Recap of my Runner's World Half Marathon Festival Weekend: Part 1

Yes, I'm alive and yes, I have been running. Quite a lot, in fact. I've also been busy with this little undertaking that is the Rocky 50k Fat Ass Run. More on that in another post, though. I'm here to write about my amazing weekend in Bethlehem, PA racing a 5k, 10k, and a half marathon with one of my college girlfriends, Janna!

I trained to meet my friend Janna, who grew up not far from the race festivities. Janna had actually told me about the Hat Trick race option, which included racing a 5k and 10k on Saturday, then a half marathon on Sunday. Janna and I met in our honors fraternity in college and back then, she wasn't a runner. Since then, she's started running, obtained a ton of healthy habits, has run lots of races including 2 half marathons, and is now training for her first marathon, the Philadelphia Marathon. It's been so fun to have a friend turn into a runner and she asked if I wanted to join her for this triple race weekend, how could I say no?!

Janna and me before our 5k race

Friday night, we quickly grabbed dinner at Janna's dad's house, then rushed to make it to the screening of "Spirit of the Marathon 2." I saw the first documentary shortly after running my first marathon and I found it to be insanely inspirational. I didn't get to see the second movie when it came out earlier this year, so when we had the chance to, I told Janna that we had to. I really enjoyed the movie and even choked up a few times watching it. We then went to Janna's mom's house, gabbed for a bit, then went to bed before our 2-race day.

Saturday, we got up and layered up for our chilly races. My plan was to race the 5k, use the 10k as a cool down race, and try to race the half marathon if my legs could hold up. Janna and I were running different paces, so we didn't run the 5k together. I was worried about the hills as I tend to run on flat paths in Philly, but I was surprised how the hills felt fairly manageable during the 5k. I pushed the pace and was able to run a 5k in 22 minutes flat.

Post-5k with our medals.

Janna and I hung out after our 5ks and stayed inside to keep warm before the 10k. I wasn't hoping to race the 10k in order save my legs for my half marathon the next day, so I ended up running the 10k with Janna and man, we had a blast. Janna was hoping to go sub-1 hour for the 10k and we spent the entire race gabbing, laughing, and having fun. We finished in 58:32 and it was one of the most fun races I've run ever!

Janna and me after our 10k together.

In my next post, I'll recap the awesome fun we had in the seminars, meeting an Olympian, and a recap of my half marathon!