Cali is where they put they mack down...

Best things about our Southern California trip:

1. Seeing Jeremy's parents and Dakota

2. Experiencing a 4.7 earthquake

3. Walking along Laguna Beach

4. Visiting with Andre, Kristen and the kids

5. Eating In & Out Burger for lunch on my birthday

6. Getting free shots from the bartender at the Strip Club in the gaslamp district (for my birthday)

7. Randomly touring the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum with J. It was way more fun than I thought it would be!

8. Getting surprised by Jeremy's parents with an upgrade to our room at the Hotel Del Coronado

9. Watching the sunset during happy hour

10. Eating lots of (good) Mexican food!

11. Enjoying coffee and scones on the beach with J after our 6 mile morning runs around Coronado Island

12. Running in awesome weather for a change (mid 60's in San Diego)

13. Surviving after running in record high temps (113 high in Riverside)

14. Watching the poor Navy Boot Campers run on the beach and swim in the freezing cold ocean from our warm balcony

15. Walking along the cove in La Jolla

16. Having nothing to do but go for long walks on the beach


Worst things about our Southern California trip:

1. Coming home

Yeah, we could have easily used another week.







We did get four good runs in while we were there which is a vacation first for me. The first two were in Riverside, J's old stomping grounds. I learned two valuable lessons about Riverside while I was running.

1. Riverside is VERY hot (113 degrees as a high)

2. Riverside is A LOT hillier than it looks

Yes, we somehow managed to find the one place on earth hotter than Miami in August to run in. We did two 7.5 mile run while we were there and they were no fun.

However, running around Coronado was awesome! The weather was overcast in the morning so no blinding sun. The temps were perfect (mid to upper 60's). The course was beautiful!!! We found a 6.1 mile loop that circled the entire island. It was a great way to see everything in under an hour!

The course started literally underneath our balcony on a bike path. We ran next to the hotel, along the ocean, past the Naval Base, through a bunch of quaint neighborhoods, along the bay overlooking the San Diego skyline, though parks, under the Coronado bridge, along the golf course and finished through a neighborhood with huge gorgeous homes. Our whole running conversation consisted of:

"Oh my gosh, look at how cute that house is!"

"I can't believe how nice the weather is!"

"Look at that beautiful view of the ocean/bay/skyline/bridge/golfcourse"

Yeah, it was tough all right.

Sunday, 9/02 - 7.57 miles / 1:17:11 - 10:11 pace
Monday, 9/03 - 7.57 miles/1:16:28 - 10:06 pace
Tuesday, 9/04 - MY BIRTHDAY = NO RUNNING!! ;)
Wednesday, 9/05 - 6.24 miles/1:00:54 - 9:45 pace
Thursday, 9/06 - 6.24 miles/1:00:12 - 9:38 pace

Total Weekly Mileage: 27.62