Half Crazy

In 2008 I ran my first Rock and Roll event.

It was a Half Marathon in Virginia Beach.
It was my FIRST Half Marathon. Period.
It was ~like~ Africa Hot.  Imagine the hottest weather you can imagine…  now imagine running in it.  I believe the temp at the start of the race was something like 88 degrees, at 7am.  And Va Beach has no shade to speak of… it wasn’t my best day.  I barely scraped over the line in less than 3 hours.  F'ugly.

I must’ve wanted to get my money’s worth out of it or something.  Or maybe I was having SO MUCH FUN that I wanted it to last.  I, personally, think RnR events are notoriously over priced.

So, anyway, after that I swore off RnR events & Half Marathons in August.

My “no August Half’s” vow lasted less than 12 moths, to Patrick Henry Half 2009 in Ashland VA.

My “no RnR” vow is being broken this weekend.  I’m running Providence Rock n Roll Half Marathon in a few days.

I’m excited for a few reasons.

1. If I totally suck, I can drop the phrase, “yeah, well, I just ran San Fran Half Marathon a week ago” into conversation at every turn.
2. If I don’t totally suck, I can drop the phrase, “yeah, AND I just ran San Fran Half Marathon a week ago” into the conversation at every turn.
3. If anything goes according to plan I will have fun running with H’s cousin Kev, & Kev’s friend Tim.  Kev has spent the week sending me e-mails about how epic I am, and how he doesn’t think he’ll be able to keep up…  Have I mentioned how much I love Cousin Kev?  Tim, Kev’s friend was in San Fran (crazy.small.world), and thanks to my more than crazy outfit, Tim even called me out on the course!  I didn’t see him though, and ~ to be perfectly honest ~ I thought I was hallucinating when I heard my name.
4. If I finish, I will be a Half Fanatic by completing 2 Half Marathons in a week.  

Today I hit the expo at the Providence Convention Center, which is about 45 minutes or so from my in-Laws house.  The expo was fairly empty, parking was a piece of cake, and everything was very well organized. 

I don’t usually shop, but I forgot my hand held water bottle when I packed for this trip, and knowing how crowded it might be at the race this weekend I determined that I should buy a new one.  And, given the “chafe versus bra” situation, I picked up some new body glide.   

Then…

(and then what happened?) 

Well…  

the Vitalsox guys were really into hearing what I had to say about getting some CUTE striped or patterned compression knee socks…  They ARE coming out with orange this fall.  I told them I’d be in touch. 

I did buy 2 pairs of socks, and will review them as soon as possible.  So far, I’m in love.  The pink ones I picked up a pretty freaking cute.

Anyway, RnR Providence is Sunday (SUNDAY ~ ahem ~) and my bib# is 3437  if you care to stalk me…  and corral #3 if you find that you’re running this weekend.

Respect the Distance.
~savor the run~

Finally, on other topics, please drop me a line at nmomof3 at gmail dot com and let me know what marathon, half marathon, or fall race you’re signed up for as well as its date…  I have a tradition of “voting the winners off” Taper Island a few days before their race, and I’d hate to miss anyone!  (And you just never know when I’ll be inspired to write you a letter… which, in my opinion, are pretty epic).