Racecation 2013 - Pensacola Beach Run Half Marathon

Last weekend the green Sister Mrazek and Sister Wagner tanks were busted out for the Pensacola Beach Run Half Marathon, or better known as Racecation 2013. Last year Sarah and I ran the Go! St Louis Marathon for Racecation 2012. I think I like the half marathons better for racecations because the entire time we were living it up in STL, we kept saying "shit! we have to run 26 miles on Sunday" - although, that might have been because Sarah's Aunt Sarah rolled out the red carpet for us and we didn't want to face reality that the real reason we were in town was to run a marathon, not go to the Cubs/Cards game, the spa, shop or stuff our face with super good food.

Aunt Sarah, Uncle Andy and Mark were our awesome STL cheering squad last year! 

The PBR half marathon was on a Saturday and I flew down to Panama City Thursday night so Sarah and I could take our time making our way to Pensacola on Friday. I'm pretty sure that Sarah and I are the only idiots who get up at 4:45am on their day off to work out, but I was dying to get my butt kicked by Dena, the resident trainer who whips all the PCB Ironmen into shape, so that's how we spent our Friday morning (and I was also wanted to see all the Navy boys running around the base there in town where Sarah works out. Make sure to ask Sarah what her and her friend Kristen call the boys).

After getting our butts kicked by Dena, we made our way to Seaside where we got smoothies at the Raw and Juicy food trailer right there on 30A. If you haven't experienced Raw and Juicy and you frequent the Destin/Seaside area, you must indulge yourself next time you're there. After we got our Raw and Juicy fix and arrived in Pensacola, we found ourselves a bottle of Skinnygirl White Peach Margarita and started to hydrate for the next day's race.

I bet Bethenny Frankel had no idea that her margarita is the drink of choice for people hydrating for a half marathon

The night before the race, Sarah introduced me to the MTV train wreck of a show Buckwild and lucky for us when we woke up on race day, Buckwild was on again. After seriously contemplating staying in bed and watching Buckwild all morning instead of going to the race, we walked the 100 yards from our hotel to the start line and were greeted by our cheerleaders Larisa and Melanie! Larisa writes the awesome blog Zero to Twenty Six Point Two and we met at the Runner's World Half Marathon up in Bethlehem  PA last year. She and Melanie live 45 minutes away from Pensacola in Alabama, so they came over to do all the fun stuff that goes with a racecation (i.e. drinking margaritas, eating cheeseburgers and laying by the pool) and none of the bad stuff (i.e. running the actual race).

Our Pensacola cheering squad wanted us to run fast 'cause they wanted a drank!

13.1 miles later, Sarah killed it and got third in her age group and I came in at 2 hours...like I always do. WTF, the course was pancake flat and I went the same time at the Runner's World Half on a super hilly course. Not sure why I have been at this stupid two hour plateau for the past year, but hopefully I can go faster at the Cedars of Lebanon half I'm doing in February. Okay, rant over.

Right after the gun went off to start the race. If you like scenic flat out and back courses and don't mind the wind, you should check out the PBR Half next year! Entry is only $40!

After Sarah and I showered and I spent 15 minutes un-tangling my weave (note to self, braid or wear hair in a bun when racing in hot and humid conditions because your weave will turn into a hot mess when you're done), the four of us went to Flounders and had the obligatory post-race cheeseburger, fries and margaritas (don't tell Dena). Did I mention I'm eating meat again? I'll tell you all about that in another post. A couple hours later we found our way to the pool where I proceeded to get burned (another note to self, do not get sunburned three days before you are getting a skin check done by your dermatologist unless you want a lecture on how every time you get burned you increase your chances of getting skin cancer by blah blah blah percent. duh).

That night Sarah and I got pedicures at this surprisingly awesome nail salon in Gulf Breeze, called Nail Lounge. If you're going to run the Double Bridge Run in March, I totally recommend treating your feet right and going there after. Promise you won't reget it. After getting our feet rubbed for an hour, we went and ate our weight in sushi and topped the night off with some peanut butter M&Ms, which then I also had for breakfast the next morning. Paleo diet, what? Needless to say, it was a cheat weekend.

Like all good things, racecation 2013 came to an end far too quickly and I found myself back in Nashville, where it was a balmy 30 degrees (Chicago friends, feel free to roll your eyes at how big of a whimp I've become since my move back south).

Larisa and Melanie are going to run the Dublin Rock and Roll Half in August and Sarah and I are seriously contemplating making the trek over there to my motherland to also run the race. You don't have to ask me twice if I want to go to Ireland and run one of my favorite cities, so maybe there'll be a part two to racecation 2013.

This was during the 2008 Connemara Half Marathon I ran in Ireland when I studied abroad in Dublin.  It rained, it sleeted, the sun came out all within 2 hours. Sheep were my cheerleading squad in that race!