Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day Weekend Recap

I was so glad we had a three-day weekend.  I'll take an extra day off anytime :)  My weekend was busy as usual.  Friday night Greg and I went to Brad and Kelly's for dinner.  It has been SO LONG since the four of us have gotten together, mostly because of Greg's schedule.  It was so nice of them to have us over and we enjoyed a yummy shrimp stir-fry and salad dinner courtesy of chef Kelly.  We also brought Clyde so he could see his buddy Rascal.  We had a lovely time.
Saturday morning I was up early to meet Gibson for my last long run before the half marathon- eek!  I can't believe it's less than a week away now- kinda freaks me out!  We met at the same trail where I met Michelle last weekend.  I did a repeat of last week's oatmeal with peanut butter and banana as pre- long run fuel.  For my mid-run fuel I had some Jelly Belly Sports Beans that Kelly had given me the night before and again carried a small Gatorade.  The run was ok.  My run with Michelle last Saturday was better.  This one kind of had it's good and bad moments.  I started out pretty good, felt really good around mile 5-6, and then the last four miles or so kinda sucked.  Gibson and I were all gossiped out and just trudging along and the humidity had gotten to us, so we just silently put one foot in front of the other other.  It was funny though, because he was trying his best to keep my motivated by saying things like, "Hey, only 3 miles to go!  That's like being at Central Ave. on the Common Market run (our running group's Thursday loop)."  He thought that would help me, but I was like "dude, that's like the beginning of the run, that means almost the WHOLE thing is still in front of us!"  Basically it made me feel like I had sooooo much left instead of the opposite effect.  Anyway, I finished 10 miles plus about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile in addition when I walked to eat some sports beans and drink some Gatorade.  I'm hoping race day goes better.  Lately it goes back and forth about every other run on feeling good/bad. 
Greg and I spent most of the rest of Saturday cleaning the house and we ran a couple errands, well, after I did my usual post long run lazy thing for an hour or two.  I've decided that's mandatory after long runs. 
My parents were coming Sunday, so we really tried to get the place in order.  We also stayed in Saturday night and kept it low-key. 
Sunday morning we were up doing a little more cleaning and Greg loaded up his car.  He's done with training and this week he's flying from his base so he's taking our third car there to have when he's there so he has one in each city. 
My parents got to the house right before noon and I made us all grilled panini sandwiches.  I used french bread, havarti cheese, tomato, and dill- yum!  Then my parents and I went to play GOLF.  This was my first time out this year.  I have a set of my mom's old clubs and even own golf shoes (they are white and silver saddle shoes..hehe!).  A while back I did take golf lessons one summer.  I have a decent drive and my game isn't too bad, but my short game kinda sucks- probably because I had the least lessons on that.  It's something I think I'd be good at if I had time, money, and lessons, but probably won't really put much into it until later in life.  Anyway, we played 18 holes and I had fun hanging out with my parents for the afternoon.  I didn't bother to keep score of myself, cuz that would just be depressing.  It was more about spending time with them and having fun.  My parents are both good golfers, which is to be expected since they live in a golf community in Hilton Head!  Biggest drawback of the day was that my stupid golf shoes gave me a blister on the back of my left heel.  It's concerning me a little for my running, but hopefully it'll feel better in a day or two and I'll be ok for the race.
After golf we headed back to the house to get ready for dinner.  Greg and I had some PF Changs gift cards to use so we treated them to dinner.  I LOVE the Ginger Chicken with Broccoli at PFC, but last night I got the Coconut Curry Vegetables because I wanted to try something new.  Plus, my mom got the Ginger Chicken, so we thought we'd share.  I also tried Greg's Buddha Feast (another vegetarian dish), and my Dad's Lo Mein.  Everything was great.  I was stuffed! 
Greg left early this morning to drive to base.  The company scheduled him for reserve today, so he left around 6am to get to base by 11am.  The rest of us got up later.  I made my mom a Green Monsta- and she loved it and wrote down the recipe for later use :)  My mom was dying to go to DSW, so we planned an excursion over there.  I got the cutest sandals! 

I love love love them.  And they're comfortable :)
My parents took off for home after we got back from DSW.  They were actually passing through Charlotte on the way back from a trip to Pinehurst, so it was a relatively short, but fun visit. 
And then it was just Clyde and I for the rest of the day.  It's been very rainy here, but I didn't mind at all.  I have been loving just relaxing on the couch with my boy.  I watched my Netflix movie, Taken, which has been sitting on my TV stand for weeks, watched the latest Flash Forward, had some coffee, talked to Jen, Gibson, Greg...  I also did some stuff for Kelly's shower.  It's been a nice day in actually.  I could use like 4 more of these...  Ahhhh :)

3 comments:

Fly The Friendly Skies said...

Hey there! Congrats on getting to the 1/2 Marathon. Do NOT worry about the actual race! If you made it through training... you will make it through the race! Training is hard, the races are FUN! There will be lots of people to cheer you on and lots of people who are more miserable that you running along side you (kidding)! You will be great. Can't wait to hear how much you loved it!!!

Oh and have you tried those GU gels? I carry them for my runs (i like the chocolate the best). The consistency is kinda weird but if you can get it down it will give you a slight burst of extra energy (carbs without getting any weird cramps). I'd suggest one at mile 9ish!!!

Anyways GOOD LUCK and have fun!

Brittney said...

Thanks for the encouragement Megan! I will do my best to do a good recap of the race. I have a GU, but never got the chance to try it. I should have on one of my 10-mile training runs, but I had all these chewy things (sharkies, moons, beans) to try so I mostly used those. I know the half I'm doing actually gives out GU at one of the hydration stops, so I might be trying one on the actual half! Anyway, I'm nervous but excited for this weekend. I'll let ya know how it goes!

Anonymous said...

Your shoes are cute! I did a little shoe shopping myself this weekend. :) Can't wait to see what you've been cooking up on Saturday at my shower. I'm getting excited!

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