Running Nashville (again): The 2011 Country Music 1/2 Marathon

Saturday marked my return to Nashville--where I ran my first 1/2 marathon last year.  I was sorely disappointed with my time last year (2:39:35). Everyone told me to be happy I'd finished, but I wasn't happy and so I just didn't say a whole lot about it. Instead, I promised myself I'd become a better runner.  I continued running and weight training and saw the first major gains in Atlanta at the Thanksgiving half (2:19:55). I give the credit there to losing a lot of weight and to BodyPump for toning and strengthening, as I HATE  running from June-September in Atlanta and didn't really start training seriously again until October.

Starting in January, I did some speed training and cut nearly 7 more minutes off my time (2:13:05 at Berry College 7 weeks ago).   Since then, I've bumped my mileage up significantly (from about 21 miles a week to 27-29). I also recently decided to add another day of speedwork in (fartlek runs mostly, because enjoy them and they keep me from being bored).

Enter Nashville. I have a love-hate relationship with this race.  It fits my two big criteria (Saturday race, and near someone who can watch the kiddos).  It is also BIG (25,000 runners) and put on by the Rock-n-Roll series.  That means there's a lot of money behind it, and a lot of crowd and band support.  But it also means a big, crowded expo, a super-early wake up call in order to make the shuttle, lots of traffic, and big waits for packets, shuttles, and bathrooms.  I've yet to see the RnR series be particularly good about runner interaction, or even take care of some of the basics like crowd control for shuttles and for parking post-race (I mean really--the finish line is at LP field, which handles crowds ALL THE TIME.  Why is it so hard to move people for a race?)

Waiting for the shuttle to the start line.  There was pushing and shoving.  Not thrilled, and not necessary--the series needs to figure out a plan to move people without chaos.

Plus, Nashville is hilly. Check out this guy's take on the elevation of the course (it's for the full, but you get the idea). Moreover, Nashville can get HOT in late April--especially if you are in a later start wave (which I was last year).

But it still makes sense for me to do this race.  I was jump-up-and-down-ing-ly pleased that my sister and brother-in-law decided to join us for this one this year.

Anyway, we made it to the race and even, as you can see, had some fun. My proudest pre-race moment was my split second decision to get us off the interstate way early and take side streets to get to LP field.  The interstate was a sea of traffic lights and thanks to my trusty sidekick IPhone, we found a far better way and got there in just a few minutes.

I love where the start line is--right by the Parthenon. That's my with my DIY arm warmers on--my brother-in-law's idea--Men's dress socks with the toe cut off. Thanks to my husband for donating to the Keep Lindsay Warm cause!

Now, to the race. I was in corral 9 this year... a far cry from 27 last year. That meant I got to start more than 30 minutes earlier. And, I had a plan. I was utterly obsessed with doing a negative split for this race. The plan: go out for the first half at 10:05, then kick it up to 9:50-9:55 for the last half.

That's not how it went. And that is where my disappointment with this race comes in.
I think the late addition of the speedwork, without the time to work in some tempo runs, was a mistake of sorts.  The first 4 miles, I knew I was going faster-much faster (about 9:30) than I intended. But I could not wrap my head around how to slow down.  And I didn't want to, to be honest. I was enjoying how good it felt to be kicking along with the 2:00 pace group just to my left.

I also have to add, I had GI issues on this run for the first time in a while.  And to add to it, it was the opposite of the GI issues I normally have.  I won't go into detail, but I need to watch the race-week nutrition more closely, especially when there is travel involved.

Miles 4-8 were where I first started to feel the fade.  Last year, this part was an out-and-back, which I find to be incredibly energizing.  I'm a true extrovert--and get energy from a crowd.  This year, they split this between two parallel streets. Without a packed road, I may have had more room to move, but it felt like there was a lack of energy to me.

I read recently that your race-day wall will be the length of your last long training run.  My last long run was 10.2 miles.  And at 10 miles, I felt pretty much through. I hated the race.  I hated the people running the race. I saw the people on a different street who were at about mile 3 and felt nothing but great pity for them. I hated everyone who has ever suggested I do a full marathon because HELLO THAT WOULD MEAN I WOULD STILL HAVE 16 MORE MILES TO GO. That, my friends, would be me hitting the wall.

And my pace just slid from there. I lost all my motivation to keep going, started taking walk breaks... and being pre-disappointed in myself with my time.

Which, in the end, was 2:12:11.

Which is a PR by almost a minute.  On a course that was just unforgiving. It is also nearly a full 28 minutes faster than my time at the same race, one year prior.

Other stats:  
Overall: 7173 out of 21944
Division: 641 out of 2447
Gender: 3311 out of 13966


I know I should be happy with that--and I am pleased with the overall result.  But I'm sorely disappointed in myself for not sticking with my plan--a plan that would almost certainly have helped me reach my goal for this race--2:10. But I'm looking at it this way--now I definitely have some goals, some things to change, and some new challenges to tackle.

Did I mention that I'll be tackling some of them on Saturday?  Yes, in 5 days? In Wisconsin? On a flat, fast course? And 50 degree temps?  I'm strategizing now, in all the time I'd normally be running, and I'll report back next week. :)

-- Lindsay