I have to admit that I’m a bit extremely excited this week.
The fact that today is essentially a Wednesday for me is enough to put a big
grin on my face.
Andrew and I are Chicago-bound on for Turkey Day, but I won’t
jump the gun quite yet and start gushing about that.
This past weekend was actually full of two of my favorite things;
running and food.
Sunday morning Andrew, some of my coworkers and I ran
an 8k through the Maryland Zoo. I didn’t have high expectations; in fact I tried
to go in having zero expectations. The little voice in my head kept whispering ‘You
should just run it as fast as you can and try to win it.”
Ha.
Running as fast as I can now looks incredibly different than
it did two months ago. Sad, but expected at this point.
In case you were wondering, an 8k is equivalent to just
under 5 miles. I will deem Sunday as an accomplishment solely based off the
fact that I haven’t run that far since mid-September. Pain was minimal… it was
cold so my left leg as a whole was tight and generally unhappy, but pain itself
was pretty absent. Andrew humored me like a good boyfriend should, and stayed with me for the entire race,
even as I huffed and puffed up a small mountain hill towards the middle of the
course and proceeded to hyperventilate at the top.
Out. Of. Shape.
Our finishing time was 41:56 which is most certainly
respectable, an 8:27 pace. I will refuse to become upset about my current running shape, all
things considered, and continue to gloat solely on the fact that I can now run
further than two miles without my entire left leg shutting down.
My favorite part was undoubtedly the giraffes and lions that
we saw towards the end. Andrew had a 5-year old moment and shouted into the
giraffe pen until the long-neck creature made direct eye-contact with him.
Second favorite part had to be the birds that were hanging
around the recovery area at the end. And the amazingly delicious pumpkin
muffins that I may have had three of.
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| A kookaburra!!! (feel free to start singing the song) |
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| It took all that I had not to steal him and make him my new best friend. |
The rest of the day consisted of preparing for ‘friendsgiving’
that Andrew’s roommate was hosting. He made and AMAZING turkey, the spread was
incredible, and I was one happy girl when we sat down to eat.
Did anyone else race this weekend? What are your
Thanksgiving plans?
Cheers to a short week!
