Rock the Parkway Weekend

This weekend was the Rock the Parkway Half Marathon! This race is held in Kansas City and is cool because you actually get to run down Ward Parkway. I had walked this race in 2012 and convinced Julie that it was an awesome race that we needed to do together. So, we both registered and then made plans to head out on Friday night for a Sister Race Getaway! 

Leaving from the K-State parking lot. We left at 4:00 p.m., which made me feel like a giant rebel leaving one hour earlier than normal. 

Julie was well prepared and brought snacks for the car. Lots of snacks.

Did I mention - LOTS of snacks?!

My car right now starts shaking and vibrating like crazy when you exceed 45mph, so I was very happy that Julie drove.

We made it to packet pick-up before it closed at 7:00 p.m. on Friday evening. This was held in the Overland Park Intentional Trade Center (which just looks like a giant warehouse), not to be confused with the much fancier Overland Park Convention Center.

Getting ready to Rock It! With a name like Rock the Parkway, there are an infinite number of puns you can make with the name...

The next important item of business was dinner. Somehow, in all of the years we lived in Kansas City, we had never taken Julie and Charlie to my Very Favorite Restaurant in the World: Cintezzi's, an all-you-can-eat Italian feast.

I had built this up as the true cornucopia of Italian food. It appeared that all of Kansas City also had the same thought, given how busy it was.

Food! Sadly, we each could only eat one plate of food before we got full, so it was probably overkill to come here. But hey, at least I got to convince Julie to try the best glazed carrots in the world. :)

We stayed at a hotel a couple of miles from the race and it was perfect for what we needed.

Although, it did have the world's worst refrigerator - here is Julie looking quite sad at the empty space. :(

In our packets, we each had the wave that we were assigned to. I was in Wave E for times 2:20-2:29 (my best is 2:30, so I am not actually sure why I put myself in this wave?) Julie, meanwhile, was an ""AA" for "elite" which I did not even know existed - there were only 30 spots here from what I saw at pickup.

All of the bibs had our names printed on them, which made for a simultaneously cool and creepy experience while running with random people yelling our names. Check out the difference in our seeding numbers. :)

The last Very Important Order of Business was to find a race outfit. Julie had several contenders. Outfit #1 was her "fast" outfit.

Outfit #2, which was "less fast."

And Outfit #3, which just looks hot. I convinced Julie that was indeed fast and to go with Outfit #1. :)

I tried on my race outfit, too. Oh, wait! This is the only outfit I brought. One of the seams on the shirt ended up chafing my arm fairly deeply, so I will not wear it in a half again.

The next morning, we got up bright and early to head over to the race. Oh, wait, again. Julie got up bright and early. After snoozing my alarm several times, she suggested that I actually get up. :)

Printed out directions! And don't ask us how many times I still managed to get us lost as a navigator. It was...many.

At the race! One of the cool things about this one is that there are tons and tons of parking spaces, so parking is no stress at all.

 Julie was relieved to see that even though she was in the AA wave, that seemed to just designate that they were at the front of the A wave - not that only 30 people would start.

View of the start/finish line.

I am not embarrassed to say that one of the BEST things about this race is the number of port-a-potties, especially after the absolutely dismal number that the Wichita half had. Seriously. You can never have too many port-a-potties.

Last shot before the race...let's do this!

No pictures during the race - Julie ran a 1:24 and had a PR by one second! I ran a 2:36, which makes it the slowest half I have ever run (although faster than the ones I have walked). I was okay at the time because I felt I put in a good effort, but then decided on the way back that I want to run the Garmin half in Olathe in 2 weeks to try to redeem myself. Random thoughts I had during the race:

1. My hair tie broke within the first mile (thankfully, still had my headband). It is really hot and sweaty and gross without a hair tie.

2. This was a perfect day to be a spectator, but it was actually pretty windy the second half and much hotter/more humid than it has been.

3. I am NEVER running a full marathon. NEVER.

4. I asked Julie about all of the race signs after and what was her favorite. Her comment - "There were race signs???" I think being slower helps me enjoy the scenery more.

5. This race builds itself as flat and fast. I would like to point out that there are hills the entire course, and that is kind of a lie. :)

6. I don't think I have ever been so happy to finish!

Giant finishers' medals.

After cleaning up, we headed for lunch for a restaurant that isn't available in Manhattan - Red Lobster!

They have cheddar biscuits. Yum!

All kinds of charred prairie on the drive home. It will be absolutely beautiful when the grass grows back.

We were shocked when we got back into town and the bank said it was 88 degrees - which was also what my car said. Oh wait, it had changed to 87 by the time I took the picture. But still.

Awesome Sister Getaway Weekend!