Ho Lotta Fun: Running Bloggers Weekend

Earlier this year, a group of us were invited to the Florida panhandle for a running blogger weekend. The weekend was planned around the Panama City Beach Half Marathon. A trip to Florida in December? A half marathon with running friends?

Yes, please!

Even though I'd only met a couple of the ladies, I've been reading all their blogs for a while. I felt like they were friends. You know the saying, "runners are all friends you haven't met yet"? We all excitedly planned for our trip away. We also wracked our brains to come up with a hashtag for our weekend. Holly's blog name gave us the inspiration...

It was a #holottafun!

Marcia and I met at the airport early Friday morning. Even before our early morning flight took off, our phones began blowing up with texts from the group, who was already in Florida. I had planned on reading Cory Reese's book for this month's book club, but we never stopped talking from the moment we met up in the terminal until the time our plane pulled up to the gate in Panama City Beach.

Marcia and me en route

As soon as we arrived at the beachfront cottage, I knew it was going to be a fun weekend! We all greeted each other like old friends. There were hugs all around and we walked over to the beach for a sunset photo. Sure, we took some formal poses, but my favorite shots were the candids. Let the shenanigans begin!

The photobomber

Pretty edgy...

After a pre-race dinner of pizza, we went back to the cottage for an early bedtime. Everyone was up early the next morning to prepare for the race. We took pre-race photos and lined up. The horn sounded and we were off! I won't share too many details of the race on this post because I'm going to recap the race in a separate post on Wednesday. 

Front L-R: Judy, Marcia, Darlene, Tricia
Back L-R: Holly, MaryBeth, Me, Karen

We all met at the finish line and then to Margaritaville for the post-race party. There were some PRs to celebrate--Mary Beth, Tricia, Karen, and Judy all crushed their races. Darlene won her age group. Over lunch, we recapped the race. While most of the group had great races, some of us (ahem!) struggled. It always amazes me how one race can be so different for a group of runners.

Post race cocktails: MaryBeth, Me, Marcia, Tricia

Photobomber Judy

Love these ladies!

After lunch, it was back to the beach for the sunset, some photos, and more laughs. Dinner was at an oyster bar. You know when the sign says "we shuck 'em, you suck 'em", it's going to be epic. In true southern style, we started with a basket of hush puppies that were the size of baseballs, y'all. There was also a 2-for-one drink special to help us kick off the evening. 

Me, Tricia, Holly, MaryBeth

Tricia, Holly, Me

After dinner, then DJ got the party started with some karaoke. It didn't take much encouragement for some of us to get up there. Who ran a half marathon earlier that day?

What happens in PCB stays in PCB...

L-R: Holly, Karen, me, Judy, Marcia, MaryBeth, Tricia, Darlene

Party animals that we were, by 9:30 we were ready to call it a night. 

The next morning, we recapped the evening over donuts and took a walk on the beach for one last time.

It wouldn't be a trip to the beach without a yoga pose...

As I write this, I am both awed and amazed at what a wonderful group of women with whom I was honored to spend the weekend. Running brings us together, and that bond is so strong that any other differences are minimized. Yes, we talked running (a lot), but we also shared a lot of ourselves. When I told my non-running family and friends about this trip, almost everyone commented: "you've never met them?" I tried to explain how this blogging thing works. That even though most of us never met in person, we already know each other. There were no big surprises--these ladies portray their true selves on their blogs.

Because....

I'm linking up with Holly and Tricia for their Weekly Wrap as well as Ilka and Angela for the Sunday Fitness and Food Linkup! Have a great week!