VA is for Lovers 14K ~ Race Report

Race season has kicked off and I wish every race could be as run as the Virginia is for Lovers 14k!

 

My alarm went off at 7am on Saturday morning. Yes 7am! How sweet is that? The race didn't start till 9am so it was actually nice to sleep in on race day :)

 

As I proceeded to get ready and make my way to Jill's kitchen I realized she is a carb hater and had none in her house!!! Shouldn't that be a crime or something? I looked around and found almost a year old box of shredded mini wheats and was happy to eat those little guys with a banana.

 

We were out the door by about 7:30 to make the short drive to the Virginia Beach Field House where the start line was located. Sadly we grossly under estimated race day traffic and we started to panic a bit as we sat in a long line of cars headed all the same direction. We did make it there around 8:15ish so we still had plenty of time to hang out and go to the bathroom a couple dozen times before the start of the race.

 

It was a little chilly out, around 40 or so, but it didn't feel too bad. And what was cool about this race is that finish line and the post race party took part in the field house which meant everyone stayed nice and warm, which was awesome! We hung out in the field house for about a half hour or so and if you know Jill, than you know she knows about half the world and we ran into a bunch of her friends who were also running.

 

We made our way back into the cold and started to line up in our corrals. I was assigned corral #1, but since I would be helping Jill pace her very first race, I would be starting in corral #3 with her. They actually had us start in waves which helped make it a little less crowded. Once the gun went off we were on our way weaving in and out of people trying to find that comfy happy pace.

 

sparkling and ready to run!

 

With Jill and Mel before the start


Miles 1 & 2: 9:01 & 8:49

My hands were freezing and I had wished I had my gloves on! I told Jill that the first person who tossed their gloves, I was going to go behind them and pick them up and wear them!! Anyhow, the first two miles felt good and I think we should have started closer to the front of our corral or went in the correct corral. I think we ended up in corral 4 and we really had to go around a lot of people. I asked Jill if she was feeling alright and she said she was. She also did not want me to tell her our time/pace so I had to keep my mouth should the entire race. I was a little nervous that we were going out to fast since her goal was a 10 minute pace and were a minute faster than that!

 

 

Miles 3 & 4: 8:46 & 8:39

As we approached mile 3 we ran by the VA Beach Amphitheater which for some reason was my favorite part of the course. I guess I kind of wish that they had a big band playing there, but oh well. Around this time we also passed a couple that we made friends with at the start line and we joked with them as we ran by. We continued to pass other runners and I asked Jill once again how she was feeling and she said great, so we kept running at our awesome pace. Lover's Lane was right around mile 4 and a couple who was running the race stopped and actually had a quick wedding ceremony and got married! Then they jumped right back into the race. It was such a cute idea for runners.

 

Miles 5 & 6: 8:44 & 8:47

We caught up to Jill's friend Mel, but he had his music on and was in the zone and didn't see us, but he saw us a bit later and waved at us as he picked up his pace. At this point of the course, there seemed to be a lot of turn arounds and little loops and you could see the field house, but knew you still had about half of the race left. Some of the parts of the course went over small gravel paths and Jill was running in those toe shoes and I wondered to myself that her feet must be killing her running over gravel.

 

Miles 7 & 8: 8:46 & 8:58

Jill was still looking strong and I kept telling her we were so close and she was doing great. I don't think she herd me though since she ran with music on. I mean I guess who would want to listen to me talk for 9 miles? Mile 8 was probably the hardest mile of the race as we ran into the strongest head wind! It basically felt like you weren't running forward at all. It was hard! But the whole run went by so fast that I couldn't believe that we were almost finished!

 

The last .7: 5:38

The course let up the last .7 as they had us turn out of the head wind and we now had a tail wind a we made our way to the finish line! Jill really started to kick and I was happy to go along with her. She stepped on a big rock about 400 meters from the finish and let out a big yelp! I thought her half was cramping or something, but was glad it was just a rock. It was a neat finish because the finish line was inside the field house. As we entered I was looking around to find my M, but I didn't see him. We ran continued to run side by side and crossed the finish line together :) And as we got our medals we noticed Mel who finished just a minute in front of us.

 

 

Total Time: 1:16:10 (8.7 miles)

 

Post Race

I must say this was the best post race swag I have gotten. We got a glass, a medal that is also a can opener, a flower, and 2 free beers. Oh we also got a sweet looking jacket in our packet pick up.

 

 

I def. want to do this race again! Oh and Jill, for her first race did so awesome!!! She had wanted me to pace her for 10 minute miles and she was a bad ass and totally crushed her goal with a 8:46 average mile. I am so proud of her!!! I also love friends who will wear sparkly things with me :) Running in sparkle skirts always makes races fun :)

 

 

 Anyhow, we hung out for about an hour after the race enjoying our free food, but more importantly enjoying our free beers!

 

 

After running 9 miles nothing tastes better and yeah I may or may not have been getting drunk. The more we continued to drink our beers the sillier we became.

 

 

And just because two beers is never enough we used our sparkle charm to get another free beer :) Good thing M was driving because I def. could not have drove us home.

 

On our way out we ran into "Cupit" ...hahaha ... this should be my new race outfit ... NOT!!!

 

 

Overall

I had so much being able to run Jill's first race with her!! Running has got another one and she is officially addicted! Plus the race itself was just great. Good swag, a nice course, and a warm field house for those who are not racing can hang out in. I will be back next year :)

Happy Monday All :)