After my huge PR in 2023 (4:38:34) at the Richmond Marathon I immediately signed up to run again in 2024. And when I say immediately – I signed up not even 24 hours post marathon. I just had to get that early bird savings!!
Check out my 2023 Richmond Marathon recap here! ☺️
This year, the plan was for my brother to drive ~ 4 hours from his home in North Carolina with his dog, Carlos, to Richmond where my parents, my husband, and the girls (Annie and Nori 🐶🐶) rented a house in Richmond for the weekend. My mom signed up for the half marathon and the plan was Matthew and my dad would cheer on my mom while Cooper cheered me on and gave me race fuel.
Well… life had other plans! Matthew broke his foot a few weeks before the race so he was not able to attend. My dad was not able to come either, so it was just me and Cooper in the front seat while my mom sat crammed in the back between Nori and Annie for the 5 hour drive from Newark, Delaware to Richmond, Virginia.
We stayed in a place east of the city of Richmond. The Airbnb was perfect for the girls because it had a huge backyard (although not fenced in) for them. Annie is great off leash but Nori is not to be trusted. Saturday morning I did an easy 2 mile shakeout run at Dorey Park before going to packet pick up. Just like last year’s expo, the weather was chilly and rainy. I ended up purchasing a finisher’s jacket at the expo!
After the expo we headed to Olive Garden to carb up before the big day!
Race goals:
When I signed up for this race last year, I had a lofty goal of running a sub 4 hour marathon. I’m not exactly sure what I was thinking when I put that as my expected finisher’s time – I hadn’t even run a sub 2 hour half marathon yet and my marathon PR was over 30 minutes off that time!
As the race date crept closer and closer I knew that I was physically in the best shape I’ve ever been in at the start of a marathon, but I wanted to keep my goals realistic.
A: Sub 4:30
B: New PR (faster than 4:38:34)
Okay now onto the actual race…
My plan was to start out with the 4:15 pacer and stick with them through the first half until I inevitably faded on the back half of the course and cross the line around 4:20.
Spoiler… I did not stick with that plan and my goals quickly changed to sub 4:15 to then sub 4:10!
I flew through the first half of the course and ran my second fastest half marathon time (~ 2 hours 30 seconds). My husband almost missed me at mile 7 because he wasn’t expecting me that early (and the tracking was slightly off). I snagged two gels from him and kept going without stopping.
After seeing him, the next few miles are my favorite part of the course. The course takes you along the James River. There aren’t any spectators on that road, but it is a good time to regroup, refocus, and zone out with nice river scenery.
I saw Cooper again around mile 12. By mile 15 I was starting to hurt… I definitely went out too fast, but I was committed to my new goal of 4:15. At mile 20 there is a huge cheer zone and I saw my husband again with my two best friends who surprised me! This was the boost I needed to finish the last 6 miles.
Those last 6 miles were rough, but I kept moving forward. With 3 miles to go I realized I had a decent chance of going under 4:10 if I just kept up the same pace. The best part about Richmond is the downhill finish. I zoomed down the hill to the finish – I didn’t even see my husband or friends cheering on the sidelines. My focus was on that finish line! I stopped my watch and couldn’t believe I just did that. Official time: 4:07:37!!!
Post race after party
The one downside about a large race is the cell phone service is basically non-existant. When I finished I just wanted to meet up with my family and friends but could not find them. After what felt like forever (10 minutes) I see my mom and meet up with her to get our finisher’s blanket and hat.
This year was the largest field size with over 20,000 runners across the marathon, half marathon, and 8k so the afterparty was packed. All I wanted to do was find a table to sit down at but there weren’t any available. No worries – time for beer! And the finisher’s blanket was perfect to sit on in the grass.
My friends congratulated me and whipped out the fireball shots (they brought 20!!!!). I took my celebratory fireball shot and drank my two beers then headed back to the Airbnb to celebrate with the girls 🐶🐶
Overall experience
Difficulty: 2/5
Running a marathon is hard, but when you have a relatively flat course, great crowd support, and a downhill finish it makes everything feel a little easier!
Scenery: 5/5
Hey Alexa – play “The Best of Both Worlds” by Hannah Montana. You get both city views, river views, and run through so many unique neighborhoods!
Race premiums, medals, and merch: 5/5
I will always give Richmond a 5 out of 5 in this category since you get a race premium at packet pick up and then you get a hat and a blanket at the finish. This year deduct the slightest of a point because I hated the color of my long sleeve race premium.
After party: 5/5
I love the location of the after party over looking the river. You can get a lot of cool photos with the river in the background – my biggest regret is how awful all my photos look of me after the race. I should’ve checked them before leaving.
Overall experience: 5/5
I’ll be back again next year! If you are looking for a fall marathon, what are you waiting for – sign up for Richmond! There’s a ton of crowd support, relatively flat course, junk food stations (the Coca-Cola around mile 20 saved my life), awesome medals and merch, and a great afterparty. And not to hate on the world marathon majors (I’m looking at you Chicago after not getting into the race this year), but there is no lottery system and entry fees are CHEAP compared to Chicago and New York City.
Are you training for any upcoming races or have any running related goals? Leave a comment and let’s chat! Bonus points if you plan on running Richmond in November ☺️
Happy running! 🏃♀️🏃
