I’m back.
I’m not happy about being back.
Spending three glorious days in Fire Island was exactly what I’ve been needing. I relaxed. I napped (a lot). I ate delicious food. I ran. It was three days of pure bliss and perfection.
I also completely abstained from social media. I didn’t blog. I didn’t Tweet. I didn’t check Facebook.
OK, I tried to check Facebook, but not having phone service on the island prevented me from doing that. Still, it was really nice to be disconnected and to be able to take in everything from the weekend.
I’m glad I was able to get my long run in before leaving on Friday morning, which meant I didn’t have to worry about my training while I was away.
So, what do you do when you go to Fire Island?
I will tell you.
You pack up all your crap and lug it onto a ferry in Bay Shore.
This is mostly just the food…
The ferry ride from Bay Shore to Saltaire takes about 20 minutes. We spent those 20 minutes stuffing our faces with food. Don’t act surprised.
You take a “before” photo so that you can see how pale you were at the start of the weekend.
Pale Lauren and Pale Ali on the ferry
You arrive in Saltaire where you load all your goodies onto a wagon. Yes, a wagon. You instantly feel like a little kid. It’s a wonderful feeling.
All the wagons at the dock
Lots of stuff. Mostly mine.
You tow your wagon to your friend’s amazing new house on the bay front.
Adorable
You are very impressed.
Then you change into a bathing suit and kick off your shoes. You will pretty much be barefoot for the rest of the weekend.
You spend some time taking in the view and breathing in the island air.
The view from Lauren's house. Not bad. Not bad at all.
You freak out about drinking and riding a bike. This is not safe.
Bikes = dangerous
You recall the last time you drank and biked. You remember how that ended. It was not pretty.
You drink a glass plastic cup of wine and you are happy.
Life is good.
The wine hits you hard and fast, and you take a nap…in the sun…while wearing shorts. You now have a shorts tan that will be a source of ridicule on the beach for the remainder of the weekend.
It’s fine. It’s not attractive, but it’s fine.
You enjoy a delicious home-cooked meal and eat it while you watch the sunset.
Goodbye, sun
What's better than that? Seriously.
Excellent
I'm running out of "clever" sunset captions… Sorry.
You are happy.
Good friends = good times
You are also tired, so you go to bed at a reasonable hour.
You sleep in! On Saturday morning I slept until 8 am, and Sunday I didn’t wake up until 9. I don’t remember that last time that happened. I’m typically a weekend alarm-setter, so this was pretty spectacular. Both days I woke up feeling rested.
You run. Ah yes. Just because you’re on a mini vacation doesn’t mean your training plan goes out the window. I ran four miles on Saturday morning and four miles on Sunday morning. Running on the boardwalks through town = fun. Running on the sand = miserable calf torture.
Kudos to anyone who sand-runs regularly. That is tough.
Was I happy about running on sand, which no one warned me about? Not at all.
"My calves hurt. Ouch. I'm a wimp."
“The pavement will turn into a dirt road,” everyone said. Dirt road and beach are not the same thing.
The gravel I didn't mind so much.
The weather was perfect for running, and I loved that I didn’t have to be out super early. The breeze from the ocean and the bay kept the air cool.
Oh but don’t think I didn’t sweat my face off. I did.
Sweaty. Nom nom nom.
It was so nice starting off each day with a relaxing run. It was a great way to see the island.
The lighthouse
Gorgeous, right?
You take as many outdoor showers as possible. This is my favorite Fire Island activity. If you’ve never taken an outdoor shower, you absolutely must. It’s life-changing.
You nap as much as possible. I kid you not, every single time I laid down somewhere — whether it was in a chair, on the beach or on a couch — I fell asleep. I took about 8 little naps over the course of 2.5 days.
Trashy magazines + lounge chair = asleep within minutes
Toes in the sand = time for another nap
You eat lots of fresh, healthy food because it’s the only thing your body craves.
Turkey, hummus & cucumber sandwich and baby carrots. Perfect.
(How cute is that plate?)
Tomato, mozzarella, basil, balsamic, awesome.
Your body also craves wine, so you have that, too.
You try to think of ways you can live on the beach permanently.
I would like this to be the backdrop to my life.
You come up with no viable solutions that will pay the bills. Tragic.
HOW CAN I MAKE THIS MY LIFE???
Love this.
You notice that boys with tans who know how to do things like lifeguard, drive boats, throw frisbees and man a grill are excellent specimens.
You play with puppies.
Lauren's dog, Finn
PUGGLE!
You watch the puppies get frisky, and you want to look away to give them privacy, but you just can’t divert your eyes.
Dirty dogs.
Eventually you reluctantly leave Fire Island. But you get to take a speedboat off the island, so that’s kind of awesome.
You get back to NYC and flat-out refuse to return to normalcy.
Hello, skyline. I love you.
True story.
It’s a good thing today is a cross training day, which meant I didn’t have to be up early. I set my alarm for 6 am and didn’t actually get up and get moving until 7. Oops.
You are too lazy to put together a cute outfit because you still haven’t unpacked and you don’t really care. You just want to be on the beach.
Boooooring. Solid effort, Ali.
You try desperately to cling to that last bit of relaxation you felt all weekend as your email inbox fills up and you realize how much work you have to do.
Worth it? Absolutely.
YOUR TURN TO SHARE: Since I was M.I.A. all weekend, fill me in. What was the best thing you did this weekend?
