Pre Race

My wife and I drove down for the race on Friday to spend a night with my family in Wilmington before heading south to Rehoboth for the race on Saturday. The nice thing about running a smaller race was that everything was so easy because you didn't have to navigate crazy crowds. We were through the expo in under 20-minutes with our bibs, race swag, and a finisher's jacket. I have to say, I was a bit superstitious buying finisher's gear before the race but they weren't selling any merchandise post-race so I had to get over it.

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The rest of Saturday was a quiet evening. We spent the evening getting settled the Dogfish Inn which was incredible. We knew the hotel was going to be awesome but definitely weren't prepared for just how great it was going to be, more on that later. We made our way to the obligatory carb-filled Italian dinner Saturday night, met up with some old friends, and then made our way back to the hotel early to try to get some sleep before the big day. Per usual, it was definitely a challenge getting to sleep Saturday but I snagged a few Zs before the 5 am wakeup call.

The Morning Of

Waking up felt like any other race. I knew it was so much more than that but I had no experience to draw from. I double checked my gear, confirmed my playlist, and repeated a few mantras to get myself mentally prepared for the day. My sister and I were both grinning ear-to-ear for most of the morning in disbelief that this was about to happen. The other nice thing about this being a smaller race was that we got to line up at the start together and run the first hundred yards or so together. All I kept thinking was "this is it, you're only a few hours away from finishing your first marathon."