Hello from Sunny Miami!

Hello to my snowed in friends all along the East Coast from sunny Miami!

I eluded to this last week, but I had a trip planned that got extended due to a work trip and that location was Miami, Florida!  As you may have known, I have had planned to run the Miami Half Marathon for about 6 months now, planning a trip down here with Brick, and a number of other friends from our running group in Atlanta.  As well as some of the girls that we went to Arizona with this summer.  The plan was for a long weekend, leaving Friday morning the 22nd and returning Monday on the 25th.  

However, then in the unpredictable and totally random fashion that things happen in my life, I found out I had a series of work meetings to attend in Miami from Monday to Thursday of this past week!  Since I was already coming here, it worked out well and I just ended up having a full week in Miami rather than the four days.  Unfortunately, when I arrived,I was still all bundled up because the weather here was a bit chilly as well.

I arrived on Monday evening and for the week had work meetings and evening dinners which made healthy living a challenge.  I did pretty well about staying on track for the first couple of days but by the end of the week I was binge eating chocolate covered pretzels and Skittles and M&Ms, which I'm a bit disappointed in myself for, but whatever.  I had a great time this week both personally and professionally.  I was able to catch up with a number of coworkers/friends that I haven't seen in a while, which was amazing.

I am sure that you remember Dani, my good friend from when I lived in Albany.  I cheered for her during the NYC Half Marathon back in the day, had amazingly fun times and conversations with her, and of course ran the Paris Marathon together!!  I can't tell you how excited I was when I arrived here on Monday and found out that she would be here for the week.  As well as my friend Jess, the team I worked with when I went to Mexico, Kansas City, and various other business trips I have been on.  The meetings here were large so there was so many people I was able to connect with in one place.

I did get a few easy workouts in, but not what I should have.  I went for an amazing run one evening as the sun was setting and since we were staying on a hotel connected to a golf course, there was a great path to run around and I ended up doing 4 miles instead of 3 because it was just so beautiful being outside and I felt great. If I could maintain the pace and feel I had on this midweek run during the actual half marathon this weekend, that would be pretty epic.

I was really happy with that pace (although in reality it was probably a bit slower than 8:45 minute/mile since the Nike app likes to extend the distances than you run a bit.)  However, it is still a vast improvement over what I have been running in Atlanta so far this year.  It felt a bit more like myself to push hard and feel good with the miles.

However, this was my first trip while really training for the Half Ironman and I wouldn't call it a success due to one fast run.  I swam on Monday morning before I left, took Tuesday as a rest day (although I did do a 20 minute strength workout), Wednesday I ran, Thursday I did a 20 minute bike ride and a 10 minute strength workout, and Friday was another rest day.  At least I kept the habit of moving around a little bit going.  However, I will need to be more diligent moving forward.

In addition to catching up with a lot of people I hadn't seen at work, I also gave a presentation that I was more nervous about than anything I've done in a while at work.  That adrenaline was exciting and I was happy about the way things went.

The majority of my week looked more like the picture above and less like the pictures of the beautiful sunset.  I didn't really leave the hotel at all and had lots of hours in conference rooms without windows.  I promise it's not always glamorous over here.  Except, I do try and have some fun wherever we go.  On Thursday afternoon I we escaped to at least do some work outside and then to head out for some Cuban food with coworkers, which was lovely.

On Fridady morning I began my long weekend by heading to meet up with Brick and some friends and visit the race expo for the half marathon.  I will recap the rest of the weekend later on, but wanted to be sure to check in and share about my week!

Hope you are all safe and warm throughout the snowy parts of the U.S.!!!