Busy Race Weekend

I know it has been several days since my last posts, but it has been a very busy weekend traveling, racing, and getting The Boy back to school.  I am just now getting back on the Internet and have only been using my phone to check emails.  I had about 200 to delete today when I finally hooked my laptop back up to the Internet.

Thursday we were on the road headed to the beach with a stop at The Boy's college to purchase his text books for the upcoming semester.  He is only taking 4 classes, but still the tab was almost $500.  Amazing what books cost these days.  He started reading one of them this weekend and says he's almost finished.  It was one on programming, of course, his favorite subject.

Saturday I competed in a 1/2 marathon in Pensacola Beach.  It was cold at the start, but not as cold as I thought it was going to be.  I thought the a.m. temp was going to be around 28 degrees F, but actually it was 47 F.  Not too bad when you are running.  It was a great race.  Only half the pain of a full marathon and there was no swimming involved since it wasn't a triathlon.  Not bad, not bad at all!  I can handle it.  I wasn't as under trained for it since I just did a full marathon in November and have been doing some faster running on the treadmill and a 12 miler and an 8 miler during the holidays.  My time was 1 hr 57 min which put me 4th in my age group.  My goal was to run it in under 2 hours, so I fulfilled my goal and only went through one bad spell around mile 11 when my feet were screaming in pain and my calves felt like somebody was sticking pins in them.  I decided for a brief moment that I hated myself for being so slow and out of shape.  Then somebody yelled that I was almost finished and I was coming in under 2 hours.  That made me feel better.  I started liking myself more and more and really felt great as I crossed the finish line.  Big hug to myself for being slow but not that slow and finishing the race in under my goal time and a bigger hug for Ken for being there to support me.  He's a great "athletic supporter."

My legs are still sore and I am walking funny.  Ken and The Boy make fun of my funny tip toe walking, but my calves are so tight and sore that I can't help it.  They need to get out there and run 13 miles before they make fun of me!

Today we just got back from dropping The Boy off at school.  I have my fingers crossed that he makes straight A's this semester.  I know he can do it!  (if he doesn't, I'm signing him up to run a marathon with me - ha!)  When he was little, he did participate in some very short triathlons and some fun runs and I pulled him behind me on my bike until he was old enough to ride his own bike.  That's the price a kid pays for having a parent who's a triathlete.  He's a good sport most of the time!

Sunrise with Ken, my athletic supporter

Beautiful day at the beach

Front group of runners

Here's my gloves....

The last of civilization until the turn around