VA Beach hates me and that damn juggler is back!

So last weekend I ran Rock n' Roll VA Beach.  Last year was my first time with this race and it kicked my butt!  This year was not much different, except it wasn't nearly as hot.  Don't get me wrong it was still hot and humid, just not as bad as last year.

I was running this with my friend Shawn.  We have decided that this horrible race will be our race to run together.  So we are already registered for next year.  Why did I say this could be our race?! Well I hope next year I kick this b#tches a$$!

I drove down on Saturday morning and headed over to Shawn and Kristi's to pick up Shawn and head to the expo.  Of course who should we run into at the expo?

Why Gary of course!  His teacher radar works well in VA Beach! lol  Doesn't matter what city we are in, or how many people are around, somehow Gary always shows up and can be found.  Or maybe it is Gary can always find me?  Who knows.  

Didn't buy anything at the expo.  You know you have gone to one too many expos when you do not buy anything more than some margarita shot blocks.  

Saturday night I headed to a concert with Kristi and some of her friends in Portsmouth.  The concert was the perfect price..free.  We saw Hank Williams Jr.  Since I spent nothing on this concert I didn't mind the fact that I only knew one or two songs.  It was lots of fun.

After the concert I dropped everyone off and Kristi and I headed home.  I knew I wasn't going to get much sleep since Shawn and I were leaving the house at 5:45, but I wasn't too worried because I don't sleep well the night before a race.  I am always worried that I am going to sleep through my alarm.  

I had no problem getting up, since it didn't feel like I really went to sleep.  Shawn forgot why he set his alarm so early and kept hitting snooze.  Fortunately he remembered and I didn't have to pound down his door to wake him up.  We headed out the door on time and found parking at the Arts Center.  Kristi was going to pick us up at the finish and drive us back to my car.  

We started out at 7 and it was starting to feel a bit warm and humid.  Not nearly as bad as the previous year.  By the first mile I was already sweating.  I was feeling pretty good.  I remember last year feeling horrible from the beginning on.  So hopefully this was going to be a better run since I was feeling better than last year.  I knew the Kristi and the girls were going to be hanging out at mile 6 cheering.  And rumor had it a treat may be there too.  We ran near the boardwalk and then headed over the bridge away from the boardwalk.  The great thing was I just ran most of this area a few weeks ago. Between running the race last year and running part of the course a few weeks ago I was not feeling lost on the course.  Not that you can truly be lost, I just like to feel like I know where and what is coming up on the course.  I headed towards where the girls were and Ali was the first to see me and yell "Aunt Pam!"  Love it!  I need them to be cheer me on every mile :)

They brought me a coke icee.  Yum!  The best drink on the course!  Ali didn't want me to touch her because I was gross and sweaty.  lol  Yeah I know Ali, I am gross and sweaty. It was great seeing everyone but I had to continue on with the race.  I was doing pretty well with my time.  Ah..thinking that is the kiss of death...

Mile 8 and I was starting to fall apart.  I was hot and hating life.  Ugh...here comes the walking/running.  At around mile eight there was a man with a tupperware bowl with ice.  Now normally I would not just dig my hands into a bowl of ice with a bunch of strangers, but hey runners don't care.  That was the best ice I have tasted in  awhile!  I rounded  the corner at mile ten looking forward to some lovely cold sponges..yeah they ran out..grrrr  Around 10 1/2 there was a homemade gatorade stand..a bit of blue gatorade coming up!  And one large ice cube.  I was taking anything and everything cold from the people on the course.  Then I turn and see him...the juggler..it took him 10 1/2 miles until he caught up with me.  For those of you who do not know I do not like the running juggler...

I feel like he is mocking all runners..look it is so easy I have to juggle while running.  Well he was there..but he was feeling the heat and humidity too.  He dropped a ball and I didn't think he was going to pick it up.  It looked like he was hating running and juggling.  He kicked it forward and finally bent down to pick it up.  He wasn't juggling as much either.  Look even the juggler was not enjoying the end of this race.

Right before the bridge there were some people handing out pop ice.  Yum!  Cold flavor-ice pops..how smart!  I was heading up the bridge when a woman told me that I was her hero since I was running with a fake leg.  Umm..it is real...just messed up from a car accident. lol  She made my day!  I headed for the finish and was not feeling great.  I was super hot and hating life.  They ran out of chocolate milk.  I just wanted to lay down and die..

I headed to the letter P to meet up with Shawn.  He wasn't there so I waited in the hot sun.  I was getting really hot and not feeling well.  I should have gone into the ocean, but I couldn't imagine being hot and wet.  I was already wet from every sprinkler.  I couldn't imagine being really wet with salt water and then sand..so I looked around for some shade.  Not much shade on the beach.  I really didn't feel well...did I mention that.  Finally Shawn shows up and I tell him I was debating going to the medic tent because I was so overheated.  Shawn convinced me to go.  They put some ice on the back of my neck.  They also gave me a new cold towel for my face.  Ah...heaven!

One of these days I will conquer VA Beach!  Not this year, but sometime I will come out a head of VA Beach.  Hopefully next year it is cool and  humidity free..who am I kidding..I just hope it is not 100 degrees and feeling like pea soup. :)  

RnR VA Beach = a PW

The night before the half Megan, Becky and myself were being good little runners and headed to bed early.  No late nights enjoying the nightlife of VA Beach,  no stopping at the outdoor concert.  We were in bed at a normal time.  Unfortunately we were not at a hotel with a bunch of good little runners.  We were in a hotel that I think was home to a preschool.  There was lots of playing up and down outside the doors of our room.  No kid free hotel for us.  At 11:00pm I wanted to turn on my teacher and ask some parents if they could either put their kids to bed or let them run around at the beach...we have a race to run early in the morning people!

Megan and Becky ended up falling asleep pretty quickly.  I did not.  I never sleep well when I travel.  I ended up tossing and turning for most of the night.  At 2:30am I heard a visitor attempting to open our door with his card key.  Now the only people trying to open the wrong door at 2:30am are usually drunk.  Needless to say we had what I would assume was a very drunk person who I think should have been two doors down attempting to open our door unsuccessfully.  He didn't like the fact that his card key would not work and so started knocking, pounding, and throwing things and bodies at the door.  (well it may not have been bodies..but rather his body)  I ended up calling the front desk and they took care of our confused neighbor. Becky was not happy with our new friend at all and had a hard time falling back asleep.

The resin evidence left in front of our door in the morning...

 

The poor chair that may or may not have been thrown at our door and may or may not have had a small piece missing after the night before.

 

 

You can not even tell that Megan and Becky had their sleep interrupted before the 5am alarm went off.  We headed out of our door and caught the shuttle which was located directly in front of our hotel.  Sweet!  We were not really sure how the shuttle would work.  So we left extra time just in case we had to make a lot of stops before they dropped us off.  It took us directly to the start line without any other stops along the way. 

 

 

Megan and I got to be in our first Half Fanatic photo!  So great to meet other Half Fanatics.

 

When we headed out the door the humidity at 5:30 am was horrible.  Unfortunately it did not improve as the day went on.  When you feel like you have to cut the air with a knife just to breathe you know it is not going to be a fun run.  When we started running I thought I may die.  The heat and humidity was horrible!  I knew it was going to be a rough run.  I felt tired (probably from my neighbor wanting to meet us at 2:30am).  It was not going to be my greatest run.  I did stay ahead of my goal pacer until mile 6 or 7.  So that was making me feel good.  I also got to see my friend Kristi and my favorite nieces.  They made signs for me and gave me a hug to help my keep going.  It was great seeing them at mile 6. 

 

At a water stop (I'm going to guess 7 or 8) I ended up running into Sarah who I ended up running near when running the Leesburg 20K.  Luckily I wore the same pink tank so I guess I was pretty easy to spot. :)  It was great seeing a familiar face at a water stop.  Sarah unfortunately had some bad blisters forming on her feet so she had more than just the heat to deal with. 

 

I ended up walking from mile 7or 8.  It was just too miserable to run.  Every medic station had multiple people needing help.  I saw a bunch of people getting medical attention along the side of the road.  The heat was nothing you wanted to mess with.  I did go through every hose that the course offered to attempt to cool down.  I was also thinking of heading to someones front yard to use their slip n' slide, but I decided against that one.   Although I think the guys there would have let me. 

 

I ended up finishing with a new PW.  Yep my personal worst time is officially RnR Va Beach! 

Happy finishers!

Becky was taking care of us after she finished her 5K.

As always it is tradition to head out for some breakfast food.  This place had a great buffet with some yummy french toast.  I think french toast has some special recovery powers!

 

It was a great weekend for a run even though I ended up with a PW. 

 

 

Rock n Roll Virginia Beach expos, beach and food oh my!

Headed down to VA Beach to run the Rock N Roll Half Marathon with Megan and Becky.  We got up early to avoid traffic and ended up rolling into the expo around 10:30 with little traffic worries.  Score! As always I look forward to the expo.  I am not sure why I love expos because I normally don't even buy anything.  I just love looking at all of the vendors and their goodies. 

This may turn out to be a new favorite shirt.  Love the green!

Who doesn't love Elvis??

 

We wondered around and ran into Charlie the Tuna

As you can tell Megan was ready to eat Charlie right there at the Expo!  Thankfully Charlie swam away before Megan could find her knife and fork in her swag bag. :) 

 

Also saw the Orange team from the Biggest Loser from a few seasons ago.  Fun stuff!  We ended up walking off the beach with him after the race.  Seemed really nice.  We had a brief conversation.  He has completed twenty two half marathons since the Biggest Loser and is ready to attempt a full marathon.  Good Luck to him!

 

I did end up buying some new compression sleeves.  I now am the owner of new black compression sleeves to complement my pink ones that I left at home. I think I am in love with compression after races.  My legs legs feel so much better after a long run.

 

After the expo we headed for some lunch and checked into the hotel.  Then of course we were beach bound!  We ended up in the room beside our friend Gary from run club.  Always nice to see friends on a destination race weekend.  We all enjoyed some sun and sand.  Gary has developed some weird radar for us teachers.  Every time we turned around there he was.  You would think with so many people around we wouldn't keep running into each other.  I am convinced he has a tracking device on one of us :) I am not normally a huge beach fan, but it was a nice day to lay out and swim in the ocean.   I was a bit paranoid that I was going to burn and then have to run 13.1 miles burnt..but turned out I really didn't have much to worry about on that front.  I must have sprayed the SPF on without missing a bunch of spots which is good. 

 

After the beach we headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner.  Gary had found a pizza/pasta place and a bunch of runners were going to meet up there for some food.  I had some very yummy manicotti.  I now think I am going to give up eating pasta the night before a race.  Seems like every time I eat pasta before a race I don't feel the best race morning. 

 

So far a great night before a race.  Next up the actual race day recap...

 

 

Next Half Marathon....

Well looks like I broke down and signed up for Rock n Roll Va Beach.  I originally didn't want to run Va Beach because it is on Labor Day weekend (I hate driving that weekend) and it can be really hot at the beach that weekend and I don't like to run in heat.

What made me change my mind?  Well I was talking to Matt at run club and he just raved about the RnR Va Beach run.  Other people had told me how great it is, so why not.  I have trained in the heat of the summer and survived, so I guess I can do it again.  I also get some extra bling since this will be my second RnR run of 2012.  I signed up over Veteran's Day so I saved $20 and I found a coupon code, which really saved me 30 dollars for the race.  I couldn't pass that up!

Megan is calling 2012 The Year Of the Half Marathon..I guess it really is turning out that way.  So to refresh the 2012 race calendar:

RnR DC - March
Kentucky Mini (13.1) - April
Vermont Covered Bridge  - June but not signed up yet..so fingers crossed
RnR Va Beach Sept.

Looks like I am going to go through some running shoes in 2012!  Combine that with the other random 5k and I would like to do the Army 10 miler again...I think I am getting tired just thinking about all of the racing...I might have to find a part time job to finance my race calendar :)