Okay so on April 1st we drove down to Charleston....one of my favorite cities EVER!! Jason and I, and our friend Chris were going down to run the Cooper River Bridge Run. This is our 2nd year doing it, and it's such FUN!! Last year we had Kim and Missy with us as well...plus the pups (Scout and Ebony-Kim's sweet boy).
The drive down was pretty uneventful. We stayed in N. Charleston this year (last year we were at Folly Beach) at the aloft hotel (a W hotel). Wish I had known I could of brought Scout with us, but I didn't and he stayed with Kim at our house. After we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and got checked in we headed downtown to packet pick up and the expo. It was a MAD HOUSE! 40,000+ runners coming into the city will do that. I don't remember it being so busy last year, but I think we got to the expo earlier. Jason and I went through the line and got our stuff and got out. We couldn't handle to crowds at the expo...it was cramped. We walked around Charleston and hung out for awhile. We met up with Chris and Laura (who drove down separately) for dinner at Barbara Jeans (which was pretty good, easy food) right on Market St. Then some wine (for the boys) and shopping (for the Girls) on Meeting St. We headed back to the hotel in one car (left our car in the parking deck....overnight parking was only $5). Took a shower, set our alarms, and went to sleep!
Race day morning! Slept until 5:45 am. WHAT?? Got ready, and met Chris and Laura in the lobby. Laura drove us to Mt. Pleasant (the start line), rather than us having to take the busses across the bridge from Charleston. THANK YOU LAURA for driving us there in the morning and letting us sleep a little longer!! We stopped at Starbucks so Chris could get his coffee and and bagel (which he really didn't enjoy). We took a few group shots before we separated. Chris was in corral B, and Jason and I were in corral E. Not sure how Chris got put in B, but there you go. We (Jason and I) got into our corral and waited out our time (staggered start this year!!) to get to the start line.
The run was AWESOME! I stayed with Jason the whole time, and he ran it this year over 15 minutes faster than last year! That's AMAZING!! We saw some great costumes along the run. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the whole crew of Sesame Street, I think 5 where's Waldo, and many others! We did our 4 minute run, 1:20 walk through the whole run and only once (going up the bridge) did we stop and walk a little more. Like I said Jason did AWESOME!! Chris had a pretty amazing run, he PR'd his 10K time (pretty amazing since there were 40,889 people out there) with under 1 hour time! WOO HOO!
After the run we met up with everyone (Chris and Laura) and found the car, then went to eat lunch at Jestines. Ummm yeah, excellent Southern Comfort Food! Then back to the hotel for some rest and relaxation....oh yeah and a SHOWER, before going back downtown.
We had dinner at Tristan! Amazing dining experience with some fantastic service and incredible FOOD!! I should of taken more pics, but we just enjoyed the food and the whole experience. Our dinner took about 2 1/2 hours and it was FANTASTIC!! Then some more time downtown looking at shops, one mis-step to the "Rooftop Bar" (GROSS), and then back to the wine bar for some pinot and apparently a fundraiser for Japan.
Sunday morning was enjoyable to sleep in some. Then I met up with Chris in the lobby and we did an easy 2 mile run to check out the new shoes he bought at expo. He loved them, and it felt good to get the blood flowing in my legs again. Then showers and pack up the cars. Then downtown again for brunch at 82 Queen (one of my favorites). Outlet shopping happened for a little bit before the drive home.
Driving home, was tough. Big accident (glad it wasn't us) happened and we were stuck in stop and go traffic for about 10 miles. Ohh and I was driving the "new" TSX (which just happens to be a stick shift). My left quads were burning from the clutch release.
Home at last to find my sweet puppy boy (who is actually 8 years old) who seemed happy to see us, or really needed to pee! I'm so lucky to have great friends who loves my dog too. Kim was awesome and stayed at my house and took care of my sweet boy all weekend. Scout was lucky because one of his best friends was here all weekend (Ebony) and they got to play as much as they wanted....plus I mean there is always TREATS!!
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