Atlantic City Half Marathon recap

This past weekend was my 13th half marathon in 2014 and my 29th half marathon in 29 months!

Eileen came by an hour early, so we decided to kill some time at the Point Pleasant boardwalk.

It was a perfect day for a stroll, and we walked up and down the boardwalk until Colleen was ready to go. Time for a quick drive down the parkway to Atlantic City.

The expo was at Ballys casino, so we parked there and made our way to the expo so that we could get our stuff and then stroll their  boardwalk.

Packet pick up was super speedy, and I got mine as well as bibs for three of my friends. The expo was very tiny, so we were in and out in less than a half hour. Eileen did score a great pair of shoes at half off but they didn't have my fave shows which made me so sad!

Time for a stroll on the boardwalk! First we stashed our bags in the car so that we wouldn't have to carry them all with us.

It was sad to see the three casinos closed down. And when the sun went down and the boardwalk lit up, there were three dark spots.

Dinner time! Tradition demanded that we head to Carmine's in the Tropicana so that we could carb load one last time before the race.

Eat all the carbs.... And some salad!

And of course, Ragu!

So much food that all three of us ate our fill and I brought enough home for at least two more meals!

Time to meet Lisa and her hubs to hand off their bibs!

I look like the frump queen but I was comfy!

We were staying at a Marriott in Galloway, time to check in!

Our suite was bigger than my first condo! Too bad they didn't do late checkout, we had to check out at 6:30, on our way to the race! Hotel fail!

Time to head back to Ballys and park for the race. 

I love where I live! We took some pics before the race started!

Time to line up! There are no corrals so we just went to the back, where we found some old friends and made some new ones.

The race started and we headed right off of the boardwalk. The first five miles flew by. We were all having so much fun, and the course has some great views. Colleen was the first to break off from the pack, and then Eileen and her friend were next. It was a perfect day, although it was just a bit windy.

I saw Lisa and her hubs at mile 2. 

This was his half fanatic qualifier, welcome to the nut house Frank! I did get to see all of my friends at the turnaround at mile 6ish, and I was running near this dude for most of the race. 

I finally passed him around mile 7. At mile 7.5 a volunteer stopped me to let three cars pull out. I don't blame him for wanting to stop their yelling and honking, but he really cramped my style and it was hard to get going again!

Around mile 8 we got back onto the boardwalk, entering at Revel, which was bittersweet. I miss my favorite hotel!

We had to run past the finish line around mile 9 which is so cruel! One of my friends had just finished and shouted to me and waved as I ran by.

Around mile ten the first marathoner went by. Let's just point out that they started with us. Yeah, that was a little sad.

I put on my big girl panties and cheered for him as he zipped by. Two others passed me before I finished. Amazing!

Mile 11 was the final turn around. Those two miles seemed more like 4, but the final two were much faster. I started doing some math in my head and realized that I might actually finish under 2:45. This has been my goal since my injury in August, which has been hard to swallow since my best is 2:23. I have to be realistic in my goals, though! I plan to aim for that 2:23 next year.

When I hit mile 12 i knew that 2:45 was reachable. My Garmin hit 13.1 early and the time was 2:42 ish and the finish line was in sight! I crossed at 2:44:39! Goal met!

 

The bling was massive! The finisher area had small bottles of water, pretzels, Rita's, bagels, Naked juice, beer, and Power Bars. I really wanted chocolate milk so I went over to Johnny Rockets and got some there.

Back to the finisher area to find my friends, for a finisher photo.

It was a perfect race. The course was very organized, the volunteers were awesome, plenty of water stops. I love walking away from a race with no complaints! I am bummed that I won't be able to run it next year, it is the same weekend as the Monster Mash Marathon, which I plan to run.

Did you race this weekend?