Florida Part II

Our trip was flying by so fast! The next day we went to pick up Regina from the airport. She's from the Washington DC area and joined our little group about a year ago. Chris at the docks.....

Char took all of us to a wonderful little place called St. Augustine.
They have the oldest standing fort in the country. The did a re-inactment of firing a cannon.....what is it about the South and re-inactments?

The oldest school house........

And the oldest monestary. It was so pretty and peaceful, I could have spent hours here......

This Huguenot cemetary was in the middle of town and I was fascinated by it because I recently just read a book about their sad history.

St. Augstine used to have pirates plundering their coasts and so it's a big pirate town. Tanner would have LOVED it!!!

I love the architecture down here.......

When we got home that night one of Char's friends suprised us with a banner to show support......

Finally, the day of the race was here. This was the best distance race I have ever ran. It was so inspirational. There were between 3,000-4,000 runners and even more spectators. People would line the streets dressed up in all sorts of crazy costumes and yell, clap, and ring cow bells to show their support. There were several live bands along the way. There was so much energy. It was amazing! Breast cancer survivors as well as people who were currently being treated were running with us. You quickly forget your fatigue and pain when the woman running next to you doesn't have any hair. These were walls of dedication where you could put the name of person you were running on behalf of.

The entrance to the starting line......

All of us right before the race. I dont' know what is up with my weird smile.....

We saw several men running in pink skirts, it was hilarious.....

I expected it to all be flat, but there were several "hills" in the form of bridges along the way. It was a tough course.

A 1 mile run on the beach, it was scenic, but very hard to run on.......

My final finish time was 2:12. Much better than I expected! I had planned on 2:30 because my previous PR was 2:16 and that was an all downhill course. I think it was a result of training in altitude, but racing at sea-level. I had so much energy and I felt great through the whole thing! In my age group I came in #72 out of 293.

That night we had a little chili party back at the house. Char had made 6 different kinds and we all stuffed ourselves.

Time for everyone to fly out. One last picture together.......

This was such a great experience. Florida was beautiful, the race was awesome, and the friends were the best part. I was sad to leave, but I missed my sweet boys and Mike.

I found this sitting on the kitchen table for me when I walked in the door.

It was good to be home.