Race 13.1 Wilmington, NC Race Recap

I had the opportunity to  run a half marathon with the company, Race 13.1 in Wilmington, NC the weekend of February 21, 2016.  Race 13.1 is a fairly new company, two years old and run races in the Southeastern part of the country.

I was fortunate to travel with wonderful people who rented a condo about four blocks from the start/finish line.  What a wonderful trip and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my travel partners better and had a fantastic weekend with them! :)

Wilmington is a beautiful city located about twenty minutes away from several beaches.  The downtown area has a lovely waterfront walk while the city has several trails for runners, walkers, bikers, etc.  One of these trails, The Gary Shell Cross-City Trail was part of the race course.  Once this trail is 100% complete, it will run from downtown Wilmington to Wrightsville Beach.  The race itself sponsored a 5 and 10K along with the half marathon.

Packet pick-up was extremely easy and held at Omega Sports who had friendly staff and volunteers. Saturday was spent trying to figure out the course map which was a bit confusing due to turnarounds and the shorter distance races.

Course Map

Packet Pick-up

I spent Saturday afternoon in downtown Wilmington at Riverwalk and found a great little bookstore, Old Books on Front Street.  Old books is quite quaint with high shelves of books comfortable chairs with lighting, a small coffee cafe.  I would love to spend a rainy day here, heavenly! :)  

Riverwalk

Old Books on Front Street

Inside Old Books

Saturday evening was spent making dinner, great conversations and getting ready for race day.  Since it was Princess Half Marathon weekend, I decided to be there "in spirit" with my Princess Posse friends and wear my PP skirt and shirt.

Flat GWP

We got up, ate breakfast and drove to the race site.  The runner's village was small however it was nicely set up and there was a pre-race exercise warm up.  I decided to stay with a pace group for this race.  

Pre-race photo

The race started promptly on time after the national anthem and we were off.  I was doing well with the pace group and for the first 2 miles we were running to the trail.  The trail covered most of the miles however we did run about 2 miles on the campus of University of North Carolina Wilmington.  The campus beautiful and some of the college students were at the water stops cheering us on.  The weather was perfect, mid 70s and sunny.  I was doing well with the pace group until about mile 10 and then I lost my steam.  I dropped back, a bit disappointed however at this point in the race, we were back on the trail and I really enjoyed the beauty of it being myself.  I finished with my normal race time for a half, a bit disappointed but realized that it was my first half of 2016 so I can only get better! :)

After the race in the race village, there was water, oranges, bananas and even Domino's Pizza!  The race ended promptly at 10:30 am with a $1000 drawing in which every runner was entered however you had to be present to win!  

Finisher, can't wait to use my Shower Pill!

Race 13.1 Wilmington Race Finisher

Race 13.1 Wilmington Finisher

Loving my Hidden Comfort Balegas with my medal

 I loved this race and the Race 13.1 has numerous other races that I'm thinking about adding to my race schedule.  I love the medal with the fish which is so appropriate for Wilmington!  I also like that we received a virtual medal to share.

Virtual Race Medal

I would run this race again, maybe 2017!  Have you run any of the Race 13.1 races?  What do you think of this fairly new race series?  Til next time and remember, my journey continues...If you can dream it, you can do it as Walt Disney said!