Victoria Recap - Part 2

Time for the 2nd & final photo-heavy Victoria post!

After we had walked around a bit, we hit up the race expo!  I am glad we got a picture of all 4 of us with our numbers - I guess I was wrong on my last post when I said we only got 1 picture together.  We actually got 2!



Soon enough it was time for dinner.  There were not a lot of Italian restaurants in Victoria, and only 2 had gluten free options.  We picked a local place called Pagliacci's - where we proceed to stand in line (or sometimes sit, as evidenced by this photo) for over 90 minutes!  That is the longest I have ever waited to be seated, but the food was amazing and so worth the wait!  I love how Lauren's scarf & Amber's jacket are color coordinated in this pic!



With food in our bellies, it was time to head back to our hotel.  Leigh french braided mine & Amber's hair.  I absolutely LOVE having someone play with my hair, so this was quite a treat for me!

Here we are on race day with our braided hair!

Speaking of race day, here is a photo Lauren snapped while we were waiting for the race to start.  I was excited and a little bit apprehensive - little did I know I had a big PR ahead of me!

And here we are after the race.  I was definitely glowing from my finish!  We all finished in less than 2 hours, which was a great accomplishment!

After Lauren finished (with a PR of 5 minutes!) we got cleaned up and headed to lunch.  I celebrated with a Caesar which was delicious and hit the spot!

Before we knew it, it was time to head home.  Here is a photo from the Ferry ride back to our car.  The views did not disappoint!

And there you have it!  All in all, an absolutely delightful trip!  Because of a very important event next October, we will not be able to rendezvous over Canadian Thanksgiving again, but we are already talking about doing the Chicago marathon in 2013.  Yep, you read that right.  I have been bit by the marathon bug - BIG TIME.

This sort of concludes my crazy run of travel.  I still have a trip to Chicago a week from today for my niece's baptism/office visit.  And then I think that is it.  The last couple of weeks have been great but I have to say I am exhausted.  I flew 7,000 miles in the span of about 3 weeks.  That is a lot, folks.  Throw in a wicked sinus infection and yah...  my body is ready for some downtime.

With that said, I will be taking a little break from blogging next week as I try to rest up and recover from a schedule that has left me simply exhausted.  I will be back after my Chicago trip with plenty of pics of my niece, I am sure!