Country Music Marathon - 2010

My first visit to Nashville was fun although my running was far from what I’d anticipated. The Country Music Marathon was tossed onto my to-do list as an after thought while running with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training in preparation for the Rock-n-Roll Marathon coming on June 6th.

Since my training was behind due to the late addition of the CCM I started doing double long runs on the weekend and managed to develop a little sciatic pain. Before I even landed in Nashville I was concerned about going 26.2 miles.

Severe weather was expected for Marathon Day and by mid-afternoon on Friday the Rock-n-Roll organizers of the Country Music Marathon released a notice of their contingency plan for race day. Any marathon runner that did not reach the Half Marathon split with a pace of 10:20 minutes per mile would be diverted off the course and complete the Half. I’m not a fast runner but getting to mile 11.2 at that pace is within my range but typically my pace slows in the long run and I have yet to finish a 26.2 mile run in four and a half hours. There was no information provided in the event a runner could not maintain a 10:20 pace. There were also rumors that although that was there “official” informational release they might divert everyone to the Half.

Based on the limited information I decided to run a rainy Half Marathon on Saturday morning instead of going for the full. As is typical with many sensationalized weather forecasts I woke to find no rain in the morning but it was warm with 90% humidity.

I felt great so instead of sticking to my planned 11 minute pace I ran 9:30 for the first 3 miles thinking the rain will be here shortly to cool me down. Amazingly patches of blue started to appear and the sun came out. The rainy race was turning out to be a Hot, Humid and Hilly run. As I reached mile 11.2 I thought for a second about taking the turn but stuck with my instincts and continued on course for a Half Marathon finish.

After my finish before the rain came I started to hear the stories of disappointment and disgust from Marathon runners that were diverted off course. Come to find out very few people were allowed to run the full 26.2 mile course.  I made my way through the crowd, pick up my gear at bag check and wandered all the way to the parking lot without finding the TNT check in tent.  To make a long story short I went back, checked in and return to catch the shuttle to the hotel.  Shockingly the tail end of the Half including the Hula-Hoop Girls were still going by mile 12 in a wave of sprinkles and heavier rain.

Nashville wasn’t the Marathon Run I signed on for and race organizers create an unhappy atmosphere for many runners due to their inability to make a logical safety call in a timely manner but all in all I had a good time and will consider a return trip for a Full Marathon someday.