The Fantastic Florida Holiday Escape

It all began in the fall of 2021. I had a dream that I could get myself to run 13.1 miles again. At the time I had this dream, I couldn’t really run at all. The most I could do was 4 minutes running before needing to catch my breath. What this dream ended up being was far more than I could have imagined! Our quick trip for a race stretched into Thanksgiving with our friends, watching a rocket launch on the beach, riding the Hogwarts Express and seeing masterpieces by Salvador Dali. Stay with us as we unpack part 1 of our Fantastic Florida holiday escape.

The Escape

As you likely know, November in Michigan is most notable for gray skies, cool weather and early darkness. After the October we had, I was looking forward to some days with my face in the sun and my toes in the sand.

Thankfully our Florida friends don’t mind if we come for an extended stay. We took off on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving on the 7am flight. Even though it was one of the heaviest travel days of the year, the ungodly early hour did mitigate some of the barbarian horde.

The flight was smooth and we landed around 9:45 without incident. Thanks to the early rise time (3am) and my need for Dramamine, I spent almost all of Wednesday on the sofa. Thankfully, I had some cute company.

The Holiday

My friend, Anise, was happy to have us all for the holiday. We helped her out by staying out of her way. I spent the morning watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade with my momma. The afternoon was spent yelling at the TV. (We were watching the Lions game.)

Their friend, Chuck, came over around 2pm and we began the pre-dinner feasting…sorry, that was supposed to read appetizers. We had cheese, crackers, olives, little dill pickles and Stephen’s famous Buffalo Chicken Dip aka Crack Dip.

At 4, we had…get ready:

• Turkey
• Ham
• Rolls
• Mashed Potatoes
• Green Bean Casserole
• Corn Pudding
• Jello mold
• Cranberry sauce
• Stuffing
• And a partridge in a pear tree. (Literally, we drank wine from glasses themed on the 12 days of Christmas)

Friday Fun in Winter Park

On Friday, we had an easy day digesting our feast while walking around the shops in Winter Park. We had lunch at the Porch before the girls hit the stores and the fellas went to watch the World Cup at the Hangry Bison.

That evening we got to enjoy the latest Benoit Blanc movie, Glass Onion, at the theaters.

Off to Cocoa

Stephen, Momma and I loaded up Anise’s car and headed to Cocoa Beach around 9am. We had lunch and watched the Michigan / Ohio State game at the tiki bar by the beach.

Around 2pm, we all made our way to sand to see SpaceX launch a rocket into orbit. Although it was cloudy that day, we did get to see it for a few seconds before it disappeared. We got to experience the rocket rumble about 5 minutes after we saw the launch.

Our runner friends gathered for dinner at the hotel restaurant around 6. Because of the early start time, we headed to our rooms to get some sleep right after.

Space Coast Race Day

We were up at 4 and out the door before 5. It was very dark on the streets that morning but there was a definite buzz in the air. We ran into our friends around 5:30 who looked more ready for a nap than a race but we were all ready to go by 6.

The race starts with a video showing an actual launch and the 10 second count down to the launch. This year, they showed the Mariner 4 Mission to Mars.

It was 75 degrees at the start and the humidity was some where near Amazon rain forest. I had no idea how I would do that day. My hip had been a bit grumpy for the 3 days leading up to the race and I was used to running in cooler weather.

The Plan B

My original plan for race day was to run a mile at about a 12:30 pace and then to walk a minute. Factoring in the heat and humidity that day, plan B became to run a half mile as quickly as I could and to walk for 30 seconds.

Some other people I knew who were racing near me, veered off early to take pictures of the amazing sunrise along the Indian River.

Though I SO appreciated the views, I felt that finishing the course wasn’t a sure thing so stopping, even for a minute wasn’t a risk I could take. I dialed up my headphones and kept on running.

The only other time I ran a half marathon was at this same race back in 2017. I had been so sick with a chest cold before the race that I thought I may have cracked a rib from coughing. My training was shut down three weeks before the race and went into it just hoping to hold on. I remember that it all felt easy until mile 8.

This training cycle was much better and I only had to stop running a few days before in order to give my right hip a bit of a break. At mile 8 this time, things were good. In fact, when the race was over, I felt like I could have run farther. This may mean I didn’t give my full effort. But considering my lack of experience, I was MOST interested in making it to the end.

The Result

ICYMI, Stephen was 1st male in his age group. I was something like 900 out of 2,700. I was very happy that I was still breathing, still walking and that I took 10 minutes off my last race.

We hung around the park to watch Stephen receive his award which allowed us to have a few adult beverages and to get photos with Boba Fett, some Storm Troopers and the Dark Lord.

The End of the Day

We drove back to our friends’ house, cleaned up and met the other runners for dinner. Our friend, Brad, wanted to have a good steak to celebrate his birthday – so we were quickly on our way for dinner and a show.

Although I had stuffed shrimp, I hear the steak was phenomenal and our waiter couldn’t be beat.

The Rest of the Story

The week ahead held some adventures we planned and some that were spontaneous. Join us next week for a ride on the Hogwarts Express, the Florida Trail Ragnar and a tour through the Salvador Dali museum in sunny St. Petersburg.

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