This was my second year running the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon. I have been lucky enough to win an entry from a race ambassador two years in a row now and I love that the race does this with their ambassador program.
Race packets have to picked up at the expo, which is open Friday and Saturday, before race so on Friday my mom and I made the drive up to Cleveland to get my packet and check out the vendors. Plus my mom always has to sit and watch the lake for a few minutes. The check-in was a little different this year, it was down in the main hall as opposed to upstairs, plus it was at the back of the hall, so you had to make your way through vendors to get to check-in. But once there it went really smoothly, distances were at separate tables and the volunteers were all super friendly and helpful. Once I grabbed my bib and goodies and the bib I was picking up for a friend it was on to the t-shirts. Once again, super easy, the tables were labeled by distance, so it was just a matter of showing the bibs and getting the shirts and then it time to hit the expo itself.
I got to talk to the girls from Dona Jo fitness, Stephplusfour who was working at the Sparkly Soul booth and signed up for an entry to the Free People Marathon (spoiler - i didn't win)
After a brief time at the expo mom and I headed out and went to go check out the lake, mom loves her water, After that it time to go home until raceday, Sunday morning.

I had been watching the weather the whole day before and my race day outfit had changed several times. I packed my bag the night before and put it out in the car. I woke up in the middle of the night, lol, and got dressed. Since we had a long drive we got on the rode shortly after getting up, after a quick pit stop for drinks. About half an hour away I had to ask my mom if I was seeing snow hitting the windshield. I was beginning to freak out a little. We eventually made it to Cleveland and ended up parking in a garage really close to the starting line. I eventually messaged my friend who's bib I'd picked up and her hotel ended up only being a block from where we were parked so we walked over to her to use an indoor bathroom and give her her swag so she didn't have to do gear check. We eventually headed to the start line.
The weather was cold and the wind definitely there. We had my mom take final pics before we left her at the start and and we headed to our corrals. we made our way through the crowds and parted company about corral D. I'm slower so I kept heading back to corral F. I found my place in the corral and tried to stay warm. I saw a lot of people wearing garbage bags. I talked the middle schooler that was next to me - this was his first race. He was running as part of his school program, It was so cool to see all the kids on the course in their shirts. In these bigger races it always takes forever to get the start line and this race is no exception, but the start line announcer was major high energy.
The race had a new course this year, running through more of downtown, it was really cool. it would have been even nicer without the weather we ended up having. Before I even reached mile 1, it started hailing, so not something in the control of the race team, In spite of the weather. there were still people out on the streets cheering, holding signs. It was so awesome to see these people out! I think we saw every type of precipitation while on the course, sleet, hail, snow, after a while all we could do was laugh with each other. The volunteers were awesome! They were energetic, the were enthusiastic, fully staffed. I will say i never needed to stop because I ran with my handheld but they were awesome! The police were great as well.
The course was well marked and where the half and full marathoners split from the 10K was well marked and volunteers were directing runners, There was music on the course was very welcome even with my own ipod playing.
Coming in to the finish line was a great feeling! If you've ever watched a Cleveland Indians baseball game you know you John is, he plays the drum up in the bleachers. and there he was in that horrible weather pounding out that solid beat as I came onto Lakeshore Dr. it was awesome!! I saw my mom as I headed into the finish line. :) The volunteers in the finish chute were awesome! We all got heat sheets (totally necessary this day), then I had the coolest kid give me my medal and a huge congratulations, i was handed a bottle of water, then there were tables of bananas, pretzels, cheese puffs, chocolate and pink milk (I grabbed pink). I got my official finisher pic taken, then headed off to find my mom and head home, we were both frozen.

This really is an amazing race, great course, well put together, great volunteers, great shirt and medal, Weather was just completely out of their control and who on earth would expect this in the middle of May?! I will definitely be going back, next year is the 40th anniversary!