Boulevard Bolt 2008 - Nashville, TN

This morning was my first race with more than a couple hundred people in it (7900 roughly) so I thought I'd give a race report.

5:15 - 1st alarm went off and I groaned.

5:30 - 2nd alarm went off and surprisingly I got up (a typical work morning takes about 5 alarms and 2 hours). This could be because I was done icing (my leg, not a cake) and in bed by 9:15 last night.

5:40 - With contacts put in and eye buggers removed I start to get ready. I fired up the toaster and got my pre-race bagel with peanut butter. I proceed with my soon-to-be-patented method of intermittently getting dressed, stretching and eating the pb bagel. If you're thinking that's a sight that you don't want to see.. you are correct!

6:00 - Flip on the morning news, not for any purpose really, just because I've always wondered what they talk about at 6:00 am. Turn on the laptop and check the current temp (37) and race time temp (41). Double check that I have my new Nike gloves and hat. Update MySpace and Twitter with my current status because I'm sure everyone I know got up early to verify that my statuses matched what they already knew I was going to be doing.

6:20 - Jeffery shows up right on time. We pin on our numbers and get ready to head out.

6:30 - Walk out into what is most certainly NOT 37 degree weather! We head towards the race and in my zombie mode (it's because I was talking instead of paying attention) I head towards downtown like I'm going to work.

7:05 - After a slight detour we arrive at the race and park probably a half mile or so away. We walk over to the registration tents where I pick up my timing chip. Potty break (in the one that wobbled so I had to keep a foot planted in a certain corner to keep it from tipping) before the huge crowd gets in line. Jo Dee Mesina was on stage as part of the pre-race festivities, but not singing. I think the mayor was up there too, with a race number on.

7:26 - We are in line (and by line I mean huge crowd of people) near the start figuring out where to go. 2 women ask me what time it is since they see my Garmin and I explain that we were just discussing how I didn't know how to find the time on it. I eventually figured it out.

7:45 - Still no sign of John or Amber or anyone else that we know there. They have corrals for different pace groups so we get in the Under 45 Minutes thinking that would probably be about right. A rabbi from 1 of the sponsoring churches offers the longest prayer I've ever heard.

7:55 - The start of the wheelchair division which only included 1 person. I guess it's awesome to know that no matter what you get 1st place in your division, but that's still gotta suck to start all by yourself.

8:00 - Someone forgot the number 3 and announced "1....2....." and so we begin... to walk. A couple of minutes later we get to a huge banner stretched over the road that says "START" which for some reason I thought signified the start line so I started my Garmin. 10 seconds later we crossed the real start line which was the chip mat.

And we're off!

0 mi - Immediately I regret the corral we got in because there is no way anyone was on a 9:00mpm pace. I weaved around people and ran on the grass median to try to get up to the group I should be with, all the while my Garmin beeping at me telling me to speed up.

0.9 mi - I see the "1 Mile" sign ahead and really thought I had already gone farther than that. True I should have known, but I was only paying attention to pace on my Garmin.

1.66 mi - We see the 1st group of runners coming up the other side of the street which would put them around the 3.5 mark.. Discouraging.

2 mi - Water station and wisely this time I decide to come to a complete stop for 3 seconds so I can drink the water instead of wearing it. Success!

2.4 mi - The turn-around; which means more uphills than the first leg and the sun in my face instead of on my back.

3 mi - After running downtown so much my body is used to brief stops for traffic, lights, unobservant pedestrians, etc. So at 3 miles with only a 3 second stop for water so far I decided to do what I've been used to doing in my normal runs. Well I didn't "stop", but I did walk for 5 seconds once I got to a flat section. I've found that sometimes it does me better in the long run to take a few seconds to walk and re-energize.

3.5 mi - At this point I am absolutely roasting. My warm hat becomes a sweat towel and my long sleeves get pushed up. Thank goodness I didn't wear tights or a jacket or anything else that would have made it worse. Although I would like to thank LOTS of women who did rock the tights this morning. You have no idea how much you motivated me! You can call me a pig or sexist or whatever you want.. I'm a guy and they were motivating.

4.25 mi - I look up and realize the woman running 5 feet in front of me is the same woman who I battled with in my last 5 mile race, the Halloween Hunt. I immediately told myself there is no way she was beating me this time and HTFU from my 9:00 pace to around 8:00. I will now have to change my argument that I've posted on RA a few times about how you should always be running your best and someone else shouldn't affect how you run. I guess the correct explanation is you should always be running your best, but sometimes another person can bring out something that you didn't realize you had in you. If it hadn't been for her I would not have sped up which you will see would have made a huge difference, pending official results.

4.9 mi - I round the corner of cheering people (none of which know me) and UP A HILL to the finish line. There's something strangely exciting about that final moment, with everyone cheering and encouraging you that I think is part of why I enjoy running. My pace jumps to around 6:00 mpm for the finale.

5.0 mi - I did it! I stop the Garmin as I cross the finish line and once I'm walking I look down at it. It says 43:04. No way. Take away the 10 seconds before I crossed the chip mat and that gives me a time of 42:54 which would beat my only other 5 mile race by 3 seconds. I will wait to get really excited until the official results come in, but regardless it's better than I was expecting to do. I guess the brief walking break didn't hurt me after all!

Now it's Turkey Time! Happy Thanksgiving! :D