The Baltimore Running Festival was a great experience. We chose to spend the night in
Baltimore the night before. And what a good idea it was!
The hotel was great.
They had gift bags for the runners with water, fruit and energy bars. It was a nice treat. They also offered a pasta bar dinner at
the restaurant. We had to opt out
because we were running (ha, running) a little behind. I’m not really sure if you need to carb
load for a 5k away. We headed over to the expo to pick up our packets. It was well organized. I could of spent much longer shopping
in the expo. It had everything
that I had seen on-line when looking for running gear. It was like a runner dream. I got myself some headband wraps so the
sweat doesn’t seep into my eyes when I run and a FlipBelt. This is the best invention ever. I have had a running belt for years. The
one I had much resembled a fanny pack but it was in the running section! The FlipBelt is so awesome, much more
comfortable. This is going to be
great for traveling, too. I highly
recommend it. I showed my
husband. He wanted one. I order two more on-line. I’m going to allow more time next
year for shopping. But we had to go because we had tickets see Animal Crackers
at Centerstage. Our buddy, the
fabulous Bruce Nelson was playing Groucho. The show was hilarious. We got to see friends there that we haven’t seen in
years.
We headed back for the hotel a good night rest. I was really excited but I did sleep
well.
We got up and got dressed and headed over. It was seriously like a 3 block
walk. That was amazing as well. No stress of driving down or parking
and the added bonus of getting to sleep a little longer. Right away we ran into parents from the
school where I teach. Then we
headed over to the start. We
didn’t realize at first that the Marathon was starting before us. The Marathon was at 8:00 and the 5k was
at 8:15. I’m glad we ran into
another friend who gave us the 411.
So for about 5 minutes we were standing among the marathoners. It was
really amazing to look out at all of them. They were average people, all shapes, sizes and colors. I guess I expected to see really in
shape, lean men and women. There were lots of those people, too. It was
amazing to see them start and to think about their journey of 26.2 miles. That can be like 5+ hours of running. Unless you are from Kenya then it's like 2 hours.
My husband was running with me. This was his first 5k and although we signed up months
before he really only started running like 2 weeks prior. Our race started. The first mile was uphill. Great! I always use Map My Run. The first mile seemed so long that I
thought they weren’t going to put up mile markers. I pulled out my phone to check and I was almost a mile one. And low and behold in front of me was
mile marker 1. My husband had not
run a whole 2 miles in a row so we had decided that we would meet at the finish
line. Plus, I really don’t like to
run with people. It freaks me
out. I’m afraid that I’m going to
hold them up or by some miracle they might hold me up. Every time I looked over my hubby was
close by. I even saw him walking a
some points and still he was close.
Hmmm…
I finished the race in 33.26. I was a bit disappointed because I finished the Color Run in
31.04. That was, of course, before a
sprained ankle and that was with Map My Run. When I finished and checked Map My Run it said I had run
3.25 in 33.38. But it’s all
good. My husband came across the
finish line a minute and a half behind me. It was pretty amazing.
I was really proud of him.
There was a little part of me saying, really?? But mostly I am so happy
that we are running races together!
We rounded into the after party – I’m sure it has a
different name and were given our medals.
Very cool. Got our pictures
taken and headed for the beer. We
skipped the food although it looked like they had plenty. The next area had shopping, beer and
music. I heard someone calling my
name and it was my girlfriends from work. We ran the Color Run together.
We all hung out for a while. It was really a lot of fun. I forget to tell about the
weather. It was overcast all day
with a sprinkle here or there but it had rained for 3 days prior and we didn’t
know what we were going to get. We were pleased that it was just overcast. We said good-bye to our friends and
headed back to the hotel to pack up.
Which was also great. We
were able to take quick shower and head to lunch. We had a grand idea that we head over to one of our favorite
restaurants, Little Havana’s until we realized that was smack in the middle of
the marathon route. We headed over
to another part of time, had lunch and headed home. It was great.
My husband loved it, too!
We can’t wait until next year!
Thanks Baltimore Running Festival!!!
And p.s. ~ we just signed up for the Half Marathon! What???
