"Disclaimer: I received a complimentary entry to the Route 66 Half Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"

I chose the Rt. 66 Marathon because over the last few years, I had so much FOMO, seeing everyone’s pictures from the race. It looked like SUCH a big, fun event.  It would be the perfect race for me to check off Oklahoma for my 50 state quest.

In the months leading up to the race, the Route 66 race management kept us well updated on the event itself. I joined the facebook group for the race for even more updates and conversation.
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This would be a “racecation” for me, I planned a girls weekend with one of my running besties who flew in from the east coast for this event. She was coming off of an injury, so she was planning on doing the 5k on Saturday, and I signed up for the double – the 5k on Saturday and the half on Sunday.

I arrived on Friday afternoon after seeing my fellow BibRave Pro Amy in Denver during our layovers.

I met up with my girlfriend and after a quick checkin at the hotel, we headed over to the expo, just a few blocks away. To be honest, the streets of downtown Tulsa seemed a bit deserted for having a major marathon event in town.  The expo wasn't that busy. We picked up our packets and some essentials and headed out in search of lunch.  

Saturday morning we headed over to the 5k. Around 2,500 people participated in the 5k, and it was pretty crowded! Everyone was very lively, the weather was a little brisk (40’s) but totally not bad at all.

Julie and I had a great 5k chatting away, and were surprised by several hills throughout the race! At the finish, there were cute medals, water, bananas, etc…and beer! I assumed it would be just regular beer, but was delighted, as a craft beer afficianado, that it was local beer from Nine Band Brewing! And we had our choice of 4 kinds! Also a local band, Tulsa House Party was playing a wide variety of hits from 80s/90s and beyond.  It was fun!  Found Amy again at the finish, which was great. It was a super festive environment.

After the 5k we grabbed lunch and got ready for my next task – serving on the social media team!  I volunteered to help out and be a part of their run influencer panel.  I was a bit nervous since I don’t normally do this, but it ended up being a great experience. I was paired up with Jim Davis, an amazing 50-stater who was running his 50th marathon in his 50th state and also singing the national anthem at his 50th state! Plus I got to meet Bart Yasso too finally! I also earned a volunteer coin for this, kinda cool.

We did some more exploring around town before grabbing dinner and a good night’s sleep. Race weather was going to be CHILLY, but luckily the start line was literally next door to my hotel! I didn’t have to brave the cold until 30 minutes before start time.  Everything was very well organized with the corrals. 

It was not too crowded, thankfully. We had Jim sing the national anthem, then they sent us off with confetti cannons, which was really unique.

The entire first half was nonstop hills. We were up and down constantly through many beautiful neighborhoods and parks. It definitely wasn’t boring! Within 2 miles we were seeing stations with beer and jello shots! There was no shortage of temptation.  I warmed up a bit during this stretch since there was so much going on.  The second half started out along the Arkansas river, and that’s when the windchill really became an issue for me. I dropped a glove at some point, and now I really needed it. My face was numb and at times my legs felt like they weren’t connected.  The “feels like” temp was 26.  As I reminder, I live in the desert where today it will be 75 degrees. I passed a station with Fireball and seriously considered taking one in hopes that it would warm me up.

Finally, we approached Rt 66. For the half, we really aren’t running on it for more than a half mile, so it is a bit of a misnomer.  As I turned onto rt 66 I grabbed a mimosa which was refreshing. Then of course stopped to take a pic of rt 66.

The second half was much flatter and I just couldn’t wait to get to the finish. My friend made the frigid trek from the hotel ¾ mile to the finish and was able to snap a pic as I approached the finish.

I was able to get a Half Fanatic specific finishers medal, which is so cool!  Then there was water, muscle milk, fruit and PIZZA! That hot pizza hit the spot!
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A few quick frozen finish pics were taken, I picked up my doubler coin and results and headed out. I couldn’t feel my fingers.  It’s a shame that it was so cold, no one was sticking around to enjoy the post-race goodies.

I have been a Half Fanatic member for several years now, but have never attended a race with an official meetup. Holy cow, between the HF , the Marathon Maniacs and the 50 States Club, so much work goes into this event. There were club specific medals for Half Fanatics, Marathon Maniacs, 50 States Club, and Black Girls Run. There was a big VIP pre-race area with heaters and bathrooms, which you needed a wristband to get into. I stopped to get the wristband but didn’t need the VIP start area because my hotel was so close to the start. Then there was a huge afterparty hosted by all 3 clubs that sounded awesome.  Unfortunately I had an early flight back and had to miss it. I also missed a special bonus medal by the 3 clubs. I didn’t realize I needed to stop by the tent to get it.
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All in all, I’m blown away by the amount of support this race offers! From first timers to seasoned veterans, they really try to give an amazing experience to everyone. I’m grateful for this incredible experience for my 55th half marathon and 14th state.  Just look at this haul from the race!

• Hoodie for doing the 5k
• Jacket for doing the half
• 5k medal
• Half medal
• Doubler coin
• Volunteer coin

I finished in 2:13, and I’m ok with that, considering these are almost the worst race conditions possible for me. I finished in the top 12% of my age group, which is also pretty cool!

"Disclaimer: I received a complimentary entry to the Route 66 Half Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"

Swag, Meetups and Party!
I can’t believe the big Route 66 weekend is just days away! I’m keeping a close eye on the weather (brrr!) but loving all the conversations with running friends about meeting up this weekend.

Kicking things off with the Expo, held at the Cox Business center, on Friday from 11am to 6pm and Saturday from 9:30am to 6pm.  Other than picking up the great swag, there are also opportunities to connect with running influencers from all over the country. There will be a Run Influencer Panel on Friday at 5pm and Saturday at 1:30 at the expo.  You just might see someone you know on the panel! (hint, hint!).

I’m taking on the half marathon double – so I’m running the 5k on Saturday morning and the Half Marathon on Sunday morning. I’m for sure just treating the 5k as a shakeout run and saving myself for the half!

As I mentioned in my last post, there are great meetup opportunities to be had. The Half Fanatics, Marathon Maniacs and the 50 State Club are all planning meetups for members. I was poking around on the half fanatics site and it said that as of today there were 324 Half Fanatics registered to do this race! Whoa!  The Rt 66 marathon is unique in that they are offering custom medals to members of these groups!

Other swag items are the cool hoodies and jackets that participants will earn. Just look at these cool items:

And apparently coins are a big deal here.  You earn coins for doing the race, I get a double coin for doing the double race. I also am earning a volunteer coin for helping out at the expo.  Not sure how you display these proudly afterwards.

There’s an app for that! So Route 66 marathon has its own app – with up to the minute race info, course map, tracking, results, local restaurant info and more! Dowload the app at the App Store at https://route66marathon.com/mobile-app/.

See you in a few days! Hit me up on social and be sure to say hi!
Join the massive party and Save $10 with 2018RT66BIBRAVE at http://rt66.run/2018RT66Run !

I recently completed Ragnar Napa Valley, which wrapped up an incredible year of Ragnar for me.  It started here in AZ last February, and it was a really fun ride!

Feb – Ragnar Del Sol (AZ)
Mar-  Ragnar Tennessee
Apr – Ragnar So Cal (CA)
May – Ragnar Chicago (IL/WI)
Aug – Ragnar Great River (WI/MN)
Sept – Ragnar Michigan
Nov – Ragnar Napa (CA)

As per usual, I jumped on this team with strangers and hoped for the best. As it turned out,  almost our whole van 2 were new to the team and strangers.  And guess what…it worked!

I flew in Thursday night and waited for the rest of my teammates to arrive. It was really seamless. We got picked up at the airport, whisked across the Golden Gate Bridge, and stayed overnight in San Rafael.  We had an eclectic bunch in van 2. Two experienced Ragnarians that flew in together from DC, one was from Russia and the other from Chile,  a girl from Park City who was also running her 15th Ragnar, and 2 local newbies. We had a 7am start time, so our van one got this amazing view:

Meanwhile, we grabbed breakfast and a few supplies.  No sleeping in or lounging around, we were on task and at the exchange by 10am for an 11am handoff.

I got to see my Ragnar del Sol buddy Alex, which was a nice treat!

We got some beautiful views while we waited at exchange 7.

It was heating up fast, and I had my longest run ahead of me, with a 3pm start time. Ragnar made a TON of last minute course adjustments the day before, so my 10.9 run became an  8.9 run.  I wasn’t sad.  Luckily it was a lot of downhill.  So much so that my quads paid the price.  I was runner 11, so just one more runner to go and then we got to have dinner!

I am a craft beer lover, but I had no idea that Lagunitas was brewed nearby. We ended up at the Lagunitas taproom in Petaluma.  What a cute place!

 I don’t recall a ton of downtime after that before it was time to run our night legs.  I do know that my stomach started giving me a few troubles before the run and I should have paid more attention to it. I got a major headache, possibly from dehydration. My night leg was only 2.9 miles, part of it on a pitch dark trail in a neighborhood. I felt pretty crummy because I needed to use the bathroom in a bad way. The second I finished I went straight there.  I felt better, but still “off”. It would continue for hours.

My team was killing it. We were ahead of projections! We got some sleep – some of us in the van, some inside the school and some out in a field.  We took over around 7am for our last legs – I was shocked that van 1 was done at 7am! I’ve been van 1 for the majority of my ragnars, and I have never been done that early. Maybe 11am, but that is probably the earliest.  So they got to get a little rest, eat, clean up, and then went WINE TASTING while we were still running! Wish I had been in on that fun, as it turns out I would not get another opportunity :(

It was another hot one on Saturday – high of 88! We waited at the finish (again once I finished my 3.5 miler, I was runner 11 so we only had 1 runner left to go!).  Megs took a wrong turn and went out of her way by about a mile.  We finished and had some local wine at the finish area – I have never seen wine at a Ragnar, but it makes total sense here! Local winemaker Omen wine was selling some fun packages with cool tank tops, a bottle of wine and glasses. I had to partake in that! Megs and I pretty much cleaned out the place LOL.

Our team had some pretty stellar results, probably the best of any Ragnar team I've been on! Top 25% overall, 75 out of 250 in our open category! wow. We finished in 31 hours and some change.

10 of us were up for staying in the area that night, which was great. However, the rental place that they found to accommodate everyone was over an hour away in Geyserville. It’s a cute tiny town, but once we rolled into town the few wineries they had were already closed.  The rental place was…interesting.  It was a very strange combination of animal sanctuary and spiritual center to worship the Egyptian goddess Isis. I kid you not.  There were more than a dozen beds in one room, like a hospital ward of sorts.  The only upside was we could walk to dinner/breakfast, etc.   We sat around sharing stories and wine.  Sunday morning we left fairly early (the roosters woke us up), and grabbed coffee before we all rolled out in different directions. One of my teammates Stephanie was nice enough to take me back to the airport on Sunday, so that was a bonus! 

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. I met several people who I really enjoyed and fully intend to keep in touch with.  I also want to do this race again, it was pretty convenient for me to get to from AZ. However, I absolutely 100% will switch to van 1 AND will spend the night in Napa like so many other teams did. It sure looked like fun!

"Disclaimer: I received a SPIBeam hat to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"

I do not like running in the dark. Ever since I fell at Ragnar Trail AZ a few years back and subsequently fractured my fibula, I am extremely paranoid about where I’m stepping and making sure I’m on even ground.  I need to be able to see clearly.

I have a headlamp for running Ragnars, but I don’t like the fit of it, or how it bounces when I run.  Then I saw the SPIBeams LED hat and thought that could really be a better option!

 It was a bit tricky to initially turn this on for the first time (or maybe I hadn’t had enough coffee yet!), but once I did, it was smooth sailing. I was initially impressed with how bright it was, and it even has a red blinky light in the back, perfect for Ragnar!

I took it out for a spin and the hat felt good, but most importantly the light was steady and not bobbing around.  I have trouble with my headlamp slipping once I get sweaty (unless I wear it over a cap).  Either way, I find them rather uncomfortable.  It light my path up just fine in the neighborhood.

Product Features:

• Multiple LEDs on Front and Back
• Replaceable Batteries – CR2032
• Vents for Breathability
• 128 Lumens
  

It has 4 beams across the front, with an easy button in the brim of the hat for on/off.  It is hand washable if you take the batteries out first. I am not sure on the battery life, they recommend turning off the power pack in the rear of the hat when you aren't wearing it to help conserve battery life.

Now for the real test – Ragnar!  It was perfect timing that Ragnar Napa fell in my product testing timeframe.  I always wear knuckle lights for Ragnar in addition to a headlamp. So this time I wore the SPIBeams hat and knuckle lights.  As I was running through the neighborhood, It was more than enough light. However, part of my run was on a pitch black trail.  I removed the knuckle lights just to see what I could see with just the hat.  It honestly was not quite enough for that setting on it’s own.

It sells for $29.99 and also has a visor option if you prefer that instead of a hat.

Discount!
You can save 20% with code *"BIBRAVE"* - good for 20% off any SPIBelt item! The code is valid through 11/12.

Final thoughts – I will happily use this product in place of a headlamp when I’m doing any night running.  It solved all the issues I had with headlamps.  It’s perfect for running in more populated areas. If you are running in a more remote or trail setting, I would add something handheld as well.