Loving the Weekend

I think I look forward to and enjoy weekends even more now than I did when I was young. Of course, when I was in college there wasn't a big differentiation between Friday night and say, Tuesday night... but that's a subject for another blog or perhaps an AA counselor.

We had such a good weekend. The beautiful weather certainly helped! How can anyone be cranky on a gorgeous sunny day? Well I probably could but this weekend at least I wasn't.

I started the weekend with a bit of pampering on Friday afternoon, getting my hair cut and permed. I look like a poodle gone wild but what the hell, I wear it in a ponytail most often. I'm hoping it will calm down soon. I had to get three inches chopped off to get to healthy hair. That's what I get for going to the salon only once per year!

The kids and I did a little shopping Friday night which was just a tad stressful. We were in a store with lots of fragile objects that I thought for sure I would have to purchase once my children shattered them. Other than that, we had fun. It was nice to have a low key evening since we had a particularly hectic week. I was in bed by 9:30 for the second Friday in a row! Ahhh, sleep.

Saturday, I had the bright idea to ride my bike from my house to West Creek. Kathryn and I had talked about doing it so I thought I'd take a trial run. Truth be told, I was thinking that if it was further than I expected or if traffic was terrible, I could throw my bike on the back of Kathryn's car to get home. Alas, great minds think alike and she did the same thing! Next time we'll go together. It was actually really good and I knocked out some miles without having to do endless loops at WC. Although WC was good - I got to ride a bit with Cheryl whom I hadn't seen in a long time, and caught up briefly with lots of fun TriGirls including Annnnn, Jackie, Jennifer, and Caroline.

In total, I rode a little over 36 miles (you know how anal I am by now so I might as well tell you it was 36.68) - the furthest I've ridden to date. My average speed was 16.7 mph which I was very happy with. I wasn't dying at the end but I wouldn't have been terribly excited to go further either. On the way home, I almost wiped out at an intersection but caught myself. The pedal whacked my shin really hard and I have a lovely lump that will be purple in another day or two. When I was at another intersection almost at my house, I stopped at a red light and heard a loud, "MOMMY!!!" My husband and kids were on another street at the same intersection! They passed me a few minutes later, cheering and waving. They're so cute.

The Bean's younger daughter had her confirmation Saturday, and we were fortunate to be invited. The Bean is definitely the sister I never had. We went to a luncheon at their house afterwards and shockingly started tipping some vino. Scouter left at a reasonable time; the kids and I stayed for hours. I am such a spoiled brat that I actually took ingredients out of her refrigerator to make an appetizer for later so that I wouldn't have to leave and go to the grocery store. Thank goodness she loves me. The kids and I finally rolled home around 5:00 to give them a little downtime and me time to make the appetizer.

Saturday night, we saw some old friends whom we hadn't seen forever. Really - the last time we saw them, Susan was pregnant. Now the baby is nine months old. They are great and we really need to see them more often. Fred's idea of an appetizer was jello shooters so thank goodness I had brought Beanie's black bean dip! I'll have to post that recipe at some point... it's delicious and reasonably healthy.

Today, Scouter went on a metric century (62 mile) bike ride with Richard coordinated by the Richmond Area Bicycling Association (RABA). It was by far the longest ride he'd ever done. He said it was hillier than expected but he enjoyed it. He also said no way on doing the full century next weekend during the Capital to Capital event. No argument here!

Taz and Rainbow, in true TriKid fashion, had lots of suggestions for activities today including swimming, biking and running. They also wanted to play tennis and we had made plans to go to the park with friends. We managed to fit in swimming early, and they practiced their 50 meter swim in preparation for the kids' tri they're doing in June. Taz will definitely be able to swim the full length; Rainbow I suspect will need the kickboard which is allowed. Hopefully we'll go a few more times before the event to give them some practice and comfort level.

We met my friend Patti and her kids for lunch afterwards and we all pigged out, including ice cream. Yum! Oh and FYI Ukrops has a new whipped cake icing that is fabulous... but I digress... The kids were good and wired again so we headed to the park and let them run off a little energy, then we went to Patti's house to play some more while her little nephew whom she was watching took a nap. It was great to catch up with her. We haven't hung out for far too long either. I guess I tend to hibernate in the winter anyway, and this winter we were all sick for so long that we haven't been able to socialize as much as I like. Time to catch up!

We didn't have Som's swimming tonight because there was an open water swim instead. I don't have a wetsuit or any reason to buy one although I love the new TriGirl team suits, so I had to take a pass. I was supposed to meet Kathryn at the Y for a swim and a run but Scouter didn't get home in time for me to go. Instead, Beanie and I headed out for a run later - 5 miles, 9:57/mile average pace. We ran by our friend Allison's house and she was sitting on the porch having cocktails with some other friends. As tempted as we were to stop, we kept running. Aren't we good sometimes?

I came home and cleaned my bike, applying the new skills I gained at the RTC clinic last week. I'm thinking once per week is not going to happen but at least I'm doing better than cleaning it once a year now. Rainbow helped me and then cleaned her own bike.

Good friends, good times and even several good workouts!