Country Music Half Marathon Recap

This update is almost a month old but hey better late than never huh!!

The Country Music Half Marathon was my first Half and it was a blast!! The fun started the night before when my sister, her husband and 3 of their friends drove down from Ohio to spend the weekend with us and run the race. Throw in 2 3 year olds, a one year old and my mom to babysit us all and what you have is a house full of awesome!! Friday night Alfred made us a huge pot of spaghetti and salad so we would be properly fueled the next day. We sat around ate, laughed, talked strategy and attempted to turn in as early as possible. Of course I'd been sick with sinus issues and Beckett had croup so he was coughing nonstop which kept some of us awake. Somehow we still managed to get up at 4:30AM, shovel in some peanut butter and honey sandwiches and we were ready to go when our ride got there at 5:15! (FYI if you ever run the CMM beg or pay someone to drop you off, don't park it's packed!!)

The All Guts, Not Nuts/Nuts crew ready to get this started! (From Left: My hubs Alfred, me, Mel, my sister Amanda, Ashley, Damien, and my brother in law Scott)

This race is HUGE - Approx. 35000 people ran it this year. The race directors did an awesome job pacing people so it didn't seem too large! Everyone in our group but Alfred and I were assigned to Coral 4 (AKA the speedy people) Alfred and I were assigned to Coral 22 which meant after the initial gun went off we had about a 40 minute wait before we started which gave us time to people watch and really take in the enormity of this race. Finally it was our turn to begin. I couldn't believe all the training had led to this moment.

This course is notorious for it's bands and fans so I chose to go musicless. For the most part this was a great idea. It is also a very hilly course! Just when you've tackled one HUGE hill another one is there to smack you in the face. I don't mind hills, I think they keep it interesting but this was a bit too much. Next time I know to do better with my hill training!

Since this was mine and Alfred's first half marathon, and I love him more than life we decided to run it together, rather than separating and seeing what we could do. His knee had been giving him a lot of trouble so I was worried about him but somehow he managed to hang in there. The first 4 or 5 miles weren't bad at all, I was still on the adrenaline high from actually starting the race. It was about mile 6 when I really started to rely on the spectators. They were awesome. There were so many wonderful signs (Your running while I'm having mimosas-IF Donald Trump can run so can you etc.) and there were so many awesome people. As we ran through neighborhoods people were spraying us with water hoses which was so needed. I was having such a good time I almost forgot I was running a half...almost. Then around mile 8 I started to hit a wall, I ate a salt pack, ate some more gu chomps drank some Gatorade and started running into other friends running the marathon, we chit chatted and ran and got through it. At about mile 10 we headed in the gulch. This is right before the half marathon and marathon split. I did a body check and knew I could finish the half but knew I would be crying if I still has 15 miles to go on the marathon. The Gulch was fun, there were bands and beer and people cheering. I knew I was getting ready to go into some pretty major hills but I must have turned on auto pilot and just went for it because I don't really remember much until mile 12. I wanted to finish in under 2:30 and at this point I knew I wasn't going to do it but I still had a chance to finish in 2:45 if I booked it. I looked at Alfred and he said "I can't go any faster, I'm hurting all over" to which I replied "If I don't pick up the pace now I'll never get in under 2:45" and I took off.

I almost cried when I had half a mile left. I was tired but I knew I was about to accomplish something I had been thinking about for 2 years. I had trained so long for this moment and I was about to accomplish my goal. I don't know what I expected when I crossed under the finish line at 2:45:01, I guess I thought I would feel like screaming from the rooftops but I didn't. I felt calm and empowered. This was my moment to reflect on all the hard work I had put into this, the hours I had scarified, think about the people who pushed me and made this possible. It was so surreal. Then I realized I was starving and I better find my husband and our friends. Turns out Alfred was right behind me. He said pain or no pain he couldn't let me get too far ahead! We are very competitive with one another :)! We went got food, found our friends talked for awhile then went home to rest and devour wings! It was an awesome experience!!

Some of my favorite things were our shirts made by my sister. People kept telling us how much they loved them which only fueled us to do better!

The fact that I got to share my beautiful city with such awesome people!! I'm so proud that Nashville is my home and what better way to show it off then to run through it!

The fact that I got to run with this guy!! It's amazing when you find someone in life that will go on so many crazy adventures with you!

I felt good about a lot of things during this race. Three days before the race I started drinking water like it was my job so I would be hydrated and because I was sick with a sinus infection. During the race my fuel was spot on, which had been my biggest issue during training. I woke up and ate a bagel with peanut butter and honey and a banana. I filled my fuel belt with gatorade, gu, gu chomps, sweet tarts and salt packets. They were also handing out salt along the course which I took every chance I got. I'm glad I didn't run with music so I could really take it all in. I paced pretty well although I think there were times I could have went faster but I'm probably glad I didn't because of the hills in the last 2 miles.

There were some things I would have done differently. The biggest thing was to have cut my toenails the day before :). They weren't bad but they were just long enough that I ended up bruising my toe under my toe nail and really started to feel it around mile 6! I wore Swiftwick socks and I love them but I had a seam that rubbed a blister on my foot. I used 2Toms blister shield but even it couldn't combat 13.1 miles of seam rubbage!! The blister did go away fairly quickly though. I would try to get more sleep the night before. I would like to run a 1/2 when I'm not sick with sinus funk but that's pretty unpredictable.

As for my training I used a very basic plan that my friend Dean put together for me, it was very effective and the mileage was spot on. I felt really ready for this and was super happy with the results. I went into wanting to get under 2:30 but really just wanting to finish and still love running! I can't wait to do another one!

Team All Guts No Nuts/Nuts Half Marathon Times

Amanda Davis 1:53:14 (PR by 3 Seconds)

Scott Davis 2:01:47

Mel Smith 2:03:26

Ashley Southard 2:03:36

Damien Southard 2:03:37

Rachel Eller 2:45:01

Alfred Eller 2:45:03

And even though she didn't run wearing one of our shits because her entry fee was paid for by her company I have to give a huge thank you to Susan Bakaitis who dragged me through many hours of running. I wouldn't have trained as well as I did without her pushing me with our e-mail updates and hours spent talking and running or as I like to call it our alternative happy hours!! She set a goal to finish under 2:30 and she did just that with a 2:29:51 finish!! I am one proud running partner and friend!!