Curtis Hixon Park – Ali Goes The Distance

*Thanks to affiliations with the Tampa Bay Bloggers and Big City Events, I was able to attend the Tampa Bay Margarita Festival and fun run for free as well as give away two tickets in exchange for blog posts and social media love. All opinions are my own.*

Happy Post Memorial Day weekend! I was at the Tampa Bay Margarita Festival this weekend kicking off summer with a cold margarita in my hand. I mean it’s the drink of summer, how could you not?? It was hot as HELL here in Tampa Bay so it is definitely feeling like summer. It got hot and humid quickly, so the ice cold drink(s) and water hit the spot.

I’m not always a big drinker, but this event also came with a run which was a fun way to kick off the festival plus a drink for participating so I couldn’t say no! A 2.5 mile run along the Tampa Riverwalk plus a complementary drink and medal that doubled as a bottle opener…totally joining in! However, it was pretty steamy at 11am when it started so there was a fair share of both runners and walkers. Everyone got a medal, cold water, snacks, plus a t-shirt, and drink. A fun way to get a workout in and earn your margarita. I got to meet up with a few other Tampa Bay Bloggers post race which was fun too. It’s always a fun time to catch up with other bloggers in real life then from screen to screen. 🙂

After the run I cleaned up and my mom and I went back down later in the afternoon to enjoy our complementary drink and enjoy the festival. They had at least fifty types of margaritas to choose from each from a different brand, flavor, or frozen or unfrozen. I had the Tito’s classic margarita and my mom had the watermelon one. Both we’re awesome and oh so refreshing! The music was great too, all local bands throughout the day, including Blue’s Travelers from 9pm till close.

I’m not even a huge fan of vodka, but the Tito-Rita was really good

When you weren’t enjoying the margaritas, you could take the water taxi on the Hillsborough River to bar hop down the Riverwalk and be able to re-enter the festival for a second (or third) round if you chose 😉 Even if you needed a break from the heat, the breeze from the ride felt refreshing. Although the water taxi wasn’t part of the admission to the festival, it was pretty cool seeing the other parts of Tampa via the river. My mom really enjoyed it and so did I!

Aside from the tasty drinks, they had a great selection of food and had plenty of places to sit down and chill, either under an umbrella or on one of their outdoor couches! If you didn’t sit in one of their seats, you could have brought in one of your own and snagged a spot in front of the stage.

Besides the hot weather, the event was definitely worth attending again. Music was good, people watching was great, and of course the margaritas were THE BOMB. A perfect way to kick off summer! Next time they’re in town, I’ll be there!

Happy Wednesday! Although I live in Florida and hills are not really a thing (unless you have bridges #SoFlo or north florida-ish), reaping benefits of hills can be tough. Luckily in Downtown Tampa where I teach, using a long ramp along the backside of Curtis Hixon Park (Tampa friends you know where I’m talking) has been good to get some incline in and where I did my workout yesterday! If you don’t have a ramp, using a stadium, stairwell, even the stair master at your gym works too! Parking garages are also a great option, just make sure you’re running them safely and during a less busy time of day.

Hills can be intimidating, a long and tough climb to the top, but they have other benefits besides just strengthening your legs:

Build endurance
Improve efficiency
Great way to challenge yourself before a flat course
SPEED- hills are basically speed work in disguise
Boost cardiovascular fitness

After reading up on hills, I’m planning on doing a bridge workout with my HEAT class and adding to my training as well. Look for that post up soon too!! 😉 Back to inclines though, it all has benefits. I feel most people run them too hard, too fast up them resulting in burnout or they honestly hate them and don’t do them at all. Go slow, take baby steps up, and recruit those arms help propel you up! If you have joint issues, the downhill part of the hill is where you want to be careful. The eccentric (lengthening) part of the movement on the way down, can put pressure and extra strain on joints. Control your movement instead of “letting yourself go.” Rest at the bottom, then back over again! Your heart and legs will thank you 🙂

Check out my incline workout I did with my class yesterday! As mentioned above, use a stairwell, treadmill/stairmaster, stadium, etc. if you don’t have a ramp!

Curtis Hixon Ramp Workout (no equipment–YAY!)

Three exercises per round at the bottom, middle, and top of each incline

*single count means each side counts as 1 rep

*double count means both side counts as 1 rep

Starting at bottom, focus is lower body/squats[cue Drake’s song haha] :

-50 basic squats~~ run to middle portion of incline

–50 pulse squats~~ run to top of incline

-50 jump squats/basic squats~~ run back to the bottom

~REST 1 min~

Bottom, focus is cardio:

-40 jumping jacks~~ run to middle of incline

–40 burpees~~ run to top of incline