2008 Country Music Marathon Race Report
50 States Marathon, Country Music Marathon, Rock N Roll Marathon, Team in Training, marathon, race report April 28th, 2008This race was a little bit different for me, so the race report will be a little different. In this report, I will not include race strategy or performance details. I posted the race data from my Garmin yesterday, that should be enough to explain that side of the race.
I ended up getting into the Country Music Marathon on a last minute whim. Here’s how that happened: Nikki was planning on running the Derby Half Marathon and had trained for that race. A little over a week ago, she got an email saying that the Derby Half Marathon and Marathon was full. Her comment to me was,
“I guess you are not doing the race”
Which was fine with me because I wasn’t really excited about doing the Half Marathon anyway. Then I asked,
“I don’t think you signed up either. I don’t remember getting the receipt for your registration?”
It turned out that she hadn’t signed up. She ended up calling a friend (Jill) that was doing Country Music and decided to go to Nashville. Long story short, Nikki ended up not being able to travel with Jill… Nikki was going to go alone… I said I would go with her… I decided to sign up to do the full marathon.
The Marathon Course - the scenery
The half and full marathon runners are together until the 11 mile mark. While the first half of the marathon has some scenic areas (actually a couple different scenic neighborhoods), the full marathon offers an even better enviornment to run through.
There are two stretches after the courses seperate that were very refreshing. The first section was an approximately 1.5 mile stretch that was along a bike path that was along the river. While there were no spectators during that section, it was nice to get out of the streets and run with Jill in a peaceful and more relaxing setting.
The second section was between miles 23 and 25. That section was a loop through a park, evoking similar peaceful thoughts. A welcomed thought when you are at those portions of the marathon.
The Marathon Course - the terrain
I ran the 2004 Country Music Marathon and since that time I’ve been telling people that the course was a flat race. I apologize to anyone that I’ve given this advice. The course is not flat. It is not a particularly fast course either.
There are many sections during the course that have some type of hilly terrain - it never has a long stretch (multiple miles) of running that is forgiving or that would allow you to pull back large amounts of time lost on previous hill climbs.
Nashville as a host city
I just completed the Rock N Roll Marathon in Arizona this past January; given that the race was put on by the same race organization, I think it is fair to compare the two events. I personally enjoyed the venue, course and atmosphere of the Country Music Marathon more than the Rock N Roll in Arizona.
The one thing that made my experience in Arizona so rewarding was the Team in Training involvement, but overall, Nashville is more my style. Not only do I enjoy country music, but the downtown in Nashville and the entertainment options in Nashville are more appealing.
Lodging
We signed up late for the race and were left seeking hotel space at the last minute. We ended up staying at a Quality Inn off of Interstate 24, which was about 3 miles fromt he finish (Titan’s Stadium). A perfect location because it is easy to get to the stadium and they have buses running to the start line.
As we checked into the room I thought we had got lucky, as the lobby was clean and modern. Our room turned out to be “the worse room we’ve ever stayed in,” (a quote from my never-likes-to-complain wife). Besides the damp and mold / moist smell, it felt like it was two feet from the interstate traffic. In fact, after a couple hours of trying to sleep, Nikki got up and went and tried to sleep on the bathroom floor to get away from the noise.
That’s all I say about that. The hotel that Jill stayed in was a nice place that was on West End. I don’t remember the hotel’s name, but it was across from the Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery. A great place to get something to eat. I had the porter, which I can recommend, along with the Buffalo Burger; great post race recovery food!
Final Thoughts
I have now done the Country Music Marathon twice. It is on the top of my favorite marathon list to this point. For those of you doing a 50 States and DC challenge, I suggested making the CMM your Tennesse stop.
This race was personally satisfying. Running with my wife and a good friend and just enjoying the day is a great way to spend a Saturday - add in another 30,000(ish) runners and it becomes a party.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Glad to see that it all came together for you. A bit of serendipity made for a good day.
Agreed about the course. My sister came up to walk the half with my wife. They had both walked the half in Jacksonville while I did the full and the plan was the same here. Now that was a flat course. My sister was worried about the hills and I told her not to worry. It never occurred to me that the hills that we drive up and down while in downtown Nashville would be the same ones we’d run/walk up. Ooops.
I agree with your mention of the two refreshing stretches. The river was nice and, although I really enjoyed the crowds, it was nice to get away and just run for a while. Plus, I was working through a minor gastro issue at that point, so it was easy to stay focused. The park loop at the end was very nice and definitely relaxing; exactly what was needed at that point.
Sorry to hear about the hotel. Sounds like it was the only significant issue in an otherwise good race weekend.
April 30th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
hey gary, i just listened to the podcast and it sounds great! also, after viewing the splits from this past weekend (and finishing crying) i’m planning on trying out this double long run weekend. thanks again for running w/me!
April 30th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Jill - I’m listening to the marathon right now…. the podcast should be ok. I’ll try and spice it up for us, taking bits and pieces (don’t want it to be too long either)
You guys are going to have a great period leading up to Chicago Marathon, I’m already sure of that! (And your BQ goal is well within reach..!)
May 7th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
[...] The Flying Pig was my second marathon in 8 days, as I ran the Country Music Marathon the Saturday before. I have been asked a lot of questions about why I would want to do this, especially because of the training I was doing prior to these runs (i.e. lack of specific marathon training). I want to answer some of those questions, but I would like to address those in a separate post. I’ll title it; Things I learned by running two marathons in 8 days: And how these lessons can help you. (I’ll write that post soon and come back here and link to it.) [...]
May 11th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
[...] It is now a week after the Flying Pig Marathon and two weeks after the Country Music Marathon (podcast here) and I thought I would sit down and write some lessons I learned by taking on this challenge and how they could be used in future marathon running programs. [...]