This past Sunday morning I ran the
San Diego Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon (and it was actually my
FIFTH time running one of the SD races)! {In
2013,
2015,
2016 and this year I ran the Half Marathon and in
2017 I ran the Full Marathon.}
If you haven't read
yesterday's recap, make sure to catch up on
the 5K that went down on Saturday. It included a fairly lame course, but the people (including two running
SUPERSTARS) definitely made up for anything the race lacked!
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| No big deal... Just Meb and Des hanging out at the 5K! |
Well, now that everyone's on the same page, let's jump right into it. After the 5K a few of us went to grab some brunch at
Breakfast Republic. The food was yummy and the company was great. At 10am there was
a live taping of an Ali On The Run podcast with
Meb,
Chris Heuisler (the Westin running concierge) and
Andrea Barber (you may know her as Kimmy Gibler from
Full/
Fuller House).
Brian, the hubby and I made our way over to the event to give our girl
Andrea some love!
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| Don't worry, Chris didn't mind that I was still in my sweaty clothes from the 5K earlier in the morning;) |
Once the podcast event was over it was time to head over and check into the hotel so I could grab a quick shower before the PRO Compression ambassador meet-up.
PRO was kind enough to host the ambassadors who were in town for some pizza and shenanigans at
BASIC. I loved being able to catch up with friends who I don't see nearly often enough.
Eventually we had to wrap up the shin-dig and head over to the
Expo to grab our bibs for Sunday's race. (I super appreciate they allow for race day pick up of the bibs for the 5K, but still do require you to go to the
Expo for the Sunday races.) A crew of us made our way through the rows of vendors with pit stops at
PRO Compression,
Sparkle Athletic and a few other brands before calling it a day and going our separate ways. Although we would have loved hanging out until the wee-hours of the night, we knew the alarms would start early the next morning so wanted to be "smart".
When we got back to the hotel I laid out my #FlatCarlee and double checked to make sure I had everything I needed.
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My #FlatCarlee included: Mermaid PRO socks, pink Handful bra, turquoise Sparkle Athletic skirt, pink tank from TJ Maxx, elite
Road ID, Be Awesome Sparkle Athletic trucker, blue and pink QALO silicone wedding bands, blue and pink Momentum Jewelry wraps,
Nathan handheld, Knockaround sunnies, PROBAR BOLT chews, Garmin Fenix 5S, and Brooks Ghost 10 (with pink Shwings). |
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| A little behind the scenes... Yes I do take the lampshades off and move everything around the room ;) |
If you
follow me on Instagram, you may remember while I was reading at the pool on Friday, I got stung by a bee! (I don't blame the bee - he landed on my pinkie toe and I wasn't paying attention so used my other foot to knock off whatever was tickling my toe and smashed him into me... even still, I got stung and the bee died - #LoseLose!) Let's just say that beyond my normal lack of sleep due to my fibromyalgia and the anxiety of potentially sleeping through my race morning alarms, the insane itching of my sting did not allow for much rest. I was up by 2:15am trying not to scratch my toe off my foot...
The game plan was to meet
Brian,
David and
Richard outside my hotel at 4:45am and make our way to the start. It was about a mile and a half walk and we wanted to get there around 5:20am since we had another #WeRunSocial meet-up.
We timed it perfectly and strolled up right as folks were starting to congregate. It was great seeing everyone. We had an
AWESOME turn out - and the majority of folks were rocking
the Mermaid PRO socks we deemed the "official" sock.
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| #RunnersMakeTheBestFriends |
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| The crew rolls deep in SD! |
Both the half and the full were starting at the same time (which is different from what it had been in recent years - in years past, the full started 45-60 minutes earlier than the half). The start time creeped up on us quickly and the crew had to disperse and make it to their appropriate corrals (although, truth be told, there's no regulating the Rock 'N' Roll corrals so people can go wherever they want). A group of us jumped in the back of the second corral and got ready to rock 'n' roll.
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| Ready to get this party started! |
If you haven't read my past recaps or don't know much about
Rock 'N' Roll San Diego, I'll let you in on a little secret and say this race is a party from beginning to end! I've run a few Rock 'N' Roll events (Seattle, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix) and SD is by far the one where I think the community really rallies behind its runners. The neighborhoods totally come out in full force to celebrate the event (and just celebrate). With the said, the only goal we had for the race was to soak up the moment, take all the photos, make all the character stops and
LIVE IT UP!
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| "BUNNY CHARACTER STOP!" |
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| Beer and donuts before 8am?! YUP! |
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| Spectators ROCK! |
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| More donuts?! YES PLEASE! |
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| Rockin' out with the spectators! |
We weren't sure how big of a crew we would have with us (
Brian let the PRO ambassadors know that he,
David,
Richard and I were planning to run together at an average pace of around 10 minutes per mile {including our stops} and invited anyone who wanted to join in the fun). Surprisingly we had quite a decent sized group for the majority of the race (folks would join for a few miles here and there so it was fun to see the group change throughout the course).
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| We may have had to ask what "characters" these were... Apparently it was Dr. Strange ;) |
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| You don't have to tell me twice! :) |
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| Oh yeah, and then I got to run with Des for a few seconds! I even told her about the tequila stop she sadly missed ;) |
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| "Michael Jackson and Prince posters?! Let's go snap a picture!" |
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| "Hey Mr. Cow. Can I take a photo with you?" |
Let's just say when you're fueling with Fireball and donut holes you know you are doing something right!
BIG PROPS to the spectators keeping the runners "hydrated" and fed ;) The "Mile 4.5 Bar" is definitely one of my
FAVE stops of the race!
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| These people are not messing around! Bloody Mary, Mimosa, Fireball, Tequila, Light Beer, etc! |
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| Fireball is my JAM! |
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| And then the bartenders offered to take a picture for us ;) |
Since I used to live down in San Diego (I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2006 and 4 days later had moved to SD with two suitcases, a summer internship at the University of San Diego and a love for sunshine), I love running through the area. I used to live in Normal Heights, so it holds a special place in my heart, but it's all pretty special!
The hubby was planning on getting in a couple miles while we were running the race and ended up meeting us around Mile 11. (I texted him throughout the race with updates on our pace so he could sleep in as long as possible.) It was great getting to see him for a few seconds (he ended up running parallel to the course and meeting us at the finish line).
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| Love that the hubby wanted to run on his own to still get in his miles! |
Just like with everything in life, eventually the fun had to come to an end (especially since it was starting to heat up once the sun burned off the clouds of "June Gloom"). We ended up finishing around 2:30 - which I was calling "Party Pace". I hope this didn't offend anyone. I in no way meant that our finish time was something to scoff at - I know folks would love to have that time! I simply was looking for a way to describe the fun we were having throughout the 13.1 miles!
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So Richard's Garmin was just PERFECTLY placed in this picture to make it look like I have a Super Mario Brothers mustache!
Photo credit: @BlingWhore's Instagram Feed |
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| It's not about the time on the clock, but the time spent together! |
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We were able to run with David for the first 6.5 miles and then Paula the second 6.5 because they did
a half marathon relay team! These two are some of my FAVE people! |
As we were walking through the finisher chute,
Brian mentioned it didn't feel secure. (After the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 many race directors have done their part to make their events feel as safe as possible. Last year, at Rock 'N' Roll Las Vegas, which occurred after
the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival shooting, there was a major police presence with snipers all over the course.) So when we were at brunch and started getting texts about an active shooter near the finish line our hearts sank. Thankfully the hubby and I have a great friend in the SDPD we quickly texted to get the accurate details. (The race was not the target of the event, but happened to be in the area, so approximately 4,900 runners were diverted from the course to a safe zone until first responders were able to contain the situation and give the "all clear".) Even though all the runners were safe, it's still a super scary feeling to hear the words "active shooter" in association with an event you were at and still have friends participating in. I'm thankful the incident was not directed at the race, but it's an ever present reminder of the realities we deal with today. [I'm not going to get political, but would love if you'd read my post from last week titled "
Run to Save Lives". Crazy that June 2 was National Gun Violence Awareness Day...] I am so relieved the race (and day) wasn't tarnished with another senseless act of violence and everyone was kept safe!
What's the strangest thing you've ever fueled with on a run?
