Ahhh. The beach![/caption]This was one incredible weekend! It was the final weekend of my kid's summer vacation, and we decided to do something AWESOME for them! We got up in the wee early hours of Saturday morning and headed down to Virginia Beach. We didn't let them know WHERE we were going until we were in the car, and they didn't know we were spending the night until we pulled into a hotel (while 4 hours is a long drive, we have been known to do those as day trips). I don't think there is anything that has quite the energy (or grants as much energy) as being on and in the ocean!
It did not take the kids long at all to jump right in! You could say it took exactly as long as it took them to get their shirts and shoes off!
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And They are OFF![/caption]I won't lie, they aren't the only ones that love the beach!
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The second day we all had shirts on.. because of the sun burns from the first day![/caption]We had been in the water for a couple of hours when I started realizing how tiring jumping the waves, tossing the kids and resisting the current was! I didn't think I would be getting a good workout! After 4 hours of ocean-play, we let the kids we needed to head out, especially as home was four hours away. We got into the car and they immediately passed out, at 3:30 in the afternoon!
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We broke them![/caption]They were seriously confused when we woke them up at the hotel! Confused, but not disappointed! After showers to get rid of the salt and sand, food was in order!
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Maybe a good meal will help that sunburn heal![/caption]This was also the point that we really began to realize that our "Water-proof" sunblock had washed right off in the ocean. This is an especially bad thing for my read headed wife! We certainly didn't let it stop us from having a good time (or getting FOOD!) however, as we headed over to the Cheesecake Factory. It was a restaurant we had both wanted to try (cheesecake? Duh!), and it seemed like a perfect opportunity! I have to say the food was incredible, and I understand completely why they don't post their nutritional information on their website! ! Heck, I understood it before I finally did find it thanks to a law in Washington State! (It is available on calorie-count.us). I can honestly say, I have no idea how herb-encrusted salmon becomes a 900 calorie entrée. Though from my wife's reports - it was very tasty!
We did find a PETA vehicle parked alongside the road.
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I admit it.. We thought this was funny.[/caption]I have to admit, we didn't take away the message that PETA was hoping we would... (link to the McCruelty campaign, because I feel guilty the van made me laugh..)
The food obviously helped the kids recover.. Though for the life of me I can't understand why watching tv on the floor of a hotel room is better than watching it at home.. But they assured me it was!
Bed came along quite quickly.
Now, Sunday is "long run day." The fact I was in Virginia Beach certainly wasn't going to change that! (I'll bet you thought that, if you made it this far in the blog, that there wasn't going to be any running mentioned! ) So I was up at 5:45, and headed to the boardwalk to run (it was a 15 minute drive. Running to the sunrise and the sound of the Ocean Surf? YES PLEASE!) I started my run and was greeted with one of the most beautiful sites:
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What is it about the Sun Rising over the ocean?[/caption]
According to the Website, the boardwalk was 3 miles long. With a goal of 12-13 miles, that meant I simply needed to go the entire length twice, plus a wee bit, right? Well, I think their three miles is different from my GPS's three miles. (I can't show as clear of a chart as normal, because I screwed up my tracking while taking pictures. So I have two miles, than the rest of it in a different run!) I have to admit, the map on the right cracks me up. When you run up and down one road, and the road next to it - it does NOT give you any useful information at all!
Looking at the total calories burned - I think that almost exactly covered the calories I was "over" from the previous day. Not bad for a vacation!
There was no question on keeping the same pace going for the entire run. At Mile 6 (or mile 4 on the 2nd run), I was really starting to feel how tired my legs were from playing in the surf. This was about the point where I started thinking I MIGHT be running the lower end of my 12-13 miles I had planned. I didn't spend too much thought on it however, as I was a long way from the end - and was still enjoying the sun and sand!
You could tell the tourists from the locals running, because the tourists smiled and waved back!
At Mile 10, my legs were not happy. By not happy, I mean they were telling me that they were going to go wait in the car while I finished my run. I ignored them and kept going. I did have a problem at mile 10.8 - you see I passed my car here. I knew I had to go at least .6 of a mile back up and back, but my body was seriously rebelling. None the less I did manage that. My body did let me know that if I went that additional half a mile, to turn it into 13, it was going on strike - so I limited myself to 12, in the interest of keeping my entire body working together.
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My wife packing as I lay there unable to move.[/caption]After my run, I did return back to the hotel to help my wife pack up and get ready to checkout. Ok, so really she had done most of the packing up. I showered and laid on the bed whining about my legs and being unable to move much. After hobbling to breakfast and back to the room, we checked out and headed back to the beach!
The waves were MUCH more active the second day! We had a BLAST! The kids had boogie boards now, and the increased wave size really worked to their advantage! Fighting to stay on your feet added to the quality of the days exercise for sure! After a few hours in the water, we decided to walk the Atlantic Ave before heading back to the car. We stopped to gather informational booklets (so we would be better tourists next visit), and got sucked into seeing a 90 minute time share presentation for GoldKey. Put us behind schedule, but they gave us a $50 Giftcard. (We did NOT sign up for a time-share!)A truly awesome way to end out the summer!
- Sign on Atlantic. Keep that language clean!
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At least the view from the Timeshare Demo Unit was nice![/caption]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please consider donating to my Help the Homeless fundraiser for Volunteers of America Chesapeake’s homeless services.
The fundraiser is through the Fannie Mae – “Help the Homeless” walk program, which means they match every dollar you donate, with a dollar. So even a $5.00 donation immediately doubles in size and makes a difference!If you want to read more about the good works of Volunteers of America Chesapeake, you can check out their blog!
The trip & run look amazing!! Great job getting out on vacation!
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