Don't shoot me .. I'm super late but you know what I almost walked away from writing again. Maybe it's my nomad nature, my Gemini free spirit, my sheer laziness, or the fact that I've started working 50 hours a week on top of training and being the best mom and wife ever! Either way I'm back with revenge lol. I've freshened up the look of the blog and well I'm ready... so here we go!!!
Expo
Sports backers did it again! This was my second large expo and also my second one at a Sports backers event. My husband and son picked me up from work on my lunch break and we made the drive to Richmond to attend the expo at The Arthur Ashe Center. As usual it was packed but parking was way easier than it was this past November. We walked in and it was simple to get our bibs then we walked through to get our shirts.
It wasn't anything too excited. We did the usual walk around, grabbed a few freebies, found our names on the wall and I got a quick chair massage. Did you know that desk jobs are considered the worse jobs by chiropractors! I didn't but the tension in my neck and shoulders were glad for the rub down. As I headed back to work my husband took our kids to his parents house in Suffolk.
Saturday Morning
I swear every race day I wake up singing.. " Racing Day it's racing day. Racing day it's racing day. It's not kick back lazy day. Today's the day we race!" Thank you Backyardgins for this song : listen to it here:Backyardigans
We had already worked on our matching outfits the night before.
So we grabbed a cup of coffee, our running essentials and we were off the race at about 7:15am. Our corral, PA, didn't go off until about 8:40 am and as it was still chilly outside we didn't want to get there too early.
Parking was a breeze. We found an empty spot on the edge of VCU and parked the car and walked to the start line. We found our corral as the National Anthem was beginning and slipped in with everyone else. I could feel it was going to be a nice day and started to take off my long sleeves. As the gun went off and the corrals started I could feel the joy in the air. So many spectators, costumes and just smiles around. RVA has a great running community as well as spectator support.
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| I ended up tying my long sleeves around my waist the rest of the run. |
The race for me was simple or so I thought. I knew I was running a half marathon the following morning so I told my husband that we would run at his pace. No PR's this go around, just a happy simple race. My husband is a sprinter and is new to distance running so I knew his pace would be a breeze for me and so it was.
Mile 1: 10:47 overall pace.. when the voice told me that in my ear buds I looked at my husband with concern.. this was a great pace for me but I knew this was pushing it for him but I kept to his right slightly back. Mile 2: 11:11 overall, at Mile 3 I could tell he was feeling his choice to push the first mile.. 11:55. I try to be a supportive wife but I respect that the way I offer support isn't always the way my husband likes to receive it.
As we continued on he advised me that he was feeling tightness in his legs but refused to stop to stretch. I watched my husband make the decision to not take water and this is when I got really worried. From about .25 after the last water station he began to walk. I walked along side him and tried to encourage to push on. Constantly reminding him that it was almost over. We picked it back up 11:22 mile 4 and 11:33 mile 5.
I was feeling sooooo good, looking around, and singing every song out loud when I realized i lost my husband. He had slipped back so i slowed all the way down until we were side by side and I grabbed his hand, Belting out, " Next time baby I'll be .. BULLETPROOF" Mile 6 was 11:57 and a huge smile!!!
Mentally it was a tough ran, I wanted to run harder, I wanted to push and get myself a PR but I also wanted to have something left for Sunday. I most importantly wanted to support my husband. See I'm a lot to handle. I'm a forward thinking woman that loves her independence and doesn't silence her voice for anyone. It took everything in me not to yell, " RUN! We gotta run" but i felt so much better knowing that no matter what my head said I had stuck by his side. This isn't his thing, long runs and such, he swears I told him it was a 5k not a 10k, I'm just thankful that he will trust me and all my madness!!!
Pros:
- Price. I snagged mine and hubbies entrance to the race in December for $25 each.. winning!!!
- Location. Anything located near my home makes me happy. Up until this race I had not traveled to a race outside of Virginia.
- Atmosphere. Fun and full of energy! It was an overall great experience
- Organization. From the expo, to the race, water stations, post race stuff.. this race was well put together and smooth. Although it was a large race it had a small feel which was inviting.
- Post race swag. No there is no beer and for anything under 13.1 I'm okay with that. Ukrop's truly feeds you! I mean I had so much in my hands that I used my long sleeves as a bag by tying a knot in the head hole! From bananas, to Ukrop's fresh rolls, Granola bars, water, gatorade, etc. At the end of the line the man said to me, " Thank you for shopping at Ukrop's" It took everything for me not to laugh out loud! He was right..I went shopping.
- Chapstick and Monster Energy Peach Tea... I didn't even know how excited I was to get this until I hit the car.. but THANK YOU!!!
Cons:
- Cobble Road. It's my understanding that the race was moved this year but I wasn't a fan of running on the cobble road. This will not stop me from coming back.
- Shirt. For me all running events should give a technical shirt.
Pictures!!!
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| The Crowd |
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| Selfie Mode... a nice lady saw my struggle and stepped in to help lol |
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| Post race photo... much better |
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| They gave out great medals which look to be part of a trifecta to make a full circle and cotton tshirts. |
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| On the road to Raleigh we go! |
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| Official time: 1:11:45.. Mine |
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| Official time: 1:11:45.. My extremely dope husband! |
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