Nashville, TN
April 24, 2004
4:42:00
As a medical student, I did a rotation at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. I really liked the city and hoped to get back. When I saw an opportunity to run the Country Music Marathon there, I jumped at the chance.
Roxane decided that she would try this whole marathon thing, too, so we trained as a couple. I generally prefer to run and train alone, but of course I couldn't say no, even if I wanted to. Besides, this was something that I wanted to share. If she caught the marathon bug, all the better!
We would do our long runs on the weekend together. We weren't great partners on the road, I found out. She is a much more explosive runner, doing better at short distances, while I did better at longer, slower runs. I don't talk much on a training run. If anybody knows Roxane, enough said. In the end, we worked out our "differences" and completed the 4 mos training program. She was bothered by blisters and poor fitting shoes during much of her training.
The start of the race was delayed by thunder storms. The clouds eventually lifted and the race started. Many of the bands didn't show up or stopped early because of the weather. It was fairly warm and humid by the end, and the course was fairly unremarkable. Roxane did great. At mile 19 or so she was smiling and chatting up the other runners. She said to me, "I feel great. I'm already planning my next one!" "Not so fast....." was my reply. No sooner had we passed mile 20 when she crashed right into the wall. Our pace slowed, but we finished together. Her feet looked like hamburger afterwards, and I am still amazed that she was able to finish. We enjoyed a post race meal of sweet potato pancakes at The Pancake Pantry, a Nashville treasure.
I was very proud of Roxane for training for and finishing the marathon, and I was happy to share something that was such a big part of my life with someone who is the best part of it.
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