Surf -n- Santa 10 Miler at Virginia Beach and Our Gift Winner

When I found out I was able to get off work to run the Surf N Santa I was thankful because that meant that I would have completed all the J and A races for the year 2013- Virginia is for Lovers 14k, Shamrock Marathon, Crawlin Crab half marathon, Wicked 10k, and now Surf n Santa. Even though you do not get anything additional (which I think you should, like an additional medal?) It's more of an accomplishment for myself. Someone did say you get a lunch cooler (I guess that's better than nothing).

As excited I was to be able to run this race, I knew it was going to be a cold one. The day before the race it was 77 degrees. I thought "wow" maybe we'll luck out this year with good weather. Not so much. I woke up to rain and wind with temperatures in the 40's.

Wicked 10K Race Weekend at Virginia Beach

The Wicked 10K at Virginia Beach this weekend was a ton of fun.

Friday we headed to the expo and picked up our bib numbers, race shirts, and goodie bags. The expo this year was a bit larger than last year.

Meranda even bought a hand held water bottle from one of the vendors. She figured she  really should start hydrating on her long runs.

After the expo, we took the dogs to the beach for a little play time. (This is probably our favorite part of the Wicked race weekend)


When we woke up on Saturday morning, there was actually frost outside. This made us hesitant to wear the costumes we had planned. We decided to just wear some old long sleeve shirts to the start line and then toss them as we warmed up.

The costumes this year were amazing. There were runners dressed as Flintstone characters, Duck Dynasty (complete with canoe), Elvis, the Energizer Bunny, characters from The Wizard of Oz, and so many more.

We didn't really dress up as much last year. Lacey wanted to run for time last year, but wanted to run for fun this year! Even running in her ball gown, she finished in good time. she only finished 2 minutes later than last year. If you guessed Lacey was Cinderella, you would be correct. I have a feeling this costume will be making its appearance again at a future Disney race!


Last year the finish line was on the boardwalk and the after party was moved from the beach to the convention center (because of hurricane Sandy). Even though we still got to run along the boardwalk this year, the finish line was right in front of the convention center, which was still okay because that is where the post race party was held.

In addition to the cool long sleeve tech shirt and the pumpkin medal, we were also give a cool tote bag, a Wicked 10K thermos, and a drawstring bag that I neglected to take pictures of.

Although the morning started off a little chilly, it ended up being warm by the time we started the race and ended up being a beautiful day. After the race we took the dogs back to the beach for some more play time.

Did you do a race or anything Halloween related this past weekend?

Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon

When I was able to get off work early this weekend I was excited, because that meant I was able to run the Crawlin' Crab half marathon in Hampton Va. Because I was not planning on running this race, I had not run for a week prior to this. However, my last long run was 13 miles, so I thought I would do just fine.  My only goal was to beat my Rock and Roll half marathon time from last month.

I signed up for the race right at the expo.  Even though  it was last minute, I had no issue with getting the right size shirt. The lady told me to just go over and pick a size. Good thing it was a small-ish race. There were only a total of 2352 half marathoners. This expo was much smaller than most too. After grabbing my shirt and bib I looked at some of the official crawlin' crab race gear and some expo booths and then it was home to prepare for the big day.

 

We arrived at the race in plenty of time, found a parking spot, and the lines for the restroom was not even long. Soon enough it was time to make my way to the starting line.

 

Because I didn't train specifically for this race , I knew that it was not going to be a PR for me. I just wanted to run and enjoy myself. And that is just what I did. You couldn't have asked for better weather (last year I heard it rained).

It was a beautiful course! It was along the river and mostly flat. I felt great during most of the race.  Because I didn't plan on running this race, I didn't train well. Because of that, I was worried that this race could go either way.  It was either going to hurt me (by not training for it) or I would do great(because I didn't have time to stress about the race). Sometimes I feel like I put too much pressure on myself before races. I always have a goal in mind and if I don't meet that goal I am disappointed in myself. But this was going to be different, because I didn't have much of a goal! Having just signed up the day before, I didn't have that additional stress of the training and worrying about the race months in advance. I didn't have that much time to think about the event before it was taking place.

In additional to taking in the scenery, there were some cheesy riddles along the way such as:
 Where does the crab keep their clothes- In the clawset.
 Where does the crab go for drinks- At the sandbar.
 What is the crab's favorite show-Claw and Order.

 All things crab, afterall it was the crawlin' crab race! After reading a couple riddles I thought it was time to focus more along the course and stop reading.

 

I finished the race about a minute earlier than I did at Rock n Roll. Even though I was not that much quicker than the race prior, I felt much better during this race, and the weather was definitely in our favor this time!

After completing the race. We got a finishing photo and headed in to enjoy the after party. They had corn and crab chowder soup by Baker's Crust and Coors light that was provided to all the participants(since that was the sponsor). While eating and drinking we listened to the band Rich Whiskey.

Our crab and corn chowder in a bread bowl

Cool "Crab" Swag!

 

 

Do you stress too much about races?

~L

Wicked 10K Race

Over Halloween weekend we decided to do the Wicked races by J and A Racing. My mom and sister drove down for a visit. This time they brought two Labradors with them. Since it was off season at the beach, we thought it would be fun for the dogs to go in the ocean and run in the sand. The day after the Wicked 10K the local SPCA was sponsoring a Pup Cake 5K run in which the dogs would be participating in. Looks like everyone was going to get a chance to run this weekend!  

 

Unfortunately, right before we left for the expo on Friday, we got notification that the Pup Cake 5k run on Sunday was going to be cancelled. They said the weather report looked bad. Something about a storm called hurricane Sandy was suppose to make an appearance! So I guess the four legged creatures would not be running this weekend after all.  They would have to get their running done out on the beach later this afternoon. So we do finally make it to the Race expo inside the VA Beach convention center to pick up our race packets and goodie bag.  Since this is considered a smaller race, the expo was not nearly as large as the ones at Disney or the Rock n-Roll that we attended last month. You could probably look at everything you needed to in about 20 minutes.   We finished up at the expo and then headed to the beach with our dogs.

                                                                   

Our Labradors love the beach.



The Wicked 10k is a J&A series race. J&A puts on many local runs in Virginia Beach including the Surfin Santa, Crawlin Crab, Virginia is for Lovers 14K, and Shamrock Marathon.  This one especially, was a fun run. People dress up in costumes since it's over Halloween weekend. You can even win prizes for great costumes. People even ran as teams in costumes. This one was one of our favorites:



Can you see one of our dogs in the background?

 

I woke up in the morning and it was a bit chilly and windy. I wore my compression capri pants and my Wicked 10k shirt, with another long sleeve tech shirt on underneath. Walking to the Convention Center, I thought I should have switched my capri pants out for long pants. During the race, I'm glad I had my capris on, and should've gone with only one of the long sleeve shirts. It got much warmer throughout the day, even though it stayed pretty windy.

Even though it was just a fun run, I still wanted to do well. I didn't want to go all out in a costume. I decided to play it safe and just wear black, put whiskers on my face, ears on my head, make a tail for my backside and go as a cat. Sounds simple enough, but like I said earlier, this was the weekend of Hurricane Sandy, so it was very windy, and I had to run pretty much the whole way holding my ears. I also was going through an injury at this time, so I wasn't sure how this race was going to go, since I hadn't gone that far in awhile.  Since it was Halloween and people were dressed up, we decided we would dress our Labradors up as well. They were matching clowns and they got tons of attention from runners and spectators alike.  The dogs, along with my mom and sister waited for me at the start and then walked to the finish line to watch me end.  This race started at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. We ran down 19th street to Atlantic Ave towards Rudee Inlet and then down the boardwalk to 10th street, back on Atlantic Ave to 40th street, then up the Boardwalk to the Finish line at 23rd street. As I crossed, I could see the dogs waiting patiently for me in their costumes!  They were so well behaved. The race went well and I ended up finishing in 49 mins.  



That's me, right in front of the bumble bee!



My sister made me this great sign.

 

 

After the 10K was over, my sister joined me for another fun run called The Monster Mile! This race started on 21st street, down Atlantic ave to 27th street then up the boardwalk to the finish line on 20th street. Usually this race has a fun after party at the beach with bands. But due to the weather we had to enjoy the festivities inside the convention center. The race was sponsored by Blue Moon and Bakers Crust. Everyone one that participated in either of the races got a free Blue Moon and some chili in a bread bowl.  It was a good after race snack (our dogs thought so too)!



This was the start of the Monster Mile. The finish line was on the boardwalk. It was the same finish line as the 10K.

                                             Here are the medals we received:

 

This is the Wicked 10K medal for 2012.



This is the Monster Mile medal for 2012.

 

Here is a picture of the sign for my Pupcake run that we never got to do!

Belle was really looking forward to her race.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

-L