Nashville Half Marathon

I try to get to Nashville at least once a year to see my grandparents and other family that lives there. My Papa will be 92 this June and they've been married 69 years this summer. Amazing, right?

We decided to go this Spring before the summer got way to busy. I've run the Nashville Marathon or Half Marathon a few times and it's a time of the year so we decided to go last weekend so I could run the half.

I was super tight and stiff the week before the race, even with a massage a few days out. I also had a horrible track session last Wednesday....brutal! I wasn't too optimistic I could get the turnover I was hoping for on race day.

The race was on Saturday and typically has 25,000 people or so running. I decided that this might be last year running this because it's just too darn crowded. I don't like it. I had guessed that if I had a good race I could run a 1:35, roughly 7:15 pace. After all, it was sea level. I had put this down as by guesstimate finish time so I got to leave in coral 1, thank God! I didn't want to fight the crowds any longer than I had to.

Kevin dropped me off about 6:15 so I could find the port-o-potties. Gotta love race morning nerves and what they do to your GI. I stood in line for 35 minutes and moved about 3 feet. Finally with 10 minutes until start I decided I was either going to have to hold it or find another option. I ran toward the start line and off to the left their was a grove of trees that many of the racers were using as an alternative to the port-o-potties. I had no choice, I found a tree and did my business. Ah, much better!

I decided that I wasn't going to be conservative on this start. It's only 13.1 miles so I don't have much time to make it up if I started too slow. Time to hit it. First mile, 6:45 pace. It felt easy and my legs felt great. I eventually settled into a 6:56-6:58 pace and it was right on. Aerobically I didn't feel like I was working that hard-I love oxygen! But that was all my legs could do. At about mile 8 I started to doubt whether I could continue to hold that pace, I was feeling it a bit. I downed a gel and pushed on. I started to think I might do it and beat my goal time. The last mile was pretty brutal as I was ready to be done and my quads hurt bad! The last 50 yards was downhill and it was a nice break from the rest of the hilly course I had just run.

I finished in 1:32:57. My watch said I averaged a 6:56 pace which I was stoked about. This was my fastest half ever and it's a huge PR. I left Nashville super sore and super excited about my season.