Hyland Post #9 - Running on vacation

Rest day on the schedule today!

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Here's a recap of week #8 of 18 weeks of marathon training.

Miles Run  37.05 miles
Days Run:  5 days
Cross Training:  None this week
Time Training:  4 hours and 46 minutes

Last week I discussed fitting all the running into your schedule.  This week I'll discuss running on vacation.  You would think this would be a simple topic but when you think about it, it's more complicated that you think.  First off, many people don't want to work out on vacation.  I mean, you're on vacation....you're not supposed to being doing any hard work including workouts right?  Personally though, I enjoy running like many of you so I make time for it as much as I can.

Of course, if you are on vacation without any kids, it sure makes it easier.  You just get up and go or run during the day sometime when you have free time - that should be all the time right?

It's quite a bit different when on vacation with kids.  Kids typically have to eat at certain times and cannot move meal times around too much.  Since my kids are 12 and 14, it is much easier at this age to go with the flow but I know with little kids this is much harder.  The other issue is waking everyone up when you are all in the same room and not waking up everyone!

I recently went on vacation last week but we decided to get two rooms.  We went on a Caribbean cruise and it made things much easier.  Plus, have you seen the size of those rooms?  Not too comfortable with four in one room.  Fortunately for me, my son is a heavy sleeper and we stayed up late most nights so while the family was generally sleeping or getting ready to go to breakfast, I did my running workouts.  The other thing I did was I ran my long run on the Friday before vacation started and ran my long run the following day on Sunday after we  returned home.  This way, I was not running over 2 hours twice while on vacation and was able to still get in both long runs.  It was important for me not to skip my long runs so I re-arranged my plan slightly to fit my schedule.

I was able to get in four workouts last week on vacation(two 4 milers and two 7 milers).  I only gained a 1/2 pound - not bad for a cruise and I ate like crazy!  I actually did three runs on the ship on deck and I did one when on an island.  This also presents problems in itself.  While I love running, I do get a little nervous not knowing the area especially considering I was running in Mexico.  Fortunately, everything worked out great and I had a fantastic run on our last island stop in Costa Maya, Mexico.  It was kind of strange not knowing where you were running to and there were very few people around but it was a great run.  I ran between 7am and 9am so it was out of the way to enjoy the rest of the time with family.

Here's a couple pictures from the run.  As you can see, most of my run was right on the ocean but some of the area looked run down which I guess adds to both the nervousness and excitement of the run.

Just outside the confines of the port.  Looking a little scary! Ha!
Lots of this was real estate for sale.

The road to the beach

Finally in an area that looks really nice by the ocean

Mixed in with hotels was homes like this
Yes, this IS a home!

A humble church in the area

By the water

You can see my cruise ship on the left in the distance and one coming in
I was about 2.5-3 miles away

Lots of real estate available for sale

A little fake Mayan ruin 

Hard Rock!

On the way back to the ship -this is in the port - finally people around!
A very nice area to shop/swim

Back at the port waiting for this ship to come in after my run

At the end of my run.  This was my ship,

Overall, one of the best runs I have had on vacation and I'm really glad I got past my nervousness and just did it.  I told my wife if I was not back by 12 noon to have a search party start looking for me.  Haha!  It was also nice to get off the ship instead of running in circles on deck.  People thought I was crazy running so much!

So, the moral of the story is....get out there!  Run when you are on vacation and enjoy the new scenery around you.  Explore the world!  You might be surprised to see where running can take you.

Have a great day and.....Keep Running!!!!