Broke My Foot...

...well, not really, but sprained it pretty bad.  Modern technology is amazing.  Instead of an old fashioned cast, I got an aircast (aka the "boot") and was able to walk out of the doctor's office almost pain free.  Without the cast, I barely could hobble in.

I'll spare you the photos of when it started turning pretty colors...but here is it still swollen the next day

And in case you couldn't tell how swollen, here's a comparison with my other foot

Road Trip!

Needing a winter getaway, I invited myself to join my brother on a road trip to Florida to run a race.  Of course, Elmo had to come along to cheer!

We stopped in Gainesville to look for Tom Petty('s tree), but didn't find either

Instead we carbo loaded the night before the race...yes, that's mostly butter with a little bit of bread underneath.  It was deeeelicious!

Our hotel in Clearwater Beach implied that we were going to be there longer than 24 hours...we weren't

For photos from the race...check out this blog post:  http://kkwatergirl.blogspot.com/2015/01/florida-running.html

Everywhere we went in FL, there were amazing birds...here near the race finish

Thought this construction screen was funny...they were larger than life size, but you still did a double take

Clearwater Beach has painted dolphins all around town

...and evidently the road to hell is the evacuation route ;-)

And a road trip is not complete without a 50 mile detour to see something cool

This is the cable-stayed Sunshine Skyway Bridge outside St. Petersburg

We checked out the fort at Ft. Desoto Park while we were there.  Obligatory Eeyore photo:

And cool black and white photo...

Sunsets in Florida were fabulous...

...as were the beaches

Driving over the bridge

Drove through Jacksonville on the way home...it always surprises me how big it is...but it is the 13th largest city by population in the US, and the largest city by area in the contiguous US

And then a detour to Beaufort, SC...which I just love and would retire there.  So pleased to see it hasn't changed one bit since the last time I was there over 10 years ago!

Florida Running

To cross his Florida race off the list, my brother decided to run the ultra at the Clearwater Running Festival.  Saying what the heck, I decided to run the 5 mile.

It was an early start...still dark out

A decent sized race, but not too big...here's the crowd at the start

The sun was just starting to come up as we started the race

I can take pictures behind me, and still get my head in the photo too!

My race basically ran across this bridge and back...it was a long bridge

I was able to run with my brother for the first 2.5 miles since all the races started together...but I think he was slumming it with me running only 8:30 min/mile pace (I was busting my butt, and he was jogging at his 31 mile race pace)

Thank goodness I got to turn around after 2.5 miles. He had 28.5 more to go!

The view of the sunrise on the way back was beautiful...

We ran down this curly-cue pedestrian ramp, which after 4.5 miles, made you a little dizzy

Yay - the finish line!

Then it was off to catch my brother...first stop was around Mile 15

Elmo waiting for him to approach around Mile 21

My new friend :-)

Elmo made it to the podium when my brother accepted his award for 3rd in his age group

Amazing...she's completed FOUR marathons in every state!

Well deserved post-race ice cream cone

My metal and bib