Diva Half

Seems like all I've been doing lately is running, literally. The past month has consisted of races, but I've had such fun, however, I'm ready for a break next weekend. 

The weekend after my mud run, I had signed up for another race in Myrtle Beach, the Diva Half Marathon. This was my first half marathon, 13.1 miles. Some reasons I picked this for my fist half was because mostly women run in this race and it's not quite as competitive, plus it's at the beach. Initially when I had signed up for it in December, I figured I would have plenty of time to train for it and would be serious about it. All of a sudden April 1st was here and I realized that I was not nearly prepared for it has I had been hoping, but nonetheless I was going to finish it if I had to crawl across the finish line. 

Friday morning before my race, I started to get sick, go figure. After work, Adam, Wade, and I packed up the car and headed towards the beach anyway. I stocked up on medicine once we got down there. 

 

Saturday we woke up, got ready, and headed out to pick up my race packet. At the packet pick up site, there were tons of vendors and women everywhere. After picking up my packet, we headed out for some food and shopping at the outlets. 

Sunday morning came super early considering the race started at 7am. Adam and Wade were such good sports about everything. They woke up early with me and were my paparazzi during the race. I'm a super lucky girl to have those two as friends. 

Drag Queen that was the host of the after party. 

I wasn't feeling my best at the start of the race, but eventually I got into a groove and it wasn't too bad. At mile 6 I kinda got a bit disheartened. Six miles is a good ways to run, and then to realize you're not even half way finished is discouraging. But like I said earlier, I was determined to finish one way or the other. It was empowering to see all the women who were in it (3,000+) and all the support along the way was encouraging as well. 

For those of you who think you can't do it- here's a ten year old that did it! 

After two hours and thirty six minutes, I finally crossed the finish line. It was a great feeling. I've already signed up for another half marathon in October. Who knows, maybe this time I'll actually have trained for it. 

My biggest fans! 

Rugged Maniac's

Last year a few friends convinced me to enter the Rugged Maniac race, a mud run in Seagrove. I had so much fun doing it last year, that this year I decided to do it again! This time, I talked a bunch of girls from work into doing it as well.

Last year the weather was perfect! This year, not so much. It was cool in the morning, but by the time our wave started at 10:30, it had warmed up a tad, however, the wind was still blowing. 

We had a great time, or at least I'm pretty sure everyone did. I'm not so sure all the girls will be signing up to do it next year with me however. 

Vicki and Ray, whom I ran with last year, and their son Matt. 

Such a goof. 

We had several obstacles to go thru such as wading thru water...

Crawling thru trenches... 

Running across the pond...

Climbing over walls...

 And more walls...

 And jumping from wood posts...

 Crawling thru mud and under barbed-wire...

 Waiting in line for obstacles is always a good photo op!

 Mud/water slide!

More crawling thru mud

And fire jumping

(This was my fire jump from last year and this year) 

And done! 

All the girls from work

This weekend I've got another race in Virginia. It's the "Foam Run", and it's kinda sorta like a mud run, I think. There's mud and slip and slides and foam and fun! I'm looking forward to it as well.

 

Bahama Mamma

About a month ago, we went on a cruise to the Bahamas. The trip was wonderful. Although, how can warm sunshine, clear water, good friends, great food, and relaxation not be wonderful? (I guess those other Carnival passengers may argue my point, but our ship didn't break down so no worries.)

We left out of Charleston, SC which was fantastic! Three and a half hours to South Carolina compared to the ten plus hours to Florida is definitely worth the extra money. Our first day of the cruise was spent at sea, relaxing by the pool on the ship. Dinner, shows, and dancing became the routine for our evenings on the ship. 

Our first stop: Nassau, Bahamas. Here we decided to rent scooters and explore the city. Bad idea. After seeing a girl lose control of her bike and face plant into a grassy embankment on the way to the Atlantis  Hotel, we kinda lost the excitement of the scooters. Not only was that a negative influence on our decision of the scooters, but then we got "misplaced" in the "not so touristy" spots of Nassau. After we were finally given directions back to the ship by a nice lady, we quickly turned in our scooters and just walked around downtown where we could easily view the ship, and went to a nearby beach. It was an experience for sure.

Second stop: Freeport, Bahamas: This time, no scooters! We just chilled at the beach most of the day and did a bit of shopping. Nice, relaxing, and stress free.

Our last day on the ship consisted of more laying out by the pool. Everyone had a great time and got a lot of sun.