Country Music Marathon 2011

Before the race
I left early Friday morning out of LAX. Landed in Nashville around 2pm. I picked up my rental car and headed over to the convention center in downtown to attend the expo. I parked in the same parking structure as I did last year near 2nd and Commerce. It was a couple of blocks from the convention center. I picked up my race packet and headed over to the stage next to the Nutrilite booth to see Kara Goucher. All of the seats were already filled. It was standing room only.

Expo

Guest Speaker List

Kara Goucher on the stage

I thought I was pretty quick in lining up for Kara's autograph, but there was already a pretty good size line. When it was my turn with Kara, I thought I'd give others a chance to meet her so all I did was take a quick picture, had her autograph my bib, and wished her well in next year's Boston Marathon. It was about 30 seconds tops. I'm sure I'll see her again at some other race.

I signed up the Los Angeles Rock n' Roll Half Marathon just as I had planned. I got a pretty nice "free" shirt for signing up. Somehow I also signed up for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon... not how I had planned. I guess my leg is feeling much better. I got out of the expo before I had the chance to spend any more money.

Free shirt

Getting out of the parking structure was a pain. There was a huge line. It ended up costing $10 to park there. I'll have to look for a new parking place if I come back to run this race.

On my way to eat, I stopped by a Walgreen to pick up some snacks and drinks. I then drove to the Longhorn Steakhouse right across the street from the hotel.

I ordered a Bass Ale and the filet with shrimp and lobster. I love surf and turf. Lately I've been opting for more surf and less turf. I love southern hospitality... I had about 5 different people check up on me during my meal. I almost wanted to shoo them away. :)

Carbo-loading!

Filet with shrimp and lobster

I drove across the street to my hotel. This year I stayed at the Crossland Suites near the airport. This was about the cheapest suite you can get. But I didn't pay much and I definitely got what I paid for. I knocked out watching the TV.

Race day
Woke up, got ready, and drove myself the the LP Field by 4:30am. I took a nap in my car before walking over to the shuttle stop. The bus took us over to Centennial Park. I had on my windbreaker, but it really wasn't that cold.

Shirt and signed bib

While waiting for the start I ended up talking to Dennis, a 72 year old running the half marathon. Runners are cool. He finished in 1:48:36. I hope I'm in such good shape when I'm his age. Actually after I heal up, it'll take a while to build back up to that shape. I used a couple of portapotties to empty out the bladder. As we got closer to the start, I checked my gear bag and headed for corral 3. On my way there, I ran into The Endorphin Dude. We snapped a photo and wished each other well in our survival race... my legs aren't working and he had another marathon the next day. Crazy darn maniacs! :)

My conservative goals:
Get to half at 2:30.
Run 2nd half in 3:00 - 3:30.
Finish between 5:30 - 6:00.

First half
I got into Corral 3 which was for people planning to run a 3:30 marathon or a 1:45 half marathon. I hung out at the very back so I wouldn't get in anybody's way. At the very back there was a blind runner being guided my poles, one in each hand. Shortly after the national anthem, we were released about 3 minutes after the first wave was released. Even though I started at the very back of my corral, there were people going slower than me. I was jogging and it just felt awkward. There was discomfort but nothing that I would count as painful. My plan was to run 3 miles before taking a walk break to take my gels and S cap. I was able to move much better on the uphills, but they felt like mountains. As I approached mile 13, I slowed down a bit as I saw that I was going to be ahead of schedule.
1: 9:36
2: 9:27
3: 9:59
4: 10:53
5: 10:50
6: 10:32
7: 11:02
8: 11:32
9: 11:58
10: 11:53
11: 12:16
12: 14:15
13: 13:53

Second half
During the 2nd half, I just felt like walking the rest of the way. It was getting quite warm. I really had to force myself to jog. One TNT coach insisted on running with me for almost 2 miles until we got to Shelby Park. I had a beer around mile 24 after taking the loop around the lake at Shelby Park. I couldn't believe how badly I bonked here even though I was jogging the whole time. My legs were cramping really bad in the last 3 miles, so I walked most of it. I knew I had a cushion to get it done until 6 hours but only if I continue at the 15ish min/mile pace. Too bad I used it all up. :) I stopped briefly to encourage and take a picture with The Endorphin Dude. On the home stretch, I just could not get the legs to work. I hobbled to the finish line and was very glad to be able to finally cross Tennessee of my list.
14: 14:15
15: 16:23
16: 14:52
17: 15:13
18: 16:06
19: 17:06
20: 16:51
21: 15:37
22: 15:56
23: 15:39
24: 17:29
25: 17:38
26: 16:10
26.2: 2:46
Finish: 6:00:07

After the race
After a long walk around the stadium, I found the UPS trucks to pick up my gear bag.
It was another long walk to my car. I had to hurry up and change out of my race clothes. I had to make it back to the airport to return the car. I made it with about 5 minutes to spare. Good thing Nashville doesn't have crazy traffic.

Finisher's medal

This was definitely a survival git-r-done marathon. Last year's race was cut short due to severe storm. So this year I just wanted to finish, cross off TN, and hopefully not hurt the left leg too much in the process. The left leg didn't really bother me much in the pain department. It just felt awkward. The right hip flexor was a little sore, but definitely did not hurt as much as it did in my other races. The heat made it tough and the S caps that I was taking helped but I've been so out of shape since the injury. I guess everything is healing up since I didn't have a limp the day after the race.