for the love of vera bradley

 

 albeit a quick one, our weekend was absolutely wonderful!

several months ago i shared that we had scored a great deal 

at vera bradley's inn by the sea.

a gorgeous bed & breakfast right in the heart of seaside

& approximately 200 yards from the starting line!

each guest receives a vera tote upon arrival

& a bottle of wine, compliments of the cottage rental agency in seaside.

 

 

 

 the inn was gorgeous. the breakfast room was beautiful but closed when i left to run

& obviously closed upon my return.

but dan said it was lovely. 

& i'm certain he actually used the word "lovely".

the forecast was rain from friday night until sunday morning.

it rained our entire drive down

( speaking of drive, we spent $160 on gas.....good gracious!!)

but stopped as we arrived.

it was super blustery & chilly, but dry.

i'll take it!

when we pulled in, i told dan it looked like we had arrived at a fitness convention.

usually seaside folks are dressed in stylish casual beach attire.

not this weekend. black yoga pants, running shoes & north face galore.

i had envisioned sitting by the ocean all day saturday & shopping all day sunday.

well, there was absolutely no sitting by the shore in that weather.

so we ate & shopped. 

bud & alley's pizza bar,

the red bar ( my favorite place to eat!),

modica's market

& my post race treat, a fried shrimp po-boy from seagrove market!

 before we left, i was able to hug my celebrity friend, darby's neck

as she was down there cheering on a huge group of girls!

it was a treat for me to introduce her to dan.

i think our spouses sometime wonder if our blogging friends really do exist!

all the runners were also given a hot barbeque meal & free beer.

& various discounts at shops in seaside.

just realized that i forgot to  photograph the tshirt.

super cute & the women had the option of a fitted running shirt vs. the classic tshirt.

another cute perk to the race.

i think i'll be hard pressed to be wowed at my next run after 

all the goodies vera & seaside hooked us up with!

 

 

 

 

 

our wifi connection was best on the porch.

so we did a quick social network catch up before heading to bed.

we had just arrived back at the b&b saturday night when the thunderstorm rolled in.

it was gone by the next morning!

 

 

 

i had big plans for a serious power nap on our ride home.

having slept little to none the night before the run

then loosing an hour, i was wore out.

we hadn't been on the road for 30 minutes when i received the following text=

"how long after throwing up do i have to wait before i try to drink water?"

turns out one of my girls had been home vomiting for several hours at that point

& continued to do so for several more.

poor thing, she didn't want anyone to come over while she sick.

so instead of sleeping i stayed awake & worried.

on the up side, this gave me a chance to stop & photograph some cattle

which i've always wanted to do.

on the down side, my zoom lens is dead so all i had was my fixed.

& let me also admit that city girl here does not know proper cattle terminology.

so if anyone would like to school me , please do so.

is this a calf? a yearling?

he was the most gorgeous buttery color & he was also completely spooked by me.

i wish i had a little video because the entire time he was doing a little backwards two step...too cute.

 

 & is this mom? is she called a heifer? a cow? 

my ignorance is embarassing.

 

 this one was most intriguing.

surely she is about to give birth very soon.

is this an ox?

(my head is hung in shame by the way)

 

 

 i braved a giant mud puddle for this one.

see the little white calf? precious!

 

back to the vera loot~

each runner received a tote bag at the end of the race.

i scooted over to our vera shop at phipps yesterday & traded out for a different print.

 

they also passed out little vera wrapped water bottles

& id cases at the packet pick up.

 

i traded my vera tote from the b&b and picked up a few other goodies

while i was there too.

i needed to be a good steward of the $20 coupon that was included in the post race tote.

vera bradley was very very good to us!

 i loved everything about this half marathon.

i loved that it was relatively small in number

( which by the way, if you plan to run this year it filled up prior to christmas)

the goodies were fantastic

great food & music

& of course, visiting my favorite town

even on a cold blustery weekend

was a wonderful treat.

i want to thank my sweet man

who , how shall we say, financed every detail 

from the  registration fee, the gas, new running shoes & clothes,

accommodations & dining.

he did all the driving & has provided more words of encouragment

& excellent post run massages than i could have dreamed

all for me to go & run.

allofmylove2you!!

 (ps, hey darby, if rover feels like answering my farm animal trivia, 

it would be so appreciated!)

(pss, my sweet girl finally went back to school today & is feeling a little better)