The Broad Running Broad

Happy Spring, knights ‘n dames!

It’s been a delightful whirlwind back to work. I transferred to my new team, which includes a lot getting to know new people, training sessions that thankfully haven’t been too bad, and tying up the few loose ends from transferring as they come up.

In the meantime, Mom’s been texting me with the question, “Do you remember what we were doing this time last week?” Which yes I do.

I mentioned in my last blog I’d go more into detail about Virginia Beach in a later post. So here we are.

It was six days with about three and a half of those in VB. However, I’d been talking about running in VB since springtime 2022.

Running by the Atlantic Ocean has been on my bucket list since I learned there were races in VB. Originally I wanted to run the now-discontinued Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon there. Then learned from one of the ladies working at Columbus Running that Labor Day Weekend in Virginia is extremely humid – “soupy,” to use her descriptor. So a late summer race in Virginia was off the table.

Then at an expo I learned about Shamrock and was tentatively planning a trip in 2024. That year would have marked five years since I was last there (2019) and 40 years for Mom (1984 as a high school graduation trip.) Mom admitted it had been so long that she didn’t have many memories of VB, and I wanted to go back and explore it with better company.

However, I moved in November 2023, which pretty much drained my savings. With regards to VB and whether to run it in 2024, I was faced with the question of “can you but should you?” Ultimately, I decided waiting a year to save up and not charging the trip would be the better option.

Fast forward to last Friday. Thursday was a travel day, where Mom drove from her house to my place, and then we took off through Ohio to West Virginia, driving through mountainous curves and a few potholes towards I-64.

From I-64 we came into Virginia, driving through George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, the grounds of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields and the Blue Ridge Mountains. While West Virginia was just plain rugged, Virginia was calming and beautiful.

Thursday evening we stayed outside of Richmond for the night. Then Friday morning we were up and checking out, with plans to go see Cape Henry Lighthouse at Fort Story before heading to the expo and checking in at our hotel.

Once we got the Cape Henry we decided not to climb the lighthouse, but we did walk over to the lookout where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It was cold and windy, but overlooking the water was incredible.

It also turned out that going to Fort Story was a good idea, since it was part of the half marathon course and I was able to figure out where I’d be running on Sunday.

The expo was our next stop, and then we got to our hotel. I booked us a room at the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront Resort, since it was closest to the start line and promised a solid view of the ocean. Our room on the 21st floor did not disappoint.

Over the next three days we ran our races, walked all over the boardwalk and on the beach, getting whipped by the coastal wind and taking in the sounds of choppy waves hitting the shore. It was overcast during our weekend, which was fine for running, and half of the time we didn’t know if we should wear a light jacket or winter coats. We wound up choosing winter coats, which probably looked ridiculous next to the locals.

But more importantly: we were there. After three years of talking about it, we were walking along the beach and standing beside the ocean. I was with Mom, finally doing something that frankly, we could have never afforded when I was growing up.

Now I’m an adult, with my own money and depending on no one else’s goodwill to go where I want to go. Mom is finally at a point in her life where she can join me, and we can enjoy trips and adventures not only as mother and daughter, but as genuine best friends. Part of it is making up for lost time, and part of it is making the most of the time we have now in the present that nobody can take away.

It’s getting to talk in the car and laugh at the dumbest things. It’s going out to eat at places and trying meals we’d never have in our neck of the woods, and then discovering this new, beautiful place on foot. It’s about celebrating how far we’ve come, what we can still physically do and having something enjoyable to remember once it’s time to go home.

Virginia Beach was a means of re-discovery and reconnection, to create new memories. The race, city and ocean did not let us down. If anything, it’s given us a new motivation to return in the future not so far away.

For that I’m always going to be grateful.

So Reader-friends, that’s where I’m leaving Shamrock Marathon Weekend/Virginia Beach 2025. It was everything I could have asked for, and one day I’ll be back there again.

Until next time,

Allison