Saturday - the day before RACE DAY!

You know we're crazy when the ONE Saturday that we don't have to get up for kids...or ball games...or a long run....we STILL get up early!! We couldn't help ourselves. The other race events started on Saturday morning and we didn't want to miss anything - we wanted the FULL experience! So we rolled out of bed at about 6:30 (I think) and threw on some clothes to go watch the 5K. I'm glad we did - it's such a fun environment and always so inspiring. everyone has a story - everyone has been a journey to get to that starting line. whether it's their first 5K. whether they've been running forever and this is just a fun, fast run. whether it's the first time an 8 year old runs with his dad. or some lady that is 78 that is walking it. they've all been on a journey. this is one of my favorite things about running!

there was a dad next to us waiting to see his wife run past - he had his 3 kids with him. made us both miss our families :). Our husbands have been such great supporters for us. They were both naturally athletic and always involved in fun things like this - but not us! They both have so encouraged us along the way, and got dragged into it too... :)

This sweet little old lady was walking the 5K - we watched her cross the finish line later and fell as she crossed it! her cane got stuck in the timing chip mat (poor lady!). she was okay though...

After the 5K was the high heel dash. These ladies were hilarious - and very serious, actually!

There was one guy running it - he lost a dare. Poor guy. The lady next to him - the one that looks like she's wearing a bathing suit? She was nuts. Here she is at the starting line...getting ready to start her WATCH! HELLO! It's a high heel dash - not the Boston Marathon! And they only ran about 200 yards! She was crazy.

They were so funny running down the street - the guy looked like he was going to break something!

Here's the girl that one - she was totally booking it! Running like she runs in heels ALL the time - it was amazing!

And here's the guy - he really did finish it! :)

(The guy in the red shirt at the finish is Bart Yasso - one of the editors from Runner's World. He was there all weekend - so cool to see a guy whose articles I read all the time!)

Then they had the doggie dash - where owners could run with their dogs for 300 feet or something. It was very cute and a great idea. Lots of kids running with their dogs. Lots of fun.

We headed back over near our hotel to have breakfast. Our hotel package included breakfast both days at a restaurant across the street. They had a delicious breakfast buffet that we very much enjoyed...for free! :) There was one very funny bit - on the glass above the buffet was a sign that said something along the lines of "we want you to enjoy our buffet and eat all that you can. however, if you abuse this and waste a bunch of food, we are going to charge you extra for it." I so badly wish i had taken a picture - it was the funniest thing i'd ever seen!!!

After a delicious breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to shower and get dressed for REAL this time. (YOU know - with makeup and all!) :) Again, it was so nice to not have to rush...or have kids interrupt...or have to wipe anyone's bottom. Just so relaxing! We headed to the host hotel where the expo was so we could pick up our packets!!

Got our bibs - it's official! We're running in a race tomorrow!

Here's our official race shirt :)

Saw these super cute visors at the expo and had to get matchy matchy ones for me and beth :) we love pink!

There was a Disney table set up with all the medals from the Disney races and information about the upcoming races. They had this sweet man there that was handing out tiaras to all the ladies, and before he'd give you your tiara, he'd ask your name. Then he'd say, "here you are, princess katy", and put your tiara on. He was the cutest! :) We knew our little girls would LOVE these...and we wore them ourselves for the rest of the afternoon! Every girl likes to be a princess right?

Expos are fun because you get to see and try all the new trends/samples that are out in running right now. Apparently these hats are all the new rage! We just thought they looked hilarious.

Loved this pineapple running skirt -thought of my sister Kristen who was born in Hawaii :) (Don't worry Kristen - I didn't get it for you for Christmas!)

They had this crazy balance/flexibility band thing. Like one of those rubber "Live Strong" band kind of things - except it had some kind of electro magnetic something or other, and when you wear it, it improves your balance and flexibility by 50%. We were totally mocking it when we watched the demonstrations, until we tried it and it seriously worked! The craziest thing I'd ever seen. Seriously.

Then we headed out to the drive the course and see where we would be running the next day. The start line was in front of Medieval Times (one of those cool jousting restaurants where you eat like they did in medieval times in some kind of castle/arena place while watching knights joust and stuff...crazy hilarious show). We both - again - missed our families and knew our boys would LOVE seeing something like this!

As we were driving down towards the boardwalk, we seemed to interrupt the filming of a baywatch episode or something - because there were all these red-shorted lifeguard boys right there on the street! I didn't see David Hassellhoff though!

After lunch and a GREAT nap, we woke up and got freshened up. Took a quick picture out by the beach (it was shocking how many people were actually swimming out there!), and then headed down the street for our pasta dinner (another freebie included in our hotel package).

It was delish - they had a big salad bar, rolls, and then 4 or 5 different kinds of pasta dishes. Even a macaroni and cheese! Yummy!

We stopped by one of those beach souvenir shops to buy these fabulous myrtle beach sweat shirts and then headed to the host hotel. They had a Q&A session with Bart Yasso (which we missed) and then played the movie "Spirit of the Marathon". It's a documentary that followed 4 or 5 runners as they trained for the Chicago Marathon several years ago. It was really cool - the movie was shown out on the lawn of the host hotel, and it was fun to sit and watch it with a bunch of other runners that understand it just like you. We loved it - it was very inspiring. Kelli said that she ran the Chicago marathon the year they taped that movie, so I'm sure she was in the background somewhere! :) It was the perfect thing to get us all fired up and excited about the next morning!!!

We went back to our hotel and got all our stuff ready for the race the next day! Time to get a good night's sleep - we have 13.1 miles to run in the morning!