Tag Archives: Boardwalk

Awesome Run on the Boardwalk

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I know you should be as excited about this as I am… I have a picture to share with you today! This is immediately after my 4 mile run on the boardwalk last night! I have helmet hair because of my 3 mile bike ride there and back, so even know it wasn’t a long run, I still logged 10 miles in. This is my first run since my sprints and coming down with the flu (remember me talking about being sicky-pants?) and it felt soooo good to be back! I think God was smiling down on me because it was a wonderful 80F and the breeze was coming in off the ocean, which made my run seem uber short and extremely enjoyable.

The beach is ALL set up for the surf contest that’s happening right now, Coastal Edge East Coast Surfing Championships, which is amazing. I’m pretty sure the beach was packed because of the competition, because it certainly wasn’t beach weather (notice the lack of people in the water or tanning in photo).

I’m excited about my 10 mile bike ride today, and the weather looks promising once again (hopefully NO rain!).

What workouts do you guys have planned for this week? Weekend? Seriously, BRAG away, Link up your best workout of the month, I’d LOVE to hear about it :)

Feeling Sluggish

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Well, it’s been a rough week with all this heat. When the heat waves first started rolling in, I was all eager to prove that it wouldn’t hold me back whatsoever from my running goals. And it didn’t. Two months later however, I’m exhausted from the heat. It’s so humid I can hardly breathe and I’m wet from just walking from my office to my car.
Disgusting.

Anyways, all that to say that I’ve been sluggish lately!

Make a long playlist to stay motivated to keep running!

Last night, however, my husband walked for about 3 miles on the boardwalk and got stuck out in the rain! It got me back in the groove and (thankfully it’s cooled down a wee bit to 79F @ 6am!) I struck out for a little run this morning! It was just under 4 miles, but it felt great to actually get a run in, not a run/ i.can’t.breathe.so.I.must.walk/run.

For those readers who are trying to stalk me by trying to figure out where I run, don’t worry about it. I carry my mace (sold on Amazon for $5.00!), and on a morning like today, there was about 8 cop cars that drove by me. Don’t ask why there are so many cop cars every morning that I run, but there are. Perhaps it’s because I’m on hospital lane? Hmm… either way, it does a lot to make me feel safe. Even though I actually day-dream about the opportunity to use my mace! (does that make me a bad person?)

Staying Healthy on the Road

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With the warm weather here in Virginia Beach, all I can think about is tanning by the ocean. My hair whipping in the wind, and my skin soaking in the sun. My waterbottle strapped to me since I dehydrate quickly… and just generally being on the go. With our lives ramping up for summer, it’s easy to lose sight of our fitness and health goals. It’s far to easy to skip the healthy snack and hit up ice cream at the beach or fast food on the road, but that can quickly undo all of our hard work! Now, I’m not against a little dessert here and there (see photo below), but we can stay healthy (and save some serious money) with a little lot of planning!

What you need:

  • A sweet little cooler that can roll or be carried to the beach or Busch Gardens (my two ultimate destinations this summer)
  • Apples/Banana’s with peanut butter
  • Trail mix (preferably with chocolate, except if you’re gunna be in the sun all day. yucky)
  • Mini carrots with dip or hummus
  • Premade sandwhichs (no meat, that can give ya Salmonella)
  • Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies. Healthy and filling!
  • Tons of water bottles. Freeze them to keep your cooler cold

If you stay healthy during the day, you can afford (both financially and physically) to go out and enjoy yourself in the evening. If you’re heading out to a resteraunt, order a salad with the vinaigrette dressing. If the day in the sun leaves you famished, order the grilled, baked or steamed options and resist ones that are fried or battered (think grilled chicken or salmon with a baked potato or steamed veggies).

Enjoy the sunshine (load on the sunblock!) and stay healthy this summer. I know this girl is aching to enjoy some beach time!

My goal: 50 miles in April

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We had a lovely weekend. It was warm and breezy, and we spent the majority of it outside! On Friday evening I went running with a friend and almost logged 8 miles! We ran straight to the beach, on the boardwalk, and back in a little over an hour. Talking with a friend while running makes time fly! She told me about getting a bike this weekend, so hopefully we can ride around this summer together.

Since I got a good run in the night before, I was a little sore for my Saturday run that I did with some girls from school in the park. The pollen was out and I could hardly breathe… so I took a few walking breaks I our 5 mile loop… slowing down the pack L so sad! I seriously tried to keep going, and I did my best, which is all I can do!

I’ve been wanting to amp up my mileage, and my goal is to run 50 miles this month! I’ve already run 30 miles, which is 62% of my goal in 14 days.  I’ll be so excited to hit another 50 mile month, which will be my second this year. For all you runners out there who are running with increased heat (or pollen), don’t forget to hydrate! I’ll be running with a water bottle on my long runs where their isn’t fountians… even though I hate running with one.
And another amazing pin I found on pinterest… always running… I’m glad I CHOOSE to run because I love it, not because I’m being chased!

A HUGE shout out to all those Boston Marathoners out there today! Best of luck to all of you :) Drink tons and take it slow in the heat!

SHAMROCK RACE!

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I woke up Sunday morning after about 2.5 hrs of sleep because there were gun shots(yes, gun shots) outside our apartment all night. I almost didn’t run in the race because I woke up feeling miserable, but Tyler was so encoraging and supportive, and helped me decide to run! (thanks hunny!)

My goal was to run the first six miles, and then run/walk the rest of the miles because my training had gone so poorly.

Parking for any Boardwalk race is a mess, and yesterday was no exception. The irony of parking in a bank parking lot in the handicap space while running a half marathon kept me smiling until the start! For the first couple miles, Tyler and I were smiling at each other in sheer happiness of being able to run this race.

Because, exactly one year ago, after the Shamrock race (we were running 8k’s back then) he took me to Fort Story and proposed. It was so precious and one of the happiest days of my life!

Back to the race. It was so glorious to run by Fort Story and remember our proposal exactly one year ago… and we actually ran RIGHT by the Lighthouse (on mile 8) that we visted the day he proposed!  The terrain was wonderful, we consistantly run on the boardwalk, so we were used to the route. While we were on base, running by the lighthouse, there was this mommy with two little kids in her stroller that allowed her kids to get out and RUN along side her! This was the most adorable site ever, and I was laughing for the remainder of the mile :) I was truly inspired to keep running. And I did keep running! At each mile marker, I decided to run that mile, and walk the rest. Until I got to mile 11, and then decided I was going to run the WHOLE thing! I’m so glad I did, and I’m so proud of myself!

I set my all time Personal Record yesterday. Not because I did great time, but because this was the FIRST TIME I’D EVER RUN 13.1 MILES! Setting my next PR is going to be easy since I really took it slow and ran it at 11:21 minute miles (according to my tracker), and 11:49 according to the race timer. They are different because I turned off my tracker during our washroom break… because I wanted to know our exact running time.

Seriously, I’ve never been prouder of myself in my whole life. I never thought I’d be able to run STRAIGHT for 13.1 miles, and I DID! I crossed the finish line, strong and feeling good. I’ve never been happier to stop running!

Disaster

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Anyone ever feel like me? I’m about 2 weeks behind on my life, and I never did really get to pause and enjoy spring break. My classes are larger than life and I’m running constantly with my job. And to top it all off, I’ve had the worst training season and any 1/2 marathoner would cringe at my milage. I feel like my world is spinning out of control but I’m going to put my foot down and catch up. This mess is called life and it’s not worth living unless I can get some serious cuddle time with Tyler, sleep, and enjoy the moments while I’m living them.

Anyways, back to my current life, where I’m trying to juggle waaaay to much at a time. I left my earphones at work yesterday, so when we headed out to the boardwalk I was music-less (sad face). Since it was a super short run (2.7 miles) it was ok, and I embraced running on the beach without tunes :) With the waves rolling in onto the beach, the night life just getting started, and other runners on the boardwalk, it was easy to relax and head into a slow run. I wasn’t racing, I wasn’t going for a personal record (PR), I was just enjoying my run. Sometimes that’s more important.

Today is going to be my long run, and I’m kinda scared. I haven’t run long in 2 weeks, and I’m not looking forward to my blisters and sore joints but I know I’m going to collapse on the couch satisfied. This is my last long run before my half-marathon, so it’s not Skip able!

Christmas Lights

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On Friday night, we all piled up in our car, stopped at Starbucks (and got a lovely grande Christmas blend brewed with two pumps mocha) and… piled back in the car to drive down the boardwalk! The boardwalk is set up with like a biljilion lights and we drove underneath them while listening to Christmas music! It was really cool to see the beach lit up like a Christmas tree and listen to the beautiful Christmas music. It was such a relaxing drive. The most entertaining part about the whole thing was the girl dangling out of the window in the car ahead of us attempting to get a photo of every single light structure. She was standing on her seat shooting over the car and almost fell out several times!

We didn’t spend the whole time laughing at her. Not at all. Right.

THEN- on Saturday (just in case we didn’t have enough Christmas Spirit pumping through our veins) we went to the Christmas tree lighting at Virginia Beach Town Centre! It was a warm and balmy 65F outside, and we merrily found our favorite local coffee shop, Daily Grind, and got our yummy lattes! BONUS: a church was handing out cookies in front of the coffee shop! YES!

We hung out at the 30 foot tree for like an hour and watching the children walk up to Santa’s knee… it made us kinda want to have kids for a couple minutes. Then one started screaming and we changed our mind. We’re allowed to be independent for a couple years, right?

 

 

Tyler’s brother had come along and took in the incredibly flattering photo you see above on his iPhone…
it was such a magical evening, and we had such a great time getting in the Christmas Spirit! I’m so excited to set up our tree on Black Friday between shopping and eating, string pop-corn for the first time, and drink hot tea or chocolate.

I love Thanksgiving and am excited to celebrate my first one with Tyler as my husband! We have so much to give thanks for this year!