Hello!! I am here again!! I took another few days off from blogging. I just haven’t been in the mood to post much. I think I got in a blogging slump along with my fitness slump.
Today I am joining up with Courtney from TheTinyRunner, Cynthia at You Signed Up for What and Marathon Run for Five on Friday! It seems like forever since I was able to join this link up!

This week’s subject is Five Favorite things about Races!! So here are mine:
1. Comaraderie {noun} comradeship; good-fellowship.
I see this all the time at races. You do not need to know each other, runners are friends with all runners at races. It’s amazing and has to be one of my favorite part of racing. I love the solo part of all of my training, but I love this part of racing. As part of that, I love talking to people around me in the starting line before we start. I’ve meet some amazing runners that way! If you’re in the area around me, I am not shy, so I’ll chat it up with you!
So if you’re anywhere near me at the Marion Arts Half on the 16th, chances are I am going to tell you it’s my first haf! You’ve been warned. *snicker*
2. BLING!!! I mean, why else do we run? LOL! I love getting bling and my tshirt. I am currently saving my tshirts for a Tshirt Quilt. I should have enough for the quilt by the end of this racing season. I cannot wait to get my medal from my first Half Marathon!! Only 2 more weeks! EEK! The “shirt” for the Half in Des Moines in October is a 1/4 zip pullover. That’s so not going in the quilt. I am going to buy a tshirt from it at the Expo so I can add that instead.
3. Self-Motivation. Who doesn’t want to PR at a race? Coming home with a medal AND a PR is amazing. So even if you do not PR…just pushing yourself by signing up for the race and setting a goal is amazing too and so satisfying! Who knows, you might motivate a friend or two during your training!! I motivated my friend Anne Marie to sign up and run a 10K race with me! Having her there motivated me as well!
4. Meeting up with rUnNeR fRiEnDs!! I have met so many runner friends that I met online and then got to meet IRL at the race! I met my friend Michelle for the first time last year at the Glow Run, then my friend Kimberly this year at the Lucky Run. I also met a bunch of the RWB team when I helped at the aid station a few weeks ago! Joining online running groups, then getting to meet people IRL is so fun!!
I haven’t been doing this running thing for too long, so hopefully this means I’ll be able to meet more online runner friends in the future at upcoming races!
5. FOOD!! Ok let’s just admit this. I love to eat. This is probably why I cannot lose weight. Burn 1000 calories and eat 2000. Run to Eat right? I love going out to eat after a race though. It’s one of my favorite parts. I don’t always get to, but for many of the races that we go to, we usually always go out for pancakes at Village Inn after. For the first race of the season in Davenport, IA in March, we always go to Golden Corral afterwards. So good! The food some of the races have right there for you is also great (sometimes). When I ran the Remembrance Run in Des Moines last year (I am registered for it again), we went to Cracker Barrel after. So good!
So those would be my favorite things about races! What are yours?
