Running... beaches, Florida and TSA!

I went to see my BFF + College Roomie in West Palm Beach this past weekend and wouldn't ya know it, it was grey skies and gloomy weather the WHOLE time. Literally, it actually poured down rain on my last 2 days. Bummer, but we made the best of it and relieved some of our fun college days:

tower of beer

Soul Bowl

I didn't get a lot of beach time (read: any) but I did get to check out West Palm and Sunny Isles beaches. Both of which were gorgeous. I also didn't get to run on either of these guys, my work outs were limited to the gym in Sarah & John's condo. I'm still feeling the one I had on Saturday morning though, so it must have been good, right? "Pain is weakness leaving the body." 

Now, I am a beach girl, at heart. Swansboro, NC to be exact on where I left my heart. It's been my "home" since I was 15 and I get a serious lead foot when I see signs for the town. Almost home. Something about that place is just so perfect and Southern lovely, that I have an obsession. Doesn't hurt that one of my best friends lives there. The beach is my fun place, my getaway place, my rest & relaxation place, my 100%, absolute FAVORITE place on earth. There are some others that I love too: Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington, Folly Beach in Charleston, the beach on Coronado Island in San Diego, OBX... the list goes on. And soon to be added to it is Jekyll Island, Georgia when we go for a week later this month (holy cow, it's MAY!). I love, love, LOVE beaches and I love finding races when we travel so that we can explore the beaches and get a real feel for them. We did the Battleship 5k in Wilmington, the Mullet Run in Swansboro, and we're doing the Turtle Crawl 5k in Jekyll on May 19th (5th Race of the year!) 

As for TSA... they are my least favorite part of traveling. I think this is why I love road trips so much. Packing, unpacking, rushing through airports that are overcrowded and understaffed... not fun. So the TSA lady in WPB was awful as I was trying to get to my departing flight. My 1.5 ounce bottle of shampoo had fallen out of my zip lock baggie and was in my carry on... along with my dry (not liquid) spray sunscreen. I had an inkling of a feeling that she wouldn't let me take that through, but I figured I should try anyway. She started yelling at me about taking shampoo in my bag, obviously it fell out, which I politely explained. Then she told me I couldn't take the sunscreen and she promptly tossed both in the trash. I asked her for the shampoo back - which I didn't really need but she was just so rude! She asked if I really wanted her to dig around in the trash... "yes." 

Best part, I had 2 razors in my make-up bag, but clearly, sunscreen is much more dangerous. Heaven forbid I protect someone from the sun instead of using a razor on them. I'd much rather be sprayed with sunscreen than cut up on a plane. Makes no sense, but I made it through the security check point and back to NC safe & sound. 

Running... cleansing... and ice baths!

This weekend is my first official 8k... and my legs feel like they are boulders. Yesterday, I really needed an ass kicking so I did an interval work out. I was running between 8.5 mph and then walking at 3.7 for a minute each. Tonight is my night for Group Power with the girls; however, the girls bailed, so I went by myself. CRUCIAL leg tracks... yes, multiple tracks. Apparently, my house has no icy hot in it, or tiger balm, or Bengay. So... I resorted to an ice bath. (If you go back to my first few blogs, I tell you how I'm always cold... so you can imagine how this went). I sat there shivering for all of 5 minutes and had to call it quits. But at least I tried. Now I'm rolling my legs out and giving myself a massage. Fingers crossed that the pain fades before 8 A.M. on Saturday.

Also today, I tried a cleanse that I found at EarthFare. It was on sale and had cucumbers, so I figured it couldn't be THAT bad. It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad. Didn't have much of an effect but it was only $1.15 so I don't really feel like I lost anything by trying it.

I fussed at a friend a few weeks ago for wanting to try a cleanse she found on Pintrest. But it required her to cut major food groups out of her diet for 10-12 days and guaranteed weight loss up to 20 lbs. Anyone who knows anything about nutrition knows that can't be healthy for you. I don't necessarily feel like a drink "cleanse" is healthy for you, but I'm 99% sure it can't be as unhealthy for you as depriving yourself of entire food groups. Plus, that diet told her no fruit and I am addicted to fruit of every kind. So today's adventure spiked my curiosity and I've now decided to try this 6-day cleanse. 

Conveniently, I have 6 days left before I head to West Palm Beach for some girl time and sunshine! I'll update next week on the effects of the cleanse. And as soon as I'm done with my final grad school paper of this semester, I'll post all about my green smoothies from PB Runner's challenge (totally addicted to them now! Who knew?!)