 minutes over my first two marathons, for a 6:25:05 time. Walking down the home stretch was a feeling I don't want to endure again. Insult to injury was that I still had the 1.5 mile walk back to the hotel to look forward to.
I really enjoyed seeing Nashville and thought that this was one of the best planned and organized marathons I've attended. If I wasn't on a 50-state marathon quest I would definitely do this one again.
The good: Organization, crowd support, food/water, entertainment
The bad: Weather, couldn't find the finish line photographer, injured again.
The winner of the men's marathon, Feyisa Tusse, became the first man not from Kenya to win this marathon, finishing in 2:15:06. Tusse said there's no question as to whether he'll choose a 2006 Nissan or the $17,500 cash prize for first place. "The car, the car," he said. "No money. I want the car. I don't want to take a bike anymore." There were 22,017 who registered for the marathon or half marathon, up from 17,600 last year.There were 18,671 who finished -- 4,030 in the marathon and 14,641 in the half marathon.
--donaldaz
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