Bri Gaal's Blog: Florida Camp

I took one for the team last week (Team Gaal, that is). For the past 9 (?) years we have run a training camp in Florida in late Feb/early Mar. Initially they were held in Clermont, before we moved them to the west coast of Florida. I had attended all but the one right after Logan was born, until this year. I didn’t miss ALL of it, just most of it. With the new job and being in finance, it is very difficult to miss the first week of the month since it’s month-end close (and I haven’t accrued enough vacation). Here was my schedule:

Friday Feb-28: work from home in the morning, drive down to Jacksonville with Marty and Logan. This ~7hr drive turned into a 9hr nightmare because of a gigantic backup just before the Florida state line. And we were so close to my sisters. That was painful.

Saturday Mar-1: Drive from Jacksonville to Orlando with Marty and Logan. Drop Logan off at Marty’s sister’s house so he can spend the week with his cousins, Aunt/Uncle and grandma. Continue driving (with a brief awesome lunch with dear friends in downtown). I-4 is a bigger mess than I remember. And does Tampa ever NOT have a traffic jam. Sheesh. Made it to Treasure Island around 5:30pm

Sunday Mar-2: This was an awesome day. 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. We rode in the morning, did a short transition run after, and then swam in the ocean in the afternoon. We ate a delicious dinner and then played games. I wish every day could be like this :)

Monday Mar-3: early morning flight back to Raleigh. I came home to ice and sleet. Yay.

Tuesday Mar-4 through Friday Mar-7: work, work, work

Friday Mar-7: flew back down, I did have to continue working when I got there, but at least the latter half of the day was in a beach house looking at the Gulf of Mexico

Saturday Mar-8: Armadillo Run 5K. I managed to win this despite not being in very good run shape. It helps that the course was pancake flat. Drive to Orlando, pick up Junior Awesome, drive to Jacksonville.

Sunday Mar-9: drive with Marty and Logan back to NC

As one can deduce, I was there for the long drives to help Marty with a 2 year old, with a little bit of training sprinkled in. It wasn’t all bad – I got to see my sister and her extremely cute baby, sister-in-law and nieces (and Logan had a great time with them all week), and got to enjoy some sun and beach. Up here during the week was not terrible (although the weather left a little to be desired). It really flew by and I completely forgot what it was like to have absolutely no ‘other’ obligations. Even our dog was away having fun with the Honnold’s. Work was busy so the days went by quickly, and I managed to go out with my girlfriends twice during the week.

I am feeling slightly more motivated, however, this is probably in direct correlation to the fact that my wetsuit felt more snug than it should’ve when I put it on.

Logan seemed to do great at his cousin’s house and loved trying to do everything they did. When we went to pick him up he was napping so we waited until he woke up. He did a complete double-take when he realized it was us and wouldn’t stop hugging Marty and me. Then he was extremely clingy the rest of the day (and the next day). It broke my heart a little. I hope in his little mind he wasn’t thinking we had abandoned him.