Rock 'N' Roll Race Report!

The Rock N Roll half-marathon was in Virginia Beach this past weekend, and it was a lot of fun. With my triathlon next weekend I took this race easy and ran with my wife (check out her blog!), which meant I could relax and enjoy the scenery. Glad I didn't attempt a PR... more on that later.

We picked up our race packet at the expo the day before, and everything was pretty standard. Lots of free swag, a cool new technical shirt to add to the collection, and plenty of running gear for sale. While Bre was looking at headbands I bought three new bumper stickers: a 13.1 for her, and two Ironman distance ones for me (70.3 and 140.6).

Everyone came into town later that day: Bre's dad Wiley, her sister Tara and boyfriend Jason, and a bunch of Tara's friends from college. We all went out to get Mexican for the pre-race dinner; I got two beef enchiladas with rice and beans. Mmm.

It took a while to fall asleep, but I felt rested by the time the alarm went off at 3:30. Made some fried egg sandwiches for Bre and I while she prepared a breakfast casserole for everyone else. We weren't rushed, but I still managed to forget my sunglasses and shot bloks. Thankfully Bre took it in stride and didn't panic, and it was cloudy all day so I didn't need my glasses. There was almost no traffic at all driving to the VA Beach Amphitheatre, where we took a shuttle to the race start. After waiting in line for the porta potties for 20 minutes we had just enough time to jump into our coral and hear the national anthem played. I was originally put in Coral 9 (out of 20), but Bre was in Coral 16 so that's where we waited. It took almost 30 minutes to get through the first 15 waves before we finally heard the countdown from Francena McCorory (US gold medalist in the 4x400 women's relay). 

The start is waaaaaay up there.

We came across the first band pretty quickly, and they were playing "Wonderwall" by Oasis, which we had heard a few minutes previously at the starting line. The second band was playing "I Got A Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas... which we also heard playing at the starting line. The third band was playing some Zeppelin, and from that point on the music was great.

The temperature was cool and cloudy, but the humidity was almost 100% so my shirt was drenched by the first mile. I ended up taking it off and putting it through the hole in the back of my hat, making it look like I had a long pony tail. Water dripped down the shirt down my back the entire race. 

Speaking of water: the first three water stations were out of it. Well technically they were out of cups, and still had hoses to refill water bottles for people, but we didn't have any so it was useless for us. After the third water stop Bre started to worry, so when we passed a 7-11 at Mile 5 I ran across the street, bought her a Gatorade, and sprinted to catch up to her. Oh, and did I mention this was after chugging a cup of beer that some volunteers were handing out? While catching up to Bre I narrowly avoided losing the beer all over the side of the road. 

There were loads of other interesting sights along the race. The woman blaring "What Is Love" from a boombox. The man we saw at Mile 12 (while we were on the other side of the road at Mile 4) running completely barefoot with a ~7:00/mile pace. The man who juggled 4 balls in the air while running. The woman with a "Think this is tough? Try chemo!" shirt. 

The running part was easy, since we were keeping a ~12:00/mile pace plus walking breaks. Bre struggled a bit in the last few miles because her throat kept closing up and she couldn't take a deep-enough breath, but we finished strong nonetheless in 3:10:16. 

Abdominal City USA, population: me

They gave us loads of goodies in the post-race shoot, and I drank all of it pretty much immediately: a bottle of water, 2 chocolate milks, a gatorade, and a popsicle. And that's not counting the free beer from the beer tent! We gorged ourselves when we got home too: several helpings of sausage/egg/cheese/hashbrown casserole, half a dozen cookies, several glasses of milk, pretzels, and nachos. 

I'm really glad I took it easy this race, because most of the people I talked to struggled in the humidity. Running with Bre was a lot of fun and I was happy to be a part of her first half marathon. Stay tuned for more adorable in-race photos from the both of us!

Bre's sister and her friends were AMAZING for coming to the race to cheer Bre on; they had some incredible energy and made the whole thing fantastic. Thank you so much guys! Also, if you have a chance please visit my wife's website at www.StillEasierThanChemo.com and make a donation. All proceeds go to the Massey Cancer Research Center.