On Christmas morning, Ellie, Audrey, and I piled into our new Subaru (woo new car!) and drove east to the ocean. This would be Audrey's first time on Cape Cod, which has been a bucket list item for Ellie and me since we adopted her eight years ago. Finally we had the time off (or ability to work remotely) to make the trip with her. Moral of the story: she loves the beach and we need to move.

Tunnel on the Rail Trail!

We made a pact with each other to stay active during our trip. Although I had moments of laziness, Ellie kept hassling me to go for a run. For those of you who aren't familiar with Cape Cod, it has an amazing Rail Trail, which is miles upon miles of pedestrian-/bicycle-only paved trails. We opted to run on the Rail Trail for both runs we did because it's nice and flat with no real traffic interruptions.

Our runs went well. We did two four-mile runs and averaged right around the 10-minute-per-mile mark. This was quicker than I anticipated, but as we all know, when the weather is cool, Ellie can fly down the path. On top of our runs, we also went to the Cape Cod YMCA and pretended to be my parents for a 45-minute workout. It was nice to be active because I then felt free to eat as many cookies as possible. We also did a hike around Nickerson State Park, our previous summer home for two weeks of camping each and every year since the 1980s. Audrey loved the trails and exploring around the ponds.

Lobstah Pots in Chatham!

Overall, we had a great trip, and we absolutely want to get Audrey back on the cape, where she can run and frolic on the beach. She didn't even mind having sand in her paws. It was also nice to see our family (sorry, Adrienne!) for more than a day with plenty of time hanging out with Alice and Izzy, and my parents too.

So with that, Happy 2019 everyone, let's get it going and have a great year! We are looking forward to many races, and getting everyone back in shape and moving again. Cheers!