Packet pick up was in Durham at the Convention Center. Parking was a bit of a hassle since it was parking lots or on street parking only and it was crowded. I finally managed a parking spot on street and walked several blocks to the Convention Center. It was a beautiful sunny day and downtown Durham is quite nice.
Outside the Convention Center, there was a small park with a bouncy house, a life-sized chess board, face painting and a local radio station playing music.
I saw "in the wild" Balega silver socks noticing that Fleet Feet have their own special edition of these socks.
I also took a picture of the race course for in the morning.
Saturday evening, I laid out my flat me and picked out my Bible verses for the race.
Sunday morning came way too early for this girl who only gets about 20 hours of sleep during the week. But, I was excited about running again. The race was to start at the American Tobacco Campus.
One of the other reasons that I registered for this race was that I had heard about the ATC and was curious about it. It is a campus filled with restaurants, shops and offices in Durham. Parking was easy and the ATC was nice. While walking to the start line, I received a text message from a friend who was running the one mile race with her work colleagues. What a wonderful surprise as she didn't tell me and it was fabulous to see her!!
The start/finish line was next to a beautiful park with tents for the runners' village circled by about six food trucks. Ahh, the food truck rodeo in its glory!
The race started promptly and we were off. We started with a uphill climb and this was tough after not running for several months. The race itself was rolling hills through downtown Durham. There was not a lot of race support but the people that were out were very supportive. There was a small tuba band around mile one and then the course went into a beautiful Durham neighborhood with parks and Victorian homes. Lovely!
Around mile 2.5, there was a bakery and they were handing out small donuts with water. This was a beautiful gesture on their part and well received. There was a water stop around mile 3 and off to the finish! The finish was tough, all uphill but I knew that since it was an out and back course. Finishing was great as there were a lot of people cheering you up the hill! The medal is fabulous with a huge bull on it!
I finished slower than I would have liked to finish but with decent time for not running for two months. I walked around the village with my water and beer. I looked at the food trucks but the lines were so long that I just decided to come home.
Overall, this was a great race but hilly! Next year, I will now more about the race and how to train, the food truck rodeo and I think that I may try to stay at a hotel to enjoy more of the festivities for the weekend.
A huge thank you to all the volunteers, first responders and the people of Durham who cheered us on during the race!
Till next time and remember, my journey continues...If you can dream it, you can do it as Walt Disney said!
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