Country Music Marathon - Run


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Nashville, Tennessee
United States
Competitor Group, Inc.
75F / 24C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 5h 06m 51s
Overall Rank = 2144/3093
Age Group = 50-54
Age Group Rank = 100/159
Pre-race routine:

My brother and I were up and out the door at 5:30 (banana and peanut butter/bagel)...race start was at 7:00. We encountered a bit of traffic getting in...who knew 25,000 other people wanted to join us. :) We spent most of our pre-race in a porta-potty line. Heck, we were still in line when the first wave went off. No worries, we still had a decent wait once we got to our corrals.
Event warmup:

Nothing more than a hike over the pedestrian bridge into downtown Nashville.
Run
  • 5h 06m 51s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 11m 43s  min/mile
Comments:

First half ok...2:13. I was shooting for 4:30 or better. IT band started talking to me at around 5 miles. It really started talking to me at around 14 miles. I struggled on the last 9 miles. If I slowed to a walk at the aide stations I had trouble getting started again. It usually took a bit of walking after the aide stations before my knee felt good enough to allow me to run again. The IT band issue, combined with the hills and warm temperatures made the last few miles tough.
What would you do differently?:

More strength work for my glutes, etc.. I battled some nagging injuries during the build that compromised my ability to get an adequate amount of volume in. I think more strength work for my glutes/core plus sustaining an adequate run volume will put me in a better place for the buildup to my next (2nd) marathon.
Post race
Warm down:

My wife and one of my daughters took pictures and we ate and hydrated before hiking 1/4 mile back to the car.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Injuries, conditioning and fairly warm temps.

Event comments:

It's a great race. The hills make it pretty tough but my newness (1st marathon) made it a bit tougher.




Last updated: 2014-04-28 12:00 AM
Running
05:06:51 | 26.2 miles | 11m 43s  min/mile
Age Group: 100/159
Overall: 2144/3093
Performance: Below average
Course: Start line was changed this year to downtown Nashville. The start heads east towards the Cumberland River before circling back west and heading up to Music Row and Belmont University for about 5 miles...about 200 feet of climbing in that stretch. The course cirlces back toward downtown and runs around the perimeter of downtown from the west side to the north side. At this point (11 miles) the half marathon group drops off for their finish and the marathoners head north 2.5 miles for an out and back to the metro center area where the Tennessee Titans practice. Coming back toward downtown there's a climb up to the Woodland Street bridge. Crossing over the bridge brings you next to LP Stadium and the finish line (17 mile mark)...still have 9.2 to go! You head east on Woodland Street for a mile or so before circling back and crossing over to the Shelby Greenway. From there, you head east again on the greenway (which borders the Cumberland River) for an out and back which eventually takes you back to Woodland Street, LP Stadium and the finish.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4