Race Reports

Rob Hall: Country Music Marathon 2009
April 25 , 2009

Country Music in Nashville was my second marathon in the Elite Racing series for 2009. There was a few of us running it from the Raleigh area and I ended up splitting a room with my friend Ron. The hotel was out by the airport and we had to rent a car to get around. Our first adventure there was the expo and it was again like any other Elite Racing expo I have been at. They actually had free beer at the expo and this was a sign of things to come. We met up with a bunch of others at the expo and hit the Hard Rock in downtown for lunch.

We did a walking tour of the downtown area and got a good view of the finishing area. We did a little driving around to take a look at the city and then ended up back at the hotel for a nap before dinner.

We got up early to drive in and found out that everyone else was also driving in. They had a free shuttle from the finish to the start and this took about double the time we had planned for. I guess we just did not plan on the over 30,000 people trying to do the same thing. We got to the start and got in the line just as the wave start started. It took a while for us to work our way to the front and we left about 20 minutes after the start.

It was very hot for the race with the temperature at the start around 68F and at the finish around 84F. No one did as well as they would have liked and I decided to just take it easy. I drank a lot of water and they had Cytomax. I also drank the most beer I have ever had at a marathon. I would say I have only had 3 out of 17 marathons where I did not have a beer, but nothing like Nashville. The first beer came at mile 6 and by this point Nicole and I had lost Ron. I am not sure if they were actually giving it away, but they gave me a can when I asked. It is a little hard running with a can but it is better than a bottle. Nicole kept laughing at me and the race photographer got a great picture of me. I did not have the first one finished when another group was offering and I had to turn them down. The next was just a little over a mile away from that one. I lost Nicole as she left with the others running the half. My third beer was in a cup just after the half. I found Ron after this a couple times as he passed me once when I stopped for a bathroom break. The heat made me go off the course and run through the big fountain in the downtown area. I was soaked, but I was soon dry and hot again. I picked up a fourth beer after mile 22 and a small cup around 24. They offered the official free cup after the finish. The beer, heat, and the fact I just wanted to enjoy it made this my longest marathon by half an hour. It was one of the most enjoyable with 28 stages and 50 bands rocking the course.

This was my second leg in trying to get all of the bling from the Elite Racing series. I should have the Silver Note medal coming to go along with the marathon finisher medals for AZM and CMM. My next race will be the San Diego Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon on May 31st.