The Gumula family (and friends!) participated in the St. Pete Beach Classic last weekend and what a great event it turned out to be! The run started and finished at the Sirata hotel so we decided to make a weekend of it and booked 2 nights. The hotel wasn't as nice as we were expecting but the location was great. There is nothing better than waking up and literally walking out your door to run a race. No extra travel time to consider = awesome! I signed up for the 10K which was at 7:15 AM, the kids dash was at 8:45 AM and John ran the 5K that started at 9 AM. Perfect!
The kids were pumped to run in their first race!
I personally had never run more than 5 miles prior to the event and while I wasn't afraid I wouldn't finish, I was worried my knee would start hurting mid-way (which it does sometimes, usually around mile 4). The stars must have been aligned or something because I felt great the entire run! Sybil and I ran together which helped. I had forgotten my headphones so we chatted throughout most of our run. I also don't claim to be a fast runner and usually keep a 8:30/mile pace. I was shocked to see our 8:14 splits and about fell over when I placed 3rd in my age group.
I got a medal!
John also had a great run coming in 2nd in his age group and 33rd overall!!! And we were both 29th out of all women/men respectively. What are the chances of that?!
We chilled at the playground, beach and pool the rest of the day relaxing in the sun and hanging with our friends.
It was a gorgeous day and we had the most amazing view at dinner. It was a perfect ending to our fun-filled day.
In addition to live bands playing throughout the day they also had a bonfire that night, right on the beach. The temperature had dropped quite a bit but no one seemed to mind too much :)
You can view all of our beach weekend pictures here. This will definitely make our calendars again next year, it was a super fun event for the whole family!
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