Amateur at large: Vacation Post! **Warning, warm weather pics ahead**

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Vacation Post! Warning, warm weather pics ahead

I was fortunate enough this year to take a nice LONG family vacation to warm and sunny (ish) Florida! It was a nice break from the arctic tundra that is CT at the moment. I don't mean to brag... but I'm gonna. All over this post!
I went with my dad and stepmom. I ALWAYS try to accept any invite for a family vacation. They generally don't cost me a dime ;) Plus my family is pretty awesome. Juno came too!

Juno the family dog

Sunny FL was rather cloudy when we arrived, but it was MUCH warmer than New England. I'll take it! We arrived really late, around 11 PM so our first day was a short one. I was lazy and slept in the next day, but decided not to be a complete sloth. I went for a VERY SHORT run (1 mile) with Andrea. We had a 5K the next day so really just wanted to stretch our legs and get used to the warmth and humidity.
After that there was lunch and a movie. Ahhh vacation. Nothing but relaxing things to do!
And that brings us to the 5K. It was the South Florida Fair 5K. I had discovered the event prior to heading south and decided it would be a good way to keep me exercising on vacation. I also figured if I could talk Andrea into joining me, my dad would drive :) (And maybe pay our entries too...) (Totally worked.) This was Andrea's first 5K ever. Not only that, but she said she really hasn't run much since last year. And you know what? She kicked my butt! I was super happy for her, and proud too! I struggled a bit, not being used to the heat and humidity, nor the extra 8 lbs I had collected during the holidays...

Not only was this a great event (only in its third year!) but they had decent swag too! We got t-shirts AND medals! Also free tickets to the fair, but it doesn't start for a few more weeks so I don't get to go. Sad face. I think the actual medals didn't come in time though, as they said they would be mailing the real ones to us? We did get medals though... Kinda confusing. But hey, two medals for one race? Sure!

Juno, Andrea, and I after the race

My dad and I

Sprint to the finish!

Skids wanted to try on my medal

I was actually super glad to have the race out of the way so my slothfullness could take over. It IS vacation after all! The rest of my trip was spent eating, occasionally running, a little boating, shopping (that's for another post) and some pampering.

New Year's Dinner

New Year's Dessert, don't worry we shared!

A very slow humid run

Captain and First Mate

Mani

The view from my dad's backyard in FL is pretty impressive, I sat out every morning enjoying it while drinking my coffee and some evenings too:

My last FL run was a longish one. I knew wasn't fit enough for it, but there's a 6 mile loop I was dying to explore. I decided to run/walk it which seemed like a fair compromise. I wound up running about 4.5 miles of it. It was lovely! Here are some photos: