Pools, Penguins, and Pasta in Paradise
Last week, I flew down to Key West to spend a quiet weekend with my husband. I left behind four kids and four-degree weather in Boston. Our plan was to relax by the pool, soak up any precious sunshine that came our way, and pretty much do nothing.
That all changed when I arrived at Key West, and decided to try to share a cab ride from the airport.
Always the enterprising one, I spotted a woman and asked her if she wanted to share a ride to the hotel. It didn’t matter that we were in two different hotels.
During the ride, we began to talk. I found out her name was Cecelia, she was from Chicago, and was running the Key West Half Marathon.
My eyes lit up and my toes started tingling.
“There’s a half marathon here?” I asked. “ On Sunday?”
Hmmm. I wasn’t planning on running this weekend, although I am training for the Boston Marathon and was due for a “long run.” But honestly, I’m not that dedicated.
But a half-marathon? Sounded great.
I told Cecelia I’d likely go and she invited me to the pasta party Saturday night.
I declined.
“If I drag my husband to a pasta party, he’ll divorce me,” I said. When I get around other runners, let’s just say I’m very animated. I didn’t think Dave would be able to put up with me. And this was our weekend for two, not 200. But I didn’t say definitely no either.
I arrived at our hotel, the Hyatt Key West Resort and Marina, and met Dave at the pool. It was beautiful: sunny, warm, breezy, everything not Boston. We flopped down on two poofy lounge chairs on the pier, faces tilted toward the setting sun.
I told Dave about the half. He thought it was a great idea. He even wanted to go to the pasta party. Go figure!
So on Saturday, after a great day of daily-grind-detoxing in the hot tub and sailing, we headed off to the pasta party.
Jenny Hadfield was the speaker for the evening. She is an author, speaker, coach and co-owner of Chicago Endurance Sports, and had brought over 100 runners (including Cecelia) down with her for the Key West Half Marathon. She was awesome. I didn’t know much about her, but her resume is very impressive, and she’s a great coach and motivational speaker. She’s also married (I found out later) to John (“The Penguin”) Bingham.
Now I can be a little slow when it comes to this kind of thing, but after sitting at the same table with Jenny, I finally started talking to her hubby, and when I discovered he was John, I was—well let’s just say—over the top enthusiastic.
After smothering the poor guy with hugs and getting a photo taken, I calmed down a bit. But it definitely was a highlight of the evening.
The next day, Dave got up early with me and we walked to the race. He ran 4 miles, and I ran the 13.1, which runs the perimeter of Key West. It was surreal almost thinking that here I was, in the middle of a great race, without even planning to be there. And I met so many great people along the way.
To think I almost didn’t pack my running gear. And if I hadn’t jumped in that cab…
You just never know who you may run into – or what you may run – while on vacation 🙂