Looking back....

This is race week for the Rock n Roll ~ St. Pete Beach Half Marathon. This journey into half marathons is approaching its one year anniversary. In fact this very weekend a year ago I ran my last 5K before resting and preparing for my first half marathon. 

On February 11, 2012 we ran the Run for the Cookies 5K. That is one of my favorite races in Tallahassee. It's an easy flat course and one of the first 5K's I ran back in 2010, when I decided to get serious about my running. I had completed many 5K's and somehow along the way I convinced myself I could venture into the half marathon world. 

Pre-Race Photo "Run for the Cookie" Feb 2012

A few weeks later on March 4, 2012 we ran the Seaside Half Marathon. I remember being a nervous wreck the week leading up to the Seaside race. I had never gone quite that far on foot, I had never spent much time in that area of Florida and I just didn't know what to expect overall. We woke up very early on a very chilly North Florida morning and headed for the start line. The race was very well organized and I was overcome with excitement once we were at the start/finish line. 2 hrs and 37 minutes later I returned to the finish line. It is an out and back race on 30A in the little town of Seaside, Florida. It was a beautiful day and I cried as I crossed the finish line. I did it! I was headed to get my medal and my beautiful new Vera Bradley tote bag - woohoo! I was headed to hang up those running shoes after that race, I had planned to check that off my bucket list and move onto something different, like a wedding! I had a wedding to plan and a honeymoon to take, who had time to run! 

Pre-Race Photo  "Seaside Half Marathon" 2012

After all the wedding excitement wore off and we returned from our cruise, I decided I was willing to continue to run 10K's with my best running buddy. Afterall that meant fabulous trips to Atlanta and various locations for shopping and running. Let's face it that is totally up my alley! Fast forward to July 3, 2012 , our annual trip the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta!! During our visit to the race expo we were suckered into signing up for the Atlanta Monster Dash. We had the option of signing up for the 10K but oh no, Team Track Stars went for the full gauntlet and signed up for the half marathon. Wait, what did we do! We were supposed to be done with half marathons! Long story short, we ran another half and we're hooked - addicted as most now call us. We are even members of the national running group Half Fanatics, haha! Yep, you read that right we are officially fanatics :-). 

Now, this Sunday, February 10, 2013 I will run my 6th half marathon with my best running buddy and 2 other running friends. It's very surreal for me to think this journey is still happening! I'm just as much of a wreck this race week as I was a year ago! I'm a little better equipped for running 13.1 without any major issues. I still do not know exactly what to expect at this race or this area. We know there is a bridge; however, we aren't exactly sure how high that bridge may be - oh my this bridge thing is killing me! I'm a bit more sore this year leading up to this "anniversary" race than I would like to be but such is life. I have spent much of the week working on my core and upper body strength. As I spend the rest of this week "resting" my legs for this race these thoughts weigh heavily on my mind...

Stay tuned for a post race update with all the fun details and photos of our trip the RnR race expo and RnR race day. Who knows what we will get suckered into this expo!!!