Virginia Beach

With nobody to run the Virginia Beach Half Marathon with me (Sean Murray had to cancel to attend a wedding), I almost bailed on making the trip down. Fortunately, Tiffany suggested we go together and stay with her cousin Nicole in Newport News. It turned out to be a fantastic trip. On Saturday, we went to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg and rode some roller coasters.

As you can see from the picture, left to right, Nicole and Brian (Nicole's fiance as of Wed) weren't having as much fun as Tiffany and I were.

On Sunday, we woke up hecka early and drove to the beach. The race started at 7am. I arrived at 6:50 having not eaten or drinken anything. Good way to start a race. Good thing I didn't have to use the restroom either though since the lines were ridiculously long. The course was relatively flat with the exception of one small bridge that wasn't anything crazy. The first half of the course though was all shady in the residential part of the town and got sunny once we were back on Pacific Ave and running down the boardwalk. It was a fun race that I thoroughly enjoyed. I ended up getting a time of 1:47:25. My goal of 1:45 has yet to be reached, but I am getting closer. I'll have another opportunity up in Philadelphia and then one more try during Fleet week in October.

I'm looking forward to a fun weekend spending time with Dad, Ellen and Tiffany and seeing the Red Sox play in Baltimore. I'm trying to get Friday off to give a tour of the city. Considering I haven't done any of the touristy stuff yet, it will be new for me too.