Naples Daily News Half Marathon 2015

On January 18, I ran the Naples Daily News Half Marathon in Florida with Lacy and Kristen, and the whole weekend was an absolute blast! I took the red eye from Salt Lake on Thursday night/Friday morning and met Lacy and Kristen at the airport in Florida Friday morning. We then proceeded to talk for the next 4 days straight, only pausing to sleep or shove food in our faces. Friday consisted of grocery shopping, setting up our rooms at the house (Lacy's in-laws have a home in Naples that they are kind enough to let us use when we go for this girls weekend), lots of chatting, and a wonderful dinner out at McCormick & Schmick's. 

Saturday morning we had intended to get up early and go for a run, but we got a little bit later of a start than we wanted, so it was a late morning run instead. We thought we were going to do between 3 and 4 miles, but ended up missing a turn because we were so engrossed in conversation that we ended up doing closer to 5 miles. Oops! Hard to tell that we were having any fun at all, right?

Saturday night we had planned an early dinner so we could all be tucked into bed at a reasonable hour, which meant that we had to get ready early, and didn't have time to go to the beach. We got all ready, swung by Naples on the Run to pick up our race packets, and headed into downtown Naples for dinner.

We went to a great restaurant called Campiello for a nice Italian dinner, and it was delicious! 

After dinner it was home to get all our gear laid out and ready for race morning. If you are about to run your first race, or thinking about it, this is a great tip for you. Lay out everything you need for race morning the night before. Shoes, socks, shirt, shorts, underthings, race bib, any food you are going to carry with you (like Gus or Cliff Shot Blocks), Body Glide, chap stick, everything. Then it is all in one place, and when you wake up with race morning jitters and haven't had your coffee yet, you will know exactly where everything is and can be confident that you haven't forgotten something. 

But I digress. Back to race weekend in Naples. We all slept well, woke up in enough time to eat our peanut butter bread and have a cup of coffee. Race start time was set for 7am, and to make sure we had plenty of time to park, walk to the finish, and use the honey buckets prior to start, we left for the start line around 5:45am to make the 25 minute drive. Once parked, we made sure our music was ready, Body Glide applied, shoes tied tight, bibs pinned to our shirts, and smiles on our faces. And before we knew it, it was go time! Here we are at the start line.

Lacy and I ran about the first four miles together, and then she left me in the dust when I walked through a water station. Luckily the way the course is laid out, there are a few out and backs along the course, so even though the three of us weren't running together, we still got to see each other and shout encouragement a few times. I felt really good and was running strong until about mile 9-10 and then my legs got tired. To be fair and honest, the furthest I ran in my training for this race was 7 miles. So I'm okay with tired at mile 10. And I finished, which was even better! 

I finished in 2:34, which was 4 minutes faster than my time at this same race last year. I thought about not sharing my time because it's 36 minutes slower than my PR, but I ran a half marathon, y'all! And that is awesome, no matter what amount of time it takes. I am super proud of all three of us for this half. This was Lacy's first half after the birth of her daughter in October 2014, and it was Kristen's first half marathon ever. Way to go, Kristen! And now the pictures that I just know you are waiting anxiously to see. The Finish Line. 

We went back to the house where Lacy's husband was waiting for us with fresh bagels (which I know saved my life). We ate, hung around for a while, showered, and then unfortunately Kristen had to go to the airport for her flight back home. Lacy and I went to The Pub to watch the Packers and Seahawks playoff game, and then to dinner at Seasons 52, which was phenomenal! In fact, the food was so beautiful that the only pictures I took that evening were of the food. What can I say? We were tired and hungry. 

That last evening was a pretty early night for us, and Monday we got up and headed to the beach after breakfast. We had to make at least one trip to sit by the ocean and soak up some Vitamin D. I had to leave for the airport around 1pm to make my journey back home, so even though I was there for part of the day, it definitely felt like I had to leave too soon. And we missed Kristen something fierce at our last dinner and the beach. 

Overall, this was another very successful girls weekend in Naples. And one that I am anxious to repeat again in 2016. Thank you for a wonderful weekend, ladies, and I can't wait until the next time I get to see you both!