26.2 Miles on my Feet in St. Pete

RDM has been MIA for a the last week or so. I took a well-deserved break from blogging, break from work, break from the Wisconsin winter and a break from life. I headed south, to the shoreline of St. Petersburg, Florida for six days of R&R. My parents took my sister and I on my first adults-only vacation and my first family trip with my family since I was a teenager. Even though I only have Little Dude and Little Diva 50% of the time now, this would be twice as long as I have ever been without either of them. It was hard for me. But, I was able to make the most of my time away.

Of course, I packed my running shoes and a couple of cute running outfits. Even though I didn't have the little ones to wake me up every day, I still rose quite early to watch the sun rising over the ocean. I'd grab a Starbuck's with mom and/or dad and we'd walk the shoreline for 2-4 miles, picking up seashells and chatting. They'd head back to sit poolside and sunbathe. I'd grab my handheld water bottle and head back to the shoreline to log a few miles.

The shoreline we were on was about four miles in length. So, I could run up to 8 miles easily. My runs varied from 3-8 miles every morning. It was so hot and humid and I was so glad to have my water bottle with me, because sometimes I was running between 11am-1pm and the Florida sun was beating down on me ... hard. I'd stop at the various resorts on the beach and fill up and the head back out for a few more miles. I enjoyed expoloring various shorelines, piers, running paths with nice 1/2 mi mile markers. There were hundreds of people out walking and running every morning and I'd see many of the same people over and over each morning.

It was nice running the hard, compact sand on the shoreline, untile the tide came in. I was constantly dodging the waves (not wanting to get my new Karhus ruined). Seashells were crunching under my feet. I zig-zagged through families building sandcastles. I ran without music and listened to the waves, the birds, the reggae music playing at the resorts, and the fun that everyone was having under the hot Florida sun.

I even headed to John's Pass to meet up with Jenny, a local St. Pete blogger, one morning (more on that later!!). It was a blast to explore a new city on foot like that.

I would return to the pool, change into my swimsuit, usually catch a healthy lunch poolside or on the beach, and catch some rays until the sun went down.

By the end of the 5 short days that I was actually in St. Pete ... I ran a total of 26.2 miles. On the last day, I decided I better run a 10K (6.2 miles), so that I could say I literally ran an entire marathon while I was on vacation ... a marathon on the beach nonetheless!

This was MY kind of vacation, my kind of R&R ... a great mix of being active, chilling out, and re-connecting with those I love.