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in Dry Needling, Injuries, Races, Rock N Roll Raleigh Marathon, Running · April 16, 2014

Rock N Roll Raleigh Marathon Race Recap {Part 1}

Since I have a lot to say about the Raleigh Marathon, I decided to break it up into more than 1 post. I am going to start by backing up to the days leading to the race. I had left off 3 days before the race, talking about my efforts to stay positive.

On Friday I left work early to go to see my chiropractor for dry needling. I really felt intense muscle spasms/twitches from some of the needles, and apparently this is a good thing (meaning its relaxing the knots in the muscle…or something like that…).

dry needling

After this fun experience, he taped up my leg.  It felt weird after (kind of like I got punched in the leg and then someone put tape all over it).

tape

It was hard to tell if my leg felt better or not, but I hoped for the best. After I left the appointment I went home and packed for the race.

racepacking

We had to leave for the airport around 6am on Saturday, so I decided against doing a 2 mile shake out run. For my previous 3 marathons, I had run 2 easy miles the day before the race. I figured I didn’t need to worry myself more if I had a crappy 2 mile run, plus I could use the extra sleep.

We got into the Raleigh airport around 9:30, and took a cab to our hotel. We were staying at the Sheraton and it was right at the start and finish line. I have never been at a better location for a race. We were able to check into our room right away, and then headed over to the expo (which was at the convention center across the street).

expo

We moved through pretty quickly after getting our bibs and t-shirts. It was a little crowded but not too bad. We decided to get our free beer bracelets at the expo, so we wouldn’t have to worry about showing our IDs or waiting in line after the race.

expo2

We grabbed lunch and found a convenient store to buy some bananas and Gatorade before heading back to the hotel. By the way, our hotel had a club lounge type thing, with free bottled water all day, snacks/fruit all day, and free breakfast. They also had hors d’oeuvres out for a couple hours in the evening and you could purchase wine for $4. The food was more like a dinner- if we weren’t planning to go out for pasta we could have filled up on that stuff!

At this point I was feeling kind of negative about the race. We kept hearing about how hot it would be, plus I was doubting how my leg would hold up. I also had a headache and my low back was bothering me. (Turns out I was PMSing, so that’s never good the day before a race…) Not to mention I had started to see some of the hills of downtown Raleigh first hand.

We spent a few hours relaxing in our hotel room and then headed to an Italian restaurant, which was about 20 steps from our hotel, called La Volta. I had a house salad, and penne with meatballs. Rob had a Caesar salad and penne with Italian sausage- he might have ordered a second serving of it- but who’s judging? Once we were nice and carbo-loaded we went back to the room and got all our stuff ready for the race. I was asleep around 8:30.

raleigh view 1 view of convention center from our hotel room- if you look closely you can see the runners lined up for the porta potties

I woke up at 4:30am feeling optimistic. We had coffee and pre-race fuel (for me- a banana and bagel with peanut butter). After getting ready and warming up a little in the room we headed downstairs to the start line around 6:40.

(First we took some pictures since we had some extra time)

robprerace2

prerace3   

My phone said the temperature was 57, and it felt chilly standing around in a tank top and shorts. The start line was so close to the entrance of our hotel and we were lined up in corral 5 by 6:50. They announced that the race would start a few minutes late to give everyone time to line up. I think the gun went off at 7:10, and I crossed the start line at 7:15. 

racestart

I’ll be back in a day or two with the rest of the recap!

What is your favorite dinner before a race? Pasta with either grilled chicken or meatballs, and salad.

Do you usually eat in the morning before the race starts? I will usually have a bagel and banana with peanut butter at least 2 hours before a half or full marathon.

How long do you usually spend at expos? I always get excited for expos but once I am
there I get overwhelmed and want to leave pretty quickly. I think we were there for 20 minutes.

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Previous Post: « Remembering Boston 2013
Next Post: Rock N Roll Raleigh Marathon Race Recap {Part 2} »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. missadventuresinrunning says

    April 16, 2014 at 11:17 pm

    Can’t wait to hear more about your race! I am out of control at expos! I grab every single free sample in the place. I am especially on the lookout for free shirts! My go to breakfast is a banana on toast with peanut butter, pretty similar to yours!

    • runningoutofwine says

      April 18, 2014 at 5:27 pm

      I love free samples an expos! Lately I haven’t found much free stuff at them, maybe that’s why I get bored and want to leave:)

  2. runsaltrun says

    April 17, 2014 at 2:20 pm

    I’m a pasta fan the night before a race. I’ll definitely be locating an Italian restaurant in the area before mine. Go to breakfast is usually a Greek yogurt and half a bagel as long as I can get it in far enough in advance. I tend to be in a rush and usually before a shorter race I eat a GU packet and then worry about food when I’m done.

    I’ve only been to one race with an expo so far. My wallet was crying afterward.

    • runningoutofwine says

      April 18, 2014 at 5:29 pm

      Yeah I try to avoid buying stuff at expos…I never have the patience to sort through the sale racks where the good deals are!

  3. Sarah @ Sweet Miles says

    April 17, 2014 at 3:57 pm

    Oh I can’t wait to read more!!!

  4. Laura says

    April 18, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    I love the idea if staying at the start/finish. I dud that once bad it was my best race!

  5. megan (The Lyons' Share) says

    April 19, 2014 at 4:36 pm

    I’ve been saving this until I had time to fully read it. I’m sorry that you had these sucky feelings of negativity the day before, but I know you got through it like a champ! My favorite pre-race dinner is sweet potatoes, chicken, and broccoli!

    • runningoutofwine says

      April 21, 2014 at 1:34 am

      I love that meal (sweet potatoes and broccoli are two of my favorite foods!) but I find that I need more carbs before a race, and pasta has worked well for a while! Its interesting how everyone has certain foods that work well for them before a run!

  6. runsaltrun says

    April 21, 2014 at 6:40 pm

    Definitely heat. I love running hills and prefer them to flat terrain, but heat is a whole different beast though. Plus you know how hot and humid it gets here in the summertime. Congratulations on your PR! You had such crazy conditions to deal with out there and that is simply awesome!

    • runningoutofwine says

      April 22, 2014 at 10:56 pm

      I can see your point of liking hills more than flat terrain, but I guess it depends what you’re used to. I like the downhill part of hills:)

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Fall is pretty good too but there’s nothing like Fall is pretty good too but there’s nothing like seeing the sunrise on a morning run! As an early morning riser I would be fine with a 4am sunrise but I know that’s not for everyone so I will just enjoy the 2 months of the year when the sun is up (almost) as early as me. #morningrunner #sunriserun
Let them be your reason, not your excuse. I coul Let them be your reason, not your excuse. 

I could sit here and tell you how hard it is to train with 2 young kids. How I rarely get a full night’s sleep anymore. How they got me sick the week before my race. How my SI joint just isn’t the same since my pregnancies. But that wouldn’t be fair, because I need to listen to my own advice that I give them about how to keep working hard and that there will always be obstacles to overcome.

After my race on Sunday I was thinking about how my Kindergartner has been working for a special award all year long. Many times he has told me he just wants to give up, because he works so hard for months at a time and still hasn’t earned it. I keep telling him that if he keeps working hard he will earn it, but what’s most important is that he gives his best each and every day. All those good days add up and even if he doesn’t earn the award, it will mean he had a great year.

Don’t I need to take my own advice and remember that all the good training days add up, even if I don’t get the outcome I want on race day? Before my race he kept telling me to do my best, and that he would give me a prize (artwork) even if I don’t win. So maybe all the lessons I am teaching him are starting to pay off? #motherrunner #halfmarathon  #frederickrunfest
I can pretty much see the humidity as I look back I can pretty much see the humidity as I look back on these videos. After a few days to process my race I am feeling better about how it went and starting to focus on what’s next. I guess it’s officially time to acclimate to the heat and humidity because it’s not getting cooler any time soon! My full recap is up at milebymileblog.com

Have you acclimated to the warmer weather yet?

#run #runner #runchat  #frederickrunfest
Happy Medal Monday! This is a unique medal because Happy Medal Monday! This is a unique medal because the middle part is actually a removable pin! So you could take it off and display it somewhere else. What is the most unique medal you have received at a race? #run #halfmarathoner #frederickrunfest #medalmonday
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