A Shamrockin' Weekend

Happy Monday!  I'm linking up with Tara over at Running 'n' Reading today for the Weekend Update.  I hope you all had as amazing of a weekend as I did!  I was in Virginia Beach for Shamrock Weekend and had a shamrockin' good time!  I'm going to recap the actual races later, but I'll fill you guys in on the in between for now.

I took Friday off work so that I could drive down to Virginia Beach.  I was beyond excited to run in the Dolphin Challenge (8k on Saturday and half marathon on Sunday).  I met my best friend in Newport News and we ran some random errands until my college roommate got home.  The Mariner's Museum was nice enough to save the poster from when Maddux was the Dog of the Month, so I got to pick up a lovely frame worthy keepsake.  (Nope, not kidding.  Totally framing it.)

By the time my roommate got home, we dropped Maddux off for the weekend, chatted a bit and then headed off to the expo.  The expo was still pretty hopping by the time we got there around 8, but there were no lines and we got our bibs quickly.  We were very hungry girls by the time we left, so we went straight to dinner.  Like last year, we hit up Abbey Road (every race requires a good pre race beer!) and then we went to bed early.

On Saturday my best friend and I ran the Shamrock 8k and had a ton of fun.  I finally got to meet fellow J&A ambassador Jennifer before the race!  After the race we hung out at the post race party and enjoyed a couple of our beers and some stew.  I got to meet Edith, another ambassador, who used to live around the corner!  She was so sweet and it was fun to finally meet some other J&A lovers!  We spent most of the time afterwards resting up because we were volunteering at the expo for the afternoon.  Our stew didn't hold us over very long, and I was a happy girl when my best friend suggested we eat Beach Bully BBQ before heading over to volunteer!

When we got to the expo I was stoked to see that Bart Yasso, the Chief Running Officer of Runner's World, was hanging out at the J&A booth!  He is super friendly and kept us laughing the whole time.  I really enjoyed having the opportunity to meet him.  The other J&A ambassadors at the booth were amazing and it was fun getting to hang out with them.  We had a bit of a battle to see who could arrange the cups the best way.  Pretty sure my table won.  Just sayin'.

After the expo, surprise, we were hungry again!  My best friend had noticed a restaurant called Lagerheads along the 8k course and I was more than game to try out another place promising good beer.  Lagerheads did not disappoint and we had a good time "fueling" for the half.

By the time we got home I was really tired and we took it easy and called it a night early.  Sunday came very early, but I was ready to tackle the half.  I had an absolutely amazing time and can't wait to tell you guys all about it soon!  After enjoying a celebratory beer, my best friend and I went for some celebratory pancakes and then hit the road back to get my pup. (We did a lot of celebrating!!)

Tomorrow fellow J&A ambassadors Jennifer, Sarah, Nan, and I will be hosting a link up for all of your Shamrock weekend recaps!  I'm looking forward to reading about all of your experiences and hope they were as great as mine!

Tell me about your weekend!  Who ran Shamrock?!

Have a fabulous week!