8 miles! Woo Hoo!

Well, the race was a success!  I am very happy that it went so well, and I was able to make it the entire race.  It was such an amazing weekend!  We were fortunate enough to leave the kids with the in-laws which made the trip just a tad more enjoyable.  Amy and Vince are always a blast to hang out with.  More on the race below, but first, here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend:

Mackinac Bridge at sunset {ish}

Mackinac Bridge at noon {on the ferry...with very windy conditions, and a bit of a hangover}

 The weather was ridiculously perfect the entire weekend.  Blue skies, low 70's, no humidity.  Perfect!

Our hotel, the Island House.  Nice...but not very accommodating when they lose {misplace} your bag {as well as 4 or 5 other guests}...just sayin'.

Mandatory Island photos...horses and ferries, bikes and rocking chairs.

Grand Hotel and all of  her timeless loveliness

Quality time with my hubby...no kids :)

Which meant lots of this... {the drinking, not the churches}

Pretty churches against an even prettier blue sky

Sun and water...and everyone was on "island time".

But the whole reason for the trip...8 mile race.

I was very anxious to get to the registration and have that taken care of, but after breakfast, we didn't do  a very good job watching the time, so I had to hustle to the starting line and squeaked in right at the front with the experienced runners.  {not the best idea}  The first 3 miles were spent watching super crazy sculpted runners blow past me at an insane pace.  Very encouraging.  Finally the pack thinned out and I locked myself in behind a girl who looked about my age/size and was keeping a good pace.  Several times I wanted to stop and/or vomit, but I kept going, and by some miracle, made it to the finish line!

Dan was waiting there to cheer me on and caught a few pictures.  Not looking so hot after a long run, but...hey...what do you do?  I was just proud to have finished.  :)

Turns out I finished in a pretty respectable time!  30th in my age group, and 430th overall {if I'm reading that right???}

Thank you Amy and Vince for an awesome weekend and lots of laughs!  Thanks Tom and Pat for keeping the grand kids all weekend.  {and thanks to Ke$ha, Britney, and Black Eyed Peas for getting me through some grueling runs this summer!}