Moving On ...

As in, moving on past the obvious. Or rather the obvious lack of ...

Anyhoo, today Steve and I are headed to Jacksonville for the annual 26.2 With Donna Breast Cancer Marathon. And no, as usual, I am not doing the marathon. I registered for the 5K, 10K, and half marathon. And to be clear, I haven't done a half marathon since last April. And in case, you haven't been in the loop, a series of knee issues have been causing a lot of problems.

In January, I did the 5K at Disney and opted out of the 10K (which you would know, had I blogged about it). I had already decided not to do that half marathon, which ended up being cancelled anyway (and if I ever catch up, I shall tell you about that). I did manage to hobble through the Castaway Cay 5K. And since then, I have only been doing a little of this and that.

Which brings us to this weekend. My knees have been doing some better. Still not 100%, but I am hopeful that things are on the upswing. I thought if there was a weekend to get back on the half-marathon wagon, this would be it. Why? Because at this race, the half marathoners have the same amount of time as the marathoners to finish the course. Which means I could do a 30-minute mile. Which sounded doable.

Until I looked at our flight home and though otherwise. Southwest offers only one nonstop back to Nashville from Jacksonville, which is at 1:50pm. The race starts at 7:30am. I asked Steve what time we would need to leave for the airport (keep in mind Steve is a "get there early" type flyer), and he said around noonish. Which, when I did the math, would mean I needed to do a regular (which is still slow as molasses) half-marathon time for me in order to get back to the hotel and get ready to head out the door by noonish. So in other words, the half is out for me. We will still do the 5K and 10K (hopefully) on Saturday.

So anyway, after a quick and safe flight from Nashville, we arrived in Jacksonville around 12:30pm, grabbed the bags (including Steve's golf bag) and headed for the hotel. We decided to stop for lunch before checking in and before Steve headed out for golf. When we come here, we always like to eat at Metro Diner. We usually go to the one closer to downtown, but this time we decided to try the one close (as in within walking distance) from the hotel. I usually get the Charleston Shrimp and Grits. This time while looking on the menu, I saw this - The Vortex Burger. I saw no photo, but was intrigued by the description:

Half pound of Angus beef burger topped with lettuce slaw (shredded lettuce, chopped pickle and mayo) in between two grilled cheese sandwiches stuffed with American cheese, ripe tomatoes and our own cherrywood smoked bacon. Served with your favorite side.

Needless to say, I HAD to try it. And so I did. I made a pretty good dent in it, impossible to consume it all. And it was delicious! Once we had checked into our room and Steve left for golf, I promptly went into a Vortex-induced nap. Perfect!

And so here we are in Jacksonville. Steve has several tee times, we'll see Kitty (Steve's sister), pick up our race stuff at the expo, and wog a couple of races on Saturday.

And maybe have time for some shrimp and grits after all ...

******************************************************************************************

Today's blessings include: packing my stuff; safe flight to Jacksonville (although no beverage service due to a slightly lumpy ride); nice rental car; vortex lunch at Metro Diner; seeing Kitty at Stein Mart; dinner at Chic Fil A; solid night's sleep