Island Time is a term I came to understand and appreciate on one of my many vacations with Mr. rUnladylike to the Caribbean about five years ago. We were sitting at an outdoor beach bar having lunch in St. Kitts, when I spotted an old cell phone (of the flip phone variety that was all the rage then) crucified to a wooden post with a rusting nail. The blank screen was impaled, and the words “Island Time” were painted above it. I even managed to find a photo of it in my archives …

I’ve been on Island Time for the past six days. Island Time is where everything slows down. Where life is momentarily simple and easy. Where emails and work disappear temporarily. Where things that seem stressful in life are put into perspective. Where Wi-Fi goes bye-bye, and running takes a back seat to sailing and reading by the pool.

Ok, ok, I ran a little too.

Yes, my friends. I disappeared temporarily from the interwebs to experience a little Island Time. We spent the past six days in the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) to celebrate a good friend’s 40^th birthday.

When we landed in the BVIs, the news of the Paris attacks was just starting to trickle in. I read early articles on CNN and posts on Twitter trying to comprehend what was happening. When we arrived at our hotel for the evening, Mr. rUnladylike and I watched the live coverage in horror. A friend of ours who grew up in France and lives between there and the United States told us, “This is our 9/11.” It was a million emotions: Fear. Anger. Sadness. Empathy. Despair. Hope.

It seemed wrong to turn off our TVs and news feeds to get on a boat to enjoy fun in the sun as so many others were suffering such tremendous losses and tragedies. While I know life must go on around us all, it punctuates how precious this life we have is and how we must live every minute of it with gratitude and adventure.

The island where we were staying was only about 1.2 miles around, making it nearly impossible to run outdoors. While there were plenty of paved sections around the island in addition to packed gravel areas, the steep hills made it nearly impossible to run continuously (we’re talking hills that I struggled to walk up and had to take my shoes off in one section because I couldn’t get enough traction to stay upright). So, I retreated to the air conditioned gym for my vacation runs on the treadmill.

Here is what the past 10 days of workouts have looked like, and a snapshot from the week in photos:

• Tuesday: 1-hour spin class (about 18 miles)
• Wednesday: 1-hour strength at Pure Barre via ClassPass
• Thursday: Ran 3 miles easy
• Friday: 1-hour on the elliptical machine followed by 25 minutes of hip and glute strengthening exercises before hopping on a plane to the Virgin Islands
• Saturday: REST and enjoying Island Time (and using Wi-Fi at the pool to track two of my athletes who ran the Richmond Marathon … I’m super proud of both of them, including one who ran a 30-minute PR!)
• Sunday: Ran 4.5 easy miles on the treadmill
• Monday: REST and island hopping on a catamaran
• Tuesday: Ran 6 easy miles on the treadmill with 6 x 1-minute sprints with 3 minutes of recovery running between each during the middle of the run; deep stretching
• Wednesday: IronStrength workout before departing the islands for home
• Thursday: Ran 4 easy miles + hip and glute strengthening exercises

So it’s back to reality today. No more conch fritters and banana daiquiris for this girl for a while. But bring on the running.

What is your favorite beach destination you’ve traveled to? Have you ever run a race in the Caribbean?