Bye Bye Winter!

So a lot has happened since my last post!  I’m finally in the warmth of Orlando, Florida.  Temperatures have been cool for them, 18-22 degrees but delightfully warm to me!   I’m proud to say I got a sun burn yesterday! 

Tuesday we left early from Asheville with a stop over in Chimney Rock, just South of Asheville.  We went for a 10K run, checking out more of the beautiful North Carolina scenery. 

After piling back into the car we drove to Savannah where we again ran around the city.  I liked Savannah (mostly because of the heat!).  We went from being in tights, long sleeve shirt and toque to shorts and tee-shirt.  Summer had finally arrived!

Savannah is a small city on the West coast of Georgia.  About 15kms inland this city is based mostly on tourism.  The city had the feel of Halifax with its river front bars and shops.  Savannah has a lot of history which we found running around the city.  Much of it had to do with the Civil War where monuments were erected in memory of different events. 

The terrain was pan cake flat!  This was a sign of things to come as we were going to Florida on Wednesday!

We stayed in Brunswick for the night and make our way to Jacksonville in the morning.  The plan was to take a tour of the Bud plant and than run on the beach in the afternoon.  Stay tuned for the video!

The beaches in Jacksonville were empty!  As you can see from the pictures we lost the shirts.  The run was rejuvenating as we shook off the final cold weather from our bones (sorry to all the people who are reading this up North and are still in winter!).  This was our official last day of winter.

In the afternoon we drove to my Grandfathers which was an hour South of Tampa in a small community named Northport.  As you may have guessed the people are quite old here.  As we woke early and went for a run we had a few puzzled looks.  I’m sure people were wondering why these 20 something’s were up so early and running in their park!

We went for a paddle in the morning, followed by a dip in the pool.  After a great lunch we were off to Tampa for a run on St. Pete beach. 

Again we had the place to ourselves as the fog had come in.  Didn’t matter, we got a good 10k beach run in.  The best part was the 400m intervals at the end.  I got to do them in my bare foot which was real a treat!  I’ve heard that running sans shoes is a great way to build strength in your legs.  My calves burned after!

Piling back in the car we got stuck in traffic which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  After hearing an ad on the radio we heard that the Ottawa Senators (my favorite hockey team) were in town.  We had the time so we bought some scalper tickets and checked out the game.  The best thing, Ottawa won!  I let all the Tampa Bay fans know it!

We still had to drive to Orlando so it was a late night in the end.  I’ll give an update on how its going her in a day or two.  Hope all is well with you!

Happy (Lovin’ the Sunshine) Trainin!

Cliff