First 5k Race

This post is coming a little late but last weekend, I ran my first 5k in Nafplio! It was such a great weekend spent exploring the Peloponnese with Meera, Kim, Abby, and Carlyle. We rented a car Saturday morning and returned Sunday night but actually were able to see a lot of the Peloponnese in those few days! Our first stop was Mystras, Greece where we enjoyed lunch and hiked up to the old fortress. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we got there but it was still an incredible view!
From there, we went to the old well-known town of Sparta. There weren't a lot of people around when we got there but our waiter at the restaurant in Mystras had said that there was a great little bakery there. He was right! I was still full from lunch but I snacked on some of the girls' desserts, which were incredible!
Afterwards, we headed to our final destination: Nafplio. Nafplio is absolutely one of my favorite towns in all of Greece. However, we got in a little late so we enjoyed dinner and went to bed early to prepare

for our races the next day. Kim, Abby, and Meera were racing the half marathon in the morning and Carlyle and I were doing the 5k. While the three girls were at their race in the morning, Carlyle and I had time to explore the old town of Nafplio. While exploring, we made a little puppy friend. SO CUTE! She/he followed us around the whole town and didn't want to leave us. We went to sit in a restaurant and ended up relocating outside because she followed us in the restaurant! We tried to sneak her into our car when it was time to go find our BIBs for the race, however, we couldn't get her in! Carlyle had named her Marathon and departing from her was so sad. Below I attached a few photos of her and you can tell just how sweet she is! And happy to get so much attention!
Running our race was so much more exciting than I had originally thought (the race was on Sunday March 5th). Carlyle and I kept a good pace, and we finished in 37 minutes. Being my first race, I was very proud of myself! Right after the race, we hiked up 999 steps to the top of the fortress in Nafplio. It was such an amazing view and afterwards, we grabbed lunch because we were starving! After lunch, we sat to have ice cream by the water, which was the perfect end to an incredible weekend. I am looking forward to taking my mom and Kevin there when they visit in April!