Country Music Half-Marathon: Hills and More...

Headed down to Nashville this weekend with my good pal Ford to run the Country Music Marathon. This was a monstrous event with over 30,000 runners total competing in the full and the half marathon.
The race can only be described as tortuous. One thing I did not anticipate was the long arduous hills in the Nashville area. There were uphill sections of the course that stretched over a mile. In some of the residential areas there were steep grades to climb. On top of that, the temp was hitting 70 degrees mid-way through the race and continued to climb. The elements of heat and hills are something Columbus runners aren't as conditioned to and they really took their toll.
Regardless, I ran hard and did reasonably well considering the hilly course. There were 19,416 runners in the half-marathon and I finished 1,183 with a time of 1:45:48. Not the sub-100 minutes I had hoped for but nonetheless OK considering the evil hills.
Felt wasted and drained after the race so I drank two guiness which made me feel a little better for awhile. I took a nap and headed home. I love Nashville but next time I visit it'll be to drink beer and relax.