Trey and I had already decided that we were not going to run this one together. I had no set goal for this race except to just have fun. This was my first official week of triathlon training and I was pretty tired.
We drove down to Folly Beach on Thursday afternoon. We rented an awesome house near the beach with some friends that we apparently don't spend enough time with because we stayed up entirely too late on Thursday night:) Thank goodness the race was not until Saturday.
Race day was cold & windy...it is just about impossible to figure out what to wear in these conditions. Luckily the house we rented was within walking distance to the start so we all headed out in some of our Walmart make-shift attire (arm warmers made from tube socks & lime green sweatshirts) and we were ready to roll.
We had some friends who drove & parked so we were able to ditch the sweatshirts before we started. Susan & I had planned to run together - most of you know Susan, my awesome triathlete friend that just showed cancer who is boss! Well, it is now early 2016 and this girl is back! We set out with no real time goal...10:00ish pace (maybe). It was so cold at the start that we pretty much headed out like "we stole something" but were able to settle into a comfortable pace quickly...unlike Charleston the crowd thinned out pretty much after the first mile. The miles seriously flew by, we spent the time chatting and picking out beach houses. There was a huge head wind on our way out towards the lighthouse, we basically ran with our head down so our caps wouldn't blow off. That was the turnaround point and we noticed that the people running toward us looked much more comfortable..the turn around was cool because you could see the lighthouse in the distance and we got to see all of our friends. When we saw Trey I could tell that he was not having the race he had planned for, but of course he was carrying on with his "happy smile":) For me, it is always around mile 8 that I start getting that "man I wish this was over feeling" but then you realize that you only have 5 more miles to go and that is just your normal weekday run and you immediately get your energy back and you know you got it!! Mile 10 ran right in front of the house we rented and Walter (Lisa's husband) was there ready to carry on his photography duties.
At that point, you then remind yourself that you can do anything for 30 min (3.1 miles to go). Susan was starting to get a little tired at this point and told me to go on, I said no girl I'm good - but then of course, I didn't want to stay back and drive her completely batty with all the chatter. She told me she would just use me as her rabbit (I took this as a huge compliment) so I just starting creeping up a little, but still close enough to point out another beautiful beach house for her not to miss. About mile 12 I noticed I was getting a little farther away and thought "can I beat 2:00?" I felt great so I decided to give it try...I just started picking out people ahead to try to catch. I could see the clock in the distance and saw the "1" still up there, at this point I had no idea if it said 1:59:59 or what but I went for it!!! YAY - made it 1:59:35 official time. My last mile was an 8:25!! Susan came in right after me - just seconds over 2:00! We ROCKED it! We hung out and cheered for all the others and then watched all the SUPER FAST people get their awards:)
Congratulations to this AWESOME 80 year old lady that can run circles around me!! Oh, to just be like this rock star when I'm her age.
After the race we all were frozen, thankfully Forrest had already gone back before us and built a fire. We showered and headed back out for Folly Gras!
Our weekend was filled with a great run, fabulous food and FUN times with friends.
Gotta Run!
Next up: Parris Island Sprint Triathlon
We drove down to Folly Beach on Thursday afternoon. We rented an awesome house near the beach with some friends that we apparently don't spend enough time with because we stayed up entirely too late on Thursday night:) Thank goodness the race was not until Saturday.
 |
| LOVE this iron spiral staircase |
Race day was cold & windy...it is just about impossible to figure out what to wear in these conditions. Luckily the house we rented was within walking distance to the start so we all headed out in some of our Walmart make-shift attire (arm warmers made from tube socks & lime green sweatshirts) and we were ready to roll.
We had some friends who drove & parked so we were able to ditch the sweatshirts before we started. Susan & I had planned to run together - most of you know Susan, my awesome triathlete friend that just showed cancer who is boss! Well, it is now early 2016 and this girl is back! We set out with no real time goal...10:00ish pace (maybe). It was so cold at the start that we pretty much headed out like "we stole something" but were able to settle into a comfortable pace quickly...unlike Charleston the crowd thinned out pretty much after the first mile. The miles seriously flew by, we spent the time chatting and picking out beach houses. There was a huge head wind on our way out towards the lighthouse, we basically ran with our head down so our caps wouldn't blow off. That was the turnaround point and we noticed that the people running toward us looked much more comfortable..the turn around was cool because you could see the lighthouse in the distance and we got to see all of our friends. When we saw Trey I could tell that he was not having the race he had planned for, but of course he was carrying on with his "happy smile":) For me, it is always around mile 8 that I start getting that "man I wish this was over feeling" but then you realize that you only have 5 more miles to go and that is just your normal weekday run and you immediately get your energy back and you know you got it!! Mile 10 ran right in front of the house we rented and Walter (Lisa's husband) was there ready to carry on his photography duties.
At that point, you then remind yourself that you can do anything for 30 min (3.1 miles to go). Susan was starting to get a little tired at this point and told me to go on, I said no girl I'm good - but then of course, I didn't want to stay back and drive her completely batty with all the chatter. She told me she would just use me as her rabbit (I took this as a huge compliment) so I just starting creeping up a little, but still close enough to point out another beautiful beach house for her not to miss. About mile 12 I noticed I was getting a little farther away and thought "can I beat 2:00?" I felt great so I decided to give it try...I just started picking out people ahead to try to catch. I could see the clock in the distance and saw the "1" still up there, at this point I had no idea if it said 1:59:59 or what but I went for it!!! YAY - made it 1:59:35 official time. My last mile was an 8:25!! Susan came in right after me - just seconds over 2:00! We ROCKED it! We hung out and cheered for all the others and then watched all the SUPER FAST people get their awards:)
 |
| Hope to run together again soon! |
 |
| FREEZING afterwards! Even Trey's bad races aren't bad! |
Congratulations to this AWESOME 80 year old lady that can run circles around me!! Oh, to just be like this rock star when I'm her age.
 |
| Mary Ann Fowler - 1st place age group - 5K |
After the race we all were frozen, thankfully Forrest had already gone back before us and built a fire. We showered and headed back out for Folly Gras!
Our weekend was filled with a great run, fabulous food and FUN times with friends.
Gotta Run!
Next up: Parris Island Sprint Triathlon
