13.1!!!!

 

we headed out early saturday morning for our 24 hour quickie trip to seaside

for the Vera Bradley Seaside Half Marathon.

( if you're a runner, this is a great half marathon to run.

loads of ladies groups, great gifts, cute tshirts & the runners

all recieve vera totes. i  share more about it here & here too)

it had poured all night here in atlanta and we'd had tornado watches too.

the bad weather was with us for the entire drive

& the entire day saturday.

poured!!

while a rainy day at the beach is better than no day at the beach

i hated to lose an entire day of beach bliss to yuck weather.

 

we checked in to our adorable little place for the night, which as similar to last year

was less than 50 yards from the starting line!

 

when you stay in a seaside rental, you get a load of goodies

not the least of which is a bottle of wine & a seaside cooler tote.

we headed over to packet pick up 

did a little shopping

( jumping over puddles & dodging the storms)

before heading to The Red Bar.

also known as "my favorite place to eat"

i carb loaded on a huge bowl of pasta

& the most ginormous shrimp i've ever seen.

true story.

 

we received cute texts while we were gone

with updates such as the following from my sister in law

(caroline living large getting a mani-pedi)

a group of friends of mine were in town for the race & we hung out with them for a little while before

heading back for what would be 

terrible night of sleep #2.

sigh.

since we usually sleep with some white noise & we didn't have that option

i felt like i heard every tiny little sound. even my stomach growling woke me up.

it sounded like the rain continued long into the night.

i laid there & worried ( no surprise there)

how on earth i'd run in the rain with wet shoes.

but we woke up sunday morning to a glorious day

not a cloud in the sky. 

despite a crummy night of sleep i woke fired up

excited & feeling great!

ate a quick breakfast & was out the door to meet up with my friends.

 

 

our group prayed before we took off

&

i'm telling you what

at the risk of sounding corny, i could tell the lord was giving me energy.

i haven't felt that good running in ages.

it was so encouraging to me to feel so good

because i felt ill prepared going in to it.

three of my good friends & i ran together the entire way.

big big difference than running solo.

hearing things like

"lets get this train rolling" when i wanted to stop & walk

& "i'm over it, let's just finish" during mile 12

&

funny jokes from two of my best girlfriends

gave me encouragement to finish

(  & finish at the exact same time as last year!)

thank you jeff, kathy & linda!

ya'll are the best!!!!

 

 

moments after crossing the finish line,

sweet holly came up & introduced herself!

 

as did lisa!

( i snagged your photo from twitter, hope that was okay!)

not only is that humbling to meet someone for the first time mere moments after running

(without my lipgloss no less)

but it truly is so awesome to meet a  sweet  blog reader.

i feel like i should hug them & apologize for the posts where i ramble

& thank them profusely!!

are they cute or what?!

i think holly is in conneticut

& lisa in texas.

too fun!

 

one of my sweet local friends was there too

& checked that 13.1 off her bucket list!!

way to go heather!!

( yes i finally showered & applied lipgloss )

 

 

dan & i only had about an hour or two before we needed to hit the road.

we walked across the street & checked out our rental house

that we'll be back for in july with the girls.

 which is a 60 second walk from one of my favorite little photo locations!

 

we sat there & listened to the waves

& talked about how we'd love to move there one day.

i have the sweetest hubby

who on a regular basis lays his life down for others

& usually the others are me 

and the girls.

driving down for a quick trip to seaside isn't cheap

the half marathon wasn't cheap

nor were my shoes

the food

the accommodations

or the goodies he bought me while we were there.

he spent the weekend asking me where i wanted to eat

what i wanted to do

& how he could help me.

no lie...

i pray each of my girls marries a man just like him.

thank you sweet man 

for everything you did to get me to seaside

& for cheering me along

just as you do every day.

i love you.