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.

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!

Random Valentine's Pictures

You know how some people post crafts on their blog and you're just amazed at their talent and creativity? Um, I'm not one of those. But I do occasionally like to do the crafty project anyway. It's fun and relaxing. I enjoy being surrounded by things that I made. It makes me happy! This was my Valentine's project for this year......

And my wonderfully talented step-mom (who IS one of those crafty people I'm jealous of) made me this super-cute heart garland for my birthday! LOVE it! I found this cute idea here and we kicked our healthy eating habits to the curb for a few days and made these fun little Rice Krispie "ice cream" cones for the Scouts and our school car-pool crew.....
Also Mike's work requested I send in some of my cream-filled cupcakes. His co-workers request them again and again. In the disclosure of being honest I forgot to take a picture before they were all eaten so I lifted this one from Photobucket. Mine were lots cuter, with pink filling, piped decortive chocolate frosting, and valentine's sprinkles!

Creamy Center Cupcakes

1 pkg chocolate cake mix

3/4 c. shortening

2/3 c. confectioners sugar

1 c. marshmallow creme

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cans chocolate frosting

(I usually just make homemade)

Prepare and bake cake according to package directions in cupcakes, using paperlined muffin cups. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add marshmallow creme and vanilla (I sometimes add food coloring for a holiday at this point); mix well. Instert a small pastry tip into a pastry bag; fill with cream filling. Insert tip halfway into the center of each cupcake and pipe cream into the cupcake. Frost with chocolate frosting.

For Valentine's morning we had a special breakfast with Overnight Orange Pecan French Toast, hashbrowns, eggs with cheese and ham, fresh fruit and orange juice. The french toast were a huge hit, I got the recipe here at Allrecipes.com.

PECAN FRENCH TOAST
Ingredients
4 eggs
2/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 (1 pound) loaf Italian bread, cut into 1 inch slices
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons grated orange zest
Directions
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, orange juice, milk, sugar, nutmeg and vanilla extract. Place bread slices in a tightly spaced single layer in the bottom of a flat dish or baking pan. Pour milk mixture over bread, cover and refrigerate overnight, turning once.
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Coat a jelly roll pan, or rimmed baking sheet, evenly with the melted butter. Arrange soaked bread slices in a single layer on pan. Sprinkle evenly with orange peel and pecans.
Bake in preheated oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Check slices during last 10 minutes of baking time to avoid burning.

Adding to all this yumminess Mike got me some TO DIE for homemade toffee from a co-worker who was selling it. Yeah, this week is showing around my waist, but it's been fun!

And this is what I got for Mike......

And the best for last, my sweet little Valentine's boys......

Aren't these guys handsome?