Petersburg half marathon

Last week Megan, Jen and I headed to Richmond to run the inaugural Petersburg half marathon. We stopped to eat near my house trying to give 95 a chance to die down on a Friday night. Not sure if it helped or not. We got into our hotel around 9. Packet pickup was the morning of the race so we had no reason to hurry to get to the hotel. When we made it to the hotel we grabbed a cookie.

We may need the carbs in that cookie the next day!  One should always properly carb load with a cookie prior to running a half marathon. 

We got up early and headed to the race. The race was capped at 2,000 runners so we knew packet pickup should be fine. I wanted to get there before the morning fireworks!  Fireworks and did I mention a civil war re-enactment!  Fireworks and muskets being shot at us! It really can't get much better than that. 

We started out on a bit of cobblestone road and quickly turned and ran on pavement. I don't really enjoy running on cobblestone. Jen and I were running together. At the beginning we ran into Sandy from run club. 

Sandy ended up falling in a small uncovered hole on the road. She had some scraped hands and knees but assured us that she was fine and we should go on.  Soon we ended up in the battlefield area. I could hear the battle taking place and I was getting excited!  To pass the time I thought it would be great to give Jen, who is from Canada, some civil war history. I showed her interesting spots like the tree that gen Lee planted in hopes of taking a group selfie. Yes selfies have been around for awhile. I showed her where the troups stopped to have a round of golf and play corn hole. They often carried a lot of yard games from place to place to pass the time. If nothing else Jen is much more knowledgable about the civil war time period. 

We had to stop to get a picture with my people, the Yankees! The confederate soldier being shot at was not to happy to hear that some of us were rooting for the union!  The battlefield area had some hills but I'm proud to say we ran through them!  

Jen's leg was not feeling great. I'm thinking I must have passed my aches along to her. I was feeling great!  No leg pain at all!  I'm hoping that I've seen the last of the leg/knee pain for awhile. So around mile 8 we started some run/walking. 

I noticed that we created a lot of traffic backups. Some of the locals were not happy with us.  One lady was yelling at one of the police officers and demanding the name of his supervisor. I guess next year they will be better prepared to stay away from where the runners are running. 

We ended up running in some areas that had a lot of old broken down homes.   People were out on their porch probably wondering what is up with these crazy runners!  They were all very friendly. I thought the old homes would be beautiful if someone had the money to fix them up. You could tell that they were beautiful homes back in the day. 

I found my next job...cleaning service! 

The day was hot!  Running through the town was great but it didn't offer up much shade.  Sandy ended up passing us in the last mile and a half. Both Jen and I were done with the heat and running. I was wishing that I packed a tank top. Ugh. 

We finished!  It is always great to cross that finish line.  

You're missing the nice ribbons hanging from the medal. It was an awesome medal!

Pancakes and beer after the race. Megan finished before us and got beer and pizza. 

It was a very well organized race, especially for a first race!  

We headed back to the hotel to shower and then find some local food. 

We got some bbq. 

It was very good. 

Then we headed to a cute bakery that some people told Megan to come back for a donut after the race. So that is just what we did. Boy was it good!  I had a Boston creme donut. Probably the best I've ever had. It was very light and not too sweet.