A Run and a Cruise

First Thing’s First: Running

6:00a.m. Friday morning, my alarm goes off. Already in my running clothes, I wander around the house to get ready for THE run: eat a banana, guzzle water, apply sunblock…

I live for long runs, so of course I was super excited about this run. But somewhere along the way half of me dreaded this run. In my mind 10 miles seemed so much harder than 9 miles. I kept up the positivity (“10 miles! Think of how awesome you’ll feel!” and “You rode 63 miles a few weekends ago… running 10 will be a cinch!”).

The run was tough. I managed to average about 10:30/mile, but every mile seemed to be a challenge. My legs were tired, my dried fruit was a horrible mid-run snack that gave me side cramps and most of my run was along busy streets. The loud noise of the passing cars made me anxious and kept me from focusing on my run. What a mess! Still, I did 10 miles!! Then, as you already know, I did some “no rules” lounging around.

What happened after that run is my favorite. David and I boarded our cruise ship that afternoon and I was so anxious to check out their gym that I headed up and did some very light biking while reading my new Runner’s World. Then it hit me: I want to run! I started running and my legs actually felt better than ever so I knocked out 2 miles at an 8:30 pace and felt amazing! Surprisingly my legs weren’t sore at all the next day. It was all of that foam rolling ;)

 

The Cruise! For our anniversary, David took me on Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas to Nassau and Coco Cay in the Bahamas. We had a relaxing and fun vacation!

I poured over the October issue of Runner’s World the whole vacation :)

We’re not sunny bunnies, but we did hang out by the pool a good share- with sunscreen, folks!   Saturday was in Nassau. I’ve been to Nassau two times before and don’t care for it (it’s too touristy for me), but I was excited about snorkeling!

Sadly we didn’t get any fun goggle pics, but snorkeling was breathtaking. I wish my camera could go underwater!

Some photos of Nassau:

 

Back in our room we found a little friend! This fuzzy guy made me miss my Dixie, Jack and Kitty back home even more!   

After formal night there was an ice carving demo in the pool. Can you see that he made a big fish? Very cool.

The next day was on Coco Cay, the cruise’s private island.

We walked around a little in the morning before my bathing suit broke (uh-oh!) and we headed back to the boat so I could change. Sadly, we experienced a bad storm and couldn’t go back to the island!

     The cruise was a blast! We went to all the comedy shows, karaoke, game nights and everything they had to offer. Still, we found plenty of time to soak up the lack of responsibility and just relax.

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about the food! That’s coming next!