Tag: Weekend Adventures

72 Hours of Crazy

Hello Friends! I hope your week is off to a great start and you are well into your first week of couch to 5k training.

This past weekend was exactly as the title of this post says “72 Hours of Crazy,” I was in 3 different cities, got some exciting news, saw snow, spent time with great friends, and ran a half marathon. I’d say it was a pretty great weekend even though it has left me completely exhausted and still recovering.  So lets back it up to Friday where I got the exciting news….

After waiting around all last weekend to see if I would be a finalist…I finally got an email, and you guessed it, I was a finalist! Woohoo! Now that was all fine and dandy but that still meant I had to go through the final practical portion and guess what?! I got the job… on the spot! So excited to announce that I am now a personal trainer at the Harris YMCA. I have missed being in the gym so much over the last 10-11months and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be back at it again. I am so excited because now I get to spend part of my day talking about food and weight loss at Jenny Craig and the other part of my day teaching people how to exercise at the Y. Food and exercise, two of my favorite things are now apart of my everyday life and I get paid for each of them…pretty pumped!!

After receiving the exciting news in Charlotte, I headed up the mountain to Boone. My first stop was to see my baby brother who was now off crutches for the first time in what seems like forever. So great to see him up and walking again. He seems to be doing much better and is well on his way to making a great recovery from his hip surgery this past September.

Also while I was in the mountains, I was able to see one of my fellow marathon runners, Mrs. Jean. She is quite the inspiration to me as she is always happy and smiling no matter the situation. It was great visiting with her and hearing just how positive she is as she kicks cancers booty! I cannot wait to be back out on the asphalt with her running stride for stride in the months to come.

Following my visit with Mrs. Jean, it was time for family dinner. Yep, thats right, all four of us, no extras, around one table, sharing a meal. This doesn’t happen often but it was such a treat to catch up with everyone for a couple hours. Also at this table, I convinced myself that going out with my brother for Halloween was a good idea even though I had no costume and had to be at work in Charlotte at 8AM the next morning. Yikes!

So after dinner, I was off to scramble to put together a costume. I ended up being a minion and Alex was a frat star. The night started off quiet but once we made it to the Halloween party…I realized I was quite a bit to old for a college party! haha I have passed the days of thinking binge drinking and dressing in super skimpy clothes was cool and was way over the party pretty quickly. Nonetheless, it was still nice to get to go out with my brother and meet some of his friends. While we were there though, it started to snow!! Nothing crazy at first but by morning when I was leaving for work the trees were all covered. It was so pretty even if it was super super early in the morning!!

Saturday morning started like all my Saturday mornings as of recently, at work. We had a full morning of clients before I got in my car for my second weekend adventure. This time I was headed to Raleigh. Up till this weekend, I hadn’t been back since I left at the end of June so I made every minute count.

First stop was the City of Oaks Expo. Here I picked up my race packet and met with my friend Kathryn. I coached her for this marathon so we went over all the last minute pre-marathon stuff before heading our separate ways for the evening.

From Expo I headed to one of my closest friend, Bre’s,  new “grown-up” apartment for the night. It was so great catching up with her and learning all about the ins and outs of her new, grown up, life. We talked for hours and hours until I had to get some sleep since I had to run 13.1miles in the morning.

Sunday morning started bright and early with the City of Oaks half marathon. It was a great race and I highly recommend it. Its big enough to have a great atmosphere but small enough to not be overwhelming. I will tell you all about the race in tomorrows post. After the race, I got to see my Raleigh running partner, Kimberly. I hadn’t seen her but maybe once since I was in her wedding this summer. I can certainly attest to the fact that I am missing having her as I train for my upcoming marathon. Long runs just aren’t the same without her.

After a coffee with Kimberly it was time to cheer Kathryn on to the finish of her marathon, and y’all I cannot even tell you how proud of her I am. I ran the majority of the last mile with her and I have to say she is simply amazing. She finished so strong and set a personal best by about 6minutes!!

Once all the race day festivities were over, I was able to spend a little time with a fellow fitness friend, Will. He used to come to the bootcamp class I taught every week when I was at NC State. Hard to believe that the goofball that used to sing and dance to Miley Cyrus during my class will be finished with his PhD come May.

And to finish off the weekend, Bre and I headed to Moes for a quick, reminiscent dinner. While we were both in school it seemed like that was our weekly spot so it was oh so fitting to finish my crazy weekend there with her.

And now, back to reality. My bags are finally unpacked and I am gearing up for my next adventure! Any ideas of where I should go next?

Carolina International

This weekend I took part in my second race of the season, Carolina International. However, leading up to the race things were anything but normal… It was my good friend and training partner, Kimberly’s bridal party get-a-way weekend. So needless to say, going into this race there was a little extra eating and drinking and a little less sleep. All that being said though, it was a great weekend and the race didn’t suffer too much because of it. To recap the weekend (briefly) and the race….

Friday — Arrive at the lake, finish getting everything ready for the weekend then head out for a quick
run and some strides.  The rest of the bridal party and Kimberly arrived at the lake house around 8:30. We all do plenty of talking, giggling, eating and a little drinking then finish the night with the movie Dirty Dancing. 

Saturday — SLEEP IN!! Woohoo! Then we all headed out to the lake and unfortunately got a little burnt… yikes!! Kimberly and I ditched
the party for a little while to get our race packets and drop
our bikes off in transition around 5:30. Then by 7:30 we were all painting the night away with Wine & Design at the house.
You win if you can guess what this is!!
Hint…it is not a cat!!

Sunday — RACE DAY!! Sunday started bright and early with the alarm clock buzzing at 5:15 (only about 4.5 short hours after it was set…whoops!). After throwing down a quick almond-butter sandwich and some gatorade it was time to hit the road. 

Although the race was close to where we were staying, this was a point to point race so it was bit more work in the morning. We headed to T2 (the second transition point) to drop our run gear and to be body marked then quickly made our way to T1 to get our bikes ready for the day ahead (I have to say, I have great race parents…my dad got up at the crack of dawn with us and drove us all around making the morning super smooth!! Thanks dad!!). 
After a little wetsuit wiggling (if you ever want to be entertained, watch the shore before a wetsuit legal race…they are not easy to get on so you will see all kinds of straining and wiggling), the gun went off and we were on our way. The swim was 1500 meters and was a point to point event with two turns. Going out to the first turn was great, it felt smooth and sighting was easy. To make things even better, Kimberly and I had quite the cheering squad at the first turn. I could hear them even when my head was under water. They were great!(thanks for rallying the troops mom!!)After the first turn, it got a little rough. We were going directly into the sun and this was the longest leg of the swim. There were terrible glares off the water that made sighting nearly impossible. Then at turn two we headed back for the shore and out of the sun (thank goodness). I came out of the water in just under 30min. 
On to T1…brutal! It is just under a half mile run up a gravel / grassy hill to transition. I made it though this and onto my bike in just under 4min. 
Flying mount and I am off! I successfully made it on to my bike without having to break my stride too much. To do this I had my shoes already clipped onto my bike and rubber-banned into the correct position so I could immediately start riding once I crossed the mount line. As soon as I got up to speed I reached down and strapped my feet into my shoes while continuing to ride. At about this point, the cheering section was in sight and they had some great signs that were sure to make you smile. My favorite was “SMILE if you peed in the water.” The bike course was a total of 27miles on crappy roads (VERY BUMPY). The first 10 were pretty rough. It seemed as if you were constantly going up or down hills the entire time. The next five were great and filled with rolling hills. At about mile 15 the cheerleaders were back at it. It is always nice when you can break from thinking about the race and smile for a second. Then we went back to hills for the next 10. I did hit a new speed record though, I maxed out at 42mph going down one of the hills… Scary but totally awesome!! The last two miles were filled with turns and through neighborhoods. I ended up averaging just under 19mph.
T2 was much better than T1…. it didn’t involve any gravel or hills. I was able to do a flying dismount, my feet were already out of my shoes and I was able to get off the bike while it continued to move and was in and out of T2 in about 45 seconds. 
Kimberly (left) and me (right) leaving
transition two. 

Run Run Run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me…. JUST KIDDING! Lots of people caught me. The run was a hilly and hot 6.2miles. I went out of T2, a little too hard and the hills and heat got the best of me. I ended up finishing the run in about 52 minutes. That is about an 8:20ish pace, so not terrible but I am defiantly capable of better. 

Overall, the race was a success though. I was 47th overall, 9th female overall, and first in my age group with a time of 2:53:07. Thanks to all the support that I had out on the course, it made what could have been a brutal race, a great race. 
Me, Kimberly, and Brittany (left to
right) on the boat after some good
wakeboarding. 

Once all the race day festivities were over, it was back to the house for some lunch and lake playtime. I was able to get my first wakeboard run in of the year and caught a few more rays before heading back to good ole Raleighwood that evening. 
It was a great weekend and one that I know I won’t forget for a while to come. Thanks everyone who helped make it great!! Y’all are awesome!!