You'd think that the third time was the charm, but alas, my dream of a sub 2 half at this race was dashed the moment I rolled my ankle 2 days before the race while walking on a sidewalk. LOL.

Honestly though, I had such a great race experience despite the rolled ankle. Packet pick up was on Friday and Saturday and I took the day off and picked mine up on Friday at Road Runner Sports. As usual, they had discounts for runners at the store who were picking up the bib. My bib also came with a Craft Classic tank.

Race day was a little different this time around. Rather than shuttle to the start line, we all parked at the start line and shuttled back after crossing the finish line. That meant that I could catch a few more winks before getting to the start, which I was eternally grateful. I'm just not a morning person. Hehe. I parked at a high school and walk about 0.8 miles to the start. It was a pretty good warm up if you ask me. :)

Weather held up quite nicely. The past two times I've raced it, it would be warm and quite humid, but the race this year had nice cloud coverage for most of the race and I didn't overheat!

The course was the same as the previous 2 times I've run it (see prior reviews) and every time I race, I forget about how the king of the hill just destroys me. The first half of the course is more or less downhill so the recommendation is to try and cut off a few extra minutes at the beginning if you can. My ankle was a bit sore so I couldn't attempt this strategy. After 3 miles, my ankle started to loosen up a bit and I was able to increase my pace, but I was 3 minutes short of the 2 hour cut off. Shucks.

It was my first in person road race since the pandemic and it was just such a great time to see everyone at the start/finish line. Thanks Craft Classic for such a great return to road racing. I had so much fun!