Scranton Half Marathon 2016 Recap

How is it possible that I haven't written this recap yet?! Actually, it's because I literally didn't take any photos since I was too busy running my ass off and PRing! The day started out like most other races: Joe and I got there plenty early and sat in the car for a while because it was a little chilly. He kept asking me how I felt and what my goal was and I kept telling him that I had absolutely no idea how the day was going to go. Deep down, I knew I'd be elated if I could finally run my sub-2, but honestly, no part of me thought that was possible at this point.

The race started on time and we were off! It was a cold morning, but the sun was out so I warmed up pretty quickly. Plus, I went out faster than I normally do for races, so that helped warm me up too. I was a little alarmed when I saw my first two mile times, but it felt pretty good so I decided to just ride it out as long as possible. I didn't have a goal time since my training had been sporadic since the Princess Half, so I would have been okay with sputtering out midway and just taking it easy from there on out. However, that didn't happen...

In some insane twist of fate, I kept running faster and faster until I was at the point where I knew I could sub-2 and knew I'd totally hate myself if I didn't. I mean, an 8:34 mile during a half marathon?! For me!? What the hell was going on?? But it did catch up with me and by mile 9, I was totally and completely done. I hated myself for getting into the position to sub-2. I hated myself for not letting myself give up now that I was in the position to sub-2. I hated my legs, which were nothing more than flaming, painful appendages flailing from my lower body. I hated my lungs, which were consumed with the same fire as my legs. I hated the people in front of me who, for some idiotic reason, I still felt like I had to chase down.

I struggled through the last two miles, like seriously struggled. I was in so much pain. But I knew there would be no living with myself if I didn't follow through now that I had gotten so far, so I soldiered on. I hit mile 13 and saw my husband as I came into the stadium. He had been watching the clock and hoping that I was going to come in under the 2 hour mark, but I don't know if he really expected to see me when I came through. I remember seeing the clock as I rounded the corner of the track and knew it was almost over and that I had done it. I crossed the finish line, got my medal, and had just enough time to find Joe and hug him before I started crying and my legs gave out simultaneously. We walked around for a little while like that, me crying and him supporting me like a giant handsome crutch, while I tried to process what I had just accomplished.

Looking back on it now with some distance, I'm still just as emotional and proud as I was then. I've never, ever pushed myself as hard as I did that day and I'm so damn proud of it. This was a race that is going to stick with me for a very long time and now when I hit a rough spot with training, I can look back on this race and remember what I'm capable of.

Disney Princess Half Marathon 2016 Race Recap

The day had finally come! I woke up not-so-bright, but definitely early to my alarm at 2:30am and got right out of bed. I was tired at first, but as soon as I realized what I was up for, I perked right up! I had all my stuff laid out from the night before, so we got ready pretty quickly and caught a bus shortly after 3am. The wait before heading to the corrals was looooong and cold, so we held on to our sweats until the very last second before gear check closed.

We decided to wait in the super long lines for the bathroom one last time before heading to the corrals. Apparently this was a bad idea, as we wound up having to jog all the way to our corral and made it with probably two minutes to spare before they started releasing the corrals. We both submitted proof of time with runDisney so we would be seeded in better corrals. Joe was placed in C and I was in D, so he dropped back with me so we could run together. This is one huge tip for these races, if you do nothing else, PLEASE submit a proof of time!

Each corral was released with an incantation from the Fairy Godmother and a burst of fireworks and before we knew it, it was our turn! It took a while for us to get into a comfortable pace and our first few miles were super inconsistent due to another bathroom break and attempting to stop for mile marker photos (FYI, they do not turn out well with an iPhone). I had been having IT band issues for two weeks before this race and I was so worried that it was going to flare up again, but I figured I would just start out conservatively and see how things went.

Things were going so much better than expected as we ran through the Magic Kingdom sign and onto the best miles of the race... Miles 4, 5, and 6 bring you into, through, and out of Magic Kingdom and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't one of the coolest experiences of my life. Joe knows because I kept turning to him and saying, "This is so cool! This is SOOOO cool!"

Running down Main Street USA is like a dream come true and it's over before you know it. But don't worry, because you still get to cruise around Tomorrowland before making your way through Cinderella Castle and onto Frontierland. And can we just take a second to appreciate how insanely perfect this castle photo is?! I have had maybe two decent race photos in the dozen races I've done in the past three years, so this is some serious Disney magic!

Unfortunately, once you head out of MK, the course gets a little boring. It's mainly highway and it gets super narrow, but we had a lot of fun obnoxiously singing Aladdin songs and (safely!) weaving in and out of slower runners and walkers. I guess my Gu kicked in at this point because I had TONS of energy around miles 7 and 8! Miles 9, 10, and 11 were challenging and I was definitely starting to feel the fatigue in my legs from having not run for two weeks and for touring the parks heavily for two days before the race. I live in PA so I'm not afraid of hills, but I totally was not happy to see those overpasses so close to the end! There was no way I was stopping to walk there though, so we just kept right on running.

It was so bittersweet to see Epcot and know that the end was near. On one hand (foot?), my legs were spent and I wanted nothing more than to stop running. But on the other, I didn't want this experience to end. I had dreamed about running this race for three years and it felt like it was over in the blink of an eye.

We crossed the finish line together, hand in hook, with an official time of 2:24:01. The announcers actually called us in by name as we came to the line, which was just sweet icing on an already perfect cake. A volunteer asked if I wanted to be pixie dusted (uh, yes please!) and we continued on down the pathway to receive our medals. After experiencing the madness that was the Broad Street post-run area, we were both incredibly impressed with how organized this was. We each were also handed a mylar blanket, purple drawstring bag, water, and snack box.

I originally had planned on hanging out a little bit after the race, but it was so crowded and I just really wanted to take a shower, so we hopped on the waiting buses and headed back to All Star Sports. Plus, I was dying to get to Epcot!

We relaxed a little in the room after showering and made our way to Epcot just after 10am. I specifically planned Epcot for the day of the half, knowing full well how much walking it was going to be, because it was also going to be the best for eating (and drinking)! We started out with Via Napoli for lunch and ice cream at Beaches 'n Cream a few hours later. The pizza at Via Napoli was fantastic and the arancini is probably my new favorite appetizer anywhere. We really enjoyed walking to Beaches 'n Cream and exploring the Beach and Yacht Club resorts; we also really enjoyed the No Way José sundae!

After ice cream, I was feeling too sober, so we beelined for Germany where I had the Schofferhofer pink grapefruit beer. I generally don't prefer beer, but this one was perfectly light and fruity with only the slightest "beer" aftertaste. We explored the World Showcase as I enjoyed my beer and eventually made our way back into Future World to check out the Seas and the Land. At some point, we did ride Test Track and Spaceship Earth, but I'm forgetting now where they fit in during the day. Dinner brought us back to World Showcase at La Hacienda de San Angel and what a dinner it was. I've become a margarita freak over the past few years and those margaritas will be hard to top! Joe and I both had shrimp tacos and more chips and salsa than I care to admit, so we were both completely stuffed by the time we got up to leave. We made a stop back at Germany to visit the caramel shop for dessert, which actually wound up being breakfast the new morning (mmmm, caramel s'mores at 8am!), and very slowly made our way out of the park, savoring our last moments of Walt Disney World before embarking on our first cruise the next day. 

People always seem to be looking for information on this race, so if I can leave you with a few tips, they would be:

• Don't underestimate 13.1! Do your training and your body will thank you.
• Submit a proof of time! This gives you a better corral placement and more time for fun and photos on the course.
• Definitely plan on spending time in the parks after the race and wear your medal(s)!! We got so much acknowledgement from cast members and other visitors and it made us feel awesome. Plus, some light walking after the race will help you feel better the next day. I say this as if we did "light walking;" we put a total of 28.6 miles on our legs on Sunday!

In short, if you are thinking of running the Princess Half Marathon (or really any runDisney race), I urge you to DO IT! I know they are expensive, but if you love Disney and love running, it will be worth every penny.

Pre-Disney Princess Half Marathon 2016 Trip Report

I am finally home! We did a Royal Caribbean cruise after the half and I'm so thankful to be back on dry land.  I do NOT think cruising is for me... although I could probably be convinced by the Castaway Cay Challenge to give it another shot. ;) Anywayyyyy... For my own enjoyment (and hopefully yours...) I wanted to do a little recap of our WDW trip! There is a lot to cover, so I'm going to split the pre-half marathon stuff up into this post and then do a separate post for the race itself.

We flew out of PHL into MCO and arrived just short of 1:30pm. We got right on a Magical Express bus to All Star Sports and I received a text message that our room was ready while we were on the bus, so we went straight to the room upon arrival. We dropped our stuff off, got everything situated, and headed out to the lobby to catch a bus to the expo. I had been so worried about the expo before the trip because of all the horror stories of crowds and shoving and greedy, awful people, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. We picked up our bibs first and then headed into the merch area. I wasn't planning on getting the New Balance shoes at this point, so we went straight for the official merchandise. It was a little crowded in there and I didn't see any PHM-specific wine glasses or Tervis tumblers, which I would have liked to have. I did buy an "I did it!" shirt and a car magnet though, then we went and looked around at the rest of the stuff. We ended up being there from 3:30ish to just before 5pm.

We had dinner reservations at Kona Cafe for that night, so we took a bus straight to the Polynesian from the expo and got drinks out on the deck outside of Trader Sam's. After $50 and two drinks, we headed up for our dinner reservation. Seriously, who can resist those awesome souvenir glasses?? My husband got the zombie one and I had the HippopotoMai-Tai.  I originally wanted to get a Lapu Lapu (a whole ton of rum and fruit juice served in a hollowed out pineapple), but there was no way I could drink that too and still function as an adult. For dinner, we had some sushi: the California Luau roll and the Shrimp Tempura roll (INSANE!) and pot stickers. We were both pretty exhausted at this point and it was a little chilly out, so we decided to head back to the resort and get some sleep instead of watching the fireworks from the beach. We took the monorail over to Magic Kingdom and caught a bus from there, easy as pie. I feel like I NEED to stay at the Polynesian the next time we go, but I might have to sell a kidney to be able to afford it. #helpmeimpoor

We did Universal on Friday, which was fun since neither of us had seen the new Harry Potter expansion. Unfortunately, nothing other than the Wizarding World of Harry Potter appeals to us there, so it was kind of a short day. Some butterbeer was enjoyed while we walked around for a few hours and we visited Margaritaville for a margarita on our way out. We got an Uber from Universal to Disney Springs and did some shopping there in the evening before heading back to the resort.

Saturday was our planned Magic Kingdom day, but we ended up going back to the expo right when it opened because my sister-in-law texted me saying that if I went back to get her a pair of the Ariel New Balance sneakers, she would buy me a pair as my birthday/Christmas present this year! There were probably a dozen people ahead of us in line by the time we got there, but it went quickly and we were on our way to Magic Kingdom by 10am.

We did Be Our Guest for lunch and The Plaza for dinner and both were fantastic. I wanted to stay for Wishes, but decided around 7pm that I just wasn't going to make it and that I would thank myself in the morning for the extra sleep. And so we began the trek back to the All Stars for the night...

Scranton Half Marathon 2015 Recap

On Sunday, I completed the 2nd annual Scranton Half Marathon. After my fairly painful experience at the Hot Chocolate 15k the weekend before, I was slightly nervous about the half. I actually debated dropping out for a brief moment, but we ran the inaugural race last year and it's really important to both Joe and me that we become legacy runners for this awesome local race. Besides, I'm not the type of person to just drop out and not even try. :P

The expo was nice and not overly crowded when we picked our packets up on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, they were sold out of this year's hoodies, but I scored a water bottle and stemless wine glass from last year's race on clearance! I learned my lesson and will be preordering a sweatshirt next year for sure because I'm really bummed that I don't have this year's. A girl can never have too many sweatshirts.

Puts it into perspective, doesn't it?

Race morning started by dragging myself out of bed at 6am, getting dressed, eating some oatmeal, and heading out the door just after 7am. We got to the race by 7:30 and were able to park nice and close in the high school parking lot. We lined up around 8:45 and the race started promptly at 9am. I didn't really have a plan; I did want to use intervals, but the timer app that I downloaded wouldn't work if my phone screen was off so I ditched that right away. I ended up basically running the downhills and walking the uphills, with additional walk breaks whenever I felt I was pushing too hard.

The course was the same as last year and I felt like I enjoyed it more this year because I got an extra hour to take it all in! The weather was also fantastic just like last year. It was 37 and sunny when we started and 55 and sunny when I finished three hours later. Somewhere around mile two or three, I wound up around two women running for Team in Training. They were doing intervals that matched up pretty well to what I was doing, so I creepily followed behind them for a while and I'm so glad I did. Those two women were so uplifting to listen to. They thanked every volunteer, built each other up, and cheered on other runners and walkers. Their positivity really resonated with me and helped change my mood from "ugh this sucks being injured and being in the back" to "I'm so thankful that I can still be out here doing this even if I'm not 100%".

Lackawanna Heritage Trail portion of the race

I ended up following those ladies (not the ones in the photo, I passed them :P) until mile eight when my good knee turned into my bad knee and I had to switch my knee brace over and walk for a while. I decided that I would walk to mile 10 and in the meantime, I took some ibuprofen and a salted caramel Gu. They both kicked in right around the same time and at mile 10, I was ready to go! I knew it wasn't smart, but I ran a lot of the last three miles. I just felt so good and I knew it was because of the pain killers, but I wasn't feeling the snapping in the back of my knee like I usually do and that's not something pain killers can dull, so I figured I was okay to run. I finished with an official time 2:57:36, which is officially my slowest half marathon, but you know what? I'm not mad. I wasn't disappointed when I finished and I haven't felt upset at all in the days following. I'm just happy that I was able to get out there and participate in this great event and enjoy a beautiful day.

The medals feature an electric trolley, part of Scranton's history as the "Electric City." It's fantastically heavy and although I like last year's design better, I'm thrilled with this one too. They also gave out awesome fleece blankets at the finish like last year! The list of reasons why I love this race is far too long. Hopefully I'll be healthy and fast(ish) again for next year!

Hershey Half Marathon 2014 Recap

A couple weeks ago, Joe and I ran the Hershey Half Marathon, which was celebrating it's fifth year anniversary. I had a much better experience this year than I did last year, even though I feel like I'm in worse shape this year. We went down early Saturday morning to pick up our packets at the stadium and then went right to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire and had a kick ass time. I knew I wasn't going to break any PRs in the race since I haven't been running much, so I drank wine and ate whatever I wanted without worrying about how it would affect me the next day. We stayed at the Harrisburg/Hershey La Quinta and would definitely recommend it if you're looking to do this race next year. It only took us ten minutes to get to the race in the morning and the room was very clean and quiet. The night manager even opened breakfast up an extra hour early for all the runners!

Unlike last year, we weren't waiting in line for the restrooms when the race started! We actually started on time; however, is was very cold and windy just like last year. It even started to sprinkle and everyone around us seemed pretty unhappy about the idea of running in the cold rain. Thankfully though, the rain stopped and we just had the chilly wind to deal with.

Running through the park is so much fun, but seems like it's over way too soon. The real highlight though is running through the Milton Hershey School campus; the kids there are always out cheering and it's so motivating.

After running the Pocono Lake Region 13.1 three weeks ago, the hills in Hershey seemed like nothing. I felt really good throughout the whole race, which was a huge difference from last year and I was so happy for that. It was sunny through most of the race, which helped negate the wind a bit, but the final finish through the parking lot toward the stadium was brutal just like last year.

I finished in 2:20:39 and was so mad at myself for not being able to dig in and cut that minute off to finish in the teens. However, I finished twenty minutes faster than the half three weeks ago and I ran the entire thing, so I couldn't be too mad! Plus, the medals are insanely awesome this year; they're so heavy and the detail is incredible. I might even like it more than my Scranton Half medal. :X

I can't say that we will for sure be back next year, since we are really hoping to run our first marathon and it would be the week before Hershey, but we'll see how things go! All in all, this was a super fun weekend and Hershey did a great job (again!) of organzing this race.

Pocono Lake Region 13.1 2014 Recap

This was my very first half marathon last year, so even though I wasn't in the best of shape from not running most of the summer and for being in phsyical therapy, I knew I wanted to try running it anyway. Sadly, sign ups were way down (possibly because of the Eric Frein manhunt) and there were only about 100 people who ran this year.

It was a chilly, but gorgeous morning and you really couldn't have asked for better scenery. This is a tough, hilly course but it's absolutely stunning this time of year. We started right on time and I knew from mile one that this wasn't going to be fun for me.
 

By mile five, I was taking consistant walk breaks and I just felt so winded and out of energy. My legs were tight and I couldn't for the life of me force myself to run. I wound up completely walking the final three miles and finished in a time of 2:39:32, which I didn't think was too bad considering all the walking I did and all the tough hills. Obviously it's not something for me to brag about, but I figured the fact that I was able to complete the half meant I wasn't in as bad of shape as I thought.

 

I wound up placing 3rd in my age group which was really funny and unexpected. Sadly, they accidently gave away the 16-24 award to the actual 25-34 winner, so I get to pretend that I'm a little older than I actually am. ;)

I made an appointment for a massage right after the race and it was so incredible. The only thing that sucked was getting up off the table afterwards! We had a fantastic crab cake sandwich lunch and relaxed for the rest of the day. Hopefully more people will come back for this race next year and make it a bigger event!

ODDyssey Half Marathon 2014 Recap

I completed my fourth half marathon last Sunday. <--- Still can't believe I can say that. Joe and I ran the ODDyssey Half in Philadelphia over the weekend, partly because it looked like fun and partly because we were able to register for $55 and I thought that was a pretty good deal.

Since the race was in Philadelphia, we drove down the night before and stayed with my best friend who lives there. Megabus was a sponsor of the ODDyssey, so they were offering "free" bus services from the Sonesta Hotel to the start line and back after the race (you had to pay a $1.50 reservation fee, so I don't know why they said it was free). The buses were supposed to pick up from the hotel every 15 minutes, ending at 6:30. We reserved spots for the 6:15 bus so we would have a cushion of time in case something went wrong and it's a good thing we did.

We walked from the apartment to the hotel in the morning and when we got there, the line for the bus was wrapped all the way around the block. We waited and waited and didn't end up getting on a bus until 6:45. As you can probably imagine, I was really annoyed and anxious that we were going to miss the start of the race. By the time the bus arrived at the start line, the national anthem was already being sung, so we ran across the field and got in line quickly with the other runners. The one positive thing about waiting so long for the bus was that we got to use the nice hotel bathrooms instead of the porta potties at the start. ;)

The start of the race seemed to go smoothly and there was enough room that everyone seemed able to run at their own pace. There was slight congestion at one or two points, but nothing bad enough that I had to slow significantly or walk. The course itself through Fairmount Park was beautiful and it made me wish that I lived closer and could run there more often.

It wound up being a humid and sunny 73 degrees and by the time I hit half a mile, I was already damp with sweat. That had me worried because I've never run a half marathon in such warm weather, but the organizers had a lot of water stops (although not enough stops had Gatorade too, but I brought my own bottle with Nuun so at least I had something other than straight water).

  

I've been having soreness in my hip flexors for the past two weeks and it probably wasn't wise of me to run this race, but c'est la vie. They bothered me throughout, but it was never excrutiating and I was able to maintain a pretty fast pace (for me). Unfortunately, they feel pretty awful now and I'm thinking I should probably take a week or two off to rest them up and get them feeling good again.

The last half mile of the race was a ridiculous uphill section. I'm all for a challenge, but this was just cruel. I knew before we signed up that the hill was there, but I thought, "oh people are just babies, I run hills all the time, no big deal." This hill is a big deal. I did manage to muster up enough energy to keep up my run (barely), but the majority of people near me had started walking at this point.

I ended up finishing in 2:09:30 officially, and 2:05:47 according to my watch. I stopped once to stretch out my hips and once to use the restroom, so I definitely would have PRed if it weren't for that. I'm annoyed with myself that I wasted so much time, but I honestly didn't think I'd have any chance of running anywhere near my PR with it being so warm and humid. 

I did learn some important lessons this weekend, though:

1. Don't eat a slice of pizza the size of your head the night before your race. Half a slice would do.
2. Don't wash that gigantic slice of pizza down with an equally huge strawberry Nutella crepe.
3. Don't get 4 hours of sleep the night before your race.
4. Don't wear flip flops to walk around the city the night before.
5. Actually, just don't walk around the city the night before. 

A medal that doubles as a bottle opener... perfection.

All in all, it didn't end up being too bad of a race for me, but I know that if I had disciplined myself and behaved in the days leading up to the race, I may have had a shiny new PR right now. That's a little sad to think about, but I had a great day with beautiful weather and two (mostly) functional legs to run with, so what's there to be sad about?

Inaugural Scranton Half Marathon 2014 Recap

When I found out back in September that Scranton was hosting a half marathon in the spring, I knew I didn't have a choice but to sign up. We don't have an abundance of local races (other than 5ks) and this one looked like it was going to be especially awesome. I got plenty of emails to keep me updated leading up to the race and Joe said packet pickup on Friday night was a breeze.

The morning of the race, we got up at 6am, got ready and out of the house shortly after 7am, and arrived around 7:30. The race was scheduled to start at 9am, so we hung out in the car for a while to relax and stay warm.

At 8:30, we got in line for the bathrooms and then made our way to the start line. The "corral" area was crowded and cramped and it took us a minute or so to get past the start line and into a light jog once the gun sounded promptly at 9am.

Miles 1-5 brought us through a few different communities, including a row of gorgeous houses (and some hills) in Greenridge. The main hills for this course were here, although they weren't too bad. I had a hard time getting into a good pace because of the congestion so my first mile was close to 11 minutes but I picked it up into the 9:40/mile range for the next few. My goal for this race was to run under a 10:00/mile average pace and at first, I didn't think I could pull it off, but as I kept running I realized it just might be possible.

I also realized at this point that I could've done without my jacket. Even though it was only 35º, the sun was out so I warmed up really fast. It was annoying to run with the jacket tied around my waist for most of the race, but we live and we learn and there was no way I was tossing it.

 

It was so cool seeing the huge hoard of people running up the hills in front of me. Normally, I'm driving down these roads and I'm grouchy from the other drivers and the pot holes, so it was a nice change of pace to run through town with so many other people who were clearly enjoying themselves as much as I was. 

Miles 5-7.5 brought us into the downtown area down North Washington Ave and past my very favorite local restaurant, Cooper's Seafood House. Seriously, best crab bisque ever. I kept logging miles around a 9:30 pace and was excited to have a small bank of time for the second half in case I really started to lose it.

The part of the course I was most excited about was running on the Lackawanna Heritage Trail, which I've never done before. It was beautiful even though nothing was blooming yet and I'm really looking forward to getting some runs in here over the coming months.

However, this is the part where I started to struggle. We logged miles 8, 9, and 10 here and I started to have pains in my knee and hips. I took a gel at mile 8 (Salted Caramel Gu is amazing, FYI) and once I hit mile 9, I knew it would be rough but I could tough it out until the end. I switched my watch to show me my current pace and fought hard to keep it under 10:00/mile.

It wouldn't be Scranton if there wasn't at least one train sighting! Well, train car anyway. This was during mile 12, I think. The last mile or so was pretty much downhill, so it was a great chance to make a good push to the finish. I pushed myself really hard in the last two miles and I'm really proud of that. In fact, the last mile was my fastest of the day at 8:45!

The half ended on the track of the Scranton High School with TONS of crowd support and cheering. As I came around the corner, I saw 2:08:something on the clock and knew I had surpassed my expectations for myself. Once I passed the finish line, there were volunteers handing out Scranton Half fleece blankets (I didn't know about this beforehand and was so excited to get one!) and finisher's medals. One of the volunteers put a water bottle in my hand and I hobbled around the food tent to grab a banana. I wish I would have thought to grab a photo of the finish line area, but I was so thrilled by my finish time and exhausted that all I could think about was my water and banana and finding my parents and Joe.

I ended up with an official chip time of 2:07:41, which works out to be a 9:45 average pace. I'm still so thrilled about this and I'm not sure I've even fully processed it yet, but I feel so accomplished. I've never considered myself an athlete, but running has changed that for me. And besides that, look at that medal! It's soooo heavy and absolutely gorgeous! Scranton doesn't mess around; this was the inaugural year and they threw one hell of a race.

And what's better after an awesome run than a burger and sweet potato fries? Not much, I think. My parents joined us for Red Robin after the race and it really hit the spot! Apparently other runners thought so too since we saw quite a few medals around the restaurant! :)

All in all, the one and only complaint I have is that the start was a little congested and it took a while for there to be enough breathing room to run comfortably in the beginning. There were nearly 2400 runners who finished though, so I guess a little congestion is to be expected! But I will DEFINITELY be back next year and I'm already looking forward to it. This was one kick ass race and I'm proud to have been part of something so awesome in the area!