Country Music Marathon 2013 Race Recap

That’s me in the orange. And the rain. And the puddles.

I ran my first (full) marathon this weekend! What an adventure it has been over the last five months getting ready for the occasion. The marathon itself was pretty miserable due to the relentless rain and unseasonably cold winds. Weather was THE biggest challenge for me. I’ve been thinking about why it was so hard. I mean, during my training I ran in colder temperatures and I ran in rain. I think the difference was the sheer logistics of getting there. During training if it was raining, I got dressed in my warm dry house, warmed up, and then went outside and ran. But on marathon day, you park your car almost two hours before the race starts. We stood in the rain waiting for a shuttle, then stood around in the cold rain for an hour before we could start running. I got chilled and never warmed up.

Some hard lessons learned:

1. They say that when you run, you should dress for 20 degrees warmer than the actual temperature is. Come to find out, there are two important exceptions to this: rain and wind. 50 degrees in the rain and wind feels like 50 degrees in the rain and wind, even if you’re running. 
2. I had on good clothes for running in the rain, but not quite the downpour we got. If I had to do it again, I would have worn my running gloves and possibly my tight synthetic long johns (underneath my running shorts of course!). I would consider wearing a garbage bag to shed once I started running. If I could have started the run dry and warm I think that may have made a difference.
3. Perpetuem Solid’s go in a plastic baggie. My fueling strategy came from Trevor Spencer and a consultant at Hammer Nutrition. I planned on eating a Hammer Perpetuem Solid every fifteen minutes. They come in this big plastic tube. Who wants to run with a big plastic tube?, I thought to myself and emptied them into my pocket so I could easily pick ’em out one at a time. Well, with all of the rain they dissolved into a mess. By mile 20, they were a quarter of the size they should have been.
4. A billed hat is a must in the pouring rain. I’m not a hat guy, but boy was I glad I thought to borrow one from a friend to keep the raindrops from running in my face for five hours.
5. Electrolyte pills are hard to take with cold hands. I’ll have to think about a solution to this one, but my fueling strategy had me taking four an hour. Cold, numb hands made this difficult to do on the run.
6. Consider the warmup. I’m pretty good about warming up before my run. The day of the race, however, I was focused on just getting to the site. After the Boston bombings, we were warned to give even more time to park and shuttle to the starting line. I figured I would warmup and loosen up after I got to the starting pavilion. This is a fine plan, unless it’s raining and cold. Those conditions make warming up difficult.

Highs and Lows

My kids had enough of the rainy marathon

The high point for me was running by my own Belmont Church. We have a worship team and lots of worshipping spectators to cheer runners on. The church’s location is a great place along the race route and is one of the best stages to run by. Most importantly, it’s where my family watches the race. I love seeing them. When I saw them, they were slightly happier than this picture:

The low point for me was right before mile 21. I had to make a pit stop. I mean, I absolutely had to. When I stepped out of the porta-potty, my legs felt like concrete. I don’t think I ever got to my pre-pit stop pace.

All in all, I am very pleased with my run. To my surprise, I was very emotional at the end. I think this year’s marathon will be one that’s talked about for years to come and I can say “Yes, I ran the 2013 Country Music Marathon. What a mess!” It’s a badge of honor.

*Read more about my love of running, why I run, and my tools for running

My race results. I had a slower back half, especially the last six miles. But hey, it was my first and a definite PR (personal record, for my non-runner friends)

Over to you: I’d love to hear from any of you about my running experience and other runners from the Country Music Marathon.