Seriously… WAY too early. But, we needed to be awake, and check out before we left for the race. So,… just like when you #rundisney, we got up far too early. 

In order to really wake up I like to take a quick warm shower! 

I spent quite a bit of time getting ready, I put on some make up, fixed my hair, ate an apple and slowly got all my things together for the race! 

We checked out before the race and seriously… that took FOR-EV-ER. There was only 1 employee and a bunch of people asking questions. I felt bad for the guy because he was getting flustered, but… it’s part of the fun of being a race hotel I guess. 

It took about an hour to get from the metromover, through bag check and into the corral. I met up with a friend (Crystal from RunDisneyDork) and somehow in the process lost my husband in the sea of people. He was in a different corral so it was okay, he called me right before the start of the race.

I was in the very last corral, and honestly… it bothered me because I’m so tired of always being at the end but… it was okay, I had a new running friend to keep me company. 

The race started and I was freezing! I knew if I was freezing during the first mile I’d need to keep my blanket to stay warm while I waited for my husband to finish the full. So,… I stuffed the blanket into my running belt as small as possible and ran. 

Mile 1 is straight onto a bridge, but I was so happy to finally be running I didn’t notice it too much. Crystal and I were doing 30/30 intervals and I was feeling fantastic. 

In no time at all we were across the first bridge and on our way to the second. Still feeling strong with our 30/30 intervals we entered Miami Beach! I joked with Crystal about how it was just a quick 10K around South Beach, back over the bridge and we were done. 

Well, it turns out it was pretty quick because with the distraction of the crowds and sunrise we were heading back over the causeway in no time! 

Around mile 10 I started to need to stop and go to the bathroom, I thought I could hold it but at mile 11 Crystal kept running and I stopped to go.  I hung around outside the bathroom for a little bit trying to see if Crystal had stayed or kept running, and finally decided she had most likely kept going. 

So,… off I went. 

Right before we got to mile 13 I saw Crystal just ahead of me and so I sped up so we could finish together. I was feeling so strong and proud of myself and Crystal because we just really had a FANTASTIC race! 

I crossed the finish line with an 11 minute PR and I’m still floating with excitement.  I finally broke the 3 hour half marathon mark!  Not bad for the girl who spent 3:27 minutes on her first half marathon just a few short years (and two pregnancies) ago!