Double Bridge 15k Run
Pensacola Beach FL
WOW! What an exciting day, or should I say morning we had today. Let me start from yesterday though...
We arrived in Pensacola Beach FL around 1:30 pm on Friday afternoon and checked into The Holiday Inn Resort on the beach, and let me tell you if you are going to stay in Pensacola Beach this summer, this is the place to stay. Look at this pool right on the beach
Yep thats right, its a lazy river. I dont know about you but this was the highlight of the whole place. Yes it was cold and windy, and NO we didnt get in, but the fact that we got to hang out by it was good enough for me.
The hotel also has a full service restaurant that has a great healthy menu, however I have a treat I have to have when on Pensacola Beach and it comes from a restaurant called Flounders. Check this out...
Fresh Seafood Nachos and a Deisel Fuel, BAMMMMM! Oh and thats Mandy the BFF and awesome runner buddy! Whats up?
Heres what it looks like after 3 runners "prefueling" attack them...
Notice; no one wanted to be in this "guilty" picture ;(
My brother n law said that my sister needed to fire her trainer for making her eat this, that would be me and a big fat NO! Love you Tom. Back to the Race Recap
The Expo
They had it at the Hilton in the conference center. It was small but they did have quite a few vendors there. Newtons, Asics, 110% Compression, Saucony, Air Force pull up challenge, and alot local running and tri groups. Publix was the main sponsor of the race so we did get a great lime green gear bag from them, Thanks Publix! oh and look what we got free from Asics, ARM SLEEVES
As much as I love me some leg warmers, I was super excited about the arm sleeves...YAYA
A free pre race dinner was held at Hemingways at Portifino for the runners. They offered chicken alfredo and vegetarian marinara with garlic bread. Carbo load pre race, I guess! It was good, it was FREE, so we ATE! End of story!
Then we went back to the hotel for a 9pm bedtime...Goodnight!
RACE MORNING 4:45 AM wake up call.
We were so NOT wanting to get up, in fact we set 3 alarms on 3 different Iphones, just in case!
Did the normal wake up stuff, got dressed, looked out the window at the weather, brushed teeth, oh and TRIED to down some peanut butter, chocolate, and coconut flavored oatmeal we had gotten the night before, yeah that wasnt happening. EPIC FAIL!
Then headed down to the buses waiting for all the unawake people to travel to the start line 9.3 miles away. It was an uneventful ride and we all made it safely, so thanks yellow cheese wagon. I have many memories!
We had an hour before the race was starting so we of course hit the portalets first, took in the sight of the frist bridge we had to run over, cussed the 15-20 MPH head wind that wasnt going away tied our shoes, went back to the portalets, and then settled into out corrals, fun huh?
At exactly 7:08 am we were off and ready to run.
Melanie and I had decided to we were going to run the whole thing at a 12 min a mile pace and run the whole race, nonstop! Melanie had only gone 7 miles in her training, so this was a personal record of hers, and she blew it out of the water by 2.3 miles. GO MELANIE!
This was what we ran over
thats a very long bridge in the background, heres what it looked like on the bridge
On this run you better not be scared of heights, water, or bridges, you would be screwed!
The Finish
We came in at 1:53 (12:15pace), which was right where we wanted to be. It was overall a very organized and exciting race. We couldnt of asked for a better set up, no delays, great music along the race course, lots of cheering spectators, the Marines that helped block side streets, the police that directed the traffic, and all the volunteers and organizers that made it a wonderful experience. Publix supplied the water and fuel for after the race, and they didnt run out, Thank God!
The afterparty was at Hemingways also. They had beer trucks and red beans and rice. Overall it was a great time. And you cant go wrong at the beach. Until the next race...
CHEERS!
