Now to Day 4... #runselfiechallenge Day 4 was red, white and blue selfie due to the 4th of July. It took me awhile to get my group to take a selfie! You know some older kids think that selfies are stupid. It was a HOT 4th of July! Erin and I got up before the boys (as usual) and went on out to the beach. I had rented chairs and an umbrella from the beach guy, but he put them so far back from the water that you couldn't feel any breeze so as Erin says.... we wasted that $100 cause we ended up just putting our chairs we brought from home directly up at the water to try to get a small breeze. It was miserably hot! The boys finally came out after lunch and they used the chairs w/umbrella for a little while then took off walking on the beach. We didn't see them for a long time. I thought they had gotten lost but they ended up stopping at the Sandpiper tiki hut and getting some frozen drinks. As soon as they got back, I begged them to hurry and do a selfie in red, white, and blue. :>) Erin and I had also taken some selfie's while they were gone. Check them out.
The whole gang Selfie!
Even with Erin's hurt toe we had fun!
The 4th was a good relaxing day. I took the day off from running. Actually I've only ran one day while I've been here. Very unusually but I needed the break from training cause New York training starts hot and heavy next week. We did however, get a tad too much sun. When we finally left the beach we were all starving and I had no food cooked. So we rushed to get dressed and decided to go to Jim & Nix BBQ for a quick supper hoping they would not be as busy as local seafood hot spots. We had hoped to get back in time to take pictures on the beach while we were all dressed before the sun went completely down, but that didn't happen. It was dark when we got back to condo so we skipped pictures and watched the fireworks from the beach! They were awesome! The one thing about where we stayed this year is that we could sit on our 6th floor balcony or on beach and watch the fireworks with a perfect view of the harbor! It was so nice to not drive and fight the crowd! I could sit and watch them in my PJs and no makeup! AWESOME VACATION!
Watching fireworks from our little beach area outside our condo!
The flag towel I bought made a good prop!
Erin and I actually went to bed early on the 4th. I had googled to see if there was anywhere that I could swim while I was here. See Sunfish TRI is next weekend and my swim is the one event that I'm worried bout. I'm not worried bout the bike even though it will have some tough hills cause I know I will grit my teeth and push hard on them! and the run doesn't bother me at all... but the swim is different! I haven't swam in open water since I did Sunfish back in 2011! I needed the practice so I was happy when a link came up showing an open water swim practice with the coastal TRI group here in town that allowed out of town visitors! The practice was set for 8am so I asked Erin to go with me if she wanted to. I was happy when she told me yes, cause she didn't want me to go alone. :>) I raised her right. :>)
So we got up at 6m and off we went to Crystal Beach. It was only like 6 minutes from where we were staying. I was so very nervous! I even told Erin how nervous I was and I think she was shocked. I've done so many things that she probably thought swimming was no big deal. However, swimming in the ocean in that big body of water was terrifying to me! Plus the yellow flag was waving! The water has not been real calm while we have been here! On the 4th when I walked out to get cool, a wave literally took me down! I got up real quick grabbing my swimming suit top and looking back to see who saw me go under. LOL I didn't realize how strong the water was until it was too late. I had walked out pretty far to try to get chest deep in the water and boy that wave took me out. So I was EXTREMELY nervous about swimming with a group of TRI athletes! We arrived early and I introduced myself and they were all very nice. It was a small group due to the holiday weekend. The lady that seemed to be the leader asked me a bunch of questions about where I had been swimming, how long I had been swimming, etc. I know she was checking me out and wondering who is this "out of town" person. However, she was super nice!! She told me we would swim in a buddy system and paired me with a slower swimmer in the group....which I was very thankful for! She told me they wanted to swim .25 out and back to make 1/2 mile. So off we went and as soon as the water got deep my fear was taking over my body! I started wondering what the heck I was doing out here in the big waves! Then I remember something my friend says.... You are scared if you don't and scared if you do.... so just do it! So I started praying and telling myself to just breath and keep going. I will admit it was one of the hardest things I've ever done! I'd rather run 10 marathons and it would not be this hard! Maybe it's just my fear of open water, but whatever it is... I was SCARED!
We finally got 1/4 mile out and the leaders were floating and waiting on us at the end. We regrouped and started back. I will say that you float much better in salt water! There was one guy in the group that had a real big belly (no offense)... But Erin asked me afterwards how he did and I laughed and told her he was the leader of the pack! He was a very good swimmer! Looks can be very deceiving! Don't judge a person by their looks! I did survive and it was exhilarating! They had planned on doing repeats out to the buoy and back after the half mile swim, but it started lightening so they got out of the water and so did I! The lady in charge told me I had a pretty stroke and that I did good. I'm sure she was fibbing, but she made me feel good. Be an encourager! You never know how you are helping that person achieve their goals!
Erin and I walked back to the street and had a nice egg & bacon sandwich as the rain blew in at a quaint little cafe. We decided it would be a shopping day for us due to the rain. We rushed back to the condo, showered and off shopping we went for the day! Got me a new purse. YIPPIE. I swore I wasn't going to look for anything but work clothes but I couldn't resist the Kate Spade sale so I ended up with a new purse.
While shopping I remember it was Day 5 of the #runselfiechallenge.. Secret Selfie.. you were supposed to take a selfie with someone in the background that didn't realize you were taking the selfie and you were to get bonus points if they were running. Well, since no one was running due to the lightening, I had to take a selfie while Erin was shopping for sun shades. Oh we spent most of our day in that shop! We ended up leaving to only come back for her to buy the shades she fell in love with. I told her sometimes it's ok to splurge as long as you aren't doing it every day cause you'd go broken then. LOL So she bought them!
Finished shopping then back to the beach to enjoy our last night. Oh the breeze is so nice! I could really do this every day! The water is so calm tonight! I wish it had been this way this morning and maybe I would not have been so scared swimming. Sometimes you just have to do things that you fear most to let yourself know that you can! Don't ever let your fears hold you back! If I did I would have never ran my first marathon! You got to conquer those fears. So go for it! Sunfish sprint TRI is July 11th and I plan to kick it in the butt!
Well it's almost my bedtime and the sun has officially gone down so I think I'll enjoy my last few minutes before bed with Erin. We have her portable speaker on with some good tunes and it's absolutely perfect outside tonight! We called the boys and they were ok on their way home. I won't be able to sleep until I know they are home safely. Brett has to work tomorrow so they left a day early.
Enjoy your family! Live each day to the fullest! Hug more and fuss less! God Bless each and every one of you! and remember... I love Facebook. LOL
We made it to Lulu's to check out the new location in Destin today. It was a very nice big building!
Good night sweet friends.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
P.S. My funniest thing on vacation.... was getting up this am and realizing that Brett's 2 friends were not here. I first thought they were all in the room sleeping with Brett until I opened the door and only Brett was in there! Then I heard talking outside the condo door so I peeped out and there they were standing. I opened the door and the look on their faces was priceless! They had been locked out. LOL They sure were glad at that moment that I get up early (6am).
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