13.1v2

After our first half marathon in Nashville, we swore we would never do it again. 18 months later we found ourselves powering through another 13.1 miles, this time with friends and much better training.

My aunt and uncle graciously let us use their beautiful bay house in Gulf Shores for a long weekend, and we had an amazing time.

Mary Lauren and Lindsay are two of my best friends and med school classmates, and although there is no telling how many hundreds of hours we have spent together over the past 3.5 years, it is rare these days to have uninterrupted times of fellowship. We drove down on Thursday, and spent the day/evening relaxing, catching up on life, and chatting about where life and medicine will take us over the next few years.

Think we were relaxed? Absolutely.

Remember how much she loves sand? Bella was one happy puppy.

The boys joined us later that night, and Friday brought more of the same.

It took multiple attempts to get the above group shot using self-timer, as the raised surface we had to work with was at a height that allowed us to neither sit nor stand, but rather awkwardly sorority squat together. Good thing we are all super close and comfortable with each other. Let's just say there were quite a few outtakes, but these were some of my favorite. The bottom left we call "floating heads".

Race day came bright and (too) early the next morning. We couldn't have asked for more perfect running weather, and were 4/4 in finishing the 13.1 miles in times we were all pleased with. Lindsay dominated from the start, ML ran her first 1/2 in 20 minutes faster than she trained, and Walker and I both shaved 15 minutes off of our Nashville time. Props to Michael who ran the 8K in a great time with no training, then served as our official cameraman and encourager as we each neared the finish line.

To say it was hard to leave this place and this time together is an understatement.

Now I'm off to visit my favorite Texas family and finish up interviews until after Christmas, hurrah!