Rondi is training for a 100-mile run, and she wanted to do a training run…in Florida! She sent flight information to Molly and me, and we booked the tickets in January, when it was cold and dark. A nice trip to look forward to during the winter!
Day one
Rondi and I flew on Allegiant from Flint to the St Pete-Clearwater International Airport. We hadn’t flown from Flint in a long time, and it went great. Nice, small airports, both of them.
I’m all for budget airlines, because I’ve never had a problem with them getting cancelled (I have with American the last two flights, but it’s not really the fault of the airline) and they’re inexpensive.
We took an Uber to our hotel – Cambria Madeira Beach Hotel. It was a great place – rooftop pool and hot tub and bar/restaurant, bike rental, and just a block off the ocean.
We ran many miles, but it was prohibitively hot at 88 degrees, so we ran/walked back.
There are a variety of places to eat in the tourist town! We stopped at Fort Knox, then had dinner at Conch Republic Grill, and everyone was friendly.
Kudos to the servers everywhere in this town. FRIENDLY. So friendly. Everywhere seemed to be well-staffed, too! Happy spring break!
I watched the sunset on Madeira Beach. This beach is great, and just what I think of when I think of Florida. White sand, wide beach, right off the city, and tons of shopping and food options. We went to Captain Billy’s with Molly to watch MSU win in the NCAA tournament!
Day two
We woke up with goals – a triathlon!
We ran 3.1 miles, then rented bikes at Cambria and rode for an hour. We walked to John’s Pass, which is an area with lots of shops and restaurants and ate at a place facing the water - there were many, but we went to Sculley's and had awesome mahi tacos.
Since we were sitting right on the water, we were delighted to see – dolphins! The entire time we had lunch we watched dolphins in the water. It was exciting, and the scene itself was so beautiful.
We walked back (about 2 miles) on the beach, and then we went to the rooftop pool and hot tub. Then we swam in the ocean – my favorite. I love just floating in the salt water. Fun triathlon complete!
We went to the Beach Bar on the way back, and then we went to have dinner on the rooftop of Cambria again. Beautiful view and great place.
Day three
I woke up early, so I ran on the empty beach, and the Rondi, Molly and I ran again. 6 miles total for us! We walked to the Madeira Snack Shack and ate ice cream and breakfast. Then it was an Uber back to the airport.
I’ve never gone to Florida just for the weekend, but I totally recommend it. I feel like I got a great workout, lots of sunshine, and tons of time to talk with my friends. I came home on the first day of spring, and it set me up wonderfully for it.
If you need a warm weekend, this is a great place to do it. Hopefully my friends will always need company for spring training!
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