Florida Part I

So I just got back from my fabulous trip to Florida a couple of days ago and I'm a little overwhelmed with the amount of pics and stories I want to post......so I'm going to do it in parts. I guess I need to first explain they whys and hows of ending up on the other side of the USA.

About 3 years ago I was thinking about running my first marathon. I had done some little 5K races, but I really didn't know anything about running and I knew there was a big potential for injuring yourself with distance races. So...after some browsing around on the internet I stumbled across an online running forum. I started posting and met some of the coolest people ever!!! These great friends have got me through 2 marathons and 2 half marathons. They've been a source of knowledge, support, and friendship. We've talked for 3 years now and our subjects have ranged far and wide from just running. It was so weird to know these people so well, yet I hadn't ever actually met any of them. Most of them live on the east coast and have met up for several races before. One of the most driven amazing women I know, Charlotte, started floating the idea around about meeting up at her place in Florida and running the half marathon race at the 26.2 With Donna National Breast Cancer Marathon in February.

My wonderful, fabulous, generous, supportive, hubby decided to send me out to race with my friends for my birthday this year. So, on Feb 18th I boarded a plane and headed to the South. I've never been farther east than the Dakotas so I was very excited for this trip. I'm not scared of flying, but I was nervous about having a layover and getting sick. The layover went smoothly, but I was throwing up in the little puke bag during the second flight......not fun.

Charlotte picked me up from the Jacksonville airport and we headed to her house. She lives in this beautiful rural area that is surrounded by citrus trees, oaks draped in Spanish moss and the St. Johns river. Every morning we walked her dogs down these beautiful country lanes. It was wonderful!

I tease Char all the time that I want to be her when I grow up. She turns 50 this year and she's the fastest female runner on our group. She's also a wonderful cook, she only uses very healthy whole foods and makes mostly vegetarian meals, but everything was still so flavorful and tasty. We brought handfuls of her recipes home with us. Her husband, Clark, was such a great sport about having his house invaded by all these strange women. I think it's cause he got a kick out of scaring us with stories of the alligators and the poisonous black moccasin snakes that lived in the water.

The second day out we went and picked up Christina (from Michigan) at the airport. Yeah! I get to meet another one of my friends. Chris is AMAZING!!! This teenie tiny woman has lost a total of 103 lbs. from diet and exercise and was featured in Womens World magazing. She's such an inspiration!

The three of us went to the race expo to pick up our packets and walked around downtown Jacksonville and the beach. We stopped for lunch and I had sushi for the first time in my life. It was good, but I could have passed on the Seaweed salad that Char talked me into.....she didn't mention that it was Seaweed & JELLYFISH salad.....slimy and not very yummy.

Me at the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.
The Birds! The Birds!
Chris started feeding the seagulls and they came at us in swarms.

We also saw a fisherman reel in a stingray and had to go snap pictures.Char was laughing at how Christina and I acted at the beach......we land-locked women were like little kids.

It was so nice to see green things and blooming flowers in February!