Sadly, this morning I had my last run on Marco Island for the year. Since it’s so hot and humid I woke up before the sun to get in some miles. Waking up at 5:30am on vacation is crazy.
But, I did get to enjoy this gorgeous sunrise!
I thought this place was a well kept secret, but I’ve heard of so many readers who’ve been here (or live here!). Just in case you want to visit Marco Island here is a quick tip of the running…
You can run along the beach – it’s pretty quiet in the early morning.
But, I prefer to keep my walks on the beach and my runs on the sidewalk. I run toward the bridge, turn around and then stay on the main street until it dead ends. Then, I just head back the way I came and it’s about 11 miles point to point. I run 10 and walk the last one as a cool down.
It is ridiculous how sweaty I am. And I think that’s a dead bug on my leg too… nice.
I’ve created a problem. I think I’m addicted to 7-11 iced coffee. I have my whole ‘recipe’ perfected and everything.
There are worse things?
Question: Do you do an annual vacation to the same place or change it up?
I grew up always changing it up, but there is something nice about visiting the same place each year. It’s familiar and cozy – especially running those same sidewalks year after year.
Glad you are able to enjoy your runs on Marco Island. Great pictures! Thank you!
I love your pictures! My family has a place on Marco Island, and it is one of the best places to travel. When you wrote about walking on the beach, it reminded me of my last vacation there. The sand is so white, and soft. A walk or run on the beach in the morning is really enjoyable, because the water is calm, the sun is rising, and the beach isn’t too busy. Marco island is beautiful, and anyone who gets the chance to travel there will definitely want to return!
I just started following your blog this week and totally missed this post! I live on Marco Island! Haha. I’m surprised I didn’t see you out running.
This morning I did hill repeats on the marco bridge. I’d like to say I beat the heat running at 6am but sadly no. It was already 87 degrees when i woke up at 5:30. 🙂
You are a rockstar – between that bridge and that heat, that’s hardcore!!!
We love Marco Island! My mother in law lives near Residence Beach so we spend a lot of time walking on the beach. Like you, we prefer to,run on the sidewalks and walk on the beach. I have always wanted to do the half marathon in Marco but can’t seem to work it into my schedule. My husband and I did run the Paradise Coast half in Naples this year which runs through Lely. It was gorgeous. My girls grew up spending vacations in Marco visiting their grandparents. My husband and I are close to retirement and are seriously looking at buying a place in Marco so we an enjoy this bit of paradise year round. Glad you had a great time visiting Marco!
I recently moved back to Naples which is very close to Marco. We have been back for 8 months, after spending the last 12 years in Germany. I still haven’t gotten used to the humidity. I sometimes wonder if I ever will. 🙂 Such a beautiful part of the country!!
We mix it up but always love going to Naples, FL and doing day trips to Marco, Sanibel and other islands.
On our ride off Marco, there were street signs for ‘bob cat crossing’ YIKES!
We like to change it up, but we’re still a young, poor, married couple with a kid so we don’t go all out. This year we’re going to visit my parents in…Florida! Holler for free room & board! They live on the east coast though, almost directly across the state from Marco Island. I’m not looking forward to running there (way more populated that Marco), but gotta get it in! Glad you enjoyed your stay!
Just ONE dead bug? I’m a ridiculous sweater and pick up bugs like it’s my job. Neck, face, legs, arms, you name it, it’s got bugs on it.
We always vacation on Siesta Key, and I love it. Expecting to go back next year!
We never traveled much as a family when I was a child so I’m very thankful that my husband and I can do so now. We always mix it up – aside from needing to get our “Vegas fix” from time to time. As Courtney said above, there is so much to see in this great big world I’d hate to miss out on seeing and learning about new places because I keep going to the same place.
Every Easter Weekend my family and I go to the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington State. We check out the go-karts, funky little curiosity shop, get waffle cones and walk along the cold (often rainy) beach. I do love the consistency of going there each year; I know what to do when I get bored and which routes will give me a bit of mileage on vacation. 🙂
I vacation there every Christmas (from Boston) and it’s hot then too! But the most gorgeous & relaxing place in my opinion – glad you got some good miles in while visiting!
I feel you…we’re in 33-35 degrees here with 70+% humidity.
Growing up we used to head back to my grandparents’ place – so it’s the same place every year; now that we’re all grown up and in the same town, travel separately, it’s been different places for us every year.
Thanks for sharing that gorgeous sunrise with your readers. When I see skies like that I just have to thank God for life and colourful skies. Simply breath-taking.
Thanks 🙂
I don’t know that I’ve ever gone to the same vacation spot more than once (if you don’t count visiting relatives). I like to mix it up!
I always change it up and am going to new places every year but last year made the mental note that I need to find a regular vacation spot for myself. It’s nice when you recognize a place and are comfortable about it.
Awesome sunset picture!!! Love it. For vacation we’ve gone to Las Vegas for the past couple years. This year we wanna change it up and go to Big Bear with the whole family.
I’d be sad too, that beach looks AMAZING. Most of our family vacations are to Mexico, California and Utah, but we are going to mix it up now that the kids are getting older. The only problem is Kimball’s about to do dental school for the next four years so $$$ will be tight. 🙂 Are you speaking at Fitbloggin’ again? I wish I could go this year, but I’m for SURE going next year.
Jessica @ SweatIsMySanity.blogspot.com
You had such nice weather and awesome running weather!!
That’s one sweaty run!
Gorgeous! Waking up early is so worth it for that sunrise.
We change it up every year, maybe because we haven’t found the perfect vacation spot yet. But I also like seeing new places and doing different things.
My family goes to the same place every year which is nice to have as a tradition, but my husband and I also like to plan our own trips to visit new places, too!
We take a lot of vacations mostly to our vacation house in Venice, Florida but we also go to our cabin in Holopaw, Fl and we vacation outside of Florida at least once a year just to explore other areas.
That sounds really bratty so I should probably clarify that at all other times of the year we work our butts off with plenty of 7 day work weeks, so we deserve a few vacays.
Sounds heavenly, will you adopt me. 🙂 Lol.
I told my husband the reason I’m traveling so much this summer is because I hate running in the summer here 🙂
I have no idea how you do it!
Looks beautiful!! Soooo what’s the recipe for your iced coffee so we can duplicate it!!! Lol
I enjoy changing up my vacation spots and visit new places. However, I enjoy going to San Francisco every other year since it reminds me of Seattle (my hometown) and I have friends and family down there.
I woke up at 5:00am (and then shut the alarm and slept an additional 2 hours =) and couldn’t believe it was practically daylight. The sun rises so early at this point in June on the East Coast (with Daylight Savings and all). Actually June 21st is the longest day of the year and then the days get shorter. BOO!
As a kid we used to go to this resort place in the Poconos (Pennsylvania) and each family would have their own cabin and we’d eat our meals in the main lodge. I would swim and do archery with my brother. It was really fun. Especially because my grandparents lived in Florida so we’d get a week of spending time with them before they went back to FL.
I’ve also over the last 10 years vacationed in the Adirondacks with a good friend and her family. They rent the same house by Lake Champlain every year. It’s lovely. There’s a garden where we pick fresh veggies for the big dinner we make each night. And running is always challenging as there are lots of rolling hills.
We usually change ours up but I LOVE going out to the DC and Virginia area so much that I try to get there every couple of years. This place looks amazing!
I grew up vacationing in the same spot every year. Since there are so many memories associated with that place it’s now my favourite plate ever!
Now days though I return to that spot every couple of years, I like to travel to new places.
ahhh you’re totally making me want to run on a beach right now! i like to switch up the vaca spots but would love for California to be my go-to. 🙂
Every year in july, our fam hits Mission beach for a week. It’s been a tradition now for the last 13 years. This year, my calendar is full of racecations, so it’s been awesome running on the left coast during AZ hot months.
We went to Sanibel Island in March (north of Marco). Running there was beautiful! Everyone was so friendly and there were miles and miles of paved trails. The beaches were full of seashells and many people ran the beach too.
5:30 on vacation is so early! Thank goodness your view was beautiful!
I love to change up my vacation, but there are a few places that I visit over and over. Vegas (just because), Playa del Carmen (tiny resort that feels so cozy), and Oregon (my friend’s aunt has a house in the woods and it is beautiful and peaceful).
We were there in September, and I ran on the beach early in the morning. It was lovely, but very humid! I purposely ran slowly to enjoy the view.
It’s been one of my favorite places for almost 10 years! I like to punish myself on 8-9 mile combo beach & inland runs in Midday August! Glad you enjoyed it! Did you stay on the beach or rent a house?
That place looks incredible! We always change up our vacation spots. We like to explore new places. There’s so much in this world to see. We do make return visits places, but we prefer to go out to new places if given the choice.