Sarah's visit and a running update

It's come to my attention that I've neglected this little blog for a while. Perhaps I'm nervous that I gave the address to so many family members who will only want running updates that I'm not posting regular updates too. Perhaps I'm nervous for certain family members (read: Mom, Dad, or anyone who would report back to them) to have too much information about my day to day life. Not that I'm doing anything bad up here. I've just become accustom to a certain level of privacy.

Last weekend, Sarah came to town. And ran me from pillar to post. No, seriously, I had a great weekend. I was feeling lonely for out of town people for a while, although the friends who live up here take good care of me. I haven't seem Mom and Dad since Christmas, and anyone from my family since February. We had great weather the whole weekend.

I was so worn out by the end of the weekend, it took me most of the week to recover and so I did not run very much. Luckily it was a "step down" week for Marathon training. Thursday the people I run with surprised me with balloons, coffee, and an awesome birthday cake that was drenched in butter (my favorite ingredient) at the end of the run. About half way into the run, two of them took off and one stayed back with me. I kept thinking, "what is wrong with me, why can't I keep up with them?" And then I had to stop and walk for other reasons. After Beth and Jenna sprinted to Beth's house and came back with balloons, I understood and felt a little better about my speed abilities.

Today was my first run with the Bolder Options marathon team. We started running at 8am this morning. It was hot. So hot that we unanimously agreed to meet earlier next week. Fortunately, next week we're running along the river and should enjoy more shade than Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles affords.

So how did Sarah entertain me while she was here?

First, I made her someone else decided we should get up at 5:30am to go running at 6:00am on Saturday morning. It was actually a beautiful run around Lake Nokomis. We saw some great shore birds around the lake. Afterwords, I figured I should give Sarah coffee as a peace offering.

Then Sarah decided it would be fun if I wore my hair down for the day. The three of us (Sarah, me, and my hair) went over to Lock and Dam 1 for some sight seeing and pictures. It was a gorgeous day. My hair did not stay down for long by the way.


Then we went over to the Como Zoo and Conservatory. The Conservatory was nice but the zoo was mildly crowded with screaming children. Maybe they weren't screaming. Maybe they were just happy and running around. I don't have kids so I don't understand all their movement and noise. I've been told it's harmless.

By that point, Sarah and I decided it was too hot to do much else. We had some Pho for lunch and then sat around the pool all afternoon. We took a brief walk around Lake Nokomis at sunset (yes, it really is that pretty right here in the city). Then we went to the Riverview for a movie that night.

The next day, Kelly and I took Sarah to Maria's for breakfast. Yum. Corn pancakes. Then I had to take Sarah for the obligatory trip to the Mall of America that is required for all out-of-town visitors to the Twin Cities. I tried to convince Sarah those shoes were "her", but in real life they look like they belong on a comic book character. I couldn't try them on because I surely would have fallen down.

Sunday we went to Bar Abilene for dinner for food with our Margaritas. After someone made guacamole right at our table and we ate, we went next door to watch the new Star Trek movie. That may be my favorite of all the Star Trek movies and that's really saying something. (The one with the whales is pretty good too.)

Monday morning, Amanda met us at Longfellow Grill for breakfast lunch, some meal or other. Then we took Sarah back to the airport and sent her on her way. I understand this week she may be at a wedding showing off the tan we got at the pool.