The impetuous for this five state adventure was the Nashville Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon. Lois & I completed the half-marathon. The day before the race we toured the town. Nashville is the home of the Grand Ole Opry and a hot bed of country music activity. We went to the Ryman Auditorium, Country Music Hall of Fame and OpryLand along with the requisite pre-race pasta dinner.
Our race route took us by several of the 16 universities and a smattering of the 800 churches and down “Music Row”. Interestingly Nashville has many industries in addition to the $4 billion music business: one other being Bible publishing. They’ve referred to Nashville as the “buckle on the Bible Belt”. The number of t-shirts sporting Bible verses on fellow marathoners would reinforce that.
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The full-size replica of the Parthenon in Centennial Park, the race start, is a remarkable example of the Greek Architecture that is prevalent in this city, also know as “The Athens of the South”. We ended at LG Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans. There was a post-race concert for which was we managed to get third row seats Marathoners are probably not the best concert audience after a race because there was a notable reluctant to jump up and dance in the aisle despite admirable encouragement from the stage. Between the first and main acts the marathon awards were given out. It’s probably the closest I’ll ever be to someone who runs a marathon in less than 2 ½ hours. You can be sure I’ll never be near them on the course.
I was very impressed by the organization of the pre-race expo and the race itself. There were multiple Country Music acts performing along the route along with church choirs and fabulous cheerleaders from area schools which kept the momentum up. I would do this again but probably will seek out another of Elite Racing’s events in another state for the future. This was my 2nd half-marathon bringing my total of marathons and halfs to four in as many states. I’ve participated in the New York Marathon, the San Francisco Nike Marathon, the Philadelphia Marathon and now this. Could I be on my way to a marathon in every state? Hmmm…. I’d better ramp up my training!
Hydration is the key!
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