I did exactly what I wrote that I was going to do.

It’s 3:27 pm on Country Music Marathon day, and after 3 hours recovering in the hammock, I’ve dragged myself back into the house to get this posted.

So the day begins at…(wait for it)…2:00am.  I had crashed the night before around 6pm and actually got several delicious hours of sleep.  Jesse stayed up til 10:30 or so; he’s still asleep now.  We get up at 2, get the bikes/gear loaded and were on the road to Nashville by 2:30.  (Why are Starbucks not open 24 hours?)  We park a couple of blocks away from Centennial Park, take the bikes out of the truck, gear up, ride 100 yards, and then….I have a flat.  Jesse, always our resident Fix-it-up-Chappie, changes it in no time (I know, I know, I have to practice it a few times before May 9th to get speedy at it, cuz Jesse ain’t riding that one with me).

Jesse doing the support thing he does so well
Jesse doing the support thing he does so well

Okay, crisis resolved, now back on the bikes.  Two things I forgot at home:  the printed directions of the marathon course, and my rear blinkie light.  But I HAD put in my caving headlamp, so in the interest of creativity, since I had a front LED headlight, I strapped on my headlamp backwards, set it to red blinky mode, and made do.  The directions were a bigger loss, although ultimately, Jesse was glad we didn’t have them cuz we would have driven ourselves crazy with street names and mileage, which would have slowed us down significantly.  Our technique instead was to look for police barriers and the massive fleet of wreckers towing cars parked along the route.  Really, it was us, the cops, and the wreckers.  With that system, we got ourselves completely through the marathon course (including a very creepy, very scary, very dark stretch of the greenway along the river) and ended up in Shelby Park.  We rode all the way to the chute at LP Field, where we turned around and logged another 10 miles or so in Shelby, til we needed to work our way back to the truck, the starting line, and my running shoes.

Timing was great on that and we put the bikes in the truck and got to the start line just as the wheelchair racers began.

me, simulating running
me, simulating running

The run was as expected.   I enjoyed the change in course that took us past the Hilton and the Schermerhorn (?), and I ran strong til about mile 8, where I hit the wall a bit, got through that, ran strong again til mile 11, where I walked and took a potty break, then jogged in the last mile with a time of 2:37.  (I’m built for endurance, not speed).

100 yards from the finish line
100 yards from the finish line
relaxing in the truck, post race
relaxing in the truck, post race

The trip home included a stop at where else:  Starbucks, and then Jesse’s lunch choice of Famous Dave’s BBQ.  I called dibs on both the shower AND the hammock, but Jesse had no intention of wanting either cuz he had a toy waiting at home:  a Hoe Ram (pic included for those of you who don’t know what the hell THAT is) he’s using to work on one of the ponds.

THIS is a hoe ram
THIS is a hoe ram

This went well til he BROKE it (hydraulic line something, something) at which point he did take a shower and went to bed, where he was til just a minute ago, when he transitioned out onto the living room couch where he’s asleep again.  I have spent my recovery time in the hammock, to which I am now returning…

No iPod today, because they don’t call it the Country Music Marathon for nothin.  Actually some pretty good bands, and they help entertain as the masses huff and sweat their way to the finish.

Thanks for reading…