To get to the Mercedes Half Marathon we drove nearly eight hours and 480 miles to get to Birmingham, AL... all hours and miles that were well worth the trip!  This is a half marathon to put on your bucket list.  

Having registered at nearly just the last minute, our lodging options were limited, though not non-existent.  Our first priority when selecting a hotel is being able to walk to the starting line of a race from our room, and our second priority is always price.  We won't book a room if the price is outrageous.  (Savannah Rock n Roll Half, we love you, but hotel rooms for the weekend of your race were OUTRAGEOUSLY priced!)  After some debate we booked a room at The Redmont Hotel in downtown Birmingham.  Reviews were questionable, but the room rate was $89, which was worth the risk to us.  

We arrived in Birmingham along with a ton of other people.  The race was in town that weekend along with Kami Con (Birmingham's version of Comi Con) and a home and garden show, both at the convention center downtown.  There were some interesting characters walking around town as a result!   We parked in the hotel parking lot and walked less than four blocks to Boutwell Auditorium which was the location of the Mercedes Marathon's race expo, race start, and post-race party.  At that point we were thrilled with our choice of The Redmont.  

The expo was dominated by the Trak Shak and some other vendors who weren't as memorable.  The only real items for sale were those that the Trak Shak was selling, along with merchandise from previous year's marathons.  There were free refreshments at the expo, including Coca-Cola for all and beer for adults.  Regions Bank had a fun photo op area where runners could don capes, sit on a cruiser bike in front of a fan, and snap photos of themselves "riding" along.

Packet pick-up was a breeze.  We gave our bib numbers to a volunteer and received a bag generously filled with race swag.  In addition to some gender specific technical shirts, we also received Trak Shak gloves, a Snickers Bar, and a koozie advertising a race in Talladega.  

Leaving Boutwell Auditorium, we stopped right next door at the Birmingham Museum of Art, which has free admission year round.  We took some time to enjoy the impressive collection of art (which includes the largest collection of Wedgewood China in America, some samurai armor, and paintings and sculpture from all over the world.)

One of the museum employees directed us to P.U.B., a place where Justin could watch the afternoon's Georgia Bulldog basketball game and we could both get some food.  Our servers were friendly and the hot pretzel appetizer should not be missed!  Eating it WILL change your life.  

Our experience got a little hairy that night back at The Redmont.  First, we had to change rooms after discovering that our shower did nothing more than dribble water.  A very apologetic employee switched our room to a suite where we got our much coveted refrigerator for sandwich and Mountain Dew storage.  

A good night's sleep is hard to come by before race day as it is, but this night was to be particularly sleepless.  At 3:35 a.m. the fire alarm went off.  As we scrambled to don warmer clothes and grab our valuables for evacuation, the alarm stopped.  Unfortunately the alarm was replaced with the sounds of a brawl coming from outside our third floor window.  We observed the brawlers' shenanigans, including many hay-makers thrown, from the safety of our room until we tired of it all and attempted to go back to sleep.  At this point we can't recall if it was 30 minutes or an hour later, but the fire alarm was pulled again.  We scrambled a little bit more slowly this time, and sure enough, the alarm stopped before we made it out of our room.  I am pretty sure the Montagues and the Capulets were still outside the hotel doing a whole lot of yelling, but fortunately not a whole lot of damage to each other or public property.  

Our verdict on the hotel: spend thirty more dollars a night for a hotel room a block away where you will hopefully avoid fire alarms, street brawls, and dribbling showers.

Regardless of the previous night's shenanigans, we were still able to roll out of bed an hour before the race start, eat the cereal we'd brought from home, don layers of running clothes to shed as the weather got warmer, and walk out to the race start.  We were still grateful for our proximity to the starting line as it was a quick walk to Boutwell.  The starting line was adorned by a giant Mercedes Marathon banner, motivational music, and thousands of people socializing and warming up before the race.  Race corrals where indicated by signs of pace per mile.  Justin headed off between the 6:00 and 7:00 pace while I found a spot just before the 9:00 pace.  Of all the races we've run, this was the BEST group of self corralling individuals.  After the gun went off, I didn't find myself tripping over any walkers who should have been at the back of the pack.  My compliments to everyone at Mercedes on this!  

Even though I took two minutes to arrive at the start, once the people in my corral started running, they didn't stop.  There was no dodging of walkers and socializers... everyone was ready to run!  For the next one hour and fifty-two minutes, I enjoyed every moment of my race experience.  The course was scenic and composed of gently rolling hills.  It ran through the neighborhoods of downtown Birmingham, including the campus of UAB.  I felt like I was witnessing Birmingham's progress towards its downtown revitalization.  So many buildings are vacant, but so many have been revived and are filling back up.  I think this race will look very different in ten years, once Birmingham accomplishes what it has set out to do with downtown.  

I am not sure that I can name a favorite part of this race, but I am tempted to say it was the fans.  They lined the course holding all the fun marathon signs you can imagine, ones like, "Who needs toenails?" or "Worst Parade Ever."  Goofy signs like this never fail to inspire a chuckle or two in me while I'm running my 13.1 miles.  I spotted one man with a megaphone three times along the course, and he spotted me, too, because he yelled words of support to me and everyone else who passed him by.  First siting at around mile two I smiled at him, second siting at about mile 7 I high-fived him after he told me how easy I was making running look, and the third time I saw him (at mile 13) I told him I loved him.  This was a man who dedicated at least two hours to shouting encouraging words at runners.  How great is he?!

One of my favorite sites of the race was the Alabama Theater's marquee which read, "Keep Going Mercedes Marathoners."  It made me feel like Birmingham had really rolled out the red carpet for all of us runners.  

By mile nine I knew I would be running a PR, so I cruised happily through the remaining four miles with a smile on my face.  The final quarter mile of the race ended on a major downtown street and was lined (of course) with fans and two giant inflatable Trak Shak archways.  Runners rounded a corner and finished the race in Linn Park.  An announcer called out people's names as they approached the finish line and music continued to play.  Volunteers were waiting with Mylar blankets and beautiful Mercedes finisher medals.  A corral led us all to a cornucopia of post-race food: oranges, bananas, sports drinks, Dasani waters, and likely more things that my victorious brain couldn't process (having just run a PR by two minutes!)  Justin was waiting for me just outside the corrals and from there we proceeded to one of the best post-race parties we've every attended.  

The post-race party was held in Boutwell Auditorium, same location as the race expo.  We loved that race organizers chose Boutwell, an indoor auditorium, as the race was in February, which often makes for cold outdoor festivities.  Tables with tablecloths were set up for runners who handed tickets to volunteers in exchange for a complimentary Jim-N-Nick's BBQ sandwich, some cole slaw, and potato chips.  Additionally, there was an endless supply of Cokes for all and beer for adults.  Since the tables were big and communal, this was an opportunity to strike up conversations with other runners and find out how they did.

After finishing our food we headed upstairs for a complimentary and generous post-race massage.  I am pretty sure my masseuse, Sean, spent a good fifteen minutes helping me stretch out some tired muscles.  This was well worth the ten minutes I waited in line. 

From there, we left Boutwell and headed back to The Redmont to lay around for a while before touring more of Birmingham.  

Final verdict: This race is not to be missed!  Swag is generous, course is scenic with perfectly rolling hills, and fan support cannot be beat.  The Mercedes Marathon people know their stuff! 

Tips for a great Mercedes experience:
1.  Stay at a hotel close to the start.  Many runners stayed at the Westin, a chain which often caters to runners.  This particular one had a great restaurant where many runners came to socialize and eat.  We wished we had stayed there!
2.  Book your hotel early,  Options run out the longer you wait.
3.  Do some hill training before this race.  It will make the rolling hills seem easy.

For more information on this race visit the Mercedes Marathon website at: http://www.mercedesmarathon.com/

The Critz Tybee Run Fest on Tybee Island, GA began on Friday, January 31, 2014 and concluded on Saturday, February 1, 2014.  The Run Fest allows runners to select from any of five races, or run all five for a combined 26.2 mile experience.  Having a few half marathons under our SPI belts, we decided to challenge ourselves and sign up for all five, making this our first experience with 26.2 miles.  

Upon arriving in Tybee, we stopped first at the race expo where we picked up our race packets and visited the few vendors that were in attendance.  We bought some GU from the Fleet Feet Savannah vendor, then meandered around a little more before leaving.  After seeing the fantastic t-shirt design for the 2014 race, we were really hoping the expo would have posters for sale, but sadly, they did not.  We did later email the race director with a request to sell posters in the future. 

We then drove to the race's host hotel, the Ocean Plaza Beach Resort where we had a room reserved.  We were thrilled to score a first floor hotel room, as this meant there would be no waiting for elevators between races or climbing stairs after 3.1 miles, 6.2 miles, 13.1 miles, 2.8 miles, or 1 mile.  We always love a refrigerator to store drinks and other perishables that we cart around on road trips, and we got one at the Ocean Plaza.  The room was clean and convenient and served us well all weekend.  

The first event, a 5K, occurred Friday night.  A shuttle provided by the Run Fest took us from our hotel room to the starting line of the 5K where a party was already in full swing.  There was music, food and drink aplenty along with an inflatable archway over the starting line.  As we waited for the race to begin we took a moment to pose in front of the Peanutmobile with Mr. Peanut.  Race volunteers were everywhere passing out free glow necklaces to anyone who would have them.  After listening to the national anthem, the race began in a timely fashion.  We raced through dark streets, lit by portable spotlights and fallen glow necklaces.  The 5K had sold out, so the crowd was plentiful and no runner was ever alone.  The loop course returned us to the starting line where Fun. was blasting over the speakers and race photographers were snapping photos.  We both came in faster than we expected for as easy as the race felt (Julie - 25:09, Justin - 18:39).  We took full advantage of all the food offerings after this race and partook in cookies, Cokes, sports drinks, Muscle Milk, beer, and (our favorite on a chilly night) gumbo (we visited this line twice!) 

A warm shuttle carried us back to the Ocean Plaza and we attempted to wind down after such excitement, though already couldn't stop reminiscing about our first experience at Critz. 

The following morning began at 7 a.m. with a 10K which was beset by rain, but didn't dampen the experience at all.  Once again, the giant inflatable archway marked both the start and finish of the races, which were a block away from each other.  Our hotel was about a block away from both, making changing wet clothes between future races easy to do.  Inspirational music was appropriately loud at the start, and the race began just a few minutes late.  All the races would finish at the same point (a delightful little traffic circle) where food and drink were plentiful.  Throughout our five race experience we partook in cinnamon bread, bagels, granola bars, croissants, oranges, bananas, pizza, chili, sports drinks, water, and more.  Complimentary beer was also available for adults.

The next race, the half marathon, began just after 8:30 to compensate for the late start of the 10K.  It began in much the same fashion with music, a national anthem, and an enthusiastic crowd.  The course looped us out to the previous day's 5K course, and eventually back around to our 10K course.  Water stops occurred approximately every two miles.  In spite of the deluge of rain, dedicated volunteers and enthusiastic fans cheered us on from the sidelines.  One woman waving a giant palm frond was my favorite!  She yelled, cheered, and waved that frond for at least an hour... I know because I passed her twice!  In spite of having run 6.2 miles earlier in the morning, we both ran good times (Julie - 1:59, Justin - 1:34).  

With all the major distances behind us, at this point we were confident that we'd make it through all 26.2 miles.  The next race started on the beach, a welcome break from road running.  Fortunately for us, the tide was out and we ran this one on almost all hard-packed sand.  (We had heard from runners of the previous year's race who had to run at near high tide.  They  said the 2.8 miles on the beach were the hardest part of the whole experience!)  At the end of the race we ran up a sand dune, and finished under the same archway as all the other races.  The photographers took particularly excellent photos here!  Both of us ran this race a little slower than the previous night's 5K, but we were feeling the adrenaline of the whole experience, so weren't bothered by our slower speeds at all.  

At this point we knew had the whole thing "in the bag."  The only race left was the 1 mile fun run.  The rain having mostly let up meant more fans along the start and finish of the 1 mile fun run and the 2.8 mile beach run.  Additionally, the 1 mile distance allowed bunches of kids to experience the Critz Tybee Run Fest.  

The entire experience concluded with a sparsely attended awards ceremony for overall finishers (we blame the weather).  We stuck around because Justin finished all five races in just under 3 hours, earning him 2nd place in his age group and his 3rd age group award of the day.  

Medal count- Justin: 5 (2 finisher, 3 age group)  Julie: 2 (2 finisher)

Final verdict: This was a great race experience.  We recommend everyone try it at some point! 

Tips for a great Critz experience:
1.  Stay at the host hotel.  It is super convenient to the start and finish and its convenience can't be beat!
2.  If you are running all five races, pack five sets of clothes and extra shoes.  It poured on race day for us and we were glad to be able to change after each race.
3.  Make sure you have trained yourself to be able to run all day.  It will ensure your success!

For more information on this race visit the Critz Tybee Run Fest website at: http://www.critztybeerun.com/