Rock and Roll Nashville Half Marathon

Who thought running a half marathon in Nashville was the thing to do?!

ABSOLUTELY NOOOOO thank you!

In this blog post, I will share with you the positives and negatives (maybe not negatives) but the challenges of running 13 miles in Nashville Tennessee.

Let’s take a run-trip

Earlier this year, my run boos planned on taking on different locations to switch up our races together.

One person suggested that they saw the Nashville Rock and Roll Half and because if was close enough we should do it.

We all looked at the pics and agreed that we were going to do this one together.

Graciously, the person we lovingly call “V” booked our stay with her timeshare for the 2 nights.

We were stoked to be traveling for a race together.

The Week of the Race

On the week of the race, we started to really dissect the details of this race; most specifically, the elevation map. According to the map, we knew that Nashville was hilly, but coming from Atlanta. We figured nothing was as challenging as the ATL hills.

See if you are not familiar with Atlanta, we have hills everywhere in this city. It’s unavoidable. Trying to find flat courses is virtually impossible in this city.

So, even though the map looked hilly, we thought were were adequately prepared to run in Nashville.

Boy oh boy, we were mistaken!

Friday morning, I dropped my kid off at school and headed home to finishing packing my clothes. Only packing the bare minimal, I stuffed my running backpack with all the necessities for the weekend.

A couple hours later, I met up with the ladies in Atlanta and we all piled into Tiff’s SUV. Yvonne had joined us the last minute because she was planning on going solo. It just made sense for her to room and car pool with us.

Yay! Now were a party of 5.

We laughed, talked and bonded for the 4 hour drive to Nashville.

The Expo

Once we arrived, we went straight to the Rock and Roll Expo in downtown Nashville. It was located in the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum.

Upon arrival, we walked through a nice group of runners entering the building, got our bibs, shirts and the RNR store. It literally took us 10 minutes. Looking around at each other, we asked is this it?

Where were the other vendors?

The opportunities for pics with our bibs?

We were very confused.

After following the exit signs out, we walked down another ramp and eventually came upon the rest of the expo vendors.

The organizers separated the Rock and Roll store from the rest of the other vendors. It was very confusing to the participants because of lack of signage.

The main level seemed dull, but the lower level was buzzing with excitement.

Hundreds of runners walked from vendor to vendor grabbing last minute gels, hats and jackets.

There was a live band playing country music.

We stood in line to take pictures with each other and as we were leaving, passed by a scrolling led screen that displayed our names and bib numbers as we exited the building.

I had never seen that before.

After the initial disappointment of the expo, I thought they did a great job on the lower level with vendors and opportunities for pictures.

True to many other runners, we were excited to eat our pre-race meal.

Many runners will have a carb rich meal for dinner the night before their big race. Some call it “carb-loading.”

We decided to the Food Hall in Nashville.

With a bunch of options for everyone, I had rice and vegetables. I typically eat pasta but there were no Italian restaurants in the hall.

After eating a filling meal, and driving back to our home for the weekend, we cut up a large watermelon that we grabbed from the grocery store and ate it so we could be hydrated for the duration of the race.

One More Sleep

In bed by 10pm.

I woke up at 515am.

I ate my typical breakfast: oatmeal and coffee.

Everyone had their own style of breakfast.

One had oats,

Another had fruit.

Most of us drank coffee and drank more water.

Out the door a little after 6am, we drove 15 minutes to the Nissan Arena to park.

The logistics of this race was a bit confusing.

Parking information was not clear, so when we arrived to park, the officers had blocked off the arena and we had to find a paid lot near by.

We ended up parking in a hotel lot and walking close to 2 miles to the start line.

Yes 2 mile, before we were to run 13.2.

As we walked, I noticed some of the hills and thought- “Yikes, these hills are everywhere.”

We estimated that our corral was to take off at 745-8am, but after dropping off our bags to bag drop and using the Port-a-potty, we start to see the runners dashing out the starting line.

When we approached the start line, there were barely any runners left.

We were confused.

Are we late?

What the heck is happening?

The photographer, shouted, “Come on!”

I posed awkwardly and started to low key panic.

I grabbed my phone, just randomly choosing a playlist. I press go on my Garmin watch and turn on my Shokz headphones.

V said- “You Ready?” “Let’s do this!”

And with those words, we were off running.

Let’s Do This!

The weather was perfect! A nice 48 degrees to start the miles off, and a promising high of 67 degrees by the end of the race.

The neighborhoods were beautiful!

Crowd support was top notch!

Especially at mile 5. This particular neighborhood came out in full support with signs. Some signs were posted on wooden poles.

Entire families sat outside in their driveways to cheer us on.

They gave out donuts, high fives and smiles.

(Even though it is advised to stick with your training fuel, I typically eat a lot of what spectators offer us. It is a bit crazy, since it could be any thing from donuts, candy, oranges or even shots)

There were over 10,000 runners.

I met one guy from Florida running with a Black Lives Matter flag.

Everything was going well, except for these damn HILLS!

I was not prepared for the amount of hills in this race.

Every time I would go up, we’d come down and head right back up another one again.

We thought that after mile 7, we would be cruising to a down hill finish.

LIES!!

We did have a slight break, but we were right back up again.

Then I think the most challenging hill was the hill at mile 12.

Yes, a hill right at the finish.

I walked a lot during this race.

On every steep hill, I power walked. I saved my energy and didn’t tire myself out.

Another thing I tried was eating “Peeps” marshmallow candies as fuel.

Surprisingly, they worked, I had a total of 8, but I definitely needed more, and the only challenge was they were too bulky to carry with me.

Otherwise, they gave me adequate energy to the entire race.

(Kinda crazy, I know)

As I approached the finish line at mile 12, I started to amp up.

My son decides to call me at this very moment.

Talk about bad timing.

I respond quickly through text and keep pushing to the finish.

I turned on my boosters, and turned up my tunes.

Gratitude and Encouragement are Super Powers

My superpower during races is gratitude. I verbally express thanks to the volunteers and to God as I am running these miles.
I also use the power of encouragement.

As pass runners on my right, I clap for them and tell them “good job,” “looking great” or “You are doing it.”

I gain strength as I am saying these words to them.

My last super power is through song.

As I am listening to the most hyped song in my playlist, I turn it on full blast and sing pretty loudly running to the finish line.

I am sure the other runners are confused, when I run past singing, “Who run the world, GIRLS!” Who run this mutha!”

Now at mile 13, the crowd is lined up on either side of the road blocked off by barricades and cheering loudly bringing us in to the finish line.

I finished with a time of 2:48 minutes.

I was not disappointed at all. Especially with all those damn hills!

Nashville was beautiful. I really enjoyed the city. If you enjoy challenging yourself to one of the most difficult half marathons in the Rock and Roll Series, you may want to sign up for Nashville.

Otherwise, runner BEWARE!