This past weekend B and I participated in the Inaugural Cleveland Rock N Roll Half Marathon! It was our 3rd half marathon we’ve run together – and right in our little city of Cleveland. We didn’t quite make our goal (under 2 hours …) due to the more-humid-than-we-would’ve-liked weather and hills (and me twisting my ankle at around mile 5 … woops) but I would say it was a FUN RACE.

Here are some highlights:

What Could’ve Been Better: (don’t worry I’ll end with the good stuff)

• Long lines before the race: I know this isn’t unique to this race but porta-potty lines WERE SUPER LONG that morning. We waited about 45 min before getting to use them (what can I say, pre-race hydration routines and jitters make me have to pee! TMI?) and then missed our corral and the pace team we were going to follow. So instead of following the 2 hour pace team in Corral 3 we started with Corral 5.
• The hills: Yes, we ran the hills a few times in training and yes we ran in San Fran and the even hillier it seemed Seattle a few weeks ago, but I was definitely not feeling good about the hills. The hill around St. Malachi (before mile 5) killed me – I didn’t recover until about mile 7. And the Tremont Hills? I felt fine through those, but they nearly killed B who was already dying in the humidity. Could the route have been flatter? Yes. I mean really, it’s Cleveland – we have 3 hills and the race included all of them PLUS one I didn’t even know existed.
• The humidity: The rain thankfully held off – but the humidity did not. The weather was in the 70s (not too bad) but humidity was in the 80-90 percentages the whole time!

What Was Awesome 

• The cheering: I cannot thank my parents enough for coming all the way out from NY to cheer us on. It was SO GREAT to hear them cheering our names, seeing them at our planned cheering spots and surprising me at the finish line. Seriously, the best part of the race.
• The music: Music at nearly every mile? Yes, please! It was SO awesome to see and hear all the bands and so motivating! Can every race have different bands along the way?
• The crowds: I love running in races that have a lot of people – IF it’s managed properly. And in my experience, it was. The timed starts with the different corrals ensured the race wasn’t too crowded at any time. And the crowds gathered to watch the runners? Even better. There’s nothing like seeing people cheer you on – and spaced out pretty evenly throughout the whole route.
• The post-race party: Free beer, a Gavin DeGraw concert for the public and more? This was awesome. Way to go Cleveland for hosting an awesome inaugural race!

Some questions for you:

• What was the last race you ran? Did you have a goal? Did you meet it?
• What’s your perfect running weather?
• Have you done any Rock N Roll races? How did they go?