A friend and I flew to Orlando, this was her first half ever and I stayed with her the entire course. We started in one of the last corrals since she had no previous time for proof. Got on the shuttle from All Sports resort at 4am, Got to start village and stood i line for pictures with mini, but didn't make the cutoff so no picture. followed the crowd and walked to our corral and stood for a long before start, by the time it was our time to start it was and hour and half after the very first corral. Lots of weaving, at one point around mile 3, we were at a complete stand still, and same at the castle. the lines to take pictures were super long so we didn't stop, it was still fun to look at though. running though Magic Kindgom was truly magical but the course was disappointing at Epcot where it was through some back lots. Overall it was fun since I ran with my friend and probably the most stress free I've been before a race, it was cool that everyone was dressed up too! Unless starting in first corral, definitely not a race to PR in. I would definitely do this again with time proof, hopefully start early but next time take pictures at all the photo stops. We had bought the Disney photo pass so all race pictures were included.

This was a bucket list for me to run the Vegas Strip, and no better day to do it than on our anniversary! Expo was great, took a lot of pictures, bought some race merchandise. We got there on Thursday Night and stayed up too late each night partying our hearts out (not conducive on a race weekend, buts its Vegas :) ) Saturday night was the pre party ( more partying) with Kesha as the headliner and it was amazing, they even had guest passes!! R'nR also provided a perks like complimentary entry to certain clubs and discount on buffets. Slept in Sunday, hit the Buffet at Paris Hotel, even got my hair braided felt good but the day felt dragging sine the race start was at 4:30pm. We somehow missed our corral and started a bit later (not till close to 6 pm) by that time I was already tired. Once started, it was very slow because of how many people were there, we were just shuffling for a bout a mile. The course took us towards the Excalibur, and the Las Vegas sign and turned around headed towards downtown. It was definitely different running at night after the strip it wasn't very lit and the crowd support wasn't much. After downtown we lost the full marathoners and eventually headed back on the strip and finish. The band on the course were just ok. It was very cool to have the strip closed down and be able to get pictures with no one else around. thankfully I went into this race for having fun and not for time since I had another race next week. All that walking and partying and less sleep definitely caught up on the last day. Next time I would get there, race first and then party!! The highlight was definitely pre race party with Kesha and running with hubby on our anniversary!!

Back to Philly race weekend after 4 years, this time for the half! Drove Friday afternoon for packet pick up not really feeling it. I was tired from the weekend before running in Vegas and my head just was not in it. My hubby and our friend were also signed up so I volunteered to get our packets and even told hubby I'm not sure if I will even run the race. Got to the expo easy enough, parked at a garage paid $40 but I didn't want to spend time looking for street parking in the very busy area. I walk in and whom do I see but Meb Keflezighi, I got so excited when he called me over when he saw that I was staring. I got to shake his hand, exchange a few words and and get a picture. Then I saw people lining up to meet and greet Des Linden, stood in that one was totally start struck to meet her! After that I got our bibs and t-shirt ( I love that they always put the course map on the back), some free samples and saw Bart Yasso at a seminar. By this time my mood was completely changed and I was pumped up!
Saturday morning we drove to Philly from Lancaster (about 1.5 hours) got close by parking on street, and walked to start line. we had plenty of time to hang around but it was cold! I decided I'll hang with the 2hr pacer since that's my comfort level. after 4 miles I was feeling very good so took off, the energy and crowd support running in Philadelphia city is just amazing! The course was hillier than I remembered, not too bad but definitely not flat. Aide stations were often and one offered a carb boom energy gel. I ended up running my fastest overall pace ever, but no official PR because I ran too much in the first miles not paying attention to the tangents. Both my husband and our friend finished with nice new PRs and I was super happy on how the race went considering my mind set the day before! Definitely a race I recommend and I just may have to come back again! after we finished, got our medals, refreshments and walked over to the Rocky statue for picture!

my friends and I drove up to Newport from PA on Friday, got our packets, easy quick pick up. The town is super cute where we got dinner. Race morning we two of us got dropped off right by the start line instead of opting to park at designating lot and take the shuttle. Got in the porta line so had to start at almost at the back. One of the best sceneries on a race course ever! the mansions, the waves crashing, the coast line was so pretty to run along. It was hillier than i expected, one rolling hill after another, some just long but surprise, surprise finished with a HM personal best!! Great post race food, first time ever I had soup after a race! So glad I picked this race to cross off the state of Rhode Island!

Another race with hubby and friends! Packet pick up was at a local store, received a nice zip jacket for the 10th anniversary of the race. Getting to start was easy, got there in plenty of time for bathroom and pictures. No corrals, about 1000 participants and the start was easy. I would say course is pancake flat other than the bridge at mile 2 and again at mile 4. started out at great pace, and was doing great till about mile 8. Running on the roads, then the boards and transition back to road and back to boards was a bit tricky. Halfway through it got hot, I took some salt tabs, but they can help only so much and had to slow down. a big shout out to race organizers for providing cold wet towels through the last half of course to keep us cool! Aide stations were every 2ish miles , crowd support was decent and pizza for post race food!!