Nashville Half Marathon!

I'm back from race weekend in Nashville! I did the half marathon with my husband and another couple, we met up with friends the night after the race, and did our best to eat, run, and dance people watch our way through Nashville.

Reasons why the race was AWESOME:

• The tornadoes stayed away!
• We didn't get hit by lightning!
• The spectators were incredible!
• Post-race COOKIES and snickers marathon energy bars.
• AMAZING volunteers at lots of water stops, cytomax stops, and Gu stops.
• The BANDS along the course!

Things that stressed me out:

• 5 hours of sleep & no breakfast except a bite of a protein bar and some energy jelly beans. Gross.
• Gridlock traffic on race morning! (thankfully one of our friends is from Nashville and knew the city so well that we were able to take an alternate route to downtown.
• Lightning!
• Being late for the race start.
• Not being able to find one of our friends after the race until almost 2 hours had past and it had started raining. Boo to rain. (We finally found him and my husband said he had never been happier to see another human in his life).
• Why on earth would they put the start and finish lines 3 miles away from each other?! We left one car at the start and one at the finish but it was an extra hassle after being stuck in traffic.

Best signs on the course:

• "Expected finish time: Tuesday, around noon." (on the back of a runner who looked like he was in his 80's).
• "Run like tornadoes are coming!"
• "Relax, You're not going to win anyway!" (ha, ha, ha!!!)

The expo the night before the race was packed with lots of random running stuff and tons of people. I got a necklace that says "26.2" (even though I did the full marathon in February... it's a cool way to remind myself of that milestone).

Here we are on race morning... ready, set, go!

Our friends are ready to run!


The course itself was great! We ran down Broadway, Music Row, around Vandy, Belmont, and ended by LP field.

After 13.1 miles, being stuck in traffic for an hour before and after the race, having no time to eat breakfast, seeing a girl hurling at the finish line, wandering in the rain for 2 hours looking for our friend, and one too many port-o-potties.... IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT FOR THIS!!!

(time: 2:11:43, avg pace: 10:04, division place: 740/1538)

After the race (and a long nap), we went to the Opryland hotel and wandered around inside it. They have so many cute restaurants, shops, and even a riverwalk with boats you can ride. We walked around and enjoyed some coffee.


Later that night, we had Mexican food and margaritas with our running friends, and then met up with other friends at the Flying Saucer bar.

Next up was a trip to the Wildhorse Saloon. We planned to dance but ended up watching people line dance instead. I only know the electric slide dance... so we listened to some great live music and relaxed our tired legs.

The country music half marathon was a great experience and I always enjoy visiting Nashville!