Vacation Recap: DE Boardwalk

The Operation: Wonderland vacation recap continues! You can catch up with the vacation plans, South Carolina, South of the Border and D.C. posts!

After DC we headed 3 hours to Lewes, DE to visit my Aunts. They had a wonderful, fresh dinner prepared for us to celebrate my recent graduation!

My Aunts spoil their dog Cassie. I say 'dog' loosely.. she's more like royalty!

I wish I would've gotten pictures of the food. They are into hearty whole foods. They served pasta with a vegetarian sauce, 9-grain bread and a colorful salad tossed with lots of fruits and veggies. It was SO nice after so many processed foods in the car!

Before our big day in Delaware I decided I had to go out for a run. David joined me... but we didn't have enough warm running clothes. My Aunts were gracious and allowed us to borrow their warm but completely mismatching items! We must've looked like quite the team! (David had shorts on for a run when it was 20 degrees out! And look at his gloves!) Hilarious.

If I didn’t have family in DE I wouldn’t give it a second thought, but DE is really a beautiful state.

The Boardwalk

Isn't he handsome?! (Fake smile..grr!)

The area they are in is a quiet beach community. We had fun walking on the boardwalk with the cute shops and restaurants.

The BEST caramel popcorn.

We had fun ogling all the fudge!

New York recap up next!

Racing Myself

I feel somewhat silly being all sentimental about “lessons” in a short 5K, but that’s just how it goes!

To give you a little background, I hate running. For me, running is just too hard. I can never breathe and my muscles continually feel like they’re going to lock up and die. The worst part is when I stop running for a week my lungs and legs somehow ‘forget’ how to run.

I hate running so much that I’ve become obsessed with it. It’s a bitter competition I have with myself. Nothing else counts when I run; it’s me, the pavement and the always-there option to quit. Running is a tough path where the truth seems to always come out. “I can’t do this,” I tell myself.

Time is against me. My lungs are against me. My physical condition is against me. The question is if I will choose to push through and run anyway- if I will run in spite of everything against me and succeed.

______________________

7:08p.m. Friday night I’m fighting to keep pace with a pack somewhere in the middle of 1,200 runners flooding the streets of historic Ybor city. I’m 1-mile into a 3.2 mile race. My boyfriend and friend are far ahead of me by now and I’m just the girl jogging with her inhaler. Thoughts began to fill my head: you didn’t train enough; you are too far above your normal weight; if you’re struggling with this, how are you going to do a 10K later this month?

I manage a comfortable pace. I’m over 2-miles in now. In the midst of telling myself I can’t do it I take stock of the situation. My breathing has steadied. The pain in my legs has gone away. The cramp in my side isn’t so bad. I realize that at this point the only thing keeping me from dashing to the finish line is myself.

At mile 3 I do quick math and realize that at this rate, despite my struggling, I’m not going to beat my previous 5K time. My jog slows and my head falls down. Then I hear David’s voice as he’s jogging up next to me. He had already completed the race and came back to push me the last bit.

I run through the finish-line and smack into his sweaty arms. I beat my PR by almost three minutes. Even though I believed deep down that I am not a runner and I could not run faster, I beat my time. I love running.