Blue Ridge Marathon (not really a race report) / 3.2 for 32 Run in Remembrance / Smith Mountain Lake 4 miler

I did not run the Blue Ridge Marathon (or half marathon).
At the bottom are listed some links to others who did run it and wrote about it.

My goal and purpose here is to provide information to others about the races in my area, and I really want to provide info on this high profile event, but I did not run in it.

Why diddnt I? Well, I panned to, I really did.  If I were to enter, I would have run the half, not the full. As the weeks grew closer to the event, I was studying the course and I admit that I was disappointed that the course for the half diddnt go up Roanoke mountain. I just assumed it would have, and I really want to run that loop. So, that loop got on my to do list and it still hasnt been checked off yet. When it came time to register I had missed the mark for early registration, and the cost was now $80 instead of $70 which I still think is high and so with all I had going on in life, I decided to opt out. It's that simple.

Then with all the rain that occurred, It would have been kind of fun to have been forced to run in that mess, but I think I'm glad I diddnt sign up. I want this event to be successful for the directors, and I want it to be successful for Roanoke! So, I considered volunteering. In fact my pregnant wife planned to volunteer, knowing I'd be there all day. Once I backed out of running, and decided to run a different event (see below) she backed out of volunteering to walk the 3.2 for 32 Run in Remembrance with the baby in a stroller. That's my story of not participating in the Blue Ridge Marathon.

There was a couple other events going on this weekend too.
The Smith Mountain Lake 4 Miler

This was the first year for this race. Unfortunately it is bad timing that it is on the same day as the Blue Ridge Marathon. This race begins at Mariner's landing in Huddleston, VA

The event raises funds for 2 causes. One cause is to create a college scholarship for a high school senior in Bedford, Franklin, Roanoke of city of Lynchburg who as been significantly impacted by cancer. The other cause is to fund The Strongest Link Service Program. Post race food was provided by Benjamin's at the Pointe, a local restaurant at Mariner's Landing, and I would have liked to been a part of that!

Another event on the same weekend
The 3.2 for 32 Run in Remembrance.

This event is a run / walk to remember the 32 Virginia Tech students, staff  and faculty who lost their lives on campus.

This was a free event, and the first 4000 got T-shirts. After the 3.2 is a huge community picnic. I cant find online where I got the information before, but I recall reading that in the previous years this event brought well over 5000 people on VT campus. Can you imagine what a group photo would look like? check image 27 on this page. That was the group in 2010. Along the course you get to go through the tunnel Lane stadium and tap the CLASSIC Hokie stone that the football team taps on the way on to the field. Well, sadly with all the planning that goes into this community event, the rain cancelled the race, but some other events still went on. I had planned to attend this with family and friends not attending the Blue Ridge Marathon, but of course the early morning rain and still pending storm, kept us at home.

There's not much I can say, really about the Blue Ridge Marathon, as I diddnt run it, nor did I volunteer for it, so I'll let the words from others who did legitimate race reports on it speak for it. If you know of a report for this event, please add it in the comments below.

Links to Race reports for the BRM
Running Nicki
Marathoning Through Mid-Life
Gear Junkie
Philip Settle's Daily Mile report