Miles (Stairs) in Paradise

View from my room. St. Thomas, USVI

The dreaded "99Stairs"

Me, tired & sunburnt

I just spent the majority of the last week in a tropical paradise. I won a trip through my job .
So my husband and I took a long overdue trip to the island of St. Thomas. My trip completely threw off my training but it was absolutely necessary to retain my sanity, and it was WONDERFUL. Our first day there, we did a kayaking and snorkel tour. We paddled a mile to tiny little island, snorkeled around for about 45 minutes, and paddled back. My arms and core muscles got one heck of a workout. Then when we got back the resort, we walked everywhere. Our resort was huge with lots of stairs and hills. I had every intention of still running my 9 miles on Saturday, BUT time and a few Blue Hawaiians got in my way. I don’t feel like the week was a complete loss since I had to climb the “99Stairs” multiple times a day. FYI there are not 99 stairs in the “99Stairs” . There are however 103 stairs. What is the “99Stairs” you ask? Let me tell you! There is a staircase that runs from our room to the pool/beach area of the resort. Since our room in up on the side of a cliff, there are 103 stairs that wind ALL the way down to the beach. We had to take these stairs down and back up anytime that we wanted to go to the pool or beach. Not to mention some genius put the restaurants next to the pool. So we had to climb down the stairs anytime that we wanted to eat. Where the restaurant is, the bar shall be also. So anytime we wanted a drink, down we’d go. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. While it sounds dirty and I did get all hot and sweaty, there was nothing sexy about taking those stairs by the 4th time of the day. I’m not sure what those stairs would translate into as far as miles, but in the language of the islands I so met my miles for the week!

The crazy iguanas

P.S. I'll admit that I was also a little afraid of the iguanas. I don't have the best track record when it comes to running out among nature. Remember the cow?! I didn't want a repeat, but with a thousand angry iguanas. : )