My new favorite place to run is on the beach. Even which %100 humidity which will make you sweat rivers, I loved it. The smell of the ocean when you breath it into your lungs just makes you want to smile. I joined a couple of running buddies, which made it even better.  Good company always equals good times.  It wasn't a long run, but it was certainly enjoyable. And I gotta say, it works the butt. After a mile I didn't feel it in my legs but I sure felt it in my glutes. I head read various articles that said it was good practice for hill running. Now Virginia Beach ocean front is pretty darn flat. I can count the "hilly" areas on one hand. Hard to train for something when it doesn't seem to exist. BUT it definitely exists in Williamsburg, where the half is in June.
For which I am woefully under prepared for, hence the beach running.  There are two weeks left and the last three weeks have been spent on vacation and juggling some smaller runs while my husband and daughter had things to do. I should have planned better, but we'll see. Again, going with a friend, so even if it ends up being an awful personal run it will be good times with a running friend, and better yet, my daughter is going with me to run the 1 miler.

So I have been totally slack with keeping up with the writing, but not so much with the running. I ran my very first half marathon; the Pirate Half on the outer banks in North Carolina. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. I liked it soooo much I signed up for three more, even after asking myself why I would pay someone to just to torture myself only to claim the very next day that it was complete and total fun and I couldn't wait to do it again. ha! In the meantime, I have run a couple of 5k's and for Mother's Day weekend I went coast to coast for a 10k in Cali.

Mission Bay was beautiful. The weather not to hot, not too cold and the company was the best. I was staying with a long time friend who moved to Cali years ago. She walked the 5k and I ran the 10k. It was nice to see all the mother/daughter duo's out there and I gotta say, the freebies at the booth's for the after race expo were delish! Ice cream sandwich, a whole bottle of Activate water and my favorite was a sample of after run drink called Core Power. Yummy! The race offered a 5k walk or run, a 10k and a half marathon around Fiesta Island in Fiesta Bay. It was a lovely place to run. Being a small island you did a little up and down, but honestly, I was just enjoying the run so much, I didn't even notice. There were boaters, skiers, and people fishing, just at 7am when the race started. The path was paved so we didn't have to run on sand and they had water stations at just the right spots.

They began with the half at 7 am on the dot (timely folks too), the 10k a 7:10 and the 5k at 7:20 so that everyone was paced very well and not running into each other on the loops. I left my friend to her 5k and at 7:15 I was off. The first mile I did what I always seem to do and went too fast. I can't seem to help myself. That first mile always feels so good and this one was no exception. Miles two and three flew by and my little Runkeeper was telling me I was at a 9:49/10 minute pace and I started to get excited that I might actually break the 10 minute mark. Then I realized I was only at mile 3.5 and I still had more to go, so I slowed down, afraid I would die at the end and totally blow it. However, as I said, it felt good and I was just enjoying it, ups, downs and all arounds and stopped paying attention again, right into a 8:35 minute pace- yeah, that fast. I must have been running down hill. It was also about that time GPS lost me. Apparently I have learned to run on water and managed to squeeze in a visit to a near by aquarium while running this race. Told you it was a good one!

So I just stopped listening and kept running. I hit all the water stops because the heat in Cali is different then what I was use to in Virginia Beach and I didn't want to do something silly like pass out or not be able to finish. Even so, I still crossed the finish line, glanced at the clock and wow!, 1:15:45! I knew I had to back off 10 for the time we started at which meant 1:05 and change. My best time yet for a 10k and I hadn't even gotten the net time yet. Better yet, it had felt good, so very good, even up the hills, though they weren't really very big. I got my medal, banana and water and went to sit and cool down. My friend wasn't at the meeting point so I checked in with her via text (gotta love technology) to make sure she was good (she was) and it turned out she was only 5 or 10 minutes behind me. Way to go Lisa! Medals in hand we checked out the booths to stretch our legs then went home for showers and a quick nap. (I was a little jet lagged.)

I would absolutely do this again. It was a ton of fun to try a new venue in a new state and with a great friend. I truly just enjoyed the race and since I didn't know anyone I didn't feel any pressure to do well so I really could just run. I surprised myself. I really didn't think I could run that fast, but now that I do, you can bet I will be pushing even harder on the next one!