Savannah...Born and Raised

So, you have to say "born and raised" with a southern accent or it just doesn't work out really well for the whole theme of the weekend.

To continue my running this year, Matt and I ran in the 10k Bridge Run in Savannah the other weekend while Natalie cheered us on from the start line to the finish line. Let me tell you...it was the hardest of the three that I've done this year. The bridge had a lot steeper incline that the Bridge Run in Charleston and it was a lot longer...PLUS, we had to run over it twice. They aren't lying about the toughest Bridge Run of the south! But as always, it was such a good feeling to finish in the end and a pleasure to run with Matt. Time: 1 hour and 11 minutes



While we were there, you know we had to go to Lady and Sons to consume all the calories we just ran off that morning. We surprisingly grabbed a table right away and lushly (is that a word?) ordered our bloody marys that we have been craving ever since we ran over the finish line. They were oh-so-delicious and well worth the 6.2 miles. For food, Natalie ordered a crabcake sandwich, Matt ordered the crabcake and I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of crab bisque. We all had crabs (as in the food)! You know I laid that joke out on the table (pun intended!) after we all got our food.



Afterwards, we had to walk off our meal and took a nice scenic route through Savannah back to our hotel, which by the way had the best view of the Savannah River as well as the Mount Everest bridge we ran over. At the hotel, we all took an oath that we would not take a Charleston nap and that we would get ready, go to a bar and watch the SEC Championship game. And we did just that, but we were totally off our time because by the time the game was over it was around 8pm...too early to go out, so we went back to the hotel. Wrong Choice! We broke our oath and took a Charleston nap well into the following morning...12 hour Charleston nap!

Oh well! It was definitely a productive weekend with the 10k run, eating at Paula Deen's restaurant, sleeping for 12 hours and buying 2 dresses from Blue Belle, which I couldn't really read that weekend and thought we were walking into Blue Balls...ha!

2008 Peachtree Road Race

The Peachtree Road Race is a time-honored tradition in Atlanta that honestly I never really had any ambition to do (even though I've lived here all my life!), but since you know I'm a runner and all now, it was really exciting for me to be a part of all this. The Peachtree is a 10K starting at Lenox Mall in Buckhead and usually finishes at Piedmont Park, but this year the finish line was on Juniper Street because of the drought. So the hot topic of this year's race was the new finish and of course the shirt! Can't forget the shirt!

If you know how I am, I am a HUGE procrastinator and I was an even bigger procrastinator trying to train for the Peachtree!! Let's just say my post about wanting to keep running after the Cooper River Bridge Run...umm yea, that was probably the last time I ran. So, my training started on Monday....June 30, with a somewhat run/walk of 3 miles with Maggie and then on Wednesday I ran a mile..on the treadmill...haha! I thought I was definitely going to die on Friday. I just pictured myself on a stretcher on my way to Piedmont Hospital and then the next day seeing myself in the hospital bed in the AJC! But, I was optimistic and told myself that if I had as much adrenaline as I did on the day of the Bridge Run, then I should be fine...hopefully...

Friday morning came around and I had to get up at 5AM to get to Matt's house at 6. The last time I got up that early was...yea, you guessed it...the Bridge Run; although this time I went to bed at 11:30 the night before instead of 2AM! Anyways, I was feeling pretty good that morning–not too nervous–and all I really wanted to achieve that day was to beat my Bridge Run time of 1:14 and that I did! Maggie and I ran it in 1:06...probably 1:08 if we didn't cut in line (we probably started a little under .2 of a mile) at the start of the race, but it was definitely worth it because Matt didn't start running until an hour after we started running.

At the end of the race, we grabbed our coveted Peachtree shirts, which by the way I wasn't very impressed with. I grabbed this image from ajc.com. The model wasn't very impressed either! I think I will come up with a design for next year's shirt and maybe even run it under an hour, but then again I did say that I would keep running after the Bridge Run and that didn't go so well. I'm probably still on a high from finishing. I'll let you know after a couple of weeks.

I just kept running and will continue to run

Last weekend I did something that I probably would have never thought I would ever do. And it's not something that I don't think anyone would ever think I would do either, but nevertheless I think this running could be a new addition in my life that I could carry on for a long time. Who knew that me, a non-runner who eats french fries like it's her business and drinks beer, could become a runner?

The Cooper River Bridge Run is one of the most popular 10K races in the southeast with about 40,000 participants, which consists of 2 miles to the bridge, 2 miles over and then 2 miles to the finish line in Marion Square.

Unlike my 5K last year, where I trained the night before (which FYI is not a good idea...just so you know), I actually did some training a month or so before. Okay, so I didn't exactly follow a solid routine until...well, I really didn't, but at least I was running and working out weeks before the race, trying to eat right and not drinking too much....

I felt like I was in good shape coming up to the day of race. I drank lots and lots of water the day before and ate light that whole week, which I know for most of you reading this that that is not something easy for me to do. I thought I was fully prepared. I know I wasn't going to win the race but at least I knew I wasn't going to pass out.

The race started at 8AM with the runners on the left and the walkers on the right. We all started out together, weaving in and out of people feeling good about ourselves because we were going faster than the people in front of us. After 2 miles, I was feeling good that I wasn't tired and that I actually ran 2 miles without stopping! But that didn't last too long...I stopped only a couple of times, once on the bridge and once to get some water, which I really shouldn't have done because after that I got light-headed and had to stop again but other than that everything was all good. :)

The view of the water and the city going over the bridge was AMAZING!! It's a view that I will never forget and a view that I will be seeing once a year for the rest of my life.

Number 23478 finished in 1 hour 14 minutes and 1 second

Life after college turned out to be good...real good! So, for now on, my goal is to try and run a 5K once a month. That may not seem like a big goal for some people but for me it could be the start of a new and healthy french fry eating, beer drinking non-runner.

Pauline does not run

We all know that PAULINE DOES NOT RUN, but this past weekend, I did something that everyone will probably be really surprised about. On Saturday, Justin's vet school organized the Mutt Strut that includes a 5k afterwards for humans.

A couple of months ago, Justin and I decided to start training for 5ks, but for some reason that quickly died. So, when I arrived Friday afternoon, we went for a 3 mile run in Kiesel Park (where the 5k was to take place on Saturday) to test out the trail. We thought it would be a GREAT idea to cram 8 weeks of training into one night...not such a great idea when you have a race to run the next morning--the Toowoomba Pasta from Outback didn't even come to my rescue! The next morning my legs were like jello... and bootcamp with Mommy and Daddy (aka Jayme and Andy) didn't help things either.

But nonetheless we arrived at Kiesel Park, where dogs were running wild and runners were getting ready for the race. Then there was me...

Don't I look like a runner? With my New Balance running shoes (I have to say they look pretty damn new! no pun intended but they look new because I've maybe used them once since I got them), my iPod, my spandex pants and my headband to keep my hair from getting in my face when I'm running my 5 minute miles..oops I meant to say 10 minute miles.

I definitely struggled during the race and I'm not going to make excuses about bootcamp with Mommy and Daddy or that I ran 3 miles the night before (just a note, I definitely ran 6 miles in 12 hours! I don't think I've ran 6 miles in my entire life!!), but I have to say that it felt really good to finish no matter how slow I was or that I walked some of it. I accomplished something that I (and most of you guys) thought that I would never do.

So now PAULINE DOES RUN!! I finished in about 32 minutes, which I thought was good considering I haven't ran in a month or so. Don't expect me to be running marathons any time soon, but I think these 5ks could be a regular thing in my life...hopefully. Some day maybe I can make it to the first place winner's time...16 minutes and 21 seconds. Yikes!

I just want to thank Justin for staying behind with me and walking with me even though he probably could have ran the whole time and finished earlier. Maybe next time it will be me waiting for him. :)