In case you missed it, I already recapped the Crawlin’ Crab Half Marathon here.  But I never told you about the rest of my race weekend.  My memory has gotten pretty crappy, but here is what I remember:

I met my mom at her house just before 3:00 on Friday to head to Hampton.  We didn’t hit much traffic and were pulling into the convention center parking lot to go to the expo just after 6:00.  We couldn’t have timed it more perfectly because Paul and Missy, who were coming from Fredericksburg, had just arrived a few minutes before us.

The Crawlin Crab is a relatively small race and the expo is just the perfect size.  You don’t have to fight any big crowds like you do at some of the other expos.  We picked up our bibs and also got our wristlets that indicated we were of age for the next days drinking festivities.  While I have to admit I’m a bit claustrophobic with a carnival style wrist band on (especially knowing I’d need to keep it on all weekend), I was able to tolerate it, unlike other people – lol.  Paul ripped his off after realizing he would have to sleep in it.  We proceeded to pick up our shirts.  I was a little disappointed in the shirts this year.  The half marathon and 5k race shirts were the SAME SHIRT, with the exception of the race distance printed on it.  Oh well…not the end of the world.  I purchased a few different fuel options for my half (had been having issues with gu).  My mom bought me a couple of magnets and a hat for herself.  It didn’t take us too long to finish up at the expo.  I was surprised that I didn’t see any indications of a photo scavenger hunt this year.

Next we headed over to the hotel to check in and then we all headed over to Chili’s for dinner.  We didn’t have the best service, but my food was pretty good.  I had some wings as an appetizer and the Cajun pasta for dinner.  Woah…I overdid it just a bit!  After dinner we headed back to the room.  I downloaded some new music to my phone.  I also put some new music on my mom’s phone since she had mentioned she was tired of her same old music (and she really wanted the S.O.B song – lol).  Afterwards, I got ready for bed.  I wanted to rest up for the 5k in the morning.  Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep very well.  The A/C was loud and kept cutting on and off.  My mom said she didn’t sleep well either.

The weather had been pretty iffy.  Earlier in the week, the forecast looked great for Saturday, but as we got closer, it looked like it might rain.  I think the forecast changed every 10 minutes.  I decided to take my hat just in case.  I had made oatmeal in advance for my mom and me to eat on race morning but we didn’t have a microwave in our room (gasp!) so we brought it down to the lobby to eat and met Paul and Missy there.  We were ready to walk on over to the race start just after 7:00.  We stepped outside and it was overcast and muggy.  I decided to check a bag today with my jacket in it just in case it did rain and I was cold afterwards. 

We met Kevin at the bag check.  He had arrived in town late the night before but stayed at a different hotel.  We all chatted for a bit and talked about time goals.  I really didn’t have a plan going into this.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to push myself or save some energy for tomorrow.  I decided I would just listen to my body and see what happened.  Kevin said that he thought I’d do it in under 30 minutes and while I wasn’t all that confident, it did sound a little like a challenge.  We finally decided to head to the starting line.  I was somehow in corral 1, along with Kevin so I said goodbye to the rest of my family and found a spot in line.

Before long, it was time to go!  I had run this course last year so I was pretty familiar with the course.  I pressed play on my music and off I went in my own little world.  My garmin watch was a little off from the official results (as typical), but I’ll first give you my Garmin results.  I took off a little too fast and completed the first mile in 9:12.  It definitely caught up with me because I had to walk for just a moment around 1.5 miles.  The course is an out-and-back (with an extra out and back side street around mile 1) so I knew I would probably be seeing everyone at some point on the course.  I first saw Kevin who had reached the turnaround point before me and was heading back to the finish.  I finished mile 2 in 9:27.  Not bad considering the walk break.  It has started drizzling a bit at some point during the race, but it actually felt really good!  I continued on and saw Missy next.  She was just about to turn down the side street.  Next, I passed my mom.  I never did see Paul on the course.  He must have been down the side street when I came through.  Around mile 2.5, I was struggling and decided to take another quick walk break.  I was telling myself I only had about 5 minutes left and that “I could do anything for 5 minutes”.  I wasn’t feeling so great and decided to take another walk break around mile 2.8 (seriously, whats up with that???).  In the back of my mind, I had Kevin’s voice telling me that I could do it in under 30 minutes so I knew I had to hurry if I was going to accomplish that.  I took off around the last turn and headed for the finish line.  I finished mile 3 in 9:49.  I kicked it up a notch and gave it all I had when suddenly, I felt really sick.  Like I thought I was going to throw up L  I was gagging uncontrollably as I was coming towards the finish line and I had 3 thoughts in my mind.  1 – Keep running…you have to beat 30 minutes.  Don’t walk…who cares if you throw up.  2 – Where in the world can I even throw up…everyone is lined up on both sides and this is not going to be pretty.  3 – My finish line photos are going to be horrific – lol!  Sorry to be so gross, but it was a really bad feeling!  Somehow I managed to keep it together although you do see me raise my hand up to cover my mouth in the finish line video.  Nice.  I finished the last .16 at an 8:24 pace.  I was so happy to be done!  I got my medal, my mug, and my water and headed over to pick up my bag.

I walked over to the finish festival and found a spot under a tent just as the rain picked up.  It started coming down REALLY HEAVY and I felt bad for my family that was still on the course.  They had computers set up under the tent so I was able to check my official time.  It was 29:50!!  Woot Woot!  That is a 9:37 pace and earned me 27 out of 188 in my age group.  I’ll take it! 

I saw Paul finish, but he couldn’t hear me yelling and it was raining too hard for me to take out my phone for a photo.  Luckily, the rain didn’t last too long.  I walked out from under the tent to get a better shot of Missy and my mom finishing and that’s when Kevin spotted me (taking a selfie of course; but he was kind enough to take a photo of me with the finish line). 

We watched Missy finish and then watched my mom finish!  Good job! 

We got in line for some free soup, which was really good!  I got the crab and corn chowder and my mom got the tomato soup.  They didn’t serve it in a bread bowl like last year, but it was still good!  After soup, Kevin hit the road to head to another race (mud run…crazy kid!).  Mom and I each got a beer and we listened to the band play a couple of songs while people watching and enjoying our beer.  No hula hoops this year though – bummer!  

They also had a chalk board where you could write who inspires you to run.  Aww shucks, mom 🙂

We headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and decided to go out to lunch where I got a HUGE potato and salad – yum!!!!We then decided to try stop back by the expo so I could buy a shirt I had been eyeing and take a few more pictures.

Afterwards, we decided to drive the course.  I remembered that downtown Hampton was a cute little town and thought it might be fun to find.  Well…their map wasn’t exactly driver friendly so while we were pretty close to the route, we didn’t find the EXACT route.  We did find Downtown Hampton according to the signs, but it wasn’t exactly what I was remembering.  We decided to head back to the room with a quick stop at a Bass Pro Shop on the way.  After resting a bit at the hotel, Paul and Missy decided to head to Virginia Beach for the evening but I wasn’t really feeling up to a road trip since I had the half marathon still to look forward to.  We chilled in the room for a bit and then we found a local little pizza place where Kevin met us for dinner.  It was pretty good!!  We headed back to the hotel afterwards so I could rest up for the half the next day.

I enjoyed my weekend away with my family!  Writing my recap and looking at the pictures gives me the *slight* urge to get back out there and run another race while I’m sorta kinda trained.  I have a lot on my plate over the next few weeks, so I’m sure that feeling will fade, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I sign up for another one before the year is over 🙂