Good morning, my friends! How were your weekends? Mine was a whirlwind – as you know, I was in Miami!
I was lucky enough to be invited down to Miami for an adventure with Nokia/Microsoft’s PR team to test out their new Nokia Lumia phone, which we were gifted with last week. (I know, we were extremely spoiled – rough life.) The phone is really slick – the one they gave me is all black and so far I love it. It takes really nice clear photos, too!
I was especially excited about this trip because my friends Monica and Kath were going! It was fun to catch up with them. 🙂
And with Caitlin, too, who was in town for the BlogHer Food conference (we were at the same hotel).
I got in late on Friday and headed straight to the welcome cocktail party, which was held on Touche Restaurant’s rooftop. It was such a perfect evening for an outdoor party!
We were out until about midnight but I was up bright and early on Saturday morning to go for a nice long run with Monica!
I love traveling with runner buddies – great to have company (and accountability) for morning runs on trips like this.
I was originally planning to do a 4 or 5 miler both days, but Monica wanted to do a 10 mile run at some point while we were in Miami. 10 miles? Okay, let’s do this! I’m up for a challenge…
I need to make sure to keep my mileage/training up for the Runner’s World Festival in a few weeks, anyway (I’m doing the Hat Trick, because I’m crazy).
The two of us met up at 7 a.m. for the adventure, and while we both felt a bit sluggish, we were rewarded for our efforts with gorgeous views.
We were staying downtown at the Hilton, but since we were doing such a long run we realized we could run all the way to the beach and back – fun!
Hello, South Beach!
I love the ocean – the waves are so calming.
I carried a water bottle with me since I knew it would be hot; Monica forgot one so we stopped at the Starbucks in South Beach so she could grab some water. I grabbed a banana – I had one before the run but I’m used to eating more before a long run (e.g. toast with nut butter & jelly) so I was getting really hungry! This did the job.
We took our time with the run, stopping a lot for photos. 🙂
Check this guy out!! Florida is cool.
10 miles – done! Great run thanks to the company and scenery, even though my legs weren’t 100% in the mood for it. 😉
I pounded some room service breakfast and coffee (which I had the foresight to order the night before so it would arrive when we got back from the run – best idea ever) while I got ready… (that bowl contains 2 poached eggs – YUM!):
…And then met up with the Nokia crew for an exciting adventure: airboating at a place called Gator Park in the Everglades!
We had an absolutely perfect day for it and I was SO excited we were going airboating – I’ve always wanted to! What a cool opportunity.
Being on the boat was such a blast – it moved really fast, actually, and it’s cool that since there’s no motor you can go over grassier areas without getting stuck!
I was hoping that we would see some alligators while out and about – ask and you shall receive! This guy’s name is “Scarface” and he is HUGE.
Eek!
We saw some baby gators, too. They were adorable in a still kind of scary sort of way. 🙂
After our gator adventure, it was time to eat! We were treated to lunch at the delicious Smith & Wollensky on Miami Beach, which was beautiful – we got to sit out on the patio with lovely views of the water. I think the Nokia Lumia phone takes especially gorgeous food photos – I took all the photos below on it and they came out so crisp and clear!
Delicious lunch! We all shared, so I also had some tastes of people’s steak.
After lunch, we had a really fun swing dance lesson – I wish I’d gotten photos, but I was too busy having a blast! So instead, I’ll share some dinner photos. 🙂
We were treated to dinner at 1826 Collins on South Beach, which had a really cool, fun atmosphere and AMAZING food.
I had the fish entrée – it was SO good; very light and fresh.
And I chose the chocolate dessert – no photo since it was really dark in the restaurant by then, but it was great, too!
As for Sunday, Monica and I squeezed in another run before I headed off to the airport. We met up at 7:15 a.m. and set out for a nice 4 mile jaunt.
Another gorgeous morning for a run! We had great weather in Miami – never got above mid 80’s, low humidity, and the mornings were in the 70’s. Definitely warm but not crazy hot at all!
Goodbye for now, Miami – I’ll miss those palm trees! A huge thank you to Nokia for having us down this weekend and covering all our trip costs. It was an honor to be invited. 🙂
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Have you ever been to Miami? Matt actually worked on site at a Miami client’s office for work for awhile while we were living in North Carolina, so we spent a few weekends down there. It’s a really fun, lively city!
Tell me about your weekend running adventures!
