Rehoboth Seashore Half Marathon Race Recap

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware -- Rehoboth Seashore Half Marathon

Race recap for state #15 -- Delaware

Registration:

Registration for this race was through their website https://www.rbmarathon.com/ and then to a link for registration that allows you to register through Active.  The website is not that great.  I found it difficult to find everything I was looking for.  Most of the information was still up from 2016.  I found myself heading to the website often to try to find more information about location and accommodations and parking and shuttles and race start time and packet pick-up, etc... but it was not always easy to find what I was looking for.

 Fee:

The fee was $140.  I got a discount through the 50 states half marathon club of $20 which brought the fee down to $120 plus a $12.10 processing fee -- grand total: $132.10

The Expo:

There was no expo.  The pre-race packet pick-up was in a tent on the corner of two streets outside of the running company store.  It was easy enough to find, but I was looking for the running company, so I walked inside and around the shops before venturing outside and finding the tent.  The store was open, so you could purchase shoes or gloves or any other running gear you were looking for.  Of course, I was only looking for the expo to get my bib and shirt.  It was not the most organized event that I have ever been to, but I eventually got my bag with my shirt and race bib and a wrist band for the after party -- discussed later.

Shirt:

The shirt was a short-sleeved wicking, tech shirt  I was happy that it was not a long-sleeve shirt, by which I was surprised because it was December in Delaware.  Apparently they alternate long-sleeve and short sleeve each year and I just happened to draw the short-sleeved year.  Yeah for me.  Truth is, I like the shirt.  It looks nice and is comfy.

Race Day:

Saturday

Race Start Time:

Race start was 7:00am.  We started right on time.  The race started right at the beach at the start of the boardwalk.  There was no formal corral system.  They had a few signs that showed an average pace, 6:00 min/mile line up here, 7:00 min/mile here, 8:00 min/mile here, etc...  Either people grossly estimate how fast they are planning on running, or they were paying no attention to where they were lining up, or they cannot read English or understand English, or maybe they cannot count to 7, or some other reason, but there were hoards of folks that decided to start the race toward the front, in the 7:00 min/mile area.  I only know this because I had to pass them all.  The start was right there at the brick pavers in front of the gazebo and then we ran up this one lane road and around some neighborhoods for a couple of miles, so it was a bit of an obstacle course or more like a pachinko game (sort of a Japanese pinball) just to get into a comfortable rhythm.

Course Map:

Google maps show the race course.  As I mentioned, the race started just off the beach, ran up the road and through some neighborhood, then along the coast out and back.  After the turn around, there was a split of the full marathon and the half.  The markings were not great, but there was a lady with a megaphone that was yelling, "Full marathon to the right!!! Half to the left!!!  Full marathon to the right!!!! Half to the left!!!"  I would have hated that job.  It was effective (for me), but had to be annoying to repeat that thousands of times.

Speaking of annoying.  This part was an out and back, so as the super fast runners made the turn and came back, they had a few four wheelers and some bicycles that rode in front of them to keep their side of the road clear and we were instructed to stay on our side of the road and not cross the double yellow lines.  So, I was running just inside the double yellow lines, when behind me I hear some lady yell "ON YOUR LEFT!"  It was some runner in the same race telling me to move over so that she could run past me on my left.  I thought, "I have been fighting past all of these people the whole race, weaving in and out of traffic, and you are gonna honk your proverbial horn and force ME to move out of YOUR way???!!!?!?!???"  I did move over and let her pass.... but I passed her in another half mile and never saw her again.  UGH!!! PEOPLE!!!!

Accommodations:

I stayed in a beach hotel just a street over from the boardwalk.  This picture is the view from my balcony on race morning.

The hotel was nothing special.  It was older and worn a bit, but it was clean and the people were super nice and it was close and available.  

Transportation:

I rented a car in Philadelphia... which was a bit over two hours away.  I met a guy, a dentist, at a course who is from Rehoboth and he told me that would be the best airport to fly in and out of.  It was fine.  I did not use the car once I got to Rehoboth.  I walked everywhere, which consisted of to the tent (packet pick-up) and back.  To the race start and from the finish to the hotel and back to the tent for the after party, then back to the hotel one last time.

Weather:

The weather was really great.  40-50F from race start to race finish.  It was clear and sunny, but cool.  I wore some throw-away gloves for about 5 or 6 miles, then took them off and stuffed them in my waist band.

Race Morning:

40 F.  A slight wind off the beach, but not a factor throughout the race.    It was a beautiful day.  Great day for a race.

Race:

The race was mostly flat.  As I mentioned it ran through a neighborhood and along the coast out and back, then along a trail.  The trail was hard packed grey dirt/rock and it was quite scenic.  Several of the runners were commenting how pretty it was, and I agree it was pretty nice.

Below is a picture pilfered off the internet.  (this kid has run 20 half marathons in 20 states)... but here he is running on the trail in the race in Rehoboth Delaware.

This section was also an out and back for about 3 miles out and three miles back.  Parts were a tab hilly, but not much at all.

Water/Food Stations:

There were several water and Gatorade stations.  The race info stated there would be nutrition packets at some stations, but I must have missed them all.  The cups they used were those super thin plastic cups, so when you grab them they crumple and spill.  I dropped two cups transferring to my other hand with my gloves on, and one guy spilled his Gatorade all over my shoulder and chest.  He did not mean to do it and he did apologize... and it really did not bother me... especially because I was passing him and never saw him again.  It would have been another story if I either ran behind him the whole time or he took off and left me.  I am much nicer when I am in front of people and STAY in front of them.  You do NOT want to know what I am thinking about you when you are in front of me or worse if you pass me.

Scenery:

The beach you already saw.   The trail you saw a small portion of.  The trail was mostly wooded and a few open field areas, like farm land.  Then there were a couple of little bridges over some streams and a few houses that backed up to the trail.  

Race Entertainment:

There really was no entertainment.  There were a few people out cheering for someone they knew, but not like some of the other races where people just come out and cheer for runners they fo not know.  There was one DJ/MC calling names of runners as they ran by about mile 8... but otherwise it was all about the scenic nature of the course.

Finish:

The finish was a bit lack-luster.  They called my name and took my picture and gave me my medal, but then.... nothing.  There was no fruit or snacks or anything.  There were boxes of water and boxes of chocolate milk, but no volunteers to pass them out.  I grabbed a couple of chocolate milks out of the box myself.  There was no one there to tell me that I could not or should not.  They were still cold.  There was a tent with laptops to check results, so I did that, and just as I figured, I finished.

Actually, I was happy with my race.  I ran - officially - 1:42:20.  That is a PR for me, so that made the whole race enjoyable and my favorite so far.  It is apparently all about me.

I figured out why there were no snacks, etc.  Everything was in the after party tent.  I needed my wrist band to get in, but it was all in there.  of course I did not have it with me, so I went back to the hotel and got all cleaned up and talked with my wonderfully supportive family, then went back for the after party.  By this time most of the half races were finished and a few of the full racers.

Inside they had waffles, bacon, biscuits, gravy, hamburgers, hot dogs, pulled pork, slaw, mac n cheese, baked beans, cokes, beer, water, chocomilk, bananas, and I am sure several other things.  I got my plate full and my pockets full and walked back to the hotel.  The tent was full of people and food and drink and loud music.  Everyone looked like they were having a good time.

Bling:

Misc:

 I enjoyed this race.  It was not so big, but not too Podunk.  The weather was great!  The course was mostly flat and plenty of turns to break up the monotony.  And I ran pretty well.  Perspective is such an interesting topic.  I ran my PR so far.  That is great.  The bad part is, as I was running, my math skills got a little suspect. I was calculating how I could finish 1:40.  If any of you have read some of my early blogs, 1:40 was my original (arbitrary) goal.  So, as I was running, I started to believe that 1:40 was possible.... even up to one mile left.... well, 1.1 miles left.  All I had to do was pick up my pace a little bit for that last mile and I would hit 1:40.  Well, I did not pick up my pace - I ran 7:50 the last mile - nor did I come close to 1:40.  Missed it by a mere 2 minutes and 20 sec.  How was I calculating that???  I would have had to run the last mile in 5:30.  Who knows?  But anyway, even though I ran my PR, I was a bit disappointed that I did not hit 1:40.  All about perspective.  It was a nice race.  I felt good.  I felt so good that on the way to the airport I was checking to see if there were any races in Philadelphia the next day.  Maybe I could run a back to back and knock out another state while I was out there in those tiny little states that are hard to get to.  I only checked in Philly and only found a small Nittany Lions race, and that was at least a three hour drive, so I opted out.  -- BTW, today I am very happy that I did not run again today.  I'm a bit sore.

Next race Jan 20 -- The Rain Run in Redmond, WA (outside Seattle) and
Jan 27 -- Pebble Beach Half Marathon in Pebble Beach, CA

Southern Fried Half Marthon - Nags Head, NC

Outerbanks Marathon -- Southern Fried Half Marathon

Race recap for state #14 -- North Carolina  11/12/2017


The best part of this race was that my family went along with me.  My mom, wife, daughter, Coral (Keeley's friend), and both boys.  Even better, Valerie and Noble ran in the race, and my mom rode her bicycle along with us.  We drove and had a fun road trip in the motor home.

Registration:

Registration for this race was through raceit.com

 Fee:

I received another discount through the 50 states half marathon club.  The fee was $85 and I got a 10% discount of $8.50 (for all you math averse folks).

The Expo:

The expo was super small.  The smallest expo I have been too.  Some of the races did not have an expo, but of the ones that did, this one was the smallest.  Of course, this was one of the only expos that I had time to kill and was actually interested in looking at some of the "stuff", but it being so small, they did not have what I wanted.  We browsed the exhibitors and bought a couple little things, some Nuun electrolyte tablets and Valerie bought a hoodie.  I really wanted a visor, but they did not have what I wanted. Oh well. 

Shirt:

The shirt was another long-sleeved wicking, tech shirt.  Now I am certain that I own more long-sleeved shirts than I have ever owned at one time.

Race Day:

The race was Sunday.  Valerie and Noble and Mom and I got up early and ate breakfast at 5:00am.  Mom drove us to the start.-- which was awesome, because otherwise we werre going to have to walk to the high school about 1.5 miles and take a bus to the start.
The weather was awesome.  It was about 50F.  It warmed up to almost 60F toward the end of my race, but was still nice.  I was a bit concerned the day before because it was in the 40's and super windy.... like 20MPH windy and that made it super cold, but race day was pretty nice.  MUCH less wind and a bit warmer

Race Start Time:

The race start was scheduled for 7:00am.  We started exactly on time.  I was in corral A, Noble was in corral B and Valerie was in corral D.  There was a 2 minute lag between corrals.

Course Map:

The web site is not working at the moment, so I do not have the picture of the course... but the race started in the middle of Nags Head (outer banks) and ran south.  It was pretty flat.  It ran through a neighborhood and around a golf course and the Kitty Hawk dunes (which, BTW I did not even see -- Valerie asked me, "wasn't it pretty?"  I said, "I did not see it!")... then back on the main road south.  There was a turn to the west at about mile 7 or 8 toward Manteo, NC.  Then a steep uphill section, up the bridge 55 feet to the 10 mile marker, then downhill and a right turn  into Manteo where we finished.

I was running 7:40-7:50 until the bridge.  I ran 8:23 up the hill and then in the high 7:50's until the end.  It kind of took the gas out of me.

I finished 7:56 avg per mile 1:43.58  Not too bad.

Transportation:

We drove from Florida to NC.. and back in my mom's motor home -- thanks mom.
We split up the driving between myself, Valerie and Grammie.  I tried to get Keeley to drive in there somewhere, but she would have nothing of it.

Weather:

So glad it was not freezing and super windy!  Thank you Lord!

Race Morning:

As I mentioned, we got up at 5:00 and made breakfast.  The trickiest part of the morning was trying to make sure that we all went to the bathroom adequately before we left.  We had one who couldn't seem to go at all and one that went four times.  not mentioning any names and trying to be as vague as possible.  The runners reading this understand what I mean -- actually I am betting everyone else does too.

Race:

The race was fairly small.  There were 1800 runners in the half, and 1500 finishers of the half.  There were no hiccups, so I am saying it was well run and organized.  The back streets were all blocked off and the main road had one lane blocked off.  It was actually plenty.  I did not feel any issues with traffic.  The Full marathon started 20 minutes after the half, so I did not see any of them.  The mile markers for the half obviously went from 1-13, and we did see the full marathon mile markers, but they did not join our course until they had already run 13 miles, so although we did see the 20th and 24th, etc... mile markers, it was not confusing because we knew those did not apply to us

Water/Food Stations:

There were plenty of water and nutrition stations.  Every 2-3 miles.  They had Gatorade at several stations and water at EVERY station.  There were nutrition gels at two stations.  I skipped the first two water stations again as I was feeling good and just decided to keep up my pace.  I well ahead of the 1:45 or 8:00/mile pacers after mile 3, so I just kept moving.  The next two stations, I had only a sip of water.  I really did not feel like I needed anything until after about mile 8 or 9.  I was pretty tired at mile 10, but that was because of the steep incline.

Scenery:

The scenery was nice.  I apparently missed the Kitty Hawk dunes, but the neighborhoods and the golf course was nice, and it was nice looking around on top of the bridge.  Valerie apparently stopped on the top of the bridge and marveled at the scenery, because, "It was so pretty!!!"  I did not stop.  Noble did not stop either.

Race Entertainment:

There were some nice spectators.  Most of the ones I saw, I saw at regular intervals because they were cheering for a little girl who had to be 9 years old. (there was an age restriction of 13, but there was no way she was 13)... of course Noble is 12, so I understand.  Anyway, she was running right along with me most of the way, until she passed me after mile 12.  Her dad rode his bike ahead and would stop and take pictures and she had fans doing the same thing, so they were there at multiple places cheering her on.  It was sweet.  My mom was doing the same for me, until she lost me.  I was going too fast, she did not think I was that far ahead, so I did not see her after mile 5 or 6 or so.  I remember a couple of entertainment places.  There was a guy in a shark costume and a girl in a pirate costume and a bear at the finish???  Not sure what that was all about.

Finish:

The finish was right in front of our condo.  It was awesome.  The finish area went right up the the entrance to the condo complex... so, after I finished, I waited for Noble and then went and took a shower and came back to meet Valerie.  Keeley, Coral, and Levi had just woken up and still had "sleep" in their eyes, but they strolled out just as I was finishing, so everyone had a cheering section.  Pretty neat.  The announcer called all three of our names and mispronounced each one.

Bling:

The medal was a nice medal.  Now we have three.



















The disappointing part is the post race pictures.  So far, the pictures consist of one area of the race and not even a good angle and not even the finish line

Good thing my mom was there and took some pictures.

Misc:

This was a nice race.  It was well organized and everyone seemed to be in good spirits.  I always seem to like the race when I run well.  I felt good and posted a decent time.  sub 8:00 miles is good for me right now.  It was also nice to have the family there and to be able to cheer them on.  I am super proud of my wife and my son.  Neither of them have run that far, ever.. and they both performed great.  Nice to see.   Also it is always nice to have my mom out there riding her bike along with us.

In all, it was a good race.  We made it fun as a family, had a little R&R and a good road trip.. oh yeah and we ran 13.1 miles.

I have Rehoboth Beach Delaware up next on Dec 2.  There is some talk of a Polar something weather pattern something -- it is supposed to be cold.  Snow in December in Delaware?  maybe?  I sure hope not, but we will see.

I also made a weird decision.  I scheduled two races in January.  I will be in Seattle for a week, so I decided to run the Saturday before my course in Washington and the Saturday after the course in California -- yes, that is just 7 days.  The one in Washington is "the rain race".  They schedule it specifically at a time where they expect it to rain. -- odd.  The one in California is at Pebble Beach.  1st time the 17 mile road will be utilized for a race and closed to traffic.  I don't think I will have too much trouble with the recovery time.  I ran Tuesday and Wednesday after this last race which was Sunday, and I feel good.  So, 6 days of recovery should be fine.  I'll let ya know.  Should be fun. 

15 Most Annoying Types of Runners

I just read an article, well it was more like the pejorative "clickbait" type of "article" where you have to click each slide to see the next one rather than simply reading the "article".  It was titled The 15 Most Annoying Types of Runners, and I had to laugh a little because, I think I find myself in 12 or so of them -- that is, many folks would place me squarely in the category of "An Annoying Runner".  Here are the 15 types that they recognized:

1. The Chatty Runner - well, that is definitely not me.  I don't like to talk much anyway, and particularly when I am running.  I am certain that I have missed numerous opportunities to bond with my 12 year old.  Together time and face time for a long time, but instead I told him that I am not likely to talk to him much, so stick with me and we can talk AFTER we run.  That's some great parenting right there.  lol

2.  The One Who Doesn't Understand Pacing - I have definitely had my moments in this area.  Of course, I would love to tell you that I am getting better, alas I still have my meltdowns.

3.  The Stubborn One -  Right off the bat, it may be easy to say that I fit this one pretty well, but they go on to clarify what they mean by stubborn.  They are talking more about the person who just won't let you pass them.  Every time you pass them, they speed up.  I know that is annoying while driving.  I don't like people passing me.  Particularly the closer to the end that I get.  I get super bothered when someone blazes past me at mile 9 or 10.  Where the heck have they been and why when I am about to pass out do they have enough energy to smoke me?  How does that happen?  Of course the difference is I cannot stop them from passing, so I just watch them blow by, cursing under my breath.

4.  The Social Media-Obsessed One -  I certainly would not classify myself as social media-obsessed, but I do post all of my runs and activities on Strava and a few of them make their way on to Facebook.  For me it is a sort of accountability.  I set this goal to run 50 half marathons in 50 states in 50 months, because without a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal), I would not likely accomplish much.  Then, after you create a BHAG, then you tell everyone about it, it is almost like you CANNOT not complete it.  Imagine, literally EVERYONE you know is aware of your goal, your quest and some of them you only see and/or hear from once a year, they ALL ask you, "How's the marathon thing coming?"  How embarrassing would it be to have to tell them ALL that you gave up?  That would suck!

5.  The One That's Naturally Gifted - I have always been fairly athletic, but I certainly would not suggest that I was naturally gifted - at running.  I have suggested all along that I am not a runner.  I feel like I have spent my entire life building a body type for something other than long-distance running, and now I am struggling to change my body type to be more "runner friendly".  For those of you in the know, you understand what I mean is I am fat and need to drop a whole bunch of weight.  Having said that, I have many times been passed by runners who are carrying much more weight around than me.  When I ran my PR in Arizona, I started right up front in the first corral, ran sub 8:00 minute miles -- felt really good about myself, and then at mile 11 I passed a lady who weighed 30 pounds more than me.  HOW DID SHE GET TO MILE 11 IN FRONT OF ME???  It is a mystery to me.  I'm just happy I was able to pass her.
The other aspect to this one is the perspective from the other side.  I have several friends who are secretly mad at me because I decided, with a lack of proper training to go run 50 half marathons, and actually run them, and I was able to just go and do that (for the most part).  I can see how that could be annoying.

6.  The One Who Always Flakes -  This is in reference to your running partner who doesn't show when they are supposed to.  Of course, I do not have a running partner.  I tried to make my son my running partner, but, well... he always flakes.  So, this one does not apply to me.

7.  The One Who Stinks -  This one made me laugh.  I am certain that I do not smell of roses and perfume while I am running or after.  I sweat, a lot.  The part that made me laugh has to do with a trip that I took recently.  I went to Seattle for a week.  I ran almost every day while I was there.  I only had one carry-on sized bag and I packed all of my clothes in zip-locked baggies to compress them and conserve space.  My used workout clothes were all placed in one zip-locked baggie for the trip home.  When my wife opened the bag to sort and wash my clothes from the trip (she is a super special lady - I am blessed), she nearly passed out as they had begun to ferment.  Even after she washed them, they STILL stunk and had to be washed again with vinegar or bleach or hydrochloric acid or something.  Sorry honey!

8.  The Uber Competitive One -- Yeah, I have to admit I am somewhat competitive, and by somewhat I mean, OMGoodness, everything is a competition and losing sucks! :)  I was gonna tell you a funny anecdotal story to make my point, but I think you get the idea, and the stroy ends with me losing, so that would simply be another blow to my fragile ego.

9.  The One Who Makes Excuses - As many of you have read throughout this blog, I have an excuse for everything.  I like to call it a theory of how the negative outcome may have happened, with the expressed purpose of correcting that aspect so as to not ever let it happen again.

10.  The "All Running, All the Time" One - I would not exactly put myself in this category either, as it is important to note that I have other interests and hobbies that I like to talk about - when I am forced to talk.  I think the key here is that it is not so important that we talk about running, however it is important to talk about me and my interests.  Just kidding, but enough about me, let's talk about you for a while.  What do you think of me?

11.  The Not-So-Humble Bragger - So, I suppose it depends on your perspective.  That is, I do not go out of my way to tell people about what I am doing or what I have done, or how well I did it, but people DO ask me a lot.  So, when they ask me, I tell them.  Also, I write this blog and post on social media, so it is all out there.  I don't see it as bragging, but everyone will likely have their own opinion.

12.  The Gear Snob - This one also made me laugh.  As those of you that have read this much know from previous posts that I have tried many things and considered many others.  I have $75 shorts - multiple pairs for heaven's sake.  On the other hand, I don't use my heart monitor and I don't have camel backs or fanny packs or fancy equipment.  Just my Garmin, my fancy shorts and socks and shoes, and then there is the whole ear-bud thing, but I am using them less and less.

13.  The "Your Pace is Fine" One - This one is in reference to running with others who are running slower than you are interested in running, yet you tell them you will run slower with them, but you don't.  I know it has been annoying to my lovely wife on more than one occasion where we would run "together", which means I would run on and circle back around multiple times.  I am sure she hates that.

14.  The Complainer - Have you read my blog?

15.  The Perpetually Injured One - I have been very fortunate that I have only had a couple of minor injuries.  I am betting that they would have healed much faster and without incident or drama if I had only rested properly instead of continuing to race.. but I have an agenda here, ain't nobody got time for injuries.

In recap, I suppose it would be appropriate to apologize to everyone right now for being annoying in many areas.  I get pretty annoyed with myself many times.

We are driving to Nags Head North Carolina.  Leaving this evening.  The race is not 'till Sunday, but the whole family is going, so we are making a trip out of it.  Noble and Valerie are still planning on running, so it should be fun.  Race recap when I return from State #14.

Detroit International Half Marathon race recap

Detroit International Half Marathon

Detroit, MI

Race recap for state #13 -- Michigan.  10/15/2017


This race was an interesting one because it started in Detroit, continued over the bridge to Windsor Canada, along the Detroit River in Canada, then through the tunnel back to Detroit.  There was an option to run a half marathon on the same day also in Detroit that remained in Detroit, not crossing over into Canada, but I elected to run the International half as it sounded like it would be fun.

Registration:

Registration for this race was through imathlete.  

 Fee:

I received a bit of a discount through the 50 states half marathon club , so the fee for this race was $70.00 and a service fee of $5.90 for a total of $75.90.  That was a nice surprise. 

The Expo:

The expo was at the COBO center in downtown Detroit.  It was required to show your passport to receive your bib and race packet.   Once I received my packet, (I had gone straight to the expo from the airport) I and my carry-on luggage attempted to traverse through the expo.  I took a picture of the billboard displaying the course map, then started my way through the expo.  It was difficult to make it thorough the hoards of people with my luggage and I became fairly claustrophobic, so I snuck out the side and found some open field to make my way out to find my lodging. 

I am certain the expo was a good one, I just could not deal with all of the people.  I do have difficulty with crowds of people.

Shirt:

The shirt was another long-sleeved wicking, tech shirt.  I believe I now own more long-sleeved shirts than I have ever owned at one time.

Race Day:

The race was Sunday at 7:00am.  We started exactly on time.

The weather was overcast, rainy and windy.  I received an email the evening before the race informing me that the race may be cancelled due to weather and gave instructions on what to do in the event that the race is cancelled in the middle of the race.  They were expecting severe weather and lightning, but we only had some wind and rain... thank God, no lightning.

Race Start Time:

The Half and the full started together and started right at 7:00.  My corral was close to the start, so I was able to hear the Star Spangled Banner and the Canadian National Anthem, sung by the same young man.  It was a nice tribute to the spirit of this race, "two great countries, one great race".  It was still dark at the start.  

Course Map:

The course started in downtown Detroit, then a little loop around the customs area, past all of the customs officers checking that we all had proper race bibs on our shirts.  I did carry my passport, as instructed in the event we were to get stopped.  Then over the bridge to Windsor Canada.

All of these pictures of the race scenery were taken by others and posted on social media.  I copied them here as I do not take photos during the race.

Four or five miles in Canada along the Detroit River, then into the tunnel under the water back to the USA.  I thought the tunnel would be cool, but in retrospect, I think it was my least favorite part of the race.  It was about a mile long and much smaller than I thought it would be.  There was only enough room for two cars to pass through.  There was no sidewalk or easement of any sort.  There was no air condition and no wind.  A few hundred people hot and sweaty in a confined space for about 8 min... and mostly uphill... and relatively steep toward the end.  I had to remove my running hat as I thought I might be overheating.  Not enjoyable, not enjoyable at all.

It was nice to see the US customs and the "light at the end of the tunnel", although I was met with a significant headwind that slowed me down a bit, especially after barely surviving the uphill section of the tunnel. 

Accommodations:

I stayed in a AirBnB again.  It was a simple, small one-room apartment -- studio.  It served its purpose and the location was just 3 or 4 blocks from the start and finish.

Transportation:

Uber ride from the airport to the expo, then I walked to Hard Rock Cafe where my AirBnB was a server.   She gave me the keys as I had lunch.  Then walked to the apartment, and walked everywhere else from there and a Uber back to the airport.

Weather:

I already discussed the weather.  On the course it was just overcast, gray and WINDY.

Race Morning:

Nothing special about race morning.  I walked to the start too early as usual and waited in my corral for the start.

Race:

The race was well organized.  The course was very well marked and contained, particularly around the customs areas.  There were multiple volunteers and race officials that kept order.  There was no confusion about the course direction or where and when or how the races were to split.

Water/Food Stations:

There were plenty of water and nutrition stations.  Every 2-3 miles.  I saw Gatorade and water at EVERY station.  I saw nutrition gels at two stations.  I skipped the first two water stations as I was feeling good and just did not want to get caught in the mess of people.  The next two stations, I had only a sip of water.  I really did not feel like I needed anything until after the tunnel about mile 8 or 9.  I was pretty tired by that point.

Scenery:

The scenery was interesting.  I enjoyed running around the customs loop and over the bridge and along the waters edge.  

Race Entertainment:

It seems like I remember thinking that the entertainment was pretty good for this race, but at the moment I simply cannot remember one of them.  I do remember a very loud speaker playing mostly bass that was located very near a police car and I recall thinking for a significant period of time that the sound was coming from the police car radio.  I was fairly impressed by the output from this vehicle.  As it turns out, it was  a speaker from the nearby DJ.  There was a very nice crowd of smiling and cheering spectators.  One older lady in Canada continually repeated, "You are doing great! You are amazing!"  I said to her, "Thank you for noticing."  She and her friends seemed to get a big laugh out of that.

Finish:

The road leading up to the finish was long and crowded with people cheering and having a good time.  The road past the finish was also long and littered with volunteers  supplying water and chocolate milk and bananas.  I was super hungry for some reason, so I grabbed at least one of everything that I saw.

Bling:

The medal was a nice medal.  I particularly liked the ribbon with the US and Canadian colors.

Misc:

This was a nice race.  It was well organized and everyone seemed to be in good spirits.  The course was interesting and all of the people along the way were nice.  I had a good time.  I felt very good throughout the entire race.  With the single exception of the end of the tunnel, I felt good.  Toward the end, I felt fine, but could not seem to make my legs respond.  I would say go faster, but they did not want to move.  Over all, I did well and felt good about my race.

My race wall is filling up.  It is nice to see pins in several states and so many medals.  From one perspective, I have raced a bunch of races.  From another perspective, I have a terribly long way to go.  One foot in front of the other.  One race at a time.

Next race, Nags Head North Carolina.  The whole fam is going and Valerie and Noble will even run the half too.