Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Weekend Update HM #11...

Have you seen this new sports drink/beer? I think I will stick with powerade/gatorade, thank you very much...

This past weekend was one of those that make you thankful you work in the banking industry. I will be happy to celebrate any Federal holiday that results in a 3-day weekend for me! The weekend went a little something like this…

Tennis

Running

More Tennis

Even More Tennis

Lots of laundry and Cake Boss watching

I started off Friday night at a “post-Valentine’s” round robin. I guess last Friday night didn’t work out for a “Valentine’s” event so they created a “post-Valentine’s” event. Now that I think about it, perhaps it was a clever strategy to get all the decorations and treats at half price… hmmm…. Either way, there was a great turnout and I ended up playing what amounted to four sets of tennis before leaving for home around 9:00 pm. I like to party hard on Fridays, can you tell? LOL

Saturday AM, I was up early to meet my sister and her friend at the Run the Reagan race. The Run the Reagan is a pretty cool race because it is run entirely on a local highway that they shut down to car traffic for the day. They are always extremely well organized and have great post race activities. It is a very family friendly event. My sister, Amy, and her friend, Val, cheered for me at the start of the Half Marathon as they waited for their 10k to take off. Amy and Val are running their first half marathon next weekend at the Disney Princess. I loaned them my spibelt and Ifitness belts to use during the race. As I handed it over, they had that look of “ummm, I really don’t want to wear a fanny pack during the race”. I remember it well. I felt the same way until I realized how many packs of GU they could hold and the alternative was me carrying them in my hand the whole way. Suddenly the fanny pack looking belt seemed like the best invention ever!

The race was uneventful. Hard to believe it is my 11th half marathon. WOW. With the exception of a 10 miler at Stone Mountain last weekend, I had not run hills since November so the hilly course was definitely a challenge. After I finished, I could feel the difference in my legs between the way I felt after the flats of Disney and the hills of this race. Ouch! Overall, I felt good about the run. My time was 2:12 which is not even close to a PR but was 25 minutes faster than my half at Disney and 10 faster than my Thanksgiving half so even though time isn’t all that important to me, at least I am moving in a positive direction!

Sunday was tennis followed by more tennis. My mixed doubles team had our last match of the regular season. We were in a “must win” all matches of the day situation if we wanted to get to playoffs. We fell a little short and ended up winning 3 of the 2 matches so our season is done. I jetted over to a tennis lesson to finish up the day.

For President’s Day, I had great intentions of cleaning, organizing and accomplishing. The reality of the day ended up being me reading blogs (I had 1000+ in my reader – yikes!), tossing loads of laundry in the wash and getting sucked into a marathon of Cake Boss. I now have this uncontrollable urge to drive to NJ just to see Carlo’s Bakery. Maybe Buddy will offer me a job! Hope you had a great weekend too :)

12 comments:

Jennifer said...

Nice weekend! And congrats on number 11, and with a pretty sweet time as well. Cheers! Have a great week!

Darlene said...

Glad to read about another runner who plays tennis or is it a tennis player who runs??

I try to squeeze them both in - first squeeze running in and now squeeze tennis in. My usta season starts soon but so does the racing season.

Amanda said...

Great job on the half marathon and all the tennis - that's awesome!

Sounds like a very nice weekend all around.

Karen Seal said...

The Valentines Tennis match sounds like fun!! Congrats on the Half! :0)

ajh said...

I see Darlene commented. I always associate her with tennis and running!

1000 blogs to read! You must have skipped some!

Jim ... 50after40 said...

I had the same thought when I first started using a Camelbak during training. I felt like an overgrown girl scout with a mini-back pack, but now, I couldn't live without it.

Jill said...

11 is a great number, congratulations! :)

I had 4 days off and I thought I'd accomplish a ton...um, not so much!

Lindsay said...

hey, josh is always falling asleep at 9pm, so you're doing well :)

my reader is always backed up. i get stressed the few times it's over 1000, lol.

ValerieB said...

I ran the Regan 1/2 this past weekend too. I managed to cut 30 minutes off of my time. Not sure how I did that on that course!
I play tennis too (played at the university level and the u.s. pro circuit). Good luck in your races and tennis matches!

Karen said...

Thanks y'all! I am managing to keep my google reader to a more managable level this week!

@valerie - great job on your time - cutting 30 minutes off is incredible! I am pretty sure you outrank me in the tennis department. I am just a weekend warrior on the courts :)

Null said...

Congrats on half #11!

Would you recommend the race? I was thinking of using this as my tune-up before the Georgia half next year instead of Calloway Gardens.

That Pink Girl said...

Congratulations on HM#11 - wow!!!