This was my first time to run the Nashville Country Music 1/2 Marathon, and my first time to run a "major" race out of town...with a hotel stay and all. First let me say, upon arriving in downtown Nashville Friday afternoon, about 2:00 o'clock, 80 percent of the 30,000 runners and friends seemed to be there as well. The streets were jammed packed and traffic was a nightmare. Streets were filled with out of town cars, locals trying to get home from the office, and several streets seemed to be in the process of shutting down for the next day's race. It was a recipe for massive gridlock. This was the second most annoying part of the weekend.
We finally got to a parking lot somewhat close to the Convention Center, parked the car and walked a few blocks to the packet pick up event. We waded through the sea of people, picked up my packet, briefly walked through the expo, and then headed back to the car. My wife has MS and the walking and the dense crowd of people made her nervous and uneasy. I was lucky about getting through the Expo though, because while we were there I was able to purchase a shuttle pass. The shuttle passes were sold out through the website, so I was thrilled to get one at the Expo.
The hotel was very nice. The complimentary pasta dinner Friday night was good...real plates instead of plastic plates would have been nicer, but the service was outstanding, the food was good and we enjoyed not having to leave the hotel after navigating the horrible traffic all afternoon. We returned to the room, and I set out my gear and packed my bag with everything I would need early the next morning. Early to bed and then early to rise. However, a party was going on in the room next door until way into the next day. My wife said she heard them laughing and going on until 4:00 AM. It didn't help my sleep, that was for sure.
The alarm clock went off, and I slowly got out of bed, took a shower, got dressed, packed my stuff and headed down stairs to the lobby. The sack breakfasts as part of our hotel package was awaiting as were the buses all lined up outside the hotel. The skies were threatening, but still dark. I was so thrilled I had gotten the bus pass the day before at the Expo. On top of everything else, I was glad I didn't have to navigate the road to the race start. Once I got on the bus, the race experience seemed to work like clockwork, unlike the hectic traffic jams of the day before, or the all night laugh-in party in the room next door.
With more than expected traffic on the interstate, we cruised right on by down to the West End for the start of the race.
