Memorial Day Weekending.

It feels late - even for me! - to be writing about the weekend when it will be Wednesday before many of you read this. But this Tuesday-as-Monday has been more like a Monday, except without my usual  knitting with friends in the afternoon and with a bunch of to-do's for this weekend's Women's Ministry leadership team (still without a Vice Moderator) kickoff meeting. It's honestly not very often that I cross things off my list on MondayTuesday, so at least that feels good!

As does looking back at the weekend:

We FaceTimed with our favorite little guys more than once. This is from Friday night's "goodbye". Sam is blowing a kiss and Charlie is getting ready to make a bubble (and next time I see him I'm going to have to ask what the bubble has to do with goodbyes...because now we can't remember).

Our weather forecast turned out to be wrong a lot - in that it did not rain for 96 straight hours and we saw some sun. Marc played three rounds of golf and I went to the lake three times - two times running and once walking. Sunday morning, I snapped that photo of the flag at the lake. It was a good reminder of why Monday was a holiday.

Running twice was a big deal. I haven't made two back-to-back runs (even short three-mile ones) in a couple of years. I'm sure the second one was better because I got new shoes!

That stack of books middle bottom is my "next up" pile. The bottom one and top two are not library books, but still - I need practice managing my hold queue! The good news is that the loans aren't due until June 23 and I'm actually thinking I might be able to read them all.

And finally, lower right, a three-day weekend means two two snack nights! and (not pictured) pork tacos. Marc is still the pro with our Instant Pot - we had a pork loin in the freezer (which he thawed) and then "slow" cooked it in about an hour. I added the guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. This is definitely going on our repeat menu and I'll take photos and share the recipe next time!

I hope your week is off to a good start!

(Blogger is still not sending me emails about comments, so I apologize that I'm not replying if you've left one. Please know that I am reading - and enjoying - every one of them and I value the community this exchange has created in my life. Thank you!)

My Saturday Morning Run.

We had a lovely weekend here - plenty of blue skies and sunshine, golf (for Marc) and knitting (for me), seeing friends, eating well and three nights in a row of 8+ hours of sleep - but the highlight for me was a four-mile run on Saturday morning. We had rain overnight that left the air crisp and clean and a delightful high 50-something degrees.

I set off just after 8am, planning to head to the lake (there and back is almost three miles). I made it there with energy to spare...and kept going.  A half mile later, I saw this delightful view and turned around.

Nearly home, I saw roses and more azaleas

and just outside my neighborhood I couldn't resist these raindrops on roses.

I stopped running last July (due to an injury) and honestly thought I was done for good. I do love to walk (10,000 steps!), but last month I found myself wanting to run. Three weeks ago I gave it a try and loved it. I was pleasantly surprised that my body remembered how to do it!  And with Saturday's run, I think I'm hooked. again. 

Not for distance, or for speed (I'm saying this now - I have no intention to run a race again ever!), but for the love of being outside and pushing myself just enough to feel good.  TBD on exactly what that means, but I'm hoping for 10-15 miles a week.  We'll see!

Holy Hills Batman!

…I ran the Atlanta Hot Chocolate 15k yesterday. Alpharetta, especially around Lake Windward (where I live) is especially hilly and just about any run around here will have hills. The Hot Chocolate route made me grateful for every last one one of those training runs.

This was only my third race, and the first I've run with someone.

as close to the starting line as I've ever been!

Lauren has lots of experience with races, but this was her first one in Atlanta. I knew enough from the Publix Half Marathon and all our two-day walks that it would be a tough course. Having her by my side made all the difference. We encouraged each other through the painfully cold start (our fingers and toes didn't thaw til about mile 4),  that incredibly long climb around mile 5 and the seemingly endless succession of hills that made up miles 7 and 8. We had just enough left to race down the hill at the end. My garmin showed a 7:46 pace for the last bit. We were delighted with our finishing times - 1:20:23 and 1:20:25 respectively (she beat me by 2 seconds!) - and overall 8:38 pace. Not bad, we said, for two old ladies; we placed 9th and 10th in our age group! (The winner in our age group ran a 7:11 pace…whoa!)

Lauren's 21 year old son ran, too (a little bit ahead of us :-). So we had someone to take our picture. and drive.

after the race

The post-race finisher mug was a little disappointing. The hot chocolate was good, but I wanted cold water and some protein. Oh well.

It was ok because Marc left me a very nice surprise. (the dinner was delicious…after a nice nap and a few glasses of wine).

And now, a day later, Lauren and I are meeting for a short run and a long yoga class. I feel pretty good about the whole thing.

Thank you to my Instagram friend Beth for this post's title. She was so right about it!

13.1 | done.

...yesterday I ran my first half marathon and finished a minute ahead of my 2:00 goal.

Wow, that's a statement I never would've imagined I'd make (or until last September even want to make) and I'm still trying to get my head around the possibilities it's created.

It was very special to share the event with three of my favorite people.

me, Katie, Sara and Rob (before the race)

Katie, me and Sara (after)... still smiling!

...but I did the run itself on my own (well, along with 14,000 other people and 8,700+ running the same race). It was dark when the race started at 7:00 am (I was in Corral F and crossed the start line about three minutes later) and it was uplifting to see the sun come up over the Atlanta skyline. The race started and finished in Centennial Olympic Park and the course took us mostly east, through the Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park and Little Five Points, Freedom Parkway, Virginia Highlands, Piedmont Park, Midtown and a final stretch through the Georgia Tech campus (which is a lot hillier than any of us remember!) A great course, and very familiar thanks to those six 2-day walks that cover a lot of the same hills. I met up with the 2:00 pace group about mile 3...whew! I didn't find them at the start line and was really disappointed; after that practice run I was counting on them for not only the pacing, but also the encouragement. They'd started about a minute behind me, though, which meant I needed to finish about a minute ahead of them.  So I left them just after we left Piedmont Park and ran ahead.

The run was tough, but never unbearable.  Love my new Garmin watch (and I especially love that I can read the three numbers - distance, overall time and pace - without my glasses); it was a huge motivator...and a huge comfort. My favorite moment (besides the one when I crossed the finish line) was when I hit 10 miles around 1:30 and realized I could run those last three miles at a 10 minute pace and finish at my goal time. One thing that surprised me was how crowded the course was the whole time...not only runners, but also spectators cheering us on. All that support really made the miles go by quickly.

from Marc  ♥

The support at home and on instagram and iMessage was wonderful too. thank you!

We celebrated all of that with margaritas and mexican food. and then a nap. Pretty much perfect.

So...what's next? More half marathons for sure. Katie & I are planning to run the Atlanta Half on Thanksgiving morning (Sara has already said she'll cook dinner while we run and I think that's a perfect plan!) and the Georgia Half again next spring. We've also signed up for the Peachtree Road Race - a 10k 4th of July Atlanta tradition that I'm very excited to participate in for the first time...since I've lived here for nearly 35 years! and we're scoping out other races. I'm also planning my first run with the local running club next weekend. Like I said, I'm still figuring out the possibilities...

(almost) 13.1.

the mapped route - 12.9 miles

...my training plan called for an 11 mile run today, but last week, I got a reminder email about a "course run". and convinced katie to join me. as late as yesterday, neither of us thought we'd run the full course. but then, in the crazy dark early hours pre-start, we kind of both said "maybe". and when we got there - and got caught up in the excitement and energy - and I found a 2:00 pace group and encouraged katie to find something faster... she did and we decided. to go for it. (let me mention here - it was 36 degrees and snow flurries were forecast for the morning. it was cold, but we'd run together in colder).

I started out with my earbuds in, listening to my iphone and an encouraging playlist I'd made a few springs ago... remembering all the advice to stick with the pace and resist the urge to break through to less crowded track. about a mile in I felt my right shoe come loose...and a mile later my left as well (ugh. shoe laces??) so when we hit the first stop light I tore off my gloves, set down my phone and tied those laces tight. in the process of getting back up and getting those gloves back on my ten fingers, my phone flew out of my pocket, the earbuds jerked from my ears...and I decided to just run. and that's when the real fun began.

Why not strike up a conversation? yep, I started chatting with the folks in my pace group. turns out one was a woman I'd worked with about seven years ago. she's done marathons all over the world and today's run was regular training for her (after our 13 miles, she had another four to go - she's running a marathon in big sur in april). we chatted about all sorts of things and I have a feeling I held her back a few times, but she made me feel like a real runner and those (almost) 13 miles went by pretty fast. ellen, if you ever read this - you have a special place in my heart for keeping me company on those miles I ran today, especially 10+ when I realized "hey, this is the farthest I've run. ever" and you said "see?!".

We finished in two hours and now that I've mapped the course, I know we were a bit shy of the actual 13.1. but who cares. I'm confident now that I can run that full distance. and I even think I can do it in two hours. I've got friends in that pace group and I know they'll cheer me on. along with a whole lot of other people!

Post-race (in just two short weeks!) our plans are a warm shower and Pure. today, katie and I hit lululemon at perimeter. I bought a long-sleeved shirt to layer over a (lulelemon) tank and running pants I bought on sale last summer (and this afternoon I've been looking at garmin watches). I figure it's time I start dressing the part...and planning my next half!

10 tips for sticking with your fitness routine.

...I'm fortunate - this has never been a problem for me. I really enjoy working out. really. pretty much everything about it. pushing myself and every so often being surprised by what I can do. getting into that zen place mid-way through a run where it's all about the rhythm of my feet hitting the ground keeping time with my breathing. sore muscles telling me they did something new the day before. yep, all of that makes me happy (and strong) and I guess that's really why I keep showing up, on average about six days a week, to exercise.

from mapmyrun (see #4)

absent that, this week Carole's asked about sticking with it. here are ten things that might get me there...and keep me there:

1. workout with a friend.

2. or a trainer (or better yet, both!)

3. join a gym.

4. make a goal and log your progress (my goal is to run a half marathon mid-March at a 10-minute pace - I just started using mapmyrun; love this summary page that shows my total mileage and my average pace and there's an app for my phone)

5. reward yourself periodically for doing it.

6. get the right equipment. shoes, bra, socks, water bottle. it feels better.

7. make appointments on your calendar. if you're working out with a friend or a trainer, this is a no-brainer, but if it's just you, having that time blocked off will make sure you have the time to do it.

8. find exercises that work for you. I don't like cycling, or stairclimbing, but I'm fine with a treadmill. I much prefer free weights to machines. I love taking classes (that "trainer" aspect of having someone tell me what to do).

9. mix it up. different scenery. different muscles. different faces. keeps it interesting.

10. lululemon.

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