JayKnight Life: Running, Reviews, Photos

    This weekend I'll run my 4th Rock n Roll Raleigh Race. For me, this is the race that unlocked the crazy. It was my first half marathon ever. I came back the next year for another half to improve my time. I did that.  Then last year I ran my first full marathon here. That's all after trying to resist the peer pressure to run 26.2 miles. Now I'm getting guys to upgrade to the Full Marathon. It's great.  Now, it's time to do it again. I'll run the 5k on Saturday. Rest or party at a couple of meetups. Then run the marathon on Sunday.       It's interesting this year because there are a few changes. I've done this 4 times and I can tell you that the changes are good. Instead of ending on Fayetteville street the race will start on Fayetteville Street between the state capitol building and the Duke energy Center for performing arts. It makes sense because Fayetteville Street is where everything BIG happens in Raleigh: parades, festivals, foo...

     So, there's about one week left before Rock N Roll Raleigh Half Marathon, Marathon and 5k. I'm pretty excited. This will be my first marathon after 7 half marathons... Perfect right? I hope so. Some people wonder why I picked Raleigh to be my first full marathon. "It's so hilly," they say. But the benefits really outweigh the negatives. First, I'm running it as part of the Rock N Blog 2016 Team. So, that's cool. Plus, I get to run a race at home. I can drive to the start line and drive home. My family can come and see me cross the finish line and cheer me on. I can possibly see co-workers, friends, church family all running this race together. Plus, there's a really strong local running community full of some awesome people who have been running longer and have a higher running I.Q. than I do. So, that'll make this experience really cool.       Since this is my first marathon, ... I think I am probably pouring over the details too much. So...

It is time for me to release all of my thoughts about the Inaugural Rock 'N' Roll Marathon/Half marathon so I can stop talking about it everywhere I go. It's been almost a week and the marathon is all I talk about-  just ask some of my co-workers. To be honest, I kind of went through runners withdrawal mostly because I didn't have another race lined up. So, without a goal.. I kind of felt empty. But I'm fine now. I've narrowed my search down to a few races - To Be announced Later.  Plus, now I'm helping my wife reach her personal goal.      So, let's talk about the race. I think I almost didn't make it to the start line. There was so much traffic headed into downtown Raleigh that traffic was backed up onto Capital boulevard. One small thing played in my favor. There was a RPD patrol car blocking the Peace Street exit. Most of the people trying to get a parking spot at 6 o'clock in the morning didn't notice that that patrol car wasn...