Top 5 Weekend Moments (& the Bottom Three)

#1: Pumpkin pie-flavored froyo.

Need I say more? 

And why am I the only one who thinks cold hard gummy bears are not appealing?

#2: Pumpkin oats for two.

It was cold and rainy on Saturday and although the weather was making me incredibly nervous about what race conditions would be like on Sunday, I welcome any weather that makes hot pumpkin oatmeal even more comforting.

Especially if you get to share the experience with someone else 🙂

#3: Pumpkin raisin cinnamon rolls.

I nearly trashed these after waiting an hour and seeing no rising going on, but I think the fact that it was freezing in our apartment had something to do with it.  I let them rise while I was at the race expo picking up my packet, and finished them up when I got back. 

Cinnamon rolls for dessert > cinnamon rolls for breakfast anyways, right?

Also, I was too lazy to take a picture of the finished product, but you all have excellent imaginations I’m sure 😛

#4: Finishing my second half marathon.

With a smile on my face and a sprint to the finish.

The race went really well, except that my knees are killing me today and my hips were SO sore after I stood still for an hour waiting for Joey to finish (he did the full).  I wasn’t sore at all last year, so I’m not really sure what’s making the difference this year.  Maybe I aged 10 years since this time last year?

It was chilly, but there was no rain or wind, so I was happy and miles 1-7 flew by so fast!  Around mile 9 I was starting to be over it, but I told myself to stay in the moment and stop counting how many miles I had left and it totally changed my attitude.  The half and full routes split up at mile 11.5 so I was on my own the rest of the way and I dominated it.  I felt awesome and was so excited to cross that finish line.  Seeing my family right at the end was so motivating too 🙂

Some days I don’t really feel the best about my running.  I’m my own worst critic and not always in a good way, but I will always remember the feeling of accomplishment, joy and overwhelming pride I felt when I sped towards that finish line yesterday.  I may not feel that way every time I run, but I will always have that moment and that’s what will keep me running.

So what could top that?

#5: Watching Joey finish his first marathon.

Joey is the most carefree person I’ve ever met.  He doesn’t take things too seriously and he totally bailed on marathon training last year, so to say I knew he would finish it this year would be a lie.  Every time he has woken up early to run before work, or just ran to work, or attacked a 2-3 hour training run on a Saturday morning with all the optimism and self-confidence in the world, I have been amazed and inspired. 

I cried when he ran past us at the finish line.

I cried when I hugged him afterwards.

And I cried later when I told him “I can’t believe you ran a marathon today.”

I didn’t think I would be so emotional about it, but the sense of pride I felt when I say him running strong after 4 hours was more than I can put into words.  I’m so jealous of what he’s done.  Maybe one day, when I get my mental running state into check, I’ll run a marathon, but for now I’ll just keep getting teary-eyed when I say my boyfriend is a marathoner. 

We run past this llama everyday — it only felt right that he should be there to see Joey finish 😛

Bottom 3 moments of the weekend include:

Dropping my phone in a puddle on my way to the race expo.

Not getting to go to Snooze because there was a two-hour wait.

I like pancakes, but I don’t like them that much.  I’ll take Biker Jim’s instead though.  Especially if there’s no wait.

And if I can eat an order of charred tahini cauliflower to myself.

Filling up on the best cauliflower ever > having room to finish my vegan dog.

And not having proper soup or grilled cheese making materials for dinner.

I just wanted this.

Fact: Blending up a can of diced tomatoes with some spices and grilled quesadillas in not the same as homemade soup and grilled cheese.

And now that I’ve ended this post on such an optimistic note, you should probably go back and read #4 and 5 again 🙂

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What did you do this weekend?

Have you ever watched someone finish a marathon (or any race for that matter)?

How do you like your grilled cheese? I was a total Kraft singles and a mound of ketchup kind of girl most my life.  I think my tastes are a bit more refined now, but I’ll take anything as long as it’s cheesey and melty.