I've been pretty excited about this half marathon for a while now. I wanted to sign up for it last year but my husband and I got married last June and this race was two weeks before the wedding, so I thought I would hold off on it since we needed to save money for the wedding. I am so glad I was able to do it this year! We had a lot of fun exploring the day before the race and this race was very organized and I love how involved the community was. It was the Hatfield & McCoy half marathon. It was on the Kentucky/West Virginia border right where the feud took place. I'm always honest with y'all so I have to tell you I only watched one episode of the three, so I didn't really know much about the feud. I had planned on watching it before the race so I would know more about everything but I never did. I still thought it was really neat and it was beautiful in the mountains. After we picked up my race packet at the expo in Belfry, KY we decided to check out where the race started. The race had several different options if you were running. They had a full marathon and if you were running the half you could pick which part of the full marathon you wanted to do. The blackberry mountain half which is the first part of the full started in South Williamson, KY and ended in Matewan, WV where the river road half started or the full marathon continued. I had initially signed up for the first half because it seemed that was where all the feud sites were, but I decided to change it to the second half because it was a little less hilly. I was able to change at the expo and they were very nice about it and it was a quick change. I was happy I changed because parking was very easy and after I started running my husband was able to drive to the finish line and park and wait on me there. My husband always goes with me to my races and I am so thankful for him taking me and cheering me on the whole time.
For those of you who don't know me I am a procrastinator and I waited until the last minute to book a hotel so we had to stay about 30 minutes away in Pikeville, KY. I actually think all the places in WV get booked super early so we probably would have had to stay in Pikeville anyways. It was nice staying in there and seeing the other Pikeville. I live in Pikeville, TN and a lot of people even in TN didn't know TN had a Pikeville. Every time I tell people where I'm from they always assume in KY. The KY Pikeville is a little bit bigger than mine. Ok, a lot bigger, it has a University. It looks like a really nice University and a cute little downtown. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn & Suites and they were very nice and they even gave us a late check out since I was in the race. That always makes me happy and appreciate the hotels that do that especially since the race was 30 minutes away. It's nice not have to rush to get a shower and pack after a race because I'm usually a little slow moving.
I wanted to post some pictures for y'all to get a little glimpse of our trip. All my pictures were taken with my phone so I'm sorry about the quality and lighting, I still wanted y'all to see everything. The first picture was in Virginia on our way. We stopped at an overlook to be "those people." I'm glad we did because it was beautiful. The next few pictures were a few I took I Pikeville where we stayed. We saw that bridge and decided to check it out and walk across it. We had a little photo session there, and the picture with my hubby in it was actually an accident. I was trying to get a picture of the bridge and he stepped in the way. I actually like how it turned out. The picture with the wall is in Matewan, WV where my half started. That wall is actually a floodwall because Matewan was once described as the most severe flooding town in the United States. The picture with the other bridge is on a golf course around mile 5-6. It was pretty cool to run across. Then at the finish line they had two characters dressed up waiting to give us a high five. I thought that was really neat and a nice touch. I of course had to have my picture with them.
If you have read my other race posts you know I always take a picture holding my medal. It's my signature post race pose ;). Williamson, WV is where the race ended and there they have The Coal House. It really is built with coal using 65 tons of it. Now it is the Tug Valley Chamber of Commerce. I thought it was pretty cool so I had to get a picture of that too. Last but not least I included a picture of my race swag. The backpack they had at the expo and I love that it has the race info on it. The shirt I also picked up at the expo and I'm hoping I can get it to shrink because it's a little big and they were out of my size after the race. They gave me my medal when I crossed the finish line and they had the mason jars there too that we could pick up. I love mason jars so I had to get one. I want to put a shelf up by my medal holders to put race cups on. Maybe I can talk my husband into hanging me one.
So that's it for race number 8. That is my third one this year and I really want to add three more but I'm not sure if I will be able to. They will be further away so it will be more expensive because we will have to start flying. I definitely need to start adding more to my race fund jar. The ones that are closer have already passed so I will have to wait and do them next year. Only 42 more to go!
