Week 9: Anniversary #5 and top 3 win!

I switched up my days in weeks 8 and 9 and ended up with a monster week of 48.6 miles. But don't be too impressed, the week before was only 17.6 because of my switching. The law of averages means....this was just a slight increase in mileage.

After my 20.6 on Monday (see my previous bloop for all that excitement), here was the rest:

Wednesday: Plan 7 tempo with 5 @7:53, Actual 1 mile warm-up, 4 @7:47, 1 @7:41, 1 mile cool-down
Thursday: Plan 5 @9:14, Actual 5 @8:57
Sunday: Plan 16 @9:14, Actual 16 @8:13 (8:51, 8:23, 8:22, 8:23, 8:23, 8:19, 8:15, 8:11, 8:11, 8:06, 8:11, 8:08, 8:05, 8:02, 8:00, 7:38)

Running that tempo after my tough 20.6 miler was confidence-boosting.  I was still feeling a little stiff in the legs, but once I got warmed up, I knew that I was going to be able to make it happen. Thursday's easy run was perfectly easy.

Sunday, I started out with brick legs from the 16 miles Adam and I had biked on Saturday.  Not being a regular biker at all, different muscles in my legs were worked and I felt it for the first few miles.  Thankfully, after I got to the mid-section of the run, I finally started to wake up and warm up.  The last few miles were quite lovely as I knew that I could push the pace and finish strong.

Most of the time when I run on vacation (and especially in Florida--my in-laws live in Miami), I run slower.  I'm eating worse, drinking more yesthisispossible, and out of my element.  I'm sure it has mostly to do with my mindset, but it tends to skew more towards the awful side.  However, this particular vacation run was pretty amazeballs. I mean, it did get a little hot and it was 16 miles--my nemisis, but I needed a good long run after last week.

Anyway, enough about running...........

Because I knoooooooooooooow you want see a little glimpse of the fun of my beach weekend.  Adam and I were celebrating anniversary #5 at a beach house in the Florida panhandle that I helped decorate when I worked for Pottery Barn.  The customer was super duper awesome and let Adam and I stay there 6 years ago--right before we got engaged.  For a very reasonable price, he let us stay there again this past weekend.

We headed down on our anniversary day (Friday the 18th) and I convinced Adam that I needed donuts from our local delllllllllllllllllllllicious donut shop.



I let him have one....

We cruised down listening to fun tunes and I entertained the driver with my sa-wheet dance moves:


Our little slice of paradise was just as we had remembered:



We walked down to Rosemary beach, grabbed a bite to eat, and got settled to watch our first sunset:


Our anniversary dinner was at a not-so-impressive seafood place, but the company was lovely!

The next morning, Adam had the idea to take the beach cruiser bikes down to Seaside--8 miles away.  I was a bit surprised that he wanted to ride so far, but of course, I was game. Nevermind the fact that I haven't been biking since the awful calf injury of 2011... details, details....

It was raining a bit and I convinced him to wait until the drizzle stopped before we headed out.  We lucked out and it was pleasantly overcast for most of our ride.


We had lunch at a little burger shack on the beach, walked around the shops, and headed back after we tackled all there was to do in Seaside.


Adam was definitely spent when we were finished, but I was so proud that he was able to complete the 16 mile ride.  A 5K and a bike ride in the same month?? Wheeee!!!!

We enjoyed another sunset together on the beach and then went to Publix to get stuff to grill.


The next morning, I awoke without an alarm to get my run in.  I knew that I wanted to get out around daybreak and didn't sleep well because, well, I was a bit excited to run at sunrise near the beach.

The road was really, really quiet and while I felt like my legs were bags of bricks, I couldn't help but smile at how gorgeous it was.




When I got to Seaside--those 16 miles on the bike were a great sneak peek for my 16 mile run--I was so excited to see a pit stop.


I made a turnaround just past the town circle:


On the way back, it got a bit sunny and I swear it was hillier on the back half:


I was in a happy place though when I got to the last mile (and perhaps one of the more beautiful parts of the run):


The rest of the day was spent eating half a pizza, driving up to Grayton beach, hanging out poolside, convincing Adam to go to the beach for one last sunset:


Then we headed to the local sports bar for one last beer...


If we back the story up a bit...we can chronicle my story by drinks.

Like caffeine:



Beer:




Yeah, it's true:


One ridiculously thick milkshake:


And a little vino love:


It was a relaxing and peaceful weekend spent with my favorite person on Earth:



Lastly, before I forget to make mention and in case there is no actual prize, I got a top 3 finish!!!!!!!!!!!!



It is a combined time from my March full marathon and the half I ran a couple of weeks ago.  Granted, there weren't too many people doing both, but hey, I'll take it!!!  Wahoo!!!!!