Atlantic City April Fools Race

This past weekend we spent some time at the beach for the Atlantic City April Fools race.  The race is a 7K and 11K.  I did the 11k last year, and the 7k the year before. I usually do this race with my mom but this year my sister decided that she wanted to run it with me.  This is a fun little race to do and makes for a great girls weekend. The first year I ran it, I thought the race was great, very organized, and offered lots of perks (free post race massages). The second year I ran it, the race seemed to have slimmed down on a lot of things. I was anxious to see what this year brought seeing as the Revel Resort (which usually hosts the race) was now closed down. In any case, the race must still go on, and so it did.

We stayed at the Tropicana Resort and Casino which is actually on the opposite end of the boardwalk from where the race started. The races started at Resorts, so we had about a mile walk on the boardwalk.  The weather was beautiful, much warmer than it had been the years prior. I of course was way over dressed. The years before it was super windy, but that was not the case this year. 

Runners on the boardwalk pre-race

For the most part, I think this is a good little race and I enjoy that the entire course is an out and back on the boardwalk. Because I am still struggling with an injury, I chose to only do the 7K, while Lacey did the 11K. My right leg was giving me the most trouble, but I still tried to keep a steady pace.  As I was running towards the finish line, I heard someone actually call my name. Someone was cheering for me. I wasn't expecting to see anyone I knew there, but it was Bonnie from CuseRunnergirl.  After I crossed the finish line I went and chatted with her for a few minutes while she waited for her husband to cross and I waited for Lacey. It was so nice to meet her and I was thankful that she noticed me.

Since this was Lacey first time running this race series, lets hear how her race went....

The night before the race I realized I forgot my headphones for my Ipod.  Out of all the races to not have my Ipod, this shouldn't have been one of them. The entertainment on the course lacked. There were only two vans playing music and you could only hear them for a quarter of mile or so. But I will say running on the boardwalk was fun. They didn't close it down for the race so you had spectators along the course the whole way.  Because I didn't have my Ipod in I was able to hear my breathing.  I thought for the pace I was going my breathing was well controlled. There was this person that was running behind me for half of the race breathing so heavy. I was hoping that he was going to pass me. He eventually did and I saw he was wearing his Ipod.  I thought to myself I hope I don't sound like that when I am wearing mine.  Also by not having music to occupy my time I felt like I was looking at my Garmin more often than I usually do. 

 

After the turning point I knew I was half way there. There were runners on both sides of the boardwalk now and there was this one particular runner on the other side that didn't make the turn yet and looked right at me and said "You are an Inspiration." I thought that was so nice of her to say that, and wondered why me out of all those runners?  That did give me a little more pep in my step after hearing that and led me to strong finish. I found out afterwards that I ended up finishing 3rd in my age group.  Too bad they were not giving awards for that. It was only overall winners. 

Post race. We really needed our sunglasses!

After receiving our medals and getting our snacks (soft pretzels and caramel corn)we headed over to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville for the post race party and complimentary beverages. It was nice that we both finished early because we were able to walk right in and get a seat and be served right away. Shortly after that it became packed very quickly and was standing room only. One of the cool things we got at the post race party were these Margaritaville Singles to Go.

 

 As the packet says, you add them to your water. While there, we tried the Pina Colada one and it was absolutely scrumptious!  Needless to say, we are on a hunt as to where to purchase these.

After going back to our hotel to freshen up, we headed back out to the boardwalk for a post race foot and leg massage, and then back over to Margaritaville for lunch.

 We had a taco salad and chicken tacos, both which were yummy. Funny story, we had a seat right by the window and as we looked out, we saw a group of guys that were dressed up as characters. One of them was Snow White, and it wasn't even a race costume. See, that's proof that you don't need to be at Disney to see people dressed as characters...haha.

Overall I think we had a great weekend, the weather was perfect, the race was well organized, and we even got to go to Rainforest Café on Friday afternoon. Oh, and we found the most adorable cupcake shop on the Boardwalk called Boardwalk Cupcakes that we visited more than once!

Even though there were no complimentary post race massages like the first year, I think this was an improvement from the year before. Packet pick up was a breeze, the race medals are large and beautiful, and we got a good quality tech shirt.

The front of the race shirt. Good quality, but not as "stylish" as last year's

 I will say that the shirts were a different cut than the years before. We always got women's cut V-necks.   We didn't try on our shirts till we got back to the room. We assumed our X-small shirts would fit fine, but they were rather large on us. They were not V-necks, so we thought maybe we got a unisex cut by mistake.  The volunteers at packet pick up were an elderly man and women who were fighting like they were married, They gave us the wrong size shirts the first time around, so we wondered if maybe they did make a mistake and gave us the men's shirts instead.  On race day I did see other women wearing the race shirt and they didn't look any different than ours, so I guess they were all the same.

Regardless, it was nice to be in the warm weather and get some time at the beach. Only 22 more days until our next Race-cation!

We saw a Margaritaville when we were in Las Vegas but did not eat there. Have you ever been to a Margaritaville before?

                                                    We are linking up with TOTR.