Travel, no workouts, one gross hotel, extreme temps and an a cappella sensation.

Put all that in a bag and shake it up. You've got my weekend:

This weekend I took a very mini vaca to Atlantic City. The day before I left I wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to take a rest day. I knew I probably wouldn’t get a chance to work out the rest of the weekend but if I could, I would. Even so, I didn’t want that rest day on Friday, because it meant having 3 days in a row of no training. However, it was just one of those things that happened and I had to deal with it.

I hadn’t been to Atlantic City in at least 8 years so I was excited to visit the love child of Reno and Vegas. As we were driving down to AC on Saturday, we noticed the temperature in my car climbing rapidly. I wanted to be able to walk my way around AC or try a run if the fitness center at the hotel wasn’t up to par. But seeing the ridiculous temps while driving pretty much told me that it wasn’t going to happen.

This was 10 seconds after hitting 105.

We arrived at our hotel to find that our room was one of the few that had working air conditioning. Score. That alone was the selling point given that our view was of dumpsters outside the building, the ice machine on our floor wasn’t working, 2 of my pillows had something blackish on them and there was a curious looking stain resembling blood on the carpet that we covered with the ice bucket to ensure we wouldn’t step on it by accident. Whatever, it was one night and I had my own pillow with me.

We had an agenda for visiting AC other than suffocating weather and terrifying hotel rooms. We had tickets to see Straight No Chaser during their residency at Harrah’s Casino. And I love blackjack. We left our ghetto fabulous hotel and went over to Harrah’s for the night.

We had dinner at one of the restaurants near the concert venue (which ironically was named “The Concert Venue”. They’re original.) and I noticed our waitress had on a button that said “Ask Me about Straight No Chaser”. So I asked. Then I asked her about her button and she took it off and gave it to me.

And then I put it on.

I have seen Straight No Chaser in concert more than a few times. I love, love, love a cappella and these guys are amazing. Like, amazing times 100. Each and every one of them is filled to the brim with talent. And ladies, they aren’t bad to look at either!

You’ve probably even heard of these guys and didn’t even know it. Around Christmas time their famous 12 Days of Christmas song is on the radio all the time.

Since I just received my Run Around Sara bracelets I figured I could put them to good use and share a few with these guys. I may or may not have fired a bracelet up on stage during the show. You’ll have to ask them if it’s true or not, but as I talked to them after the show they were more than willing to show their support.

My previous blog post talked about why I got these bracelets in the first place and I’m glad these guys were happy to model them for me.

I SUPPORT MY FRIENDS....DO YOU??

I SUPPORT MY FRIENDS...DO YOU??

One of the guys spotted my button and asked me about it. I said that they were some group of guys that could sing. He asked me if they were any good and I said “Eh, they’re okay”. I don’t think he knew I was joking, because he didn’t seem too impressed with my answer.  What I should have said was this right here:

Because they are all that and a bag of chips!

Check them out if you can. You won't be disappointed.

After all that excitement, we blew some money in the slots and decided that people watching was a lot more fun than the slots and we played a little game I like to call “Who needs a mirror?”.  There were a LOT of contestants.

We went back to our hotel to suffer through one night of gross. (Comfort Inn, I’m looking at you here.)  The next day brought us the same crazy temperatures so after a lackluster continental breakfast (though I’m not complaining...it was free!!) we decided to check out the fitness center. If it had a/c we were gonna do it, since there wasn’t a pool on the premises and it was still in the triple digits outside. I asked at the front desk where it was located and was told that it was on the 4th floor, but it was undergoing renovations and we couldn’t use it. But it was there! Hey, thanks.

So we packed up and left. Three days, people. Three days of no working out. I’m guessing I’m going to have to hurt myself at the gym tomorrow to make up for this. I can’t wait.