Donna part 2

Looking back at a great event and weekend. I have had a chance to look at the pictures and I am going to post some of them. I have not sent them out to everyone so I am not going to put all of them out.

Saturday morning we decided to get up early and head out to the expo. We wanted to get there and see everything and still have time to get back to the beach and go out for dinner with our friends. The expo was nice and large. It was very crowded with all the normal stuff from drinks, gels, clothes and gadgets. While I was there, they had a booth that was giving away free messages and yep I got one. OMG it was wonderful. I asked the lady if she was married and she replied yes and my husband does not get them either.

I was walking around and meet Donna, who the marathon is actually named after. She was signing her books that were for sale. I did not know until after the race that I actually ran a portion of the race with her.
Also Jeff Galloway was there signing everything for people and answering questions while posing for some pictures.

I got a chance to pose with Jeff Galloway after his autographed my bib number for the race. I then found out that I was running the race with Jeff. He is notarise for running the races in 5 hours. He was running with his wife, Barbara.

After a great expo and walking on the beach, it was time for a good dinner with friends. We went to Outback for steak, chicken and potatoes. YUMMY it was so good. It gave me a chance to give some last minute suggestions to the runners while Mandie is trying to tell me to hush. She said that I should not be saying anything and I told her that I was trying to help them not go through the bad things that I had gone through before.

Well, it is now or never. It is race day and my nerves are kicking in high gear. I am trying to hide my emotions but it was hard. I was nervous about thinking about trying to break my PR and also about my friend Kevin and his wife Shannyn running their first race. I was hoping and praying everyone would run an accident free race.

We went out to get on the bus and good Lord it was freezing, 37 degrees. I wanted to find some coffee to warm up. This is Florida, it is not suppose to be this cold. I had an old pair of socks that I cut the ends off to make arm warmers. It actually worked.

Here is a picture of Kevin and Shannyn before the race. Note that they are smiling now. Will they later????????

Here is the Macon Galloway running group. Note that they are smiling before the race. Will this continue until the end???????

Mandie was able to catch the shuttles over to the beach and grab some pictures for us. Here is one of the ones that I actually liked from the race. I was still feeling good and had visions of a PR dancing through my mind.

But at last, the best pictures at the finish line. Me right after the race before I had my beers, after I had time to rest, me and Kevin, and the group with victory beers.

After the race we got to ride the buses back to the motel. Well, I think we had the coolest bus driver ever. I was joking around with him about if he could go through a drive thru on the way back and he laughed with his boss standing outside the door. Well when he closed the door, he said if you get me a McFlurry I will take you there. I told him I would buy him a Happy Meal also. So on the way back we parked on the road and Mandie ran inside and got 7 Happy Meals and a McFlurry for our driver. Man we were all happy on the bus. We were all craving salty fries. Then we decided that after we showered and changed that we would go to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. My friend Melissa Cowart was in town visiting her parents and she stopped by to have dinner with us. It was so cool to see more friends to be able to celebrate with. Here she is with us and Mandie eating their seafood dinner.

But by far the main reason why we ran the 26.2 with Donna Marathon is to help find a cure for breast cancer. It was very moving to hear and see stories about survivors and the ones that have gone on to be with the Lord. There was alot of emotions through out the entire race. I am very glad to have had a chance to run this event. I strongly would say to anyone looking forward to running a wonderful marathon, I would say run this one.

Have a great day and help save the Ta-tas.