As I came up to the finish, Allen and Jennifer were both cheering for me. Allen was about 100 yards away from the finish line and Jennifer was right at the finish line to capture me crossing the finish line of my 50th half marathon. It was a special moment for me and I was full of joy that I had friends there for me.
When I ran my first half marathon, I was completely under-trained and didn't exactly have a picture perfect experience. After my first half marathon, I said 'NEVER again', but we know that didn't last. After a slight hiatus of about 2 years from half marathons, I entered back into this crazy world. Here I am now the eve before my 50th half marathon, Suwanee Gateway Half Marathon! I got to Suwanee Town Center Park fairly early to try to avoid any parking issues, but let's just be real - I wanted a prime parking spot for easy in-n-out. I got my bib from inside City Hall of Suwanee and as I was leaving, I ran into Jennifer. We both put our swag bags in our cars and found our way back inside of City Hall to stay warm. Shocker - we would totally find the indoor restrooms to utilize and a little lounge area to wait before the race started. My #WeRunSocial pal, Allen, met up with us and we held it down for a bit. While it wasn't frigid outside, it was still a little cold, so it was definitely nice to be able to wait for the race to start inside. It is just nice sometimes to have a bit of time chatting with friends before a race to help clear your mind before running. The race started right on time - always a huge plus in my eye! The first few miles take you down various roads of Suwanee. We did not have a lot of spectators as it was a much small race (about 300 runners). However, MRTT came out and did it BIG! These ladies had so much energy and great signs that they were holding while cheering at three points on the course along with posting a few signs along the course. Around mile 5 we hit the Suwanee greenway for a few miles. I absolutely love this part of the course! While I love cheers along the way, sometimes it is just purely refreshing to connect with nature and just enjoy the beauty around you. At this point the sun was peaking nicely and it was an absolutely beautiful winter morning. We stayed on the greenway until about mile 8 when we exited for an out-n-back section for about 3 miles. Seriously, this is the hardest part of the course, with a gradual uphill for about a mile before a pretty steep uphill for about .5 mile before heading back (and going down hill back to the greenway). Another tricky part of the course is all of terrain changes - switching between asphalt, concrete, and boardwalk over 13.1 miles can be a tad bit tricky on the body. As I came up to the finish, Allen and Jennifer were both cheering for me. Allen was about 100 yards away from the finish line and Jennifer was right at the finish line to capture me crossing the finish line of my 50th half marathon. It was a special moment for me and I was full of joy that I had friends there for me. After crossing the finish line, you received your medal and a heat sheet. Even better though is that each runner also received a nice Suwanee Gateway Half Marathon fleece blanket. How awesome is that!?!? A heat sheet after a winter race is always welcomed, but a REAL blanket - WOW! Very nice touch! Of course I couldn't complete a milestone race without having a mini photo shoot to commemorate the occasion. A special thank you to Jennifer for being so patient and taking ALL the pictures for me! This race is really well ran for sure. It is a good course in my opinion (with a few tricky spots), but overall it is great race for sure. The Suwanee Gateway 1/2 Marathon was my 30th 1/2 Marathon last year and 50th this year...what will it be in 2017? Hmmmmm.... Question of the Day: What is the best or most unique item that you received from a race?
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BrandiI love to run and most importantly I love to have FUN while I run....I am the "Funner Runner" Feedspot's Top 100 Running Blogs
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