While I completely disagree that traveling is only for the rich, this video is hysterical. It’s so spot on for cliché travel quotes, that I nearly spit out water all over my world map that has pins on all the places I’ve traveled.
Enjoy!
Archives for February 2015
Accept the Compliment, Caroline.
“I like your nail polish.”
“Oh, thanks. I really need to redo them though.”
“Why? Why do you need to redo them?”
“Well. See here? They’re chipped a bit.”
“Oh.”
In realizing that I was pointing out basic, lame flaws to an almost 5-year-old, I gave myself a reality check.
“But it is a pretty fun pink color, right?”
“Yeah, I like it!”
Whew. Think I backpedaled out of that one.
Why is it even when thanking someone for a compliment, I still inherently think of the flaws and then basically let the person giving the compliment know they aren’t totally correct? This time I said it to an almost 5-year-old!
Our friends were in town with their two littles enjoying all the gloriousness of Fort Lauderdale, so I was excited to see them and the kiddos at the pool one day.  I will never forget as that nearly 5-year-old kiddo waved at us while telling her new friend she made at the pool that her friends Caroline and Tom were here.
That innocent, toothy grin, just waving at us.
She didn’t care my nails were chipped. She didn’t notice they looked like Britney Spears from 2007. She just liked my nails and she told me as much.
And all I needed to do was say, “Thank you.”
Thank you.
That’s it.
Promise me you’ll just say thank you from now on. Accept the compliment. They’re most likely correct and you’re most likely being silly.
Thank you.
The Sometimes Silly Reviews on TripAdvisor
As you know, we’re heading on another adventure this July to: Vietnam, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia and South Korea. Since I like to painstakingly go through detailed logistics of our trips, I spend a lot of time reading reviews on TripAdvisor.
First of all, TripAdvisor is fantastic. I can honestly say it has helped create some amazing memories on our adventures. They do a really good job of weeding out fake or paid reviews and leave it in the hands of “the people.”
Except, sometimes “the people” suck.
For instance, I was looking at hotels and guesthouses for our upcoming stay in Bagan, Myanmar.
Sidenote: If you have any recommendations, please let me know!
The accommodations around Bagan are a bit of a mystery. Traveling to Myanmar hasn’t been open to everyone until fairly recently. The tourist culture has essentially just started to exist, with hotels and tour companies popping up all the time. So there really are only a handful of hotels to explore and leaning on the reviews of other travelers is essential.
While narrowing down options for hotels, I came across a review that essentially said this:
This place was spotless, staff was friendly and we had a wonderful time. I would have given this hotel more stars, but they offered very few options for a western breakfast and that was truly disappointing.Â
I mean, really?!
You’ve traveled tens of thousands of miles away from your normal breakfast and because they don’t have that as an option in their country, you’re going to dock points? We aren’t talking about an international hotel chain here people. We’re talking about a mom and pop guesthouse that is dealing with the sudden influx of tourism in an otherwise cut off portion of the world.
But, you didn’t get your damn omelet and bacon.
Live a little, lady. Try out that crazy Eastern breakfast. It may be delicious and dare I say, you may actually like it. Plus, worse case scenario, you go outside the hotel and get the precise breakfast you want.
The hubster and I like to take quick staycations sometimes and stay at local hotels in Fort Lauderdale. It’s the beauty of living in a tourist town– we can snag really good deals last minute. Since I have Hilton Gold status, I try to earn points staying with them, plus the chances of an upgrade are better.
One time we stayed at the Fort Lauderdale Hilton Marina.
Looks gorgeous, right?
Well, let me tell you after reading quite a few reviews on TripAdvisor about how dilapidated this place was, I actually got sort of worried that even the $99 we were spending may not have been worth it.
That was until I stepped inside the hotel and realized people are ridiculous.
This hotel is near the cruise port, so a lot of cruisers stay here the day before they leave. I like cruises, it’s not my favorite way to travel, but I do like sitting back and going with the motion of the ocean. I’m not sure how people who enjoy floating cafeterias cruise can have such an acquired taste for first-class digs, but apparently it’s possible.
I just couldn’t see how this hotel was run-down and dirty. Granted, there is an older portion of the hotel but it’s easy to request not to stay in that part. That said, I can’t imagine it had the third-world conditions these people were speaking about. The complaints seemed to be more along the lines of it wasn’t precisely what they wanted.
Which leads me to my TripAdvisor tips when leaving a review.
1) Know your audience
If you’re staying in a small budget guesthouse, know that the people who are looking at reviews for that hotel, are looking for a bed, clean digs, a warm shower and a friendly smile. They most likely don’t care that breakfast doesn’t come with hash browns. Don’t bring your petty stuff ’round here.
2) Slow your roll with expectations
You pay for a certain level of service, certainly. But if you’re staying at a busy chain hotel for $150 a night the day before you leave for your cruise, you most likely aren’t going to have the red carpet rolled out for you with an offer for a massage poolside by a good looking chap who is simultaneously whipping you up any cocktail your little heart desires. Would be nice though…
Don’t let TripAdvisor be your medium for a travel power trip.
Race Recap: A1A Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon
“I can’t believe it’s over,” I gasped out loud after I crossed the finish line and put the heavy A1A Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon medal around my neck.
The hubster supportively smiled back at me, most likely believing very much that all the training, my plague of sickness and slowing down his pace to stick with me, was finally over.
Pre-race:
- 3:00 am- Rise and shine
- 3:09 am- Really rise and shine
- 3:10 am- Slowly eat a bagel thin with peanut butter and half a banana
- 3:15 am- Pray for poop
- 3:16 am- Sip on water
- 3:20 am- Put on running clothes I laid out the night before
- 3:30 am- Try to poop. Unsuccessful.
- 3:35 am- Fumble with hair. Messy buns should be easier.
- 3:40 am- Gather all race gear into one bag
- 3:45 am. Try to poop. Success!
- 3:55 am- Lace up shoes
- 4:00 am- Head out the door!
- 4:03 am- Head back in the door to get my Garmin I forgot.
We arrived around 4:30 am and paid $10 for parking in an off-street lot. From what I hear the $5 parking public garage was a zoo and many people were rushed. The extra $5 was worth it for my worried heart.
We waited for a bit and then went to the porta-loos where I tried to get out the nervous pees. Yes, I just made that term up. I also got a weird case of the dry heaves. It could have been the smell or my nerves. Either way it was odd, and something I haven’t experienced since the hell of my parents divorce as a kid. So that was great to have happen at 4:30 am, right?!
The hubster fell asleep for about 45 minutes and I checked my email hoping someone was up. My boss probably thought my 5:00 am email was especially odd. Then I debated about wearing a long sleeved shirt or not. It was 48 degrees out. I’m from Michigan! That’s not cold.
Real talk: I lost my winter street cred last year when I put the butt warmers on in my car when it was 60 degrees out.
Once I woke the hubster up, we decided to opt for long sleeves. I sipped some coffee, which I hadn’t had in weeks.
It. was. glorious.
At 5:40 we made our way into the corral (after one last nervous pees stop in the porta-loos).
They have great pace signage and after my whole debacle last year at this race, being stuck behind a huge group that I had to weave myself around for nearly the entire race, we decided to start with the 11 minute mile pace group, which isn’t too far off from my running pace. I opt for the run/walk/run ratio so inevitably it will be slower over the course of the race.
We snapped a selfie and at 6:00 am the guns went off and we slowly made our way to the start line.
The Race:
Miles 1-4
I told the hubster not to listen to his music right way, to listen to the crowd cheering us on as we cross that start line on our 13.1 mile journey. It’s hard to describe to people who don’t run, but that moment at the start, that moment when the crowds are cheering, the cowbells are ringing, the slow pitter patter of thousands of racers hitting the pavement in the brisk early morning hours…
That, right there, is one of my favorite parts of running.
Even now I get choked up writing about it. I hope everyone can experience that incredible feeling.
Around mile 2 I took off my long-sleeved shirt like a drunken stripper trying to maintain rhythm.
I kept checking my Garmin to make sure our overall average was around 13:00 minutes when running. Too fast, I was worried I’d burn out. Too slow, I was worried I’d get bored and start aching. (Don’t ask me why, but the slower I go, it seems every ache and pain is amplified.)
The thing was, when running we were clocking in between an 11-12 minute miles consistently and I felt fine. But I’ve heard so much about pushing yourself the first third of the half-marathon and then needing to crawl to the finish line.
But I felt good.
I held back and purposely slowed us down twice during the first 3 miles and then I just stopped doing it. I set my Garmin on my current pace (not the overall) and enjoyed the ride. Literally.
I let my body tell me what it wanted to do and it felt good at that “faster†pace. That’s typically what my training pace was, but this was game day and on game day, you need to calm the eff down and reign it in a bit.
We passed by one of our friends who is a police officer and was patrolling the race. We gave him a shout and asked where the beer was.
No really, where’s the beer?
Miles 5-9
I had an urge to pee but not enough to wait in line for a porta-loo. I waited 8 minutes last year for one and while my goal was just to finish the half last year, my goal this year was to beat last year’s time. My theory was I’d eventually sweat it out and I was right. After mile 6, I was pretty set in the pee-department.
I wouldn’t let myself look at my Garmin until we hit 7 miles to see our overall pace, which proved to be a very good tactic.
As we entered Hugh Birch State Park I couldn’t believe I hadn’t even turned on my music yet. The hubster and I were just chatting away. If you know me, you know how important music is to me. I agonize of over play lists to the point of perhaps a musical mental disorder.
I really was, honest to baby Jesus, enjoying myself.
Around 8 miles I told the hubster on our next walk break that I’d need to use my new fancy inhaler. We both forgot I mentioned it and around 9 miles he could see I was struggling and had coughed a bit.
“Want to do some drugs on our next walk break?”
He told me my reaction was quite priceless. I was pretty confused.
So after taking at hit of my inhaler (see what I did there?) we had turned the corner to run the final leg of the race down A1A Avenue and the beachfront.
Miles 10-13.1
It was at this point the hubster mentioned that at our current pace we were going to break the 3 hour mark.
What?!
That’s something I never, ever thought I’d be able to do. So, of course, I got nervous.
I could see him checking his phone to monitor our pace more and that annoyed me. I felt extra pressure. It was only pressure I was putting on myself and I got cranky. Thank God the photographers weren’t on this portion of the course. I wanted to focus and concentrate and it just wasn’t happening knowing there was this pressure.
I told him to stop checking his phone. I probably told him that in a really sweet, caring tone too. (Love you honey!)
We kept up with the 3 hour pace group for quite a while and I was lucky that the pacer was so enthusiastic. Who are these people? Smiling and shit? Oh yeah, I was one of them, too. Crazy runners.
Around mile 12 we were passing by more crowds of people. The MARATHON winner passed by us via police escort and for .3 seconds I briefly imagined the police escorts were for me and my slow butt.
My imagination rules sometimes.
I could tell that if we were to break 3 hours it would be very, very close. Then I kept monitoring my pace on my Garmin. As we turned the bend to see the finish line I knew we were just going to miss it.
My heart sank a little bit.
I had to remind myself I never thought my time would even be this close to 3 hours, so it was a victory nonetheless. At this point, we had run through the last two walk portions of our run/walk/run ratio and I was feeling light headed as the sun, crowds and adrenaline once again kicked in.
We picked up the pace as we entered the finish line area and I went to grab the hubster’s hand, but he had no idea what I was doing because for the last 3 miles I’d nudge him to the side as we weaved through people. He thought I was nudging him again. The photo sequence is pretty funny.
We finally grabbed hands and smiled across the finish line.
3:00:50.
13.1 miles.
Done.
In the books.
Post-Race
Medals and beer.
Overall, I love the A1A Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon. It’s well organized, the runners are friendly, the scenery can’t be beat and most importantly, it’s a nice, flat course.
I’m lucky that I had the hubster by my side to push me, even when I didn’t want to be pushed. I never thought I’d so “easily” run a half and beat my previous time by nearly 18Â minutes. Â All of that worrying was so unnecessary as soon as I sat back and enjoyed the fruits of my training labor. It was, hands down, my favorite race to date.
I can’t believe it’s over.
Braving the Cold, Florida Style
You guys are getting a lot of snow. I heard it was even cold enough that there was this funny looking hyphen in front of the temperature number.
As a former Michigander I feel obligated to tell you that it’s getting pretty cold in Florida too. Just to make you feel better, I’m struggling with this sudden cold front.
I mean, look at this cold front that rolled through 2 weeks ago?! Even the thermometer was a bit frosted over!
I had to wear a jacket last night while having dinner outside by the beach. Brrr.
It’s supposed to get into the mid-thirties at night tomorrow. Mid. Thirties. Perhaps even break a record! The hubster is preparing wisely for this bitter cold by making chili tonight. We’ve been advised to wear protective clothing if we brave the cold outdoors.
Don’t worry, we stocked up on bread and milk in case school and work are called off tomorrow. If it’s not, I may actually use the butt-warmers in my car in the morning while I avoid coconuts that have fallen from the palm trees that line our street.
In other news, we’ve had friends visit from Michigan for the last 3 weeks. Bless their hearts for braving this freezing weather.
How Long do you Need to Train for a Half Marathon?
I love hearing that you’ve picked up running or signed up for a 5K because you saw that I, Caroline freakin’ Peterson, could run a half marathon.  I think training on my own and not being the fastest runner out there makes the whole thing a bit more relatable. It’s really wonderful to hear and I’m happy to help any way I can.
I had a girlfriend (who ran her first 5K in September and then knocked that time out of the park in another 5K this January) ask me, “How long do you need to train for a half marathon?”
The answer is relatively straight-forward, but has a few caveats.
This goes without saying: I’m not an expert by any means, this is just my honest advice and experience. Your mileage may vary.
In general, you’ll want to be able to run 1-2 miles without stopping first. Not there yet? Neither was I. Keep at it. I promise you’ll get there. I followed the Couch to 5K even AFTER I completed a triathlon and it really helped my endurance.
To get a good feel for a race, have a couple 5Ks under your belt. Even better, a 10K. I know what you’re thinking. Duh, Caroline. That’s just double the distance. But, the 10K race feels different for me. You’re alone with your thoughts for longer, you get a good sense of your pace and what weaving in and out of people feels like. It’s a good foundation. If you haven’t run a 10K and want to still train for a half-marathon, no biggie. I use active.com to find local races.
Make it fun. We did the Jingle Bell Jog 5K this year and had a jolly ol’ time. See what I did there? It wasn’t for time. It was simply for an experience and keeping up with our conditioning runs.
You’ll want 4-5 months to train for your first half-marathon. I follow the Jeff Galloway approach to running and he recommends 19 weeks. I’ve found this a great conservative approach for first-time half runners and also limits injury. Plus it gives you a chance for life to get in the way, like being hungover sick.
Take a look at Jeff Galloway’s training style. He recommends the run-walk structure for training and it has massively helped with my endurance and times. For me, finishing a half-marathon while still being able to walk the next day was important. Some people just run it strictly so they can say they ran the whole time (which is a huge accomplishment). That’s not me, right now at least. I want to finish.
Plus, walk breaks are nothing to knock:
“Walk breaks speed you up: an average of 7 minutes faster in a 13.1 mile race when non-stop runners shift to the correct Run Walk Run ratio – and more than 13 minutes faster in the marathon.”
http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/run-walk/
I do 2 30-minute conditioning runs and 1 long-run each week. We run at night because well…Florida. On long runs we’ve been known to get up at 5:30 am to avoid the sun on the weekends. It’s tough living in a tropical paradise.
Keep at it, even if you fall off track. As you know, I’ve come down with the plague and was even given my first inhaler! It sucks. My training took a hit and my pace slowed. I was bummed, still am if I’m being totally honest, but I have to keep at it. Tired of falling off track and then not getting back to it? Do what you can, when you can.
Think this is something you can do? I know you can. It never even crossed my mind that I’d be a half-marathon finisher. And guess what? I freakin’ am. If you have any questions or need some advice, I’m here.