For at least the last twenty years, I have had a goal of running a marathon. While I’ve run several half marathons, I had never committed to doing the full distance until this year. Thanks to the encouragement and inspiration of several friends, I decided to run a marathon in 2025, before my 40th birthday this summer! I spent countless hours researching marathons all over the country to find the perfect race. My criteria was that I wanted a big race with crowds for the energy, that was well-organized, during the spring (so I could train in the Florida fall/winter), and in a region that would have nice weather, wasn’t too far, and was somewhere I wanted to visit. I had mentioned a few of my top contenders to my good friend and training partner and she got excited about the Nashville Rock and Roll Marathon. We quickly registered for the marathon and started making a plan! Shortly thereafter, two of my best friends from law school decided to join us for race weekend!

I’m sharing this post about my marathon experience for anyone looking for information about the Nashville Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon race. I found that while I could find short race reviews, I couldn’t find any more in depth blogs about the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon experience. I hope this post is helpful to future runners! You’ll find info about lodging, meals, the expo, the race, and things to do while you’re in Nashville. I’ll also give a little background on my running experience and training in case that helps give some context to my race experience.

Training and Experience

While I’ve been a runner since I was a kid, I’ve always gravitated toward middle distance running, so a marathon was a big commitment and change for me training-wise! However, it was a bucket list goal for me and once I signed up, nothing was going to stop me. For many years, I ran as my main form of exercise, but once I had my kids, I really scaled back on running and focused more on other types of workouts. I first started running less during and after my pregnancies because I preferred other forms of cardio, but during that time, I found I also enjoyed the increased variety in my fitness routine. The most I was running about a year and a half before the race was three times a week for a total weekly mileage of about 9-15 miles. Once I committed to the marathon, I started training four times a week in October, six months before the April race. During training, I gradually increased my weekly mileage until I reached my highest mileage week of 36 miles. I live in North Florida and was able to regularly train on hills to prepare.

Race Expo

The race expo was held on Thursday and Friday before the Saturday race at the Music City Center downtown. As this was the biggest race I’ve ever participated in, it was also the biggest expo. I was very impressed with the organization of the expo. From the moment I walked through the entrance, it was very clear where to go. There were clearly-marked stations for bib pickup, shirt pickup, and photo ops.

Next, I entered the merchandise area, where there was a plethora of branded race apparel for sale (much of it was lululemon!). I left with a new running hat and a shirt with all the marathoner names listed. From there, I entered another area where you could sign up for next year’s race, volunteer on the course, get information about the course, and try samples. The expo had live music throughout the day and even line dancing lessons! The final section of the expo had more gear and fuel for sampling and sale. In this area, there was also a station to get information on running with a pace group. The marathon offered pace groups for these projected finish times: 3:30, 3:45, 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, 5:00, 5:30.

The Race

Overall: I loved the Nashville Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon! It was certainly tough, but it was such an energizing and positive experience. The marathon course runs through the city’s most loved neighborhoods like 12 South and the Gulch and iconic landmarks including Broadway’s honky-tonks, Dolly Parton’s recording studio, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the minor league baseball stadium at First Horizon Park. The race finishes at Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans. The course was filled with crowds cheering on the runners and live music at stages set up every couple of miles.

My favorite moments were seeing my husband, sons, and parents cheering for me along the course. The course runs through the downtown area at a few separate times, so it is relatively easy for supporters to see their runners at more than one stop before meeting them at the finish area.

Some of my other favorite race moments were running through the baseball stadium and seeing myself on the big screen, running through the Mission Mile with photos of all of the children benefitted by St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, the beautiful (but brutal) golf course, and of course, running into the finish line chute! I also thoroughly enjoyed the live music throughout the course. Everytime I heard a band or DJ, I got a boost of energy to run faster!

Communication and Organization: The communication from the Rock and Roll series was minimal up until a few days before the race. While I would have appreciated more information sooner, the information provided the week of the race was excellent. Everything was very clear and I never had questions about what to expect on race weekend.

The corral organization in the morning was easy. My only complaint with the start line was that I wish they had more port-a-pottys. The lines were a little long and I ended up using the one in my corral as my corral was starting. I ended up having to start with the next corral, which was no big deal but might have been avoided.

Course: There is no sugar-coating that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville race course was tough – it is notorious for its rolling hills that were made more difficult by the heat. I had been used to training on hills and in fact, all of our long runs had more elevation than the race! However, most of the training runs were in much colder weather. We just got unlucky with an unseasonably warm race day. It was about 65 degrees and cloudy at the start and warmed up to around 74 degrees and sunny by the finish. The heat, humidity, and hills were tough for everyone!

Finish Area: The finish area had both positive and negatives. On the positive side, the chute to the finish line was lined with spectators cheering us on and helped me sail to the finish with a huge smile on my face! The path out of the finish area was very clear and the family meet up area was right outside so it was easy to find my family. On the negative side, I didn’t realize I wouldn’t be able to get back in the finish line area to get more water. I only got one bottle – with the heat, it would have been nice to have two! I was able to ask for water and Gatorade at a medical tent nearby. The bananas they gave out at the finish line were wet and mushy and the only other food provided was a small bag of Pirate’s Booty. I would have appreciated a bagel or something a little more substantial!

Beyond the runner’s finish area, there were food trucks, drink tents, and a stage for the post-race concert. I think the stage should have been closer to the finish area because while the live music was fantastic, the post-race concert was not very well-attended.

To leave the race area and go back downtown, you could get a rideshare, prepurchase a ticket on the trolley, or walk over the pedestrian bridge back to downtown. It was about a mile from the finish area to our hotel. After we walked over the pedestrian bridge, I just wanted to shower and eat something so we hopped in a pedicab. It was fun…until we were dropped off and charged $60 to go 0.5 mile. Definitely a ripoff!

What I would do differently next time

Being my first marathon, along with being a huge accomplishment, it was also a learning experience. My goals for the day were to finish and enjoy myself and I definitely accomplished both of those! If I did the race again, I would strongly consider joining a pace group. Because of my preference for and experience with shorter races, I have a tendency to go out faster than I should. I think a pace group would have helped me start out slower and maybe maintain more even splits. The other thing I would do differently is eat more of the “real” food offered on the course. I didn’t realize they would have food beyond gels so I had packed my own fuel, but I had a small bite of a banana and an orange slice provided at a fuel station around mile 21/22.

Lodging

One of my biggest concerns before the race was getting a good night’s rest. I had never competed in an out of town race and thus had never not slept in my own bed the night before a race. I am happy to say that my concerns were for naught as our hotel choice was perfect. We stayed at the Hyatt House Downtown Convention Center for race weekend. The hotel was comfortable and quiet, while still being close to the race start. It was about 0.5 miles to the start line, just the right distance for a walk to stretch our legs in the morning. We chose this hotel primarily due to the location and because we were able to get a room with a king and a comfortable sofa sleeper for our boys. Hyatt House provides a great breakfast that my family was able to enjoy on race day. It also had a great pool – our kids love to swim, so a dip in the pool was a necessity!

Restaurants

Another pre-race concern of mine was being able to get a pasta meal the night before the race, specifically pesto pasta with chicken. I tend to have a sensitive stomach before long runs and eating a light pasta dish with grilled chicken seems to work well for me during training. With the help of a college friend that lived in the area and some menu scouring, I selected PennePazza for my pre-race dinner. Unfortunately, so did many other runners. While the food was excellent, I can’t say I recommend it for a pre-race meal. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations and while I had been told earlier in the week that the usual wait is 10-15 minutes at most, we waited close to an hour to sit down. Once we were sat, I told the hostess we were ready to order and she said, “oh, you don’t order from a server, you just order on the website and it will be delivered to your table.” I felt like I had steam coming out of my ears at that moment because we could have just ordered the food to go an hour before and eaten it in one of the many open tables upstairs. Needless to say, if you go, make sure you go early or plan on ordering your food to go, and know that there are minimal menu substitutions allowed. On the positive side, the food is delicious and the restaurant is located in L&L Market, a casual, family-friendly shopping and dining area. There is a brewery, wine bar, boba tea shop, coffee shop, bakery, and Mexican and Thai restaurants.

After the race, our group met at Fifth and Broadway Assembly Food Hall so everyone could get what they wanted to eat after the race. I got a massive burger at Pharmacy Burgers – it was so big that despite running a marathon, I could only finish half! We all enjoyed Jeni’s Ice Cream for dessert. Assembly Food Hall was packed on a Saturday evening, but we were able to find a table and enjoyed listening to live music while we ate.

For breakfast on Sunday, we walked to the Pancake Pantry downtown. Pancake Pantry has been a Nashville staple since 1961, serving homemade pancakes dressed up in over 23 ways, as well as other breakfast options like eggs, omelets, and waffles. I have, without exaggeration, been thinking about their Santa Fe Cornmeal pancakes since 2011 and wanted to take my parents and the boys there. The unique cornmeal pancakes are filled with bacon, cheddar cheese, and green chiles. I’m happy to report they were just as good as I remembered!

Touristy things

One of the great parts about running a marathon is another city is you have a fantastic excuse to travel to and explore another city! While I didn’t have much “touristy” time during my marathon weekend, I’ve been to Nashville a few times over the years and can vouch for it being an awesome and fun city. Some of my favorite tourist activities from past visits in 2016 and 2010 are seeing the Tennessee State Capitol, visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame, exploring Centennial Park, and of course, seeing live music on Broadway. I think another good activity for marathoners would be to ride the Old Town Trolley (Hop on Hop Off) to explore the city while saving your legs for race day.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first marathon experience. Even though I thought I’d be a one-time marathoner, I’m already considering doing another (and then being done with the marathon haha). I’d love to hear in the comments, have you ever done a marathon or a Rock ‘n’ Roll race? What is your favorite race?