I take my hat off for Nashville
No offence New York, Boston and Chicago, the marathons you arrange I am sure are great, but if there is one marathon you should run in the US it is the Nashville Country Music Marathon. Take that from someone who in the past has signed up for both Chicago and New York…
At the time I was living in Atlanta, Georgia, approximately a 4 hours’ drive (or a week or so run) from the heart of country music. Before I ran the marathon in Nashville I had never been there. This did not stop me from having some fairly strong prejudices of the city. Prejudices that turned out to be exactly that, prejudices. Some 38 hours and 14 minutes before the start two of my friends from Sweden landed at the Hartsfield Atlanta Airport. I welcomed them with three hats in my hands. As a child I learned that you should try to adapt to local customs when traveling, and my thought was that if one does not wear a hat in the heart of country land the best case scenario is being laughed at by the locals, worst case scenario they may kick you around for a bit. It would be like entering the Stureplan district in Stockholm (known for where the upscale party elite is hanging out) without the at Stureplan compulsory characteristic unfriendly “looking down at others” look.
Two days later myself and Gunnar stood at the startline in Nashville. We had placed friend number 2, Mango, with his hat on somewhere along the racetrack. Standing at the start line to a marathon is something special. The air is somehow filled with the expectations from the thousands of runners. And if there is one area where Americans are outstanding it is in the field of creating a great atmosphere. With only a few minutes left, the band starts playing the national anthem. Somewhat pathetic perhaps, but I get a bit carried away, my right hand automatically moves towards my heart “Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave”, it is magic. Just when my hand is about to touch my heart I hear Gunnar whisper “I need to take a leak” and quickly jumps into some nearby bushes. Judging from the eyes of the people around us this may not be a fully accepted activity to perform during the national hymn.
The race is centered around the downtown area and a bit like a flower with 3 leaves the runners are sent out on three different track sections. After each complete section you return back to the city center again. The first section is thorough nice neighborhoods and green areas. Everywhere there are people cheering and bands playing country music. This part of the race is fantastic, which probably also is partly due to the fact that one’s body still feels fairly fresh. The second part is fine but not as great as it goes through some industrial areas with fewer people looking. The last leave on the flower is however beautiful. The track now goes through some nice parks, passing by a golf course before it makes its way back to the city and the finish line. Lots of people and lots of country. I heard a story later that night about some runner who had been hit by a golf ball and had to stop the race with only a few kilometer left to run. The storyteller was a friendly but fairly drunk American fellow; hence some healthy criticism of the reliability of the source before taking the story for 100% true may be a good idea.
Gunnar ran his fastest marathon ever and completed it in less than 3 hours. Mango wore a hat for over 4 hours straight for the first time in his life. It was really just me that had a somewhat modest day with a time of 3h:47min. But that did not matter one bit, I couldn’t care less as it had been an absolutely fantastic day.
Later that night, as we entered the city to celebrate the successful day with some for some square-dancing at the country bars, we of course had our hats on. To my big surprise we were almost the only ones wearing hats. How is this possible I thought, in Nashville?? What is going on with the world, one day before you know it you may even get a friendly smile at Stureplan.
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