The boardwalk provides a 4-mile morning loop on an ideal running surface to the temple of Starbucks at South Beach. It’s an easy run as long as I am back to the hotel before it gets impossibly hot each day (around 7 am)
The distinctive huts along the beach are my landmarks
Enjoying my temporary routine I notice others around me, who also start their day by coming here
The cats are in all shades of ginger, grey, white and ‘Branston pickle’
Taking shade in the sea grape bushes during the heat of the day, they appear each morning to enjoy small piles of kitty biscuits, lovingly placed by dedicated locals
By the second day I recognise several of the cats, and I am on nodding terms with a few people – some of them runners and some ‘feeders’. One lady says she feeds them ‘every day, sixty three of them’. Another man tells me he gives food to ‘about three dozen’. Clearly this is a great commitment and a real passion
As we settle in bed one night, we tell C that we will both be getting up at a time she’s only heard of, for me to run and Baz to find and photograph the groups of kittens that she won’t see during the day. She groans and pulls her cover over her head, unimpressed
‘Those kittens aren’t going to shoot themselves,’ says Baz, but in the morning the kittens elude us, ushered away by protective parents before we can snap them
The beach walk is popular with runners, cyclists, dog walkers. Many people practise yoga. Many more sleep on the beach – some through choice, some through necessity. I see one man asleep each morning on the same piece of boardwalk, and there are many more adrift here
After a chaotic Saturday night in SOBE a pair of abandoned or forgotten gold-heeled shoes lounge on the beach. There are lovers and revellers not yet returned from clubbing. As I pass two men in their twenties sharing an early morning joint, one shouts out to me: ‘Good morning beautiful lady, you look great’
I am glad of his encouragement. Name me one fifty year old woman who wouldn’t enjoy that!
The initial warm breeze will become a searing heat by 7 am, so I am delighted to see the beach hut we christened ‘half-of-Lisa-Simpson-hut’, signalling that I am almost back at the hotel. It’s now our last morning in Miami, my last run in Miami, and a man shouts gruffly to me: ‘Cold! Eyes! Bitch!’
Just another nutter, this place is full of them …
Poshbird with Passion 
I really like your blogs poshbirdy!
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Miami is looking hot and sunny – love it! Great photos, hope you enjoyed your time in the sunshine state. 🙂
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This might just be the bargaining chip I need to convince the family to holiday in Miami. We’re going for the cats guys, it’s nothing to do with Art Deco Honest.
In the mean time, can we see some of that smashing pastel architecture please!?
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Of course! I’m catching up on work but will be posting some soon. I totally realise how frustrating it must be to see a post on Miami with no art deco!
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Hey! Finally in the same country at the same time …. just seperated by a few measly thousand miles – even on the right coast!! It’s heartening to me to read about you running. I’m still out and due to see the Doc on Monday (was in Europe for 4 weeks and very very caged tiger-like as I couldn’t hike in France and I couldn’t run in Oxfordshire) …. it seems I have something called ‘Drop Foot’ which is caused by the calf injury. I will be pleading for action as it is now nearly 8 weeks. Enough of my moaning …. I loved this piece – the beach, the vignettes of vacation life and of course those adorable kitties. xx
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Thank you.
Oh dear, I am feeling your pain re the leg, that doesn’t sound good at all. I recommend google as a source of useful exercises and I expect there will be a lot of physio involved to get you sorted out, but you are going to have to shout and stamp your feet (or foot) to make sure you are looked after. Sadly, health people just don’t always understand how much of an impact these injuries can have on the restless runner 🙂
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I will Google forthwith. Probably best I stamp the other foot to avoid further embarrassing falls!!! Thank you for feeling the pain – I don’t want to whinge BUT …. 🙂
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The mad cat lady in me is worrying about all those cats and kittens wandering around and wants to ask whether there is some sort of ‘catch and sterilise’ programme in place or are they just left to their own devices.
I love the Miami version of beach huts and the half Lisa Simpson one made me laugh.
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I really don’t think there’s a programme in place. But they are well fed and it looks like a pretty good life for a cat to me 🙂
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It’s an amazing place, I love Miami. Having living in Florida for four years before coming back to France, there are one or two things I miss! We were just north of Palm Beach, but had very good friends in Miami. It’s vibrant, it’s scary, it’s fun. Fantastic art scene. I miss the buzz sometimes I cannot deny it. But I don’t miss the humidity, the searing heat of mid summer when it’s hard to breath. Hope you’ve had a fantastic time x
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Oh we love it, always do. But I could never live in Miami, I just enjoy being a tourist there!
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Fascinating! Another world….
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I look forward to that. Miami is a place I’d love to visit.
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Miami- sounds amazing! Love the pictures and the story. I’ve heard it’s great for Art Deco inspired architecture?
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It certainly is. I promise to post some pics in a few days x
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