I’m baaaack for my second Baltimore Running Festival, and I brought the family with me! I am honestly obsessed with this race. Corrigan Sports is my dream company to work for. They are a small company, but somehow always manage to put on an incredible event.
Mom, Meredith, Trevor, and I signed up to run the marathon relay (ie, Mom signed us up and I enthusiastically embraced the idea while Meredith and Trevor bitched nonstop in the months leading up to it). Personally, I LOVE racing in Baltimore, so I was excited af. If anything, I should have been the most displeased considering the fact that I had run a full marathon a mere 6 days prior, but I felt fresh as ever on the day of the relay.
The night before, the expo took place in M&T Bank Stadium, which was nice because in 2013 it was at the convention center but we had to park and the stadium and catch a shuttle. This year we just parked right outside the stadium and strolled right in.
My senior prom took place in M&T Bank Stadium, so I was having terrifying flashbacks of sober, sweaty teenagers grinding on each other the entire time. Bleh. You know those people who say high school was the best years of their life? Those people need to reevaluate some things.
The premium was UnderArmour (obviously), short-sleeved and blue. Each race (marathon, half, 5k, relay) had a different shirt, all in the same theme, and I was pleased with ours.
We went to the Nautilus Diner in Timonium for a pre-race meal. One of my only pre-race meals that did not consist of any form of pasta.
(Notice the green jar of vitamin C tablets that I was throwing back without caution. DAMN THIS CHANGE OF SEASON).
After getting back around 11, I made us all our race shirts with our team name, Str8 Outta Hereford (see, we are hip and relevant), with our initials on the back. It took HOURS. Who would have thought. We even had spray paint and stencils and everything. I finally collapsed onto the couch, my makeshift bed when I return home to my mother’s house, around 2, and was awake by 5. Were those lame little badly-made shirts worth it? I really cannot say, but probably not.
The morning of the race, we found parking easily right next to the stadium again, so there was minimal commuting. Mom had to catch her bus to her exchange point at 7:30, so Trevor, Grayson, and I walked Meredith to the start a little bit before 8. Her leg was 5.7, Mom’s 7, Trevor’s 6.3, and mine 7.2. Per usual, the start line was a madhouse, just a sea of people, so we had to shove Meredith through a hole in the crowd and send her off with cowbells we somehow acquired from the side of the course.
My bus was scheduled to leave at 8:30, so I jumped on and left Trevor and Grayson to find their way to the Science Center, where Trevor would be receiving the chip from Mom after the second leg. My biggest complaint is probably how early the buses left, because I was sitting at my exchange point for literally hours. And it was a COLD ASS DAY. When the sun went behind the clouds, it could almost be mistaken for early-winter weather. Thankfully, there were porta potties right next to my exchange point, so I was taken care of in that time. I didn’t bring a water bottle (which almost everyone else did), so if I had to do this again I would definitely think ahead re hydration.
Around 10:45, Trevor arrived. The exchange zone was a little bit confusing in the way it was set up: we were supposed to line up by bib number, but even in smaller sections it was such a clusterfuck that Trevor ran right by me at first and had to double back and search amongst the sea of tall people.
My leg felt great! It was mostly downhill, and it felt short compared to the marathon I ran the weekend before, so I just went for it. I was eating snacks from the spectators for some unknown reason, and almost gave into the offer of a shot of Natty Boh, but figured I should probably save it for the runners who are actually doing something with their mornings. I have Trevor to thank for putting us in a better position; apparently he passed 150 relay runners in his 6.3 mile leg!
Considering the fact that none of us really cared about how we did (except for Mom…here is a verbatim text from Meredith after she handed off to Mom: “i didn’t see her at all at first but she found me and like shoved the sweatshirts in my arms and practically ripped the chip band out of my hand.” For Mom, this was glory), I think we did pretty well! And it was fun!
After Trevor’s leg, once I started mine, he got back on the bus to take him to the finish. Apparently the bus got lost, so everyone got off and Trevor was wandering around, lost in the concrete jungle. By the time I finished he was still wandering LOLOLOlol. Not sure how the bus driver got lost, but Trevor was kind of annoyed by that.
The finish festival was pretty much the same as it was last time. I got a bagel and some water, plus 2 beer tickets, which got me 2 free beers! That is actually a really good deal. YAY BRF.
The number of spectators this year was out of control. That was exciting. Also, Dave Berdan came back this year to win, which is also exciting since he won in 2013 as well, and was the first American to win after UnderArmour pulled out and the race was no longer offering any prize money. We are big Dave Berdan fans for life.
Here are some pictures from a photo shoot post-race. It was fun af, I don’t care what Trevor says. This running festival still remains my favorite and I know I will be back in the near future (maybe for the half!).
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