This was the 3rd Annual Nashville Women’s Half
Marathon which is sponsored by Womens Running Magazine, Lady Speedstick, and
Publix, and included a 5k as well as half marathon. There were about 3000 half
marathoners (which yes, legally allows men, which about 90 of them participated)
and about 550 5kers. The race started and finished downtown at the Music City
Hall of Fame with an ‘after party’ at the Music Star walk park. The course took
us from downtown to West End through the Centennial Park, which I didn’t
even realize until I looked at the pictures that we went right by the Pantheon.
It was a beautiful course all n all. We ran though a lot of residential, down
Music Row, and down Honky Tonk Row. Was a good way to see Nashville.
When I started telling people I was racing Nashville, I was
warned repeatedly of how difficult the course is because of the hills. I didn’t
really pay attention to course maps when I signed up for all the races this
year. I have found myself in hill hell lately. This is race 4 out of the 6 past
races that are on hills. Im anticipating next months Chattanooga to be the
same, as there are 4 bridges to cross!
The Womens Half website promised that this years course would be
flatter and easier. “We will see” I told myself. At least I was mentally
prepared now and not going to be surprised. And I was somewhat physically
prepared, if you consider 26 miles of hill training in 2 months preparation for
this Florida gal! I prepared myself to go into this one, not quite PRing, but
being able to handle it well, or at least better than the last 2 hill races.
I took the hour and half flight on Friday morning, arriving to
Nashville fairly early. I found it quite funny as my hotel ended up being on
the biggest hill of the city!
The Expo was nothing spectacular. The “goody bag,” which is
basically like a reusable grocery bag from Publix, was of good quality and will
definitely get future use. The race tshirt was disappointing, as it was a very
generic design, was white of all colors, and for some reason seems to wrinkle
very easily. I have never seen a ‘tech’
shirt wrinkle so much. The prices, as always, for the souvenir race gear was
ridiculously over priced. The standard vendors were there. Bondi was the only
new one I have never seen, and am quite interested in giving them a try once I get
some spare cash. The good thing about the Expo was there were 2 breast cancer
vendors. SGK booth was busy, so I chatted with the local high risk clinic.
There was also giveaway by Dr Scholl’s, but unfortunately even after spending
10 minutes talking with one of the Dr Scholls volunteers, I still was not told
of. I instead had to ask one of the people in line what was going on. They gave
away free personalized head bands just for trying on their inserts. Was cute,
but I unfortunately did not have sneakers, nor socks (felt like dressing up and
was in heels), so passed on the giveaway.
Since the Expo didn’t take much time, I went downtown to explore
and have lunch. Was excited to celebrate in the Honky Tonk bars after the race!
There wasn’t much to do downtown if you weren’t drinking, so I just
went back to the hotel to prepare for the morning. In the evening I headed over
to the Farmers Night Market. Music and
wine was very tempting, but I just took a quick stroll and then made my way
over to the State Capital building that was located on a big hill, where I got
to lay in the grass and watch the sunset.
Still full from lunch, I actually ended up skipping dinner and
just called it a night.
I had a few blocks to walk to start, so I headed out by 6am for
the 7am start. I had coffee and a small pbj sammie. I still had no appetite, which
is actually normal for me race morning.
Subaru had a VIP area set up for those that test drove a vehicle
the weeks before the race. It was nice to not have to wait in line for a porta
potty!
I passed out the pink ribbon bracelets as usual, but for some
reason I was having a hard time interacting with people. I even had one girl
completely ignore me. After I handed all her friends bracelets and spoke with
them, she wouldn’t even look up from her phone and just said No. I don’t know
why, but I kinda took it personal. I then had a guy ask me ‘don’t you think you
are over dressed?’ I was disappointed and shocked as I tried to stumble out
words to make him understand my mission. It didn’t work.
I definitely wasn’t getting pumped up for this race. There were
lots of coordinated outfits between friends. Lots of tutus, even men in tutus.
And to my surprise lots of makeup and curled hair. Even though I travel and do
most of my races alone, I usually have no problems meeting people and feeling
like Ive done something. But today I was feeling alone.
I found a patch of grass and did some yoga stretching to try to
clear my mind. I tried to remember the motivational quotes that I had found the
week before the race. One of them being “Inhale love, Exhale Hate”. I was
definitely being tested here. I tried to push all negativity out of my head and
tried to stay positive. That is when I got a couple shout outs from friends
back home, which put me into a little better mood. I knew I had support back
home.
Other quotes of the week were “I will turn my weakness into
Strength” and “Don’t waste the downhills” and “Stare Fear in its Face.” I was
saving those for the hills that I knew would want to take me down.
I was in Coral 2, but didn’t see a 2:30 pacer. Which was fine, I
just placed myself with 2:15, he was a cutie anyways.
We were soon off, and shortly after we were going uphill….what?!
What happened to easier, flatter course? Within the first mile and half, we had
already tackled two pretty good size hills. I made myself take it easy and go
slow up the hills. I wanted to try to see how far I could go without doing the
run/walk method. To my surprise, I actually made it past mile 6 before I started
doing the wogging (well, I did walk at the drink tables), which has me feeling
really good for some upcoming flat races in Nov, Dec, Jan!!
So the main reason I even started walking at this time was because
I had glanced down at my Garmin and it was shut off!! I managed to get it back
on, but didn’t know how much distance had passed. A few moments later, it was
off again. WTH? I knew I had fully charged it, so did not know what was going
on. I was so frustrated. I lost focus and started messing with it. Then just
decided to take it off. I wanted to toss
it to the curb, but instead put it on my energy belt.
I then started wondering what it would be like if I ran a half
without a watch. I mean, I pretty much did in April at the Tour de Pain Extreme
(the other time my Garmin decided to die, but I didn’t realize you could Reset
it). But what if I did it on purpose and was mentally prepared to run without any
timing/pacing mechanism. For the past few weeks I have been training without
the Garmin, of course those have been shorter distances, but still. I think
back to when I used to wog with the alerts (walk a minute, jog a minute). Every
minute an alert would go off and give me permission to walk. Then the first
time I decided not to use the alerts and see how far I could run without
stopping, I ran 6 miles!! So, maybe I’m being held back again?
I no longer run with alerts, but I do constantly check my pace.
If I am running too fast, I slow down. If I am running too slow, I try to pick
up. And sometimes I just find myself getting all mentally stressed out because I
am looking at numbers, and trying to do recalculations constantly, and saying
things like “if I walk so many more seconds, I can make them up here” or “you’re
such a whimp, why are you walking this whole minute?” But I never just ‘feel my
run.’ What if I went all out and just
put myself out on the line? No watch. No times. No pace. Just listening to my
body. Push it, however fast or slow I go, until I just needed a quick break,
and don’t worry about how long or short that walk break is, and then just GO. Would
it make a difference? Would I be any better than what I am allowing myself to
be? Am I currently holding myself back? I think I might try it. Maybe Chattanooga.
Maybe wait for the flat races this winter.
So back to the race…My motto for this race was “Stare fear in
its face”. I’m sure I may have seen it somewhere, but it kinda just stuck with
me. I have a love-hate relationship with hills. When I started running, I actually
loved them. I was able to push myself through them and felt so powerful
afterwards. But then (Im not sure when) I started to despise them. Maybe it was
after I started paying more attention to my times, and trying to PR and
realizing they are the devil and the ones that are killing my PR. Lol.
When I run hills, I look down. I don’t want to see how much
further I have to go to get to the top.... How much more torture I am going to be
put through. It makes me want to just stop in my tracks. So I put my head down,
I lean into the hill, and I truck my way along. Not this time. I was going to “Stare
fear in its face.” You won’t scare me hill! I will make you my B!t@h! And I did.
I ran up every single hill and kept my head held high.
I also have a bad habit of hating straight-aways. (remind me
again why I run?...if I hate almost everything about it?!). They seem so
stinkin far! And it seems like you are not getting any closer. So again, when
there is a long straightaway, I put my head down. I look to the left, I look to
the right. I try not to look ahead. Not this time. I was going to “Stare fear
in its face.” You won’t scare me straight-away! You know why? Because I know I can
go your distance! I’ve done it before! And I will do it again!
About mile 5-7 or so was my favorite part of the race. Where the
fast runners had already reached the turn around point and were running
straight towards you. It is fun to see how strong, powerful, and fast these
women are. I dream of one day being that fast.
After mile 6, it was mostly downhill. I started feeling really
good and picked up the pace. I took a GU at mile 9 and was owning the last few
miles!
Support wise, the event was well manned. No problems with water
stations. There seemed to be enough porta potties. The event advertised ‘entertainment
on course’, however, there were very few bands, and really only 1 good one. That
was disappointing with it being Music City and all. There was an ok amount of
spectators on the sidelines. But I have to admit this was the first race I had
been in where I (as well as a large amount of other runners, as I was about
mid-pack) would run by and not one person standing there were cheer out for us,
or even say one word. A few times I almost wanted to cheer to THEM!
The ‘After Party’ celebration was nothing to write home about.
It was one of the very few races that I have done that had no alcohol what so
ever after the race. They had a band, but the sound system was not good at all.
You could barely hear over at the VIP area. Subaru VIP had an excellent line up
of breakfast….sammies, fruit, salad, bagels, pretzels, bars, and a chocolate
fondue station with pastries, crispy treats, more fruit! They had a massage
area with free massages (too bad it was unorganized and names were being
skipped and crossed off –including mine). I guess they were not expecting as
many people that showed up to VIP, as there were only 2 masseuses and about 4
or more pages of names! If it wasn’t for the VIP area, I would have been
disappointed. I had an extra ticket, as Subaru gave you two tickets, so handed
mine to a woman walking around by herself.
I spent the rest of the day at the Southern Ground Music
Festival down by the Riverfront. Was a beautiful afternoon for some great live
music and celebrating my 20th half marathon!
The rest of the weekend included Chicken n Waffles for
celebratory breakfast the next day and some Honky Tonk hopping on Broadway,
topped off with a concert by Carrie Underwood! Nashville you did me well!
13.1-2:34:56
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