Ready for Nashville

Just five days until the Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Half Marathon. I logged my last long training run this past weekend. I’m ready! I’m starting to get pretty excited too.

I’m starting the week trying to stay hydrated mostly. Concentrating on a more high protein, high fiber through Wednesday and then I’ll focus more on carb loading Thursday and Friday. I do have a short run planned for Wednesday and Thursday. Short runs at this stage are tempting to push the pace but I intend to make them nice easy pace runs and avoid the hills around my neighborhood.

The wifey and I will fly to Nashville on Friday instead of driving. Once we get through airport security in Augusta, GA things should be relatively stress free. The hardest part of the trip will be finding a healthy place to eat lunch. After lunch we’ll meet up with my daughter, son-in-law and the two grandkids at the motel. We’re hoping we can check-in early.

Brian, Somer and I will head over to packet pickup as soon as we can. Last year we were rushing a bit to get through packet pickup and get to dinner at an early time. We’re hoping to eat dinner a little earlier this year so there’s plenty of time to layout our gear and get a good nights sleep. I tried to get a reservation at an Italian restaurant near the motel but theyv’e been booked up for over a month now. Now we have to get somewhere early enough so we won’t have a terribly long wait. Eating a running friendly meal will be a challenge too. Since we’re flying instead of driving it’s pretty hard to supplement our food. Which reminds me I need to find a grocery store close to the motel.

Temperature for Nashville on Saturday is looking a little warm. There is a chance of rain but it looks like it shouldn’t interfere with the run. Last year we had about a 45 minute delay due to thunderstorms. Fingers crossed–no rain and hopefully a few degrees cooler than the forecast.

That’s it. I’ve done all I can do. Some parts will be easier this year because I’ve done it before. Other parts will be harder for exactly the same reason. Like remembering some of those not steep but very long hills. I had hoped to finish with a faster time this year but a few minor health issues forced me to cutback some of my training. That’s Ok. I’ll enjoy running with Brian and Somer and hanging out with 30,000+ runners for a few hours. All is good.

13 Days Until Nashville!

I know I haven’t posted in a while but that doesn’t mean I’ve been sitting on my butt. With work commitments, March Madness (NCAA Basketball), “The Masters” in town, Major League Baseball starting up it’s been hectic.

Thirteen days until the St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Half Marathon! I’m starting to get a little excited about heading to Nashville again. My training is going well. Ran 11 miles this morning and I plan to get a 12 mile run in next weekend. I’m running slower than I was at this time last year. Oh well, it’s not like I’m going to win in my age category. I’m out there for the fun of it. Yeah, for non-runners I’m sure that sounds crazy. If you’re reading this then you are probably a runner to so I know you get it.

Take the time to enjoy your surroundings.

Looking forward to hanging out with my daughter and her family. Brian & Somer are running with me in Nashville–just like last year. I don’t think any of us are where we were hoping we’d be at this time in our training. It’s been a little harder this year for sure. Can’t explain why really, it just is what it is I guess. I’m not sure if Brian will run with us this year or go on his own. As slow as I’m running this year, Somer may leave me in the dust too.

Help Me Help St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Training up for Nashville isn’t the only thing I’m working towards. I’m raising money to support the outstanding work that the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital does to help so many children and their families. My goal is to raise $200 for every mile I run. That’s $2620. I’m getting close but I’m still $665 short of my goal. Please help me reach my goal by visiting my Fundraising Site and making a donation:

http://heroes.stjude.org/rickhannon

That’s a wrap for now. Looking forward to Nashville and I’ll try to post once or twice before the run. In the meantime, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE support my fundraising campaign for St. Jude.

Sidebar: I live in the suburbs of Augusta, GA; the hometown of the Godfather of Soul, Mr. James Brown so I have to give him some credit for the use of “Please, Please, Please”.

I’m outta here. Thanks for visiting.

??? Just looked at my blog stats at it appears my post in the works got posted two weeks ago and then I did the final edit today. HA! I told you I’ve been busy. I didn’t even notice I had auto post turned on.