Fits on the Road: Turks & Caicos- All About Conch

We have returned safely to Minneapolis after our getaway to Turks & Caicos! It's always so hard to return from a vacation, isn't it?

It was a lovely trip, though a not-so-lovely travel day back to the U.S. Our flight was delayed from Turks & Caicos due to a mechanical issue, so we arrived in Charlotte an hour late. When we got there, customs was really backed up, so we were stuck on the plane another hour before they would even let us off. Our connecting flight back to Minneapolis was long gone by the time we finally de-planed, and unfortunately, there was no room for us on a flight from Charlotte until 10 pm Monday (today). Instead, U.S Airways flew us to Philadelphia for the night and put us up in an Embassy Suite by the airport. Then we were on an 8 am flight back to Minneapolis this morning. Of course, there was a snowstorm in Philly, so were delayed another few hours. We finally landed in Minneapolis around noon today.

We hurried home so we could go pick up our little lady from her stay with her BFF Sonya. It sounds like she had an awesome time during her visit! Thanks to Sonya's parents for watching Matilda!

We were both supposed to work today, but ended up using another day of PTO for this little travel dilemma. Oh well, what can you do? The rest of the trip was great, so I'll get back to sharing the details of that instead of complaining.

I left off in this post after the first day at the beach. That night, we had one of our best meals on the island at a restaurant that came highly recommended by several friends. It was called Coco Bistro - if you ever find yourself in Turks & Caicos, plan ahead, and make a reservation here! The food and atmosphere are great! But seriously, plan ahead- they book up really fast. We called about two weeks before we left, and there was only one reservation available the entire time we were there at 6 pm.

Onto day 2- the weather was quite windy this day, and a bit overcast. After a full day of sun the day before, I didn't mind the break. We decided to take advantage of the less than perfect weather, and head to the Caicos Conch Farm for a tour. Tours cost $12/adult. We were told they were held every half hour, but when we arrived, we were the only ones there, so the tour just started for us!

The tour started with a photography exhibit displaying all the stages of a conch's life, and explaining how the farm works.

Next, the guide led us through all the tanks for the baby conch. We were able to touch them, and pick them up, though the young ones were really timid and usually zipped back into their shells right away. However, there is a baby one in the picture on the right below. There, you can see there small claw, which is used for digging and moving. I had never seen this before!

After viewing the conch throughout their development, we eventually made our way to a few friendly adult conch that the farm had named Jerry and Shelly. They were very "friendly," or comfortable being handled by humans, and both were happy to come out of their shells for us to show off all their body parts.

We could clearly see their eyes, mouth, claw, (even the penis on the males...which will get to a foot long!) We even saw their eyelashes- so cute. They were really fascinating little creatures. Who knew?

The Caicos Conch Farm also raises grouper, snapper, pompano, and cobia. We were able to view those tanks as well.

All in all, it was a really interesting tour. It's only a half hour tour, so its definitely worth a quick stop. They are in the process of opening a restaurant at the farm, but until then, they recommended we check out Bugaloo's for some conch.  We figured we'd listen to the locals' advice. 

"the office" for a conch fisherman

Bugaloo's was at the entire opposite end of the island, so we were glad we had our car for this outing. When we arrived, we were able to watch the commercial fisherman bring in their conch and clean it out, to bring it straight to our table, (well, virtually!)

Yes, it was a little sad to go from meeting feisty conch with personalities and names like Shelly and Jerry, to seeing them killed and then cooked...I tried not to the think about it!

Conch is very abundant on the island, and Turks & Caicos actually supplies conch for a quite a bit of the rest of the world.

FYI, I had "cracked conch" which was lightly fried, and Dustin had the conch salad, which was conch ceviche (served raw). His entree was quite tasty. My dish was also good, though I'm not always a fan of fried foods. Fortunately, this wasn't too heavy, and it was served with a really great hot sauce made in-house at Bugaloo's. 

After our day of "conch", we headed back to our hotel to lounge by the beach some more. The sun had come out, though the wind was still pretty crazy, but we were still able to enjoy the beach. (Apparently, the wind we had is pretty rare for Turks & Caicos).

Eventually, we grabbed a casual dinner at restaurant down the road called the "Tiki Hut".

This restaurant was okay, though definitely not of the same caliber as Coco Bistro  the night before. But it was casual and easy- we still had a good meal, some fun island drinks (that were pretty strong), and enjoyed watching all the enormous yachts in the harbor.

I'll be back soon with more pictures from the rest of our trip! Time to head to the grocery store and get back on track with the "real" world...

Fits on the Road: A Long Run in Turks & Caicos and More Island Fun...

Hello, hello, from Turks and Caicos!

I haven't had a lot of time to check in here on the Right Fits while on vacation. However, today is rather windy and mostly cloudy, so we've had a little more downtime in our suite. Speaking of our suite, we were informed upon checking in that we were upgraded to an ocean view suite!

Can't complain about that! The Windsong Resort, where we are staying, is a charming boutique hotel in Provendenciales on Grace Bay. The resort is mostly suites with a few regular hotel rooms. We were originally booked to a garden view suite, but the hotel was overbooked, so they put us in the ocean view suite. 

The ocean view is quite nice! The suite is way more space than we really need, with a living room, kitchen with counter seating, a little dining room table, laundry machines, TWO bathrooms, and a large bedroom. It greatly exceeded my expectations!

We arrived on Wednesday evening, settled in, and then grabbed dinner at the Mango Reef restaurant. We have a rental car here, which I think is necessary. There are taxis, but they will cost you about $80/trip, so we would have spent much more than a rental car already, had we used the cabs. 

This was the first time Dustin had to drive on the left side of the road! It took a little getting used to, to say the least...every time he thought he was turning on the blinker, low and behold, the windshield wipers would go on.

Driving on the left side of the road...

There really aren't a lot of "addresses" or street signs here either. Most directions are just "go past the gas station and turn left at the so-and-so restaurant..." We definitely have been winging it a bit, and have become a bit lost a few times, but it's all part of the fun I suppose.

Mango Reef restaurant...

Thursday morning, I was up at 5:30 am, ready to do my long run. However, Dustin was the sensible one, and pointed out that it was still pitch black outside, and maybe, just maybe, it was a good idea to wait until we could see where we were going before heading out....so I waited another 45 minutes or so, and then we were out the door as the sun rose, trying to beat the heat.

I had found this route on the USATF website for a ~14 mile route. 

We actually didn't come back on the Leeward Highway as the route would have had us go, as it seemed too busy to run on the highway. Instead, we came back the same way we went out, which was a lovely sidewalk path along the road with all the resorts of Grace Bay. 

I had forgotten how hard it is to run in the heat! The sun rose quickly, and it beat down on us. It was hot and humid (upper 80's by the end of the run). Dustin and I shared the Nuun in my fuel belt, but we drank that all up quickly. Fortunately, I brought some cash with me, so we were able to stop at a store for some water. We survived, but it was definitely tough. We were not ready for that kind of heat!

After the run, shower, and breakfast (which was included for guests at the Windsong!) we found some chairs on the beach, and settled in for sunbathing. We took breaks to sail on a little Hobie Cat, test out the paddleboards, snorkel the reefs, and just enjoy the lovely island.

With the less-than-perfect weather today, we actually took a conch farm tour. I'll post about that next. It was quite interesting!

Have you done a long run on a beach vacation? How did it go? 

Fits on the Road: En Route to Turks & Caicos!

Good morning! I'm writing this post from the airport in Charlotte, NC.

We are on our way to Turks & Caicos for a beach getaway. We've had enough of the snow and winter! True, we did just return from our trip to Utah, (which was a blast), but that was a trip that involved more snow...it is time for some R & R in a tropical destination. We are in need of some Vitamin D!

So where is Turks & Caicos?

It's about 650 miles south of Miami, not too far from the Bahamas.

Turks & Caicos are a British Overseas Territory. The primary language is English, while several people also speak "Turks & Caicos Creole," and the official currency is the US dollar. That's about all I know....and the beaches look beautiful.

To prepare for the trip, I got a haircut and highlight (needed one badly!)

I bought this straw hat by Nine West...

...I've been doing my sit-ups with the sit-up challenge!

...and we said goodbye to this little lady for a few days....

I hope to squeeze in a few short posts while we're traveling. The plan is that Dustin and I will do our long run there as well, so stay tuned for more Fits on the Road!

Have you been to Turks and Caicos? Any recommendations? What is your favorite warm weather destination? 

Weekly recap and I’m glad I switched to the YMCA…

Throughout my years in Minneapolis, I’ve switched gym memberships many times. I’ve been a member of Lifetime (and Northwest before Lifetime bought them), the Firm, LA Fitness, and most recently, the YMCA. My reasons for joining each gym have changed with different periods of my life and different fitness needs. For example, right after college, I was obsessed with spin classes, and I paid up for a monthly membership at the Firm because they had the BEST spin classes. Then, when I got into running, I wasn’t using the Firm classes as much, so I joined Northwest with Dustin. When they were purchased by Lifetime Fitness, I stuck around for a few years, but there wasn’t a location convenient to my office and home. LA Fitness entered the scene, and at just $30/month, I decided to hop onto that bandwagon (There was one close to my work and home). Eventually though, for a variety of reasons, I realized I wanted a gym with a little more to offer than the “barebones” of LA Fitness.

I did a free trial week at the YMCA, took a few Body Pump classes with a friend, and decided to make the switch to the Y. I have been really happy throughout my two years as a member there. There are multiple locations that are convenient to me, both home and office. Sure, the spin classes aren’t as intense as those at the Firm were, but overall I think the classes are still pretty good, and I really don’t go there for the classes. I love their pool and their new treadmills (which I spent a lot of time on this winter) I pay the extra $11/month for towel service, and the convenience is definitely worth it to me. I can’t foresee any reason why I would end my membership at this time! Of course, I am also a member of the Calhoun Beach Running Club, and I have class packages all over the place (the Barre, Corepower Yoga, Modo Yoga, Pilates ProWorks, Balance Fitness, Balanced Barre) as well, so I’m not asking for ALL my fitness needs to be met in one place, if you know what I mean. 

If you do want all your fitness needs met in one location, something like Lifetime Fitness or the Firm is probably a good option for you. If you want barebones- there’s plenty of options, such as 24 Hour Fitness, Snap Fitness Anytime Fitness and of course LA Fitness

Anyways! That’s my Minneapolis “gym” history. I was thinking about this history because of this recent local news story about violence and fights at an LA Fitness…this is not the location that I used to go to, but it still makes me happy that I switched to the YMCA! The Y is by no means luxurious, but it is bit more family focused and friendly, and I just can’t picture this happening there.

Check it out here: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/03/07/big-gym-fight-has-police-hoping-la-fitness-beefs-up-security/

Yikes!

Okay, moving on....I’m here with a weekly recap of March 3-9.

Monday: 8 miles on the treadmill (at my lovely YMCA)

Tuesday: 8 miles on the treadmill with some hilly intervals

Wednesday: Kettlebell/strength class at Balance Fitness

Thursday: 7 miles outside with my friend Monica!

Friday: C2 yoga at Corepower Yoga (vinyasa flow)

Saturday: 18 mile long run

Sunday: 1 hour barre class at The Barre with my friend Susie

My mileage wasn’t as high as normal, but I was trying to be cautious after my IT band started acting up this week. As I mentioned in this post, I went in for some treatment on Friday, and I made it through my 18 miler on Saturday. Normally I would have been tempted to throw in another run on Friday and/or Sunday (especially Sunday, since it was finally starting to feel like spring!) but I resisted the temptation. I was really proud of myself for choosing NOT to run on those days. Instead, I found a different activity for fitting fitness on those days- an activity that hopefully will help me in the long term more than those extra miles would have.

In fashion this week...

..of course I was excited about some new necklaces from Oia Jules (read about those HERE)

In fitness fashion, 

I am pretty stoked about lululemon’s upcoming warehouse sale! Read all about it on the Mpls/St. Paul magazine’s blog HERE. Will you be there? I definitely will be!

Details-

Where: Minneapolis Convention Center

When: March 28-30

Hope to see you there!

The Right Fit in Jewelry: Oia Jules on Etsy

Fashion update today!

 I am a huge fan of statement necklaces- I hope they never go out of style....or I would be out of luck!

They seem to be sticking around though, and even though I have quite a few, its still fun to update my accessories occasionally with a new piece. I recently came across the cutest jewelry designer on Etsy that I think you will enjoy.  It's called OIA JULES 

I picked out one necklace that I absolutely LOVED.

Upon checkout, I decided why not add another fun pink one from the sale section, for just $25!

I guess I'm loving pink this spring....

The jewelry is really well made and relatively affordable...and so cute!

I wore the necklace  first to work on Friday, with a beige Banana sweater and navy Banana sloan pants. I wanted the necklace to stand out so I paired it with the basics. I wanted the necklace to make a statement, so to speak! :)

Then on Saturday night, I wore it again- this time with this tipped silk tee in windowpane from JCrew, this black Banana blazer, and an older pair of hot pink corduroys from the Gap (no longer available).

P.S. I got a cut and color on Saturday from Kol at Salon Stella- she's so awesome! I have been seeing her for 6 years- she's the best!

Anyways, go check out Oia Jules on Etsy. She has tons of other cute necklaces- I'm actually tempted by the same necklace that I purchased in pink, but in blue:

Oia Jules  also has a ton of great earrings and bracelets as well. Check out her stuff, and let me know what you think!

Fitting Remarks: Graston Technique and Active Release Technique (A.R.T.) at Uptown Natural Care Center

If you have been reading the blog for awhile, you know that I have struggled (like so many other runners) with IT band issues in the past.

I foam roll regularly, and I have really tried to strengthen my butt and core (with barre classes, yoga, plank challenges!). I try to do the right things to stay on top of this issue, but sometimes it still flares up. I am starting to think it will plague me for life!

Fortunately, I have found an awesome clinic that has helped me work through this issue- the Uptown Natural Care Center!

I was referred to the Uptown Natural Care Center by several Calhoun Beach Running Club members who had gone there to see Dr. Jenna Boren. Jenna Boren is an elite runner, and a great doctor. Unfortunately, she moved to the West Coast last year. (Before she left, she did do a fun interview with the Right Fits- read it HERE!)

I was sad to see Jenna go, but her replacement, Dr. Tyler Crabtree  <-- follow him @Mpls_Chiro, is also great! I have had a few appointments with him this year for A.R.T. and Graston on my IT band, and I really think it helps a lot.

What is Graston Technique? I'm not a doctor, so I'll share the information straight from the source:

Graston Technique is a trademarked therapeutic method for diagnosing and treating disorders of the skeletal muscles and related connective tissue. The method employs a collection of six stainless steel tools of particular shape and size, which are used by practitioners to palpate patients' bodies in order to detect and resolve adhesions in the muscles and tendons.

So, that's the technical explanation...MY explanation? The doctor uses a crazy metal tool that is kinda painful to work out all the bad stuff! It feels like a really focused massage, but it works.

What is A.R.T.- or Active Release Technique?  Again, here's the experts' definition.

"ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves."

MY explanation? Paying a doctor to stretch you out really well!

Dr. Tyler Crabtree at the Uptown Natural Care Center performs both of these techniques. If you're experiencing IT band pain, or any other running injuries, make an appointment with him. He might even be able to squeeze you in before work, at the end of your workday, or even on Saturday mornings- pretty convenient!  I pay for the appointments out of pocket, but they are very affordable ($45). 

Dr. Crabtree worked out my IT band yesterday with both A.R.T. and Graston. This morning, my long run was 18 miles, and I survived the run without any serious pain (just a little bit of pain)- thanks to Uptown Natural Care Center of course!

**This post was NOT sponsored. Opinions are completely my own! I highly recommend the Uptown Natural Care Center for running related injuries.

I'm actually hoping I don't have to visit Dr. Crabtree too often. I plan to keep working my core (with this month's sit-up challenge!), lots of yoga and stretching, and of course, time with this my friend the trigger point foam roller. I also am taking more non-running and rest days this training season as well, to ensure my body fully recovers after each run. Fingers crossed that my plan works!

Fits On the Road: Frozen Minnehaha Falls!

I may complain a lot about the Minnesota winter this year, but its not ALL bad. In fact, on Sunday, after returning from Anandale (where I was for all the bachelorette fun) Dustin and I took Matilda to the Minnehaha dog park....Yes, she is wearing a cowl neck sweater. The Right Fit in dog fashion?

By the way, today is Matilda's 5th birthday. She has brought so much joy to our lives over the past 5 years...we love that furry pup!

She had a great time racing around in the snow, despite the cold temperatures.

After Tilda wore herself out, we headed over to Minnehaha Falls. I had seen a few other people's pictures of the frozen falls, so I knew that I needed to see them for myself. 

Tilda found them fascinating as well!

The hike down to the falls was actually kind of treacherous. I would suggest wearing snowpants, and boots with good traction, or maybe even a pair of Yak Trax. Someone has put up some temporary rope to hold onto when you climb down, but its still pretty dicey! Be careful, but give it a go, because its definitely worth it. Here are just a few of the awesome pictures we took from underneath the falls.

Pretty amazing, right?

Gorgeous.

I suppose this makes winter a little bit more bearable.

If you have time before spring arrives (if it EVER arrives), head to Minnehaha Falls for a quick little hike for some awesome views, courtesy of Mother Nature.

Hey- did you do your 20 old school sit-ups today? I did! Actually, I did them as part of a kettlebell class at Balance Fitness tonight. We did 5 sets of 20, so I think I'm good for today's challenge. Let me know how you did!