Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Quick recap of Seaside and the 1/2 marathon

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I traveled 6 hours to the Florida Coast. We had a much needed mini-vacation, and I had to put in a ½ marathon training run. We were very well prepared for our traveling adventure, but Kiley no longer makes traveling very easy anymore. Although, food (popcorn) and dvds did help the car ride, the rain and “leaky” diapers did not. "I want out!" along with "down" were constantly being verbalized by our little pumpkin!

Seaside: I was very surprised by Seaside. It is a very unique place. No high rise apartments, no food chain restaurants….just a simple little place along the beach. It was beautiful!

Ocean: We were very excited to take our daughter to the ocean. She was enthusiastic about the water and the birds. However, she did not enjoy having her bare feet in the sand. In fact, she simply would not have it! The weather didn’t necessarily cooperate with us either. It was about 60 and the water was extremely cold! When we got back in the car, I had to laugh because Kiley was trying to pick off every single piece of sand between her toes.

Race day: Cold, Windy and 25-35 mph winds. Really, are we in Florida??? First of all the race started 25 minutes late. Then the first 6.55 miles were straight into those 25-35 mph winds. All I could think about was how cold my husband and daughter must be standing out in the cold, windy air. I thought about my out of commission, running partner, Amy, and how she would push me through the winds. I thought that the run back would be much easier with the winds pushing me to the finish line. I also reminded myself that even though it was cold, COLD BEER would be waiting for me at the finish line!

I crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 55 minutes. My best time for a ½ marathon. (10 minutes faster than my Thanksgiving half in 2008, and 20 minutes faster than my Gasparilla Half in 2006) Which makes me believe my thought about after having a baby, you really are stronger?!? Whether or not it was that, the cold, my running partner or pure luck, I am very happy with my new PR!

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