Rock n Roll Virginia Beach vs. Hermine

The race that almost wasn't!

As a Rock n Blogger I was given free entry to this race. As usual, all opinions are my own.

Tropical Storm Hermine canceled the Mile on the Sand, but thankfully the half went on as planned. They made some adjustments that were sad, but necessary, such as smaller mile markers, no fun signs, no timing clocks, no Brooks Rocker at mile 10..... It was necessary for safety, with the winds being what they were.

The hubs and I left with plenty of time, and he dropped me off at the runner drop off.... Well, not really. We made a wrong turn and ended up where the buses dropped off. The volunteer was nice for about five seconds and when I didn't move fast enough, he banged on my car with his hand. It was terrifying. He wasn't a RnR employee, so I chanted to myself that he was a volunteer and ran off as fast as possible.

There were tons of potties and I barely waited to use one, which is always a bonus. When I went back just before the race, the wait was a little longer but still moved quickly.

Time to hit the corrals. I was towards the back, and because there were fewer speakers, we couldn't hear as well as usual, but they did a great job of making sure we could hear as much as possible. A lot of people didn't  make it into the area  because of the storm, so the corrals had about half the usual people in them.

I took a pic of the flags so that you could see the wind. The temp was nice and with the breeze, the conditions were almost perfect. 

They let the corrals go two at a time, so we were off faster than I planned. The course is mostly flat and I finished my first mile in under 12 minutes and my second was just a little over. Time to slow down for the long haul! The hubs was waiting at about mile 2.5 which was nice. I love seeing his face out there, it makes me feel stronger.

The scenery was just beautiful at the beginning of the course. We ran through town, a block away from the ocean, and it smelled divine. I miss the ocean smell! This group was carrying flags for the whole race, I think they had one for every branch of the military but I'm not sure. They were on a bathroom break here, and sharing the load for each other.

Seriously, the views were amazing. We ran over this bridge, which was way lower on the way out, which hardly seems fair. The way back, the bridge was higher. No. Really. Not just perception. Two separate bridges, one higher than the other. Side by side. Weird.

At several points we were given ice pops by locals which was awesome. I went to take a selfie and this dude photo bombed me. He was super happy about the sponges from the last water stop. 

We were also given grapes and orange slices by locals. It was a course full of super friendly spectators.

How do you not take a photo of this sign?!?

We ran through base housing at one point, and there were groups of soldiers in their camo slapping the runners five as they ran by. It makes you run faster. For real. 

After we left, there were people handing out twizzlers. Best.race.ever.

Mile 12 brought us to the beach. I stopped as soon as I got onto the boardwalk and took a photo and just breathed it all in. I was almost done, I felt great, the course support was amazing, and I got to run the last mile on the boardwalk. Win.win.win. We were running into the wind, and this was the only time that the passing storm really effected the race.  It drizzled twice, once at mile 2 and the second time was on the boardwalk. Both times it was refreshing and not at all annoying. 

After I finished, scored myself some water, chocolate milk, and food, I tracked down the Challenge medal table to get my Bonus Bling. I took this pic while the hubs was getting me some soft serve. 

We walked the mile back to the car, hit the hotel for a shower, and started the drive back home. I have to say, even with all of the craziness of the storm, the race was very well put together and RnR really took care of everyone who couldn't get there for the race. I am bummed that this is my last RnR of 2016, but I am already planning which ones I will run in 2017. Vegas.... Savannah... New Orleans....Raleigh.... And Dallas.... The possibilities are endless!!

Do you run Rock n Roll? What's your favorite Tour Stop?