~*~ Dream ~*~ Believe ~*~ Achieve ~*~ (Comments Welcome)

Taking an afternoon break at our hotel. I think we brought the FL weather with us to DC!!!

Here’s a no frills update for last week.

06/04/18 - 06/10/18

Monday - off

Tuesday -
  • 4 mi @ 11:47 + Strides
  • 11:44, 11:30, 11:46, 10:08
Wednesday - messed up first set of repeats. Did three instead of four. I usually list paces for these, but decided to change over to time it took to run the meters.
  • 2 mi WU + 4x(300m @ 8:36 w/ 300m RI) + 1 mi @ WU + 4x(300m @ 8:36 w/ 300m RI) + 1 mi CD
  • (1:37, 1:36, 1:34) + (1:32, 1:32, 1:34, 1:31)
Thursday -
  • 4mi @ 12:36
  • 11:58, 11:52, 11:46, 11:56
Friday - off

Saturday -
  • 6mi @ 11:47 + strides
  • 11:42, 11:34, 11:50, 11:30, 10:19
Sunday - I was too fast. It was beautiful out and I was just running for the sake of running.
  • 6 mi @ 11:24
  • 11:26, 10:53, 10:55, 10:42, 10:45, 10:47
 
06/11/18 - 06/17/18

This week was crazy with preparing to leave for THREE WEEKS!!!!

Monday - off

Tuesday - Woke up to this beautiful sky
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Ran faster than I should have, but I was feeling good.
  • 4 mi @ 11:47
  • 11:03, 10:32, 10:13, 10:11
Wednesday - Today was supposed to be a speed workout. I usually run in the morning, but trip prepping forced me to move it to the afternoon. I left the house under sunny skies. I was about a 1/4 mile into my workout when storm clouds rolled in and lightning and thunder started. I ran back home and barely made it in the front door when it started pouring out. Checked the weather app on my phone and saw it was going to continue to rain off and on for the rest of the day into the night. Moved some thing around on my running schedule to accommodate a treadmill run. Drove to the gym, hopped onto the treadmill and ended up staring at this view the entire time :mad:

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  • Plan: 2 mi WU + 4x(150 @ 8:36 w/ 150 RI) + 1.5 mi @ 9:46 + 3 min RI + 4x(150 @ 8:36 w/ 150 RI) +2mi CD
  • Actual: 4 mi on treadmill
  • Average Pace: 11:06
Thursday - Eeek! Are we really leaving for our trip so soon?

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  • 2 mi WU + 4x(150 @ 8:36 w/ 150 RI) + 1.5 mi @ 9:46 + 3 min RI + 4x(150 @ 8:36 w/ 150 RI) +2mi CD
  • :45, :44, :45, :45) /// 9:34 /// :43, :41, :43, :41)
Friday - Why is it I never find out my kids are in need of clothes until we go on a trip? Spent today buying clothes for my son and packing the car. We were leaving at midnight to drive to Washington DC. I forgot to charge my watch and it died at mile 3. I ended up having to use the Strava app to finish my run. I keep my phone in my pocket so I was sort of running blind and was too fast.
  • 7.5 mi @ 11:47
  • 11:22, 11:13, 11:22, 10:32, 10:43, 11:03, 10:44, 10:41

Saturday - Said our goodbyes to the dog and two cats. We use a pet sitter instead of kenneling them. It’s a lot less stressful for them being able to stay at home plus it’s more affordable! She visits them 3 times a day. Our dog loves her!!! We pulled out of the driveway at 12:20am. Traffic was miserable in northern VA and added an additional hour to our drive. We got to our hotel around 2:30pm. Ithink we brought FL weather with us because it was 98 degrees and humid. I had no desire to run in that heat after being in the car for 14 hours so off to the gym treadmill I went. We took a look at the White House before dinner in the hotel. We were tired so we were in bed fairly early.
  • 4.5 mi @ 12:36
  • Treadmill didn’t have a display where it showed you your summary at the end of the run so I have no data.
Sunday - Happy Father’s Day!!! I forgot how much earlier the sun rises in the northeast! Even though FL is in the same time zone we are further west so it stays darker in the morning. I had been hoping for a break from FL weather, but that would not be happening today. It was hot and humid. I woke up around 5:30am to get my run in before breakfast. We stayed in downtown DC so we were very close to the National Mall. That’s where I chose to run. It was a perfect location. A squirrel had me laughing so hard. He was eating pepperoni pizza. I don’t blame him. Pizza is awesome.
  • 9mi @ 11:24
  • 11:55, 11:22, 11:10, 11:36, 11:18, 11:17, 11:16, 11:02, 10:20

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After my run we had breakfast from Starbucks. It was a trenta iced coffee kind of morning. We set out with the kids to visit the monuments and memorials around the mall. Touring with an autistic child can be hit or miss. Today would be a huge miss. We took a taxi back to our hotel. We got the kids McDonalds for lunch then DH and I headed out to a nearby restaurant. They were serving brunch until 2pm so I had beer, oysters and bananas foster French toast. I love bananas foster and I love French toast so this was a heavenly combination!!!

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We went back to the hotel and our son didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything so we stayed in for the rest of the afternoon before heading out to dinner. After dinner we walked a little, but it was still miserably hot. Tomorrow was supposed to be even hotter................
 
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06/11/18 - 06/17/18

My training plan got all messed up this week!

Monday - today was a day off from running. We set off for Ford’s theater after breakfast. We had 9am tickets to tour the museum and listen to a presentation from a park ranger. It was already miserably hot and humid. It was hotter here than back home in FL! After the theater we walked to the Holocaust museum. We had lunch and rested at the hotel for a bit. The heat was just sucking the life out of us. We went to Starbucks and fit in a tour of the Smithsonian Castle, the Native American Museum and the Museum of Natural History. There is just so much to see and do in DC. This wasn’t our first visit and won’t be our last so we didn’t worry too much about seeing everything. We went to dinner and had planned to walk around a little and get ice cream, but we were all beat. We went back to the hotel instead. DH and I started going over our 12 hour drive to Maine for the next morning. We made a snap decision to leave DC at midnight instead so we packed up all our stuff and napped for a little while. Doing that would give us more time in Bar Harbor.

Tuesday - Leaving at midnight was the best decision. We did not hit morning rush hour traffic in any state.

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We stopped at a roadside lobster pound in Bar Harbor before heading to the hotel. The place is called The Travelin’ Lobster. The owner is a lobsterman and heads out on his boat at 4am every morning to check his 250 lobster traps. Whatever he brings in is served at the restaurant that day. They open at 12:30 and stay open until that day’s catch is gone. People start lining up before opening like its rope drop at Disney!!! The food was amazing. We got lobster rolls and steamed clams and they were heavenly. I’ve never had such a huge lobster roll packed with so much meat. I wanted some blueberry pie, but I was too full!

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We checked in to our hotel. Our view was gorgeous. We had booked a Mountain View, but got lucky and got a room with views of Cadillac Mountain and the ocean!!! I had hoped to run the streets of Bar Harbor after unpacking, but it wasn’t going to happen. We were staying about a 1/2 mile from the town center. I didn’t know there was major road construction happening which meant no sidewalks for me to run to town. Traffic was pretty heavy so I was nervous about running in all that. I was bummed I would have to use the treadmill because the weather was gorgeous. My calves were tight and sore, my hip hurt and my legs were just tired from all the walking in DC and sitting in the car.
  • Plan: 5 mi @ 11:47 + strides
  • Actual: 5 mi @ 11:41
We drove into town and walked around before dinner. I had speed work scheduled for the next day and was planning to drive into town, park the car and run along the water. From looking at google maps there was a path I wanted to use. Well, there was a path, but it was not paved, uneven, winding and along a cliff. Did I mention there were hills everywhere??? We had dinner and went back to the hotel. I took a look at my training plan and decided to swap Wednesday’s speed work with Sunday’s long run. I was in bed early so I could get up early.

Wednesday - sunrise was at 4:42am. I had set my alarm for 4am so I could get ready and drive into town to see the sunrise and run. My alarm went off and my body was so stiff and sore. My legs were screaming at me as I hobbled around the room. I decided to skip today’s run entirely and went back to bed. We were going to SIL house on Thursday. I planned on moving my long run back to Sunday and doing my speed work on Thursday. We spent the day in Acadia National Park. It was just so beautiful. We got one hike in before the boy decided he was done for the day and wanted lunch.

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There is only one restaurant inside Acadia National Park itself and they get very busy. I had made reservations for 1pm. It was only 11am, but it wasn’t busy so we were able to get seated. By the time we finished lunch it was packed and there were people waiting to get in. Nick wanted to go back to the hotel so we did. We dropped him off, went to town for coffee then drove to the top of Cadillac mountain.

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We visited more sights in Acadia before heading back to the hotel to pick Nick up for dinner. We got ice cream and hung out at the park for a little while before going back to the hotel.
  • Plan: 2mi WU + 4x(300m @ 8:36 + 300m RI) + 1mi @ WU + 4x(300m @ 8:36 + 300m RI) + 1mi CD
  • Modified Plan: 7mi @ 11:24
  • Actual: nothing
Thursday - i changed my mind on my running plans and decided to do my long run. Woke up at 4am only to find out the hotel gym didn’t open until 6am. I went back to bed and decided to do speedwork at SIL house. We checked out of the hotel and went ocean kayaking in the morning. It was so much fun. We saw porpoises!!!

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After kayaking we got some coffee and started the drive to SIL house. We stopped at The Travelin’ Lobster for lunch. I saved room for blueberry pie this time! By the time we got to her house it was 3:30pm. We had a few errands to run and it took longer than I anticipated so I didn’t get back to her house until 6:15pm. We still had to order dinner so today’s run went out the window.
  • Plan: 4.5 mi @ 12:36
  • Modified Plan: 2mi WU + 4x(300m @ 8:36 + 300m RI) + 1mi @ WU + 4x(300m @ 8:36 + 300m RI) + 1mi CD
  • Actual: nothing
Friday - Today we were driving to MIL house. She literally lives in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. The closest grocery store is an hour away! I got up early to go grocery shopping. I went back to SIL house, picked up the family and my nephew and we were off. After we unpacked I got ready to go running. I hadn’t been in two days and was more than ready to get out there! Today was supposed to be my day off. I took a look at my plan and decided to do speed work. These runs are hard, but I really enjoy them.
  • Plan: off
  • Modified Plan: 2mi WU + 4x(300m @ 8:36 + 300m RI) + 1mi @ WU + 4x(300m @ 8:36 + 300m RI) + 1mi CD
  • (1:36, 1:32, 1:29, 1:33) + (1:35, 1:29, 1:29, 1:29)
Running on dirt roads is hard, but the views I have are awesome :)

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We brought lobsters to MIL house for dinner. The shells of the claws and knuckles were so hard we had to use a hammer to crack them open.

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Saturday - I slept in today. We are so far north that it isn’t very warm right now so I’m taking advantage of it. Temps stayed in the high 60’s today. I had planned on running 4 easy miles, but I wasn’t paying attention to my watch and by the time I realized how far I had gone I was just over 2.5 miles from the house. Oops. Bugs here are disgusting. The mosquitoes, black flies, horse flies and deer flies are ginormous and eat me alive even though I have bug spray on. If I’m running I’m fine, but the moment I stop they are swarming me. I ran all the way back to the house.
  • Plan: 6mi @ 11:47 + Strides
  • Modified Plan: 4mi @ 12:36
  • Actual: 5mi
  • Splits: 12:15, 11:58, 12:01, 11:46, 11:45
Sunday - We we’re leaving at 9am to drive to Québec City in Canada. I got up early to fit my run in.
  • 7mi @ 11:24
  • 11:01, 11:07, 11:09, 11:02, 11:01, 10:55, 11:01
This was our home until Tuesday - Le Chateau Frontenac (not my pic). We had a suite with views of the city and of the St. Lawrence River. My MIL has dreamed about staying at this hotel for years so we made it happen. After staying here I could never stay anywhere else in Québec again!!!

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We had Poutine for lunch and toured a little of the city. MIL was having a hard time (79yo) so we didn’t stay out too long. It was also very cold and windy and started to rain.

MIL rested with the kids while DH and I went for coffee and walked around. It was COLD. I had checked the weather Saturday night before I packed for this part of the trip. Temps were supposed to be in the high 70’s and sunny, but instead it was in the high 50’s and rainy. Ugh. We had dinner and explored a bit with MIL and the kids before the weather and steep hills got to be too much for her. We took a cab back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening there. We could watch the street performers on the promenade from our hotel room!
 
It looks like my Smoky Mountains Half won’t be happening. My IL’s are having a lot of health issues. They were supposed to fly down to FL to watch the kids while DH and I had a little getaway for our anniversary. FIL was diagnosed with a lung hernia over a year ago and was told he needed surgery ASAP. Well, he refused and now things are even worse. He can barely breathe or walk. He has to have some tests on his heart to see if he can even make it through surgery now. MIL fell in April 2017 while visiting us in FL. It took us three days to get her to the ER. She cracked a small bone between her femur and the ball joint to the hip and was told not to fly home and stay on bed rest for two weeks. She was supposed to follow up after two weeks to make sure it was healing correctly. She refused and went home with the promise that she’d go straight to SIL house from the airport and see her doctor. She didn’t. She went home and didn’t see a doctor for two months about it. Doing that caused the bone to completely break and it didn’t heal correctly. She already had arthritis in that hip and now she needs a hip replacement.
 


I love the pictures from your trip - looks like you've seen lots of great sights so far!

Sorry to hear about your ILs and that you won't be able to get your weekend getaway. Sounds like a very rough situation with some very stubborn people.
 
I love the pictures from your trip - looks like you've seen lots of great sights so far!

Sorry to hear about your ILs and that you won't be able to get your weekend getaway. Sounds like a very rough situation with some very stubborn people.

They are very stubborn people. It’s frustrating because they hide all their problems until there’s no choice but to tell us or they slip up and tell us by mistake. MIL has “lung disease”. Well, which one? She refuses to tell us and hides all her medicine bottles so we can’t look them up to see what she is taking them for. I only found out about the “lung disease” when I brought her to the ER last year after her fall. The nurse wanted to know exactly what she had and she wouldn’t tell him because I was in the room :sad2:
 
I hope I’m not coming off as my race is more important than my IL health! It’s just a race. The family is just frustrated with MIL & FIL being so secretive all the time when it comes to their medical issues. We can’t help if we don’t know!
 


I hope I’m not coming off as my race is more important than my IL health! It’s just a race. The family is just frustrated with MIL & FIL being so secretive all the time when it comes to their medical issues. We can’t help if we don’t know!

It's not just a race. It's an anniversary trip you and your husband planned and were looking forward to. You have ever right to be angry & frustrated with them. And it's also okay to tell the in-laws "I'm sorry, but we can't and won't help you until you're open & honest with us." If they won't be forthcoming with their situation, they shouldn't expect everyone else to take care of them.
 
Ugh. My hip is in some serious pain today. It’s been sore off and on since we got to Maine and I thought it was from all the long car rides. I had no pain before we left on this road trip. After stretching, Tylenol/Motrin and walking around it’s been fine. The dirt road I’m running on is banked on both sides and uneven. I think that’s contributing to the pain and now I’m worried I did something to my IT band. I’m scheduled for 9 miles today, but I think running is the last thing I should be doing.
 
Also....the third book in a series I read last year finally came out this month. I downloaded it last night and had no idea what the heck was going on :confused3 I downloaded the first two books to read again.
 
6/25/17 - 07/01/17

I can’t believe another month has come and gone!​

June Miles: 130.29
Miles YTD: 664.80​

Monday - Rob and I got up early and walked to a patisserie to buy croissants and turnovers for breakfast. After breakfast we went to The Citadel to watch the changing of the guard. MIL wasn’t doing so well so she went back to the hotel with Eliana in a cab while Rob and I stayed for the tour. The Citadel is still a working military base so there is only one building you are allowed inside during the tour. How can they see out of those hats?

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Rob and I walked back to the hotel. We took a cab to Le Casse-Crepe Breton for lunch. This place always has a line out the door. I had gone here with my SIL and the crepes were very good. You can have your crepe filled with savory or sweet items. My crepe had mushrooms, onions, asparagus, Swiss cheese and bechamel sauce. When we left the hotel it was sunny and very warm. During lunch the clouds moved in and it started to rain.....then the temps dropped, the wind picked up and it was hailing. After lunch we shopped a bit, but we were all in shorts and t-shirts and it was freezing outside. We sent the kids and MIL back to the hotel in a cab. Rob and I walked back to the hotel. There is a Starbucks located inside Le Chateau Frontenac so we got coffee and went back to our room to warm up. I wanted to check out all the historical items they had on display for the hotel, but nobody wanted to go with me! If you ever get a chance to learn about the history of this hotel it’s actually quite interesting! I like history so I enjoyed what they had on display. We had dinner reservations in one of the hotel restaurants this evening so I met everyone in the lobby. We ate in Le Sam Bistro and were seated with a gorgeous view of the river. My family was starting to get tired of eating out for every meal by this point of our trip! Rob and I went out after dinner and it was even colder and windier than it was after lunch. I bought some souvenirs then hurried back to the hotel. Rob stayed out to take photographs. If anyone wants to take a look at his pics he is old.man.with.a.camera on Instagram. They are mostly wildlife and landscape. There were acrobats performing on the promenade tonight. We watched them from the warmth of our hotel room LOL! Old Quebec is VERY hilly. I found a nice running route through the Plains of Abraham for tomorrow’s run. I had yet to make it here so I was looking forward to seeing it.

Tuesday - I mentioned last week that the weather was supposed to be sunny and in the 70’s. My alarm went off and it was freezing in our hotel room. I decided to check the weather. It was 40 degrees outside with a real feel of 38!!! What? All I packed was a tank top and a pair of shorts for running. I didn’t even have a sweatshirt I could wear! I went back to bed. We had plans to see the Montmorency Falls that day, but MIL was in a lot of pain due to her hip. We decided to just drive back to her house. She slept the entire way home and was snoring away in the passenger seat at the border crossing. We unloaded the car and I got changed and went for a run.
  • Plan: 5mi @ 11:47 + strides
  • Splits: 11:25, 11:31, 11:29, 11:28, 9:50
My hip felt sore a few hours later so I stretched, took Motrin and used some Biofreeze. I went to bed feeling fine.

Wednesday - I woke up and my hip was sore and stiff. I decided to catch up on laundry that morning. After being up for awhile it was feeling good. It wasn’t sore or stiff at all so I decided to go running after lunch. This was probably the hardest workout on my plan so far.
  • 2mi WU + 5x(150m@8:36 + 150m@WU + 150m@8:36 + 300m@WU + 300m@8:36 + 150m@WU) + 1mi CD
  • :45, :47, 1:39, :46, :50, 1:34, :47, :47, 1:30, :49, :45, 1:33, :45, :45, 1:47
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Rob and I went for a short hike after dinner. I was covered from head to toe in bug spray, but I was still being swarmed by all kinds of bugs that bite. The black flies (gnats) were getting in my eyes, up my nose and in my ears. I couldnt take it anymore so we went back to the car. We saw a deer on the way back to MIL.
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Thursday - it was supposed to rain all day. I checked the weather and it looked like we were going to get a small break so off I went. My hip was a bit stiff at first, but within the first mile it loosened up and I was feeling good.
  • Plan: 4.5mi @ 12:36
  • Splits: 12:10, 12:00, 12:12, 11:47, 12:02
Friday - My alarm went off at 6am. I had zero desire to go running so I didn’t. Today we were going white water rafting. Decided to go running when we got back. OMG we had the time of our lives!!!!! In the last mile of our trip a storm moved in and it started raining. Not just a light rain, but a torrential windy downpour. We were laughing so much. Our guide kept telling us 3 more bends of the river, two more bends.....last bend and that’s where we will pull out of the water. I may or may not have busted out into a Pocahontas song....just around the river bend!!! I’m in the blue long sleeve shirt, Nick is giving the thumbs up, my nephew is in front of him, Eliana is in pink and Rob is behind her. Notice Nick’s paddle is out of the water and he is posing nicely for the camera? This pretty much sums up how hard he worked for the 3 hours we were out there LOL!!!

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Remember I said I was going to run after rafting? I didn’t.
  • Plan: 4.5mi @ 12:36
  • Actual: nothing
Saturday - Ignored my alarm and went back to sleep. I had zero desire to run. My hip was a bit stiff. The kids had had enough of isolation in the middle of the woods so MIL was taking them to SIL house. I made sure they were all packed and then procrastinated all morning. I finally decided to get out of pajamas and into my running clothes. I put on this shirt as a reminder to myself why I run.

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It helped a bit. Again my hip was stiff in the first mile, but loosened up. My watch started beeping and vibrating and when I looked it had paused itself. I hit the button to start it and the only data screen I had was elapsed time. I stopped the watch and saved my workout. I started a new activity, but I still only had access to the elapsed time data field. I restarted the watch. All my custom data fields were gone!!! At least this time it was giving me the Workout data field (the one with the red and green colors at the top) in addition to elapsed time. Once the watch was functioning I was on my way. Around mile 3 two medium sized dogs came running out of a yard and began chasing me. I was screaming bloody murder at them to go away. I reached some big sticks and rocks, but by that time they had stopped chasing me and were running down the road in the other direction. I had to run past that house again, but stopped to pick up a good sized stick before I did. The dogs were inside, but I could hear them barking. My hip was starting to pinch a bit in the last mile. I stretched and used biofreeze. I was cursing myself for forgetting my foam roller.
  • Plan: 7.5mi @ 11:47 + strides
  • 2.16mi - 11:42, 11:47, 12:41
  • 5.48mi - 11:44, 11:42, 11:47, 11:36, 11:37, 9:38
Rob and I decided to go for a short easy hike. My hip didn’t hurt. Again, I was covered in heavy duty bug spray, but still got chomped on by mosquitoes.
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Sunday - Alarm goes off and I can barely stand because my hip and glute are on fire. I limp out into the kitchen for coffee. There will be no running today. The dirt road I’m running on slopes on either side so maybe that has something to do with the pain I’m feeling? We were supposed to go to Moosehead Lake today for hiking, shopping and lunch. We ruled out hiking, but still went for coffee (I had a butterscotch soy latte), shopping and lunch. We also stopped by the historical society so Rob could check out the photography collection on display from the late 1800’s.

Not sure how my next week of training will go! I do plan on picking up a foam roller when we drive to SIL house on Tuesday.

Books Read: 5
 
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I bought a foam roller at Walmart yesterday. Cheese and crackers was it painful rolling out my hip!!! I feel sooooooo much better today though. I didn’t run yesterday and I’m going to skip today too.
 
I hate rolling. It really hurts when your hips are tight, but you are so right that it helps a lot. I really need to do it more but...
 
We are road warriors again and on our way to Massachusetts. The kids and I are looking forward to getting home. Three weeks away has been too long for us!!!

I have not run all week and I feel like a slug. My hip is happy so I have plans to put in a few miles tomorrow morning.
 
We are road warriors again and on our way to Massachusetts. The kids and I are looking forward to getting home. Three weeks away has been too long for us!!!

I have not run all week and I feel like a slug. My hip is happy so I have plans to put in a few miles tomorrow morning.

Start saving some nice weather up there. I'm looking forward to hopefully escaping the heat & humidity for a pleasant week on the Cape very soon.
 
Waiting at the Amtrak station in VA to board the auto train. It will travel overnight and arrive in Sanford, FL. Once they unload our car it’s a short 20 minute ride home. We have had a blast, but the kids and I are ready to go home. Eliana and I are so done with being in a car. One thing I learned is that three weeks on vacation is just way too long. Two weeks is probably my max limit from now on.
 
07/02/17 - 07/08/17

So happy, happy, happy to be home from vacation! All the fur babies missed us terribly. My cat Annie has been glued to me all day.​

Monday - I did nothing. Absolutely freaking nothing. I stayed in my pajamas and read all day long. I finished two books! My hip and glute were still very sore.

Tuesday - I decided to skip running again today. Rob & I packed up the car and drove to SIL house. Stopped at Starbucks for coffee, Walmart for a foam roller and then picked up Nick's birthday cake from Dairy Queen. We made reservations at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant for his birthday dinner. It was nice to have the whole family together. It doesn't happen very often now that we live in FL.

Wednesday - Hip was feeling soooo much better after foam rolling. I wasn't ready for running on it though. Had 4th of July dinner then streamed the WDW fireworks.

Thursday - Took another day off from running. Hip was feeling back to normal though. Went to dinner with my SIL and had Italian and an adult beverage (Mirtillo Cosmo - Stoli Blueberi Vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, fresh lemon juice, pomegranate juice).

Friday - On the road again. We were headed to Massachusetts today. We left pretty early since Rob had to work (he works from home so he worked from the hotel room) and Nick was spending the day at a friend's house. I had no plans to run at all today, but I woke up feeling good. It was raining out so I ran three easy miles on the hotel treadmill.
  • Plan: Off
  • Actual: 3mi @ 12:18
We planned this stop specifically to eat at a Mexican restaurant that we have missed. We have not been able to find Mexican food here in FL that comes even close to being as good. Sadly they changed their salsa and fried ice cream and not for the better.

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Saturday - We were on the road by 8am. It should have taken 6 hours to get to our hotel in Virginia. It took over 8 due to crazy traffic everywhere. I used the treadmill again just because I didn't want to run in an unfamiliar area. I was scheduled to do strides today. They are ridiculously difficult to do on a treadmill, but I attempted a few anyway.
  • Plan: 6mi @ 11:47 + strides
  • Actual: 5mi @ 11:43
Sunday - Back on the treadmill!!! I forgot to shut my watch off after stopping the treadmill so my pace is a bit off. I had set the pace on the treadmill to 11:14.
  • Plan: 7mi @ 11:24
  • Actual: 7mi @ 11:51
We had lunch then drove to the Amtrak station. We had decided to take the auto train back to FL. It was a lot of fun and way more relaxing to let someone else do the driving. We paid extra so we could have regular sleeper cars. The two chairs in the room convert into a bed and another bed folds down from the ceiling. I forgot to take a picture of the beds after they were set up.

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We shared two bathrooms with the other rooms. The set up was similar to an airplane bathroom. There is also a shower, but I didn't take a look at it. There are rooms with a private bathroom, but we didn't feel the need to spend the money. Maybe if my kids were very young I might have. Dinner is included with your train fare. When you check in you choose a time (5pm, 7pm or 9pm). I kept my expectations very low when it came to this meal. It was very gross. We had brought snacks onboard so nobody went hungry LOL!!! I didn't sleep all that well, but it's because it was loud. It was train noise and not people noise. When we would pass other trains it sounded like a tornado was outside! If we take the auto train again I'll be sure to bring my noise canceling ear buds onboard and listen to a white noise app on my phone. We arrived in Sanford around 7:30am. We were 90 minutes ahead of schedule. We had to wait until 8:30 to get off the train then we had to wait for our car. I think the people who drive the cars off the train must be contracted to not start until 9am. They literally sat from 8:30-9am outside the train. When it was 9am they proceeded to unload the cars. We paid for priority unloading. It was well worth it since there were 187 cars to unload! We were at home and had the car unpacked by 9:30am.

The auto train is NOT cheap and only runs between Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL. You have to buy your train fare and then there is a $200 charge to transport your car. It cost us $968, but it was cheaper than airfare and renting a vehicle for 3 weeks. We could pack us much as we needed and didn't have to worry about how much we brought back with us.

Books Read: 4
 

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