Run Music City! This unique event is jampacked with authentic Nashville music at every turn. Prepare to be immersed in music culture from the Health & Fitness Expo to the finish line when you join the St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series Nashville. Experience a legendary tour of Music City, passing iconic landmarks like Broadway, Music Row, The Gulch, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and more.
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series Nashville Marathon brings you through the city’s most iconic neighborhoods with rich history around every corner. The course takes you around Nashville, past many iconic landmarks, including Broadway’s honky-tonks, Dolly Parton’s recording studio, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and many more. End your day crossing the finish line at Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® is the official benefiting charity partner of the St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series. It’s because of the generous support of the Nashville community, people across the region and country that St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital continues to lead the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
Established in 1998, the Rock ‘n’ Roll® Running Series’ simple idea of making running fun has transformed both the U.S. and global running landscape by infusing the course with live bands, cheer teams, and entertaining water stations, creating a block-party atmosphere for participants and spectators alike. Focused on running, music, and community, race weekends kick off with a free Health and Fitness Expo showcasing the latest in running gear, sports apparel, health and nutritional information, and much more. Events culminate with an Encore Entertainment experience featuring eclectic musical artists from a variety of genres. With a goal of helping participants find the Beat in Their Feet™, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series features a Finish Line festival with entertainment including live bands, DJs, dance zones photo ops, food trucks and more!
Avg. Air Temp: 68°F/ °C
Airport: BNA
LESS
Hills, Humidity & Honky Tonks
Humidity hit hard, hills hit harder, but so did the memories. Music, miles, and perseverance made Nashville unforgettable. We ran, we sweated and we had a BLAST MORE
Humidity hit hard, hills hit harder, but so did the memories. Music, miles, and perseverance made Nashville unforgettable. We ran, we sweated and we had a BLAST
Yes, there are hills to climb
Drove to Nashville from South Carolina, stayed at the Marriott Courtyard downtown (nice hotel) we stayed on the 2nd floor facing the street, which may not have been a great … MORE
Drove to Nashville from South Carolina, stayed at the Marriott Courtyard downtown (nice hotel) we stayed on the 2nd floor facing the street, which may not have been a great idea because the traffic is loud on the weekend. Nashville is a party, food town!! Package pick-up was within walking distance from the hotel, nice little expo with some local vendors. The start line was also within walking distance from the hotel, very lively!! The crowd support throughout most of the race was awesome, especially in the neighborhoods. I was not ready for the hills on the course which made my bad knee even worse… lol. I didn’t stay around for the after party because of my knee, but it sounded great.
Still Rock n Roll to me - big city
Top level – this is a race that you want to attend if you looking for big events especially in Tennessee. Running downtown Nashville was on the bucket list In … MORE
Top level – this is a race that you want to attend if you looking for big events especially in Tennessee. Running downtown Nashville was on the bucket list In 2026, it was supposed to have rain and it turned out to be a bright sunny day. Everyone has already talked about the hills, so I will skip that.
Logistics – Traveling from out of town, we stayed in a local downtown hotel. This made the whole event much better by not needing to drive to the expo, start line. Just a quick ten minute walk. So much less stress.
Expo – this is the new state of Rock n Roll. Much smaller than in the past. Additionally, since partner with Lulu lemon – the prices are very high for extra clothing etc. Some other vendor, but not very big for the amount of people attending.
Course for good for seeing the city, no issues with corral management, in fact porta potties in the corrals. Bonuses for starting on Broadway and ending at the stadium – No worries that the start and finish are in different places. They are close.
Overall, the swag and communications were not as good as other big races like Cowtown, but still enjoyable and a must do for Tennessee.
Well-Run Race with Hills, Heat and Heart
Really solid race experience overall with a few tough spots that made it memorable. The start was one of the best parts and I was nervous after a not great … MORE
Really solid race experience overall with a few tough spots that made it memorable.
The start was one of the best parts and I was nervous after a not great corral experience with RNR Las Vegas—Nashville had super well organized corrals and a smooth, quick rollout. Huge bonus that everything lined up right outside where I stayed at the Grand Hyatt. It made race morning feel easy and low-stress, which doesn’t happen often.
The course was no joke early on. The hills hit right away and definitely forced me to lock in, and the heat and humidity added another layer of challenge.
The volunteers were incredible. Even when some aid stations were running low and people were scrambling to keep cups filled, their energy and effort never dropped. You could tell they were doing everything they could to support runners.
Also worth mentioning—the Lululemon swag. It’s pricey, but the quality is top-notch and actually worth it if you care about gear you’ll wear again.
Overall: great organization, convenient start, tough but rewarding course, and amazing volunteers. Just come ready for hills and weather.
Nash-Hill for sure
Pre-Race: We stayed at the Hilton Tempo hotel which was perfect location only 1 block from the start line and 0.5 mile from packet pick-up. I appreciated that packet pick … MORE
Pre-Race: We stayed at the Hilton Tempo hotel which was perfect location only 1 block from the start line and 0.5 mile from packet pick-up. I appreciated that packet pick up was close to the start area neighborhood. Keep in my that if you stay at the Hilton it’s at the TOP of the hill and you walk down into Broadway area where the bars and food are. We would walk down to that area twice a day which is only 0.50 mile walk each way but the mileage uphill starts to wear on you after a couple days.
Packet Pick Up: Was the same R&R experience as the rest. Not too many vendors. We were in/out in less than an hour. I was frustrated that I had gone into my account and changed the size of my t-shirt after having done R&R AZ and the shirts being too small. I did this well before they sent out the email and confirmed the change was in place. But they still gave me wrong size shirt. They had a special “exchange” table but you could only exchange from the selection others had exchanged so they did not have sz large. I tried to show them it was their error but they still would not do anything about it.
Race start: There were 21 corrals that spanned about 0.75 mile. Gear check was down by the McDonalds behind corral 21. I believe corals 1-10 were for marathoners. They had 3 porta potties in each corral and it was chaos with ppl trying to sort out any kind of line inside a corral. I opted to drop my gear bag off at 530am and walk back to hotel and then just waited until race start and used bathroom in hotel and walked right into my corral. Gear check was not ready at 530am either. Was about 20 min late to open.
If you are way back in the last corrals know that is uphill until you get to the start line. Then you start out going downhill. Lots of crowds at the start
Race: It was 72 degrees with 90% humidity and there is very little shade on this course. It is a very hilly course with a lot of long climbs. I’m back of the pack so I knew it would be important to pace myself with the hills and heat, especially in the beginning. There were a lot of walkers out there whether they intended to walk or not. I saw lots of ppl throwing up on the sidelines and I assumed it was a heat issue.
I carry my own electrolytes and I used my cup of water from each station to pour on my head to keep my body temp under control. They did have a few places where they had a hose out there to spray ppl down but I think this was coming from community supporters and not something R&R set up. They needed more things on course to cool people off. They did seem to have lack of volunteers at hydration stations. I had to wait in a line at every station because there was not enough ppl pouring and they couldn’t keep up. At mile 4 there was only one person doing water and I think they had mostly run out of water at that station.
For me, I do a ton of hill training because my neighborhood routes are full of steep hills. I’ve also had some experience with really hot courses so I had a pacing strategy going into this race but also I did not set an expectation for a time goal. The goal was to survive and complete the race. This is a challenging course and being a back of the packer who is out there longer I’d say to make sure you have a plan.
Overall: This was not my favorite race because of the lack of scenery but if you are looking for a challenge it’s a good one to pick. There was crowd support across the whole race and the full and half runners stay together until mile 11 and then split off so even for back of the packer I was out there with plenty of people. The water and volunteers at hydration stations was a huge issue and lack of ways to cool people off seemed dangerous. If you do this race have a plan. I only did this race because it was R&R and I checked off TN for my 50 State Half challenge.
Post-race: The whole finishing area was set up odd. I wandered around looking for various things and just so many people that it was hard to navigate. Not many shady places to sit either. I ended up just walking back to my hotel.
Hilly Marathon
If you want to do well in this marathon...practice lots of hill and trail running. It will benefit you greatly. Great race, but Shelby park destroyed my knees. Onto the … MORE
If you want to do well in this marathon…practice lots of hill and trail running. It will benefit you greatly. Great race, but Shelby park destroyed my knees. Onto the next race.
Miles and miles of empty water stations
This race had water stations at odd-numbered miles. You'd see the "water" banner, and it was such a relief because the sun was beaming down on us. And then there … MORE
This race had water stations at odd-numbered miles. You’d see the “water” banner, and it was such a relief because the sun was beaming down on us. And then there would be one empty table after another. Volunteers gone. Water gone. Cups all over the ground. A few good hearted volunteers at the last table desperately trying to fill water cups with hoses.
At some of the stations, the volunteers filled trash cans with water from hoses and scooped it out with cups.
Precious little electrolyte drink to be had.
The worse was the orange station. Thousands of orange rinds littered the pavement, but there were no fresh oranges, no people. Everyone had left.
It was the most discouraging race of the 20 half marathons I’ve done. I do expect RockNRolls to be well done because they profit off of us.
I thought this was an embarrassment for them, and made me wonder if they are going bankrupt or something.
Hot, Humid, Hilly
This race was really difficult for me and many others. The heat combined with the humidity and hills was brutal. I've never seen so many people walking the hills in … MORE
This race was really difficult for me and many others. The heat combined with the humidity and hills was brutal. I’ve never seen so many people walking the hills in all my marathons, myself included. Besides the course being really difficult, the course support was really well done. The race is put on super well, there’s sufficient water and electrolytes at every station. They only had two aid stations with gels so that could’ve been better. Medal is amazing ! Shirt is ok, I’m not a fan of the long sleeve shirt with a hood so that could be better as well. Overall totally a great race worth doing, just prepare for the hill heat and humidity!
Heat and Hills were Killer
Rock ’n’ Roll Nashville was a very well-run, high-energy event with a challenging course and strong race-day organization. The course was clearly marked, volunteers were everywhere, and the overall production … MORE
Rock ’n’ Roll Nashville was a very well-run, high-energy event with a challenging course and strong race-day organization. The course was clearly marked, volunteers were everywhere, and the overall production felt very professional — similar to the larger Life Time events I’ve run.
The course itself is tough. Nashville is not a flat race, and the hills come early and often. The opening mile gives you some downhill, but then the course starts climbing and rolling. There’s another major section of climbing in the middle, and even the later miles have enough rollers to keep things difficult when your legs are already tired. It’s a great race if you want atmosphere and a memorable city course, but I would not call it an easy PR course.
Aid stations were generally good, though later in the race I noticed a few seemed to be running a little behind getting water cups filled and handed out. It wasn’t a major issue, but it was noticeable when runners were tired and really needed fluids quickly.
The finish area and after-race party had a lot going on and felt like a big-event festival, though I didn’t get to spend much time there because I had to get back to my hotel, shower, and head to the airport. The event merchandise looked good, but it was definitely on the pricey side.
Overall, I thought Rock ’n’ Roll Nashville delivered exactly what you would expect from a large destination race: strong organization, lots of energy, good volunteer support, and a memorable but demanding course. I’m glad I ran it and would recommend it more as a fun race experience than as a PR attempt.
One of the better RnR races
I'm not normally a Rock n Roll series fan but Nashville was a good one. Being Nashville, there was great music all along the course and tons of aid stations. … MORE
I’m not normally a Rock n Roll series fan but Nashville was a good one. Being Nashville, there was great music all along the course and tons of aid stations. The St Jude section was touching and it was nice to support a good cause. Fun after party, but if you do this one get your wrist band at the expo the day before, otherwise you’ll be stuck in crazy long lines to get one after the race. Passed a lot of historic areas and pretty scenery.
Everyone should do Nashville once.
This is a really well produced race, showcasing much of downtown Nashville. The race starts with a downhill through lower Broadway (bars and crowds on each side) then turns and … MORE
This is a really well produced race, showcasing much of downtown Nashville. The race starts with a downhill through lower Broadway (bars and crowds on each side) then turns and goes out through music city square, around Belmont, along a greenway, inside the baseball diamond, through Bicentennial park, across the river, into Shelby Park, and finishes at Titans Stadium. There are crowds for much of the race (not in greenway and park areas) and quite a bit of live and recorded music along the way. And it benefits St. Jude. Everyone should do this race. For the negatives- it is in late Spring, so heat and humidity are very possible. The hills are worse than advertised- don’t believe websites which show hills for the first six miles and flat thereafter. It is not for very long anywhere, so prepare for rolling hills which are long and gradual (two in the first third, one after crossing the river) as well as short and steep (three in Shelby Park). Overall- you should plan to do the race once, but it is pretty difficult if you are needing a PR.
Fun Big City Race!
I enjoyed the Rock n Roll Nashville Marathon. Here are the highlights: packet pickup is easy, the shirts are cool (though mine pilled like crazy after one wash; I doubt … MORE
I enjoyed the Rock n Roll Nashville Marathon. Here are the highlights: packet pickup is easy, the shirts are cool (though mine pilled like crazy after one wash; I doubt I’m going to keep it) and the expo had lots of high end running attire. The race itself was well-organized. I loved that it started early (7:20am) and was on a Saturday instead of Sunday. That meant I got to enjoy myself that Saturday night! I was in a corral with similar speed runners. My first mile was a touch slower than I wanted, but much better than most other big races. The course was well-designed. You will see lots of Nashville highlights like the Honky Tonk Highway, 3 stadiums (including running a lap around the minor league baseball field), running along the Cumberland River, and Centennial Park. We ran with the half marathoners for the first 10K-ish. We rejoined them at Centennial Park for 2 miles. Note if you’re chasing a PR, those two miles (~12-14) with the half marathoners did slow down considerably as it got congested. Also note if you’re chasing a PR that there are some notable hills the last 10 miles. They felt much steeper than what showed up on the elevation chart. This is not a negative split kind of course. I ran the entire course without needing any of my own fuel. There were enough fans giving out bananas and oranges that I could pass on the gu’s the course provided. The end of the race was a bit underwhelming. I received a banana, a bottle of water, and a bag of Pirate’s Booty. Everything else seemed like it was for purchase for anyone. The medal is awesome. It’s huge, a big record with the date, distance, and city on it. There is a lot of music on the course. A lot of the bands are strategically placed so you hear them multiple times. They help pass the miles. I enjoyed this entire race experience. Nashville is a great place and the race showcased it well.
Hills, heat, humidity
Many have covered the hills and humidity in past reviews, so I'll skip those. Overall, the race production was smooth. That said, the race was too long - 25.56 mile's … MORE
Many have covered the hills and humidity in past reviews, so I’ll skip those.
Overall, the race production was smooth. That said, the race was too long – 25.56 mile’s is kinda not ok. Also, there’s a 16 minute differential from my published time to my Coros time (meaning the gun/crossing time hasn’t been reconciled). Everything else, from communication to packet pick-up was good (the expo wasn’t great though). The race tee shirt is a nice quality.
The camber in the road kept me running down the middle of the road much of the race.
The crowds were amazing!
The transportation options were less than great (not enough pick up points) and the transport back to the start line was not to the start line, so that made it difficult for marathon legs to walk more than expected.
I probably won’t be doing more Rock ‘n’ Roll events due to the crowd size. The race is huge.
Did not disappoint! Hills!
This was a great race and overall I would highly recommend it if you find an opportunity to run it. I thoroughly enjoyed it! There are plenty of hotels in … MORE
This was a great race and overall I would highly recommend it if you find an opportunity to run it. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
There are plenty of hotels in the downtown Nashville area. Finding a hotel is a breeze. Travel into and out of Nashville was easy. Nashville has a very nice airport. Much better than some locales I have been too actually. Nashville is a destination in and of itself. Downtown has lots of places to visit, especially if you like live music. Just be careful not to overdo it ahead of the race!
Pack pickup was a breeze, which is typical of a Rock n Roll race. The fitness expo was about what you’d expect. It had the typical booths and gear. Rock n Roll Races always have specialized gear available, but pricey. The line to get a bracelet for drinking at the after party was long, but went fast.
Weather the day of the race was extremely humid. It was high 60s and 90% humidity, very similar to my Key West race. So while it felt cool, I knew the humidity would be rough. Several participants were impacted along the course and afterwards. Humidity is no joke and you need to ensure you know how to handle it!
Pre-race was no problem. Gear drop was easy to find and process. Corral line up was fine, though a little jumbled. There were 2 runners in front of me that had moved up by 5 corrals. The rolling wave release worked fine. Took a while to really get going as they let alot of time pass between the first few ways, then started releasing faster.
The course was outstanding. You start off going straight down through downtown. Wonderful to see all the venues (wonder what this would be like running at night, similar to Vegas!). From there the course winds its way through downtown and out. Some of the highlights include running down the length of 12th street, which was a cool place outside of the downtown area. Through a college campus, around several museums and open spaces, and finally finish at the stadium where the Titans play.
One of the downsides was the finish line. As soon as I crossed I ran into the back of the person in front of me. The exit between the finish line and the onlooker crowd was very short with tons of people trying to meet their runners. The race crew should extend this so its not so congested.
There is definitely hills on this course as well! It was probably the 2nd hilliest course I’ve ran after Baltimore. Hills and humidity got some runners. I took it low and slow up the hills and was able to keep chugging along.
Overall, this was a great race. Rock n Roll races didn’t disappoint, especially for a 25th anniversary. Highly recommend this race if you need a race in Tennessee!
Lots of People, Room for Improvement
I've run the RnR Nashville many years and this was by far the worst race production and planning I've seen. Pros: Classic Nashville scenery, lots of fans, good parking and … MORE
I’ve run the RnR Nashville many years and this was by far the worst race production and planning I’ve seen.
Pros: Classic Nashville scenery, lots of fans, good parking and shuttle plans
Cons: Large race with lot of people (but that’s RnR, so you know that going in). Bad expo with huge amount of space dedicated to RnR brand overpriced merch and little vendor space. Rotten bananas at the finish line. Finish area congested to the point that people couldn’t move or get out.
I know RnR can do better. Won’t run it again.
First timer
From the massive expo to the finish line festivities the RNR committee put on a great run. It was somewhat easy to get to the packet pick up. parking cost … MORE
From the massive expo to the finish line festivities the RNR committee put on a great run. It was somewhat easy to get to the packet pick up. parking cost was reasonable. Once inside I was able to make my way to the pick up area and then snaked around to shirt pick up, merchandise and info booth. The people at the info booth were helpful answering my questions about parking.
Race day – the expense of the parking garage surprised me, I come from an area where race parking is usually free. It was easy to make it to the start line on broadway. with 25K runners we were elbow to elbow for the first 10 miles. if you wanted to pass someone it took a lot of energy to navigate other runners.
at the end it was easy to find my family and to leave. like I said, it was well organized.
carry your own water
Race had some good points: scenery was nice, Nashville had lots of fun things to do, only 900ft of climbing. But, oh my, did some things get dropped: 45 minute … MORE
Race had some good points: scenery was nice, Nashville had lots of fun things to do, only 900ft of climbing.
But, oh my, did some things get dropped:
45 minute lines for the toilets.
Bag check closed BEFORE race start?
No corral management at all. I did notice one volunteer standing at a corral entry, but they weren’t do anything. Also, the corrals weren’t nearly large enough to hold the runners assigned to them!
race start was 70 degrees, yet the first 8 miles had no cups prepped on the water stops.
the Lyft/Uber pick up lot was blocked off, so everyone had to go another 1/2 mile to a gas station to get a pickup.
That the half marathon splits off for 5 miles and then rejoins the marathon was… interesting. So you end up dodging around a whole crowd of slower runners.
Finish line could have done with some shade.
I really hope my next Rock and Roll race is better organized.
Fun Race!
This was my first Rock n Roll race and I had high expectations from what I had heard. I was not disappointed. The packet pick-up and expo were very organized … MORE
This was my first Rock n Roll race and I had high expectations from what I had heard. I was not disappointed. The packet pick-up and expo were very organized and had plenty of space. I don’t usually purchase things at the expo but they totally got me with a race shirt that had my name on it (to be clear the shirts had all participants’ names on them)! So, I bought an expensive tshirt. The start line was easy to find and there were plenty of portapotties at the starting area and throughout the course. The start took about 20 minutes longer than I anticipated. They released the runners coral by coral at 1-minute intervals. I was in coral 17. There are a lot of narrow streets on the course so I understood why they did it that way I just wasn’t prepared for it. The race had a party atmosphere throughout the whole course. There were lots of live bands playing and crowd support was incredible. At one point a homeowner was out spraying runners with his garden hose! The water and food stops seemed to be well placed well marked and well maintained. The volunteers were on top of getting people what they needed. The course does have a lot of hills! The finish area was pretty narrow and crowded. They divided the street into half on one side and marathon on the other side. This seemed unnecessary to me (other than for making it easy for you to get the correct medals) and created quite a crowd approaching the finish which really made it hard for me to sprint to the finish as I had planned. Also, the volunteers should have been set up farther past the finish line to prevent people from getting backed up at the finish line. I literally ran into a guy who had stopped on the timing mat because he was waiting to pick up his medal. So, if there is anything that I would suggest for improvement it would be to move the volunteers with the medals and the water etc father back from the finish line. They were giving away chocolate milk at the finish as well as crackers and bananas. The finish party had a good number of options for food and drinks and also live music. One thing to note about this race that was not clear to us. There is NO parking at the stadium (which is the end of the race). The website said no “free parking” which made me think there was paid parking. Also, cell service sucked at the finish party so if you are meeting people set up a meeting point ahead of time. We just walked about 3 blocks down to a 7-11 and told our ride to pick us up there. The trolley was too expensive for my taste especially when my husband was with us and not running. Over all it was a great experience and I would definitely run another Rock n Roll Race.
Rock and Roll
Rock and Roll is a phenomenal cause and I am so happy they raise so much money for the kids. There were lots of hills on this one and emotions … MORE
Rock and Roll is a phenomenal cause and I am so happy they raise so much money for the kids. There were lots of hills on this one and emotions when seeing the kids photos of how they’ve grown since getting treatment. If crowds are your thing, this is your race!
You will get a good hill work out
Marathon and Half started after 5 and 10K and ran into the hotter part of the day. Very hilly course. Minimal food at the finish line. For the price and … MORE
Marathon and Half started after 5 and 10K and ran into the hotter part of the day. Very hilly course. Minimal food at the finish line. For the price and sponsors would have expected better. Great music and aid stations. Beautiful scenery. Wished the marathon and half courses would have stayed separate after they split instead of rejoining them at Mile 16 of the Marathon