Nashville

This last weekend Amy was in Nashville attending/working the ACVIM forum and invited me to come stay with her.  I have never been to Nashville so it was the perfect opportunity to see Nashville, Amy, and other veterinary friends.  I headed there early on Friday afternoon so I wouldn't hit rush hour traffic.  I got into Nashville around 3 pm and met up with Amy at the Gaylord Opryland where she was staying and also where the conference was being held.  The Gaylord is outside of Nashville but right next to the famous Grand Ole Opry.  We met up with my friend Laura, of Professional Hiatus fame, and a fellow veterinarian.  We all went to eat at a restaurant in the hotel.  After dinner, Amy and I went to the wine and cheese poster session and ran into one of my climbing friends from Davis, Jane, who is a small animal internist for IDEXX.  Luckily I mentioned that I was going for a run in the morning and she was able to help me with my route selection because she had gone on a few bike rides in the area.  I was going to follow surface streets around the hotel, but she suggested that I drive to another location and run there.  This ended up being very excellent advice (more on that later).  After the poster session Amy and I went and saw X-Men: Day of Future Past, because who doesn't love a little Hugh Jackman?

oops

I had a slight incident in the night that had the potential for derailing my morning run (and potentially the marathon).  At about 5 am Amy's coworker called because their car had a flat tire and they needed to borrow her rental car to get to a 1/2 marathon they were running about 35 miles away.  The phone call woke me up so I got up to pee and managed to bash my toe on Amy's bed.  I have previously broken my pinky toe on the coffee table one week before a race and had to miss the race and about 2 months of running leading up to the Disney World 1/2 marathon.  My friend/co-worker Melissa even got me some toe protectors as a secret santa present so I would not do this again, but I did not bring them with me and it isn't like I would wear them to bed anyways.

Toe protectors

My toe really, really hurt after I hit it on the bed, but I went back to sleep hoping all would be okay when I woke up in a few hours.  When I woke up at about 7 am I was tired, it was hot out (74 F and over 80% humidity), and my toe was definitely hurting.  I was somewhat unmotivated to run, but more so, I was really worried that I had broken my toe (again).  I had many thoughts racing through my head about what I would do if I did break my toe.  Could I go without running for a couple of months but still do the marathon with only 2 months training?  There is absolutely no way I am not running this marathon.  So, I put my running clothes and shoes on and thought I would see if I could do a 10 mile run.  It definitely didn't hurt as bad as last time I broke my toe.  I could walk on it without really limping, which gave me hope.  I drove over to Two Rivers Golf Course where I could meet up with the Music City Bikeway, a26 miles of path for cyclists, walker, and runners that runs along several rivers.  The Bikeway was much better than the streets with no sidewalks that I was planning on running on.  

Cumberland River Pedestrian Bridge

I was a little nervous about running on the path by myself since I didn't know how safe it would be.  I brought my pepper spray just in case.  There ended up being a ton of cyclists, walker, and runners but I did have some stretches where I was completely by myself.  Along with the humans on the path I saw a few squirrels, rabbits, and even a deer!  The section of the path I start on wound through the golf course and then an area with a skateboard park and water park.  It was about 1 1/2 miles before I got to the foot bridge that crossed to the other side of the Cumberland River.

Cumberland River

Coming down off the pedestrian bridge

Hello Mr. or Mrs. Deer

After crossing the river the pathway followed the river, although you couldn't see it most of the time because of the heavy vegetation on both sides of the path.  There was some really nice shady spots of the path, which helped to keep the temps a little cooler.  

Old train bridge

I was getting more and more confident that my toe wasn't broken and my marathon hopes would not be crushed.  Although my toe was hurting some, I felt pretty comfortable running.  I found it actually hurt worse when I walked or had to go downhill.  The biggest challenge of the run for me ended up being the lack distraction in the form of traffic lights, buildings, and turns on to different streets.  I found that I kept looking at my watch more and I got a little more bored without the change of scenery.  The last 1 1/2 miles after crossing back to the other side of the river was the worst.  There was very little shade and it was mostly uphill.  To make things worse what little water I did have was warm.   With one mile to go I found some cold water at the water park concession stand.  This give me increased enthusiasm for about 5 minutes before my misery returned. After I finished running, I found some chocolate milk at a gas station and then headed back to the hotel to shower so I could get some breakfast.  Amy had to work until 12:30 so I decided to head into east Nashville to eat at Marche, a place recommended to me by a couple of Nick's friends.  I got the omelette, which was so so.  Amy and I went back the next day and I had the grilled cheese (with brie and asparagus), which was much better.

Around the time I got back to the hotel after eating Amy was wrapping up work at the conference.  We decided to head into Nashville to check out the sights.  It turns out it was also the week of the CMA Music Festival, so many of the streets were closed down and there were TONS of people.  Amy had come across this really cool guitar shop, Carter Vintage Guitars, and wanted to take me there first.  The guitars are like a work of art and I loved the paintings on the outside of the store.

CMA floating stage

After finishing at the guitar shop we headed into downtown where all of the CMA festivities were going on.  We checked out a few of the musical performances, visited the Johnny Cash Museum Gift Shop, and then went to the Ryman Auditorium for a tour.  The Ryman Auditorium was built in 1982 and was used for the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts from 1943 until 1974 when it moved to the current location.  Unfortunately we were not able to go inside because there was a concert going on.  At this point my toe really was not bothering me despite that we were walking around so I was pretty confident it wasn't broken.  **happy dance**

Ryman Auditorium (front)

Ryman Auditorium (side)

The final stop on our Nashville tour was going to see the Grand Ole Opry.  We decided it was something we had to do and luckily tickets were still available for Saturday night.

The show begins

The line up for the evening included: Jeannie Seely, Lindsay Ell, Jim Ed Brown, Ricky Skaggs The Whites, Billy Ray Cyrus, Bill Anderson, Mel Tillis, the Opry Square Dancers, Charley Pride, Bobby Osborne & the Rocky Top X-Press, and Craig Morgan.  Between Achy Breaky Heart and spawning Miley Cyrus, I was sort of interested in seeing Billy Ray Cyrus.  He put on a great show, including playing his famous song.

Billy Ray Cyrus

He even joined Ricky Skaggs to play Bluegrass Breakdown, which was the highlight of the night for me.  There is a video from the back of the stage of the performance here, but I prefer this one from a different night:

There was even a surprise appearance by Little Jimmy Dickens.  Jimmy is 93 years old and has been a member of the Opry since 1948!

Little Jimmy Dickens

The show closed out with Craig Morgan.  I had never heard of him before but he had a great voice and was very interactive with fans (leaning out in the audience so the girls could take a selfies with him). Side note:  I'm pretty sure that Dee Snider plays guitar for him (see picture below).

Craig Morgan

I highly recommend going to see a show at the Opry if you are in Nashville.  I am not a huge country fan and I loved the show.

I am now back in Atlanta and my toe is definitely not broken and has pretty much healed up so I signed up for the Disneyland Star Wars Half Marathon!!!!!

Just a reminder, you can still help save homeless dogs, cats, ewoks, and wookiees by donating to my Chicago Marathon Team PAWS fundraising page which can be found here.