A Weekend at the Beach

My son and husband entered to run the 8K and half-marathon at Virginia Beach this weekend. After registering, we realized that they were on separate days, so that meant two nights in Virginia Beach. It turned into a fun family weekend away. A little odd to be there not in the summer. It was pretty cold (30-35) in the mornings, but aren't beaches always pretty?

Here's the scene from our room on Saturday morning while my son got dressed to run his first 8K:




We were SO close to everything! Standing on our balcony we could see the finish line and the celebration tent:




My son was very relaxed before the race, which was good. However, when I saw this before the first mile, I thought maybe he's TOO relaxed (that's him in the green on the left):




But boy, howdy, did he look good in the lead pack:




Oh wait - that's someone else's kid.

But he finished - with a time of 44:00. He was hoping for 40:00, but he still finished something like 1,300th out of 7,000 runners.




This was the scene on the course about a half hour after he finished. Lots of folks still going strong:




We were high-tailing it over to Pocahontas Pancakes, for a much-deserved breakfast. After breakfast, we swam in the pool (kids), knitted (me), and hit a fun arcade filled with retro games like all of the Pac-Mans, Frogger, Galaga, and Centipede. And ka-pow and skee-ball. I can honestly say I can't tell who had more fun, the kids or the adults!

Here my daughter is cashing in her tickets:



We also walked around the shops. My sneaky goal was to get my daughter interested in hermit crabs again as a bribe to keep her room clean. The plan back fired when she showed no interest in them. (note to self #1: bribes have never worked on your kids).

My darling husband found this plaque:




Not sure why he was showing it to me... (note #2 to self: if others in your group are running lots, you can't eat like you've been running, too).

We also took in sights on the beach:




HOW many runners are in this thing?



Then it was early to bed to get ready for Dad's race on Sunday. He was out the door at 6 and my daughter was dragged out of her coma at 7:45, so we missed the start. But we were there at the finish line!

Way to go, Daddy!

He broke his personal record/goal of a sub-2 hour 1/2 marathon and came in at 1:55. Not so bad for a fellow celebrating yet another birthday this week. So it was off to the celebration tent, with beer tickets in hand:

Wow - that was a lot of people.

Bottoms up, Daddy - you deserve it!