Vacation

I couldn't think of a better way to end my season than a week long Caribbean cruise to celebrate my 16th wedding anniversary and my husband and I turning 40.  I was so focused on getting to the starting line of my olympic triathlon and half marathon that I kind of forgot about our Caribbean cruise that we booked a year ago. As the trip loomed closer I started getting more and more excited. 


I am a native Oregonian. I am not going to lie, the older I get the more and more I dread Pacific Northwest winters. I hate them. When I close my eyes and visualize myself on a beach, in my mind I see the below picture. That is why I absolutely loved the Caribbean and Florida. It was glorious. 


Mr. W and I love cruises. It's the best of both worlds for us. Mr. W likes to gamble and loves the late night entertainment. I love to people watch, eat and lay out and read. We took a Mexican cruise for our honeymoon. Celebrated our 10th anniversary with the same cruise. This trip we switched it up and decided on a Caribbean cruise as we have never been to the Caribbean. Mr. W splurged and got us a cabin with a balcony. I told him it was unnecessary as we don't spend that much time in our cabin. I was wrong! I loved having a balcony. I spent a lot of time outside enjoying the warmth and sunshine reading. It was nice to avoid people~my own private sun deck.  I've always wanted to go to the Turks and Caicos. The above picture is from our day at Grand Turk. It was so beautiful when I first saw the beach I started to cry. We spent the day at a beach resort. I swam in the ocean all day. Snorkel gear? When your triathlete you don't need snorkel gear, you pack goggles with you when you travel. I was able to see a ton of fish and get a great swim work out in all at the same time. 


Mr. W surprised me and had our wait staff sing happy birthday to me one evening at dinner. Yes, I did eat all those desserts pictured in front of me. No guilt. I was on vacation and I made the most out of eating all the desserts that I wanted EVERY night of our cruise.  There was a wonderful outdoor running track. We were on the spa deck, with a state of the art gym just steps away from our suite. I did bring my running shoes and running gear thinking I would run. I didn't lace up once during our almost two week vacation. I didn't feel guilty. I figured my body needed a break as well as my mind. 


The highlight of my trip was meeting my friend Anne and her family. We meet because we each had a blog and developed a friendship that has spanned over ten years thanks to the wide world of the internet. It was Anne's blog that inspired me to think about doing a triathlon after I had my brush with cancer six years ago. I still have the email that she sent me breaking down exactly what I needed to do to complete a sprint triathlon in only Anne style of humor and sincere love for triathlon. She is a ambassador for Swim Bike Mom, she continues to inspire and make me laugh. She was fresh from IM Louisville,  where she suffered a nasty fall on the bike portion of the race. Thankfully she was okay.  Even in pain, we still met up. Mr. W was curious to meet Anne. Who is this person who sends Mary unicorn horns, alligator heads and puts these crazy ideas into my wife's head? It was a wonderful evening visiting and laughing with her and her husband, it was one of my favorite memories of my vacation. I hope this is a first of many meet ups in our friendship. I hope one day that Anne can make it to the Pacific Northwest. We'll skip trail running and mountain biking for beer tasting and Voodoo Donuts. You know what? Florida has some really tasty beer! 


Anne gave Mr. W and I some great ideas how to explore the Gulf Coast during our brief visit. Mr. W and I really enjoyed exploring Florida via our convertible car. I just can seem to get away from otters! We enjoyed a yummy lunch here at RC Otter's. I got to enjoy Conch Fritters. It was on my "to do" vacation list. 


Our last night in Florida we spent at Hilton Key Largo Resort in Key Largo if we had another day or two we would have traveled all the way to Key West. I absolutely loved every second of our stay at the Hilton resort. It was difficult to leave the next morning. The resort was so beautiful. I loved the beach. Mr. W and I went swimming before a stormed rolled in after we arrived. Even stormy it was still beautiful and warm. We enjoyed happy hour then sat out on our patio and ordered a pizza. We listened to the waves, talked and drank beer. It was the perfect way to end our vacation. 







Vacation is over. I was slammed into reality when I returned home. It's been a bit of a struggle getting back into training and getting used to running in the rain again. Looking forward to planning another vacation and mapping out my 2016 race schedule. It's what helps me make it through the dark and rainy days of living in the Pacific Northwest in the wintertime. 

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