Runner’s World Half Festival (Part 1)

The Runner’s World Half Festival technically started on Thursday night for the Fitfluential bloggers, but I couldn’t make it out to Bethlehem until Saturday morning.  I’m going to be doing a recap of the Runner’s World festival in three parts, because it’s just way too much amazing-ness to put into one post.  First up – Running my first 10K!

Running My First 10K

My alarm went off at 4:45 am and we were out the door by 6:00.  I put everything out the night before, so all I really had to do in the morning was to put it in my Nike bag and head out the door.

We arrived around 7:45 which gave us time to park, pick up my bib, and take some pics!  I wore my Nike hat, Champion sports bra and top, running skirt c/o Lucy Activewear, compression socks c/o ProCompression, and Nike sneakers.  I was ready to go!

The 5K was before the 10K, so I had time to meet up with Tina from Best Body Fitness!  Unfortunately, we didn’t get any photos together but she’s so sweet!  She wasn’t running on Saturday because she was recovering from an injury, so we watched the 5K runners complete their race. 

After the 5K was finished, I introduced myself to the other Fitfluential ladies and everyone was so nice!  It was funny, because I felt like I knew them already from reading their blogs.  Some of the bloggers I got to meet were Katherine from Neon Blonde Runner, Lynda from Hit The Road Jane, Sylvia from Frolic Through Life, Karen from Health in Real Life, and Lindsey from Itz Lindz.  There were so many amazing women there and it was nice to be around people who enjoy healthy living, blogging and running as much as I do! 

photo from: A Veteran Runnah

Soon enough, it was time to head to the starting line.  I almost forgot I had a race to run, because I was having so much fun hanging out and chatting with everyone!  I went into the morning knowing that, because it was my first 10K I probably should just try and finish instead of setting an unrealistic goal.  BUT, that’s not like me. 

photo from: A Veteran Runnah

I set a “temporary” goal to finish in an hour, but when I saw my time was 11 minutes at the first mile marker, I knew that wouldn’t be a realistic goal.  I then decided to just finish the race and try to not take any walking breaks. 

Since I don’t have a Garmin watch (yet), I don’t have my splits, but here’s a run down of the miles.

Mile 1:  This mile was probably my slowest.  My left knee started hurting right away and I knew I should have purchased a knee brace.  The crowd was pretty congested during the first miles, so it took some time for me to get in a good pace.  We ran through Lehigh University campus and even saw a group of guys outside of a frat house drinking.  Oh, the good old days.

Mile 2-3 :  I’m not sure if it was mile 2 or 3 but we ran across the Fahy Bridge.  I’ve never done bridge work before, but it wasn’t too difficult.  The view from the bridge was amazing!  I really started enjoying the race at this point, and quickly remembered why I love running so much.

check out those hills!

Mile 4:  We ran through downtown Bethlehem, which was HILLY!  VERY VERY HILLY.  I ‘m not sure how I made it up and down those hills, but I did.  This was the worst part of the race.

Mile 5:  My only two thoughts:  where are the crowds of people cheering and can I make it up this 324320th hill?!  We ran over the Fahy bridge again (I think it was during this mile) and I started to get emotional.  The view was again amazing, but this time over the bridge we were heading back to the Steal Stacks, the mountains looked gorgeous with red, orange and yellow trees, and I could see the end in sight.

Mile 6.2:  The home stretch!  All I wanted was to cross that finish line and that was basically my motivation.  My legs started to give out, but I couldn’t wait to see all of the crowds and step over the finish line!  It was so great to hear fellow bloggers cheer me on at the finish.  I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t even look at the clock to see when I finished.

So happy to finish and take this photo.  Check out the people in the background

Bryan met me at the finish line and told me when I finished:  1:00:06!  Hell yes!  I finished basically under 1 hour.  Close enough for me.  And you know what else… I didn’t take any walking breaks!  Crazy!  I think that the Pro Compression socks really helped.  It was the first time wearing these during a race, and I will definitely be putting these babies on again! 

FTC:  Registration for this race was provided by Runner’s World and Fitfluential.  No other compensation was received.

Talk to Me

• If you ran in the Runner’s World 5K, 10K, and/or half, what were your times?
• What has been your favorite race yet?  Why?
• Have you ever met other bloggers?  If so when and where?

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