Nashville Country Music Marathon & Half Marathon in Review

Fourth Stop:  Nashville, TN

This was our first visit to Nashville.  I’ll be honest, as someone with absolutely no love for country music, this has not been high up on my list of cities to visit.

Our first stop was to head downtown for the race Expo.  The downtown area was very much what I expected.  It was congested, touristy, and gaudy.  There were large neon honky-tonk signs everywhere.  It felt like gridlock of both auto and pedestrian traffic.  I did not find this appealing at all, but most of the people in our group found it thrilling and could not wait to come back the night after the race.

Ready to carb up Nashville style

Aside from the downtown honky-tonk zone, the other areas of Nashville that I witnessed during the run and near our hotel seemed very nice.  Jeff and I declined the boot-scootin’ excursion after the race, choosing instead a nice little Irish pub near our restaurant.  We enjoyed our time in Nashville, but I see no need to hurry back, unless it is to revisit the race itself.

Can you teach me how to boot scoot?

Race Review:  St. Jude Country Music Marathon & Half Marathon

I have to start with a disclaimer that our experience of this race was colored by the weather.  This was without a doubt the rainiest race experience in our running career.  It rained continuously, and most of the time heavily, from the time we were dropped off an hour before the first wave start until I crossed the finish line (when it suddenly stopped raining).

Despite the rain, there was great course support from the race organizers and the spectators.  I would like to go back and try it again without the rain to get the true experience of this race.

This was the second stop in the Rock & Roll Race Series using our 2013 Tour Pass.  As I’ve previously mentioned, these are some really well-managed races.  Some of the usual perks played out a little differently because  of the rain; there was recorded music playing rather than the bands whose equipment would be ruined and the finish-line was less of a party atmosphere because who wants to party in the rain?  Of course there was the usual awesome expo, really nice race shirts and the true wave start.  The true wave start that I love so much . . . slightly less fun when waiting for almost an hour in a torrential downpour.  Again, not something the race organizers can control.

The good:

• Great course – we went through some really neighborhoods and I was left with an appreciation for Nashville that I otherwise would not have
• AWESOME spectators & community involvement – some of us paid money to spend several hours in the rain, others chose to join us on the sidelines with never wavering support and encouragement.  I can only imagine what it would be like if it had not been such an awful day.  Way to show your hometown pride Nashville!
• Fresh towels – shout out to the woman around 6.5 who had her SUV backed up to the road and the big sign that said “Fresh towels,” it felt SO good to be able to dry off my face for little while
• Hot coffee – I have also have to give props to that non-race group who set up a station to offer hot coffee to all of the runners
• The parties – so many homes had what looked like their annual marathon party going on in their front lawn.  Those with canopies partied on through the rain, and shared their joy with us as we went past
• Race staff – I stopped mid-way and got some Biofreeze and Tylenol at a med station.  This is my first med stop during a race.  I don’t know if they are always so nice and committed to getting runners what they needed, but these folks were awesome, right down to opening some bottle water to help me wash the Biofreeze off my hands after application.
• Magic Massage – ok, this has little to do with the race itself, but I discovered them at the Expo.  I had thrown my back out that morning, and this little device made it possible to finish the race.  Were it not for the awesome Expo, they would not have been there.

 

I may be becoming a bit of a race bling whore

The not-so-good:

• The rain – no fault of the organizers, but it was pretty darn miserable.  I did the whole race in a plastic rain poncho. 

As you can see, I really couldn’t find much to criticize about this race that was not related to the rain.  I will repeat – if the race experience was this good WITH the rain, I can only imagine how ridiculously awesome it would be under normal circumstances.