Shower, fresh clothes – and cameras. Post-marathon. Traded running shoes for boots Saturday afternoon & quick-toured Music City with Sis & family. Common theme: UP ⬆️ Whether the State Capitol or food apps on Broadway, no less than 3 flights of stairs. Good stretch after 26.2 miles of morning asphalt.
first post-LUNCH climb: Tennessee’s State Capitol Building. Located downtown, high hill kitty-corner from the weekend’s rented digs. 3 US Presidents from the Volunteer State. $20 Jackson, James Knox Polk & Lincoln’s VP Andrew Johnson. All prominently memorialized on Tennessee’s state grounds. Capitol Building: lotta Old World charm/columnar architecture, flag-topped dome. Window-peek downstairs showcased a 19th century courtroom re-purposed for present day press talks. Building poised high, surrounded by glass skyscrapers & multiple sports stadiums (football/hockey/baseball). Pretty view of Nashville. HUGE growth in Music City.
Next up: wild Honky Tonkin’ Broadway. Soooo many people & competing noises (not my scene) – but today an improved attitude, flanked with FAMILY. Thanks Stephen, Sis & Paul. Friday: ‘I can’t eat here, it’s too loud.’ Today: smiled, nodded (still couldn’t hear) & ate my apps. Pack eater I guess. LOL> Frown upside down 😊
TRIP HIGHLIGHT: the GRAND OLE OPRY. No Nashville trip complete without THIS experience. Sis pre-purchased tickets at the Ryman, first shows of winter. Performances return every November after summering in nearby Opryland. Original building, same wood floor, same church pews – circa 1892. Rustic seating bit rough on the rump/big memory flood of childhood revivals past. 1950’s ’60s ’80s and American Idol, Scotty McCreery – Opry had it all tonite. Hillbilly talk, square dancers & Opry laughter. Nashville HIGHLIGHT ❤️
2 long hugs & the weekend done, magic over. Goodnite Music City. Bye, Sis.
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- post-marathon stair climb
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- $20 Jackson
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- US President #11
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- Lincoln’s VP successor
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- Nashville ‘MUST’ experience
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- Ryman Auditorium, 1892
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- MUSIC City
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- Idol headliner
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- Colorado Welcome ❄️
Welcome to the Opry
Opry Pt 2: Scotty McCreery
FAMILY that marathons together, finishes together – AND we’re crazy fit too! Add that to your 2019 resolutions 😊
7am marathon start, two blocks from my Airbnb sleeps. Sis & husband showed half-past 6, winter-layered & ready to run. Sis: full ‘Fatima’ gear (headwrap, blanket, scarf – only the eyes showing). BIG day! Stephen’s first Half, 13 miles of Nashville asphalt awaits. Welcome to the madness we call MARATHON ❤️
Woke today feeling GREAT, everything clicking. Sunshine & 29 degrees. Running with Sis headphone-free. We’re blood. Head crazies totally acceptable. Unleash the Kraken! Crazy breeds crazy. Half/FULL combined Start. Sported a sexy $4 jacket purchased from neighborhood consignment. Meant as an early run throwaway, wore PROUD all 26. Tennessee is cold folks – at least in November. LOL>
No gun, no speeches – bunched together, we moved as the mass moved. Timing mat Start 2 minutes ahead; Stephen dropped us 10 minutes later. We’d catch him at mile 8, then see him again mile-half from the Finish (as Sis & I looped marker 14/2nd lap). Tough watching 70% of the field end early. What town doesn’t have 26 miles of city street & trail? ARGH. Rant complete. Y’all know [I’m] notta fan of 13 mile repeats.
Galloway Run-Walk-Run. Sis lives & breathes by it. I’m still a naysayer walking mile One. HOWEVER with a chronic/consistent mile 20 fade, completely OPEN mind today. Sis runs, I run. Sis walks, I walk. No need to overthink things, she’s already done that. We share DNA – crazy breeds crazy.
Stopped/selfied at Nashville’s NFL stadium, home of the Titans (marker 4). We’d tap this oval EIGHT times, two 360-degree loops. What was I doing taking pictures? Eight ticks ’round leaves a mental imprint. HA!
Industrial Park smells next 2 miles (glue I think), looped back 2 miles – and repeat. UP over the bridge, high FIVES to Stephen & Paul – then, introduced Sis to one of the ripest Porta-Potty experiences EVER. Ick.
(AWESOME mile 16 SURPRISE) 3-mile stretch of marathon-only GREENWAY. Trees on the left, trees on the right. 3 miles out, 3 miles back. Late Fall colour, very nice. Well done race folks. FAVE part of day’s run. 17, 18, 19. Kept ticking ‘em off. Stopped, popped meds. 20, 21, 22. Still smiling, still chatting it up. Who AM I today? Marathon solution DISCOVERED: Sis in a suitcase.
Once more round the Stadium (’cause 7 times just ain’t enough) then bridg’d UP to 25. First twinge of pain for Sis. Ran all day with a muscle TEAR. No griping, no excuses – crazy STRONG. I could definitely take a note.
Downhill stretch, convoluted network of lefts/rights, an abandoned street – then, FINISH SUCCESS. SIX marathon shares with Sis. Hawaii & Dublin, most exotic thus far. So stay tuned. There’s a yodel & an Alp coming Fall 2019. Feelin’ a new European PR!
Nashville Marathon
November 10, 2018
Name Halfway Time City/State Bib#
K R Haga 2:07:23 4:36:42 Louisville CO 281
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- winter-layered & ready
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- Titans Stadium
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- Shelby Bottoms Greenway
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- FAVE part of day’s run
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- all SMILES finish
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- FAMILY that marathons together, FINISHES TOGETHER
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- FAMILY bling 🥇
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- Sis’ wicked FUN Recap
Nashville Marathon
Been a week of fixes, week of discovery & only FOUR work days – this weekend, Nashville.
Saturday marathon, Friday flight to Tennessee – travelling: me & my parasite, tagalong coming no extra charge. EUS at Good Samaritan (endoscopic ultrasound) diagnosed the cause of my pancreatitis. Appears I brought back more than a marathon medal from Brazil last April. PEPE. That’s what Sis nicknamed me ‘alien baby’. Hot humid São Paulo. Bottled water everywhere I go, ‘cept when marathoning. Straight from the petri dish, drank cup after cup of parasitic agua. Aid Station water. ICK! Easy enough to cure, 60 days of pills. Will be Tuesday before my pharmacy can fill the script. Notta lotta folks needing Brazilian bug killer in Louisville Colorado. LOL>
Afternoon touchdown in Music City. Sis & husband in from St. Louis, Stephen flew from Boston – we’re ALL running tomorrow. Missed the family Hermitage tour (I was the only late arrival), still PLENTY of time for Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame.
Willie, Waylon & Reba. Elvis, Dolly, Minnie, Emmylou. One name recognition, ALL hillbilly icons. Distinct vocals, soul-touching songwriters. LOVE LOVED. Well done Nashville 👏
Early nite. Bridge-walked over Nashville’s Cumberland River, BBQ-dined on wild honky-tonking Broadway. City more reminiscent of New Orleans than Sunday morning chapel. LIVE music every diner door – a wave of vibration, sea of SOUND. This is Music City!
AirBnB downtown digs, GREAT location. Retreated early, marathon morn comes fast. EXCITED – got Sis to keep me company tomorrow. 26 miles of chit-chat ready; God help her. How-dee! 🙂
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- bluegrass & Andrew Jackson
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- Country Music Hall of Fame
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- Emmylou, Maybelle & Minnie
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- ELVIS
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- Outlaw Country
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- Dolly, Tammy & Loretta
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- Country Sunshine 🌞
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- one & only REBA
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- Fame’s Atrium Anthem: Will the Circle be Unbroken?
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- Nashville bridge-walk
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- Honky Tonkin’
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- PEPE the Parasite
