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Country Music Marathon Experience

By Cindy | April 27, 2008

What a blast! The temperature was perfect. The sun didn’t break through the clouds until after we crossed the finish line. The crowds and bands were awesome. I ran the race with two moms from our MOMS Club and we all finished within four minutes of each other. We never got a chance to train together, but we kept each other updated on our challenges, injuries, and running as we trained.

Our journey started last year at the 2007 Country Music Marathon where two of us had volunteered to hand out water. We had such a great time that we were motivated to be a part of it this year. It was a great incentive to run, be accountable and achieve a long term goal.

We carpooled and were so thankful that we did. The traffic into town was horrendous. Rain and quite a few accidents brought cars to a standstill. Plan A was to drop the car off at the finish line and take the shuttles to the start line. After sitting in traffic (and realizing we weren’t going to make it in time for the cutoff shuttle times) and moving two car lengths in the span of 45 minutes, we decided that it was time to move on out and head for the start line. Thank goodness we were locals. We knew where to go and how to avoid the major traffic jams.

Even though we arrived after the initial wave of runners were off, we had plenty of time to reach our corral. The presence of 30,000 runners is quite a sight and experience. The adrenaline was already pumpin’. We hung out in the back and watched the Hula Hoop Walkers warm up and were off an hour into the official race start time.

The cheerleaders and spectators along the route were fantastic. I loved the cheers from the little ones and they high fived us any chance they got!

The best joke we saw:

“What path does a runner take in the woods?”

A psycho path!

Thoughts that filtered through my mind throughout the race:

• Champagne on the side? Mimosa’s! Ah, if only it weren’t so early in the morning and I wasn’t running!
• Why are all the bands on break when we pass by? Oh, they have been playing over an hour before we even crossed the start line!
• Cell phones should not be allowed on the course. How do you run and chat at the same time? This is one of those moments when it’s okay to not have to answer a phone!
• It’s nice to start at the back of the pack, we’re passing more people than people passing us!
• Ignore the knees. Ignore the ankles. There is no pain. Just movement.
• Ah, this is the way to Belmont from downtown? (I always get lost trying to find Bongo Java–neat local coffee hangout).
• Hey, we’re moving faster than most motorists do during traffic hours on West End.
• Don’t look up the hills. Looking at my feet, the incline’s not so bad.
• What happened to the 13 mile marker? It seems like an eternity since the 12?
• I must not sprint until I see the finish line banner. I’d hate to fall out ten feet from it.
• Finished?! We did it. Feet still intact. Yippee!!!

My Results: I was really excited to find that I could maintain a 10 minute mile pace. I thought that I would hit a wall after the 8th or 9th mile because I didn’t reach those distances during training.

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Topics: Personal Journey |