When my son was accepted to be a camp counselor for the 6th graders this week, my first thought was – “no kids at home? Time for a trip!!”. I booked a trip to Key West after rejecting my first idea of camping in Michigan for the week. Sunny beaches sounded more appealing and would be the perfect distraction for race recovery! I got really nervous that this trip would not happen when the 1st week of camp got cancelled due to COVID at the camp (they told them the night before that they couldn’t go!!) but all systems were go and we hopped on a plane to Florida after we dropped my son off for a week of camp. Here is what he looked like when we dropped him off, and picked him up. He said camp was crazy, exhausting, and he loved it 🙂
I didn’t do any running on vacation, because I was resting and because my quads were screaming at me for most of the week! I couldn’t run even if I wanted to. Instead we spent our time enjoying the area. Highlights were:
Touring Earnest Hemingway’s house and seeing all of the 58 cats! Their claim to fame is that most of them are 6 toed cats. So cute!!
Hanging out on Duval street and drinking!
The Southernmost point of the US
Beautiful beaches and loud roosters!
Malory Square’s celebration and watching the sunset
A ferry ride to Dry Tortugas. The boat ride was 2 1/2 hours each way! Building a fort on this remote island was quite a feat. We went snorkeling there and toured the fort.
Yummy food – but we didn’t like conch fritters which were supposed to be a specialty here.
Feeding tarpon at Robbie’s. Their mouths were huge!! A couple of sharks crashed the party.
A drive through Miami and walking on South Beach
At the end of our vacation I was feeling very good! No hernia pains and my quads had recovered. Alan was feeling good too. Hooray for rest days! It was quite a shock when we arrived in Ohio and it was 45 degrees.
Fri – 3 miles. I decided to try out an easy 3 miles to see how my legs were feeling. Much to my surprise, they were not feeling great! Not only did I feel hernia tightness quite a bit, my old nemesis “hamstring pain” appears to have returned too. UGH. My plan is to stretch and do PT every day and maybe I can nip that in the bud.
Football Friday… our team won again!! This was their last season game, so they are now moving on to the playoffs! yay!!
Sat – 6.5 miles (“long run” for the week!). I had a hard time falling asleep last night with glute/hamstring pain. I thought the answer might be some exercise, and not rest for the situation. Although this run didn’t feel the greatest, I took it easy and post run I think it was for the best. (wearing my Columbus race shirt. Not my favorite color, but it’s does match my shoes!). I’ve got the Churchill’s half marathon coming up on November 13th so I have to work back into my mileage and recover from all of these aches!!
We went to the University of Toledo football game for family weekend. The game seemed extra long compared to high school football, and we all agreed that leaving after half time was OK. LOL!! They did win though.
Sun – unpack (finally!). Clean the house. Do laundry! You know the post-vacation drill 😉
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Closing items:
- I posted a race recap from the Columbus half. Spoiler alert: it’s got a surprise ending! Please read if you commented on my blog last week (it’s a big change of direction from last week!)
- Our foster Petunia was adopted less than an hour after she was put in the kitten room! The family who adopted her was used to work with my friend, so I’m assured it’s a great family. Yay!!!
This is someplace I’ve always wanted to go. I almost ran a half there but the timing didn’t work out. Every year I go to Naples, I say I should take a boat across.
Sad for no more pix of Petunia but happy she found a forever home.
I couldn’t imagine running in Florida honestly! It was around 84-87 degrees and it felt really hot! I do appreciate the fall and winter we have in Ohio 🙂
I knew nothing about Key West, but when I saw airfare for $45 a person to Ft Lauderdale I decided it was time to explore!!
Yay!!! Petunia has a home! Although I still wish she lived here with me : )
Your Key West adventure sounds really fun. I’ve been there several times but the last time was when my son was around four years old, so I remember doing things like going to pirate museums.
Interesting that taking that time off did NOT help your hernia or hamstring (was the hamstring even hurting before this, recently?) I agree that doing some running is probably beneficial. Hope it goes well this week!
I was surprised about bad how my run felt! Nope, the hamstring issue had been a thing of the past, and then out of no where it hurt to even just sit on the toilet!! Ugh. But thankful it seems to be better now, because I really couldn’t take the continuous pain of that issue again. Fingers crossed I’ve moved past hamstring pain!
There were a lot of things I would have liked to see in Key West, like the museums. My kids were disappointed that we didn’t take them, so it will definitely be a place we return to with the whole family! My son was offended we took a vacation without him. I asked him “are we just supposed to sit around and be sad that you aren’t home??”. According to him, yes we are. LOL!!!
Oh, that’s great news about Petunia and her new home <3 I missed your recap, so I'm headed over there next. I'm doing the Key West Half (mid-January) and all their swag has roosters on it LOL We went to Key West few years ago, and it was fun seeing all the local sights and attractions. That southernmost point is pretty cool (we have a pic of us from there, too). Glad you made it back safely!
I hope the temps are cooler in January! No matter what, a visit to Key West still be fun even if the race is hot.
I hope we get some more foster kittens before “kitten season” is over!
Well done, Petunia – hooray! And good recovery and lovely pics. Hope all the pains calm down.
Petunia really did turn into a healthy little kitten. I was worried there for a few days when she was losing weight, but she was a champ and made an excellent recovery!
Sounds like a fantastic vacation! We’ve been to KW a couple of times & both times had a great time — although never made it to Dry Tortuga. I don’t think I’ve actually been on a boat since the time I got seasick (small boat, super hot day) in Kauai. Although I do have a foggy memory of some boat somewhere after that & being ok …
I am sorry that you are dealing with pains, again. Fingers crossed.
The ferry tour told us all that we should take some Dramamine just in case. I don’t normally get seasick, but it was cheap insurance. They made it seem like the ride back was going to be rough, but I didn’t think it was bad at all!
what a great place for a quick getaway. You hit up all the fun spots. Taking a few days off of running is always good for our bodies.
It was just what my husband and I both needed. A good distraction from running and focusing on some recovery! It wasn’t the best in terms of healthy foods and diet, but hey, we can always make up for that once we are at home!
That looks like an amazing getaway, and it must have felt strange not to run on vacation. Nice change of pace to sleep in maybe, and drink and eat a bit more than normal. Well deserved! The 6 toed cats are fascinating. Great news on Petunia! Off to read your race recap now.
The 6 toed cats were very interesting! And they were all larger cats, like the size of Maine Coon cats. But so cute and very chill!
Great plane shot! I love conch fritters, so send them all my way. Key West is definitely on my bucket list. Boo on hernia pain. I dealt with my hip wakig me the other night. Not fun. But glad it was fleeting. Hope yours is the same
My husband and I decided that maybe we just had an odd batch of the conch fritters, but we really didn’t want to spend the money and take a chance at another restaurant! I did have a shrimp dish that was really, really good! I’m just not much of a seafood fan.
Pain in the night sucks! I’m glad it went away for you. So did my hamstring pain! yay!
Oddly while I love seafood, I ‘m not a shrimp person.
What a beautiful time away – those pictures are so beautiful and have me yearning for a break! I love the random rooster too! But sorry to hear about your different niggles – that’s never fun but there’s still a bit of time before your race so hopefully you’re able to shake them off.
Luckily the roosters didn’t wake us up any mornings, but you could hear them randomly clucking all day! It was a nice getaway.
What a fun getaway! Aren’t all the kitties around the EH home amazing? Yes you got a nice break from the weather! Is that a mint green race shirt? I can say with 100% certainty that I’ve never gotten one in that color! Haha! Great news about Petunia!
Sorry you didn’t like the conch fritters! They’re not my fave, but they are great in the Keys!
We were looking at heading down there for Spring Break, but it’s so…. complicated, even though it’s in the same state. It’s about a seven hour drive, but a pain in the butt to fly and rent a car. We will get back there at some point.
I haven’t been to the Keys since Middle school…and I lived in Florida! It was so far away from where I lived. Florida is a long state haha.
I bet it was a shock coming back to cooler weather! I’m loving the fall temps we’ve been getting so far.
So happy to hear that Petunia has found her forever home 🙂
Sound like you had an amazing getaway! I’ll admit that my eyes focused on those lovely drinks because they look so refreshing!
Only bad part of the drinks was getting brain freeze (and the dilemma of picking a flavor among all of the choices! 😉). We are picking up 2 new fosters this week. Should be interesting because they are on meds!
The hubs and I have been to Key West twice–both times without kids. We need to go back! I’m sure it’s very different now. But such a fun place. Great way to recover from a hard race. Off to read your recap!
It was a fun place! I’m looking forward to taking the kids back there with us some day.
We’ll be in Miami and Key West in January for our bike ride. I loved seeing your pictures on IG!
Your Columbus race shirt IS my favorite color! 🙂
It is never okay to leave a football game at halftime and there’s nothing better than college football! 😉