50 half marathons

All posts tagged 50 half marathons

State #13 – New Orleans (LA) Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Race Recap (02/28/2016)

Posted by DoombuggyRunner on March 4, 2016
Posted in: 50 By 50 Challenge, Race Recap. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

New Orleans RnR Logo

fifty-31HR Half Marathon State # 13
Half Marathon #25

Mardi Gras Beads

On Sunday, February 28, 2016, I ran in the New Orleans Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon.  There were approximately 11,600 finishers in the half marathon.  This was state #13 (half marathon #25) race toward my 50 By 50 Challenge to do a half marathon in all 50 states before I turn 50.  The weather for the race was great.  It was around 52 degrees at the start and maintained throughout the race, with about 82% humidity and a 6 mph ESE wind.

2016 RocknRollNewOrleans - Data
We decided to drive to New Orleans, as opposed to paying near $1000 to fly.  We decided to split it up and drove to Auburn, AL on the Thursday prior, and then finish the 11 hour journey on Friday morning.  After arriving in New Orleans we met our friends Matthew & Kira at our hotel, the Hilton Riverside New Orleans.  It was a great hotel location for the start of the race, as it was only about 5 blocks away.  After we got settled in we walked to the expo about 2pm and it was not crowded at all. The expo was at the convention center, which was also in walking distance of our hotel.

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If you look closely you can see a Matthew photobomb!

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Here are the three amigos and our race bibs.

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Since it was planned to be a nice race morning, “Flat David” was able to use shorts and a short-sleeved running shirt, which was perfect for the weather.

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What A Weekend….

Posted by DoombuggyRunner on March 1, 2016
Posted in: 50 By 50 Challenge. Tagged: , , , , , .

What a weekend…. We spent the last 6 days to and from New Orleans to run the New Orleans Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, but this is not the race recap.  This is about a special gift I got from our friends Matthew & Kira.  When we arrived in New Orleans and met up with them at the hotel, they had a box.  I thought, strange way to pack their running gear for travel, but who am I to judge.

To my surprise, it was a gift for me.  So I opened it up and saw 10-15 strands of Mardi Gras beads, to which I got excited and thought it was neat.  I quickly pulled them all out and put them on like a Mr. T starter kit.  After a few minutes of playing with the beads, they said, glad you like them, but that wasn’t the real present.  They told me to go back to the box…..

Mardi Gras Beads

I went back to the box, and was speechless, and if you know me, that isn’t easy.  All I could say was wow.  They bought me a special medals rack for my 50 state half marathons.

50StatesMedalRack

Even though it was a great weekend, I could not wait to get home, get it colored, and the 13 medals for the 13 completed states hung.  It turned out so good.

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Thanks to my friends Matthew & Kira for this awesome gift.  Thanks for thinking of me and my goal.  I will always remember you each time I hang a new state medal!  Hopefully they will join me for a few of the state races in the future.

States 11 & 12 Completed – 50 By 50 Challenge

Posted by DoombuggyRunner on October 19, 2015
Posted in: 50 By 50 Challenge. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

On Saturday & Sunday, October 17-18, 2015, I completed the Baltimore Half Marathon in Baltimore, MD and the Hershey Half Marathon in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

This was my 11th & 12th states completed in my 50 By 50 Challenge.  I have updated the page with this race’s information.

50StatesMap-12

Here is a link to the Maryland medal page and the Pennsylvania medal page.

I will post the race recaps later this week.  Stay tuned.

50 States Half Marathon Club Shirt

Posted by DoombuggyRunner on January 28, 2015
Posted in: 50 By 50 Challenge. Tagged: , , , , , .

Back in 2013 I decided to attempt to run a half marathon in all 50 states before I turned 50.  I called it my 50 By 50 Challenge.  To add to the motivation, I joined the Fifty States Half Marathon Club to work with others attempting the same feat.  This is an awesome group that support each other.  We share race recaps to help others in deciding which races to run.  We do meet ups at about every half marathon on the chart.  It is just a great motivator to complete my goal.

Being a part of the club, you can get special gear to wear around to let others know of your goal.  At Christmas, my wife got me the short sleeved black club tech shirt.  On the back is an outline of the fifty states.  You can take clothing markers and color in the states as you complete them.  As of this post, I have completed 8 states.  This past weekend was a dreary one, so we stayed inside.  We took the opportunity to color in my completed states.  With it being a black shirt, we have had to make several passes at it to get the states dark enough.  We may still go another round before it is done.

Have a look.  I think it turned out awesome.  I cannot wait to color in more states soon.  There will be four more getting colored in before year’s end.

Fifty States Shirt

50 Staters Gadget

Posted by DoombuggyRunner on October 18, 2013
Posted in: 50 By 50 Challenge, Running. Tagged: , , .

Last night I was talking to a group on Half Fanatics about my 50 by 50 Challenge.  One of the runners sent me a like to a 50 Staters Gadget.  This is the coolest thing.  It will help you calculate how to do back to back races in the same weekend to help you get the 50 half marathons in 50 states sooner.

You have all kinds of options to narrow down your search.  You can select how far apart your are willing to drive between cities, and it will tell you on the right column how far you have to drive between cities.

I thought I would share.

50 Stater Gadget