This year, Ellie and I were lucky enough to be able to take a few days off this past week and head to the ocean! Ever since I was literally four months old, my family has been reserving  a couple weeks to spend out on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We camp in Nickerson State Park with many freshwater kettle ponds (created by glaciers! Go see Sands of Time!). No lifeguards, no mobs of people, just peace and relaxation . . . and a ton of Yahtzee.

Recently, with all of our busy work schedules, it has been more and more difficult to secure time when we are all out on the Cape. Fortunately, this year, all nine of us made it out on the same weekend, which was an absolute blast. Ellie and I flew out of Buffalo on Thursday, hoping to arrive on time to see my brothers band, Hornography. But of course, our flight was delayed by several hours and we missed the show. I guess there always has to be at least one thing to go wrong on a vacation.

When the rest of the family got to the Cape on Friday, we settled in for a nice, relaxing weekend. On Saturday, Ellie, Mike, Suz, and I all were scheduled to do a six-mile run. We are all training for the Boston Half Marathon, which seems to be quickly approaching. We woke up nice and early, and despite the inevitable rain in the forecast, we set out. Now, most of you (I assume) have probably never been to Nickerson State Park. I don't think I can quite articulate the degree of difficulty of some of those hills in that park. They are long, and they are often pretty steep. Ellie and I really don't have much hill work in our daily runs. Buffalo is pretty flat in general, and we have to actively seek out hills if we want that challenge.

Massive hills = owch!

Overall, the run was fantastic. According to Susan's app, we did six miles in an hour and three minutes, which is right where we want to be . . . especially on hilly terrain. It was a ton of fun. Later, we even got to play some touch football on the flats of the bay.

On Sunday, we spent a lot of time in the lake near our campsite. I know Ellie got a good swimming workout in for sure. We also played plenty more football on one of the beaches at the ocean! Monday was another running day, and this time Dave, Ellie, Dad, Mom, and I all set out to a different part of Nickerson (a little flatter this time) for a nice 2.5 mile, thirty-minute run. It was awesome to get workouts in while on vacation! Tuesday was an ocean day, and Ellie and I had a blast battling the North Atlantic waves. It was pretty exhausting . . . maybe I'll up the AFP rewards for surfing!

Overall, it was a great break from work and from the everyday norm of training. It was a lot of fun, and both Ellie and I were super stoked to be able to see everyone all at once this year on the Cape.