Hard Rock Café Half Marathon, Nashville, TN

Event Manager:  What Do You Run For?

Charity:  United Way of Metropolitan Nashville

Short Version:

Race Goal:  2:15

Results:  Me:     5/9 AG, 395/503 Boys, 831/1297 Overall   Time: 2:19:37/10:40 pace

DW:    7/19 AG, 439/794 Girls, 835/1297 Overall  Time 2:19:39

Huge PR by 2 whole seconds!!!!

This was our 3^rd HM.  Our first, last Spring was on a road trip to Knoxville to visit relatives and that worked out so well, we decided that another road trip would be great for a Fall HM. This race was just after my birthday and just before our wedding anniversary.  So it seemed like the stars aligned for a celebration and we could extend the warm weather since the Chicago winter was on the way.

Longer Version

Didn’t really plan to run a Fall race as my hip flexor burned me in July and I was off for a month, did some PT and ramped up the running slowly and made a lot of progress in September/October.  Didn’t follow any formal training program, and avoided speedwork but we did get our long runs up to 15 miles, so I was hoping that I wouldn’t a hit a wall at 10 miles as in the earlier HM’s.  No such problems for DW and she was really great sticking with my recovery.  Since we hadn’t registered for Nashville, we weren’t committed, but when we volunteered at the Chicago Marathon, the racing bug was biting.

Got off to a slow start Thursday with an electrical problem 100 miles into our drive, but got it fixed early Friday so we could continue on to Nashville in time.  Arrived in Nashville in rush hour, got lost, and finally got to the packet pickup (nice plastic bag and a unisex T shirt) at a small running store just outside of the downtown with about 2 hours to spare.  We then headed to the Courtyard Marriott which was conveniently just a couple of blocks from the starting line.  Found a nice Italian restaurant  (Demo’s) for our pre-race pasta dinner.

This race is only in its 5^th year and it was the first year for a full marathon (only 200 runners)  Both races start and finish together right in front of the Hard Rock Cafe on Broadway Street.  The race course starts out to the south of Downtown through Music Row and the Gulch.  The FM breaks off and goes farther south.  Both races head back downtown and cross the river by LP Field (Tennessee Titans) and heads east along the river with a turnaround while the FM continues east along the river.  Both double back toward the Stadium and finish on Broadway at the Hard Rock.  There were several hills, but they weren’t too bad.  There were no start corrals, but there were a few pace groups.  There was supposed to be a 2:15 pace group that we wanted to follow, but we never found it.  We just started near the back of the pack and apparently stayed there.  Weather was perfect in the low 30’s and the whole run was comfortable.

The course was not very scenic, mainly industrial and for several miles we followed a annoying, screeching slow moving freight train.   Since the race was sponsored by the Hard Rock, we figured there would be lots of music, especially since this is Music City.  But, surprisingly there was not one band on the course, and not even at the finish.  Must be hard to find a band to play early on a Saturday morning.

It was really nice to be able to leave our warm hotel room 15 minutes before the race and still have plenty of time before the gun.  I was a little worried that a little backache from the drive would bother me, but everything felt great at the start.  It was a nice start past the Honky Tonks on Broadway and then the Music Mile hill going past the CM Hall of Fame and into Music Row with all the music related businesses, many even in the small houses along the route. The pack thinned out quickly and the next several miles were pretty boring industrial streets.  We pretty much kept a fairly steady easy pace.  Not many spectators around.   Wound our way around the DT and finally crossed the river at the halfway point, going past the Stadium.    Since it was out and back, we were able to cheer on the fastest HM runners and after we turned around we started to see the marathoners and cheered them on.  Walked for about a minute at the 10 mile mark to eat a Trader Joe’s fig bar and that was our only stop.  Still felt good at 12 miles and ran up the bridge going back into DT.  Once we got over the bridge, we felt strong enough to pick up the pace and when we made the last turn onto Broadway and saw the finish line, my watch said 2:16 and I figured we could make 2:18.  Well, the finish line was a little farther than I thought and since we were going downhill we finished "all out".  Funny that our times were 2 seconds apart since we finished together, so I’m sure the faster time is the correct one. LOL.  Not much to the post race, but at least they printed out the preliminary results for us.  All I wanted was a banana to tide me over to breakfast, but there were none to be found.  Anyway, I felt great despite not making my 2:15 goal, especially not having to walk the hills and feeling strong at the end.  Of course this was just another walk in the park for DW, waiting for me to catch up.

Splits:

11:11,11:00, 10:36, 10:24, 10:35, 10:43, 10:25, 10:39, 10:48, 11:42, 10:51, 11:05, 9:52.

So, we were glad we finally visited Nashville and ran a race there.  We did make it to the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium, which was fantastic. Saw Holly Williams, Vince Gill and Sam Palladio (Gunner on Nashville).   Pretty sure I was the only one there wearing a running hat.  Also visited the Hall of Fame and hit a few Honky Tonks.  Even managed to get caught in the middle of a fight at The Stage. Guess we won’t sit at the end of a narrow balcony in a bar again.  Reality returned as our last 100 miles were driving through snow.

This will probably be our last race until spring, so we will be looking for another destination race next year.  Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I thought I better take food instead.  Also, there were no race photographers.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Birthday Jerry!  Congrats to you  and your spouse on your race.   That is odd that a race entitled the " The Hard Rock HM"would have no music.  I would have preferred hearing this long train running during the race than that slow moving industrial train.

Congrats to both of you, Jerry!  Nice, descriptive report.  Sounds like you lived it up while in Nashville and got the 'full monte",  even including a bar fight!  That 100-mile drive home in the snow does not sound like fun though.   Glad you got home safely!

congrats to both of you...nice job!

Sounds like a great fall break, though the race sounds a little bare bones. Happy bd and anniversary and congrats on that big pr!  Sure sounds like your fitness is improving.

Jerry, what a nice RR!  Congratulations to you and your wife.  That's a great time for you both.  Running along all the music hotspots, sounds like a blast;  Too bad the whole course wasn't more scenic though.  Glad you had a nice safe trip ( and got your car fixed in time!)

Happy birthday and anniversary to you!

Congratulations to both of you! A PR is a PR!

Congrats on another HM!  Really close to your goal despite the hills. Glad you were able to get your hip flexor to Behave.  So you rather hear a band rather than a screechy train? Metal on metal?

How about Hawaii as a destination race? Or Paris? I mean it will be the BIG 30? Right?