Miami.. the city that keeps the roof blazing

Friday:
I felt kind of silly walking out of my apartment onto snowy sidewalks with open toed shoes, but well I wasn't paying to check a bag and I sure as heck wasn't bringing snow boots and the marshmallow coat because I was heading south... WAY south to the land of sunshine, palm trees, and lots of partying reality tv stars!
We flew into W. Palm Beach and took the train to Miami.... in Boston you can buy your ticket on the commuter train well this was not the case and both Janna and I ended up with a warning ticket and basically got a free ride..... oooops.....HAHA!! Veronica picked us up at the train station and we headed for some Cuban cuisine!!

Cute little Cuban coffee

Nothing says Cuban cuisine like a giant rooster and a wagon wheel, ole'!!

Saturday
We got up and headed to South Beach for some breakfast at this cute little french bakery called Paul. I was curious if there was a fancy way to say it, but nope you just say it like you think, Paul, like the name.

Janna and I chilled on the beach for a few hours and did some serious people watching. I also got a serious sunburn. Did you know that Miami is closer to the equator? I was having major flashbacks to junior year of college and my spring break trip and two friends who got quite sunburned... probably not the brightest thing for me to do prior to running 13.1 miles, but it was so breezy and my porcelain white skin was loving every second!

Just chillin in the sand... ahhh it was so wonderful and the water was so clear!

*Disclaimer: yes I did a segway tour. Yes I have always made fun of people who did these tours and will probably continue to make fun of them, however it was sooooooo much fun and was worth wearing the ridiculous looking helmet, gotta love a groupon and our guide, Rocko, was cute ;)

It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day and the segways were a really fun way to see the city.

This was also part of the race course for the following day.... so beautiful, in the distance is Fisher Island that can only be accessed by boat.

We even found Miami Ink and got a few tats... j/k

After the segway tour we headed to the convention center to pick up our race packets.

Now that I had the official number, there was no turning back!

We carb-loaded in Espanola Way at Segafredo. It reminded me of what I think a cute little European village should look like and ummm who eats outside in January, WE DID!!! It was so fabulous! We then headed home and set our alarms for 4am AHHHHHH!!!

Sunday: RACE DAY!!!!
I don't know about you but getting up at 4am has never been something I would classify as super fun. We made it out the door and headed to the arena. Veronica had been training with a group and her instructor led us in pre-race exercises and warm ups, I was exhausted after that and wondered if I was gonna make it. I started to get really nervous as we were waiting in the crowd!
I had my Ipod loaded with my race mix complete with a throwback to Will Smith in celebration of the city where the run was taking place. I also had some JT and JBiebs. It was still dark when the 21,000+ people and I hit the course. It was a gorgeous run, past the Miami port and the cruise ships, down through South Beach, and back over one of the causeways towards downtown to the finish.
Miles 1-3 were good, Mile 4 I was feeling great and really enjoying myself, Mile 6-7 the thought of "oh my gosh I am only halfway there, I don't know if I can do this". Mile 8 the pain started and I stopped and stretched a bit and plugged on. Usually when I have run it is my calves that really hurt and need to be stretched, but this time it was my hips that were killing me. By Mile 10 it hurt to walk it hurt to run so I figured I would run and get there faster. The last 1.5 miles was killer!! When I got to the turnoff where we split with the marathon runners and they continued and we headed for the finish, I vowed to myself that I will NEVER run a marathon. The end was in sight and I ran through to the finish and got my medal and wanted to die. I grabbed a banana and bagel and some cookies and WATER and found a spot in the grass to sit for a few minutes before I looked for my friends. I was worried I wasn't going to be able to get up. I finally got up and found Janna and we waited for Veronica.

Smiling through the pain and SUPER excited that I reached my goal of finishing!
I usually like to run my races in pearl earrings, but I had only brought my ginormous ones, so I settled for the awesome tiara on my headband that I bought the day before at the expo.... that headband is da bomb and keeps the whispies away during a run!!

Team Awesome (Veronica, Janna, and Me)

Afterwards we hobbled back to the apartment and showered and looked like humans again we even more slowly made our way over to Morgans for some brunch!

Morgans was this cute house that had been turned into a restaurant. I got the french toast with fruit.... fresh strawberries in January, OH MY GOODNESS delicious!!!

We then took naps and after headed over to CocoWalk and got some frozen yogurt and went to the movies. We saw The King's Speech. It was a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it and was a great post-race activity!

Monday morning we got up at 4am again and Veronica drove us back to W. Palm to catch our flight back to Boston. It was sunny when we landed in Boston and a chilling 20 degrees. Back to reality, but so excited to have had a little taste of warm weather and salty sea air and the excitement of accomplishing a goal I had set for myself. It has taken about 4 days for the pain to subside and the swelling finally went down on my ankles and legs, but I have beautiful black toenails to remind me! Now I am just waiting for the snow to melt so I can get back out there and run some more :)