Being a bum in Key West

Since I didn't do very much blogging in Key West, I'm going to try to try to write some highlights of the trip, not necessarily in chronological order, just as I think of things!  

Once the half marathon was out of the way, it was time to have some fun in Key West!  I couldn't wait to visit a bakery that I visited last year, Mattheessen's bakery for a giant cookie!!

Giant chocolate chip cookie from Mattheessen's bakery! 

Erika and I each had a chunk of the cookie and took the rest back to the hotel room and had more later and finished it off the next day!  They are really good!  I bought another chocolate chip and an oatmeal raisin on the last day we were there to bring home and I cut each into four pieces and froze them!
We rode our bikes around quite a bit.  We had fun goofing around with a bunch of sculptures in the Mallory Square area:

High-fiving a sailor

flirting with railroad worker

Helping an elderly lady with groceries

We saw cruise ships docked in Mallory Square, we took lots of pictures in those photo thingies - I'm sure they have a name but it's where you put your face through an opening:

Oyster waitress

Fishing charter

Sunday night we went to Willie T's bar to listen to my favorite Key West singer:

Gerd Rube

I listened to him last year when I was there and I looked up his website shortly before my trip and found out that he was playing in Key West again this winter!  I was so excited!  He also had a brand new CD so I bought one when he was on his break:

My new BFF!

While he was on the stage and between songs, he commented on my shirt! He asked if I had run the half marathon and asked what my time was! 

We went running both of our remaining mornings because we were in Key West and could run in shorts and back here that was not an option:

71 degree temp difference at 7:23 am

Running along the ocean

playing in a sculpture on the beach

Monday night we stopped by the Southernmost point because every time we go by there it's crowded and there were always long lines for pictures.  When we got there, there was nobody else around!  We took each others pictures and then two men came along and asked if one of us could take their picture so they took ours together.  It worked out well!

Southernmost Point at night

goofing around at the Southernmost Point

We went to a drag queen show!  That's something I've never done before!
Monday afternoon, we rode our bikes all the way around the perimeter of Key West.  The half marathon used to go all the way around but the main road is under construction on the north side of the island so for the last two years the course had been an out and back along the south side.  Last year a lady told me that the other side is really boring and we really are running the best part of the course twice with the modified route.  She was right.  The other side is very commercial and looks like any street in any town around here:  McDonalds, Burger King, Home Depot, gas stations, muffler shops, etc etc etc...  There was also a lot more traffic.  If I'm never on North Roosevelt Ave. again, it will be ok with me! 
All too soon, it was time to pack up and check out of our hotel room.  We were able to leave our luggage in a room at the hotel since our flight wasn't until late afternoon.  It rained a little bit on Tuesday morning while we were packing but then it stopped and the sun came out and it was really nice.  We rode around, stopped at shops, and had a late lunch since our flight was going to be so late.  While we were having lunch, it began raining again and rained really hard.  We were sitting along an open wall in a restaurant on the harbor.  It did eventually stop raining and we got on our bikes for our last hour of riding around Key West.  At the time we started to head back to the hotel it started to rain again.  We got soaked!  We had to change our clothes before leaving.  (We had to change EVERYTHING, that's how soaked we were!)  The desk clerk called us a taxi, the taxi came and we were headed to the airport.
Our flight home was uneventful, both planes left on schedule.  We got back to Detroit, my diesel Jeep even started right up.  (I parked in the enclosed parking garage connected to the airport; well worth the extra few dollars per day cost.)  I dropped Erika off at her apartment and headed home.  I got home at about 2:15am.
To sum up my 2014 trip to Key West:  I had a blast!!

Key West 2014

Runner Nerd
home from Key West

Long bus ride to Key West

Soooooooo, We did make it to Key West!!  We arrived on the big tour bus at 3:15am.  What a day. 
After the flight was cancelled, they arranged for a bus to come and take us to Key West. 17 of the 34 passengers elected to take the bus.  I think it was just shy of 11pm when the bus finally pulled up and we loaded up for the drive.

On the bus

Shortly after we left, I called the hotel to let them know that we were, indeed, on our way there.  The lady I talked to said that she'd have our paperwork all ready with a note for the overnight person.  She assured us that our room would be waiting for us.  Our bikes had been delivered and she had the keys for the locks in an envelope with our check in paperwork.
Even though we didn't get to our room until 3:30 am, we woke up around 9 am and even though we were still tired, we got up because we didn't want to waste any more of our time in Key West.  We went and got a few things from the hotel's breakfast bar and ate by the pool.  After showering, we were off on our neat-o rental bikes!  I did this last year and still remember my way around but Erika was really nervous about riding around with the traffic.  She hasn't ridden a bike in a long time.  She loved it!  We rode to where the race expo was being held; it wasn't open yet but I wanted to show her how close it is and how easy it will be to get there in the morning before the race.  We had lunch and visited some shops.  Erika LOVES jewelry and was going crazy over all of the handmade jewelry offered in the shops around Key West!  We made our way to the expo and got our race bibs and shirts.  I love the shirt this year! (this pic is from the race website)

Cool shirts! (from KWHM website)

Erika had some injuries in the late summer and hasn't been running very much even though her injuries have healed.  She had a lot of work traveling in the fall and then was sick right after the holidays.  She thought it would be better for her to switch to the 5K.  Our bibs had our names on them and they were just so cool:

coolest race bibs ever

For her to switch to the 5K, she'd have to give this bib back and her new one wouldn't have her name on it.  She decided to keep the bib and remove the timing tag from the back and just run the 5K and then she would meet me near the end and run me in so we could cross the finish line together and have a finish line picture together.  I know it's probably not the best thing to do and most people would probably have a fit but it's what we decided to do!  We rode around more and came back to the hotel.  It was getting chilly so we changed before we went to the pasta dinner.  After dinner, we rode over to Duval Street which is the main touristy party street in Key West.  We went into a bar and listened to the singer for a while and then headed back to the hotel so we could get some sleep before we have to get up early for our big races.  We are both really tired.
It's so hard to believe that tomorrow morning I'm running the Key West Half Marathon again! 

Runner Nerd
tired on half marathon eve

I don't want to leave this place

Today was my last full day in Key West.  I don't want to go home.  This morning one of my friends who thought I was going home today texted me the following: " It's 17 and snowing.  Don't come home. Stay there!  Change your flight!"  
I slept in this morning.  I don't remember what time I got up but I know it was after 10!  (I went back to sleep after replying to the above text message that I wasn't going home today.)
I have no idea how many miles I rode my bike.  I rode all over the place today.  I went out to ride along the ocean where I had run during the half marathon yesterday.  I saw the mile markers which were painted on the ground.

10 mile mark on half marathon course

I got a little choked up when I saw this particular mile marker because I remember passing it yesterday.  I don't know if it's just me or if everyone feels this way; there is just something about passing the 10 mile mark in a half marathon.  It's not like you are anywhere near the finish line yet but once you pass the 10 mile mark, you are on the home stretch; there's just a 5K to go!  I love passing the 10 mile mark in a half marathon. 
Today was beautiful!  It was 77 degrees most of the day!  This is the warmest it's been since I've been here.
I toured the oldest house on Key West!  It was built in 1829.

The oldest house on Key West

I saw this shop:

Pelican Poop Shoppe

It was a typical Key West tourist gift shop with brightly painted metal crabs and lizards, Southernmost Point and mile 0 stuff, magnets, etc.  (I never saw any pelican poop or jelly beans being called pelican poop!)  I learned from a sign on the wall that this was Ernest Hemingway's first house. It was later made into a hotel.  It has a courtyard in the middle of it.  You can go into the courtyard and the store clerk starts a recording telling the history of the building.  It was very interesting.

(

remnants of the former hotel with palm trees reaching the 3rd story balcony

Courtyard pool of the Pelican Poop Shoppe, former Casa Antigua Hotel and former Ernest Hemingway house

I bought a Key West t-shirt at a shop near the Pelican Poop shoppe.  After lunch, I went back to the cookie place to get a oatmeal raisin cookie!  Oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite and this one was sooooooooooooo good!!!!  Oh my!  It was awesome!!!  I ate a chunk of it and wrapped the rest for later.  

I had a postcard to send to my running friend, Erika.  I asked at the hotel desk about a stamp and they did not have any but said that the store next door sells them.  I went in and asked for a post card stamp and the gal looked in her bag and told me that she is all out of postcard stamps and began to put her bag away.  I could see stamps in the bag so I said, "but those are stamps", to which she replied, "they aren't for postcards, I'm sorry" and proceeded to put the bag away.  I explained to her that I could still use the regular stamp on my post card and that the post office doesn't care if regular stamps are used on postcards.  She had to ask someone else before she would sell me a stamp!!

I got my "One human family" sticker!!  It is the motto of Key West.  It is true there.  You will see couples of all types dancing on the same dance floor.  I think that's a good thing! 

After supper, I did one time up and down Duval street taking it all in then I went back to Mattheessen's to try their homemade ice cream!!  Yep, it's as good as the cookies!!

I can't believe I have to go back home tomorrow.  It's below zero back there.  I have my stuff mostly packed.  I only bought a few small things here but it's hard to fit them in because I only brought a small carry on size suitcase and my backpack.  I'm going to go running in the morning; I have to.  I'm in Key West and it's below zero back home, how can I not go running?  I have to be out of the hotel by 11 but my flight isn't until 5:40 pm.  I can leave my stuff in a storage room at the hotel until I have to leave.  The hotel will also take care of returning my rental bike!

Well, I better get to bed so I can be out running by 8am.

Runner Nerd
doesn't want to leave Key West

Another Day in Paradise

The fanciest race bib I've ever had!

This is my race bib for the half marathon!  It's the fanciest race bib I've ever had!  I've never had one with a picture like that on it!  I can't believe that I have a 2 digit number.  I don't know how they assigned numbers but I did register one of the first few days registration was open. 

I got my rental bike today!  I don't have a picture of it yet.  I rode around this morning, found where the expo and packet pick up would be and then had lunch at a seafood restaurant.  You know you are in a place where it doesn't get cold when the restaurant doesn't even have walls around the outside of it!!  It is open to the outdoors and there are pigeons walking around the floor and they will come right up by your feet if they think there is a crumb on the floor!  I bet they never have to sweep the floor!
 I saw two cruise ships today!  There were two of them at the dock in Mallory Square this morning.  They are HUGE!  I've only seen pictures and I knew they weren't small but I didn't realize how massive they are.  I took pictures with my camera but I haven't put the pictures on my computer yet. After lunch and more riding around and looking in some shops that were off the main areas, I went back to my hotel room and took a nap until I rode back to pick up my packet.  I wasn't ready for dinner yet so I rode around a little bit more looking at everything.  I was in the seaport area.  There are a lot of fishing charter boats.  The pasta dinner was nothing special.  It was not even very good.  Oh well!  Hal Higdon was the speaker. 

Hal Higdon

After Hal Higdon spoke, I got on  my bike and rode back to my room and then started thinking about tomorrow morning.  I had never made any plans for breakfast.  I asked at the front desk and they directed me to a place with a deli that was in the same block as the hotel so I was able to get a bagel and I went to a convenience store I had stopped at last night for water because I remembered seeing fruit.  I'm so glad they had decent looking bananas so I got 2 bananas.  I like bananas just barely ripe and they had some that still had some green.
I have my bib pinned on my shirt and clothes and Garmin ready to go and will be going to bed soon!  The race is at 7am.  

Runner Nerd
race night in Key West