Great News: A new PR: 4:32:29!
Bad News: Leg Cramps! And 80 degree weather!
This one was tough.. MUCH tougher than the Battlefield Marathon!
I knew it was going to be hot, so I was prepared as best I could for it. I ate my usual pasta dinner Friday night after a nice lunch of leftover stir-fry with brown rice, all with extra salt to keep my sodium up. I also drank water and kept myself hydrated all day. Saturday morning, woke up with plenty of time to have coffee and breakfast of oatmeal and waffles. I ate a bit more because I knew I wouldn’t start for a few hours. I was full, hydrated and ready to go.
Arrived at the start around 6AM. Plenty of time to use the bathroom before the lines were really long. We made our way to my starting corral (17 for the 4:30 finish).. and then the waiting began… The race started at 7 but I didn’t start until 7:35. Ugh. It was tough to wait around for so long.. I guess it’s good motivation to run faster.
Once I got started, I was feeling really good! I was taking in the scenery of running through downtown Nashville. The bands were fun and it was cool to be a part of such a big crowd of runners. Around mile 2-3, I crossed the bridge on Demonbreun and could actually see some of the Elite runners crossing underneath us. It was exciting because I knew how far ahead they were (probably around mile 10 or so!).
I was running great, hitting all of the water stations for water and Cytomax. I looked for fellow Strider runner Amy around mile 3.5, but didn’t see her. I did see M on the back stretch of Belmont, which was nice. The Belmont section (miles 4-8), were a little crowded and slightly annoying. I had to dodge and weave to keep up my pace. The crowds were awesome along this stretch though!
As I made my way into double digit miles, I was ready to see the half-marathoners go. I wanted to more space! Around mile 11, they were made their split-off and it was great, there was finally some room to breathe! At this point also, I started noticing the heat. There was a nice water stop and I grabbed the usual cytomax and some water and dumped the water on my head. It felt great and really refreshed me. I’m glad I did too, because the worst stretch of the marathon was coming up.
Rosa Parks Blvd. Ugh. It was one big hill climb along a two lane road with no shade and nothing interesting. It felt like 5 miles although it was only 1.5. Once I made it past, I thought it might get a little more interesting, but it didn’t really. The course followed it’s way through smaller streets and onto a greenway. While the greenway was nice, once again, there was no shade, and it was a pretty much straight shot high up along the river. Between mile 16 and 17, I stopped to use the Porta John. Ugh. It was so hot inside that I think it affected my pace once I got started again. I refueled at the water stop, but I really felt like crap after stopping.
I think my problem at this point was that I drank (and ate) too much. I really didn’t want to get dehydrated, so was doing double drinks at all water stations. People along Belmont (miles 4.5 and 
were nice enough to hand out orange slices and banana pieces, which I happily accepted. I also had a granola bar around the half-way mark. It was waay to much. My stomach felt heavy. I ended up walking for a little bit and skipped some of the cytomax at a few stations.
I started running again, between mile 18-19 and all of a sudden both calves tightened up with MAJOR CRAMPS. Stopped me in my tracks. I could walk fine and could keep up a pretty fast walking pace, and did for a bit until I felt like running again. I would run for a bit, then the cramps would hit.. calves and right hamstring. I managed to run between mile 19-20, because M was there cheering me on and I wanted to look strong.
When i reached mile 20, I tried to stretch. First, I did my calves.. which was fine. I ran a bit, and then tried my hamstring. BIG MISTAKE. As soon as I pulled my leg up.. pain throughout. OK, no more of that.
I knew at that point that it’d be a tough finish and that I didn’t want to keep cramping up, so I started a RUN-WALK-RUN pattern. This worked great actually. I managed to keep the cramps to a minimum if I chose a short distance to run at a fast speed, then speed-walked for a short bit. i was still at a good pace (passing runners while running, and speed walking past the walkers). There were A LOT of walkers too… which I wasn’t surprised at because of the heat. It was around 80 at this point.
As I made my way into mile 22 and 23, the 4:30 pacer past me. It was a little disheartening, but at that point, I just wanted to finish. I didn’t look at my Garmin for the last 8 miles.
I made my way through the last couple miles.. Finally, mile 26! I tried and really wanted to run the whole last miles (25-26.2), but couldn’t without cramping. I did run from the final turn to the finish though! I kept thinking “Don’t Cramp Up Legs, Don’t Cramp Up!”
I had a strong finish and looked at my time.. 4:32.. I couldn’t believe it! I was expecting 4:45 or so after the pacer passed me, I was ecstatic to get 4:32!
Overall, aside from the cramping, I had a really awesome race. When I was running during the last 6 miles, my legs felt great with plenty still left. I had kept hydrated, which was good (except for over-doing it a bit). I also had used the GUs (3x) and salt packets (mile 6.5 and 13) adequately to help keep myself going.
As for the cramping, I’m thinking it was a combo of the heat, going out a little too fast for the weather and maybe a tad bit of under training (maybe one more 40 mile week would have helped).
It was great fun with the bands, huge crowd and running through Nashville. I do have to say that the second half of the course is not much fun. It seems geared towards the half-marathoners. I’m not saying I won’t ever do it again, but maybe I’d stick to the half instead.
Still, It was a great race and it’s awesome to say I ran my second marathon with a PR!