Women’s Running Series Nashville Half Marathon Recap

This past weekend I traveled to Nashville for a girls weekend…and to run the Women’s Running Series Nashville half marathon!

We arrived Friday afternoon, checked into our hotel, and headed down to the Expotique.

One of the girls, Angela, was running her first half marathon so we were all very excited for her!  Angela and I picked up our bibs and race shirt, then headed into the expo to look around.  I got to try Zipfizz for the first time, and I really liked it!  Will have to get some for my runs as well as everyday consumption.  There weren’t a ton of vendors as it was a pretty small expo, but that’s okay…less money to spend!

We went back up to the room to get situated, and I laid out my race outfit for the next day -

  

I got my iron on transfer from Rhonda at be.bold – she has some cute stuff and can do custom orders as well!  Check her out :)

Angela and I wanted pasta for dinner, so we decided on the Old Spaghetti Factory.  There were so many events taking place in Nashville so there were a TON of people!  We called for a reservation, but they weren’t accepting any, so we walked down when they opened to make sure we didn’t have to wait forever for a table!

Dinner was fun…good food with great friends!

That last drink was a Cotton Candy Limeade!  I LOVE cotton candy so I had to try it…super sweet but it was so good.  AND the straw changed colors :P

After dinner I walked back to the hotel as I was meeting up with a friend who moved to Nashville awhile back – we hadn’t seen each other since before I got married!  We sat in the lobby and chatted for 3 hours.  It was as if no time had passed :)  Don’t you love friendships like that?  We parted ways at around 10 so I could head to bed…it was an early morning for me!

The alarm went off at 4:45, and Angela and I dragged ourselves out of bed and got ready.  We woke up the other girls so they snapped some pictures of us before we headed downstairs.

We sat in the lobby for awhile so Angela could eat her breakfast, and just as we were about to head out, I heard my name – it was a friend from Twitter, Kristen!

We walked to the starting line and found our corrals, then stretched for awhile.  About 10 minutes before the race was to start, Angela and I hugged, told each other good luck, and headed into our respective corrals.

 

I called my parents before the race to chat with them, and shortly after the National Anthem was sung and we were off!

 

I was using 1:1 run/walk intervals and did well with them…but I soon realized that Nashville is HILLY!!  Even more than Atlanta!  I didn’t take many pictures while I was running as I was really trying to get a PR, but I managed to snag this one -

That would make most women move faster!

At around mile 8, I got a horrible side cramp, which I’ve NEVER gotten before during a run!  I had to take a few minutes to walk and stretch it out.  From there my race went downhill (if only the course had done the same…then I may have PRed)  I was just focusing on finishing at that point.  Mile 8 was the longest.mile.ever.  I thought it would never end.

Jessica and Lori were waiting for us at the finish line.  Angela finished in 3:08!!  I was so incredibly proud of her.  My finish time was 3:20.  Definitely not my best, but with the way I felt I was happy to be done.

 

Once we were finished, we headed back to the hotel room to shower.  Most of my body was in pain, so I sent the girls out for lunch and stayed in the room.  Lame?  Maybe…but my body needed to rest and not walk along the crowded streets of Nashville.  Plus…the UGA/LSU game was coming on at 2:30, and I HAD to watch that!

After the game, the girls went back out into Nashville and I stayed in…again.  I went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for dinner, and I hit a wall and needed to go to bed.  I was asleep by 10:00!

A couple of things I saw along the course – 2 girls that were running the 5k who missed the 5k/half marathon split.  It reminded me of the woman who just recently did this during a half marathon and went on to win the marathon!  Also…at around mile 4-5, I saw a girl running in a FINISHER’S SHIRT!!!  I have no clue if she was new to running or not, but most seasoned runners know that wearing your finisher’s shirt before you finish the race is a no-no!

All in all, I thought the race was well organized.  The course was definitely not a “flatter, faster” course like they promised, but whatcha gonna do?  Oh…and the race shirts ran super small…guess I won’t be wearing this one for awhile.

What’s the hilliest race you’ve ever run?

I promise to get the rest of my Disneyland trip up soon!!

Until next time,

 

LiveJournal Tags: WRS Nashville,Women's Running Series,Nashville,Zipfizz,Old Spaghetti Factory