Sunday Funday

I finished my second AFC half marathon on Sunday! Woo hoo! That is a new accomplishment- I have never done the same half marathon twice. In fact, I am pretty sure I have never done any race twice. Oh except maybe the Father Joe's Thanksgiving 5K, which we have walked with Toby for the last 2 years. We will definitely be doing that one again this year. I am always amazed that my dog Toby can last for over 3 miles. He has such short little legs- but I think he just keeps following his nose and the adventure keeps him going.

So yes, I finished my half marathon on Sunday. It was actually nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. My goal time was 2:30. I figured I hadn't trained, and I wasn't planning on running the entire thing. Well it turns out that, despite having to take a 5 minute bathroom break in the first 2 miles (I had coffee on the way to the race! And of course there was a line), I didn't do too badly! My time ended up being just short of 2:20, so without that bathroom break it could have been close to 2:15. Considering my best time is around 2:03, that's really not bad. I think the main part of the race my non-training affected was how sore I was afterward. I could tell it would be worse than normal, and on Monday I found out that I was correct. I think it had something to do with only getting 5 hours of sleep the night before (we got home from a baseball game/Dierks Bentley concert around 11 and I woke up at 4 to walk to the race buses 2 miles away). But the feeling of finishing was all worth it.

After the game, my friend Kate met me bearing gifts. She is who I want to be when I grow up (and yes, I have told her this). She may only be a few years older than me, but she is my role model. I know that might be weird. But seriously, she is the nicest, sweetest person ever, and not only that but she is an awesome hostess. Whenever I show up at her place for dinner or wine, she has a cheese plate prepped and cupcakes in the kitchen. Amazing! And of course this time she didn't disappoint- she brought homemade lemon scones. I had had coffee before my race (luckily Lestat's coffee shop was on the way to the buses in the morning, and they are open 24/7- sidenote: there was a couple on a date there, I am pretty sure, at 4:30 in the morning! What the hell??), and my stomach was a little bit iffy when I finished. I also felt kind of lightheaded during parts of the race, more overexerted than I normally feel (again, attributed to my lack of training), but I ate the scone anyway. It made my stomach hurt a little worse, but it was definitely worth it. It was delicious.

After chatting with Kate for a few minutes, I walked over to Jeff's baseball game across the bridge and watched his team, Cali's Finest, demolish the competition! It was a great game; I am pretty sure the final score was somewhere around 12-4. And how they are in the finals! Ashley and I will be going next Sunday to cheer him and the other guys on to win the championship! After his game, we showered and then walked over to Small Bar, our Sunday brunch place of choice, to meet Ashley for brunch. We were both tired from our respective athletic feats of the morning, and Ashley was hungover. The perfect brunch combination. The only thing missing was a bloody mary. How does a brunch place that specializes in bloody marys run out of them?! To be fair, I could see that lots of people that had run the race went there for brunch (in their running gear and tech shirts). So I guess we runners sucked them dry of tomato juice. I settled for a mimosa and a beer, and proceeded to walk home and pass out for 2 hours with the dog. If Toby knows how to do anything, it's nap. He is really good at it.

In addition to my 2 hour nap, I slept another 10 hours Sunday night. I woke up at 8:15 Monday morning in a daze- I really needed that sleep. I could barely pull myself out of bed even after all that sleep, I was so sore. Walking was difficult. Luckily I knew that would happen, and made no real plans for Monday, sans a dentist appointment. I ended up going to Corepower Yoga later in the day to do their Hot Power Fusion class, a class that blends regular Bikram yoga (poses) with vinyasa (flow). The room felt way hotter than normal to me, and with my soreness I struggled a lot during the class. But boy did I feel great afterward. The teacher adjusted me during class, and afterward asked if it was okay or too much. I told her that it was just enough, I really needed the extra push.

I took yesterday off from all activity (not including going to work and back, and walking Toby), and today I am going to more yoga, although not hot yoga this time. Ashley's new workplace, Fitzee Foods, offers free yoga on Wednesdays and boot camp classes on Saturdays. Their whole philosophy is centered around a healthy lifestyle, and their main business is making packaged meals that are healthy, organic, and sustainable. Pretty cool! I have tried the banana flax pancakes with agave, and those were awesome. And last night I tried the tilapia with rosemary hash, which was amazing. I can't wait to try more healthy dishes! I may pick some up tonight after yoga... Not only will the yoga help de-stress me tonight, I am treating my heart to some antioxidants- by way of red wine. Ashley and Kate (different Kate than the aforementioned, but just as great) and I will be going to Wine Steals and continuing our de-stressing post-yoga. Some girl time during the week is a must for me, it really helps me decompress. So does hanging out with the boys! But having balance is key.

I am really not sure how my running is going to go from here on out. My next race is the Silver Strand half marathon, in November. If I train, I really think I can hit my PR. But I am not sure if I feel motivated to do that. It's a flat course, so even if I don't train it won't be a terrible run. I will just have to see how I feel in the next week or two. I am perfectly happy with my hot yoga 3 days a week and my spinning and bodypump classes in between... I am getting a little too complacent with that and I maybe need to switch it up a bit. Hmm... lots of thinking to do!