Space Coast Half Marathon 2013 Race Review

I'll admit, I had decided to do this race mainly because I liked the medal.  For the past few years, the medal has been some form of a 3D space shuttle.  This year they decided to start their "big bang series."     The next 5 years will be a series of medals dedicated to each one of the space shuttles.  If you do 3 of the 5 years you get the milky way medal and if you do 5 of the 5 years you get the intergalactic medal, too.  This year's medal was dedicated to the Columbia shuttle.  

Marine Corps Marathon Race Review 2013

The Marine Corps Marathon has been on my bucket basically since I started running marathons.  The course is really scenic because you run by the National Mall with all the monuments, plus there are good looking marines all along the course.  Also I had seen their medal at an expo for another race and I knew I would have to have it.  I heard that in 2012 the race sold out in under 3 hours.  I realized that I had to do this race soon because eventually they will have to make it a lottery and it will be harder to get into.   There is also have a 10k run along with the marathon and an informal 5k the day before the race.

ING Hartford Half Marathon 2013 race review

This fall I am training for 2 marathons, the Marathon Corps and NYC marathons.  I looked at my training schedule and saw that I would need to start tapering the second week of October. My training schedule stated that I had to only do a 13 mile run that weekend, so I figured I could get one more half marathon in before the Marine Corps Marathon.  I was hoping to check off another state and I found the ING Hartford half marathon in Hartford, CT.  They offer a marathon, half marathon, marathon relay, and 5k.  Starting at 9:30 am, they also have a kids K, which is a series of races from 50 yd to a mile.  I, of course, opted for the half marathon.  

Grete's Great Gallop Half Marathon race review 2013

Grete's Great Gallop is a NYRR half marathon that is run Central Park every year in October.  The course is a simple 2 loops (+ a little more) of Central Park.  Not the most exciting course but since it occurs 3 weeks before the NYC marathon, a lot of people use it as a training run.  Donna, Kanaka, and I had scheduled to do a 20 mile run that weekend.  So we planned to run the race then do an extra loop of the park to get our mileage in.    

Rock 'n' Roll Providence half marathon 2013 race r...

Since we are training for our fall marathons, we decided to schedule a few half marathons to use as training runs.  The Rock 'n' Roll Providence half marathon was on September 29, 2013.  We picked this race to check Rhode Island off our list of the states.  Also when you run more than one Rock 'n' Roll race you get extras medals.  Having run the Philly race 2 weeks ago, Providence would earn us our "rock encore" medal.  Being the medal whores we are, we were sold on the idea.

5th Ave Mile 2013 race review

The 5th Ave Mile is one of my favorite races.  Because it is only a mile.  The only race of the year I can finish in under 8 minutes.  

New York City 10K 2013 race review

 

We decided to try a new race, the New York City 10k.  Maria had seen an ad online and asked if we wanted to sign up.  Looking at the website, they had a nice t-shirt and medal so Donna and I  were in.  Rich decided to do it and it would be his last race in NY before he moves back to England at the end of this year.  I had been meaning to sign up for the race but when I got around to it 2 weeks before the race it had reached its capacity of 2000 people and was sold out.  Hema had signed up to do it but could not get off work.  So I offered to buy her bib from her.

Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon 2013 race...

Donna has made it a tradition to run the Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia half marathon.  She has been running it since 2010.  Last year she was not able to do the race because her dad was leaving to go back to Australia that day.  I did it for the first time last year with Matt and Sarah.  It is a nice flat course and a fun weekend out of town so Donna, Hema, Lindsay, and I signed up.  

Applecrest Half Marathon 2013 race review

In order to check New Hampshire off my list, I chose a small race in the country.  Sept 8, 2013 was the second running of the Applecrest Half Marathon, which started and finished at Applecrest Farm Orchard in Exeter, NH.

Work in progress

Welcome to my blog!
I finally decided to work on a blog to document all my race experiences and travels around the world.  I have a vision of how I want this page to look.   I travel around the country running races.  I like to read bloggers reviews of races before I pick which ones I want to do.  But I have not found any blogs that really hit up all the points I'm looking for so I decided to start my own.  I'm not super competitive.  If you are looking for a blog that describes the route turn by turn so you can determine where you can get a PR, this is not the blog for you.   I like to keep it short and sweet.  I tend to go with the overall vibe of the race.  The things I look for are: good overall organization, swag (I'll do any thing for a cute medal!), I love a good theme (I do like to dress up from time to time), the course and surrounding area attractions (who wants to fly just to run a race in the middle of no where).   Also, I feel like you have to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges.  There are certain things you can expect from the big city race and there are others things you get at a small town race.  If you are running a small race in rural New Hampshire, you should not expect the same crowds as the New York City marathon.  Likewise, if you run a race with 30,000 people expect there will be some restrictions that may cause you to deviate from your usual pre-race routine.

Aquaphor New York City Triathlon 2013 race review

July 13th, 2013 was my second time doing the New York City Triathlon.  Entry into the Aquaphor New York City Triathlon is via lottery.  I think about 5000 people get in through the lottery.  They also have a pro division, para-athlete division, and relay division.  Included in the weekend's activities is a Diaper Derby at the expo, the Underwear run (where 400 people run through central park in their skivvies the Friday before the race), and a Doggy Dash at the finish line festival.  

Mad Half Marathon 2013 Race Review

The Mad Half marathon was held in Waitsfield, VT on July 7, 2013.  This was the 3rd annual running of this race.  I decided on the Mad Half because I had hear some good reviews on a few running websites.  One of my good friends who lives in Boston just had a baby.  I figured could drive up to see her and get a quick snuggle with baby Alice then head to Vermont for the race.

Grand Canyon trip

In June 2013, I decided to complete a bucket list item and going white water rafting down the Colorado river.  It was an amazing adventure.

click on the link to my photos