So I’ll keep you in suspense about my recent half marathon a few days longer….

Last Friday, I left the not so frigid Northeast and hoped for smooth flights to West Palm Beach, Fla.

And the weather cooperated.  I left Albany at 5:30 am for DC  (my co-worker’s daughter was on the same flight) and then took another flight which arrived in West Palm at around 11:30 am. Both flights were on-time. (This isn’t normal for me.)

I packed very light for this trip and only had a carry on and a back pack.  (My hubby couldn’t believe it.)

As soon as I arrived, I found my friend F who was picking me up.

It has been raining all night and all morning (and was predicted to do the same for my 4 days in Fla.) but miraculously, the rain had stopped.

We immediately headed to the expo so I could pick up my bib.

It was outdoors.  There wasn’t much to buy but a lot of health-related booths with freebies & raffles – rain poncho, sunglasses, band aids, tape measure, etc.

I was tempted to buy a race cap but it was $25 and I decided to wait to see if I had a good race. (Spoiler alert:  I DID NOT!!)

Since it still hadn’t started raining yet, we went to the beach.  This is a priority with me when I go to Florida.

It was warm but cloudy so I just walked along the beach with the feet in the water while F collected shells.

Next stop was to have lunch.  We drove back to Delray Beach where F lives and chose a restaurant with a view of the water where we could eat outside.

Our meal was delicious. I loved being outdoors watching the big boats go by.

After lunch, we walked around the town of Delray Beach and eventually returned to F’s condo where I would be spending the night.

F had dinner plans but that was perfect because I wanted to visit with another good friend who lived nearby.

The rain finally arrived (and lasted all night) but I didn’t care at this point.

My friend M picked me up and took me to her house.  We ordered pizza & salad and spent the whole evening chatting. Since M has retired, she has taken up jewelry making and she is really good. (I just had to buy 3 bracelets!!)

I got up early the next morning and it was only drizzling.  I took advantage and went for a long walk around her community.  F lives on a golf course and it is a very pretty place to walk.

As soon as I finished my walk, the skies open up and it continued to rain all day.

What did we decide to do?

Shop, what else?

F lives near a huge flea market.

We spent hours there walking around.  And I only bought one thing.

It was still raining when we left and we were starved (I am supposed to be carb loading, right?) so we found (an indoor) restaurant. It was about 3 pm when we actually had lunch.

All of sudden, the rain stopped.

I love animals and the wildlife sanctuaries are also on my list of things to do while in Fla so we quickly headed to at Wakodahatchee Wetlands.

We saw lots of birds but apparently the alligators and turtles like the sun.  And we didn’t see any. My friend F has a great camera and took really nice photos:

Since it still wasn’t raining (though it looked like it would at any moment), we headed to wildlife refuge #2 – Green Cay.  More birds!!

We had to leave since the sun was setting and it was getting dark.

As soon as we were done, it started to pour again. I was very lucky.  And I really enjoyed walking through both parks.

Off to West Palm we went so I could check into my hotel.

I picked this hotel because it was very cheap. No sense paying for a hotel that I would only sleep in.

It was a very old hotel that was completely redone – ultra modern on the inside.  But it had all the basics – clean, shower, wifi, TV, free breakfast, pool, etc.

I had the hotel call me a cab for 5:15 am the next morning. (I could have walked but in the dark not knowing where I was going made it seem like a bad idea.)

My room was small so I hung out in the lounge for a while.  Since I had a late lunch, I wasn’t hungry at all.  So I made some oatmeal and then went to bed early.

Stay tuned for the race recap…

Since it is Thursday,  I’m linking up today with Amanda for Thinking Out Loud Thursday.

Happy Running!  What are you thinking about this Thursday?  Any interesting pre-race-cation experiences to share?