The Virginia Beach Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon - Sept 3th, 2006

On Saturday September 2nd, Andy Dietrich and I drove from DC down to Virginia Beach for the 6th annual Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon. The drive took a ridiculous 6 hours being Labor Day weekend and all. We got into VA Beach in time to pick up our numbers and catch the last few minutes of the running expo. We met up with the girlfriend Jill and company, and the group of us went out and got some pasta for dinner. Andy and I went for a quick jog to loosen up the legs from the long day in the car before heading back to the hotel at an early hour to get some sleep.

Andy, Jill, and I departed from the hotel at 5:00 a.m. for the race. We parked at the VA Beach Amphitheater and caught a shuttle to the convention center near the start of the race. I got in a little stretching and made my way to Corral 2 in time for the 7:00 a.m. start. There were more than 20,000 people registered to run and the start line was crazy and full of nervous energy. At 7:00 the professional runners took off, followed by Corral 1 and then finally Corral 2. It was 1:27 on the clock when I made it to the start line and a couple minutes after that by the time I got to pace. The first mile they had us running directly into the sunlight and I was glad to be wearing sunglasses. I was feeling pretty good most of the first several miles and crossed the 10k mark in 45:44. I have been having a nagging left knee injury this running season that starting flaring up around mile 8 or 9 when I was planning to start picking up the pace. The last few miles wound up being much slower than I had hoped to run. I cruised the last couple miles down the boardwalk along the beach to the finish line that seemed so close yet wouldn't come fast enough. I came in at 1:38:56 (7:34 mile pace), good for 646th place overall out of 16,136 runners. I was hoping to run 1:31:00 but was pleased with my performance on the day.

After the race we all met up in the beer garden for some oat sodas and then went to a cafe on the beach for some Coronas, margaritas, and eventually lunch. Andy and I went and found our college friend Kleo at his family's restaurant Fishbones on the beach where he made up some tasty beverages in exchange for the Geico t-shirt I got after the race. That night we went down to the Fifth Street Stage for the awards ceremony and to see Three Doors Down. The soreness the next morning was rather intense but only lasted a day or so. Andy and I stopped through Williamsburg on the way back to DC. We went by the Cheese Shop for sandwiches and picked up bread ends and house, went by the Peanut Shop for butter toffee peanuts, and by the Williamsburg Winery for a wine tour, sampling, and a half case of wine. It was quite the Labor Day weekend we all had.