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!

The Top Nashville Area Marathon Times in 2014

Last year, I recorded the top five marathon times by Nashville area people.  To be eligible for the list, you had to live around 30ish minutes away from the state capitol (I was nice and included Murfreesboro). This year, I will continue the streak and do it again. Well, I don't think it's a streak because it's not considered one until you do it at least three times.  But to make up for my lateness, I'll soup it up and add pictures.  And since this is the South, ladies first.

#1. Gisela Lamke, 2:35:30, Mercedes Marathon.  I don't know a lot about her, except she really turned it on over the past year and is now running a faster pace for the marathon than she used to run for the half.  She's also about to have a baby and ran her 2:35 on a tough course.

#2. Jeanette Faber, 2:47:32, Country Music Marathon.  She has a PR of 2:32 but had some injury issues over the past year. She ran the 2:47 as a workout and I talked her into running the race less than three days before it.  She's either easily influenced or I'm very persuasive.  And look at those shoes!

Editors Update: Her best marathon of the year was a 2:43:57, which was run at the windy and rainy New Tapei City Wanijinshi International Marathon in New Taipei City, Taiwan.  I don't know how they fit the name of the race on their shirt. 

#3. Ashley Evans, 2:57:42, Indy Monumental Marathon.  She was planning on racing Chicago in hopes of breaking her 2:48 marathon PR but she took a page out of my book and became anemic. And I have no qualms stating that she's also the nicest and most friendly person on the list.

#4. Blair Burnette, 3:01:28, Boston Marathon. She took several minutes off her 2013 half-marathon PR and then doubled it in her first Boston Marathon, which is no easy feat.  It also appears she doesn't like to post running pictures on Facebook because I had to dig for this one. She learned her mistake from running in whatever blue shoes those are and ran her Boston time in a pair of Newton Distance Elites. Smart gal!

#5. Lindsey Dial, 3:02:09, Indy Monumental Marathon.  She's pretty fresh to the road racing scene as she used to focus on trail racing until she realized how stupid it was. She ran her marathon on a semi-bum hamstring, so I'm sure she's looking for some vengeance in her next one. And according to Facebook, she's also looking for someone who can build the below doghouse, so leave a reply if you can. 

Marathoning on the women's side has really picked up in this area and other than the half-marathon, it's probably Nashville's strongest female event.  There's also several more girls in the low 3:00 range, so I'm sure 2015 will be a cat fight!. And let me know if I missed anyone because you can only do so much Googling before you start to feel like a stalker. 

And now for the men...

#1. Scott Wietecha, 2:17:16, Houston Marathon. He's that guy who died really badly at Houston and had the top four women gaining on him from 35k to the finish. He also got outkicked by a 2:17 half-marathoner in that race.  After spending 2014 being extra whiny, he's looking for redemption.

#2. Joey Elsakr, 2:24:20, Indy Monumental Marathon. Nailed his debut with the second fastest last half-marathon in the field.  Being that he graduated from Duke and is in medical school at Vanderbilt, he was probably the smartest in the field as well.  

#3. Bill Martin, 2:28:57, Rocket City Marathon. Since we aren't Facebook friends and he rarely races, I had to settle for his high school 4x800m picture. I sent a friend request though, so maybe I'll update this. I also noticed he's #666 in that picture.

#4. Hunter Hall, 2:35:19, Rocket City Marathon. He knocked a couple minutes off his PR in what was his second marathon. One of his claims to fame is hitting on the entire Indy Monumental elite ladies field at once.  I don't think it went anywhere though. 

#5. Greg Kyle, 2:38:19, Indy Monumental Marathon. He's the tall guy and he used his tallness to be the off-and-on wind breaker for Alayna Hadley at Indy, before leaving her in his dust.  He's really improved over the past year and should be ready to run sub 6:00 pace in his next marathon.  Not only is that a fast time but the math is easy as well.

I think this is a pretty nice improvement compared to last year on the men's side but compared to the women, it seems like the Nashville area men are a little more timid of the marathon.  But word on the street is that after several months of injury riddled trumpet playing (he took up the trumpet when he got hurt), 65 minute half-marathoner, Connor Kamm, may make his marathon debut in 2015.  There's also rumors of Joey's med school BFF, Ben Li trying one as well. 

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.

Nashville Area Top Marathon Times: 2013

So I was bored and decided to look around the internet to see what the top five men's and women's marathon times were for Nashville area runners in 2013. That was probably a run-on sentence with some grammatical mistakes but since it's Christmas Break, I'm not going to fix it.  The Websters Dictionary doesn't have an entry for "Nashville area runners" so I'm going to define it as someone who could drive to the state capitol in 30 minutes, without sucky traffic.

I was tempted to throw Lanni Marchant in there, who ran 2:28:00, since she's in Nashville most weekends. But since she technically resides in Chattanooga (I think) I can't justify it.  I could very well have some errors in here, especially with the women.  While I know most of the Nashville men runners, I don't know very many of the ladies.

After posting this, I feel the list is going to be much faster next year.  Connor Kamm will break 2:20 if he jumps in a marathon in 2014.  I don't think Ricky Lupp is going to try a marathon next year, but he would run under 2:25 for sure.  And after that, there are a handful of guys who could break 2:30 next year if they take a stab or two at the distance.

The women's side will also get much faster.  Jeanette was hurt for a large part of the year and is worth a 2:30 with a healthy cycle.  Ashley ran that 2:48 in her debut and Blair knocked off 20 minutes off her PR. And like the guys, there's a handful of women who can run fast half-marathon times, who didn't race a marathon last year. And maybe Lanni will move up here.  Who would run to live near hundreds of miles of trails anyway?



1. Scott Wietecha    31      2:18:52      Houston Marathon                      
2. Olaf Wasternack  33      2:37:47      Boston Marathon                        
3. Hunter Hall            24      2:38:25      Indianapolis Monumental Marathon
4. Matt Pulle              41      2:40:36      Rocket City Marathon                  
5. Chris Duncan       34      2:40:41      Boston Marathon        

1. Jeannette Faber   31     2:38:32       California International Marathon  
2. Ashley Evans       27     2:48:49       Chicago Marathon
3. Courtney Terrell   30     2:57:32       Chicago Marathon
4. Sara Maltby          35     2:58:28       Marine Corps Marathon
5. Blair Burnette       27     3:06:41       Rocket City Marathon

Country Music Marathon Review

The Country Music Marathon was the last race of my "spring season." It was my second marathon and I took a more laid-back approach to it. With teaching, coaching and life in general, I knew I would not have the time to get in the marathon-specific workouts I needed. I was able to get in seven weeks of 95 miles or more, with two of those being right at 110 miles but I was only able to get in a few "real" marathon workouts. I knew I was very fit half-marathon wise but with the lack of marathon workouts, I knew there was a very strong chance I would crash hard if I didn't race smart. My main goal was to not put much pressure on myself and try and finish as the first Davidson County runner. I knew the course would be a lot more hilly than Rocket City (and I hate hills) but if I raced patiently, I thought I could have a shot at sub 2:30.

The days leading up to the race were incredibly busy. Thursday, I was on the go from 6am until after 5:30pm and when I got home, I had to mow the lawn and then do some unpacking. On Friday, I was able to sleep in for a bit because I took a personal day from work but then had to do a ton of errands and then spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening at a track meet. Stadium food is less than ideal the night before a marathon but you just have to make do. Not to mention "carbo-loading" is mainly hype. It was a mentally draining last two days when I just wanted to relax before my race.

I've heard horror stories about how early you have to wake-up and leave to get to the marathon in time. With over 30,000 people in the race, logistics has to be a nightmare. Luckily my friend Scott Bennett, lived a little over a mile from the start of the race. This was a HUGE relief to me because that meant I could sleep in for an 1.5 hours and not have to worry about battling traffic.

When I went to bed, I felt like absolute crap. The track meet wreaked havoc on my allergies, my head was killing me, my eyes hurt and I just wanted to go to bed. I went to bed over an hour earlier than planned and Scott gave me a Claritin Liqui-Gel, which I've never used before. When I woke up, I felt like a million bucks. I ate my regular breakfast of Mom's Best Toasted Cinnamon Squares, and added an apple cinnamon pop-tart and a Lemonzest Luna Bar. Instead of my token coffee, took a 200mg caffeine pill about an hour before the race (to help speed the body's ability to burn fats for fuel, saving carbohydrates in the process).

Race-time weather conditions were almost perfect. There was barely any wind and the temperature was just over 50 degrees with it climbing a little over 60 by the race's end. Scott jogged with me to the start and I checked in my gear bag and hung around until it was time to head to the line. Luckily my race number gave me a spot right on the starting line. The amount of people there was insane. I looked over my shoulder and the street was packed for as far as I could see.

Unlike the shorter races, the marathon requires the racer to take-in fuel during the race. During half-marathons or less, my body easily has enough carbohydrates to get me to the finish line, so I don't need to worry about taking any gels or other forms of fuel. Just as Scott hooked me up with a place to stay, I had some friends helping me out with my fueling during the race. During the marathon, I like to take 4-5 GU packs mixed in empty Tummie-Yummie bottles. Scott was handing me a bottle at around four and nine miles, Ted Towse was handing me one a little past halfway and Doug Boomer was hooking me up at around 17 and 20 miles. Having people help me out during the race was a huge stress reliever and enabled me to place all of my focus on the race. It also gave me something to look forward to and helped me divide the first 20 miles into five different sections.

When the gun went off, Edwin Romero, from Colombia shot off. He was hoping to run under 2:15, so I just let him go. I was seeded 6th and I thought with a patient race, I could have a shot at third. I was hoping to not only be the first Davidson County runner but the first Tennessee runner as well (an additional $500). There was a Kenyan guy who now lives in Chattanooga battling me for that money, so I knew I had to step up my game a little more than planned. I was in a pack with a few others guys and tried to relax because I had a long journey ahead of me.

I missed the first mile marker but a guy I was running with said it was right around 5:20. This made me a little nervous because my pre-race plan was to run around 5:40-5:45 a mile for the first half of the race. However, I felt relaxed and knew the first two miles were gradually downhill before starting the uphill climbs, so it was no big deal. The second mile was even faster, with a 5:10 mile split. I was still in a pack a good bit behind Edwin, so I just tried to tuck in and be as patient as possible. In the next mile, David Kellum (eventual winner) took off and I let him go. I broke away with Brent Martin, who had a 2:23 PR and Giovanny Amador, who had a 2:22 PR, followed us for a bit before falling back. Brent was running a little faster than me but I was still clicking off sub 5:20s, so I didn't fret about it. I knew I was running too fast and the faster you run, the more carbohydrates your body burns, so I made myself run behind him. He slowly increased his lead over the next few miles but I had a feeling I would run in to him again.

I went through the first 10 miles in 53:18. Shortly after that, Giovanny passed me. I debated going with him but I knew the pace was still too fast, so I let him go. I figured he would beat me anyway, so I didn't worry about it. Brent was about 10-15 seconds ahead of me at this point and I really wanted to chase him down but I was worried about what needed to be done 10 miles down the road, not seek instant gratification. I saw Jeff Edmonds on the side of the course and he ran with me for a minute or so. This served as a good motivator and mental refresher.

Shortly before halfway, I saw Giovanny stop and grab his calf. I went by him and figured it was just the beginning of the end for him. I hit halfway at 70:10, which was a 27 second half marathon personal best. I was still feeling really good and was done with most of the hard hills, so I was really pleased. The 14th mile included a long, boring stretch with a headwind most of the way and a pretty steep hill. I only split 5:53 this mile but made up several seconds on Brent, so I figured it was now time to go for the pass. I caught him within a couple of minutes and I guess I got a little too excited because I split 5:17 for that mile.

Once I passed him, it was a long, lonely road for quite a while. I couldn't see Edwin or David at all and shortly after I passed him, Brent dropped out. I was pretty certain I had third place locked up and I was way ahead of my planned pace, so I decided to relax a little a bit so I wouldn't blow up too badly later. In the 17th mile, you run across the pedestrian bridge and run right by the eventual finish line. There was a ton of crowd support there, so it served as a great temporary motivator. After running past the stadium, it was time to head out towards Shelby Bottoms. I had a really bad race at the Tom King Half Marathon, which went down pretty much the same route, so I was hoping I wouldn't have a repeat performance.

In the 18th mile, I could tell I was running a little low on gas. I was still running pretty decent mile splits but my legs started to feel a little drained. I also started getting a little bit of a side stitch, so I decided to relax a bit. Boomer met me at just under 20 miles for my last GU of the race. I drunk a couple of sips and felt like I was going to get sick, so I just threw it down and kept on running. I hit 1:48:21 for my 20 mile split, which was a huge motivator. If I could just run 5:45s, I would break 2:24. Since I averaged 5:25 a mile up to this point, I thought I had it in the bag. I decided I would run the next four miles under 5:40 and then hammer my last two miles and see if I could run under 2:23. 2:22 something sounds a lot better than almost 2:24. My next two miles were 5:37 and 5:41, so I was on target. However, my legs were getting even more drained and I felt like I was almost running on empty. I only had a little over four miles left at this point but I had a feeling I might be about to run into that "wall" I've heard so much about.

At this point, I've been running completely alone for nearly 10 miles. However, I did have one of my Hendersonville Running Club buddies, Skip Alcorn, out there on the bike as a course guide. We really didn't talk or anything because my mind needed to stay focused on the task at hand but having him there really helped me out because it gave me a since of familiarity and I didn't feel so alone. Just when I felt like I was about to completely shut down, I noticed Edwin in the distance. I used my watch to estimate how far ahead he was of me and when I hit the 23rd mile, he had about 75 seconds on me. That's a pretty huge chunk of time but he had went out insanely fast and was finding out how cruel glycogen depletion can be. I wasn't going to attack the pace or anything, but I definitely had him in my sights.

A little before 24 miles, I could tell I was cutting down on his lead. I ran down a short downhill and noticed my quads were pretty shot. I looked at my watch again and saw his lead was down to almost thirty seconds. I then knew I could at least catch him. How he would respond when I pulled up to him was somewhat of an unknown but I knew I would at least find out.

I was quickly cutting down on the lead and he was only about 15 seconds ahead of me with the 25 mile marker in sight. When I made my final push to catch him, my stomach got a little mad at me and I had several dry heaves. When they stopped, I tried to push again and that's when things got ugly. I started throwing up and had visions of Bob Kempanien in my head. I knew puking while running would give me some serious street cred but the worst part was that it was in front of a bunch of high school cheerleaders. When I was getting sick, my legs just wanted me to stop and walk but I was so close to Edwin and since I ain't no punk, I decided I had to catch him.

I finally caught him a little past the 25 mile marker and then tried to continue to push the pace. He didn't try to fight at all and I noticed he was falling back more and more. I then knew I had second place locked up and when I hit the 26 mile marker, it read 2:23:00. I really hate running a low "minute" in the marathon. If you run 2:23:59.99, everyone will call you a 2:23 marathoner. However, if you run 2:24:00, everyone will call you a 2:24 marathoner. Just a millisecond can totally change your identity and I didn't want to run just over 2:24 and be called a 2:24 guy, so I tried to sprint. It felt like I was flying and I had a feeling I was going to be a 2:23 guy. When I turned the final corner and saw the clock already at 2:24, I knew my fate had been sealed.

I crossed the line at 2:24:10 (my final "sprint" was at 6:00 pace) and immediately laid on the ground. I stood up and tried to find Mary but my legs were hurting so badly. I sat down on the ground beside her and talked to Trent Rosenbloom (the famed Flying Monkey Marathon man) and he made sure I wasn't going to die. I decided to walk to the medical tent to see if they could give me a massage or something but I just laid there for about ten minutes before getting bored and gimping back to Mary.

I was totally pumped about my race but I felt like death. This easily surpassed last year's R.C. Cola Moon Pie 10 Mile Race as the most dead I've been after a race. What made things worse was that the place to get my gear bag was over 1/4 of a mile away and it took me quite a while to limp over there.

The next day was even worse (except for winning trivia night at Cabana's) and my legs were insanely sore until Tuesday with all soreness being gone by Friday.

After it's all said and done, I'm really happy with this race. I gave myself about a 50/50 shot of breaking 2:30 and I feel like this time is worth 2:22 or under on the Rocket City course I ran 2:27:08 4.5 months prior. Finshing in 2nd place overall and being the first Tennessee and Davidson County runner also will help with the baby bills.

It's now time to chill out before making an assault on the Olympic Marathon Trials standard of 2:19:00 at the Chicago Marathon on October 9th. I'm not sure how realistic it is but I'll find out. I might even go to bed earlier and cut down on the junk food...

Mile Marker: Mile Split-Overall Time

1: 5:20-5:20
2: 5:10-10:30
3: 5:22-15:52
4: 5:22-21:14
5: 5:25-26:39
6: 5:12-31:51
7: 5:18-37:09
8: 5:24-42:34
9: 5:18-47:52
10: 5:20-53:12
11: 5:20-58:32
12: 5:33-1:04:05
13: 5:35-1:09:35
14: 5:28-1:15:03
15: 5:53-1:20:56
16: 5:17-1:26:13
17: 5:29-1:31:42
18: 5:37-1:37:19
19: 5:37-1:42:56
20: 5:25-1:48:21
21: 5:37-1:53:58
22: 5:41-1:59:39
23: 5:46-2:05:25
24: 5:50-2:11:15
25: 5:45-2:17:00
26: 6:00-2:23:00
26.2: 1:10- 2:24:10