Myrtle Beach

Welp, more than three weeks later and I'm finally recovered from the Half-Marathon in Myrtle Beach! Actually, I recovered pretty quick but I finally have the chance to write about it!!

Jes and I had been talking about doing this race for at least three years... we picked it mostly based on the very cool finisher medals. We both agreed that this was a great reason to fly across the entire country to run 13.1 miles!

So we started training... sort of. Jes started training, I sort of ran a few miles here and there...

Gorgeous Little Park Run

We are so happy to be running!! :)

This was taken right before we ventured on to...
The Trail of Death
Misleading, no?

I went into this race feeling unprepared but it was going to be my third half, so I knew what to expect... and heck, the sea level elevation had to count for something, right? WRONG! But first...

So we traveled across the country for oh, FOREVER...

Grand Junction to Salt Lake City to Atlanta to Charleston
LONG DAY!

And finally arrived in Myrtle Beach to this!

The nicest hotel with a GORGEOUS view!
We saw dolphins!

We were up bright and early (5am East Coast Time... 3am Mtn.!!!), strapped on our running outfits and then went to stand at the start line in the rain for 1 1/2 hours! And extra 30-60 minutes of sleep would have been amazing, as would a dry pair of socks!!

Note to Self: Run races on the West Coast... your body doesn't like to run at 3am!

Waiting...

Race #27 for Jes this year!!

Rainy start!

Great Energy at the Starting Line!

And then we ran...

And ran...

And ran...

And at mile 5 I started some blisters.

And at mile 6... and 7... and 8... and 9... and 10-13 those blisters got worse. I've never had blisters like this in my life! I wasn't wearing new shoes or socks... so my best guess is my feet got wet while we were waiting in the rain for the start. And it was miserable! Add the blisters to my unpreparedness and the extra 10-15 pounds I'm carrying since the last half I ran and I was highly discouraged by my results. I had a rough few hours feeling sorry for myself and then...

 I got over it. Because damn-it, I just finished a freakin' half-marathon with one of my very best friends.

cool medal, right??
(photo by Jes)

And I got to recover like this...

Not bad at all...

Feeling better already...

And see things like this...

Really old gravestones

A spooky cemetery

A very cool little southern town on a river.

It was a GREAT trip! I had a blast with Jes. I got to visit a new city. I ate amazing southern food.

I ran 13.1 miles.

I had FUN!!

And really... I made a bunch of choices that led to running a not so great race... but I finished. And I'll go into the next training period with a different perspective and probably still make some iffy choices, but I'll run another race and I'll be proud to finish that one too.

But it probably won't be on the East Coast. And I'll definitely bring a dry pair of socks!

Thank you Jes for a super fun trip. Can't wait for the next race with you!!

until then,

katykatxo