Slow & Steady Finishes the Race

The Seaside School Half Marathon took place a couple of weeks ago on March 6, 2011. My mom, Kelsey (my brother's fiance), and myself had been rigorously training during the 10 weeks leading up to the race. All of us had to make an enormous physical and temporal commitment to training. We ran through the rain, in the snow, and at all times of the day and night in order to be prepared. Some weekends, JT and I would travel to Mobile so that I could do my long training runs with my mom. We kept each other accountable via Facebook, text messaging, and by tracking runs with the Nike+ app. There were times when we ran sick or injured (Mom ran all 13.1 miles with a sprained ankle), times when we ran exhausted, and times we when ran despite our lack of desire to do so. But, the commitment paid off; we all finished (some quicker than others).

Luckily, JT helped us choose a festive first half marathon in Seaside, a quaint little coastal town in Florida. Seaside is one of our mutually favorite travel destinations, so we agreed on running a race there. It ended up being a great choice for several reasons: 1) we all love the beach; 2) Seaside has tons of pet-friendly rentals, so we got to bring Moose and Emma; and 3) the race swag (gift) was fabulous! Being Southern ladies, we were excited that Vera Bradley was sponsoring the race this year. One of our race prizes was a Vera Bradley tote in one of her new summer patterns. Of course, we loved receiving a medal at the end of the race, but the Vera Bradley tote was piece de resistance.

To commemorate our wonderful family and fitness weekend, we stopped by a local jewelry store called Shimmering Seas. A year ago all the women in my family started Pandora charm bracelets so we could collect shining (sometimes expensive) keepsakes of our fondest memories together. The icon we chose to represent our half marathon accomplishment was the turtle charm. Some may wonder why we chose the turtle of all things to symbolize this momentous occasion in our lives. The reasons are these: Seaside beaches are known to be sea turtle nesting grounds; and although a little on the slow side, turtles are persistent and tough. My favorite reason for this seemingly untoward selection of iconography was taken from my favorite of Aesop's Fables, "The Tortoise and the Hare." Many of us read this story as children; but until I became a runner, I never fully understood its meaning. Slow and steady wins the race after all. What symbol could possibly represent our victory better than the slow, steady, yet victorious turtle?