Our first cruise ‘runcation’ ... (by T. LaShaun Wallace

We experienced our first cruise ‘runcation’ ... and lived to tell about it

Seriously, who actually goes running for vacation? Turns out, a lot of runners do .. and walkers, too.

When Black Girls Run posted information about the organization partnering with the Run for Fun Cruise group in 2018, it looked intriguing but intimidating. Intriguing because my husband and I had not done a full 7-day cruise before (but had talked about doing one) and intimidating because we had not run five days of 5Ks before, especially in any group setting.

We let the registration pass on by but once February 2019 rolled around, it was a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out) as I viewed the social media posts from that Southern Caribbean cruise. I enjoyed seeing the excitement leap from the photos, especially the ones of people I knew from Memphis.

The opportunity to join the 2020 cruise was posted soon after that and while it was still intimidating, we decided to at least put our deposit down and go from there. So glad we did. The 2020 Run for Fun Cruise on the Norwegian Epic was ... well, epic.

We flew into San Juan on a Saturday and the cruise left the following day for Barbados, where our first run would be on Tuesday. The first day and a half on the ship was spent getting to know the “run

By T. LaShaun Wallace

family” with a dinner Sunday night and registration on Monday morning, picking up bibs, race shirt and other swag from the Run for Fun crew. Barbados

First race day in Barbados was a rainy one by the beach. If you participated in the first 10-Miler for the 2019 Road Race Series in Shelby Forest, you know exactly how this went. A downpour, then glimpse of the sun. Like, really? This trail even had its own muddy Beast! As a nice surprise, there was a Run Barbados medal waiting for all participants at the end of the race. It has 2019 on it but bling is bling in a runner’s world. A post-race BBQ at the beach house featured chicken, fish, pigeon rice, macaroni and of course, rum punch. It was really great to see all the locals helping throughout the course. St. Lucia

The second race day began with a little liquid sunshine as well in St. Lucia but this time, the rain cleared by the time we made our way across the starting line. Up the hill and around the airport we went, passing a cemetery and beach along the way. Our own cheering squad greeted us at the end of the beach, preparing us for the massive uphill climb to the St. Lucia Lighthouse. While this was another “beast” of a hill – well, several hills – the views were absolutely worth it. Stopping to take photos provided a breather for the route back down and around to the finish line. This race included a Runners Give Back component, allowing us to donate backpacks and school supplies to local students, some of whom ran the route with us.