You can tell the summer is winding down by the drop in temperatures at night here in New England.  You can also tell by the smell in the air.  It smells like pre-season.  For those of you that played sports in the fall during High School in the North East, you know what I’m talking about.  The morning air has fresh, wet, slight chill to it.  It may make your stomach churn as memories of “getting on the line” for suicides comes to mind.  I personally love the smell because it’s associated with pushing myself and starting fresh.  It helps me put my routines in full throttle.

This weekend, I was in Cape Cod. After arriving late on Friday, I went to dinner in Chatham at the Impudent Oyster.  It is my favorite restaurant in all of Massachusetts I decided.  This was only my third trip, but if you visit the Cape you must go.  I had one glass of Sauvignon Blanc, mussels in a tomato, onion, chorizo broth, and the most amazing entree with 4 lobster ravioli’s, topped with more lobster, 4 scallops, 3 shrimp and topped with an arugula salad with sun dried tomatoes and gorgonzola cheese.  I didn’t take a picture because the lighting was so dark.

Saturday morning I got up for my long run.  I was aiming for 7 miles.  Prior to my run, I downed a cup of water with 1 whole squeezed lemon.  It is a good substitute for coffee without the caffeine.  I began running and felt pretty good.  I waited until 30 minutes into my run to eat anything which was of course a G Series Fit Prime bar.  The packaging makes it easy to bring along.

I also wore my sexy Laughing Cow hat that I got when I became a community leader.  It was very muggy and I was very sweaty.  I felt good running a 9:40 mile for 6.7 miles.  Not exactly the 7 I wanted, but close enough.  When I got back to the house, I wasn’t in the mood for a protein pancake so I made an light and fruity smoothie.  I combined 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk, 1 scoop of vanilla whey protein, 1/2 a banana, 1 TBSP of ground flaxseed, and 1/2 cup of mixed frozen fruit (Mango, Blueberries and Raspberries).  I added 1/2 cup of water and 3 ice cubes.  It was just what I needed.

Instead of going directly to the beach, I went an played tennis for about 45 minutes with roomie.

Afterwards, we ate lunch (I had a garden salad with seared scallops) and then hit up the beach.  I brought along my quinoa with blueberries and almonds obsession as of late for a snack because I knew we would be there awhile.  We stayed until 7:30 pm!  Late afternoon is my favorite time of day to relax on the beach but chilly weather and annoying gnats, made us leave a few minutes before sunset.

Dinner was grilled summer squash and zucchini with grilled chicken.  At the bar, I only had one vodka soda with pineapple juice.  It was a successful eat clean kinda day that I needed.

Sunday, is my day off from exercise but I played tennis for about a half hour to burn off some energy and stress.  Followed by a good beach day.  I’m sad that I only have one more cape weekend in the calendar before summer is officially over.  I do love fall but I love the beach more.

I wish I attended the Healthy Living Conference this weekend but to be honest, the idea of sitting in a hotel conference room on a beach day in August isn’t exactly my cup of tea.  Conferences are a great learning opportunity, don’t get me wrong.  If you are just starting out blogging, it is one of the best investments you can make in your new hobby.  You learn more in 2 days than you would in a semester if schools had a blogging for health nuts course.  If conferences like this existed in the winter, I would be at every single one of them but in New England, we have about 8-10 weekends of actual beach weather.  At my age, you’re lucky if you have half of those to do what you want (weddings, showers, bachelorette stuff, RAIN).

Can we plan a healthy blogger meet up or conference in Florida or San Diego in the winter?  What about at a ski resort in the winter?  Educational/girly fun vacations?  Who is with me???

Regretting Not Attending HLS?