Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon- November 20^th, 2016

Tennessee became the 21^st State on my 50 state marathon Journey and we decided to take a family road trip with the kids to Nashville for Thanksgiving and complement the race with festivities. The drive from Missouri city to Nashville was over 12 hours but we were up to it. The plan was for me to work from home on Friday and we would go as a family to pick Natasha up from school and get right on the road, drive as far as we could before we needed to get some sleep and then drive the rest of the way on Saturday. Getting around Houston during commute time in the rain was slow going but once we were north of the city we made good time. We stopped off at Quality Inn in Carthage Texas the first night, and then through Arkansas and Tennessee on Saturday. Rolling into the hotel in Dickson, TN on Saturday night my daughter spotted the Best Western sign an announced that she could see the hotel. Mitchell (my four year old) asked her “what to do you want a medal? GET OUT! (of the car)”.

Race Morning

Nashville experienced a cold snap and there was frost on the ground. I had plenty of cold weather stuff with me so this wasn’t an issue other than the groaning we would hear from the kids waiting around for the race to start when it was this cold. We got to starting area early and stayed warm in the car until it was time run.

The Flying Monkey is run in Percy Warner Park in Nashville and takes pride in being one of the toughest marathons in the country. The race director, Monkey Trent, refers to the participants as idiots in pre-race emails describing the terrain of the park. Although from the mountains, I am currently a flatlander. Fortunately, my plan for this race was to take whatever the day gave me and to enjoy a scenic run in the park.

The terrain might not be great for a PR run but the layout of the park for a runner and three family spectators was perfect. Beth and the kids would spend the morning hiking and playing with other kids while I ran. There would be a post-race potluck which we dutifully had brought food for.

Monkey Trent gave his announcements and recognized groups of runners who had run all of the previous Monkeys as well as some folks who had run an ultra the day before and then we were off. The race started in a field and we charged into the woods Spartan style and on to leaf covered asphalt path for the rest of the day.

My watch didn’t save splits from the race and they wouldn’t tell much anyway because of the elevation change- the GPS and the mile markers were not in sync. We ran Nashville’s 11.2 mile loop twice with some other roads tacked on so that each time we ran up a big hill on the front half of the course we would get to run down it during the second part. The bad part of that was knowing that every nice downhill during the first 13.1 miles of the Monkey would be an uphill later in the race.

Of course, Trent had not only added the “Idiot” label to each of the mile markers but also put “motivational” signs up around the course such as “All the Good Looking People have already finished, They are out of beer at the finish line, you paid for this?, What were you thinking” and joyfully chalked on the steepest of hills were the words “This is not a hill”. Needless to say despite the fact that the running was tough there was a lot of fun on the course. The volunteers were as great as the views.

Notables:

·         I knew there were several folks dressed as Monkeys but I was actually passed at one point by a woman who was dressed as a banana- thankfully I beat her but still.   

·         Seeing the kids and Beth just before the halfway point was great and something I don’t usually get to have during a run. This was also about the point of the run where I saw Larry Macon (one time record holder for most marathons in a year) and Chuck Engle.

·         Early in the race I get to an aid station where the volunteers were busy so I grabbed a cup of Sports drink off the table and chugged it…..and then realized that it was pickle juice. I actually like pickle juice but a stomach needs to be prepared for it.

·         The Mile 24 aid station featured a gentleman claiming to be drunk guiding the runners to the aid station. At the aid station runners were offered the standard fare as well as shots of Jack Daniels is they wanted……we were in Tennessee after all.

·         The views within the park and of Nashville from the high points were stunning. Again, tough course, slow day, but what a great time.

Finish

I didn’t slow too much during the second half of the race but the effect of not really having any long runs other than the Houston half marathon was apparent. I hear someone say something about wanting to speed up for the last stretch and although I had started to get passed a bit, I decided to pick it up and passed a half dozen or so runners and made the left turn back to the field where the run had started to finish the day. As I entered the field I saw my family again and Mitch said he wanted to run with me so I grabbed his hand and we ran together until just before the finish line- I got passed back by a couple of runners but it was well worth it to keep instilling the joy or physical activity in my son.

Final Stats

4:51:30 (yep, more than an hour slower than my PR)

Place: 159 out of 308.

Post Script

After a feast at the post race potluck we headed to the Opryland Hotel on the other side of the city to take in some Christmas exhibits. The kids had fun hiking and filled me in on all of the things they had seen while waiting for me. I can’t say enough about how well run this race is, how quirky yet tough it is and how much everyone who participates in it seems to love it. It is one of the great parts of traveling around the country to get to experience runs like this.