And the Ultimate Cliffhanger Award Goes to....

Me! To the 3 people who follow this blog - my bad, y'all. I got so caught up in the excitement of running my races that I never filled you in on the haps. Well - I ran the races! Owww. If you're saying to yourself - "Wait, races? Plural? I thought there was only one?" ....my bad again.

I ran two half marathons! What began as running my first-ever 5K, turned into my running with some of the coolest crews in NYC, which led to my running in small local races, which gave me the confidence to sign-up for my first ever half-marathon, which forced me to train like hell, which gave me the pelotas to sign-up for a second half marathon that took place 3 weeks after my first! And that's the story of how Half-marathon grew an s.

So, it's been about 4 months since I ran the first half and I'm going to do my best to recount how things went down. Where my memory fails me, I'll throw in a photo to distract you. :)

If you've ever been to a Nike event (or read my blog) you know that these people are serious about creating a great experience. So here goes.

When we arrived, the pier was all #werundc everything for the expo:

I went to the Nike DC store to run a quick few miles as a shakeout in preparation for the race. They had the wall plastered with all of the runners names. Nice touch, Nike.

Part of the marketing for the race included the fact that Ellie Goulding (if you don't know the name, like I didn't at first, here's one of her songs...which you definitely know) was also running.




Anyway, to get us excited, they hosted a fun concert the night before with Ellie rocking out and everyone forgetting for a moment that they had 13.1 to run the next day. Fun times.

Enjoyed the concert and all of my sweet arm candy I'd accumulated by that point. Also, humble brag on reaching goal with my fuel band.

Who am I kidding? All brag. No humble.

After a morning shake-out run, traipsing through the expo all afternoon and jamming out at the concert, I was crazy hungry but didn't want to eat anything too out of the ordinary before the big day. Chipotle to the rescue!!

First, peep the portion. (That's a lot of marinated meat)

 Then, peep the price!! My New Yorkers can especially appreciate this. It's a whole $2.00 cheaper!! I walked out feeling like I won. (One thing - they didn't serve margaritas so...NY wins there )

I took my meal back to my hostess' home (huge hugs and shouts to my friend Kristin Venise Bellamy Lloyd!!), set my alarm and was ready to make it happen.

Alarm went off and I woke up to eat the exact same breakfast I'd eaten pretty much every Saturday morning in preparation for long runs. 

Then, it was race day! Up and at 'em early. Thanks to Christine for taking care of all things day-of logistics! Bright eyed at 6AM

And then we were off! 30,000 women racing through the DC Expressway. Pretty cool.

Howard's band was a fun touch. They played all things Juicy J & 2 Chainz. :)

 There was a go-go band in the tunnel. A go-go band!! See what I mean?! Nike kept it regionally relevant with motivating beats. Loved this.

 This was nearing the end. Last mile. That's when you find out what you're made of.

Crossed the finish line and collected my Tiffany's neckcandy.

Then quickly proceeded to brunch to toast it up! 

3 weeks later, I did it all over again (10 minutes faster). Here's one photo. I'll spare you the photo journal.

Now, you're all caught up. I'm about 7 weeks away from half #3 and I'll keep you (3) posted on the haps.

Keep running,
#runrorun