Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon (Part 1 of ??)

FYI...this will be at least a two-part entry because I have lots to talk about and too many pictures to feature in one post. So, here we go!

Well, I'm not sure how many of these "races" I'll be able to participate in both physically and mentally but I don't think I'll ever get tired of the feeling of accomplishment when I cross the finish line.

Michael and I ran in the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA on Sunday morning. The RnR Half Marathon is a series of races throughout the country. They are hosted in Nashville, San Diego, Virginia Beach and a number of other cities. The premise is that there is a band at almost every mile marker. I cannot tell you how much easier that made it for me to make it to the next mile marker. And it's really a weekend event, with people arriving as early as Friday and staying through Labor Day. We did just that - and it gave us time to visit with Bran and JC!

After arriving in VA Beach Friday night and getting settled at the kids' house, we headed to Red Robin for dinner. Mike actually had a co-worker running in the race, too, so Danny and his wife and baby girl joined us at the restaurant. It was a great time of encouragement, laughter and fellowship.

We were up early Saturday morning so that Michael could make his deep tissue massage appointment at some holistic house that JC recommended. I passed on this treat as I'm not a big fan of people I don't know touching me! However, sitting here this morning and feeling a little tight shall we say, I think I'd pay hefty for a stranger to massage my aching muscles!! ANYWAY, Bran and I treated ourselves to a high calorie Starbucks somethin'-somethin' while we waited for Michael (JC had to work...). I really wish I had the camera with me when we picked him up!! He looked like he'd been smoking something VERY illegal, and a lot of it, or like he'd just come out of some great analgesic!

The three of us then headed to the convention center where we picked up our race packets, including our bibs and chips for our shoes for Michael and me. We spent hours scouring the vendors' booths and spending all the money we'd saved up for the trip!! We met our objective! We got some great tee shirts, running gear and Bran and I each got a beautiful necklace charm engraved with the events name and date. I also treated myself to a "13.1" charm, which I'm wearing proudly! The rest of the day consisted of a few more errands and eating.

Later that night, we headed to the boardwalk for more food and music! We loaded up on carbs to fuel ourselves for the next day.

This was a great Reggae band that we stopped and listened to on the beach. We spotted them later along the race course the next day.

Michael and I were being silly when we spotted this "heads up" sign on Atlantic Ave. Hmm...he doesn't look very happy at the thought of road closures, does he? Ha! It was an early night for us because we were to be up at 4:30 AM on Sunday - race day. The event starts promptly at 7:00 AM and when dealing with a crowd of 20,000 + people, you want to give yourself ample time!! The morning went off without a hitch and we were out the door at 5:30 AM.

Here's the official race course shown above. It really was a beautiful course, especially through some wooded areas through Camp Pendleton.

And here is the starting line and announcers.

This is a shot of Michael and me just before we made our way to our corral.

Here we are getting wired up with our own music/iPods for the periods in between the live bands.

And here's our biggest, little fan!!! Brandi Lee is such a trooper! She's there for us, cheering us on, snapping pictures, holding firm while we use her as support so that we can stretch, putting us up in her home, carpooling us all over Virginia Beach, schlepping around our gym bags so that we have clean clothes and dry shoes when the race is over and always, always waiting for us at the finish line with that beautiful smile and warm hug... She probably doesn't even realize that I start looking for her in the crowd there toward the end and literally running to finish so that I can see that sweet face and get that congratulatory hug. And isn't it amazing how we find our loved-ones in a crowd of tens of thousands of people??? That's love and determination and God putting us where we need to be at the right time, I'm sure!