Loving Life in the Sunshine State

My favorite thing to do in January is to head south. #snowbirdintraining

No but seriously — January in NYC (or probably most of the northeast, unless you are fortunate enough to live on a ski slope and not work) just isn’t life at its best, even when it’s seasonally warm. The post-holiday blues + onset of (usually) frigid temps + so many months til Summer just makes for a rough time…which is why my favorite part of this month for the past 3 years has been my weekend in Florida.

It was Miami and Boca the past two years, which were an absolute blast, but this year has landed me in a new-to-me city (I love being able to check another one off the list): Melbourne Beach, located on a barrier island in the Atlantic. My parents are chilling here for a bit this year, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to visit them for a long weekend.

It’s a sweet, sleepy little town (probably a big retirement place, I’d imagine) with a beautiful stretch of beach, blue-green ocean water (in which I’d consider taking surfing lessons if it was a bit warmer!), and hardly any commercialization. I’ve spent 4 days running, sleeping and eating well, and spending so much wonderful quality time with my parents. In short, it’s been heavenly, and exactly what my soul needed.

Also, seeing this on the neighbor’s mailbox every time I return from a run makes me super happy & quite a bit envious:

It seems quite probable I’ve been doing this whole “living my life” thing incorrectly, when there are people who carry surfboards around in the sunshine on a daily basis. Hmpff.

I have been pretty successful with my workouts here, though, even if surfing isn’t one of them. I ran a pain-free 8.5 miles on Saturday morning, which I’m attributing to the beauuuuutiful weather and my welcome change in running route & scenery. I mean, this view could cheer anyone up.

Sunday I set out to run but had a lot of unexpected pain again, so I did a total of 5 miles but walked 2 of them, stopping to do sets of lunges and push-ups along the way and finishing with 5 minutes of planks. Note to self: try to live somewhere where you can plank outdoors year-round. It’s much nicer.

This morning, I actually ran to the local gym and bought a day pass and had a great, sweaty personal little boot camp session with free weights, kettlebells, lots of jumping all the leg things (squats, lunges, etc), a good 15 minutes of abs, and then power walked home. It felt amazing. Oh, and on that note of things that feel amazing:

I am entirely hooked on Athleta leggings.

I recently bought my first two pairs and cannot say enough about them. I’ve always been sort of brand-flex and have worn a wide variety of different running tights and capris, but my first experience with Athleta is seriously awesome. I wore them today to run, through an hour-long fairly intense workout, and then to walk back home, and they were incredibly comfortable, breathable, and just felt perfect. I’m totally a believer.

Note: I bought them through Schoola, so check out their current deal with Athleta while it’s still active to get some amazing pieces at a huge discount while giving to a great charity. I actually juuuuuust went and bought them in the pink pair right now as I’m typing this. Trust me, they’re that great. (And no, I didn’t get paid for this — I’m just that big of a fan.)

Now, excuse me while I head out to enjoy my final day in the sunshine state!

Hope you had wonderful weekends, friends!

Highlights from your weekend?
Anyone get a good run in?
Favorite pair of running/workout leggings?

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