I did it! I completed my fourth half-marathon with Team Challenge! As always, it was an amazing weekend and I’m sad it’s over. Let’s get to the recap.
I’ve been to Savannah before and I love it, it’s beautiful and there are candy shops everywhere. We flew in late Thursday night and had most of Friday to explore Savannah.
Here are a few things we discovered walking around this beautiful city:
- Maple Street Biscuit Company: If you love biscuits, this is the place to go to. The staff was friendly and the menu was incredible. I had biscuits with sausage gravy and a fried egg on top. I was pretty much set for the day after that meal.
- Pounce Cat Cafe: I’ve heard of these cat cafes popping up everywhere. It’s a great concept. You have a drink and play with cats that are up for adoption. This gives the cats plenty of socialization instead of sitting in a cage all day while they wait for someone to adopt them. We paid $15 to hang with the cats for an hour, and that fee also includes a beverage.
- Byrd’s Cookies: I came here the first time I was in Savannah and there was no way I wasn’t swinging by again to pick up some delicious cookies. You can’t come to Savannah and not come here.
- Prohibition Museum: The first time we were in Savannah we skipped this, we thought it was a tourist trap. Honestly, it’s not. It’s really well done and I learned a lot about prohibition. It’s worth a visit and you only need about an hour to explore.
Friday night was our Team Challenge Pasta Party. It’s like a pep rally to motivate us for the race the following day. We honor our top fundraisers and everything we accomplished over the season. I was honored to be one of the speakers and I got to tell my story in hopes of inspiring everyone to keep doing what we are doing. I shared the speech on Facebook, but if you would like to see it here is a link.
Race morning we were up pretty early with a 5:00 a.m. wakeup call. As usual, I was freaking myself out about the half-marathon. Never fails, I always do this. We took some team photos in the hotel lobby and probably woke up some guests, but hey it was all for a good cause.
I have to thank the staff at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront, they cheered us as we left and when we came back they had towels, water, and Gatorade to refresh us. Such a small gesture that goes a long way.
It was about 45 degrees in the morning while we were waiting at the start line. I was freezing and repeated my complaints to Kevin no matter how much it annoyed him. Kevin found some sweaters that had been tossed at the start line that helped me warm up during the first few miles. This Miami girl was in shorts and a sleeveless top in 45 degrees, I don’t care if I was wearing a random sweater that was tossed aside.
The course was amazing and beautiful, I feel like I’ve seen all of Savannah now. So many locals were out there cheering for us along the way. Some gave out beer and some even had Krispy Kreme donuts. Yes, I took a donut and it was probably the best donut I’ve ever had in my life. Thank you to all of the Savannah locals. If you ever have a chance to cheer for runners during a race, I highly recommend it. I’ve done it a few times in Miami and I always have fun.
We walked most of it and Kevin stayed by my side the entire way. His parents were also there and cheered for us at several different spots throughout the race. As we made it past mile 12 and the finish line was in sight, I started to get tears in my eyes. It wasn’t from pain or exhaustion, I was just overwhelmed. I started to think about every bad day and every moment where Crohn’s got the better of me, but here I was about to finish my fourth half-marathon. I cried. You can see in the pic below I’m still teary-eyed. Team Challenge is emotional.
I told you, Team Challenge is life changing. If you are interested in signing up for a race or if you have any questions, let me know, I’m more than happy to help. It’s a great way to fight back.
After the race, we rushed back to the hotel to shower and change. We rented a car to drive to Asheville, and I hope to have that travel recap up soon. Stay tuned.
