On my latest Run-cation, I was in Vancouver, Canada for a few days and participated in the Rock N Roll Vancouver. I was on vacation with a group of 8 people total, who were all for running the 10K with me and bailed. So the BF and myself were the only two to run in the course at Stanley Park. I do not regret missing out on sleep at all.

The expo was not that great, it had mostly all the vendors as the Philly RNR so there was nothing new to see. The lines went quickly for bib pick up.

The shirt was long sleeved, yay! And the bag it came with was a light fabric vs. the cheapy plastic bag from Philly RNR.

The morning of the race, I lucked out with parking and found one near a residential area across from the park. I was staying in North Vancouver so I went really early just in case and I also didn't have internet reception. If you stay in Downtown Vancouver, you could probably just walk to the park.

The pre-start porta potty lines went quickly. The during race porta potty situation was long (this was my first during potty break and it's such a time killer!).

There didn't seem to be many bands along the course (well, I guess since I only ran the 10k).

The course scenery is AMAZING!!! The route is right on the Seawall and you are right next to the water. Two bad things: It was uncomfortably cold for me by the water and with the wind and the path was very narrow at different parts of the race. It was a struggle to pass people when only three people can fit across. But you get the most breath-taking sights of the city and the bridge and mountains. This is my favorite run to date.

Free beer from Stanley Park Brewery afterwards and it was awesome but was difficult to drink with cold hands.

I was lucky that it didn't rain this morning or the run would have been even more difficult for me. It did rain heavily the night before so the post race festival was not very enjoyable in the muddy parts of the park.

For pics and full recap:
http://teamninjaroll.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/rock-n-roll-vancouver/

This was my first run in the sopping rainy mess and it was one of the worst feelings but I guess it was bound to happen. Not all race days are sunny days.

Edison, NJ is a bit of a far drive for me but I do know someone there so there was a secondary agenda. The race was held at Roosevelt Park and the site mentioned limited parking, but I didn't have an issue.

Bib pick ups were a bit of a mess, one person had a sheet with the contact information but then another person had a separate sheet with the bib number that they were supposed to look for. It was pretty inefficient.

The t-shirt is a bright green cotton shirt and there was a swag bag given out. Unfortunately all the samples in the bag were male-specific. Strange and sucky for me but good for the BF!

My greatest annoyance was that they specified the start time at 9:00 AM. So everyone waited at the start line by 9:00 AM. The race didn't start until 9:15 with all of us just waiting in the freezing rain. There were no announcements of delays or anything.

The course was in a park and in a nicely wooded area. There were no signs of the mile markers but there were volunteers standing around, pointing out which way to go. There was one water station but you passed it twice. I think there was a photographer near the finish line, but I couldn't tell. There were people handing out water bottles at the finish line.

There was a post race BBQ that was within walking distance of the finish line. Here they offered fruit, hot dogs and hamburgers. Though it was pouring rain and there was not enough cover for everyone to stand under, it was nice having hot food. Award announcements happened here but there were some confusion (calling people in the wrong age group for awards).

There was an ambulance on hand, and unfortunately were called upon after the race. (But everyone's okay!) This was a first year race so there were a few hiccups but it wasn't bad overall.

Princeton is such a beautiful town to visit, let alone run in. The Princeton Healthcare System 5 mile run was located at the ETS campus. My GPS took me to the entrance that they closed off but there were plenty of signs to direct me the proper way. Parking was great, there were plenty within the start / finish line.

There wasn't an expo but they had a few days for bib pick up. I couldn't make any of these but the day of the race pick up went super fast. It was a fairly small race with about 230 people running.

While there wasn't an expo, there were a few vendors set up. They were giving out free massages and other goodies. VitaFusion was there giving out FULL SIZE bottles of gummy vitamins. These are my vitamins so I was overly ecstatic (BEST SWAG EVER). The race swag had a cotton tshirt in one of those drawstring bags.

The course scenery was very nice; they closed off parts of the roads in the area. Most of the route was surrounded by woods. The route was partially two loops around the ETS campus. There were plenty of signs to direct us. There were multiple mile marker signs though that were misleading. They posted the mile number of the next mile you were trying to reach, not that you just passed.

I did feel the elevation throughout the run. It wasn't overly difficult but I could feel my heart racing during those inclines. There were two water stations but you passed by the second one twice. There were no porta potties along the route. There were two next to the vendors but not near the course. The line was super long right before the race. Thank goodness someone told me we could use the bathrooms inside the buildings!

There was, unexpectedly, a finisher's medal but it was generic. Also, lots of refreshments (bananas, granola bars, bagels, water) at the finish line. Photos were posted free on Facebook but unfortunately they were slim pickins and had none of me.

Someone stopped me after I finished the race and told me that I motivated him to catch up with me and not to give up. What a great feeling and finish to a fun 5 miles!

This was my second half marathon but my first one in Philadelphia. It was also my first experience with a Rock N Roll race. This year they had a running festival, which consisted of two days of running. This was my part two of the Remix Challenge.

Expo:
Bib pick ups were great; I picked up both the 5K bibs and the half marathon bibs at the same time. They were both quick and painless. The shirts for the half were gender fitted. I normally wear a small but the shirt ran really small for women's. Fortunately, there was a shirt exchange table at the expo.

There were plenty of vendors at the expos selling and giving out goodies. Traveler's Insurance offered free runner's tracking but it was a bit inconvenient. Brooks had a sign making area with photo op. There was also lots of discounted races to sign up for.

Race Day:
Again, I parked at a friend's place in Chinatown and gratefully, she agreed to drop us off closer to the race. There seemed to be a lot more runners for the half than the 5K. The porta potty situation was pretty bad. The lines were very long but good thing I was in the latter part of the corrals. I think at least six corrals started before I reached the porta potties. Corral monitoring was not strict at all.

Course:
I've been through Philadelphia numerous times but running through it was an awesome different experience. They had fun signs pointing out historical landmarks and noticeable mile markers throughout the course. I enjoyed the miles through the city more than running around the river (since I've done this part a few times).

There were plenty of water / Gatorade stations and one Gu station. The bands along the course were nice but I mostly stuck to listening to my own music. I didn't notice the porta potties along the course so I guess the lines weren't too bad. I did notice a few medical tents along the way and lots of people of bicycles.

Post race:
The finish line ended in the same spot as the 5K. There's a slight incline for the last .1 mile to the finish line. The race medal is nice and impressive. You had to go to a separate tent to pick up the Remix Medal. There were bananas, hard pretzels, power bars and Gatorade near the finish line with Rusted Root playing in the background. And yes, there was another free beer ticket for all runners 21+.

I also did notice that my GPS said 13.6 miles rather than 13.1. Not that I was attempting to PR but it was affecting my pacing.

This was my first Rock N Roll series experience and this year they add this 5K run the day before the half marathon. For running both the 5K and the half, you get a third medal called the Remix Challenge. So I thought, why not, a 5k is a good warm up run for a half marathon...

Expo:
Bib pick up was super fast. I went on Friday during lunch with my print out confirmations and drivers license. Picking up for the bf was easy too, since I had a photo of his license as well. There were D-tags for this race (I've never had one of these before where I had to attach it to my shoe but it was self explanatory). The shirts were unisex tech shirts.

There were lots of vendors to buy things from and to get samples and promos from. I spent about 40 mins wandering before I had to go back to work.

Race Day:
I walked to the start line from Chinatown so I didn't have to deal with parking. The lines weren't too bad for porta potties. There were vendors giving out snacks near the start line. The corral were printed on the gear check slip that was on our bibs. Since we didn't intend on any gear check, we ripped this off. So we weren't exactly sure which corral we were supposed to be in. It didn't seem like it was very strict anyway. Nobody checked or anything so we hopped in where we thought was appropriate.

Course:
The route started near the art museum and went along the river and back. It is a quick and pretty flat course. There was either one or two water stations. There is only one little incline right before the finish line near the 3 mile marker.

Post race:
The medal is awesome looking and pretty heavy. There were a few refreshments afterwards. I did get a mushy banana though. There was also a free beer ticket on the bibs. They sent an email to make sure we had our licenses but our ages were also on the D-tags so they let us in that way too.

Overall, a fun quick run with a badass looking medal.