Still Swimming

School has begun here and yet we're still swimming. It's the first fair weather summer we've had in New England in years and the hot weather is sticking around.

Today the girls and I headed to the brook with our dog to cool off. Our summer goal has been to stay cool so we've been in the water rather than out on the hiking trail. Even our bike rides have been connected to in-town transportation rather than long, scenic outings.

I usually like to mix up our exercise routines, but this summer has been the summer for swimming. Our neighbor's pool closed on Tuesday (the day before school started here) and we went for our last hoorah. Ava jumped in and swam the length of the pool using her crawl stroke (stopping once for a breath), and Julia swam underwater.

I'm already looking forward to the day that the girls pass their deep water test, which may be next year.

Summer Vacation

I can't say that our family vacation to the NH seacoast was relaxing, but it was filled with a lot of new experiences for the girls. We stayed at a hotel in downtown Portsmouth and got to walk to dinner and around the city streets.

We hit the beach with friends in York, Maine and Rye, New Hampshire and I even let the girls indulge in a big, sweet slurpy from the beach snack bar. Boy, were they surprised and happy.

The walk back from the snack bar across the hot, dry sand was torturous.

Though I prefer the lake over the beach, I appreciate the vastness of the ocean and the beach and how much you walk to explore without even realizing it. Tom and Ava walked way out to a crop of rocks that jutted out into the ocean and joined a family in a cliff jumping adventure. Ava came back with her teeth chattering. The "cliff jumping" was the highlight of Ava's trip.

I think Julia was happy just playing in the sand and filling her pail with water time and time again.

As much as I felt guilty about not getting much running in, the rest was needed. I returned home to run my usual 10-mile hilly loop with friends and seem to have aggravated a case of tendonitis in my foot. If only I could keep that relaxed vacation mindset at home....

Peaks Island Road Race

Last weekend, we went to Peaks Island, Maine to visit my sister, to run a road race, and to have a mini-vacation. We accomplished all three things. Though the 5-mile race was prefaced by a kids' 1K race, my husband and I opted to have the race event to ourselves while my sister and her husband watched our kids. That was a good choice. The kids' run was only 15 minutes before our race and with 600 runners warming-up and lining up in small, island downtown, it was quite a scene. I was very happy to focus on my own warm-up rather than my children's finish.

Every once in a while my husband and I run a road race together. That is, we both run in the same race. In this particular event, I was at the mile 3 marker when my husband was heading to the finish line. Though we didn't race together, Tom and I ran to the race together, waited together in the long registration line, and ran home together. It's kind of like going to movies together. You don't talk during the movie, but you both experience it then share opinions afterwards.

The race headed out along the perimeter of the island and offered ocean views. I took them in. Tom did not. This is something we talked about afterwards. We also agreed that we were both happy with our pace and overall time. That afternoon the girls had a chance to dip in the salt water, get buried in sand, and play at the water's edge. The whole family go to do something they wanted to.

When we left the next morning, my husband and I wore our green race shirts and khaki shorts. We looked like tourists on the ferry, but it was a good feeling. It meant that we were on vacation, even if it was just a quick one.