Dear Charleston, We're Through.

It's been fun. Really. Two years ago when I first visited you, I thought we were going to get along great.

You were ok.

I didn't really love you, but you weren't horrible. I even thought, "Doing the Cooper River Bridge Run would be a great second trip to Charleston, surely they would roll out the red carpet for this event." Well, maybe it was just the year or maybe I just have high standards, but this race was not my fave.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 5:50.  We were about two miles away from the starting line so I figured this would be more than enough time to get up, eat, and get myself pumped up.  It was great. I never felt better about my morning routine.

Ready for the race!

Breakfast of Champions

Traffic to the start line was pretty heavy... I still wasn't deterred. I was excited. This was the biggest race I've ever run in. All these people were just gonna help me on the way to bridge run greatness! I walked around, found my corral: I. Then I jogged a bit to run off some nervous energy and waited in the corral starting at 7:45.  

That says 9:30.

And I am about 400 meters from the start line.  After a series of a very annoying woman saying, "30 seconds to go" "1 minute to go" "We'll start in 10 minutes", and a man saying "Put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care!" repeatedly, we finally got started... An hour and a half late.  I was hungry, annoyed, hot, dehydrated and had 6.2 miles to run, 3 of those over a very tall, very steep bridge. 

I decided to just run my own race. There wasn't much I could do about it now that we had actually started so I just ran. Around the top of the bridge, I started feeling gross. We were almost to the 4 mile marker and had only had one water stop. In 80 degree weather. 

 

                                                        Soooo Thirsty

I understand you don't want debris in the river, but we didn't want to start an hour and a half late. I just pushed through it and got water at every station after that. There were misters which were really helpful near the end too.  I finished at 1:09:46 which is pretty respectable for the shape I was in at the start. 

My plan was to go to the finish party and then take a shuttle back to Mount Pleasant.  I didn't even care at that point.  I saw some ladies from the Savannah Striders. (They wear bright orange shirts, it's hard to miss them!) Introduced myself to them and headed straight for the shuttles. I wanted to get home, take a shower and a long nap.  Which is exactly what I did.

Smiling after all the crazy. I earned this shirt!

Later that night, Hubs and I were able to spend some time with family to celebrate FIL's 65th birthday.  It being March 31st and all, it was a perfect night to enjoy the steak, scalloped potatoes, rolls and an amazing Tempranillo before the dreaded April 1st came along and all that stuff would be off limits.  This is the view FIL and his wife have at their house.  It was like Savannah was welcoming me back from the big bad Charleston...

 Not too shabby

 And here is the delicious chocolate cake we partook in for dessert:

Mmmm, chocolate-y

We had a great day yesterday, went to church for Palm Sunday, took the pup to the dog park, got all our errands done and took a nice long nap.  Back to the grind, but we're heading to the mountains after Easter service and I couldn't be more excited! I'm a mountain girl. The coast is cute and fun, but the mountains are adventurous and exciting. 

So, sorry Charleston (and sometimes Savannah) but you'll always be a destination and the place I ran over a bridge once, not a place that's awesome...

Expo Fail (On My Part, Not Their's)

So I said I'd have tons of pictures from the expo and well, I don't.

Our drive from Savannah to Charleston was long, hot, and boring. There were a whole bunch of yankees driving back home from Florida on 95 and it's really a wonder we got through it without someone losing their cool.  Then we got into Charleston, and the traffic got even worse.

When we were about 4 blocks from the expo and Hubs had already turned off the car... in the middle of the street... I decided to get out and walk. My phone battery still had 10% left and I figured we'd just be able to meet up right after I got my packet. I could take a few pictures, get my number, get my shirt, then be on my way.

Until my phone died... after a block and a half of walking. Then all I could really think about was going in straight through the expo, picking up my stuff then getting my booty back out to hopefully catch up with Hubs at the same time as he was driving by.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

From what I could tell, the expo was pretty typical. After packet and t-shirt pick up, they did have a huge selection of discontinued shoes, running clothes, socks, etc. that looked really cool but I had a mission.  I had to find Hubs in the midst of thousands of other people.

I started walking back and came upon the Courtyard by Marriott and decided to play on the emotions of the front desk staff.  I explained my sob story about how my phone died, my husband was somewhere in Charleston and I needed to get to Mount Pleasant. They let me use their phone and even though Verizon had basically crashed, I was able to at least leave a message and Will used the WiFi from some random restaurant and TADAAAA. We found each other. It was magical.

By this point, I was ready to get to my sister-in-laws apartment and get some food.  We settled on pizza and have been watching The Blind Side. I'm going to bed so early tonight because I'm pretty stoked about this race situation. The bridge is huge.

Here are some pictures I was able to take after plugging my phone in once the great reunion occurred!

So excited I found Hubs and my phone was working again!

Cooper River Bridge!

My attempt at being artistic while going 55 mph 

This will be my view tomorrow at 7am

Andolinis Pizza! Awesome!

Ready for tomorrow!

I'll update you tomorrow on *hopefully* how awesome I did. Or just how I survived. Whatever.

Running Gracie 2.0

So, I'm doing a blog revamp.


As in, I'm completely starting a new blog since I am no longer a bride, but a newlywed. I didn't run away as the previous blog may have led you to believe, I love Hubs. Never had any intention of running away from him!

Happiest Day of my Life

Eventually, I won't even be a newlywed. I'll be an old married woman, but for now I'd like to remember us hot and awesome like the above photo.  So even though I've moved on from wedding planning and getting excited about color schemes and lanterns...

I'm still running. 

It is, in fact, the one constant "me" thing in my life.  Whenever I feel like the world is crashing down in one way or another, I go for a run and even if it is the worst run ever, I still feel like I at least did myself a solid by working it out.  Nothing says "I feel better" like "I am a sweaty stinky mess".  I also have a little more motivation in the form of this guy...

Cutest 

We got Jake in August, before the wedding because I wasn't giving up til we got a dog. I had a half marathon to train for and needed someone to run with. I couldn't pay 25 bucks and join a running group, I had to have a dog (which costs a bit more!)  And he's worth every penny. The dog was made to run with me. He doesn't pull (much) and he has a great pace. He did help me through the half marathon training and we had our differences every once in awhile (usually around mile 4) but we made it.  

That was all in 2011.  2012 is the year of the marathon. I know, you've heard it all before but here's why things are different this year:

1. I've lost about 25 pounds and hope to lose another 10 before the "serious" training begins so injuries will be less prone to happening. 

        a. Starting April 1st, I'm kickstarting my nutritional challenge. No alcohol and mainly non-processed  foods. I say mainly because, let's be honest, it's really hard to not eat processed foods. I'm planning on cutting back on the sugar and bad fat intake.

2. I joined the $25/year running club in Savannah so that I can meet some people who enjoy running (cause Hubs certainly doesn't) and have people who hold me accountable through the summer when I really don't want to run at 5 in the morning. You should check them out, they are called Savannah Striders and while I have yet to go on a group run with them, I've already received a welcome email that made me feel very welcome.

3. I've done a half marathon. I know another 13.1 miles is A LOT, but I at least know what it's like to run for multiple hours. And I kinda like it. 

4. I'm running for a cause. At first, I was just going to sign up so that I had people who held me accountable for training.  If people are contributing to a cause I'm advocating for, a 20 mile run wouldn't seem so horrible.  However, autism is something that has affected my life in profound and unexpected ways and while putting together my donation page, something in me clicked. I'm doing this for Olivia and Eli and every other family who may or may not have the resources to live with this diagnosis.  Here's my personal website to check out my story and maybe you can help contribute! Team Elivia, see what I did there with the names? I'm pretty clever.

So, welcome to the new blog. Running Gracie 2.0.  The girl that does races for the t-shirts. And my health. First up, the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston this Saturday! I'll have an entry tomorrow for the expo. I'm super excited to be in a race with 39,999 other people.