Triathlon Finish Line Surprise!

My friend Paige completed her first Sprint Triathlon this past Saturday! That's a 300 yard swim (in the Gulf of Mexico!!!), 10 mile bike ride, and 2 mile run! She did AMAZING!!!

Several of our Sole2Soul Sisters loaded up in a van and traveled to cheer her on! But we also knew something that she didn't! At the finish line there would be quite a surprise waiting for her! ;-)

We travel in style! One of our sisters owns the local skating rink and offered to drive us all there so we could all ride together!

When we got there we looked in the sky and saw a beautiful rainbow!!! I hoped Paige saw it as she prepared to swim.

We didn't get to see Paige before the swim but we did get to see her as she was transitioning out of the water and headed to her bike! I think she was shocked so many of us were there!

She transitioned pretty quickly onto her bike! And yeah we yelled and cheered at her a ton while she was getting ready! ;-)

And then she was off for her 10 mile bike ride!!!

While we were waiting on Paige we spotted a celebrity! Why yes...that IS Brett Favre!!! My friend Jennifer was quite smitten with him and posed to get her picture with him as he ran by! Hilarious!!!

Before we knew it...Paige was coming in from the bike portion!!! She was all smiles!

Next was the 2 mile run! I knew she was good from here on out because running is her strong suit!

We headed to the finish line where the surprise would occur. And we had a nervous but excited boyfriend....waiting on his love to finish so he could PROPOSE!!!! :-)

Finally Paige crossed the finish line! And then she saw the sign and her man down on one knee! Her face is priceless!!!

Here she is saying, "Are you sure?" It was so cute! And so Paige!!!

And....she said YES!!! :-)

I am soooo happy for Paige and Billy!!! It was so special to be a part of one of my best friend's amazing day!!! She is loved by so many people!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Paigey and Billy!!! I wish you a lifetime of happiness!!!!

QOTD: Have you ever witnessed a finish line proposal?

10K...Gulf Coast Style!

Saturday's long run was supposed to be in downtown Mobile with some of my Sole2Soul Sisters. We were all going to ride together to meet a few of our other sisters that live there. I was excited about running a different route...but I was NOT excited about getting up at 4:30 AM! But around 7:00 the night before...plans changed. One of our sisters (the one that was going to drive us) started running a fever and decided not to run. So instead I decided to run down by the bay with a few of my other Sole2Soul Sisters. And the best news...they were meeting 45 minutes later and the meeting place was closer to my house! So yes....I got to sleep a little later! :-)

I was also really excited because my friend Andria was running this route. I hadn't run with her in a couple of weeks and couldn't wait to see her! She even offered to pick me up so we could ride together!

All my other sisters were running 5 miles but Andria and I decided to run 6 miles instead. And since we were so close we decided to go ahead and make it a 10K!

The run started out great! Streaking has really helped my pace and endurance. And the weight loss has helped tremendously! Our route was an out and back so our other sisters turned around before we did.

At our turn around point I snapped a few pictures! I love living on the Gulf Coast!

And I promise I didn't pee my skirt...that's sweat lol! By the end of the run my skirt was drenched!

The second half of the run was great for me! There was even a dreaded hill at the end that I was NOT looking forward to. I told Andria I would probably slow down on the hill but I ended up maintaining my pace! I love it when I can finish a run strong! Especially when there's a hill involved!

It was a great run with a great friend! And...it was also Andria's fastest 10K yet!!! I'm so proud of her!

QOTD: Do you have a favorite route that you run often?

The St. Jude Memphis Race That Wasn't in Memphis

I'm going a little out of order here but I can't wait to write about this part. Just in case you missed it be sure to read all about my first day in Memphis which included the race expo and about my tour of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Most of you saw my Facebook and Twitter post the night before the race saying that the race had been cancelled.

Post by Road Runner Girl.

I was at the Pasta Party (which I can't wait to tell you about too...but in another post) when we started getting text messages from our friends asking us if the race had been cancelled. We hadn't heard anything like that so I pulled up the race website and sure enough...the race had been cancelled! About 5 minutes later the St. Jude CEO got on stage and made it official.

I had so many different emotions running through me. I had worked so hard overcoming injury to get to this race. I was sad that I wouldn't get to run a race that I'd been wanting to run for so long. I was super sad for my friends who this would be their first half and first full marathon. But...I totally understood the reasons why they cancelled the race too. It wasn't safe. The roads were icy. And half the volunteers, police force, and medical personnel either couldn't travel there due to the weather conditions or they were dealing with the after effects of the weather. You just can't put on a well or safe race without all those people! So I came to terms with it pretty quickly.

Because we couldn't run...we decided to head home a day early. And...we decided to go ahead and run our race...at home! They were mailing us our medals...and we wanted to actually earn those medals.

So several girls who were running the full marathon started at 3AM Sunday morning. And the girls who were running the half marathon (including me) started around 5:20AM.

Even though our race in Memphis had been cancelled...we were still doing what we loved! We were running with our friends! We wore our race singlets and our race numbers. And several of our Sole2Soul Sisters that weren't running...made this day so special for us. They woke up early and organized and manned water stops for us. They made posters for us. They met us at different points of the route to cheer us on. They even made us a finish line! It was soooo amazing to know we had such great friends who cared!

The first few miles for me went like always...they were miserable because I wasn't warmed up. But I tried not to think about that. This run was for those sweet kids of St. Jude.

A few miles in and we heard a sweet voice (it was dark still so we couldn't see). It was our sweet friend Bridget! She was on her bicycle and was there to ride with us! So awesome!

We were running and in front of us we saw a car stopped on the side of the road with their headlights on. We were a little leary but once we approached we saw who it was...our friend Christina and she was holding a sign for us! What an awesome sight!

That was a great push for us to keep going! Especially the marathoners! So we kept running through a familiar neighborhood. A few miles later we saw another sign!

We were approaching one of our water stops and guess who was there? Christina again! And she wasn't lying about the brownies! She had brownies, crackers, pretzels, and water for us! And she had music to keep us motivated!

It was the BEST WATER STOP EVER!!!! Thank you so much Christina!!!

Finally we started running again. Believe me...it was hard lol! I wanted to stay with the brownies! But thinking about those kids at St. Jude helped me get going again.

Running was going great so far. The knee and hip were not hurting a bit! At around mile 8 though I started hitting a wall. Due to my injury I had not run farther than 7 miles in about a month. So mile 8 was tough. But my friend Bridget rode her bike beside me and talked. She got me through that wall and I'm so grateful!

We got to our next water stop and I was so thankful to only have a few miles left!

We only had a few miles left to go and all of a sudden we saw more of our friends! Donna and Jennifer had come out to cheer us on! It was great to see smiling faces! I was ready to be done. I was tired. But I was thankful that my knee felt great. We gave quick hugs and kept running. Around a mile later we saw Donna and Jennifer again...at our last and final water stop. They played some music for us to help motivate us. I think we were all struggling. But we were almost there!

The last two miles were the toughest for me. But I looked on the side of the road and saw some more signs that our friend Megan had made for us! I really needed those words of encouragement (even though they were more for the girls running the full)! But I've ran two fulls...so I knew it was much tougher for them at this moment than it was for me.

Finally I saw the neighborhood we would be finishing in. And who was at the entrance? One of my best friends Paigey!!! I teared up when I heard her cheer for me and when I saw her face! It meant so much to me that she was there! And her sweet boyfriend snapped a picture of me as I turned into the neighborhood to run my last half a mile!

I had to pass the "Finish Line" and run to the end of the cul-de-sac and come back to make my 13.1 miles. My friend Kelly (who had run the half with us that day too) took a picture as I was coming in to the "finish line."

The finish line was awesome! It consisted of two very cute kids holding the ends of a jumprope! So special! I immediately went to Paige...and even hugged her all sweaty (sorry Paige)!

Some of our awesome cheerleaders!!!

We watched the rest of our runners finish their race! It was so awesome to see my friends Holly and Holly finish their first marathon! Our sisters even got them a medal!!!

Here are all the awesome finishers of our St. Jude Half and Full Marathon here at home (minus one who had to leave early)!

My friend Donna gave everyone a card with a sweet little charm inside! I love it! Thanks so much Donna!

I also had my prayer bracelet for this race. I wrote something to praise God for or pray about for each mile of the race. I've never done that before but LOVED it! It really helped me each mile!

As for the knee and hip...they did great! I may have felt a little soreness in the knee around mile 11 but it wasn't pain. And after the run...I didn't feel a thing! Yay!

I had done it! I had run for the kids of St. Jude! It may not have been in Memphis...but this race still meant so much to me! It was amazing to have the support of all my Sole2Soul Sisters!

QOTD: Have you ever had one of your races cancelled?

Seaside School Half Marathon Packet Pick Up and Expo!

I was so excited to run this race! The Seaside School Half Marathon sells out super fast every year. Why? Because not only do you get a medal at the end of the race...you also get a Vera Bradley bag! Wow!!!

This was also the second group of Sole2Soul Sisters that I helped train for a half marathon. I was so excited to run this race with them!

I left early Saturday morning to head to Seaside, Florida where the race was being held. I couldn't wait to visit Seaside! I'd always heard what a gorgeous little town it was and of course I've seen the Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show, that was filmed in Seaside.

My hubby was supposed to come with me to Seaside but the boys had their Blue and Gold Banquet with Cub Scouts this weekend and Andy had to be there since he is a den leader. He and Hayden also had to bake their cupcake for the Cupcake Bake Off. So I headed out on my own for Seaside.

Once I made it to 30A the traffic was horrible! I'm assuming everyone was arriving in Seaside and trying to find their houses and condos. Plus I learned that in Seaside pedestrians have the right of way so if you see one on the side of the street you are supposed to stop so they can walk across.

Most of my friends had arrived in Seaside on Friday. I was staying with my friend Coby and her family. They rented a house in Seaside and it was perfect! It was only about a two minute walk from the town square and where the expo, packet pickup, and start/finish line were.

I felt pretty good about my directions. I had the address plugged into my gps and all was good...until I was on the wrong street. I had to call Coby and figure out where I was. She wasn't sure so she handed the phone to her awesome Dad. After a few turns in the wrong direction he finally saw me (he was walking on 30A trying to spot my car) and I had him jump in the car with me to get me to the house. It was easy when you were on the correct street lol! Turns out I had missed an important word in my gps address..."East." Because the street our house was on was East but there was also a street with the same road name and West....and those two streets did NOT intersect! Tricky! But I was glad to have finally made it!

See how cute and "Seaside-y" our house was?

One thing I noticed in Seaside is that all of the houses had a name and the owner's names and where they were from on the picket fence. Our house was called "Going Coastal."

The house felt like a little cottage. It had a full kitchen, half bath, dining room, living room, and a bedroom (with a queen bed and bathroom) downstairs. Upstairs there were two other bedrooms (one was a master with a bath and the other was a bedroom with twin beds). There was also a full bath and a loft with a twin bed. So overall it would sleep 7 people! 

I slept in the bedroom with the twin beds upstairs! Very comfy and homey! 

After checking out the house we headed to the Seaside Neighborhood School where packet pick up was. This race benefits the school...as a teacher I LOVE that! The school was so cute! And I found myself not believing that people actually lived there in Seaside. It seemed more like just a place to visit. 

The line to grab your packet was so long! But surprisingly it moved super fast! The race organizers had the process down...this was the 11th year of the race! 

There were signs that pointed you in the right direction...whether you were going to the expo or packet pick up!

The first thing you did was go in and get your race bib. The race organizers were very adamant in all their race literature that you and only you could pick up your packet. They DID ask for my driver's license but I don't even know if they looked at my face to make sure it was really me. After getting your bib you walked to another part of the building to get your race goody bag and shirt. 

The shirt was super cute!!!

It was all a super easy and super quick process! We only waited in line about 5 minutes and picking everything up took less than 5. Now it was time to head to the expo. The expo wasn't far away...and was located in central square by the amphitheater.

The vendors were set up under white tents that circled the edge of the square. I wasn't expecting much but I was highly surprised! There were several vendors there including my favorite running store (Running Wild), Team 413, and Saucony! I was impressed!

They also had a silent auction. I had a blast looking around in there at all the neat things! I didn't bid on anything but Coby's mom won a cute bike that was just like a bike she had when she was a little girl!

After shopping we were ready for some lunch. We wanted something quick and easy so we headed in front of the amphitheater on 30A and found several Airstream trailers that served food! There was a hot dog place, yogurt place, grilled cheese place, and bbq place. I decided to get a grilled cheese at the trailer called The Meltdown on 30A! They had so many options but I decided to not try anything adventurous the day before a race and just got the classic grilled cheese. And it was really yummy! I also got sweet potato chips with it....sooooo good!!!

The Airstream trailers were nestled around the Seaside Post Office. It was awesome to see this landmark building! It is said to be one of the country's most photographed post offices! You bet I got my own photo!

We ate our food out on the lawn in front of the amphitheater...they had a band playing. But it was soooo cold and soooo windy that we didn't last there as long as we wanted. We headed back to the house to relax a bit.

For dinner we had a home-cooked meal of spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread. I was so hungry that I totally forgot to take a picture! Just believe me when I said it was super good! :-)

Soon it was time for bed. Luckily we didn't have to wake up super early because we were only about a two minute walk to the start line. Most of my friends were staying outside of Seaside and they had to get into town before 6AM because that's when they were closing the roads. Lucky me I didn't even wake up until 6AM!

Per race tradition, I laid out all my clothes and gear. This would be my first half marathon (out of 15) where the weather was super cold and windy. Normally I train in those conditions but come race day it's warm. I prefer running in the cold so I was looking forward to it. Although the cold did mess up my outfit lol! I couldn't wear my cute compression socks! It was tights instead. And layers!

I was ready for half marathon #15!

QOTD: Have you ever been to Seaside?