Thankful Thursday: #runDonna meet ups

So this past weekend while on Mid-Winter Break from school, I jetted off to not-so-warm-but-still-sunny Florida to run the 26.2 with Donna Breast Cancer Marathon.  Actually, "just" the half marathon because I'm not 26.2 miles of crazy right now.  I should really do some kind of race recap, and I'm sure I will, but first a little bit of why the weekend was so awesome.

I finally got to meet several friends In Real Life who I have know online for YEARS.  It's crazy, really, this whole blogging thing.  I've "met" some of the most incredible people EVER and when we get together for real, it really feels like we've been friends for eons. Or is that just me?

First up was meeting Donya. She's one of the original Shrinking Jeans gals and only lives about 2 hours from me, yet we had never met.  Even with a super busy kid and family night, she snuck away for a drink and selfie :)

MWAH!

The reason I got to meet Donya is because Nancy let me crash at her house on the way to Chicago.  I love Nancy, even without her proximity to Midway. She's such a sweetheart and even got up at the crack of dawn to make sure I had breakfast before my flight.

What an awesome group of hookers ;)

After arriving in Jacksonville, I made a beeline to the Donna Expo where I met up with Beth (aka Beth Bob aka Discom-BOB-ulated Running)!! Beth was working the Momentum Jewelry booth and we hung out and chatted races, triathlon (she's an IRONwoman!) and expo working.  Tres fun.  Hopefully I'll see this girl at more races in the future, or even up here since one of her BFFs lives not too terribly far from me.

Excuse my "I've been traveling and up for hours" look and focus on how cute Beth is.

Race morning, I was hoping to run into a couple other friends who had super fun race ambassador duties Saturday afternoon and night so I missed them at the expo.  As luck (and social media) would have it - I got a two-fer!

I finally got to meet Krissy! She is just as sweet and fun IRL as she is on her blog and Instagram.  We hung out and chatted for a bit before I had to run off to find the little girl's room one last time.  Krissy is your go-to girl if you need ideas for race costumes. Seriously - she's a pro.  And she always looks adorable in the process. Plus, she probably has the cutest dog on the entire internet.  Dug even has his own Insta I think ;)

Could Krissy be any cuter in her footie pjs?

It seems 3rd time's the charm when it comes to Marcia!  The Social Media Butterfly and I had planned to meet up at Jax Bank 2 years ago and again this year, but life and schedules got in the way.  This time, she found me chatting up Krissy and we hung out for a bit before she went off and CRUSHED her marathon.

We even got to celebrate Monday night with beers and pretzels the size of our heads.  

During the weekend, I also got to spend time with Jax DailyMile friends Deb, Joe, and Wendy, with them coming out to the beach and giving me beer mid race :)  Can't beat your own personal aide station!  If there is one thing I am most thankful for as a result of this Blogging, Facebooking, Twittering (totally words, shuddup) little gig I have, it's the friends I've had the pleasure to meet along the way.  

Now, if I can get my act together, I'll work on a race recap, because the Donna was so great on so many levels.  Until then, Cheers!