Friday around 5pm, Chris and I left for Myrtle Beach, SC for my ½ marathon on Saturday. We left Max at the boarders for the first time ever; I hope he liked it there because he will be staying next weekend too. The girls at the pet resort said Max was spoiled because a couple of them just love Daschunds. After a few directional issues (our condo was in Myrtle Beach, not North Myrtle Beach) we arrived. Our friends Caitlin (cheering squad), Brian (cheering squad), Lea (running the ½ marathon) and Erica (running the full marathon) appeared shortly after us. We made dinner and had an early bedtime because of our early alarms. On Saturday, we got up at 5am to get ready for the race’s 6:30am start time. Luckily for us, it was not raining! Rain was forecasted for the morning but thankfully it held off until 10am. I put on running pants, a long sleeved dryfit top, my Brooks running shoes and a waterproof jacket. After having a protein shake, grabbing my i-pod, Cliff Blocks and Burt’s Bees I was ready to go. As I was stretching out in the living room, our cheering squad came out…wearing hot pink and green shirts! They looked awesome and were easy to spot in the crowd! Chris and Caitlin dropped off Lea, Erica and I at the start line and wished us well. We all started together and ran the first 6 miles together until Erica and I decided to stop for a potty break…we waited in line for 4 minutes. It took us two miles to catch up to Lea and then she decided to slow down so I said I would meet her at the finish line. Erica and I ran around a 10 minute mile until it was time to split up at mile 13 where I entered the finishing corrals and she had another 13.1 to go! It was nice to run with someone who had the same pace and we enjoyed chatting along the course. My time ended up around 2:07 after taking some time out for the bathroom break. Lea finished about 10-15 minutes after me and Erica finished the whole marathon around 4:20. It started raining on Erica at mile 18 and she ran the last 8 miles in the rain. After we got back to the condo, it was time to celebrate race completion with our expanded cheering squad since three more couples joined us!
Later that evening, we went to Bonefish Grill for our Valentines dinner with our group of 14. We shared the BangBang Shrimp and Calamari appetizers. Chris got the Filet and I ordered the grilled Atlantic salmon in lemon butter sauce with asparagus. Chris and I sat across from Patton and Christie and enjoyed getting to know them since it was the first time that we’ve met Patton (he’s in Special Forces training and is gone a lot). The food, drinks and company were awesome. Even our server was great, he gave all of the ladies Lindt 70% dark chocolate bars when we left. After dinner, all of the runners went back to the condo and the rest of the group went to a piano bar. Erica and I enjoyed soaking our muscles in the hot tub when we came back.
On Sunday, after checking out of the hotel, Chris and I drove up to Wilmington to find him a suit for his OSU interview on Friday and as he put it “spent a bunch of money”. Even with the Buy One Get One Free suits at the Men’s Warehouse it was still pricey but Chris did get a couple of great suits and everything else needed to wow the interviewer! He got a charcoal suit with white shirt and blue striped tie (traditional) and a blue patterned suit with a blue/white striped shirt and a red tie. We got home around 7pm, unloaded the Jeep and unpacked. All in all, a great weekend with great friends! I’m taking the week off from running (I think I strained a muscle in my right arch) and then start training for the Commit to Be Fit ½ Marathon in Columbus with Danielle!
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