Pigeon is the Key for Road Race Training to Marathon.

What?
It’s going to take a full month of intense training to really step up my performance in the Tau Kappa Epsilon 5k Road Race for Autism. this year. Since the date was moved up 2 weeks I only have a about a month left which leaves me very little time to log some outdoor miles.

So I’ve decided I’m going to go to Florida for a few days in order to train. I know what you’re saying right now… “It must be nice to be able to go to Florida on a whim just to run.” Well, you’re right it is. Actually, it’s no whim at all…

A few month’s ago my good friend Rachael invited some of my friends and I to visit her in Florida. She works with marine wildlife on an island in the Florida Keys called Pigeon Key (coordinates are 24.704118,-81.155308). I guess there is some house, in which we will stay, that employees can reserve free of charge. How could we refuse that offer? The only cost is the flight down (which we got at a steal) and food (which will be 5 days worth of groceries since there are no restaurants on the island). So basically, we're looking forward to 5 days of doing nothing. I think this will be the first time in my life that I’ve traveled to someplace beautiful and had absolutely nothing to do. Even if we wanted something to do there aren’t many options!

If you wanted to see Pigeon Key on a map, don't look up Pigeon Key, Key Largo FL. Look up the Pigeon Key Foundation on Google Maps. Zoom in pretty tight and pan a few inches to the left and you'll see it.

So how does this sound like an intense running regimen? Well, the next closest island to pigeon key is the highly regarded tourist destination of Marathon, FL. It’s a 2.2 mile bridge away and for the week will be my training facility. Each morning I plan on waking up before sunrise and running to marathon and back, roughly 4.5 miles.

Day one: I plan on a simple run there and back with no stops. As one would imagine it’s completely flat and so I am setting a very modest goal of 30 minutes, but I suspect I will come in with less time. Day 2: I am going to run speed intervals. 1 mile warm up jog, 30 seconds intense and 30 seconds rest to Marathon. Then 1 minute intervals for 1 mile and cool down jog for the rest of the way back. Day 3: same as 1, but 3 minutes less time. Day 4: Reverse the intervals. Day 5: If I get the guts I will try to do a 15 mile run to Bahia Honda State Park and back. Well see…. It is supposedly one of the best beaches in the continental US.

Ideally, I’d like to begin running early morning and be back to the island for some sunrise beach stretching.

I guess I'll be updating more about the trip in the coming weeks. I'm really exited to get down there.