Weekly Log 11-Mar to 17-Mar-2019: From Key West to Rhody

Starting the week in Key West, and will be working our way north.
Caveat to the reader:  this blog post has photo-overload.

We were really happy to have Brady along for the South Florida vacation.
I think he was happy as well.  A very good passenger for sure.

Rented a 7-seater, 3-row Ford Flex.
A little bigger than I was comfortable with,
especially with parallel parking and tight lanes in Key West.
But it meant we had plenty of room for luggage and people
and dog.  Brady had a whole row to himself with his dog bed
spread across the 3rd row.  We don't spoil him or anything!

Big vehicle.  Great for family vacations, but I don't
think I'd want to drive this everyday.
Clearly not as nimble, quick, or fun to drive as my
dated, but fun six-speed manual Audi hatchback.

Monday:  7
About 4am I was awoken by Mark throwing up, writhing in pain, and asking if I could bring him to urgent care.  Sounds like either food poisoning or some type of stomach flu, but advised him urgent care probably not open until 8am and if still not feeling any better, we can go then.  But by now, he's woken up everyone, and Brady wants to go out.  So we went for a 4am walk so he could do his constitutional.

Slept in later than I would have liked, checked in with Mark, and he said he was feeling better.  Went for a run with Matthew about 8:30am.  It was already almost 80 degrees, with 80% humidity, and I was soaked pretty quickly, so took Brady for only one mile, and then brought him back lest he overheat again.  Ran a different part of the island today, and went past Smathers Beach, a run Steve Schonning had suggested.  While we did find some shade in a row of palm trees, we made the smart move to abbreviate our run, turn around earlier than planned, and head back before the heat and humidity consumed us.

Sorry, Brady, just one mile for you today.

Key West Nature Preserve
(We ran on a short boardwalk to get here)

Pelicans at play.  They are ubiquitous here,
so it's probably like a tourist take a pic of seagulls back in RI.

Matthew running ahead of me one of the few "trails" we found
all of about 100 meters long.

Smathers Beach

Public restroom at Smathers Beach
One of the weirdest I've seen.
No doors or interior walls, no doors on stalls either,
just natural stone.

Tommy-5K-style trails, a/k/a dirt roads.
The shade did help.  Marginally.

The small and overpriced, but quaint Palms Hotel that we stayed at.

Our room was the white double doors at 9 o'clock in above pic with blue Adirondack chair;

breakfast was really good and served outdoors at the covered bar

at about 2 o'clock in pic.

-----------------

When I say overpriced, I'm really referring to Key West overall,

and not unique to this particular hotel.

Love this picture Matthew took of Brady at Palms Hotel.
Not sure if he's saying don't bother me, or if he's just
tired of having his picture taken.

Obviously, we couldn't leave Key West without getting
the iconic tourist shot.

Grabbed some sandwiches to go at this place that Mark found
conveniently on our way out of
Key West.  While we were waiting the short 5 minutes for them
to be made, I thought, wait a minute, what was the name of the place
that Leslie just mentioned that she worked at in Key West?
Looked it up ... small world and interesting coincidence.

Hike (or more like a walk) at Bahia Honda State Park.  Helped to break up the long drive back through the Keys.  While the drive down was new and interesting, the same drive back was a bit monotonous, except the places where you're crossing water that were just gorgeous.

Beach at Bahia Honda State Park.

The views are expansive and beautiful

Brady has had enough of the views.
Can I get back in that air conditioned vehicle, please?
(BTW, Brady, I think you'd be happier living in the cooler climate
of New England than FL.  Just sayin')

Tuesday:  4
Miami Beach.  Venetian Causeway and Margaret Pace Park.  Right around 80 degrees.  Hot, but not as hot as Key West.

Interesting panoramic picture taken by Matthew, on a short break on our run on Venetian Causeway.
Downtown Miami in background.

Tacos for lunch outdoors at Taco Rico,
while walking around South Beach, Miami.  Hot.  Hot.  Hot.

Matthew and I had originally planned to go for a second run in late afternoon or evening, but unfortunately he had taken ill himself by mid afternoon and was bed ridden back at the hotel with chills and pains.  As the Bubonic Plague was spreading through the family, I just ended the day hanging out solo at the hotel pool.  I felt badly for both boys getting sick and in pain, but also selfishly feared I was the next victim.

Pool was pretty quiet by evening.

I really like the fire ambiance.

Why sleep in my own bed ...

... if the humans will spoil me?
(To his credit, Mark doesn't allow Brady up on
beds.)

You can see that Matthew and Brady clearly don't get along at all.

Wednesday:  5
Final day of Florida trip.  Got up at 6:30am to get a run in.  Brady was up right away and following us around, and since it wasn't as hot and we wouldn't be running long, we took him with us.  We went to Oleta River State Park, billed as Florida's largest urban park at 1,000+ acres.  Unfortunately, we got to the park about twenty minutes before it opened and it was completely gated shut.  As in iron gates that you couldn't possible get around or over.  Ugh.  One mile on awful busy cement sidewalks before the park opened.

Once we got in, it was pretty neat and quite a contrast to the busy streets of Miami.  The three of us ran some dirt paths along a river, before Brady and I went into the really twisty stuff.

Matthew and Brady through the palm trees

Pine forest!

Soft pine single-track

After a late check-out from the hotel, we drove to the Coconut Grove district of Miami, which was pretty neat.  Busy and active place with lots of people milling about, but also very dog-friendly.

We ate at "Lulu in the Grove", obviously named after Tom's dog

Not quite as hot as yesterday

After our late lunch, the five of us went to Virginia Key and played around at Hobie Beach before calling it a day and heading to the airport, and saying our farewells to Mark and Brady.  😟

Four boys playing on the beach

Eventually Brady got into the swimming

Happy to play fetch with his tennis ball

Sometimes we had to point out where the ball was to Brady,
but it really was so much fun seeing how he would react

Good times on the beach

Thursday:  7
Direct flight from Miami to TF Green landed after Midnight.  We got home about 1:30am and promptly crashed.  Fortunately I had taken Thursday off.  Alarm went off at 6:45am.  So why would I get up that early on so little sleep?  Well ...

Race registration for this famed race opened at 7am sharp, at
which time you enter an electronic queue until either
you get the nod to sign up or the screen shows that the
4,000 slots are filled.  Race purportedly sells out in minutes.
Matthew and I both got in!

Late afternoon headed to Ninigret with Matthew.  Quite comfortable running weather at 47 and sunny.  The only impediment was the sloshing in my stomach due to a late lunch.  I should know better.

Friday:  7
Lunch time run at Burlingame campground.  Trails had some wet sections and some snow and ice patches, but really few and far between.  I was very happy to be out on the trails, but I also felt that I was working super hard in the last couple of miles and getting weak.  I want to make a conscious effort to plan out some hilly workouts before embarking on a number of upcoming trail and mountain runs.

Saturday:  10
Matthew and I ran from Green Hill Park out to Matunuck and back.  We stayed together for about 3 miles at ~6:35 pace, but then when we turned into a headwind near the start of the Run 4 Kerri course, it was too fast for me and I got dropped pretty hard.  He waited for me at Trustom Pond, where we walked past the "No Jogging" sign, and then made sure we ran instead of jogged.  Another run that left me feeling slow and out of shape.

Sunday:  12
Likely my final run with Matthew for a couple of months.  I wanted to run trails; he wanted to run roads.  We split the difference and ran the first six on asphalt roads from Wood River Junction to Alton to the bustling metropolis of Woodville, and then the final six on a mix of dirt roads and single-track in Carolina Management Area.  I felt surprisingly good on this one!

Weekly mileage:  52

Weekly highlight:  Really just being able to get the whole family together for some vacation time in south Florida.  With Mark basically living in Florida now (I still hold out hope for an eventual return to the Northeast, no matter how unlikely) and having a dog, school, and a job, and Matthew in school in NH, I fully comprehend the difficult logistics of getting the whole family together for a vacation now, and I was thrilled we could pull this off.

John Pennekamp State Park, Key Largo, FL, with Brady on the Grove Trail.
At some point, unless I can kidnap Brady,
I'll likely have to get my own trusty trail companion.

If pressed for a specific run highlight, I would say it would be today's (Sunday's) 12-mile run, as I felt really good and finished strong.  I loved the trip down to Florida, but with the heat and shorter distances on runs, I can't really say any of the runs there were outstanding for me.

Weekly lowlight:  I don't know if I can call a run in Key West a lowlight, but man, that was just too hot for me.  I gradually acclimate to some heat during our own summer, but this is still technically winter after all.