Back to the Grind

So today it is back to the swing of real life – work, kids, football practice….the only thing missing is school, which starts back up tomorrow. Ahhhhhhhh…….no more vacation for the weary. If only I could be independently wealthy and lay on the beach in Mexico every day, where the only worry was about making sure we had applied enough sunscreen and what we were going to eat for dinner. :)

But sadly, I am a working stiff….so here I am. Back in the office today after a week and a half. My brain, however, is still on the beach. :P

So I lied a little bit in my last post……THIS is actually where I could be found last week…..see my icky feet? Sorry, that was pre-pedicure at the spa.

Mexico was just amazing. The beaches, the resort, the pina coladas……..we just really had a blast. The kids had a great time and it was truly just a relaxing vacation. A large contrast from our typical family vacations which usually include the chaos of an overly expensive theme park crowded with thousands of cranky kids and their respective cranky parents. No one was cranky this week though – how can you be cranky here?


Our resort - the Mayan Palace.

And how could a morning run like this ever be anything but fantastic?

I got smart during the second time I ran and actually took my cell phone with me. I didn’t take it the first day (which actually had better scenery) since it didn’t work anyway! I forgot the value of a camera on a good beach run.

Morning is low tide in the Sea of Cortez, so in some of these pics you can see just how far out the tide really is. In some places, you could walk for over 100 yards to reach the water. I tried to stay on the hardest surfaces possible, which was this…

Some spots were hard to run on because the ridges were SO hard….so it was feast or famine – deal with the hard packed sand with ridges, or brave the mushy stuff that gave the old legs a good workout. I did a bit of both.

My original goal was to avoid the tide pools and keep my feet dry….but there were just so many amazing sea critters and shells to be explored in the tide pools, that I ended up tromping right through them. I am STILL working all the sand out of my shoes!

I only ended up running two mornings last week – Monday and Wednesday. After that, all the sun, pina coladas and ungodly amounts of Mexican food consumption caught up to be and I became lazy. Oh, and combined with the fact that I got a wicked head cold on about Thursday….so that’s a decent excuse right?

The runs weren’t the most rigorous I’ve ever had – probably just over 2 miles each – with a lot of breaks for exploring. Oh well, I could have just stayed in bed right? I figured any run was better than nothing.

Here’s just a little bit of the Mexico experience for you….

The cutest boys on the beach... :P



The finest in beach architecture: :
And its creators:

D and his best friend R in the back of the beach quad:

Hubby driving the boys...

Me and Hubby.....who couldn't manage to have dinner overlooking that sunset every night?

All my boys at the famous JJ's Cantina....just another dive-bar in Mexico as far as I was concerned!

And the boys again...right before we left :(

In the course of a week, my kids got to see a live octopus, collect more shells than one can even imagine (especially the large conch shells), ride a quad-type beach pilot vehicle (picture above), swim and dig in the sand until their hearts content, and just have an overall great time. I hated to come back. If you ever get the chance to go to Rocky Point, DO IT! It is a great place.

The only downside of the trip was the return home. It took us almost 2 HOURS to get back across the border, which was NOT fun. I was miserable with my cold and I just wanted to get home. Sadly, I had to call Pat when we were just outside of Gila Bend and bail out on him for the Race for the Cure on Sunday. It was just too late, and I was feeling too lousy. I couldn’t even fathom the thought of having to get up early the next morning to go run with thousands of other people. I am a really *team* person, and my motto is to never bail on your team at any cost….so I felt like a schmuck. I had been looking forward to this race for quite a while, but I had to be smart and listen to my body…..I needed sleep more than I needed another race tshirt. Sorry again Pat for being a party pooper!

I felt better my Sunday night, just in time to tackle the piles of laundry that awaited me on Monday morning. Sometimes I swear that there are 30 extra people hiding in our house that wear our clothes while we are gone. I have no idea how a family of 4 can produce so many dirty clothes. So that is what I did ALL day yesterday. Blech.

I was tired last night after finally getting the kids to bed….and was actually laying on the bed with hubby watching TV at around 8:30……wanting so badly to climb under the covers and call it a night……but I drug my butt outside for a quick run….probably just over 2 miles. I had to do SOMETHING since I hadn’t run since last Wednesday. Oh yeah…and there is something about a wee little half marathon looming over my head in 26 days. HOLY CRAP.

Which brings me to today. I had to work(blah) and D had football tonight, so we are back on the rollercoaster. I need to get another short run in this week, and a long run this weekend. I know Lisa’s TRI is on Sunday, so I’ll have to see if Pat wants to SlowPoke around with me on Saturday morning. Otherwise, it will be solo. I have no choice but to get in a MINIMUM of 8 miles. Then I am planning for 10 miles the next weekend. Then……..well, we’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

Time now for me to catch up with you all and see what I missed over the past week!