It's My Favorite Day!

It's Halloween!!! This is my favorite day of the year. It's the only holiday I really love too. I've gotten to share my love of the holiday this year with my friend Chris. We are slightly out of control & it is awesome!

On Saturday I attended the Blacklight Run. This is a 5k that is the same idea as The Color Run, but with backlight powder. I've never done a color run so I was interested in doing this run. Even though they promoted the run being in Boston it was actually in North Andover. This is a little over an hour from my house. There was traffic getting into the parking lot. You were suppose to pay $10 for parking (my friend had to), but they just let me park. There was no direction to where the start of the race was or the check in process. My friend picked up my bib the day before so I just needed to pick up my shirt. It was very confusing to just get the shirt. After I got through that I made it to the start line.

Part of the course was in the parking lot, part was on a grass island, part was in a baseball field. This would have been fine if there was any sort of light along the course. It was completely dark. There were only 3 color stops. I barely got anything on me. My shoes have most of the color on them. At one point people were rolling on the ground getting color on them. Talk about a hazard! I saw no backlights along the course. There were lights, but they just seems like normal lights to me. There were no volunteers along the course letting you know where to go or to watch out for some hazards. At one point there was a girl yelling. I couldn't tell if she was a volunteer or just someone drunk or on drugs. I'm going for the latter. I got to the finish line & there were just staff members standing right in the middle. I don't know why they needed to have a powwow in the middle of the finish area. Luckily I had no injuries nor did I see anyone go down. I was pretty thankful for the flashlight on my iPhone. I wouldn't do another of these runs. A color run sure thing, but not a backlight run. 

How Could I Forget!?!

After I finished the Rock 'n' Roll Half 2 weeks ago I officially became a Half Fanatic. I'm #5050! That is a lot of people running a lot of half marathons. By doing the Disneyland Half, the AllState Half, & the Rock 'n' Roll Half qualified me for the Neptune level.

Yesterday I ran the B.A.A. Half. The course was hilly, but I expected worse so it wasn't that bad.

You run along the Emerald Necklace in Boston than back into Franklin Park. You ran through the zoo which was different. There was an emu running along side us. I saw a camel. I almost got hit by an acorn, but I live! My knee felt okay with using KT Tape. My hip flexor is tight, but I survived.

I have a 5k on Sunday & another fun run coming up, but I'm going to get my knee checked out so for right now I'm on a half marathon hiatus.

Electric Run

On Friday night I went down to Gillette Stadium to be part of the Electric Run. The Electric Run is a 5k during a rave. You run/walk & enter different "lands" of electronic music.

 Even though we signed up as part of a team, none of us were together. I drove in with my friend Tony. This was his first 5k & he is a big fan of electronic music.

We walked the whole thing. It was a fun run & I wanted to take it easy after running RnR Providence. The run was fun. It was different. The only thing that I wish was a little different that in between "lands" there was a little more light & some music! Besides that the run was awesome. We got to run inside of the stadium & they had a party at the end. It was a different experience for me being used to running. I wouldn't say I wouldn't do it again, but I'm not running to sign up for another one.

Rock 'n' Roll Providence Half Marathon

This past Sunday I ran the Rock 'n' Roll Providence Half Marathon. I've never done a Rock 'n' Roll event before so I was excited to see how it all went down. The race started at 7 am & they wanted you there by 6 am. My friend Carrick came with me to spectate on his first running event. We met up with my friend Kevin & we soon realized we should get into our corrals.

Start Line

My roommate from DC was also running. We didn't get to meet up before the race, but we did end up seeing each other on the course. That was awesome & pretty unexpected. They did a wonderful job with water & gatorade every other mile & had lots of support along the course. I usually have a negative attitude towards Providence, but I did find a new respect towards the city while I was running it. The course was great. I really enjoyed running by Brown University & all the historic homes.

Foggy, but beautiful.

At one point during the run I saw the 2:30 pacer & thought maybe I can not only PR again this month, but run a sub-2:30 half! I was going to be happy to be running even if I didn't PR, but I did keep this thought in the back of my mind. The last .1 mile was on a hill. I thought this was mean, but when I got there I went faster (against Carrick's wishes) & PR'd with a final time of 2:29:29! I was super excited to have reached a sub-2:30 half! I was nervous seeing that there were hills along the course, but I don't think they were bad.

Add caption

After the half Carrick & I went to the Roger Williams Park Zoo. They are getting ready for their pumpkin bonanza. I talked more about pumpkins than the animals which is unheard of for me! The day was really fun. I'm so glad I had a supporter out there waiting for me at the end. It made me really happy to know I had that support directly at the finish.

AllState Marathon Boston 13.1

On Sunday morning I got up early & heading up to Suffolk Downs in East Boston for the AllState Marathon Boston 13.1. I don't know why they don't call it the AllState Half Marathon. I got to meet up with my friend Kevin before the race. It was nice to see a familiar face.

The race started at 7:30 am. Being used to Disney races this wasn't too early for me. The corrals were kind of a mess. Instead of setting up corrals based off an estimated time finish you had to go off of your word & enter at the time you thought you could finish in. The corrals were really tight & overcrowded. 

Once we started running I knew I wasn't feeling it. My knee was hurting pretty early on & I was just annoyed at it. We ran through a marsh reserve which was really cool. It was definitely my favorite part of the run. From there we headed towards Revere Beach. My knee stopped hurting, but I felt like the run was taking forever. Running at the beach was the only time we did any out & back areas of the course. I didn't feel like it was bad though. There was more spectators than I would have expected along the course too. 

I was pretty hungry & the finish was right near a Wendy's. Let me tell you, Wendy's has never smelled so good! I controlled my urge to run off course & buy some fast food. The finish was so close & I crossed the finish line & noticed that Nike+ had told me that I had a half marathon PR! I grabbed a water after being given my medal & heading towards my car. There was no food at the end which was kind of crappy, but it could have been worse. I love the medal that they have out too! It is one of my favorites for sure. 

When I saw my time from run it was a little bit longer than my gps had told me. I figured it wasn't an official time just yet. What really happened was when I crossed the start line it never registered. So my "official" finish time was 2:34:36. My time based off of my gps was 2:33:17. About a 3 minute PR from DC! I'm super excited about it. 

This week/weekend will be pretty busy at work. Soon I will be running the Rock 'n Roll Providence Half! 

Tomorrow, Tomorrow...

...I love ya tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Providence. I've never done a RnR event before so it should be exciting. 

The expo was today. We got our swag & bibs. I'm a big fan of getting cinch bags. They're usable all the time. I grabbed a pint glass & a pin to commerate this event. I also got some Sweaty Bands. The expo was smaller than I'm used to. I mean I'm used to Disney. There wasn't too many people when I went so I didn't feel like it was overcrowded or anything. 

Tomorrow I will return to Providence to run.