Nashville Marathon Preparations

ETA: So sorry for the accidental early publish!  Too in a hurry to get ahead before our travels….

I signed up for the 2011 Nashville Country Music marathon back in October.  H had wanted to visit. I thought it would be a great weekend getaway with a Saturday run.  Stephanie was going to try to make it down from Philly to run with me.  It was only about 2 weeks ago that I started getting even  more nervous about this race.  I checked & re-checked the map.  I chastised myself for not doing more treadmill work to prepare me for the hills.  When all else failed me, I took to the Google to see what other bloggers had to say about running it in the past few years.  I’ve run the Houston marathon for years & I know what to expect, but I like to be prepared when things might be different.

I discovered several surprising things about the Nashville marathon.  First- they have had AWFUL weather the last 2 years.  In 2009, they had record breaking heat that caused all sorts of problems & in 2010 a massive thunderstorm with wicked lightening and tornadoes forced them to pull most of the marathoners off the course.  My second interesting fact is that this is mostly about the half- marathon & only a small fraction of the runners do the full marathon.   I check out past race results (all on active.com) and various websites report 30,000 to 35,000 people started (or were at least registered for the races).   On average over the past few years, about 22,000 of those are finishing the half-marathon & only about 4,000 are doing the full (different than Houston which has about a 50/50 split between distances).  Both groups start together (also different than Houston) & due to the storms of last year, only 767 people finished the full!

I checked around to find race reviews and race re-caps. I found some great information that I thought I’d compile for others looking to scope out this race in the future.

-Steph’s 50 Challenge (2009 race rating & score & tips/travel)

-Grizzly Goose (2010 Race review)

-2010 Full Race review

-2010 Full Race review & DNF due to stopping race for thunderstorms

-2010 Full Race review 2 & DNF due to stopping race for thunderstorms

-2010 Full Race review

-2010 Half Race review (by my friend in Houston!)

-2009 Full Review

Also unlike Houston, this course is a point-to-point.  Luckily, we are staying downtown & will probably taxi it to the start line (~3 miles) & end up walking from the finish line  (~1 mile).  I’m curious to see how all the looping and cross-overs will work out.  Some of the complaints I’d read about were crowding at the start & crowding near the finish area as the full marathoners run along side the half-marathoners.  Not sure if it’s good, but these loops give me 3 chances to run by our hotel & quit!  The reviews indicated great crowd support, but that the 2nd half of the full might be a little lonely.  I’m excited to see the town & hoping to hear some good music along the way.

I do need to discuss this little guy though.  I loved hills- when I could train on them. Now that I am from the flat-lands, I am officially terrified of them.  This graph really gives me no idea how big these hills are- just that some are long.  Um, hello 3 mile long hill between mile 2.5 and 5.5!  I’ve been training at about 4% on the treadmill, but have no idea if that is comparable.  I was worried about the hills in Philly, but they were so small that they were almost imperceptible.  I’m excited to see the town (hello Grand Ol’ Opry!) and hang out with my best friend- let’s hope this marathon goes as well as the last few!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY:  Forecast is for 55 degrees Friday night- come on cool weather!