And don't think that there was no hesitation on my part. The day after Superstorm Sandy flipped our neighborhoods upside down, I wondered how in the hell I would muster up the ability to give a ____ about running a half marathon. I had just run my best marathon one day before we were evacuated, and could not be bothered to bask in the glory of my accomplishment. Managing to (reluctantly) squeeze in ONE training run for Trenton, I realized that if I were going to show up at all, I needed to figure out a way muster up the drive, adrenaline, and energy to give 100% to this race. I also knew that my world would not come crashing to an end if my 100% on this race day did not yield the same results as a "normal" (before Sandy) race day.
Enough with the emotionally driven keystrokes. (For now.) Let's talk about this inaugural half marathon.
The idea of being part of a first time event is always exciting to me. We headed to packet pickup, which was hosted at the New Jersey State Museum, on Friday afternoon. It went smoothly and seamlessly. Race swag was sweet! The drawstring bag and half zip (WOMEN'S) pullover impressed me and made me wonder how much more impressive the race itself would be.
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| Inside the NJ State Museum |
I got a glimpse of the medal at the Trenton Half Marathon merchandise table and HAD TO snap a picture.
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| Nice, right? |
This medal is one of the classiest, highest quality and possibly the prettiest (hey it's my blog so I can use whatever descriptive I like) medal in my half marathon collection thus far.
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| The Trenton medal kicks my other favorite half marathon medals' butts. |
We carb loaded with friends afterward and headed home so I could pull my race day wear together and get some sleep. Trenton is not even a one hour drive for us and I was so glad to sleep in my own bed the night before a race!
Even though we were pressed by a volunteer at the Expo to arrive by 6:30am, we decided we didn't need to do that. Being absurdly early only to wait in the freezing cold at the start just did not seem necessary. We decided that arriving 45 minutes early would be more than sufficient. We ended up waiting in an endless line of cars waiting to turn onto the street where parking was designated. By the time 40 minutes went by, we were almost close to the parking lot. I was confident that even though we would not make it the 7:45 start that this was fine as it was evident that the endless line of cars behind us wouldn't make that start either.
As someone who works for a race and timing company, I have a lot of grace for race day hiccups. And in an inaugural race, you kind of have to expect them. And you have to keep things in perspective- a late start doesn't end the world. That life and death do not depend on instant results. That volunteers may be clueless. Something that was supposed to be "here" might end up "all the way over there" instead. It's just a race.
