Run It Fast®

It is eighty miles from my home to Nashville. Give or take a few miles. It depends on where in town you are going. Yesterday I was going to LP Field, the place where most Country Music runners park.

I got up at 3:30 a.m. drove I-40 blurry-eyed. Once parked, I headed across the Shelbly Street Pedestrian Bridge, joining a stream of runners. A slate gray morning light that earlier had hit the downtown towers now turned red. I hoped to meet a Twitter pal I’ve never seen.

I was assigned Corral 6. Always before I’d started from Corral 1 so as to lower the gun time used in state records. This year it didn’t matter. Even though I wore a marathon bib number I intended to run the half marathon. And I intended to run it slow. State record was a non factor.

Intended to run the half because on Monday I’d run the Boston Marathon, and by some miracle actually finished it, although I’d not run much prior in a couple of months. So wasn’t going to run 26.2 again so soon.

Read the full story by Dallas Smith by clicking HERE

This is the medal that the finishers of the Dry Creek Trail Marathon received on February 23, 2014 in Ashland City, Tennessee.

That’s right….no medals were given to finishers of this first year event. Hopefully, if this event continues, they will step it up, especially for $85.

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[medal photo submitted by RIF #1 Joshua Holmes – follow him on Twitter @bayou]

Nashville resident Robbie Bruce is organizing an impromptu marathon, half marathon, 10K and 30K this weekend simply called the 26for26 Run.

Twenty-six being the number of victims from the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newton, Connecticut. The #26 also being the number of miles in a marathon (26.2).

Money raised through the marathon, scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Saturday in front of the Nashville Running Company Store, 1105 Woodland Street, will go to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund, organizers said.

Runners can choose to go either 6.5, 13, 19.5 or 26 miles and are asked to donate at least $1 per mile run.

To make a donation, visit the X3 Endurance website.

Over 350 runners have committed to run one of the distances according to the Facebook Invite Page. Will more or less than that number actually show up? Hopefully hundreds will show up to help raise a bit of money for the families devastated by the lone gunman.

26.4.26 Run for Sandy Hook Facebook Page

You can help spread the word of this race by hitting the LIKE button on this post to share on your Facebook wall or by Tweeting it to your followers.

This is the medal for the Lady Speedstick Women’s Half Marathon that was held on September 22, 2012, in Nashville, Tennessee.

It’s a big and shiny medal! Also cool that it incorporates the guitar and music sheet into the medal as a nod to Nashville. Here are a few more photos of it modeled by some fun crew/runners:

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[medal photos submitted by RIF #40 Scott Stader – follow him on Twitter @ScottStader, Barbara Mitchell – follow her on Twitter @barbintn, Kristen Smith – follow her on Twitter @ksmith71704, and RIF #45 Leanne Dibrell]

The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon has become one of the most popular marathons in the country. It’s a cult like event full of some of the best and most interesting runners from across the United States.

Last year the event sold out in 4 minutes!

So this year, naturally, the process to garner entry into the race has been changed to enable a more equal chance to all hoping to run the marathon. Instead of it being a speed push/refresh (your browser) contest to see who gets in to the event.

Monkey Trent (RD) sent over these instructions on how registation for the 2012 race will happen:

PAY ATTENTION: Registration for 2012 will involve a weighted lottery. Registrants will be directed to the registration website, below. The registration website will be open for one week. That is, you will have one week to put your name in the hat. After this weeklong period closes, we will use a weighted lottery to select those who will have the misfortune of running the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon this Fall. If selected to run your credit card will be charged $80, and we will notify you of your poor luck. If you are not selected to run, you can thank your lucky stars.

Approximately 300 runners will be selected by the lottery to run the marathon.

Please note: there will be an option to make a $180 donation to the Friends of Warner Parks, which will allow you to bypass the lottery and get right in. This option will be available to the first 20 registrants who take this offer, on a first come, first served basis.

Registration for the lottery should open on August 1, 2012 at 8AM Central Daylight Time. Registration for the lottery will close on August 8, 2012 at 8am. The lottery to be held a short time later.

When registration opens, you can Click Here to access online registration. Until then, there is really no point in trying.

Oh, and all the usual stuff applies. That is, please bring an ID with you to packet pickup. It is reasonable to bring your confirmation email. We will not be offering refunds if you do not start, do not finish, do not have fun or do not PR. Or really for any other reason. You may not transfer your registration. To repeat, no refunds, no transfers. Since registration is capped, yours may keep out another runner. Therefore, we ask that you show up ready to run on race morning. If you cannot make it, please try again next year. Regardless, we will offer you a good run.

Good luck to all who attempt to register. I’m hoping for equally good (or is it bad?) luck so that I can see you there.

The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon will take place on November 18, 2012 at 8:00am CST just outside of Nashville, Tennessee.

Here is a sneak peek look at the finisher medals for the 2012 Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon that will be handed out on April 28, 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee.

You will also notice the medal for Mini Marathon which is a massive 2.62 miles long and costs about the same as the regular marathons.

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

Registration for the 6th Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon opened at 8:00 am this morning. It closed before 8:04 am after selling out in less than four minutes. 3 minutes and 58 seconds to be exact.

The Monkey course is one of the most challenging road marathons in the United States. It includes 3,700 feet both of ascent and descent, nearly 7,500 feet of total elevation change.

Race Director ‘Monkey Trent‘ had the following to say when I asked him about the Flying Monkey Marathon selling out in less than four minutes:

Every year, my faith in humanity diminishes as more and more people want to come flog themselves in our useless, rinky dink race.

Even worse, many people don’t learn from their mistakes and come back, year after year. While I am not a terribly religious Monkey, I think this is pertinent: (Running Reverend) Dallas ‘Mt. Juliet’ Smith reminds me that Proverbs 26:11 teaches, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”

Remember last October when marathon runners across the world threw a fit when the Boston Marathon filled in 8 hours?

Yeah, exactly!  FOUR MINUTES!

If you didn’t have your credit card information memorized then you got shut out this morning.

An anonymous marathoner had this to say about the race filling up:

I was on at 8:00 a.m. August 1 to register, finished the first page, selected “continue” and was told it was full. What a disappointment.

I talked to several disappointed ‘fools’ this morning who had similar stories about getting shut out.

The race is popular because of the difficulty level and scenic views it provides overlooking Nashville.  It doesn’t hurt that the Monkey has awesome swag, a unique finisher’s wood/medal, and a finisher’s potluck buffet of goodies and beer that would cost you $25 a plate in a big city.

All the goodies and food are included with your registration.

Monkey has a high retention rate of runners from year to year because the race serves as a bit of a homecoming for several elite and popular marathoners from around the country.

No one runs off after this marathon (even if they had the legs remaining to do so). Almost everyone hangs around afterwards for the food, drink, and fellowship among friends and with runners they have only read about or seen from a distance before.

The popular cult marathon takes place just outside of Nashville in the Harpeth Hills every November.

Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Website

RELATED: The 10 Best Marathons in Tennessee

Here is the finisher’s medal from the 2011 Greenway Marathon that took place in Nashville, Tennessee on March 27, 2011.

The race was won by Chris Herren (2:33:39).

Solid bling for just $20 bucks from a small marathon.

Greenway Marathon Website

Greenway Marathon (Joshua Holmes, Jeff Matlock, Chris Estes, Trent Rosenbloom, Tom Smith)

Mt. Juliet’s Chris Herren won the 2nd annual Greenway Marathon on Sunday with a winning time of 2:33:39.

Meredith Smith, of Ashland City, was the top female with a time of 3:21:09.

The 26.2 mile marathon is held along the Greenway in Nashville, Tennessee.

Greenway Marathon Top 15 Finishers

1. Chris Herren (Mt. Juliet) – 2:33:39
2. Meredith Smith (Ashland City) – 3:21:09
3. James Barnard (Oak Ridge) – 3:23:47
4. Gary Adcock (Springfield) – 3:27:23
5. Sue Scholl (McMinville) – 3:29:14
6. Charlie Taylor (Gallatin) – 3:29:45
7. Chris Estes (Murfreesboro) – 3:35:24
8. Trent Rosenbloom (Nashville) – 3:49:21
9. Jeff Matlock (Ashland City) – 3:49:21
10. Mark Payne (Brentwood) – 3:54:26
11. Tom Smith (Nashville) – 3:58:18
12. David Etheridge (Paducah, Kentucky) – 4:04:12
13. Joshua Holmes (Jackson) – 4:12:50
14. Sulaiman Seriki (LaVergne) – 4:16:46
15. Jennifer Whitley (Murfreesboro) – 4:21:14

Greenway Marathon Race Website

RELATED: The 10 Best Marathons in Tennessee

The finisher’s wood medal from the 2010 Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee. The race takes place in November and is one of the most challenging marathons in North America.

RELATED: Ben Schneider Wins 2010 Flying Monkey Marathon (Results)

Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon Website