Table for 1

Hey guys! How's it going? I hope you all had great Labor Day weekends (if you live somewhere in the US!). Nothing beats a 3-day weekend!

Some light storms brought some awesome temps for the end of last week. It was so perfect we took Pippin for a long walk Friday night. We even walked past our mayor's house (we call him our may-bher since he lives so close!) And then....Saturday morning - time for some LSD! In getting ready for this marathon we're alternating hilly and flat weeks now. Doing back to back intense hills would be certain death now that we're in the upper teens and quickly approaching the 20's! We got up early, had a bagel and drove over to Percy Warner. We had memorized the marathon course this time and our plan was to run the first 15.5 miles of the marathon and then turn back around and end up at our car at 17 miles. We found the right parking spot this time (yeah) which was the same spot several high school cross country teams were practicing at. Oh yeah, nothing like a bunch of 17 year olds to make you feel old and out of shape!! We geared up and headed out, and of course a pack of them demolished us straight away. What-ev, the temps were awesome and we were loving it. It was about 10 degrees cooler than the week before and that made SO much difference!! I think our high last weekend was in the low 80's, versus the mid and upper 90's we've had all summer! We easily maneuvered the various turns of the course and were even treated to three large deer watching us from the woods! We were doing great and pacing between 9:20-10:20, which is way below where I really wanted us to be. Around mile 7 one of THE top local runners passed us, and we were even excited about that!! Around mile 10 the hills and our "fast" pace started to take a toll. We run our own pace on the steep inclines, so I was a little ahead of Brent and stopped for a second to take a walk break and drink some Gatorade, so when he caught up he walked too. That's when the run went downhill. I just needed a quick 30 second break, but it seems like once you take a break you just want more. We started running again, but Brent was starting to lose his stamina and would fall back. I'd jog ahead and then jog back, and it was starting to get seriously annoying because we'd made it to mile 13 and were SO close to just being done!! He needed a break at 13 so we ate some sports beans and had a good conversation about consistent training and cross training if you're a little injured. I was feeling really good, but I didn't want to leave Brent behind. In the midst of all this chaos my Garmin suddenly seemed to have no idea where I was, and with all the switchbacks it would sometimes LOSE mileage when it did find me! Everything was so frustrating! We finally made it to the turn around point, and I continued to run ahead and either wait or run back for Brent, until we got to around .5 mile from the car. Then, I just let it fly! And as I got closer to the car I saw the track team still out there training. A huge pack of guys was coming from one side and heading back to where I was going - and I turned it ON. I ran as hard as I could (which, after nearly 17 miles came in around the mid 7:00s) to beat those boys - and I did!!! This week's hilly 17 only took me 4 minutes longer than the week before's super hot flat 17, and I know I could have done much better if I was running miles 13-17 on my own. Saturday I could have totally run the last 9 miles and finished the marathon. Hopefully I really can in November!!

We came home just as our friend B was leaving the dog park with her dog (also B) so they stopped by and Pippin and Bailey ran around the yard and had a nice doggie date. We went out for Indian food Sat night at Sitar and pigged out!! Normally their food and service are good, but they only had their food going for them on Saturday!! We ordered an appetizer we never even got, that of course they tried to charge us for, and naturally didn't even apologize about! Since the appetizer was an 0-1 we decided to pick up some dessert to share instead, so we got a yummy caramel brownie from Panera Bread. We decided to drive through downtown and enjoy the sounds of all the country western bars as we headed home, and get this - we saw a MONKEY. It was sitting on a bench with two people, just people watching. My picture didn't come out very well, but there is a monkey there. (The monkey is on the far left of the bench.) I think Pippin and a monkey would be so cute together!!
We spent a lot of time over the weekend working on the house, and since it was nice outside we spent a ton of time Sunday & Monday on the yard. It looks SO nice now!! We've been playing ball with Pippin in the backyard and he loves it!! We also bought 3 cans of paint (for our bedroom, the kitchen, & the den) so I am not going to be bored this week with Brent gone, just lonely!

We did run again Monday am. We got up at a respectable 7:30 and headed for a downtown run. Our original plan was the 5.5 loop that takes us into downtown via the Woodland St bridge, down 2nd Av and then back via the Shelby Street bridge, but once we made it downtown we decided to run to the War Memorial Plaza. We had noticed it for the first time over the weekend and wanted a better look! It was SO pretty, it's right across the street from the state capital and has several statues honoring the veterans. The architecture is amazing. Our run was supposed to be a recovery run, but making it up to the plaza required running up a massive hill! We already get hills on these runs with the hills in our neighborhood and the bridges over the river, so it really turned into more of a hill training recovery run, which is fine. We took some camera phone pics at the plaza and then headed back home, the run ended up being 5.6 miles, basically the same as the original loop we had planned!


To celebrate all the house stuff we had accomplished we headed downtown Monday night to enjoy a "nice" dinner. The best thing about living near downtown is you can go whenever, and if it sucks you didn't really go out of your way to get there. We snagged a meter for $2 (score!) and walked down to the Old Spaghetti Factory. We don't eat there much, but we thought it would be a nice change. It's in an old factory and is decorated so beautifully. I'm not sure if kids eat free or what, but there are a lot of them there. They're also terrible at predicting how long your wait will be-she told us 10 minutes, but it was closer to 25. Ugh. Our food came quickly, and it was fine. Nothing outstanding but certainly not bad. Our waiter was really nice, and the way they tell you their name on the receipt just totally cracked us up. YOU HAVE BEEN SERVED! HA!!! Afterwards we wandered around 2nd avenue and tried on some fab cowboy gear at the Sun on 2nd store. I think it's SO us.

So that pretty much brings you up to speed with what we've been up to! I just got a pix message from Brent of a slot machine so I take it he arrived safely! Pippin is very confused and keeps walking around looking for his daddy. At least he's eating, when I went to NJ for a 3-day work thing he wouldn't even eat!! It's so strange to be by myself!! I came home, did a 5.25 mile run on the treadmill and fixed a grilled cheese sandwich with Muenster and Colby cheese (and a little Feta sprinkled on, too). I watched Rock Star Supernova which is so much more fun with Brent!! Brent burned me a bunch of CDs to rock out to, and I'm having fun finding the notes he has left behind (hidden) for me. I wonder how many of the ones I left for him he has found in his luggage?? I'm hoping he doesn't find the one I stuck down in his shoe for a while. =) We're so predictable.

Well, I need to give Pippin a bath and then......who knows!!

Have a great night!

Rae