Why I am not Racing in August or September

So, for those of you who have been following along, one of my goals for the year was to run a race each month. As you may have noticed, there is no August Race recap. It isn't just late, I didn't race last month and I am not going to race this month either. That said, the goal is still at least 12 races by the end of the year. There are two main reasons why I am not running these months.

First, I am behind in my training. The Space Coast Half Marathon at the end of November is my next big race. I am trying for a PR in this race, but my training has not been a smooth as I would like it. I have been sick, Baby E has been sick, we have been traveling and work has been hectic. All these excuses add up to being a few weeks behind where I would like to be. So, I made the tough decision to focus on running, not racing, for two months.

The other reason is that there were not a lot of races I wanted to do. One thing I have learned is that I only enjoy racing when I want to do the race. I am never going to be fast, so 5ks are not my favorite and running a random one just to race is not fun. I enjoy some of them, such as Run Nona at Night, Suck it Up Buttercup 5k and the Lady Track Shack 5k, but running them just to race is not my deal.

My I am excited that my racing hiatus will come to an end soon and the fall is full of races. This is what is on my calendar right now:

• UCF 5 Miler
• Skeleton Skamper 5k (I might freeze my butt off here)
• Run Nona at Night 5k
• Tower 10 Miler (tentative)
• Space Coast Half Marathon

I am still figuring out what I want to do for December. I am thinking about the Mount Dora Half Marathon, but not 100% sure I want to do another half this year. Let me know if you have any good December races.

Baby Free Weekend

I know the blog has been quiet for the past couple of weeks. I wish I could tell you that there was one big thing that was sucking all my time, but there really wasn't. It has just been a lot of little things sucking my time. Since baby E's birthday, there has been travel, illness (both her and me) and visitors. In addition to trying to keep the house running and my career on track. I guess that is a lot. 

Our last trip for a while was this past weekend. The husband and I had our first weekend alone together since baby E arrive (over 13 months ago for anyone who is counting). It was a much needed trip. Friday evening we packed up the car and headed South. My husband's aunt offered to watch baby E for the weekend. She lives in the Jupiter area, so that was our first stop. After getting E settled and giving way too many instructions (I was a little nervous), we were back in the car and headed a bit further south to Fort Lauderdale.

It was about 8 p.m. when we got to Fort Lauderdale, so our first stop was dinner. Guess where....Publix. Yup, our first night away from the baby and we ate subs in our hotel room for dinner. We have such a wild life. In all honesty, we were both wiped from a long week and a long drive. It was nice to relax and go to bed early without having to worry about entertaining a little one.

Saturday my body clock got me up at 6:45 a.m. Yay adulthood! We found an amazing French bakery for breakfast. Then hit the beach for a while. The weather was questionable most of the day, so after a few hours in the surf with rain clouds looming, we decided not to push our luck too much more. We headed back to the hotel to clean up and relax. 

Ham & Cheese in a Crossant....yes please

I take terrible selfies

  That evening we found a local brewery. The beer was good and it was nice to have some time to have a real conversation. That evening we headed back to the beach and enjoyed oysters, ceviche and more beer. After a walk on the beach we headed back to the hotel and hung out for a while.

Oysters and Beer

Sunday morning we slept late (until almost 9), then got ready and packed. We took a walk around the harbor close to our hotel and eyed some of the boats. The boats by our hotel were large gigantic and really pretty. Maybe if I win the lottery I can have one. The only problem with that plan is that you have to play the lottery to win and I don't do that.

So pretty

After ogling the boats, we went back to the French Bakery for breakfast and then headed North to pick up baby E. It was nice to have some time to ourselves, but I missed her smile. She gave me a huge hug and did not want to be put down for the rest of the day. The best thing was that she was happy to hang out with her Aunt while we were gone, she was even happier to have us back.

A few hours later, it was back home and back to reality. At least until our next trip.