I've been... ON A BUSINESS TRIP!

Yes, that's right, I've been on a so called business trip.  Luckily there was a little pleasure involved too.  It kind of reminds me of a mullet, business in front, party in back!

The business part of the trip was serious stuff!  This year Sue Ann, Ann & I took the plunge and was able to secure us a spot in the St. George Runner's Series.  This in turn secures us a spot in the St. George Marathon if we "take care of business" and fulfill the requirements.  The requirements are actually pretty simple, run in two Runner's Series races in and around Washington County.  It doesn't ever seem too hard to take a required trip to sunny St.George. 
The first race we ran was the Painter Motor Half Marathon in February.  George came with me and we had a great time.  He was a great support and fun to be with.  We had a really fun weekend, but there was one thing lacking, SHOPPING!  Since we knew we had another race to complete, we knew we'd have to make it a "girls trip."
We decided that since we had a choice of either doing the Hurricane Half or 5K, we would do the 5K so that we had more time to "take care of business" in the retail shops. 
Our weekend started out on official business when we had a Pantry Secret's Bread Class at Josie Jones Bell's house.  Since she knew we were coming, she asked us if we would do a class at her house while we were in town. It turned out great.  See it was a business trip!
The next morning we arose early and kept trying hard to convince ourselves that the race we were about to run was going to be a piece of cake.  We run more on our typical runs so it really shouldn't be a big deal at all, right?  It's funny how just the word RACE can stress and physc you out, but it does! 
However it turned out to be quite a fun race and not too stressful at all.  It was cold, but we're used to that, the wind was blowing, but we're used to that too!  We all ran our personal bests and even took 1st place in our age divisions.  It was fun that this year we are all in different age catagories so we were all winners.

I even won 2nd place overall in the woman's master group.  I'm yet to find out what it means to be a master!  They awarded me that prize first, I received $45 in gift certificates and a silver medal.  Sadly because I had won that they wouldn't let me win the gold medal in my age catagory too.  I kind of felt slighted since Ann and Sue Ann were sporting their pure gold medals and I only got to sport a faux silver. 

I did get to go shopping at Classic Sports in Hurricane and spend my $30 gift certificate.  I bought me a pair of sandals.  That was fun! The rest of the day, we got down to business doing what we do best, eating and shopping.

So with the preliminary business taken care of we are getting ready to get down to the real business are start our official training for the marathon.  I'm still asking myself, "what the heck are you thinking?" but I figure it's now or never.  Thankfully I have such great friends/business partners.  I couldn't nor wouldn't do it without my running buddies! (ALL OF THEM)