Leading up to Saturday, my training for the Baltimore Running Festival was very hit or miss. Since my original plan was to run a marathon I was running fairly consistently. Once I decided my goals were not so realistic I slacked a bit. Okay a ton! Then life happened. I worked twelve straight days, and then I got sick. Needless to say I think prior to the race, I maybe ran once in the last three weeks.
Fast forward to the Expo! I opted to attend the two-day event Thursday after picking up the kids from school. Traffic was a nightmare. I probably lapped the convention center two or three times before opting to park in a nearby garage. I'm so not about the city life! I quickly grabbed my bib and shirts. Since I had the kids with me, of course we had to take a potty break and I used that time to try on my shirts. I had no intentions of shopping at any of the vendors, so we proceed through pretty quickly. The kids had a blast though! There were some vendors with giveaway and the kid left with goodies bag of their own. Their excitement really gave me the boost I needed two days out from race day.
Pre-Race Ritual: The night before I did my usual mom/wife stuff. Had a light dinner. No carb loading for me. Set my alarm and laid all my clothes out. Sorry no "flat me" as I was still battling this sinus infection. I was scared to take anything, but was in bed by 8:30. I was still worried about how I was getting to/from the race. Race organizers and my run buddies all recommended the Light Rail, but I've never ridden that thing. Trying to decipher the schedule was giving me anxiety, and I kept bugging my husband who works nights. Once he game home around 1:30ish he tried again to tell me where and how to get off. We agreed it was better for me to drive.
Race Day: My drive to M&T Bank Stadium was breeze. No traffic. I was worried the parking lots would be filling up, but luckily I was early enough to grab a sweet parking spot right near the finishers festival. I rested in my truck for about 45 minutes before finding my way to the start. Boy was is cold at zero dark thirty. Thankfully I found a few familiar faces and kept my hands warm with a cup of coffee, then hit the port o' potties. No jitters, just ready to do the damn thing!
5K:
Lots of chatting and pictures snapping at the 5K start line. Since I hadn't run in awhile I didn't really have a plan. I started very slow. The first mile+ was up hill so I did my intervals. By mile 2ish it was an awesome down hill! I found my groove and coasted to the finish line; keeping in mine I had another race left. Afterwards I mingled and chatted.
Half Marathon:
Once I made my way over to the harbor side, it was great cheering on the full marathoners and relay runners as the half didn't start until 9:45. I had over an hour wait, but kept myself occupied. Also by this time the temps were warming up. One more port' o potty stop, and of course more pics. A few minutes before the start, I met up with my run buddies Chris and Tammy. They kept asking me what my goal was and what intervals I would be doing. I honestly didn't care about neither. In fact I left my Garmin at home (that'a first), and I had no intention of tracking my pace on my phone either. The half marathon had a 5.5 hour course limit my only goal was to finish smiling.
I was in the final wave (13+ mile) the first half mile or so was crowded. I knew to remain chill and slow. Again I didn't have any times goals. Just happy to be out there. Once I had some elbow room and the crowds started disperse, my strategy was easy "run when you can, walk if you must." I did just that! I ran, I walked, I laughed, I took pictures, I high-fived and fist bumped all the amazing folks on the course. It was a great race experience. Truthfully yes it was hilly, but I was expecting worse.
Don't get me wrong the course was no walk in the park. Speaking of which those Patterson Park hills nearly took a sister out. I stopped at every water stop. About half way, which was near Lake Montbello I was really enjoying myself and good feel myself gradually speeding up. The music was huge boost. Most of the folks I paced with the first 5ish miles were behind me at this point, and I continued to thrive of the crowd support and seeing all the full marathoners. I'm normally more in tune my monitoring my splits, and for the first time I didn't care.
Coming back on Eutaw Street and seeing Orioles Ballpark gave me life!!!!! One lady cheering yelled "Eutaw baby! I bet folks never been more excited to see Eutaw Street" I knew the home stretch was near and maintained a steady easy pace across the finish line. I did it!. 16 point freaking two miles. Never in a million years, would I ever had imagine I could to that. As the challenge was perfectly titled, I'm a proud Balti-moron!!!!
Post-Race: Getting home was surprisingly a breeze as well. I swung by Wawa and grabbed a sub (judge me all you want). I just completed my fifth half marathon and my longest distance EVER. So with the walking to/from the parking lots and cheering other runners, I logged 18 miles for the day and over 44k steps.
My Review: Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. The Baltimore Running Festival was probably the greatest race I'v ever experienced. Everything was great from the expo to the challenging course to the awesome crowd support. I'm far from fast, and take pride in being in the back of the pack. I never once felt alone out there today. Everyone was so encouraging. Besides my personal accomplishments, what was exceptional was the bad rap this city often gets and seeing folks come together from all different walks of life was simply amazing. Not that I ever doubted it before, but this race truly showed me why Balimore is known as "Charm City."
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