Monday, April 30, 2007

Country Music Half Marathon:  Destroyed it!

I’m not sure how I did it.  Might have been the one beer/one white wine I had the day before the race.  Might have been the cigar I smoked while watching the total nutcases run laps on the hotel lawn as if it was going to actually help them one day before the race.  Might have been the salmon dinner I had the night before.  Perhaps it was that I didn’t sleep so well, which is the usual for me the night before the race.  Not sure if it had anything to do with the fact that I watched two episodes of Entourage uninterrupted.  Or was it that I tried out a new ritual:  writing the names of my children on each arm with a sharpie marker I borrowed from a guy in the Porta Potty line 5 minutes before the race began.  I wish I could pull one thing from the above that helped me, because I destroyed my half mary PR by about 5 minutes on the hilliest course you’ve ever seen…

Nashville is a great town, and “Southern Hospitality” is no joke:  I met some of the nicest folks in the world right in this great “city of music.” The food was good, and any place that takes Karaoke seriously is a force to be reckoned with, I reckon.

But back to the race.  Kudos to the folks over at Active.com for running the most perfectly orchestrated race I’ve ever run.  With over 20,000 participants, they were flawless from start to finish.  They moved the bodies from the hotels to the start line without a hitch.  There were medics all over the place on the course.  There were plenty of Porta Potties before the race (although many had difficulty locking the doors, which made going to the bathroom a spectator sport for some).  They were giving out massages on massage tables as we walked up to our corrals (I got one 5 minutes before the race began and it loosened me up quite a bit.  I settled into my PR pace right out of the gate).  The wave start was flawless.  There were bands every mile, and they were good bands, not just anyone they could find who was willing to participate.  There was triage at the finish line checking the finishers as they crossed the line to make sure we weren’t about to go down.  They moved us away from the finish line in a way that made sense.  They hydrated us all along the way and gave out fruit and other goodies mid-run.  The expo was awesome.  If you’re looking for a 1/2 mary (or a full, for that matter) this is one to put on your list.

Except for one thing you should take note of…

This course is hilly, and I mean hilly.  The first 6 miles are pretty much a series of hills, and you don’t get to come back down until you’re on your way back (it’s an out-and-back course).  Many were disgruntled as the hills unfurled one after the other, and there was quite a bit of protest from the runners who have never made hills a part of their training.  So if you’re putting this one on your list, go find some hills and start running up’em.

I ran a 2:09:33, which put me at about a 9:54 pace.  For me, that’s a 13.1 mile Tempo Run.  I’ve never been able to sustain tempo pace for an entire half, and, given the hills, I’m still not quite sure how I did it.  I think the answer lies in the fact that I had no expectation of finishing before 2:20, and therefore decided to just push early, not caring about how things turned out.  It’s a good thing I did, and it was one of those “bets” you make with yourself as a runner that pan out sometimes.  Sometimes they don’t.  On this day it did.

Broad Street this coming Sunday.  I ran it last year in 1:43.  My goal this year is 1:35. 

I’ll be back next week with the result.