All 30,000+ runner's, walkers and teams in training. Awesome!
Saturday morning was spent in the most incredible running sports expo I've ever been to. There were so many things to see, touch, taste, try on and of course, purchase it took over four hours just to make our way through. It is a MUST SEE! Then off to Uno's for our pre race brunch. It was so nice to be able to sit outside in the sunshine and warmth, having our lunch watching the shoppers stroll by. The rest of my afternoon was spent in the hotel pool and hot tub.
There are some "not so nice" spots too. But why spend time on a very, small area, that the general public wouldn't really see anyway.
Sunday Morning : Race Day.
Our limo driver picked us up at 7:15 am. Early, yes, but by the time we got to the start corrals, the place was filling up quickly. We arrived just in time to see the Marathon Runners leaving from Corral # 1.
With a couple of "pit stops" out of the way, we headed for Corral # 18, for those of you unfamiliar with what these corrals are, well they are designated to you in reference with what you anticipate your race time to be. Since I am no speed demon, I was in Corral # 18 with the hopes of completing the race in 2:30.
And so began our shuffle to the start line! All in all it took 33 minutes from our corral position to the start line! With much cheering, whooping and hollering off we went! There were soooo many things to see along the way, my estimated time kept getting changed! We stopped to dance with the Phoenix Sun Devil's mascot,
stopped to take pictures of some really good looking motorcycle police officers.
We even stopped to talk with the cheerleaders all decked out in their Santa Claus outfits!
There goes our estimated time of arrival....hahaha......
2 hours and 42 minutes got us over the finish line! Considering all we did and saw along the route, my race time was not an issue, I laughed, cheered, waved and wooo hooo'd my way through Scottsdale, Phoenix and Tempe.....could it get any better than that.
Well, yes it could.
I meet some incredible people, with their own stories to tell, I ran with some brand new running friends, who I'm sure I'll be running with for a long time to come. And I found a location that I'll return to next year. (With a holiday attached to it).
Live life large, enjoy the journey, one step at a time!
Life is fun if you don't weaken,
Enjoy it,
Lily
