Any weekend filled with running related activities is a great one, but during this Easter weekend even the non-running related parts were awesome! It all started way, way too early on Saturday morning while I scrambled to gather my things in the 10 minutes I had generously allotted myself. My boyfriend was being even more difficult to wake up than usual and it became clear I had given him whatever plague I had caught at the beginning of the week so this was going to be a solo adventure. Before a couple of weeks ago an extended solo adventure was risky business as my car wasn’t exactly reliable and I don’t really do well being trapped on the side of the highway trying to fix a car on my own (might know that from experience haha). So taking my new car on its first adventure without a single worry was the perfect way to start the weekend!

Not only did my new car make the trip great, but they also gave the Rhode Races Masters Series participants VIP parking. I originally didn’t think much of this perk, but it was REALLY nice to have my car pretty much at the starting line (versus the normal mile or shuttle ride away). It was especially great since one of the main symptoms of my illness seemed to be the inability to keep a stable body temperature and I needed to go back to change the amount of layers I was wearing about 300 times.

The Race

I started pretty far back, partially because I didn’t want to overdue it while being sick and partially because I almost missed the start completely due chatting with new friends and not paying attention lol oops. But I was able to get up to where I wanted to be pretty quick anyway since the race wasn’t overly crowded. (Both times I’ve run it it had the perfect amount of people, where the start wasn’t a mess, but also you always had a decent amount of people around you at all times.)

The first mile FLEW by, but then again so did the whole race. I love this course because there’s always a view and I wouldn’t consider it too flat (I get bored) or too hilly. I’m not going to lie, it’s not completely ocean views, but even the “residential” parts are through beautiful mansions and might-as-well-be mansions. I debated taking out my phone so many times for pictures, but knew I would end up dropping it since I took it out of the case to fit better into my belt.

My actual race was decent. Breathing was a bit harder than usual and I think I swallowed a ton of mucus (sorry, TMI) so my stomach started rolling during mile 8 (which is not a normal problem for me) and I took it down another notch.

In the end I was really happy with the results, even if disappointed that I was sick for my favorite course. Being sick really didn’t slow me down all that much, so I can’t wait to see how well I’ll do when I’m feeling 100%!

Boston Marathon Expo

For the second half of my running weekend, my friend talked me into going to the Boston Marathon Expo on Easter (which I now hope will be a new tradition!). It was SO cool just to be in Boston surrounded by other runners. It was especially cool/funny for me since the actual expo is in the Hynes Center, where an anime convention I attend also takes place, so I got to see all anime merchandise and crowd replaced with its running counterpart. Kind of like a parallel dimension! (Sorry if that was too nerdy 😂)

The expo is crazy filled with all the awesome things to try and buy! I ended up getting to try a few things I’ve seen fellow runners using and have wanted to try:

Honey Stingers

First off, the waffles just looked good, but I assumed for sure they would be full of gluten (I have Celiac). The first thing I saw when I went up to the booth wasn’t the waffles though (wait they have MORE?!?), but FRUIT SNACKS! I stinking love fruit snacks! Although these were labeled as organic *skeptical eyes*. I asked and they were gluten free so I figured I’d give it a shot! They were REALLY good. Like didn’t taste like health food at all. (Not that I’m a junk food addict, just in the gluten free world they tend to take out the bad ingredients while taking out the gluten and it sucks when something could be really good if it was just gluten free instead of all natural, free of every allergen/bad thing possible, and awful.) So by “didn’t taste like health food”, I mean “didn’t taste like you were sacrificing flavor for healthiness at all”. I may have went back to sample multiple times, just to be sure 😜

I was also pleasantly surprised that when I asked about the waffles they did have gluten free options! I didn’t want any crazy flavors (which they do have some for gf too!) so I tried the Wildflower Honey Waffle. Yum! Also I definitely felt like the waffles were a type of food that would flow with my stomach while running. (Unsure about fruit snacks as I tend to like dry, absorbent stuff but I will probably buy some of both to test because they were so good.)

Roll Recovery R8

I had actually run a half the day before this, which I now think is the optimal way to go to the expo since you can try all the recovery methods! I had thought about getting one of these when I saw it awhile back, but the price tag made me want to try it first. I have to say I was a tiny bit surprised (not that I should have been if you actually think about the design) how you can’t really roll your entire leg with the R8. Since the rollers are on both sides you can’t roll the direct back of your calf since that would then roll your shin as well. Just something I noted (especially for the price) that I previously didn’t think of. BUT my legs did feel significantly better after using it and with my new skepticism of the device I doubt it was just me thinking that. Also not going to lie it is REALLY nice to have it put the pressure on for you when you have stick arms like me haha as normal rollers are an arm workout after running a race, NO THANKS. (I end up roping my boyfriend into rolling for me a lot lol)

Nuun Hydration

So turned out Nuun probably isn’t for me. They had a ton of flavors and the actual flavor I tried (watermelon) was really good. My issue was the strength of the flavoring. It was really weak.. like if you like lemon water then you’d probably enjoy this product, but I need a drink to be plain water or a full out flavor. Though they were in huge water coolers and the expo was hopping so they may have miss calculated the water to tablet ratio. I just assumed since they are the creators and trying to sell the product that they would want it to be the correct/optimal mixture.

Once we were done at the expo we visited some of the other stores in the area and I bought two things:

A “Run Boston” shirt that I can’t seem to find at the moment for a picture 😞

And this sports bra from Janji. I really love their patterns/colors AND part of the profits go to giving clean water to other countries!

And the cherry on top of the day was literally as we were heading back to the T to leave we ran into Shalane Flanagan!! 😱 Luckily one of us wasn’t too star struck to ask for a picture!

Anyway thanks for reading!!