Nashville Marathon

Once again, it was time for the Country Music Nashville Marathon! I don't cater my training to this race and usually don't plan to be in my peak shape until a couple months afterwards but it's one I will go to the well in, if need be.

My goal for this race was obviously to win and if I could do that, I would then try and plan my race around the time bonuses, which net a little more cash. The first time bonus is 2:26:00, the second is 2:24:00 and the third is 2:18:00.


Running 2:18:00 would be nearly impossible to run alone on a course like Nashville, in typically warm and humid weather, so my plan was to go for 2:24 if I could keep it smooth and controlled. If that wasn't an option, I would save my legs and go for 2:26.


I was really struggling with my running in January and February, started to come around pretty strongly in late March, only to be curtailed by the flu a few weeks before the race. That messed up my training for a couple of weeks because while my fever lasted five days, I was drained for the next 10 days after it left. During that two week stretch, I missed out on a couple planned marathon workouts, so I was coming into the marathon without any "real" marathon work. But I still got myself in the right mindset and was going to be patient and prepared to go out on my shield.

Going into this race, I always have a little bit of pressure because I know a lot of my friends and especially my students will be watching at home. The media does an excellent job covering the race in its entirety, so my kids enjoy seeing me try win every year. And who really wants to lose in front of their entire school? And being at a brand new school, as well as being asked by a student, if I was as fast as the female technology teacher, the pressure was on.

This year, Competitor Group let me stay in a hotel. While it helps me get a good night's sleep, away from my sometimes restless kids and also avoid traffic in the morning, it also made things easier for my wife. In the past, I'd get there about 1.5 hours before the start, so she would wander around Nashville for about four hours while I was getting ready/running.


The afternoon before the race, I went to pick-up my bib number at the expo. While picking it up, I could barely see the sheet with the names of the runners who qualified for an elite entry. I saw two names below mine, so I wanted to know who they were so I could Google the crap out of them and be a little more mentally prepared.


I asked the lady who they were and I was told some American name I didn't recognize and Brian Shelton. Brian is a buddy of mine who lives about an hour and a half down the road and is the owner of Foothills Running Company. He's a super nice guy, with two young children, like myself (I have two kids but I'm not very nice) and is still running high mileage and chasing down the clock. So, he's a guy I connect with and respect.

He started running later in life and not too long ago, ran a low 2:24 at the Twin Cities Marathon, which isn't the fastest course around. Last year, he took two stabs at 2:20 but ran into hot weather in his first attempt and warm and windy weather in his second. Regardless, I knew he was a tough runner, who would not make it easy on me, so he had my attention.

I'm a super analytical guy and like to be prepared going into a situation, so I sent him a text to get a feel for things. He must have known I was up to some tricks, especially since he's a smart and calculated guy as well. He was holding his cards to his chest but hey, we were on a collision course and were both trying to play the game that best sets us up for victory. Touche.


Since I had a little bit of a heads up, I had time to fine tune my race plans. The most conservative and safest option would be to stick with him from the gun and see if I could leave him in the last 10k of the race. Looking at the predicted weather and the layout of the course, I felt like he would probably run between 2:25-2:30 and by starting slower, I would be less likely to blow up. On the flip side, I would potentially miss out on a time bonus.


Option #2 would be to stick with my original plan of going for the 2:24 time bonus. While I haven't done any marathon workouts and was racing against a guy who peaked for this race, I felt like I could still make a run at 2:24 and not kill myself. I felt I was in similar shape as last year, when I ran 2:23 and had a good bit left in the tank. While I would be content with racing a hard half-marathon this weekend, everything is under the microscope in the marathon and things that go unnoticed in a shorter event could blow up in your face in a 26.2 mile race. So with a slightly faster pace, I would be more likely to blow up later on.


After some thought, I decided to stick with the 2:24 plan, unless he went out faster than that. After a dried out chicken philly sandwich and some fries, it was time for bed.





When I woke up, I checked the forecast and the weather was a warmish 65 degrees and the dewpoint went up to 62 degrees, instead of the forecasted mid 50s. That doesn't sound like much of a change but once you get a dew point in the 60s, running becomes much tougher as you're dealing with a lot of humidity.


I was feeling more nervous than usual and had no appetite but I was able to down a 32 oz. Gatorade, some coffee and chowed down on a Pop-Tart and Lara Bar. Normally I eat a much bigger breakfast than that on the day of a marathon, but my body wasn't feeling it.


With a little over an hour to go, I jogged a few blocks to the Honkey Tonk Central (remember, it's Nashville), where I was allowed to hang out until the start of the race. I was glad I had an indoor place to stay in because it was raining and I didn't want to stand around outside.

About 20 minutes before the start, I started making the trek over to the starting line. And man, it was a slow moving, massive herd of runners and I thought it was going to take at least 10 minutes to get there. I saw my buddy, Chris Duncan and he could tell I was in a hurry. He then tried to escort me to the start by yelling that he was bringing the defending champion to the line but I wanted nothing of that, so I stopped walking. He then used his University of Florida education to figure out a better plan and he yelled that he was the 1:30 half-marathon pacer and to follow him if you're running in that group and for the other people to scoot over. It was the perfect plan as I quickly got to the start.

Fellow Hendersonville Running Club member and the female lead cyclist, Charlene Alcorn 

However, my luck changed as the race was delayed 35 minutes because of lighting in the area and then it started raining...not the ideal way to start a marathon. But everyone else was in the same boat, so I tried to make the best of it. I lined up beside a guy that runs with a big American flag every year and starts at the very front. He told me that he started beside me the past three years and I told him that since he's my own little lucky leprechaun, I would start with him again.


I talked briefly with Brian Shelton and after a long wait, we were off. But not before some guy stole my spot beside the flag guy. I was hoping that it wasn't a bad omen!


Roosevelt Cook, last year's half-marathon winner from California, took the lead, with Wild Bill on his heels while Brian and I hung side-by-side. We were running right around 5:30 pace and ended up catching up to Wild Bill and Roosevelt and hung out behind them. Hey, they were running half of the distance, so no shame in drafting off them.

Roosevelt and I got a little bit antsy as we broke away quite a bit in the fourth mile. I was hoping that Brian just fell back and we were still hanging in the 5:20s, but nope, we dropped a 5:12. I immediately tried to relax and run a smarter pace so I wouldn't hit the wall 20 miles down the road.



Anytime we had a sharper turn, I would check out my lead over Brian and it was very slowly, but surely growing. A couple of times Roosevelt would leave me and I'd catch back up and then he left me for good at around nine miles in. Wild Bill then passed me a short time later and once the marathoners broke off, I was on my own.


The next part of the course is a gradual downhill, followed by a flat section that takes you through the half-marathon mark and then you make a turn and run up the hills you came down on. My quads were starting to feel really flat, which worried me. I relaxed even more to be cautious and after going through the halfway mark in 71:38, I decided to go for 2:26 instead of the 2:24.

One of my students made his own Lego Marathon, with me leading the charge

The uphills were a little tough and I lost some time, so I felt better about relaxing and slowing things down an extra 10 seconds a mile for the second half.


On a really random part of the course, you enter the Nashville Sounds baseball stadium and take a lap around the edges of the ball field. It was kind of cool because you saw yourself running on the jumbotron.


As soon as I entered the ball field, I checked my GPS watch and it was almost 16 miles on the nose. I figured it would take at least a quarter of a mile to run around the field and I wasn't sure how big my lead was over Brian. So if I could see when he entered the stadium I could tell how big my lead was.

After completing the loop around the field, my watch read 16.30 miles and a few seconds later, I saw Brian.enter. After some rough math, I figured I had about a two minute lead which is decent enough but if I blew up, he would be be back in the mix of things. It's funny that if you have a one minute lead at eight miles into a half-marathon over someone, you will most likely beat them. But with that doubled, you still have to be cautious.


But I figured that if I could keep the pace inside the 5:40s, I should be able to win. After leaving the stadium you head back down towards the finish line area. I assume Roosevelt won because he was still running up-and-down the area wearing the American flag. He must have had an easy win because he would have most likely been finished close to 30 minutes prior.

After running past that area, there was a quick left hand turn that I missed and then the press truck stopped and let me know I needed to turn around and run around a random side street before making a 180 degree turn. I was worried about the 30 seconds or so that I lost because that meant my lead was now around 90 seconds, which could potentially be made-up in 2-3 miles, if things became ugly.


After the missed turn debacle, it was time to run through East Nashville. The hills are tough but there is also more crowd support. It's almost a double-edged sword. The crowds make you run faster but they make you run faster up the hills! While it seemed like a good idea at the time, pushing up hills shortly before 20 miles isn't the best idea. I got a controlled boost from having people cheer for me and I mentally prepared for Shelby Bottoms, which is in my opinion, the toughest part of the course. Yeah, it's mostly flat with long straightaways, but you're coming off the tough East Nashville part. And while longer straightaways are faster, they become tough to focus on because when you're mentally and physically tired, you want some sort of turn or something to keep you awake.

However, shortly before entering the park, I saw one of my fifth grade students and her family cheering for me, which helped lift my spirits and give me some motivation shortly before the 20 mile marker. Thanks to them, I went from a 5:44 19th mile to a 5:15, 20th! Once I hit the 20th mile, I did some quick math since the press truck had the overall time displayed and I had to run under 35:00 for the final 10k to break 2:26 without cutting it too closely. That meant I had to keep my pace under 5:40, so I made a conscious effort to pay attention to my current lap pace on my Garmin. I felt pretty strong at the time, but things can quickly change after 20 miles.


Every year in Shelby Bottoms, I struggle up the hill around the pond, but this year, it wasn't bad at all. I was able to open up a little bit on the backside and while making my way to the road that led out of the park, I saw one of my kids on my Music City Super Squad team, which gave me another boost! Finally, I was on my way out of the park.

The majority of the last couple of miles is on two, long and straight roads. I was still able to hang in the 5:30s without too much trouble . That is, until the final uphill, which I struggled up. I was pretty sure I had the sub 2:26 in hand and finally made the final turn. I broke the tape in 2:25:42 and was surprised with how worn out my quads were after I crossed the finish line.

Roosevelt and I

Every time I've won the marathon, I got interviewed a few different times, which happens nearly right away. I always try to keep it a little bit lively because I hate boring interviews. I think the below video takes a couple of minutes until I cross.

Finally, after a never ending walk, I was able to change my clothes, relax and attempt to replenish some calories. My appetite is always shot after a marathon, so I did my best to down some chocolate milk and Coke. After hanging out with some friends, I made the mile long journey back to my hotel, pleased with being able to take the victory again.

Random Info

• I was really impressed and motivated by all of the support I had on the course. There were plenty of people encouraging me and helping me through tough stretches.
• During the marathon, I had nearly four gels. I took a Strawberry Huma Gel about twenty minutes before the start because of the delay, then took another one around five miles in. This was my second time using Huma Gel and I like the strawberry flavor because it tastes just like jelly. I also took most two Glukos gel/liquid. It comes in a packet but is very watery and I was was surprised how easy it was to consume. It'd be good in a marathon because there's quite a bit of fluid to it, however I got lemon flavor both times, which wouldn't be my first choice in a marathon. 
• Probably had about 20 ounces of fluid during the race. I tried to drink a big gulp at most water stations, but I have trouble drinking out of cups. That sounds low, but I really don't drink that much. You should drink to thirst and I wasn't thirsty. And you also get some extra fluid from the breakdown of carbohydrates during the race. 
• I ended up running in my Newton Distance Elites. I don't run for Newton anymore, so I'm free to run in whatever. I debated wearing an old pair of Saucony A5's which used to my marathon shoe, but I didn't want to take a chance. 
• I averaged 5:34 pace but only had six miles slower than 5:40, one of which was the missed turn...not bad! 
• This was my 14th marathon (5xNashville, 2xRocket City, 2xHouston, and one each of: Cowtown, Indy Monumental, Top of Utah, Chicago and Flying Monkey).

Country Music Marathon x 3

The Country Music Marathon is probably my favorite race of the year.  Almost every runner/walker in the area does it, it gets a ton of coverage and it's the only time you get to run through the streets of Nashville and not get hit by a car.  It's also the race I get asked about the most and everyone knows me as the guy who has won the race the past few years.  They could care less if I somehow ran a 61:00 half-marathon somewhere.  As long as I win this race, they think I'm the man.

It wasn't the focus of my season and I had bigger races planned afterwards.  But it's a race where winning is important to me and I would race flat-out if the situation called for it.  They do a great job of showing the race on all of the local TV channels and my school kids enjoy seeing me try and win. And this year was a little more special because I had a lot of pressure on me to win for the third year in a row.

So my plan was obviously to get the win.  I wasn't marathon battle-ready but I would at least try.  If I was going to be able to get an "easier" win, my goal was to go after the 2:26:00 or 2:24:00 time bonus, depending on the weather and how I felt.  My goal was to come out of the race feeling strong so I could continue my training for the spring racing season, so a few extra hundred dollars wasn't worth the extra fatigue.

After school on Friday, I went to pick-up Kate from daycare and then headed downtown to get my bib number, as well as my school's packets for the kids run the following day.  Since I hate dealing with downtown traffic and am too cheap to pay for parking, I parked by the pedestrian bridge.  The parking is free, but it's well over a half-mile walk to the expo.

My daughter was a champ on the long walk there and we made it the whole way without complaint. At the expo, I did a short little interview with one of the local stations and I was able to meet the guy in charge of the race.  My biggest worry was the expected weather...bad thunderstorms that would get worse as the race went on.  There was a chance the race could get delayed, have all of the marathoners switched to the half or cancelled all together.

My biggest fear was for the race to start as planned and early on in the race, have them decide to move everyone to the half.  Since there were some tough half-marathoners in the field, I would be too far back to do anything and would get smoked in front of all my kids and be the laughing stock of the school for the next year!  But the dude in charge said that wouldn't happen and if they did switch people over, it would be the slower marathoners.  Hopefully that would be true.

It was a long walk back to the car, especially being that I had to carry a large box, which put my 11 inch biceps to work.  And Kate complained the bridge was making her tired but after a long walk, we finally made it.  I didn't get home until after 7pm, so I decided to run by Chick Fil A for dinner.  It's not exactly the meal of champions but your pre-race dinner should be more of a matter of comfort and what won't jack you up, not some fancy high-carb crap.  Chick Fil A has never caused me issues and I find them to be delicious, so I had no shame.

Since the interstate exit backs up a lot for this race, I wanted to make sure I left my house by 4:30am, so that meant a 3:45am wake-up.  I put my wife in charge of the alarm and made her check it one more time before bed, just to be safe.  Luckily I woke up on my own right at 3:40, because it turns out my wife set the alarm for Monday morning.  That would have been awkward.

I got to the race pretty early and we sat outside for about an hour before the VIP place opened up. Luckily it wasn't raining yet and it was pretty comfortable out there, if not a little chilly.  Once the VIP place opened up, I got to hang out inside and drink some coffee and kill time before my short warm-up.  And after checking the weather, it looked like things were blowing over and it may not even rain at all.

My buddy, Steve Chu, finally arrived, so I jogged around with him and then ran into Joey Elsakr, who ran with us some before heading to the start.  Some lady wouldn't let them into the first corral since their numbers started with a 2. Corral 1 was for bibs 1000 and over and after trying to explain to the lady that all the comped half-marathoners started at 200, she finally let them in.  I'm glad we didn't get escorted out in handcuffs.

My race plan was to hang out around 5:30 pace (2:24ish pace) with Joey and then see how I felt at halfway.  If a 1:12 was easy, I'd shoot for the 2:24 bonus.  If not, I would have a nice sized cushion and slow it down to a 2:26.


When the race finally started, Joey and I stuck together while a bunch of half-marathoners shot out front.  I was checking my GPS and saw that we were rolling pretty quickly and I didn't want to get sucked into too fast of a pace.  So I slowed down and we went through the first mile in 5:35, which was probably about 20-25s seconds behind the lead group.

Shortly after the first mile, I noticed a Kenyan looking over his shoulder a few times.  Since he was running with the half-marathon leaders, he caught my attention as a potential marathon runner.  Why else would he be looking around when he was in the front pack?  I asked Joey to use his 25 year old vision to see if he could tell if the guy had an orange (half-marathon) or green (full marathon) bib. We could never get a good look at it but I saw him take a cup of water a little over 1.5 miles in, which set off the sirens in my head (unless he was just really thirsty).  I went from a relaxed groove to being stressed out because some dude I didn't expect was not only in the  race but about 100 meters ahead of me. And I would have to potentially race the marathon all-out. Talk about a high stress situation!

I decided to drop the pace down to the 5:20 range and I ended up catching him about three miles in. As soon as I caught up, I realized the Kenyan mystery man was Geoffrey Kiptoo, who I raced at the Frostbite Half-Marathon in February.  I started to make some small-talk not only to be friendly but to see if I could figure out anything about his fitness level. I knew he had a full marathon planned two weeks after our February showdown (and since he was two weeks out from a marathon, he probably had it in cruise control) and when I asked him how it went, he said he didn't run it because the weather was bad leading up to the race.  That didn't tell me a lot about his condition but my plan was to stick my nose out and stick with him.  I didn't want to give him any breathing room and my plan was to beat him straight up, rather than have him build a big lead, struggle home and then have people question whether I would have won if he started slower.

I always tell people I'm a rhythm runner and have trouble adjusting pace.  While running with Geoffrey, he would constantly do little surges and I'd find myself running in the 5:10 range for extended periods of time.  It didn't feel too tough but I knew if I kept it up, I'd pay for it later. Anytime I'd drop back a little bit, he'd motion for me to come back up with him.  I didn't want him to think I was a chump and drafting off of him, so I obliged.  After 11-12 miles, I decided to quit playing with fire and gave him about 10-15 meters so I could focus on my own pace and not get sucked into a pace that would later destroy me.  It was tough to give him a lead, being that people were watching at home but I knew it was the best decision.

Miles 15-19 or so have a lot of long climbs, then after they are done, you go through a series of quick turns.  My plan was to hang back on the tough stretch, hope Geoffrey would get an adrenaline boost from dropping me and taking the lead and then wear himself out on the hills. And once the turns started, I'd make my move because it's easier to "hide" during that stretch.  

I went through halfway in 70:29, three seconds behind Geoffrey.  Shortly after that, we had a quick u-turn and I found myself right beside him.  He asked me if I wanted to try and break 2:21 but I told him it was too hot and hilly for that, but he could go ahead.  I was hoping he'd take that as a sign of weakness and press again but the pace quickly started to slow.  About 14-15 miles in, I ended up taking the lead with no response from him.  I didn't want to reverse things and be the one who died over the hills, so I stayed conscious of my pace and effort and focused on my own race.  If he was still there in the later stages of the race, I would be ready to throw down.

I spent the next couple of miles checking over my shoulder and I even got called out by one of my fourth graders a few days later since I constantly remind them not to look over their shoulder in their cross country races and gripe at them when they do.  But while I was checking to see what he was doing, I also hoped he would look at it as a sign of weakness.  I knew he was struggling some and if he took my glances as blood in the water, I was hoping he'd pick it up and try and chase me down, wearing himself out even more.  It was more of a big bluff than anything else.  But as the race wore on, I continued to increase my lead, which resulted in me relaxing it even more.  

I got through the tough stretch feeling ok over the hills.  And from a guy who normally hates and struggles on hills, I took it as a good sign.  I like running through the East Nashville part of the course because there's plenty of people cheering for you and supporting you, which helps the rising fatigue and temperature not feel as bad.

After you go through East Nashville, you dip into Shelby Bottoms for a few miles before beginning the long stretch home.  About the only thing I like about this part is that there's plenty of shade.  It's a bit of a lonely stretch and there's a couple of little molehills that feel more similar to mountains 20+ miles into a marathon.

The great thing about being right behind the press truck is that you have the time clock right ahead of you.  I constantly did the math after every mile marker and saw that I could slow down to 5:45s and still run sub 2:24.  I put on the brakes a little bit more and split a 5:54 for the 23rd mile.  That was frustrating because it didn't feel too easy and I didn't want to miss 2:24 by just a few seconds.  I ended up running 5:30 for the next two miles and it turned out, the 23rd mile was long and it was really closer to a 5:37.

Finally, I crossed the line in 2:23:34, netting me the 2:24 bonus, with Geoffrey having a rough last 10k to finish about ten minutes behind.  I was happy to see my wife at the finish line because security there is hardcore and it took me literally over an hour to find her last year.  I got interviewed a few times and since I hate boring interviews, I tried to spice it up a little bit. I can't figure out how to embed it, so here is one of them.

I was really happy to pull off the third win and I'm also glad there was a little bit of adversity this time.  And I'm especially glad it was a Kenyan so people will stop asking me why a Kenyan never runs!

I really wasn't sure how I would perform since I only had a few long runs and really no marathon-specific work or much workouts at all, so I was pleased with how it went.  Using my often-resourced conversion formula, I feel like I'm in about 2:17 shape after this performance, which is a good sign. I feel like I could have run a 2:20, flat-out today and with weather in the 60s on a really hilly course, I feel like it's worth a 2:17 at Indy Monumental, Houston, or somewhere like that.

And since I'm posting this about two months late, I'm not going to post about my post-race plans because they already happened.  But some random facts/data:

• Gels Taken=4
• Water= Probably about 16-20 ounces...I can't drink out of cups well and I find I don't need a lot of water
• Faster Mile= 5:12
• Slowest Mile=5:54  
• Shoe Used: Newton Distance Elite...the blue ones, which look way more cool and have a longer tongue
• Cadence: 179 spm
• 1845ft of gain, 1878 ft. of loss...downhill course!
• Garmin 620 reading=26.40 miles...over 99% accurate!

Country Music Marathon-That race I ran a long time ago

A few weeks before the Country Music Marathon, I wasn't planning on running. Mainly because I couldn't run at all.  My bum hip made my training take a complete stop.  I couldn't run a mile, so 26.2 miles was out of the question.  But three weeks out, I was able to start some easy jogging.  I was feeling better than expected, so I decided to enter the half-marathon.  I felt like I could throw down at least a 66 and change, if needed.  But since I won the full marathon last year, I felt the pressure to attempt the repeat.  My students at school really wanted me to do it and with no big races planned all spring and summer, I decided, what the heck and entered the race a week out. Obviously my goal was to win the race.  If that meant I had to race, well, I was prepared to do that.  Well, not physically prepared, but you know what I mean.

I was really nervous about my ability to run a marathon.  While I typically will do a long run most weekends. I hadn't had a 20 miler in over a month.  And all year long, I only had six runs over 20 miles.  I knew my ability to burn fat for fuel at a quick rate was severely diminished (which is a huge part of the marathon) and I was worried about how my body would handle all of the pounding, especially on a rolling course.  And with not being in proper marathon shape, I had to be extremely patient with the distance.  Before a "peak"marathon, I am really fit and never really run easily during the race.  My body is trained to take the damage and I can hold my hand to the fire relatively early and keep it there. People assume that the more fit you are, the easier it is.  But the opposite is true.  The more fit you are, the longer and harder you can run and you can also push and hurt for a long time before dying.  But since I was out of shape, I had to run a more progressive feeling effort.  I had to start really easy because I could go from jogging to redlining relatively quickly, if I wasn't careful. 

One of my favorite things going into a marathon, especially one that I mostly train through is that I let myself eat a little more junk than usual.  All in the name of carb-loading, right?  Two nights before, I went to Waffle-House with Newton rep, Lee Strawbridge and the man behind the Music City Distance Carnival, Dave Milner. Since we had a teacher potluck at work, I ate more than my fair share for lunch but still went with a double hash-brown with cheese, onions and jalapenos, as well as two chocolate-chip waffles.  I had to send my water back though because the waiter's dread locks were resting in it while she was taking our orders. That's what I get for eating at the White Bridge location.  And I ate my night before meal at my go-to Mexican joint in town, Casa Veija. Nothing can faze my iron stomach.

Race morning, I downed my typical Powerbar, 32 oz. Gatorade and a couple bowls of cereal.  The weather wasn't going to be too bad.  Race time temp would be around 50ish and  would climb to the low/mid 60s by the end.  Not ideal but it could be worse for a late April marathon in Nashville.

Going into the race, I felt like I was the favorite to win, and my next goal was to get the sub 2:26 time bonus.  I feel like the course is 3-4 minutes slower than a fast course like Chicago or Houston and I felt like I was fit enough to run the time without a lot of trouble. I didn't have a concrete race place but did have several friends running in the half (Ben Li and Ryan Snellen from Nashville and Brian Shelton from Cookeville) and I figured they'd run around 1:12 or so, so I was thinking of seeing what those guys did and keying off of them.

But tragedy struck when I realized I noticed my GPS was almost dead.  Since I was trying to run a certain pace, I felt it would be crucial.  But 2:26 is around 5:35 a mile and since the press truck had a running clock on it, I could easily do the math (multiply the mile number by 5.5 and add five seconds per mile.  It sounds confusing but it makes sense).

Finally, the the gun went off.  One of the half-marathoners shot off out front.  Everyone let him go and I hung back in somewhat of a pack with Ben, Snellen and Brian, with Joseph Chebet and Mark Pepin hanging along for the ride as well.  We were clicking off 5:20-5:25s.  It was faster than I wanted, but it felt good and I could always slow down later. We eventually caught the early leader with the pack starting to separate some.  After we caught him, Chebet shot to the front, unopposed.  I was running and chatting with Mark a bit.  He went to a high school in my hometown back in South Carolina and it turned out we had a mutual friend.  We were still clicking off mid 5:20s and Ben was doing his best to hang on.  I dropped back so I could run with him some and hopefully help him move up.  Mark's a nice enough guy but I had to help out my fellow Nashvillian.   I ended up slowly pulling away from Ben and caught back up with Mark.  We ran together until the split around 10 miles.  I knew from here on out it would be pretty lonely, so I tried to make some small talk with the cyclist.

After doing the math from the press truck, I was still under 5:30 pace by a good bit and would have a good cushion for the second half and my sub 2:26.  Some crazy dude on a bike started cycling around us singing some songs.  I told the lead cyclist he would be tazed within a mile but he was gone before that got to happen.  The press truck had to leave me before the halfway split because of an upcoming 180 degree turnaround but it turned out to be 1:10:59.  Too fast and after briefly debating going for a bigger time bonus, I quickly nixed it and was happy that I just had to run around 5:40s the second half.

It was a good decision because around 16 miles, I started to get tired.  It wasn't the typical marathon fatigue, my legs just weren't prepared for the all of the pounding since I've been hurt and the rolling hills were taking their toll.  At 20 miles, it got a little bit tougher and after doing some rough math, I figured I would be able to run close to 5:45s the last 10k. So I backed off some more and cruised in just under the 2:26 standard and ran 2:25:52.

While I didn't hit the wall or anything, I was pretty beat up and had to sit down for a while.  I then spent had to make the super long walk to the baggage claim and failed big time when talking with a family when I guessed their son to be in third grade (he was in sixth).  I couldn't find my wife at all, so after calling her on the phone and trying to figure out where she was, it turned out she was literally ten feet in front of me.

Not a bad day at the office and I was surprised the initial pace felt so easy. I was glad to be able to win twice in a row and next year, I'll shoot for three.

 

Post race interview.  Who wants to hear boring typical stuff? I never did get any JT tickets.

Country Music Marathon

All season long, I've changed my mind a million times about this race.  My original plan before I decided to train for Boston, was to take a stab at sub 2:20 in this race, so I could get the $1000 time bonus, $1000 first place money (assuming I won) and then $500 for the first Tennessee resident.  $2500 ain't a bad payday. But all of that changed when I decided to run Boston.  My new plan was to run Boston all-out and then if I felt like I could come back and win 12 days later, I was going to give it a go. Dumb thinking, but whatever.

Well, Boston was taken off the table, so I was back to plan #1: sub 2:20, make some money.  Sounds good, right?  Well, my school's Field Day got moved back a day, which opened up May 10th.  What's the significance of that?  I could now enter the USA 25k Champs in Grand Rapids, MI on May 11th.  Running well there was more important than making some money, so I switched my Country Music plan yet again.  The new goal was to run hard enough to win and if conditions were ok, make a run at 2:26:59, so I could get a $250 time bonus and hopefully still come away with $1500.  That would be a steady pace, but wouldn't beat me up too badly. And if I did get a little banged up, I could use some of my new found cash to visit Julianna to destroy me with a massage.

This lady doesn't play around

Well, about a week before the race, I found out they took away the overall prize money, as well as the Tennessee resident prize money.  The time bonus money was still there but the allure of an extra $1500 was gone.  And the bad thing about Nashville in late April is that weather can be freaking hot.  Did I really want to run a marathon in 70 degree heat and then try to race well two weeks later?  It makes me sound somewhat like an elitist jerk but the USA 25k championships are more important than the Country Music Marathon.  I could potentially wreck my race by toeing the line at the marathon.  So I spent the week before the race going back and forth.  Should I run the marathon? Should I switch to the half?  I kept a close watch on the forecast and saw the weather was going to be wet but temperature was going to be pretty decent.  I ran a toned down workout the Wednesday before and finally decided on Thursday that I was definitely running the marathon.  If the rain wasn't too bad, I was going for the $250 bonus and if I felt really good, I was going to go for the $500 one.  Not to mention, a lot of my non-running friends and school parents have constantly been asking me if I was going to run this year, so I felt the pressure there a little bit. 

I spent Friday eating a ton of sugary stuff.  I'm not big on carboloading because if you are tapering for a marathon, then your carbohydrate stores should be nearly topped from the reduced training volume.  I'll drink a couple cokes leading up to the race but nothing too fancy.  However, I wasn't tapering for this race and with a plan of still getting in 100+ miles during the week, I divulged a little more than usual.

The parking for the Country Music Marathon looks like it can be a nightmare. You have to park near the finish line and then catch a shuttle at the start.  I didn't want to have a 4:00am wake-up time, followed by having to hang out in the rain for a while, so I took Scott Bennett's offer to stay at his place the night before the race, like I did in 2011.  He only lives about 1.5 miles from the start, so it works out perfectly.  After chowing down on Mama's Pancake Breakfast at Cracker Barrel, followed by dropping off my energy gel and water bottle at Nashville Running Company and Jeff Edmond's house (thanks guys), I was on my way to the Bennett Bed and Breakfast.  I downed some a couple gulps of children's Benadryl (works faster than the pills), watched some Regular Show on Netflix, set my alarm for 4:45am and I was then dead to the world.

I woke up and was surprised it wasn't pouring rain.  Just a light drizzle.  Now....what to wear to warm-up?  But first things first, I had to lube down.  Normally chaffing doesn't bug me but I didn't want to take any chances because I heard it's worse in the rain.  I slathered some on the very outside of my armpits/shoulder blades and covered the nips. Unfortunately, I forgot an extra shirt, so I threw on my Saucony rain jacket, put on my half-tights, wore some long tights over that and headed down for some coffee and a couple of Powerbars.  My rain jacket against my skin turned out to be not so good of an idea.  My jacket stuck against my body where the vaseline was and it also stained it as well.  After borrowing one of Scott's shirts, I was now improved and ready to head out the door.

 

I walked/jogged the 1.5 miles to the start and then looked for my baggage check.  Several people told me it was in several different areas and after about an extra 10 minutes of jogging, I found out it was located inside the Chili's.  I hung around for a few minutes, did a couple of short strides to get my legs ready for the race and I went into my corral about 10 minutes before the gun. I was later on was joined by Olaf Wasternack, who ran a nice PR at Boston 12 days earlier.  I've been making him take some down time but he got the oppurtunity to get a free entry, so he jumped in.  7:00 approached and there was no sign that they were about to start the race.  With the rain and temp, I started shivering and was getting a little inpatient.  Much less impatient than a lady behind me who was pitching a fit about the delay.  You have a long way to run woman, and the key to running well is to relax!  But someone had left their car on the course and with all the freaking out over security, I'm sure they had to send one of those remote control bomb sniffer things to go around the car, followed by anthrax sniffing dogs, then they probably had to take the car apart and send all the pieces to some crime lab in Washington.  Shortly before the gun, we had a moment of silence for Boston and then we were on our way.

I ran pretty relaxed for the first couple of minutes.  There was a pack of guys up front that I finally reeled in about 1000m in.  Daniel LePage and his buddy, Bill Martin, were up in front.  The pace felt a little bit quick and I asked Daniel what pace he thought we were running because it felt like 5:20.  He said he hoped it wasn't that fast but we went through the first mile in 5:21.  I've always had a pretty decent "internal GPS" so if any race directors need a marathon rabbit, I'm your man!

I want this outfit

In the second mile (at least I thought it was around here), I went into the lead and started to leave the pack behind.  It wasn't intentional or anything, I guess I just became locked into that 5:20ish pace.  The rain and temperature made me feel a little bit flat, so while I was splitting my watch at every mile, I wasn't looking at what my mile times were.  I wanted to feel the effort, not hit a certain pace.  Around this point, I had to laugh for a few seconds as about a dozen cops drove by on some mini-motorcycles.  What a crew.

Someone forgot to tell these people occupy Nashville is over

At around 4.5 miles, I took my first gel.  I don't know if it was because of the rain or what, but I didn't really take any water with it.  I continued to lead and made sure I stayed relaxed over the hills.  Around seven or eight miles in, I started paying attention to my splits and was running around 5:30 pace. Perfect.  Because I'm terrible at drinking out of cups, I tried to take an ounce or so at nearly every water stop.  I then entertained myself by seeing if I could chunk the cup across the street and make it land in a trash can.  I was succesful a couple of times and was hoping the TV crew got it on film and submitted it for one of ESPN's Plays of the Day.  Didn't happen.  They were sitting in the back of a pick-up truck and I felt bad for them because of the cold rain.  I heard them butcher my last name several times and I almost decided to speed up and correct them on the pronunciation.  They told me I was getting a ton of air time and I told them that my looks are made for radio, not TV.

About 10 miles in, I took my second gel and I continued to lead.  Every once in a while, I would sneak a glance over my shoulder and saw that Daniel was about 20 seconds back, but I couldn't see any of the marathoners.  I was still feeling good at this point even though I was getting tired of running through deep puddles in some parts of the course.  Shortly before halfway, there was a part of the course that was flooded across the street.  Luckily, my Saucony Grid Type A5's didn't hold much water.

I made a 180 degree turn around a curb and saw a guy about 30ish seconds behind me.  It surprised me because I had no idea he was there, and didn't know who he was.  However, he was looking pretty strong and I knew a difficult part of the course was coming up, so I picked it up a little bit over the next few miles.  I went through halfway in 70:46 which was a little bit faster than I wanted but wasn't as fast as 2011 when I went through in 1:10:12 and ran 2:24:10.  I made my way up the long hill, which had been my slowest mile of the race both years (5:46 this year, 5:54 2011) and then took another gel at 15ish miles.

Matt Pulle.  He put a whooping on me in the 2010 Moon Pie 10 Miler and I believe is one of the first Nashville runners to discover Julianna

After running near the finish line, it was time to begin my least favorite part of the course, the journey into Shelby Bottoms.  Don't get me wrong, I hate coming back as well, but at least you're coming back. Running up a long, gradual hill, I muttered to myself that I hate hills and after that was out of the way, I ran by Nashville Running Company to get some water and fuel and to boost my morale.  The marathon starts to get lonely around 20 miles in, and it doesn't help that the Country Music course is also pretty lonely at that point.  So running by the store gave me a little boost as I made my way into Shelby Bottoms. 

There were a ton of deep puddles throughout the park and I found myself running through them to see how deep they were.  Marathons can get boring, so it was time to find a new, temporary hobby.  I ran up around the pond and then back down.  In 2011, it felt like my quads and i.t. band were ripping apart from my bone at this point, but I felt good here.  I was also able to see the guy in second, who seemed to be at least a couple of minutes behind.  There was a big time clock on the top of the press truck and at 23 miles, I did some math in my head.  I figured that I easily had the 2:25:59 time bonus and was well under pace for 2:23:59 as well.  I relaxed a bit because I just wanted to sneak under the time bonus and take as little damage as possible.

After seeing this photo, I was curious to see what their order of gun time finish was.  My prediction was black shirt, blue tank, blue shirt, girl.  However, it was: blue shirt and girl tied, black shirt three seconds behind them and blue shirt 14 seconds behind the first two.

On the way back out of the park, I passed the place where in 2011, I puked several times in front of some high school cheerleaders.  No puking today!  I was running in the lower 5:30s at this point, with the same effort level, which meant fatigue was slowly creeping in.  I still felt really strong and relaxed but my legs were slowly becoming worn out.  Finally, I cut a left and I could see the final turn.  I then also saw my life flash before my eyes as some old guy on one of those mini motorcycles came barreling towards me and I had to swerve out of the way so I wouldn't get run over.  I threw my hands in the air at him and told him he needs to watch out, made the final turn and I made my way towards the finish.

In my running career, I don't think I've ever broken the tape before.  Back in high school, our school paper wrote an article on me and they took a picture of me running on the track, about to break a fake tape, but that doesn't count.  Right before I hit the tape, I had my right hand on my Garmin (thanks classical conditioning), then quickly let go and raised my arms a bit, followed by immediately stopping my GPS.

As soon as I crossed the line, I was yanked over by a reporter, who asked me a bunch of questions, then I was walked over to a million other reporters with mikes in my face.  It sounds annoying but it was actually a really cool experience and my closest ever thing to "fame."  I was then walked to the the medical tent and the only thing I had on my mind was that I REALLY wanted to sit in a hot tub.  I was insanely cold at this point and miserable.  If I would have run this flat out, man, I would have been hating life at this point, much like the guy I saw sitting on a cot, covered in blankets and shivering insanely hard.

Before I was released, I had to talk to a couple more cameras before being escorted to the baggage check. I was happy the lady walked with me because she had an umbrella, even though I was already soaked.  She even let me stop at the VIP tent while she got my stuff for me.  That's some southern hospitality!  By the time my arms were almost numb from hugging myself so hard, she was back with my stuff.  I was really happy I over-packed because I threw on some compression socks, some long tights, some warmup pants, a short sleeve shirt and two jackets.  I even debated putting on some arm warmers but I felt like that would be overkill.  I then looked for my phone and couldn't find it anywhere.  I started freaking out and then my inner cheapo came out.  If I lost my phone, I would have to buy a new one, which would be over a hundred bucks. And once I get a new phone, I get "un"grandfathered out of my $25 monthly Virgin Mobile plan and get upgraded to the $35 one.  On my way to the baggage claim, I figured after a few years, I would come out losing money because of this race.  When I got there, I asked the lady if she found a phone and saw that two of the helpers had it, and told me I had a ton of missed calls (and 106 Facebook notifications).  I definitely didn't have time for that!

I then spent the next hour or so thawing out, drinking coffee, eating a ton of some carmel brownie things and talking to some of the Nashville Striders and some other random people.  I heard some guy announce that the shuttle would be leaving in five minutes.  Since I had no idea where Mary could get me, I felt riding the shuttle back to the start would be the easiest and best option.

I sat beside the second place marathon finisher, Andrew Catalano, who was a really nice guy.  Finally, I was off the bus and I arrived just in time because Mary was less than a minute away.  After getting my stuff from Scott's house, I was finally on my way back home.  I then killed time before the awards ceremony later that night.  In 2011, the winners got full sized guitars and I was REALLY hoping I would get one of those.  However, it was not to be this year but at least I get a cool, wooden small one (just like in 2011).

While I ran a couple minutes harder than I planned, this was a really cool experience.  I never thought winning this race would be such a big deal to outsiders.  Random people will come out of their house or stop their cars to talk to me while I'm running around town and I've been recognized by multiple people at Wal-Mart the last two times I've been.  When I got to school Monday, parents and students' decorated the school and made posters for me and I even had three news channels and three newspapers come to school on Monday as well.  I'm still waiting on my call Obama!

This first grader ran sub 8:00 for his mile, while talking to me the entire time

Two more of my school kids who ran Sunday.  Hopefully this soccer players will turn into cross country runners!

Now it's time to relax the best I can and get ready for the USA 25k Champs.  Odds are, I won't be too fresh but it'll be a good racing experience.  I'm definitely planning on running Boston next year, but I think I may come back and run this one as well.

Random Thoughts/Rants

•  With the continous rain, the race was very good peeing weather, especially if a camera was on you the entire time.  However, I will not confirm or deny any peeing allegations.  I'm just saying if you really had to pee the second half of the race, you'd be able to hide it pretty well.
• I've had a ton of people ask if I won $17,000 and others ask how much money I won.  I assume I'll get a $500 time bonus but that's all I expected to get.  It's a bummer they took away the money but I knew that going into it.  They did fly in Jim Ryun, Ron Clarke and I believe Frank Shorter (if not more people), so I'm sure that cost a few G's.  Those guys were great to talk to and were cheering on the kids at their race on Sunday.  But heck, I was at the kids race as well and I bet I had more random people talk to me about the race and took more pictures with kids and other strangers than all of those guys combined.  I'm in this to chase few times (and make money when I can) but I felt they could at least kept a small purse or something.  But the staff were nothing but great to me, so I hope I that didn't make me sound like a jerk.
• No, there were not any Kenyans in the race.  A lot of people have asked me that and their responses have led me to believe that they feel that's why I was able to win.  There are fast Kenyans and there are also slow Kenyans.  I secretly want to say "no, there weren't any in this race but in my race I ran two weeks before this, they finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th.  And oh yeah, I won by about ninety seconds." You can only beat who shows up.
• I've had a lot of people ask me (and my wife) if I heard what Reed Trickett from Trickett Honda said.  Well, if you missed it, in his live commercial, he said I had "no chance" to win and he expected that the pack would chase me down.  He ended up calling me to apologize and has since apologized in a commercial.  I wish he would have had more faith in the local guy, who also has had his Honda worked on there, and plans on buying a Honda when his piece (really Mary's) of crap 2001 Ford Escort ZX2 dies. So Mr. Trickett, hook a brother up!
• Maggie Moo's was cool enough to give me a ton of free ice cream.  It's always cool when businesses support you.
• A lot of people have asked about the rain and my shoes.  My racing shoes, the Saucony Grid Type A5, have drainage holes on the bottom.  While they hold a tiny bit of water, most of it comes out the bottom.  This was a huge help.
• In this marathon, I ended up taking four gel's and probably at most, 16 ounces of water.  Most studies shows you should drink to thirst, and I wasn't thirsty.
• This was the first big city half-marathon/marathon since Boston.  What happened in Boston was terrible and I hope nothing like that ever happens again.  I was really impressed because after such a tragedy, rather than having people break apart, they became more unified.  As a result, I don't understand what good the attack did in the eyes of the culprits.  I had people ask if I was nervous or scared to run. I wasn't in the slightest.  Crazy and terrible incidents like that are mainly out of your control.  Too many people worry about things they can't prevent or stop and spend too little time worrying about things they are capable of preventing.  Take care of your body, spend time with loved ones, be frugal with yourself and generous to others.

Mile Splits:

			5:21.85
			5:24.15
			5:31.45
			5:35.55
			5:36.37
			5:21.20
			5:20.95
			5:28:52
			5:14.80
			5:18.17
			5:14.27
			5:23.77
			5:25.70
			5:11.92
			5:45.80
			5:20.52
			5:20.07
			5:28.90
			5:34.17
			5:17.42
			5:33
			5:33.92
			5:33.30
			5:28.94
			5:30.07
			5:33.77
			1:12.75

 

2011 Country Music Marathon vs. 2013 Country Music Marathon

5k: 16:29 vs. 16:54

10k: 32:59 vs. 34:00

13.1: 70:10 vs. 70:46 

20: 1:48:21 vs. 1:48:07

26.2: 2:24:10 vs. 2:22:41

April Races

Each month, I will highlight some of my favorite races that I've run in the past or plan on running in the future.  Maybe you'll find a new favorite race!

I ran the Knoxville Half-Marathon last year. The course is pretty rolling, but it's in Knoxville, so what do you expect? The course has a little bit of everything: long straightaways, neighborhood running and you even knock out a few miles on a greenway.  The post-race food is served in a big gym and I remember scarfing down more than my fair share of chips and pizza.  Being that it's an hour ahead of Nashville, I had to get a hotel, but it was only like $60.  If you're running the Country Music Half or full Marathon, this would be an excellent rust buster, assuming you kept your foot on the brakes a little bit.

 

The Dairy Dash is one of my favorite Nashville races and I always encourage everyone to run it.  The course is flat and fast, there's plenty of people to run with, and you can choose the 5k, 10k or even run both! As you could have guessed, there's post-race ice cream and milk, they serve a hot meal and their shirts are always among my favorite.  Everyone needs to check out this race.

 

I ran this race in 2005 and hope to run it again.  This is a huge 10k that takes place in Charleston, SC.  Over 40,000 people run this race and running on the Cooper River Bridge is a pretty cool experience.  If you're a Nashville runner, this could be a good race/beach weekend trip.

 

Most people either love this race or hate it.  It's hilly, crowded and the weather is usually terrible.  But over 30,000 people run the half-marathon every year and it's the most well known Nashville race to regular runners and non-runners alike.  I got second in the marathon in 2011, which ended up giving me a lot of street cred.  I've run much faster times since then, but I get asked if I plan on running again at least once a week by a parent at school.  I really enjoyed the big race experience, there's a lot of crowd support (at least until the half-marathoners branch off) and it's a race that I feel every Tennessean should run at least once.  My gripes against this race are that parking is a nightmare, the post-race baggage pick up is WAY too far away (it literally took me about 30 minutes to walk/limp to it) and it's pretty pricey. But hey, if people pay the price, I can fault them. If you sign up to run the marathon, you need to understand that this is a half-marathon race, with the marathon as a side-show (but that doesn't bother me).

 

I set my still standing half-marathon PR at this race last year.  The half-marathon is midsized and flat without many turns, so it's definitely a place to go if you want to run a fast time. It takes place the same day as the Country Music races, but with a faster course, cheaper entry and typically better weather, it could be a better option for many.  My gripes with them are that they blurred out my Saucony logo on their homepage and they never answered my pre-race emails/Facebook messages, etc.  The post race festivities take place in a big, open field (fairgrounds maybe?) and they had a decent amount of food.  Yeah, that's not very helpful but after walking around in a singlet for 45 minutes in cold rainy weather trying to find my friend, I just wanted to get out of there.

Rocket City Fail

Since the Country Music Marathon, I have been focused completely on running under the Olympic Marathon Trials standard of 2:19. Originally, my plan was to attack the standard at the Chicago Marathon. The Chicago Marathon is one of the most competitive marathons in the world and word on the street was that there were a tons of guys going for the time there. My summer training didn't go completely according to plan and once school and cross country practice started, I was too mentally exhausted and pushed for time to get in the necessary training. I had a really positive experience at the Rocket City Marathon in 2010, so I figured that I would make my assault on sub 2:19 there.

Since the Rocket City Marathon was about two months after Chicago, I had to adjust my training a good bit so I could time my peak perfectly and not arrive on the starting line too stale. I backed off training for a bit and then did a short speed phase to get my motor to where it needed to be before starting my eight week marathon cycle to build the necessary fitness to make my assault.

My first marathon workout went very well. A little over a week later, I ran 66:54 in the half marathon, which was only a few seconds away from the Tennessee State Record. That time pointed towards being in around 2:21 marathon shape, which was really motivating because I felt I was far from peak shape. I then got in several 110+ mile weeks and three weeks after the half marathon, broke the 10 mile state record by a very large margin, running 50:09. I used that race as a training run being it was the 7th day of a 120+ mile week and ran with a controlled steadiness. I had a ton left in the tank and felt like I could have run under 49:00 if I really went after it. With exactly four weeks to go, I knew I was very close to, if not under 2:19 shape. The race was rapidly approaching and I was really looking forward to it. Before Huntsville last year, I was terrified of the marathon distance. At the Country Music Marathon, I didn't really have a strategy until the gun went off and wasn't sure if I would even race that hard. However for this marathon, I was very hungry and ready to attack.

With two weeks to go, I began my taper. My normal taper is about a 20% reduction in volume two weeks out and then I reduce the volume about 40% for the last week. It's a very generic taper but it has worked very well for me in my prior marathons. With exactly a week to go, I ran my last "quality" workout, which was a few seconds per mile faster than my other marathon workouts, despite running much more relaxed. I knew my body was rested and ready to go.

Before a major race, I'm always paranoid about becoming sick. Deep down inside, I thought I had nothing to worry about because I'll catch something about once a year and because I came down with something a couple of months ago, I figured I had paid my dues. Despite that, I was doing my best to play it safe. At church that Sunday, there was an overly coughy guy behind me, so I got up, went to the bathroom, and washed my hands.

At school, I never use hand sanitizer but the week of the race, I would use it every few minutes. I also usually get a kid to fill up my water bottle for me a couple of times a day. Traditionally, I will pick a girl because I figure they pick their nose less and are less "germy." Since I was not taking any chances this week, I even made them wash their hands before touching my bottle. On one occasion, one of my "water girls" coughed while carrying my bottle towards the cafeteria, so I called her back, washed the bottle and then chose someone else. With all of these precautions, I felt I would be perfectly safe.

Wednesday night, I started to feel a trickle in my nose. A couple of hours later, that turned into a constant drip and I knew things were about to get much worse. Mary tried to reassure me but I knew that a sickness was beginning and it would probably reach it's peak on Saturday...the day of my race. As time wore on Thursday, I felt progressively worse. Later that night, I had a fever and stayed up pretty late because I figured I wouldn't be able to race. However, I planned to still see what happened and on Friday morning, I was Huntsville bound with Mary, Chris Herren and my own personal fuel man, Vance Pounders.

When we got finally arrived, I tried to lay down for a bit. I wasn't really sleepy or anything, I just wanted a temporary escape from reality. Later on, I went on a short shakeout run with Chris and Vance, in which I felt really weak. I still planned to toe the line but was debating between still attacking 2:19 or running a controlled 2:25 or so, to get the third place prize money and then try another marathon a couple of months later. Deep down inside, I didn't think I'd have a shot at 2:19, or even be able finish in third place, but I figured I'd attempt it anyway.

After hearing about my friend and running partner, Doug Boomer's pasta primavera gone wrong experience, I decided to shy away from the pre-race pasta party and made my own dinner. I attempted to eat some pasta but had no appetite at all. I forced down a few bites and ate some Bojangles fries, which are never too difficult to force down. After tossing and turning for a couple of hours, I was able to finally fall asleep.

When I woke up that morning, I had a terrible migraine headache. I don't get bad ones very often but when I do, life is not very fun at all. A side effect of them is that I have a lot of nausea and can't eat anything. Because the marathon requires every ounce of energy you have and more, I knew I had to force down some food. I was able to eat half of a Clif Bar but couldn't eat anything more. A few minutes after eating, my nausea became much worse and shortly after that, I went to the bathroom and lost my Clif Bar and much more. Because I lost all of my morning calories, as well as my fluids, I knew I was in no condition to race, or even finish a marathon. I was really depressed but that's how life treats you sometimes.

Because Chris wanted us to help him out with some fuel support, we went out to watch the start of the race. At this point, I was mad and not in very good spirits but when the race started and I saw everyone run by, I lost it and had to walk away for a few minutes. Being on that starting line and taking my shot at the standard was my journey that I worked for and deserved. Knowing that the opportunity was literally running away from me without even be allowed a shot felt completely unfair. I don't mind falling on my face and failing but not even getting a shot to chase the time after putting in so much work and being very fit was gut wrenching and unfair.

That ended my bid for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials. In both of my marathons, I felt like I overachieved based off what my training told me I was capable of. For this race, I KNEW I was in at least 2:19 shape, which made things very hard for me. But for now, I won't get a chance to qualify for the Trials until the window opens up again in a couple of years. I expect to take a shot at it again but a lot can happen in two years and age is not on my side.

However, I did not want all of my hard work to go to waste, so I had to find a new marathon. I knew the Jacksonville Marathon was the next weekend and like Rocket City, it was flat and fast. I also felt like I would be able to some decent money and Tom Dolan and Boomer even volunteered to come down with me. But I wasn't sure how recovered I'd be and knew I would have a hard time getting amped up for a race a week later when I was in such a mental low.

I also thought about the Mercedes Marathon in February but I didn't want to continue to train hard for that much longer and because the Chicago Marathon was my original plan, felt like I could become stale by then. After looking around online, the Mississippi Blues Marathon struck my interest. It was exactly four weeks away, which gave me time to recover and get in a couple hard weeks of training. I emailed them and was able to get into the race, as well as a hotel for a couple of nights. The race also is pretty competitive, which makes things more tactical and fun. With Rocket City, I was focused on racing the stopwatch and looked at it as a time trial. Those type of races aren't particular fun, so I welcomed the idea of some good old fashioned head-to-head racing.

Unfortunately, the race is very, very hilly and much more hilly than the Country Music Marathon. To make matters worse, I'm a pretty bad hill runner. However, I have enough time to sprinkle in some small changes into my training to become a little more efficient over the hills. Running well there won't give me a chance to run in the Olympic Trials but hopefully with a good race, I can end this never-ending training cycle on a positive note.