10 Half Marathons, 5 Races

Happy Friday!  I had an unexpected day to catch up on life, and figured the best way to celebrate was with a blog post.  (PS--I can't believe I missed the last official Friday Five!  You can tell it's been way too long since I've last posted!) Things have been a bit crazy around here, but a few weeks ago I ran half marathon number 10!  Since it's too late to do its own recap, I thought it would be fun to do a trip down memory lane!

1. Shamrock Half Marathon: My happiest half marathon memories are at this race.  My first half, my next big PR, and finally breaking two hours all happened on this course.  Plus, the usual beach and best friend time that has become tradition doesn't hurt either!

2. Rock 'n' Roll DC: Guys, I wanted to love this race, but all I really remember from it was being super stressed out because even though I left crazy early, the metro failed me and got me there at the last minute.  Needless to say, I haven't been back for this one.  Maybe one day...

3. Crawlin' Crab Half: You guys know I love this one.  The course is probably my favorite and the craft beer fest at the end is the perfect way to celebrate a race.  This race has always been one that I have run just for the love of running and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I find it appropriate that it was number ten!

4. Nike Women's Half DC: I got really sick leading up to this race and went in entirely under trained, but ended up having a blast!  I loved getting to run through DC and the race was so well organized.  Having multiple metro stops at the start was very helpful and eliminated the stress I had at Rock 'n' Roll.  The Tiffany's necklace was a nice perk, too.

5. Norfolk Harbor Half (formerly known as Harbor Lights!): My birthday race.  The best celebration a girl could ask for, complete with pie.  It rained the whole time, but I loved every minute of it!

(Can you tell which ones are my favorite races? Maybe one day I'll branch out....but if it ain't broke, don't fix it, ya know?)

What are some of your favorite half marathons? Any that you want to check off your bucket list? My bucket list half marathon is the Runner's World Half!

Have a great weekend!

Friday 5: Harbor Lights Half

Hellllo!  It's been FOREVER since my last post (I actually refused to look because I'm pretty sure it was longer ago than I want to admit).  I figured the best way to make my way back to blog world was by joining up with Mar, Courtney, and Cynthia for my favorite link up!  A couple of weeks ago I ran J&A's Harbor Lights Half Marathon.  I wanted to share some things about it with you since I had such a good time!

1. It was on my birthday!!  This was a huge influence on my decision to sign up for this one.  I couldn't think of anything I would rather do on my birthday!

2. There was pie! Ok, real talk here.  The fact that it was on my birthday and there was pie felt like a sign.  It was like they knew it was my birthday and wanted to party.  I had a delicious mini chocolate pie and it was the perfect pick me up.  It actually was a great motivator.  I wasn't sure when the pie stop was and so at first I convinced myself to run at least the first 10k (I had hurt my foot a couple of weeks before the race which put a kink in my training and confidence).  After the 10k I decided that I should keep going until the pie stop.  The pie ended up being at mile 9 and at that point it seemed silly to take a break.

3. It rained the whole time.  Luckily I checked the weather and knew to bring my wind breaker and a hat (not completely waterproof, but much better than if I had just been wearing a normal tech shirt!).  It was one of those times when you kind of had to just laugh because if you couldn't laugh then it would probably have been miserable.  At one point I was running around two girls and we decided just to go for it and jump in the puddle instead of avoiding it because there was no way our shoes could have gotten any wetter.

Free race photos! 

4. The Grand Illumination Parade was the night before!  This was a bit of a surprise for my nice friend and me and we got to our hotel right in time before the roads closed.  It was fun to be able to watch the parade from our window.  Just a side note about our hotel: it was within walking distance from the race start/finish (wooo!) and from the Norfolk Tap Room that had a lovely selection of beer.  Gotta have my lucky pre race beer!

5. I loved the finish.  It was right on the water and they gave us one of those space blankets after we got our medals and snacks.  It's the little touches like this that make me love J&A so much.  (One time after a particularly hot race they gave us cool towels which was the best ever!).  We didn't end up staying for the after party.  I was cold and ready to be out of the rain, so I grabbed my stew and we headed back to the hotel.  Huge shout out to my nice friend for venturing out in the rain to get me to my starting corral and for cheering me on at the finish line.

Apparently can't have my time be over by even a second!

Thanks again J&A!  I would definitely run Harbor Lights again!

Oh, and just a side note--I have a new phone which means that I can finally take pictures that aren't "selfies!"  I know you guys will be disappointed not to see those masterpieces (been perfecting them for over a year now!)  My instagram game is about to be crazy good.

Happy Friday!!