One weekend, two states. Is it because I’m a bad-ass? Nope. Is it because I’m thrifty AF? Absolutely. Getting to the east coast isn’t cheap from the Midwest.

I’ve never been to Maryland and picked this race because I really like eating crab legs and they are known for crab, and the race itself had a crab medal. I decided I needed that. I flew in on Friday and went straight to the expo. Business was quickly handled there and then I got to the important stuff. I went straight to Phillip’s to get some crab cakes. I had been up since 2:30 am and was tired and fairly hangry. They were good. To be fair though, almost anything would have been good at that point. After dinner I went back to the hotel and crashed early.

The next morning I woke up after 10 plus hours of blissful sleep (the most I can remember in a row since college) and got ready for the race. It didn’t start until 9am so we had a bit of a wait. Typically races start earlier than that. We had the perfect location from our hotel as we were able to walk right outside to the start line. The weather was almost perfect for running, 50 degrees and sunny.

Overall, I enjoyed the race. It had great crowd support and good food. At mile 6 someone was giving out chips. I don’t like to eat a lot while I run but figured they may be delicious later, and they had crab seasoning which is something I hadn’t had before. So, since I am dedicated to delicious salty snacks, I took that bag of chips and ran with it for the next 7 miles. Yup. I’m that person. At mile 12 we went past a church water stop that was offering out holy water. I thought that was a unique touch. I also passed a guy that was running while pushing a dolly. Another guy was juggling. I admire both their dedication and especially their coordination.

After the race I got the sweet crab medal. Inside it says “Took a crack at the Baltimore Half Marathon.” I adore the pun. Turns out they also had those same chips offered to runners post race. So basically I could have NOT run with them for 7 miles and still gotten to enjoy them. SMH.

Unfortunately due to the late start of the race, my hotel kicked me out and I had to drive straight to Pennsylvania sans shower. The drive wasn’t bad, about 90 minutes and really quite beautiful with the fall foliage. (Foliage is such a fancy word. I feel quite sophisticated using it). I also really liked the PA state sign. It said “Welcome to Pennsylvania, pursue your happiness.” Great motto. We went straight to the next race expo, for the Hershey Half Marathon in Hershey, PA. I picked this one because, well, chocolate. It really was a pretty sweet deal. (See what I did there?) Along with your race admission you got two tickets to the Hershey Park.

We went to the hotel, showered finally, then went to dinner and on to Hershey Park. We rode a couple of rides and browsed the shops. There was candy everywhere so I was very happy.

The next morning dawned much less beautifully than the previous day. There really wasn’t a dawn because the sun didn’t come up. It was cold and rainy. Not my favorite running weather. This race was much smaller than the Baltimore one, but still sizable. Also, very hilly. I’m really quite terrible at looking at the course before booking a race. You would think I’d learn my lesson after several of these, but apparently I need more teaching. I did enjoy it though, for several reasons. The biggest one was the number of children out there cheering us on. One thing I knew nothing about before this weekend was the Milton Hershey School. Hershey and his wife founded the school initially to help orphaned boys and to this day, it operates as a school to help income-eligible families receive top notch educations for their children. There were hundreds of kids out there cheering us on, despite the weather. How could you not be inspired to tackle the hills with that kind of support? Also, at mile 12 they gave us chocolate. One particularly judgmental fellow remarked that he couldn’t believe that I took 5 candy bars (they were mini). I guess he didn’t realize that candy is one of the main reasons that I run and if its offered freely on a race course I’m for damn sure going to load up. I also loved the kisses on top of the light posts. A cute touch for the city.

The race finished and I got a Hershey Kiss medal. They also had heat sheets which I really appreciated and a bag of goodies, which was great because it made it easier to carry everything.

The only bad thing about this race was trying to leave. We were trapped in the parking lot for almost an hour.

Luckily since this race had started early I was able to head back to the hotel and shower before heading to my next stop. We went to the Hershey museum and got to learn more about Milton Hershey (he was a pretty incredible man) AND make chocolate. Then we grabbed lunch at a crepe place before heading back to Baltimore to catch the flight home.

I believe I would do back to back half marathons in the future. I was definitely tired and hungry for a few days afterwards but it still wasn’t as bad as recovering from a full marathon. Next up? I believe I’m only getting one more state in this year and it’s Mississippi in December.