The 5K Color Blast is coming to Tampa (actually Lake Park in Lutz, but whatever) November 11th! If that date sounds familiar it’s because it’s the same day and location as The 5K Zombie run. Coincidence?  I think not.  It’s because Monster Runs LLC is putting on both runs / parties. They’ll also be in Sarasota October 25th, the day after The 5K Zombie run there.

Know whats cool?  If you sign up for both The 5K Color Blast and The 5K Zombie Run at the same time you get an extra ‘combo’ medal. So if you run for the bling you are in luck!  Check it out. You know you love your running bling.

What else is cool?  This is a color run / trail run hybrid.  You’re fine with a jogging or large wheeled stroller if you’re running with young-uns, it won’t be mountain hiking or anything, but it does add a fun change from your average run.

I went to Monster Runs LLC’s color run last year with my usual running partners, we had way too much fun. They may not make it this year though, they are busy preparing for a little sister they are expecting soon after.

In case all of that cool isn’t enough (you are being SO difficult!) I have a pair of tickets to give away.  The winner will be contacted next Tuesday, you’ll just need to register by October 1st.

Here! Enter here!

Can’t decide if you want to go?  Watch this and then sign up, don’t forget to use code ZEN5 to get $5 off your entry. You’re welcome.

Last week my daughter decided she wanted to go find some deer at John Chestnut Park. Very doable – there are lots there. Sadly, you have to be there very early to see them. Why must I get up before the sun to see cool animals?

We decided (my best interest?) to be there when the park opened.  6 am. Then we changed it to 6:30 because I can’t see in the dark anyways.  I actually got there a few minutes early. Too bad they didn’t open until 7.   (Cue detour to Starbucks for coffee and lemon cake)

Wanderings through the woods at the you-know-what of dawn is actually really fun.  I’d say peaceful, but I was there with my days away from 16 year old daughter. Sadly, she takes after her mother and the sarcasm is strong within her.  It’s amazing we saw so much as a mosquito as much as we were laughing.  Would have been a fair trade.

But we DID see deer, quite a lot of them.  Here’s crazy shaky proof.  Try not to get nauseous watching it

Counter-intuitive as it seems I highly recommend getting up stupid early on the occasional day off to do things that just aren’t as cool later in the day. Or impossible due to the heat! That way when you take your afternoon nap that you deny you ever take you can feel justified because you are actually catching up on much needed sleep.

What would it take to get YOU out of bed dark-early on a day off?

Guess what time of year it (almost) is. Zombie time! I’m seeing Halloween stuff in my Facebook feed, I’m already looking forward to the Walking Dead starting back up, and it’s time to get your tickets for The 5K Zombie Run. Yay!

The 5K Zombie Run will be in Sarasota Saturday October 25th at Nathan Benderson Parkand and in Tampa Saturday November 14th at Lake Park.

I ran in The 5K Zombie Run the last two years, it’s a little like playing chase on the playground in grade school. But all of the so called adults around you are making horrible zombie jokes, and you will too.  Trust me.

The folks at Monster Runs LLC were nice enough to send me codes for 2 race entries to give away, and they can be used at either the Sarasota or the Tampa run.  I’m going to give them away as a pair, because who wants to face zombies alone? Just click the Rafflecopter link below and enter. The contest ends Thursday the 11th, I’ll notify the winner by email Friday.

Enter to win!

All participants will receive a t-shirt, finisher medal, tattoo, photos, a car decal and entry to the post-race apocalypse party. Yay apocalypse party!

I’ve been paddleboarding for a few years now, and I’ve seen lots of really cool things. Dolphins, sting rays, more kinds of crabs then I care to count, about a billion kinds of fish and all kinds of other interesting creatures.

The one thing I have never seen while paddleboarding was a shark. But it seems I’ve finally found the secret. I was told if I go to  Fred Howard Park in time to be on the water at sunrise the chances of seeing sharks, specifically hammerhead sharks, would be pretty good.  So the last couple of Saturdays that’s exactly where I’ve been. And success!

The last two Saturday mornings the water has been perfect.  Smooth as glass. Between the height you get from standing on the board and the fact that there is no chop to hide any movement it’s the best chance for seeing anything that’s out there.

Almost as soon as we were on the water I saw a dolphin swimming around who went surprisingly close to shore which was pretty cool.  Of course it may have been better if we had actually been closer to the shore. Only manatees can beat dolphins for the cool factor. And that’s just because manatees will come right up to you on occasion.

Not very long after that we saw what I at first thought was a bunch of dolphins playing.  The water was splashing like crazy and the occasional grey body and fin could be spotted from where we were paddling. I saw one fin separate from the rest in our direction though, and it was very steady, not moving up and down like a dolphin’s tends to do. The shape of the fin also was telling – this was not a dolphin. Which lead me to the conclusion that neither were the other animals splashing around because the single shark kept circling back to them.

I have to admit that as much as I’ve been wanting to see a shark  I had absolutely no desire to paddle closer to them. I don’t know if they were doing the ‘feeding frenzy’ thing,  playing (do sharks play?) or something entirely different but regardless of what they were doing, no.  I stayed were I was and considered myself brave for doing so.  Brave and three year old excited, it was pretty neat in my humble opinion.

The one bad thing to come from this? I realized just how bad my little point and click camera is.  I tried taking video of them, but the few seconds I was actually pointed in the right direction all you could see was that something was really churning up the water.  So I am now on the hunt for a waterproof camera with a lot of zoom and a viewer that I can see even in the sun.  Because next time I want to be ready!

I also saw a couple of big turtles which I would have loved to get a decent picture of. I’m actually pretty OK with the simple fact that I get to see things like that, but it would be fun to share the pictures if I had them. Here’s a few that I did take.

Any other paddleboarders or kayakers out there?  What sort of things have you seen when out on the water? Do you ever feel like no one is ever going to believe what you saw if you don’t get a picture of it?  I don’t know why but I always kind of think that. Of course I also think if I go out with a really good camera I won’t see as many animals. Superstitious much? Why yes.

The Summer of Rum festival turned out to be everything hyped and some more. As expected.

This time I learned from experience and rented a room in walking distance at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Ybor City. Definitely a good move.  The place was perfect – clean, quiet and about a 5 minute walk from the Cuban Club. And of course the fact that no one has to be the designated driver after a celebration of all things rum was a plus. It’s my new go-to place to stay when I’m in the area for certain.

We decided to start the evening out right and headed straight to the rum tasting upstairs.  Another good move.  Dang, I’m like an expert or something.  At what I don’t know. Anyways, I got to try all of the rums on my list including Wicked Dolphin (who had RumShine!) and Blackheart, obviously a rum for pirates. Blackheart was a really good spiced rum, this may be my new go-to for rum and cokes.

We tried quite a few rums – enough that I forgot to keep taking pictures. 🙂  I have to admit, I had a hands down favorite.  Blue Chair Bay had a banana rum that was so good it could be sipped straight out of the bottle.  If you were inclined to do such a thing that is. Not commenting any further on that.

After that it was off to sit in cool comfort and watch a bit of a pirate movie.  I’m always a fan of pirates.  And movies I don’t have to try and stay quiet during. Win and win.

By then it seemed wise to have a meal, so we walked across the way to the Spaghetti Factory. There were a bunch of really good looking food trucks, but I didn’t see anything vegetarian jump out at me.  If we were going to get serious about drinking and lasting to hear all of the bands to the end a serious meal was in order.  Who says carbing up is just for runners?

My son and his girlfriend met us after that and we all had a great time just hanging out, listening to bands and people watching.

One thing I have to say, the bartenders in the VIP tent were amazing.  See how the girl’s hands are blurry in the middle picture below?  That’s not bad photography, that’s how fast they were moving to keep up.  And all the while everyone was cheerful and and fun.

Oh yeah, and we all got pirate tatts at Captain Morgan’s place. Because when in Rome… and also when drinking rum all day.

I received two VIP tickets to The Tampa Bay Rum Festival in exchange for writing a review and a giveaway. As always, my opinions are all mine.

I now know what it would take to pull me out of my self imposed blog break. That would be my favorite party of the year.  The Summer of Rum Festival is back next Saturday, August 15th from noon to 11:00! This is seriously my favorite yearly event.  And not just because I love my rum. Here’s my review of last year’s bash just to prove how much fun it was.

What would cause this to be not just a favorite but my VERY favorite? For one, it’s at the Cuban Club in Ybor. This means a photo worthy historical building AND not having to be outside in the heat the entire time.  Because we can have lots of fun outside in the heat and all, but it’s also nice to not worry about finding a place in the shade so that you can melt a little bit slower. Plus, maybe it’s haunted.

Also, you know I’m all abut the music.  And the booze, but mostly the music.  Well, it depends on the moment but right this moment I’m sober and so giving music the one up. Summer of Rum means ska and reggae and generally island influenced music all the whole day long. And rum. Anyways…  The Hip Abductors are the headline act and I’m particularly liking this song.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbkjwo-iiUk?rel=0]

UNRB is scheduled again this year, so another yay.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfKkEhSqcSY?rel=0] Anyways, lets get back to the important stuff.  The rum. There will be the big names like Captain Morgan and Malibu but check out some of the one’s I don’t know a thing about.  Which means the festival will be a learning experience. Learning is good, right?

Oh, if you want to buy your tickets you can do that too.  General admission tickets are $20 now or $25 at the door.  Want all you can drink and access to the VIP areas? $85 now or $100 at the door.  Of course you know at the door means if they don’t sell out…

I received two VIP tickets to The Tampa Bay Rum Festival in exchange for writing a review and this giveaway. As always, my opinions are all mine.

I have kind of fell off the blogging wagon for lots of reasons.  A promotion at work was awesome, but it means I’m working more hours and blurring the work / home life line a bit. I’m actually installing Windows roles and features and then SQL on a laptop while writing this on my computer.  Nothing like multi-tasking work and real life!

I just signed up for project management classes to get a certification so I’ll be keeping pretty busy even outside work in a non-vacationy way for a while. But those are the things that keep life interesting, right?

But I’m not fooling anyone.  I still live in vacation land and I still fully take advantage of it as often as possible.  I went paddle boarding a couple of times in the last month (I saw what was AT LEAST a 4 foot carp! Or some other kind of fish, I don’t know.) and am planning to go again in a week, to explore underwater caves.  So I can’t even fool myself into thinking I’m much of a workaholic.

I have managed to completely ditch writing, exercise, cooking much that wasn’t frozen and all that sort of thing.  You know, the basics.  The funny thing is I miss them ALL and so I’m not sure why I need to make such a concentrated effort to get back into them.  But I do, so there you go.

So I’m joining a Blogging 101 class (always fun to go back to the basics!) which is an excuse to revamp and redefine what I want to write about.  I started writing here just to keep a running journal, then more and more about running, but I’ve really merged into other areas and it’s about time to admit it.  I like to write about healthy things I’m doing, from food to running, so whenever I’m writing more I’m also taking better care of myself. Weird really, how those things are linked in my life.

But anyways, here I go on a bit of a blogging adventure, wish me luck!

Looking for something different to do with your mom this weekend?  I found the perfect thing.  Thursday I took my daughter and mom to see Beauty and the Beast at Straz center, and a great time was had by all three generations!

I seem to be getting hooked on musicals, but with all of the great shows at The Straz Center can you blame me?  Beauty and the Beast is a story told almost entirely through song, and the Broadway musical includes songs that were not in the Disney movie which I loved.  I spent the evening trying unsuccessfully to decide on my favorite song.

You don’t know how it could be so hard to decide?  Take a look at some of what I had to choose from!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Qb72ddIBE?rel=0]

My first favorite? Gaston of course. All of the girls in town and all of the tavern patrons joined in for a rowdy, beer mug clinking good time.  All in the name of cheering Gaston up of course.  So that was my favorite.

But then they did Be Our Guest.  The entire stage was filled with happiness and joy, colors and dancing. Confetti even.  So that was my favorite.

But then Mrs. Potts (Emily Jewell) sang Beauty and the Beast while standing quietly at the edge of a nearly dark stage and blew me away.  It’s amazing that one person can have such a presence. So then…

I decided it was OK to like them all.  And that’s my final answer.

So, moving on.  There were two other parts that really struck me. The first were the scenes in the woods. They were amazingly done, the woods were foggy and creepy and the wolf attack scenes were pretty awesome.  Oh, and the night time scenes with the stars and moon were also pretty amazing.  But that wasn’t supposed to be part of my 2. So I guess make that 3 parts?

The other was the rug during Be Our Guest.  I can’t even imaging being dressed as a rug while flipping around the stage and singing. Talent much? There’s a little clip of him at about the 15 second mark in the video I embedded above, but that doesn’t really do him justice.  I guess you’ll have to go see for yourself!

I won’t subject you to my inner dialogue about which was my favorite character.  You’re welcome.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is playing at the Straz Center through May 10th. Take a look on Straz Center’s site for tickets and times.  Tickets to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast would make a perfect mother’s day gift for a lot of moms out there!

I received 2 tickets to Pippin as a member of Tampa Bay Bloggers and their partnership with the Straz in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own, of course.

This is the second year that the family and I did Color Me Rad en masse.  We had a couple of different faces this time (same day as SAT testing), but everyone that goes to Color Me Rad is going to want to come back and run it again.

This year we even got my mom to run it – she decided that if the twins could do it at age 3 she had this.  And she did!  The only problem is with this as a first race you’ll have a hard time finding future races to live up to the precedent Color Me Rad sets!  Especially this year.

Bigger, Badder, Radder is no joke.  Twice the color stations, gel (shot from water guns and cannons!) AND the free photos after the event. Seriously?  To top all that off several of the color stations actually had people on each side with different colors, so you were TRULY not getting through without being turned into something akin to a running rainbow.

Before and After photos tell the story pretty well.

What’s funny is the two on the right went to prom that night. They went to the run determined not to get too colored up. Which I took as a challenge. All it took was asking one person throwing color to be sure to get my niece, next thing you know the two of them were having color wars every time I turned around. Just another reason why having a ton of teenagers in the family is underrated!

Oh, and just in case you were worried, they cleaned up just fine. (Told you so, but didn’t really know for sure…)

We ran in the very last group, which the race people were nice enough to let go WAY after the original time due to the fact that apparently my family isn’t the only ones who forgot how to estimate time that morning.  Just another reason to love the Color Me Rad  people, we got there 10 minutes after the last run should have gone, a result of getting three car loads of people headed in the same direction at the same time.  Three ring circuses have got nothing on this family, you should see our holidays when there are 4 times more people.

Anyways, since we started in the last group and ran with 4 year olds we were some of the last people to finish too. We only caught the tail end of the after party, but the older kids ran ahead (am I allowed to call 20 year old+ people kids?) and they had an awesome time.  They got some great videos too, but we seem to have misplaced the charge for the GoPro so there will be no sharing of videos for a while.

Anyways, to make a long story short ( I know, too late for that) if Color Me Rad is coming anywhere near you you should go. Regardless of age or ability this race is tons of fun for everyone.

Disclosure: I received race entries through the Tampa Bay Bloggers’s partnership with Color Me Rad in exchange for writing a review.  All opinion are my own of course.

I mentioned the other day that this weekend the place to be is downtown Tampa, at Riverfest 2015.  You already know about the run, but that’s just one piece of the celebration!

There’s also the Bloody Mary Festival this Sunday May 3rd at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park from 11 – 3pm. general admission tickets get you unlimited samples from lots of local restaurants – and the opportunity to help decide whose is the best! You also get 1 full size drink with your ticket, so you can be certain about the choice you made. 🙂

All that AND music – check out Busted Blues:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seTRhrmWmp0?rel=0] I love listening to the Blues. Why yes, I do like most music. How can you not? Especially when it’s live.

Get your general admission or VIP tickets (all you an drink!) HERE.  Or you can enter to win a pair.  Just leave me a comment and enter here: a Rafflecopter giveaway.

Bloody Marys and the blues aren’t your thing?  Fine.  How about a carnival? How about games and rides like the Para Trooper, Carousel, Fun Slide, Orbiter, Swings or Star Screamer? How about kid friendly shows like magicians, story tellers, balloon artists and face painters? Like you have to be a kid to appreciate that. All that and a full bar and music too.

Ya, of course it sounds amazing. The urban carnival will be at Cotanchobee Park on the Tampa Riverwalk both Saturday and Sunday.  You can go the old fashioned route and buy tickets for the games and rides or you can purchase an all day ride pass here. 

Of course, you could just win a pair by leaving me a comment letting me know your favorite carnival ride and entering my drawing here: a Rafflecopter giveaway.

I’ll announce the winners Friday!

I received tickets to the tampa downtown carnival as a member of Tampa Bay Bloggers thru their partnership with the Big City Events in exchange for this giveaway. All opinions are my own, of course.