The drive to Nashville started about 8am on Friday. Except for the rain, the trip down was uneventful. Luckily hubby is very organized and we were able to make the packet pickup at the Nashville Convention Center by about 4pm.
I was dreading that but it was so organized that it took us less than 10 minutes. What was great was the group of high school girls cheering for the runners who were making their way to the packet pick up points.
The T-shirt is nice. I saw a lot of people already wearing theirs so I already knew what they looked like before we got to that table. Again, everything was so organized it took no time at all to pick up the T’s and the goodie bag.
We headed into the Expo, buying another T-shirt and a magnet from the Brooks section. I think the thing that amazed me the most was the amounts of money changing hands everywhere we went.
We left the Brooks section and attempted to walk around the Expo but being exhausted from the drive we only lasted about an hour before heading for our hotel.
I had a couple pieces of cheese pizza for dinner, hydrated well and was in bed by 10. Sadly, sleep was elusive but I knew it would be. I was really nervous. I get lost so easily and I’m really not good in crowds…but I wanted to run this race.
We were up at 3:30 and on our way by 5. We were only 8 minutes away from the parking so figured we’d get there in time. Traffic was horrendous- dumping us near the parking at the Tennessee Titan Stadium just before the race was to start. I still had to catch a shuttle to get to the starting line. By the time we got there all the corrals had started and I was at the rear even behind the walkers.
(OK…I have 2 gripes I’ll insert here. 1. Porta-potties – OMG…I KNOW runners aren’t pigs but you wouldn’t know that from the bathrooms. They were disgusting. I have never seen anything so disgusting in my life. 2. Walkers- Please, please, please move to the sides…right or left or both is fine…just allow the runners to get through. (This is not to the ones in the rear…but the ones further up in the race…and the Galloway walkers. Don’t just stop and start walking with no warning when there are runners all around.)
Hubby said I was very last to start but that I was near the middle within the first couple miles.
The music was good and loud but couldn’t drown out the cheering of the spectators along the route.
Even though my times don’t show it, I felt strong, even on the hills until about Mile 8. I decided to test another Porta-pottie and it took almost 10 minutes to get back on the road. I again had to fight my way through the walkers.
My end time was 2:45 and some change which was terrible as far as I was concerned but I think I know where part of the problem was (I mean besides hills and walkers). My Nike Plus is off. It read 16+ miles at the end of the race. (So my next purchase (or gift request) will be a much more accurate device like a Garmin.)
I also need to mention the weather. It was hot and humid. We had been watching the weather report and the Nashville Race site for 2 days…expecting the Race Directors to cancel the race. What they did was divert the Marathoners with times over 4 hours to finish on the half course. I know they were disappointed but it was the right thing to do as the storm hit within moments of me finishing the race and picking up my medal. It became a terrible storm within minutes.
So, though my time was much slower than I was expecting, I learned a lot. I’m sure it would have been better if I’d had someone physically running at my side and I did have a personal podcast from a dear friend, AirForce Ted from You Don’t Have To Run Alone (and his beautiful daughters) playing in my ear almost the entire way. It helped so much.
My thanks go to Matt (The CrazyRunner) for the opportunity to run this race, to Ted (You Don’t Have To Run Alone) for running in my ear most of the way, to my hubby who was amazing through the whole experience and has told me several times just how proud of me he is…as well to my friends and family and my runner friends on Twitter who sent me good wishes, followed me online during the race and sent me positive comments afterwards. Y’all are just awesome.
Well…that was my first road race and thanks for sharing it with me.
Connie (OHCowgirl)
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