Summer Vacation 2015

Ah, vacation. Time of relaxing, eating, drinking, laughing, and enjoying life. Yup that about sums up my vacation this year. It may have started out a little rocky since it was the first time we used my parent's camper, but it turned out really well.

Our Redneck Heaven

I promise the beach is just beyond the campers.

We ventured down to Myrtle Beach. Because that's where we are required to go as Southern West Virginians ;)

We had a blast just chilling though. We had a few cookouts, did a lot of reading, and of course went to the beach a lot! It was definitely hot but not unbearable. I got some funny looking burns even though I used 100 SPF sunscreen! I'm officially not a fan of the spray on sunscreen. And no, I did not take a picture of my one streak of burn on my arm and my burnt knees.

I didn't take too many photos since I was busy drinking relaxing. But I at least did get a couple of runs in. I did my long run on Sunday which was about five miles. I meant to do more, but hey it's vacation and it's hot there! I ran in the evening to beat most of the heat though. Honestly I didn't run the rest of the week after that, but some things came up that didn't put me in a running mood, so I just hung out with the family.

Here is a snapshot of our trip:

Feeling Free

Enjoying a beautiful night

Yummy Seafood! - Clams, shrimp, oysters, and crab legs.

Grossness! - Oyster Shot, tasted like hot sauce with a slimy surprise inside.

The week ended with seeing Pippy Longstocking at the local outdoor theater, Theater West Virginia. The kids loved it!

Then on Saturday I went kayaking and tried out something new...

Haha, Mattie hated it! She actually jumped out the first time. The pictures are from the second try. She actually did pretty well and we only had a few attempts to tip us over. Not sure we will attempt it again, but it was fun(ny).

Sunday I ventured over to the Active Southern WV Group run. It went okay. I ended up doing 6 miles. I'm still not sure I like running with a group. I ended up just doing my run/walk, running 2:30 and walking 30 seconds, but they kept waiting on me and then they would walk some so it threw my timing off and I think I walked more than I should have. The run started off horribly though. I felt really weak and not good, probably due to the travel and the sun taking it out of me. I felt okay after a couple of miles though. I had done a little over half a mile by myself before we began just to shake my legs out. Not sure it really helped, but whatever. I'm still feeling kind of blah, but that might be due to the lovely time of the month, so I'm taking my rest days early in the week. I'm sure I'll regret this later in the week.

I was also told that I'm six weeks out to the Beckley Half Marathon! Holy Moly! It will be hilly and hard. Hopefully it won't be too hot though. I'll definitely have to do a walk/run method, just hopefully I feel strong doing it. I have a 5K coming up on the 15th that I need to sign up for and then Labor Day weekend I'm heading to Vermont, so I'll have to make sure I don't slack on my training, running and strength training between now and then. (Don't take today's unexpected rest day as lazing, I will get it done!). I still feel really slow, uncoordinated, fat, and just blah. But I'm working on it. I'm still only running three days a week which follows the Galloway method, but I still might add an extra short run on a day I do strength training.

My back has been doing better. It has been hurting a little yesterday and today, but I've also been lax on stretching so that may have something to do with it. I just tried stretching before sitting down to write and that made it worse. But I know I have to keep it up. Got to keep up with it if I don't want to go back to not being able to walk! Definitely can't have that right before my half. I also have to work off all of my vacation eats and drinks. :)