2017 Rock 'N' Roll Raleigh Race Recap - Part I

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of running the Rock 'N' Roll series here in Raleigh.  I decided to do the Remix Challenge (5K on Saturday followed by the half marathon on Sunday).  What can I say about this weekend except old friends, new friends, fun times, social meet-ups, spaghetti dinner and PR!  There is so much to share about this amazing weekend!

I had a fellow RockNBlog blogger say with me.  Joe (Instagram-run8va or http://run8va.com/) is wonderful.  He arrived Thursday evening after I extended him a place to stay for the weekend.  He taught me new things about blogging, garmin apps for my watch along with sharing his fabulous running life!  I also had good friends arrive on Friday and we arranged to meet for dinner.

After work on Friday, I quickly hurried to downtown Raleigh to the convention center for the Expo. It was your typical RNR expo except much smaller than the one in Washington, DC a couple of weeks ago. Upon arriving, the entrance was decorated with balloons.  Pretty cool!  I met Joe and we were off to see the expo.   I was on a quest to get a Sporthooks medal rack since my birthday followed the weekend.  It was a present from my sons.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any at the expo.  I was a bit disappointed but I quickly recovered upon going to the Balega display.  I ran into Dan once again and we joked that people would be talking-the new silver Balega socks were available! :)

I also saw all the medals that I would be earning!

My favorite part of the expo was Sir Walter Raleigh dressed up as a runner with a guitar!  Being the nerd girl that I am, I absolutely loved it.

 I picked up my race packets for the 5k and the half marathon and it was off to dinner.

I had agreed to meet my friends from home at the  The Player's Retreat for dinner which is a Raleigh tradition since 1951.  It was wonderful to see Patti and Paul and we all had a fabulous dinner.

 Home and get ready for the 5K tomorrow.  I had to figure out my flat me for the races as I had never done back to back races before.  Difficult but fun decisions.

Saturday morning came quickly.  I had to dash off to work right after the 5k so I was concerned about the timing for everything but it worked out well.  The 5k was held at Dorothea Dix Park.  Parking was available at the convention center with buses about two blocks away.  It was an easy travel to the park and arrival left plenty of time before the race started.

 The 5k started on time with the course through the park.  The park setting is the headquarters for the Health and Human Headquarters for the city of Raleigh and used to be a mental health hospital.  Raleigh purchased the park with plans to make it into a premier park for the city.  The course was lovely with only one hill. You can see the city of Raleigh from the park.

 I finished with enough time to catch a shuttle, pick up my car and head into work.

After work, it was back to the convention center for the We run social meetup.  I was one of the cohosts and looking forward to this even though I didn't quite know what to expect.  We run social is a cult following of the running community and encourages social meet-ups of people who have a shared passion of running and races.  It was held at the Starbucks at the Convention Center. When I arrived, there was a band playing outside. What a blast!

 I met so many new friends and we had wonderful conversations, shared race stories and social sharing of blogs and Instagram accounts.  I hope to run into these amazing running friends in the future and in the meantime, I will follow them on their social media.  I would strongly encourage you to follow them.

Ashley on https://www.smashthebaymiles.com/ or Instagram (smashlybink)
Rebecca on Instagram (nomadrunner)
Jamie on Instagram (thewholejaimo)
Jenn on Instagram (adventuringrunner)
Jason on http://www.jayknightlife.com/ or Instagram (jayknightlife)

After the meetup, Joe and I attended the spaghetti dinner in downtown Raleigh.  This was hosted by Gravy in the street in front of the Raleigh Times.  They closed down the street  for the dinner and there was music by Adam Pitts.  The dinner was $10 and the proceeds went to the YMCA Triangle Raleigh.  It was fun while the food and company were fabulous.

Aftewards, it homeward bound and getting ready for the half marathon on Sunday.  I laid out my flat me and headed to bed.

Stay tuned for part two of this amazing weekend!  Till next time and remember, my journey continues...If you can dream it, you can do it as Walt Disney said!

Disclaimer:  As a Rock-N-Blogger, I received a complimentary global tour pass, which I used as entry for this race.  As always, the opinions are my own.