ZOOMA Annapolis Half Marathon & 10K

The Zooma race is a running event for women (men can run, too!) and focuses on a weekend dedicated to fitness and running. I found out about this race from Elsa and as an Elite, I was invited to run this race with a friend for free! My friend and I opted for the 10k, as this was my first race since I had my son and I was not ready to run a half-​marathon.
When registering for the race, there was an option to have your race bib, shirt, and other items mailed to your house for an additional $ 20. I was not sure if I was going to be able to make it to packet pick up, so I opted to have my stuff mailed to me and I received it the Wednesday before the race. In addition to the technical tee and bib, I also received hot pink compression running socks by Feeture! a Zooma hat, and a nice little tote bag that I will be using as a lunchbag. This got me very excited for the run!
I ended up getting a hotel room for the night before the race since I live about 45 minutes away and the race had an early start time of 7 am for both the half-​marathon and the 10k. I went to the packet pick up expo at Loew’s in Annapolis and enjoyed some mocktails by Honest Tea and browsed running shirts that were set up by various vendors. I picked up some safety pins for my bib (the only thing that was missing from my mailed items) and bought a shirt to wear for the race.
The race itself starts at 7 am and at the time, I thought it was extremely early, but it was a perfect starting time. The weather was great and the energy of all the women was wonderful and got me excited to run! This was my first race in Annapolis (I have run races in Baltimore, DC and Philadelphia) and I was not sure what to expect, terrain wise. It was a good run though, not too hilly like Baltimore and not as flat as DC. There were a few hills for the 10k course, but it was not unbearable. I signed my mother and husband up to recieve text alerts for my run and was disappointed that there was only one checkpoint for the 10k (at the finish).
After the race was over, my friend and I met up with her boyfriend and my husband and kids that were there to cheer us on. We recieved our medals and grabbed some water bottles and bananas. We continued through to the area with vendors that were at the expo the night before and checked them out again. Then we saw a booth set up that we didn’t previously see at the expo: the Unilocal!booth! We told the people there that we received free registrations for the race from Elsa and they were excited that we checked in with them. We got some cool Unilocal!swag like sunglasses, stickers and a fan and continued through to check out the other vendors and listen to some music.
All in all, the Zooma race was a great time and I look forward to running next year. Perhaps I will be ready for the half-​marathon! Thanks again, Elsa!