Rock N Roll Raleigh

A couple weekends ago I ran the inaugural Rock N Roll half marathon in Raleigh, NC.

It started out with a road trip with the bestie for our drive down to North Carolina. It was an easy 3 hour drive fueled by Starbucks, Taylor Swift, and sour gummy candy. We were staying with Tristan's friend Connie, so we met up with her and Katie, then got dinner, and got to bed early.

We all got dropped off at the start a few minutes before the race. Then we had to wait in really long porta-potty lines, where we met these guys who were running the marathon without training:

We passed them around mile 1 and wished them good luck. I would never want to attempt that! Tristan and I started in corral 6 and stayed together for the first 7 miles. The course was VERY hilly. It was up and down hills the entire time. None of the hills were HUGE, it was just constant up and down. Tristan took off after mile 7, and then I got passed by the 2 hour pace group, which was kind of depressing. Not that I was expecting to make it in under 2 hours, but my goal is always to get as close to 2 as possible.

Weirdly, I don't remember a whole lot about the race besides the hills. It's funny because when I ran my first half marathon, I remembered what I was thinking/feeling at EVERY mile. I wondered back then if I'd ever get to the point where the miles would just roll by without me noticing. I think I'm finally there. Each mile may still be difficult, but I'm not thinking about it as much.

Actually, I had a lot on my mind during this race regarding job/life decisions. It was nice to be able to have my mind completely free to think through some things and decide what I want next in life. I had a lot of uninterrupted time to let my mind wonder and think about some of the different opportunities that have come up in my life.

So I don't have a whole lot to say about the last 6 miles, except that after a couple of big hills at the end, I made it to the finish! Also, doing a step class the day before (which works the calves), then doing a race with lots of hills (which works the calves) makes for very sore calf muscles! I was definitely limping around at work the next day (which is not unusual for me after a race, haha).

My time: 2:07:16
Pace: 9:43 min/mile
Splits: 5k: 28:27     10k: 57:32     10 mile: 1:34:43

Tristan and I waited for Connie and Katie to finish the race, then we all went out to lunch at Bad Daddy's. They had some of the best burgers I've ever had. It was literally one of the juiciest burgers ever. If I go back to Raleigh, I want to eat there again! Good ending to a good race day.