Sweet Home Carolina

Oh Carolina - How I have missed you..........

I haven't been back to the wonder state of SC since we were here in December.  We finally made it to Charleston.  I honestly did not think we would make it on the plane this morning.  Mel and I were 2 of the last 3 people on the plane.  Whew!  That could have been disasterous, but we were both determined to be on that plane (come hell or highwater)!  My sister met us at the airport, and it was so good to see her! 

After we checked in to our hotel, we decided to go hang out in the Isle of Palms.  I've never been there but hear that it is fabulous.  Of course..... it started raining when we got there.  We did find this cute little bar called Coconut Joe's right on the ocean.  Had crab cakes, shrimp, and sweet tea.  Mmmmmmm..... they were SO good!!  The views of the ocean and sand dunes were even better.  Did some shopping in downtown IOP and got some cute stuff to take back to TX.  We wrapped up the afternoon with a little shopping trip to Piggly Wiggly (affectionately known as "The Pig") for organic goat cheese (Giddy Goat), crackers, and red wine.  Right now - we are sitting in the hotel lobby, enjoying the delicious goodies and blogging.  It's actually nice to be in a hotel using my computer for something other than school!!!  It's amazing how much of my life it consumed!

On a more important note - Training has been going well this week!  My muscles have been a little sore but nothing as bad as last week.  It's like I woke up on Sunday with a new, pain-free body.  I have increased my daily intake of protein, so I think that has helped a good bit.  We've been doing a lot more strength and endurance training this week in boot camp (with less running), so I hope that Saturday will not be too awful!

We got to see the bridge for the first time today.  It's HUGE!!!!  So, I found some stats on this weekend's race and the actual bridge itself, so I thought I'd share:

Race:

• Best organized 10K race in the world
• The inagural race took place on the old Pearman Bridge (pictured below) on April 2, 1978

I'm so glad we aren't running on this one!

• The run will start in Mt. Pleasant, SC and finish in downtown Charleston - crossing the Arthur Ravenel Bridge (Cooper River) for 2.5 miles of the 6.2 mile course

• There are at least 40,000 runners / walkers signed up to participate on Saturday
• We will be using a wave start, with each wave of ~4000 - 5000 runners starting every 3 minutes. 

Our group (Mel, me, Sonya, & Adriane) is in the purple "G" group.  We should start at ~ 8:14ish.

Bridge:

• The Arthur Ravenel Bridge was completed in 2005, replacing the old / outdated Pearman and Grace Memorial Bridges.
• Bridge accommodates 8 lanes of traffic (4 in each direction), and a bike/pedestrian lane
• Average bridge slope is 4.1% (1.8% on Charleston side and 5.6% on the Mt. Pleasant side). 

We will be starting the race in Mt. Pleasant, so the 5.6% grade is a little concerning!  I think the hardest part of the race will be the the first half.  Once we get to the top of the bridge, it should be all downhill from there (at least I hope so). 

I think we will plan on walking downtown Charleston and the Battery tomorrow before meeting up with my cousin and my mom (yes, she decided to come watch) at the run expo.  I feel a carbo-load coming on :)

Missing Boot Camp tonight!  This is the first night I have missed a class.  Wishing all of my buddies luck with kettle bells, running, jump rope, and abs tonight!  I will continue to post updates and pictures as the weekend progresses.  I can't believe the date is finally here!!!!!  Although my original goal was to finish this 10K, I have found a love for exercise and healthier life.  I can't wait to start planning the next phase of my transformation.  Will update more tomorrow - nite, nite!  M

Oh yeah - quick update that I forgot:

Went down to a L sized shirt and down 1 cup size + 2 inches in my bra size this week :) :) :)