Friday Five | 3-13-26

1. Gate River Run

Ugh. I was absolutely crazy to sign up for this. It was 1 week after my Half, and I thought what a cool way to keep the running routine going. A 15k is a lot less miles than a half, right?! This was BRUTAL. I've done the Gate once before and found it really challenging. This year it was in a new location because of construction. Jacksonville really shows up for this race, and I love the vibes throughout the neighborhoods!

The race didn't start until 8am, and this weekend happened to be HOT. It was already too warm at the start, and it just got hotter from there. The most challenging part of this race is a huge bridge at mile 8. By then, the sun is beating down and you have to go up hill. The finish line has also been moved, so you can't see it for the longest time. When I tell you people were falling out right and left! I've never seen someone so pale. Lot of people are doing shots and chugging beer throughout the race, so that led to a lot of vomit on the bridge too.

I was not very proud of my race, but glad I finished. The post race celebrations were also out in the sun, and not a shade tree to be found. I can't tell you how many people we saw calling out for medics after the race! If they had just started it an hour earlier it would have made all the difference.

After a yummy lunch, we hit up the beach and that was worth all the suffering! 😂

2. Skylight Calendar

My amazing sister rallied our families to all chip in to get us a Skylight Calendar! I have had one in my Amazon cart for like 2 years, but never wanted to spend the money. It's been amazing. We are so reliant on our digital calendars with how busy we are. The Skylight syncs with all our calendars and has amazing chore/routine checklists. Our Skylight also came with meal planning features too. We've only had it a few weeks but it's made our communication so much better. I really like tracking our dogs medication schedule with it - Blake and I are completely on the same page with when Bailey got her last dose.

3. Warrenties

I just have to say, I appreciate brands that stand behind their products!! First, my Oura ring suddenly had a weird battery problem. Normally, my ring lasts for almost a week without having to charge, but it started having to be charged daily. I chatted with Oura and they logged into my ring, saw that it did indeed have a problem, and promptly sent me a new one. Took less than 5 minutes.

When I fell in January, I damaged my brand new Brooks. I had them for like 2 weeks, it was so sad. With a race coming up though, I didn't want to delay breaking in another pair. My aunt reminded me that Brooks has a 90 day trial, and so I just shot my shot and asked them about replacement...and they are sending me a pair! This might be my 8th pair of Ghosts, so I appreciate that they were loyal back to me.

4. Books I've Read Recently 📚

Happy Wife by Meredith Lavender - As I type this, I am having trouble remembering this book..if that tells you anything. Nora is the 2nd, younger wife to a wealthy man in Winter Park, Fl. Will goes missing, and Nora tries to figure out what's going on while navigating their elite community.

James by Percival Everett - 5 Stars! Jim is a slave that finds out he's going to be sold. The same Jim from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - but from his POV. I don't think you need to have read Huckleberry Finn to enjoy this. Slavery is horrible to read about, but this is so captivating.

Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green - Fantastic! Who knew Tuberculosis could be so fascinating. TB has been the most common viral disease for almost all of human history. John Green's writing makes reading about social/political impacts of a disease so interesting.

5. Disney Photo Pass

For my Disney Half, I knew I wanted to be able to get all the race photos. I did a lot of research, and so many people recommended the Photo Pass. It's kinda pricey, but you can get all of your photos for a month and it includes everyone in your friends/family list. We got our money's worth! Not only did I get great race photos, but we also stopped and took a bunch while we were there over the weekend. Additionally, Blake's cousin took a trip a week later and I was able to send her all their photos too. There were so many cute ones!