What a FUN Spring Marathon! The race was on a Saturday and we flew in from Chicago on Friday morning. Once we landed, it was a quick drive to our hotel in the downtown area. The nice thing about Nashville is there are plenty of hotels, reasonably priced, in walking distance to the expo, race start/finish, concert after and restaurants/bars etc.. So if you are
not from the area it is very easy to get around on foot!
The expo on Friday was well organized and had plenty of vendors. Due to the large size of the race ( it is both a half and full) there are so many people in town that it took awhile to find a place to eat the day before the race. I would encourage making reservations.
The morning of the race was well organized with plenty of port a potties and clearly marked corrals, however they weren't strict in enforcing if you were in the correct corral.
The course took you through the downtown area, neighborhoods, industrial area, and the last few miles were in a park. The course is hilly, but if you train appropriately you will be okay. I didn't like that in two spots it was essentially an out and back or a loop. I prefer not seeing the same things again so it became mentally challenging the last six miles when the course route was this way.
I did love all of the energy from the crowds, cheerleaders and bands a long the way!! It was very entertaining and helped carry me through the race. It was a warm day so plenty of people were out with their hoses, sprinklers etc.. to cool us down. The race volunteers also provided cold wet sponges to cool us off.
I felt that there was plenty of water, Gatorade and GU provided. I did think at a few stops the volunteers were very slow to hand off the cup as I was running in. I felt their were also plenty of medical tents, volunteers and police officers on the way to make sure it was a safe and ran smoothly.
After crossing the finish line there was plenty of food, beverages etc.. The medical tent was amazing and very helpful also. The post-race party was so much fun. They had a free 2 hour concert for the runners with country stars from the TV show Nashville! All in all it was one of the most fun, yet challenging, destination marathons I have ran!