Sarasota.

Beaches.

Cool breeze.

Siiiick medal.

Running with friends.

[[ my perfect race ]]

thanks to the #tbbloggers — i was able to run! 

…if you follow me on my other social media, you may have seen my ahh-mazing news. I was recently asked to be a brand ambassador for the incredible lululemon at their future International Mall store. I’m crazy excited, to say the least; still in disbelief that my face will be on the wall of their new store! Photo shoot in a few weeks! 

Bloggers: Chrissy, Jessica, Nanci, Caitlyn, Denise, and Haley

I started the race with Haley, Jessica & Nanci.

…had fun with it, of course! 

One turn and … the John Ringling Bridge. 

Up and over —-> St. Armand’s Circle

Jessica [might] have a similar pic here…

Back over the BIG bridge…

Flash back to a year ago, this was almost the exact moment that Nanci and I became reeeeally good friends! 

We were friends prior to this half last year — but it was this climb that Nanci stuck with me, made sure I was ok (weird, stomach issues last year), and ran the rest of the race with me. From that point on, Starbucks dates, selfies, & girl talk are a weekly thing. 

Once over the the bridge, Jessica, the running boss of the weekend, took off. The day before, she ran the Gate River Run in Jacksonville. Cool fact, the Gate River Run is the Nation’s largest 15K, check out her review here, she had fun running it with her momma. 

[I love that she & Ms Betsy run together!]

Nanci and I continued on our merry way and kept having fun.

Yay! We’re loved too! 

Ironically, we were mid-walk break when we came across this awesome sign. 

Being the week of St. Patrick’s Day — we had to don our Irish tats.

After running with some cars [Not going to fib, my least favorite part of the course. The exhaust from the cars reeeally gets to me, and there is no escaping it for this stretch of the race.]

*best pic of the day*

Really, how could we not stop and take a picture?

After that stretch, we take a windy & curvy route through neighborhoods along the water. These last few miles have some of the prettiest views — and the shade is glorious at this point of the day! 

This fishy was asking for a photo, I couldn’t say no! 

Nanci & I stuck together from start to finish — it was definitely one of the most fun races to date! 

We found our speedy friends. Meghan had set a new, shiny PR; Jessica had a good race too; and a yummy buffet of post-race food was awaiting! 

And maybe a couple adult beverages too 😉

Thanks to Jessica, we had a hotel close to the race start/finish and were able to freshen up before heading to St. Armand’s Circle for lunch. Although Jessica has been in Florida for a while, she (and Meghan too), had never visited there, so a quick tour & lunch was a must! 

 

Lastly…thank you to Nanci for taking all these silly pics, and letting me share.

You already know…but you rock!