Race # 2: Philadelphia Hallf Marathon - Philadelphia, PA - November 22, 2009 - Finish Time: 2:37:55

Elephant in the room: horrible finish time. Excuses: After college graduation in May I moved to DC so excuse #1 is losing my awesome running partner. I was also searching for a career while being a full-time nanny and making protein shakes part-time at Bally Total Fitness so excuse #2 is lack of time (oh, the irony of working in a gym). Third, I was devoting any spare time to my first relationship, so excuse #3 is laziness (cuddling with your new boyfriend is way easier than running 7 miles).  I was thrilled when my cousin and uncle invited me to run the Philly 1/2 with them even though I knew they would blow me away. I loved the idea of this being a 'family affair' and luckily the race was pretty much central to all our locations. I was living just outside DC in northern Virginia, while Christina lives in Baltimore and Uncle Steve lives in New Jersey.

The drive up was an easy 3 hours. The race course was gorgeous. Number of participants was bigger than Gasparilla so the excitement factor really kicked in at the start line. I absolutely loved running through the city and being distracted by all the great architecture. Theme of the race was "kick asphalt" and I was wishing that I could kick it a little harder, but I knew I would resolve to train harder after this one...no way was I about to be the tortoise of the family running group.

A big surprise came at mile 9 when I looked up to see a massive hill in front of me. This Florida gal hadn't seen a hill in about 5 years, let alone run up one! I eventually made it through the last few miles to find my Aunt Liz ready to snap a picture at the finish line. It really does make such a difference to have supporters. My uncle and cousin did great and were certainly inspiration to stick to my journey of becoming a runner.

As always, my favorite part of race weekends is the post-race meal and Christina knew just the place to take us. We headed down to Creperie Beau Monde where we had delicious crepes. I'm sorry I don't have pics of the Philly Race...would have definitely been gorgeous. For now here's a pic I'm borrowing off the world wide web of our yummy crepes!




Delicious..they have all kinds!



Hey, at least I finished, right?! :)