Ohhh how I've missed you

For the past year I haven't been running and running is the one thing everyone identifies with me. That's how I identify myself; I'm a runner. That's my title. That's what I do. That's what I've been doing for the last 16 years of my life. And typically one of the first things someone I haven't seen in a while asks me about is my running. So it's no surprise the shock I give people when I tell them I'm not training for a marathon this year or any other race and in fact I'm taking some time off.

I did after all run 5 marathons in just over a years time in 2007. See, I knew I was going to be taking some time away from running so I decided to squish as much in as I could, to get it out of my system! If only that worked! Instead I just gave my body a shock of it's lifetime and ran a couple really horrible marathon times.

And here I am 3 years after my second NYC marathon (NYCM) loooonging to be running in it this coming weekend. I completely blame NYCM for my marathoning obsession! Ever since the first one I ran, back in 2003, I've never been the same! And apparently there must be some 3 year rule with me and NYCM (2003, 2006), if only I realized this last year.

2003, my first marathon (i.e. the start of my obsession) & my friends and family that came out to cheer me on!

At least my year off from running is officially over! On Sunday instead of running 26.2 miles I'll be happily running my 3 mile loop! I never thought I'd be so happy to run 3 miles (other than during a marathon tapering week) - I know, I'm a bit of a running snob!

And there's nothing better than dusting off the box of new running shoes I bought for myself last year in anticipation of this day! And I'm positive they were just as happy to see me!

Liquid Sunshine and Rough Waters

We got back on Thursday from a 5 day cruise with 40 new family members and friends to Bermuda which started off with our cousin, Tiffany's wedding! She and her husband, Dan decided to get married on the Royal Caribbean ship, Explorer of the Seas. The ceremony and reception took place while the boat was docked at the harbor (you can't legally get married on International waters) so those who couldn't sail were still able to attend the wedding.

Captain Arnold, who they found out is highly requested, performed their ceremony so they were really excited! It was really nice. Here are just a few of our pictures:

After the wedding we headed to the upper deck of the ship for the sail-away party.

The bridge the cruise ship goes under


Everyone goes out to the upper deck to see the ship go under the bridge

We make it and everyone celebrates!

View of the city from the harbor in Bayonne, NJ

Turns out it was really windy up there and I pulled a Marilyn Monroe for everyone!

Getting my dress under control after it went up over my head

Nic, Tiff, & Jen

We spent the next day and half exploring the boat and eagerly awaiting our arrival to Bermuda. There are so many things going on while you're sailing you never have a dull moment! There was even an ice skating rink that we never made it to and a rock climbing wall on the upper deck, shuffleboard and mini golf! Every night there was either a show after dinner or a parade put on by the cruise staff and then live music at the piano bar and somehow after all of that our group (of 15-20) always ended up at the one dance club, The Chamber, to end the night at 2 or 3am! We had a great showing of karaoke performers for the two nights of karaoke too! We all kept quite busy!

We discovered The Chamber on the first night of the cruise because they were having an 80's dance party

A little after dinner mini golf and shuffle board

We had to watch out when Jen was up because she was inches away from hitting a ball right off the deck

Dave and I dominated at shuffle board until we invited Tiffany and Dan to play (I'm not sure it was a fair win though because Tiffany's puck release seemed illegal, even though we were playing by our own rules!)

A couple of us were really excited to try out the rock wall on the way home but because of the rough waters it was closed!

One night there was a 70's disco parade. The entertainment crew on the cruise dressed as the Village People


The first night of karaoke, those that didn't sing danced!

The piano bar


There was a formal dinner


Our typical outdoor gear while crusin'

We even had Johnny Rockets a couple times for lunch!! One of the highlights of the ship for us! I laughed at everyone who said you gain weight on a cruise but I believe it now! Food is PLENTIFUL! And delicious!! I'm glad I didn't find out about "snack time" before dinner every day until the last day!

The ship is so big you can even get lost - which Jen did numerous times! And we made fun of her until we did the same thing ourselves one night! On our floor (we were at the back of the boat on floor 2) you couldn't walk from the front to the back of the boat you had to go up a couple floors to do so. So if we were at the front of the boat and went down to floor 2 we couldn't get to our room; it only took us once to figure this out, Jen on the other hand....

Our room

The towel animals our room attendant made for us each night:

A bat


You're guess is as good as ours but we think a pig

A monkey - most impressive!!

A lobster

We were a little disappointed with the sea life cruisin' down to Bermuda though! We saw 2 flying fish (super cool!) and some other tropical fish that Dave called gold fish (because that's what they looked like from up high - which means they were probably 6' fish!) We did hear a rumor that there were dolphins the first night but since it was late they didn't make an announcement. Dave was hoping for some whales (I would have LOVED that myself but I knew better!) On the way home we asked one of the workers and he said they NEVER see anything going down to Bermuda. They see whales up in Boston but that's really it!

Checking out the front of the ship - no exaggeration!! Like my Titanic re-enactment?!

Then when we woke up on the 2nd day we were in Bermuda!!! Dave and I didn't waste any time we got off the boat as soon as they let us and headed over to get our scooter! We were going to explore on our own! Well we had no idea it takes an hour to get to Hamilton which is one of two major cities in Bermuda, the other is St. George which is at the very end of the island - we heard that's a 2/2.5 hour bus ride, I can only imagine how long that would have taken on scooter!

View from on the boat at the dockyard

Houses in Bermuda from boat at dockyard

Our ship during the day and at night

Ready to explore!!

We walked around Hamilton and found it not so exciting. Lots of places to eat mixed in with Versace and Louis Vuitton! We did spot some men in bermuda shorts with knee socks, loafers and ties though! I didn't really think that was true but it is - it's their business casual attire! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures!

Downtown Hamilton

Since we couldn't afford to do any shopping and the day was brightening up we decided to try to find the beach. That was no small task! By sheer luck we ended up on the road that had all the beaches on it and the one we picked to go to happened to be the beach most people from our cruise was at including some of our family! And we got to experience the nice pink sand!

Horseshoe Bay

We relaxed there for a little bit before making the hour ride back to the boat, we were nervous to drive in the dark because during the daylight hours it was scary enough on the narrow, steep, windy roads! There were actually 5 scooter accidents, we were one of them although the most minor of the 5! One couple had to go to the hospital and someone from our group flipped over a guard rail and totaled the scooter before even leaving our dockyard! Now we understand why there was an extra, mandatory $30 insurance charge for each scooter rental!

The following day in Bermuda was just as eventful! We headed to St. George with Jen and Joe to check out the shops and the beaches up there. The day started out cloudy but that didn't deter us! We took the ferry over to St. George, spent some time wandering the shops which were much more what we were expecting, more local, crafty things; sea glass jewelry, etc. And then we decided to walk a few blocks to the beach. Once we got there the sky opened up and we ran to cover in an old fort until it let up. Then we made our way back to the beach for some pictures before heading back to catch the ferry. Well once we got to the dock it really poured for a good hour! And wouldn't you know there was a ferry every hour except the hour we were hoping to catch it (but we weren't the only ones who didn't read the schedule closely). Apparently they take a break between 1 and 3pm! So we took cover wherever we could, visited some shops again... And finally made it back to the ship with half an hour to spare! We couldn't get over how happy the locals were with the rain. Three different people made comments to us about liquid sunshine and of course we were a little p.o.'ed since we only got 2 days in Bermuda. So at dinner that night we were telling the other couple we shared our table with and they had gone on a bus tour because of the rain and it turns out rain is the only source of water for Bermuda. I guess in that case I'd be pretty happy when it rained too! Made me feel a little bad for cursing those people in my head earlier!

Downtown St. George

I just loved the colors of all the houses


Right before the sky opened up


Caught in our first downpour

Jen entertained us while we were waiting for the ferry during the worse of the down pours!

The waters coming back were really rough. The night we started sailing home the captain was sailing faster than normal to get out because the waters ahead were even worse so he wanted to get through as much as he could over night. Not sure if that worked out how he planned because that following day was still pretty bad! The crew put barf bags on each of the stair wells and in the bathrooms. A LOT of people were not feeling well! It was so rough the water in the pools on deck were splashing out like tidal waves! They finally had to drain and cover them all! But by dinner everyone in our group that wasn't feeling well was drugged up and ready to go! We had a great turn out in karaoke that night! Although we all turned in a little early - I'm sure the DJ at The Chamber missed us!

Enjoying some last rays of sun

The second parade the entertainment crew put on - the Islands Parade

Erica & Kenny and Ty

A few of the aunts


Tiffany did some back up dancing for them

Sadly that next day when we woke up we were already docked back in New Jersey. And were met by a blustery 36 degree rainy day! I'll try not to complain about 70 and rainy ever again!