Went up to Cleveland Saturday morning to pick up my bib/shirt and check out the expo. Packet pick up was really easy, I knew my number and there weren't any lines for the bibs (yay!) I then headed headed downstairs to the expo to check out the vendors and get my shirt. Getting my race shirt was really easy, every distance, size and sex had a separate table. I got my shirt, pins, and a clear bag for bag check. The race did a virtual race bad which I really like because it cuts down on waste. Because I was distracted by my family i totally missed the picture op :-( I really could have spent more time there but I had 2 non-runners with me. I checked out the ONE MORE MILE and Sweatybands booths. I wanted everything so I bought nothing :-/ I talked to a Garmin rep about my troublesome watch. But was really tempted by the event merchandise. The womens tanks were awesome, and I kinda regret not getting one. After checking everything out we headed back home. I had an early dinner, took a quick shower, gathered everything for the morning and relaxed watching t.v. before calling it an early night.

I live about an hour away from Cleveland so I had to get up in the middle of the night to get downtown before the roads closed. I had prepped everything the night before so all I had to do was get up, go to the bathroom, get dressed and grab my bag. On the way out of town mom and I stopped for caffeine before beginning the long drive. The drive isn't bad it's just boring. When we got downtown I knew where I was supposed to be going to park but the street I needed was already closed. As I tried to get to where I wanted to go I took a wrong turn so we just decided to park where we were. Then because it was early we could sit and wait a while. I ate my pb/banana sandwich while waiting and drank more water. After a while I decided to start getting ready, I put on my sunscreen, hat, prepped my feet and put on my shoes and applied vaseline to all those areas vulnerable to chafing and then my mom and I headed to the Q to make that last bathroom stop. I really liked that the Q was open to runners. Everyone was stretching, warming up and using the indoor bathrooms. After the last bathroom stop it was time to head to the starting area. The weather felt cool but I knew that that was deceiving. The starting line to the race is on Ontario St. outside The Q and Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. With about 10 min to go to the start I said goodbye to my mom and headed to my corral (F) right in front of the walkers. And then it started pouring :-) Those that were near cover went running for it. I did too only because my phone was on me. The rain didn't last long and we were able to head back out onto the street. I headed to the back of the corral I didn't want to slow anyone down and we waited. I met an adorable little 7 yr old boy running with his mom (he does tris). And then we slowly started moving forward. As we got closer the start line we could hear the announcer and the music. I was starting to feel the excitement! And finally there was the start line and we were off! or so we thought...apparently some of the walkers were confused about where they were supposed to start. I passed what felt like a million people and wasn't really clear of the walkers until almost the second mile. The course starts downtown before heading out into the neighborhoods. The bridge between downtown and the neighborhoods has very cool carving/sculpture on either side and the bridge is where the marathoners and half marathoners separated from the 10k runners. The people in the different neighborhoods were all out, some watching and some cheering. Some sections of the course weren't the prettiest more commercial than residential but the residential neighborhoods made up for it!! Great old buildings and great people! One of the first neighborhoods had oranges!

With the warm, humid conditions there were water stations about every 2 miles or so and the volunteers at all of the stops were awesome!! I was carrying my handheld bottle and the volunteers were always happy to refill it for me. (I swear i drank my weight in water while on the course). Some of the stops and people spraying the runners with hoses, that felt great, especially when the breezes picked up. I made sure to run through every one! The course directions were really well marked. Every distance was assigned a different color and the course markers for each distance matched the colors, plus there were great volunteers to direct runners as well. I missed a lot of the mile marker flags that were up, I was having too much fun! I think I went from 4 to 10K to 8.

The course really is "flatter" than I expected except for the last 5K or so. Not long after the marathoners and half marathoners went their separate ways the half course heads back towards downtown...on an expressway. Positive side - great views of the lake. Not a lot of crowd support out there and then somewhere around 11ish things start to go up. Just as you get to the top of one little hill you see that you get to go down only to go up again and again and again. I lost track of how many hills there were but there were quite a few. About a mile from the finish is the Great Lakes Brewing Company and they have a huge party there cheering on the runners which was much needed. And someone at this point had an ice pop!! So needed in the heat. It rained the last mile and a half or so which felt great and made downtown look really cool and mist covered. Because we were on an expressway we had signs telling us how far it was to our "exit". Coming off the exit ramp from the expressway was great. I was hearing the crowds cheering the marathoners finishing and started to see people on the sides of the road. Still good crowds at the finish line.

When I crossed the finish line I got my medal. It's really cool, the guitar in the middle spins! i got stopped for pics, I was handed a bottle of water and a banana. I didn't stick around for the after party. I found my mom and we made the long walk back to the car before the long ride home. But it was a great day!!