Ah, Virginia. I’ve been looking forward to this one for two reasons. One – the race is touted as America’s Friendliest Marathon (I ran the half). Two- Richmond has some of the best smoothie style beer in the nation. Running and beer is a winning combo.

I got in late Friday night so wasn’t able to make it to the expo. My sister grabbed our packets and shirts though. I stared at the luggage belt for a long time at the airport …because I have always really really wanted to stand on it and ride around. I believe it would be a lot of fun. I’m thinking once I get a smidge older I can totally give it a try and then blame it on being prematurely senile if I get in trouble. It’s definitely on the bucket list.

But, I digress. Made it to the hotel, grabbed dinner, then went to sleep. We got up early and walked out to the start line. It’s a large race but the logistics were pretty easy which is always nice.

I had plans to run really fast. I did for about half the race. And then I started to run NOT really fast. The roads had a strong slope/cap/curve from the middle to the sides of the road where they drain so my left leg was constantly lower than my right leg and it really hurt after awhile. That could just be an excuse, but my body started hurting, especially my hips (total old lady thing to say). The worst part was when I got towards the end and there was a big downhill to the finish line which is normally where I would be sprinting but it was really more of a hobble at that point. I felt like I was in slow motion while all these other, peppier runners were sprinting past me. Like running through jello slow. Oh, and I was wearing Nike, but just couldn’t do it (lame or awesome pun drop?).

Whomp whomp.

But, then I was finally done. I got my medal, and a blanket (cool race perk), and then promptly got lost trying to get back to the hotel. GPS wasn’t working and I have no internal sense of direction so I walked right past it. Andrea and I were separated and couldn’t get any service so I was on my own. Luckily I didn’t wander too far before I figured out where it was.

After a shower it was time to get lunch. We went to an Asian/Mexican fusion spot that was weirdly awesome.

We then decided to walk to a brewery. It was 3 miles. The good part of that was we got to cheer on the runners still finishing and stretch our legs. The bad part was we almost got hit by a car and we were both too sore to jump out of the way. We had a walk sign but the car decided to come at us anyways. It looked like a very shocked teenage driver. Luckily, all was good other than the tire marks in the road.

We finally arrived at The Veil. It’s a good brewery in Richmond. But, there’s one that’s better (IMO). And it’s called The Answer. So that’s where we spent most of our time.

If you’re ever in Richmond, VA I highly recommend stopping by. They’ve got great food, amazing beer, video games, and a really fun vibe.

It was a quick, but fun, trip. 13 more states to go! At this point I don’t know what’s next but I’m sure I’ll plan something soon.