Dennis and I flew home from NY the same day that I ran the Wine and Dine half. While I was disappointed to miss the after party, I was happy to be home and back with our cats after a week in Florida.
Monday morning came like a rude awakening, with a return to work after a week and a half off. Since we had been away from home for so long I didn’t manage to make time for a workout that day, as I had to grocery shop and set myself up for the rest of the week.
But I got to work on Tuesday, which was both my birthday and election day. Kasey, Dad, and I met up and ran to the polling place that we all were assigned, doing our civic duty bright and early. We may have gotten some funny looks for our athletic wear while voting, but it was well worth it to have our voices heard. I ran a total of 6.28 miles before heading to work, and then celebrated my birthday with family that night, going out to dinner at seasons 52. After dinner I had an unplanned visit from Kasey and her family with Emily at the apartment, and it was nice to be reminded that I am loved.
I wasn’t scheduled for any miles on Wednesday morning, but it was so beautiful out that I was itching to get moving. So, I texted Dad and since he was awake as well, we met up for a short journey around the neighborhood. We were rewarded for our morning miles with a good sunrise, which would be a part of our morning routine for a little longer since the clocks went back an hour the weekend before. Emily and I headed to a yin yoga class after work, and in the spirit of overbooking myself, I went right from Yoga to LA Fitness, to meet up with a co-worker for a swim. We got in 1000 yds, and then I headed home, VERY ready for bed.
Old habits died hard Thursday morning, since my run ended with a waffle at my parents house. I headed out and quickly found Kasey, and we ran the usual route together until she was finished with her miles. Dad rode along with us, and when Kasey finished her miles we continued for another three, and were done early enough that there was time for breakfast. So like I said, we finished the morning run with a big plate of waffles, and Dad gave me a ride home so I would be able to get into work on time.
I actually managed to swim two nights in a row this week, since after work on Thursday I met up with Allison at LA fitness, and we swam just over 1000 yds and then called it a night.
For the weekend, my running calendar said that I should run 7 miles Saturday and 7 miles on Sunday, but since I had gotten in an extra three miles earlier in the week, I opted to consolidate the runs into one longer run, since Mike was planning an 11 mile run for Sunday.
We headed out just before 10 am, starting the run with some Gu, that way Mike could get used to fueling for longer runs. We stayed local for this one, since Mike had to get to work around 1 pm, so it would save us some travel time to stay local. As always, the miles with Mike slipped by in no time, chatting as we went. From just a few weeks ago, when we ran 10 miles together, mike has gotten so much stronger - it is always amazing to me how much stronger runners get as they build up their training mileage. On our last long run, he was struggling to hit that 10 mile mark, but this time he soared right to 11. We made one pit stop for water at my parents house, but other than that it was non-stop mileage.
It felt good to get back into my regular routine, and it was nice to finally be beyond the stress of wedding planning. We had so much fun on our wedding day, but all of the planning was stressful leading up to the big day.