Runner's World Shakeout Run

I love meeting other bloggers. I love running. I love reading Runner's World. So an invite to a couple of the Runner's World events during Boston Marathon weekend was an honor.

I thank my friend Robin for suggesting my little blog be able to attend. :)

The run was later opened up to all runners as it was posted on Runner's World's Facebook page the day before.

The more the merrier right.

The event kicked off at the New Balance Store on Boylston St at 7:30 Saturday (April 13)morning.

My dad was dropping me off (again I am a cool 30 year old) and we of course got there early so when I walked in only the New Balance employees were at the store.

Oops!

Originally Bart Yasso was said to be attending the event, but after tweeting with him he said he wouldn't arrive in Boston until Saturday afternoon. Darn, I wanted to meet him.

As the store started slowly filling up with Runner's World staff, I met a couple bloggers that I hadn't known before. I met Brittany from Btypes.com, who qualified for Boston while running her first marathon (Wow!) and Katherine from NeonBlondeRunner.com, who I actually already followed on Twitter and Instagram.

I love finding new blogs to follow and new runners to use as inspirations.

Very quickly I realized I was the only person in the store who was running The Boston Marathon as a charity runner. IE, I was the slow poke in the store. The only person in the room/run that didn't qualify for the Marathon.

Ouch! Nothing quickly cuts down your confidence than the question: "So where did you qualify for Boston?"

Yeah, nope I didn't qualify. I am a charity runner. In the moment it hurt, but as I thought more about it that night I was/am honored to run for a cause. I raised over $5k for the American Stroke Association. I was running in honor of my grandparents.

Not qualifying for Boston is not something I should've been ashamed of.

But when you get asked that question rapid fire in a morning, it cuts you down just a little.

How can it not?

After mulling around, it was time to actually get out and run. I had no idea how long the run would be or where it was going. It was kind of nice to just follow the crowd. :)

We kicked off the run so quickly that my Garmin didn't have time to locate satellites (shocking) so I used Runkeeper to track our run.

We headed out down Boylston St towards Boston Common. We did a big lap around the Commons before heading to the oldest street in Boston. Even I - someone that grew up in Boston - had no idea where they were taking us.

Everyone was extra cautious on this part of the run since no one wanted to get injured two days before the big race. It was cool to run up and down the old cobblestones - slippery, but cool.

We ran back through the Commons before hooking a right onto Boylston St to the New Balance Store.

We ended up doing a 2.5 mile loop, which was relaxing and good for the legs as I was running the BAA 5k the next morning.

Runner's World had a nice little breakfast spread after the run, where I chatted with some of the Runner's World folks I actually followed on Twitter. It's always nice meeting social media contacts/friends in real life.

Mmmm snacks!

The New Balance store is pretty sweet if you haven't checked it out before...

And it looks like they like to #Sweatpink like my FitApproach ladies and I do!

I especially had a great time chatting with Caitlin, one of Runner's World web producers. Thanks for hanging out with me as I stood around not really knowing anyone!! Much appreciated...

Once the event was over, I wondered around Boylston St near what would be the Starta Area for Sunday's 5k and the Finish Area on Marathon Monday as I waited for my dad to get me.

(Looking back it is crazy to see how much this would change on Monday afternoon)

I want to thank Laura from Runner's World for extending a Shakeout Run invite to me. It was a great experience and a nice casual run to help simmer my nerves for Monday...