Accomplishment

Hi Everyone!
Thank you for all of the sweet phone calls, text messages & blog messages!
I really appreciate all of the encouragement for my first 1/2 marathon.
On friday, I drove to Decatur to meet Lauren & Jenny. We hit the road around noon. While there were some minor delays (traffic on 85S) & a little mishap from Julia (what they named my Garmin), we made it to Destin around 7. I can't be sure of times now because I just can't remember. Sidenote: another great reason I do this Blog is because my memory is getting worse & worse. I want to be able to always remember times like these.

We stayed at Summer's Aunt's house in Destin. Summer's cousin, Chesed, is awesome and she spent a lot of the weekend with us as well. It was so great to see her and catch up. She is getting married in May and so Summer threw her a shower on Saturday. It was so great of Summer's family to hose the 3 vulchers. This is what I called us when we started eating all of the leftovers from the shower. haha

On friday night we went to eat some delicious sushi and had a night on the town. We stayed out A LOT later than we had planned. We just didn't realize what time it was. On Saturday, we had lunch at "Gooey Destins" as I am calling it. It is actually called Dewey Destins. Amy eats there when they go to Destin every year and I always remember her saying it was really good. I didn't realize it was a SHACK on the water. We were not sure what to think when we drove up but I think I had the best mahi mahi sandwich ever...and about 83 french fries. I needed those after the drinks the night before. Special thank you to Jenny & Lauren for making me eat them. ha!

After lunch -- Jenny, Lauren & I hit up the outlet mall where we found some great sales at J Crew & Banana Republic. These are 2 stores that I do not go in on a normal basis because I am so cheap. I don't usually by BR because I can't fit into their regular sizes (the pants are way too long for as big of a size as I have to buy). I got a lot of great deals and almost broke out in hives over how much money I spent. (actually not that bad when you consider I got 2 pairs of pants & 7 shirts for $200). I guess thats my shopping for the year! After shopping, we went to get Summer at her Aunt's house and went to the race Expo in Seaside. We got our race numbers & packets and walked around the shops for a bit. After the expo we went to beach to run around and take some photos. It was so much fun! And we enjoyed being goofy. After that we went to the Nike Outlet so I could get some moisure wicking clothing for the race. (im glad i did). We ate at Carrabas and were in bed pretty early.

RACE DAY! -- I didn't sleep very well the night before the race because I had some weird dreams...that I forgot my race number and that I used the bathroom in my pants. haha
I have been 'stopped up' since last saturday (not sure what's going on...this has never happened before). I know that was probably too much information but Its significant to how I felt on race day and I want to remember that.

So, when I signed up for my first half marathon in SEASIDE FLORIDA, I didn't expect it to be COLD! The race started at 7am and it was probably around 38 degrees. We were jumping in place before the race started to keep our muscles warm! Jenny, Summer & I ran together. Lauren ran the 5k and Chesed was there as our team mom & for moral support! :)
The race was fun! I know it sounds weird to say that running 13 miles is "fun", but it was. Jenny & Summer decided we should play '25 interesting things about me', where each of us would have to tell things that the other people do not know (a lot harder than you think since we know A LOT about each other). 25 interesting things about me turned into a game of 20 questions...or probably 100 questions before the race was over. Summer did a great job of keeping our minds off running and we even entertained the runners that were around us. The questions included...what is your favorite movie...to...how many kids do you want to have...to...if you could live anywhere in the world where would it be...to...do you plan on spanking your kids?
A huge thank you to Jenny & Summer for keeping me very entertained during the race! Im not sure I could have done it without you!! BUT WE DID IT! my goal was to do the whole thing without walking and that's what we did!! ...although Summer was able to walk next to us a couple of times...haha.
We finished right around 2:25 and it felt like a huge accomplishment! My ankles & hips felt like they were going to pop out of my body & it was COLD & Windy but FUN and I will never forget it. We literally "jumped" across the finish line and there are some great photos of that too. I will have to post all of the photos later because I am finishing this post while in New York and I don't have access to all my photos BUT CHECK OUT SUMMER'S BLOG FOR A LOT OF THEM!
The race was sponsored by Vera Bradley so we got a bag when we finished as well! yay!
The worst part was having to drive 6 hours back after running 13 miles. my legs were screaming at me because we were cooped up in the car. We had to get back because I had to work on monday.

A very special thanks to Summer for pushing me to do my 1st half marathon! To 'Auntie' for letting us crash at her place and for allowing us to be Vulchers. haha. To Chesed for showing us a good time in Destin and for being our team mom. To Lauren & Jenny for entertaining me on the ride there and the ride back...& To Jenny for keeping us safe in the snow on the ride back!!! Lauren & I were basically biting our finger nails the whole time. ha!