Home's Where the Heart Is

And I can say I’m home. After an incredibly smooth trip, Blake and I arrived in Encinitas yesterday shortly after noon. I managed to pack very quickly and we had the car stuffed like the Beverly Hillbillies. I drove until just before El Paso and then Blake took over until the end. We were lucky to have zero traffic, car issues, bad weather, etc. On the 2nd we stayed the night in Tucson after being on the road nearly 13 hours. I-phones are the best thing ever invented- I searched for Mediterranean restaurant and we landed in Athens Greek Restaurant where I had one of the best meals. We even splurged on a little philo-wrapped apple dessert with vanilla ice cream . To top off a perfect night, we found a brand new Holiday Inn Express- you could lick the floors it was so new/clean. Saturday morning I got up around 5:30 ran just under an hr on the hotel treadmill and then we showered, grabbed some coffee and were driving again.
Long story short, I felt like a kid in Disney when we started to approach La Jolla, then Solana, and made the stop in Encinitas. As Blake is also a triathlete, and thus shares the same views/lifestyle that I do, seeing his reaction to this place and its perfection for our sport’s training, was like a mirror image of myself when I came two years ago for some training with my mom during Spring Break.
I found a hotel, the Leucadia Beach Inn, for a great deal and right on PCH. Since we had that booked we went over to KI’s for lunch first, then I drove him around a bit and was flooded with awesome memories and nearly tears.
We then chilled at the hotel for a bit and went off to run along PCH, up Leucadia to Quail Gardens, and a loop of the trail on Encinitas Ranch, back through Encinitas Blvd, to PCH and the hotel.
It was then time for dinner so we went to Via Italia, enjoyed a great meal, watched the game, and came back to crash for the night.
Today we’ll go for a run in Rancho Santa Fe, along the golf course, my absolute favorite place to run! Then hopefully hit up masters for the AM swim, lunch, and sneak in for a “trial” pass at Frog’s gym for some spin/weights. I want to get my bike out of the car but doing so would cause chaos to the 100 other bags and random things stuffed in there like distorted puzzle pieces, ha.
Then it will be a short drive up to Mission Viejo- my final destination! I’m so excited to meet the Magers, unpack my stuff, get settled in, and start to train for real!