Bridge Run, beach day and powering through

Happy Monday (wish I had President's Day off) ... 

I hope everyone had stellar weekends. Mine was very eventful. A little too eventful to be honest, but a fun one none-the-less. 

It started on Friday afternoon when I left work to go get my race packet from Coastal Kitchen on the island. Erika and I hung out and did happy hour until was able to pick-up the packet at 6 p.m. (the restaurant we were at was hosting the pick-up and pasta party). Then Shanessa, Clayton and Louie joined us for a drink. They went out from there and I went home to J. I had the last of my salsa chicken and Josh made a hamburger for himself. We just hung out and went to bed early. Nice night!

Saturday I got up around 6 a.m., fed the dogs and got ready to do the run. I had to run with the News' team and we didn't start until 9:10 a.m., but I had to get to the location, fight the crowd (2,000-plus) and get my chip - why it couldn't be in the packet, I don't know. Actually, I do - they are expensive and they don't want us to lose them. I rolled-up to the race got settled, found Ash and Julio and off we went. It wasn't a great run (cramps twice that made me stop, etc). But it was fine. I even don't know my time because we started at 9:10-ish and the clock started for the individuals around 8:30 and the clock runs. 

The guy who won it was from Kenya but lives in Kennesaw, Ga. He finished the 5K (with a 6 percent grade) in 14 mins and 47 seconds. That's a new record. AND it's insane. Like a 4:40 minute mile. 

The runners! 

The starting line 

Me with le bridge 

From there, I proceeded to be attacked by an unseen force ... something near the brideg area set my allergies on fire. I sneezed and sneezed. Nose ran. It was terrible. I had to get Claritin and Benadryl. Blah! But I refused to let it slow me down. I went home, showered and took the doggies to get groomed. Then it was BEACH TIME. 80 degrees. Sunny. Slight breeze. BEACH TIME in February. 80 degrees. Sunny. Slight breeze. Josh was golfiing so I went with my co-workers.

St. Simons East Beach

Ahhhh .... Lou, Erika and Me - Shanessa is takin the photo 

We chilled, listened to some tunes and had a few cocktails. Then I had to go pick-up the pups, both looked beautiful but it seemed that Keats had a meltdown while she was there. The groomer said she "got sick" but later explained that she had "explosive diarrhea." Bless her (and the groomer too - geez). I'm certain it was nerves. I felt really guilty about it, but it's never happened before. Suffice to say, she was thrilled to be home. : ( 

That night we went to our belated Valentine's Day dinner at our favorite restaurant, Crab Daddy's. So. friggin. good. I had the mahi with shrimp etouffee. Josh had fried shrimp. It was just fantastic. After dinner, we met up with Erika and Louie at Palm Coast for drinks and a band. Once we shut Palm Coast down, we decided it would be best to camp it over in Lou's guest room rather than making the drive. I mean, the dogs were fine (doggie door and plenty of food/water) and why risk a DUI? Well, with that being decided, we hit up another location to end the evening with karaokee and pool. Well, Lou did karaokee. We cheered him on ... then next thing we knew it was 2 a.m. and went back to crash. It was a caloric sunami but a TOTAL BLAST. That is, until 8:30 a.m. Sunday rolled around and we did the drive back home. Ouch. It was a reminder as to why we rarely "go out." It hurts in the morning. Ha! 

We did the drive back to Brunswick and stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a flatbread (yes I needed some bread at that point). We went home, showered, fed the dogs and laid down to nap. Well I couldn't. Damn it. I just watched TiVo and got up to clean. I did get it done but it was SO hard. My body/motor skills were working against me. I even poked myself in the eye with the broom. But I got things done and went to Wal-Mart to pick up some stuff to make another round of crockpot chicken for the week. That was it. I chilled and finally went to sleep at like 7:50 p.m. DONE. DONE. DONE.