Rivers and Motorcycles

If you missed the first installment of "what I did on my weekend that you are all waiting anxiously to hear about", fret not, you can find it here.

Because Sean and I are such party animals, as soon as we finished our dinner at Mark's, we went home and fell asleep watching Criminal Minds. Try not to be too jealous of how exciting our lives are. 

Saturday I woke up and rolled out of bed at 6:30 and into running clothes to do the awful 9 mile treadmill run. And just in case you forgot how exclusive-looking our home gym is, here you go:

Like I said, try not to be jealous of us.

After complaining to Sean for forever about how tired my legs were, how boring the last 3 miles of my run were, how hot I was, etc., I finally cleaned up enough to go to one of my best friend's river house for her family's annual crawfish boil. 

Please ignore my headband. I'll just go on ahead and admit now that I did not wash my hair before going. In fact, I did nothing post-run with my hair before going. My bad.

This makes me miss my college years. San Marcos, you and your plentiful rivers spoiled me. The San Bernard is a good substitute, but seriously, SM, you set the standards pretty high. 

That is the hubs about to do a back flip into the river. He is a HUGE show-off. And I mean that very lovingly. 

Yep. There we are again. 

These are some of my favorite people.

When we got home from the river, I had to immediately go plug my phone in because it was dying from me surfing the internet, stalking twitter, and online shopping the entire way home. When I walked into the living room, I found Sean spooning Leo. Proof:

Someone may have had a few too many adult beverages. That someone was not me. I'll let you guess who it was. (It wasn't Leo either). 

Sunday morning I forced Sean up and out of bed to do this:

And this:

And this:

(This picture translates to us spending an hour in the coffee shop sitting next to each other playing each other in Words with Friends. I won.) 

When we got home I kicked Sean out of the house, did an hour of Pilates, shopped a ridiculous amount, and then we met both our parents for dinner. 

Birthday? Successful.

Do you play Words with Friends? We play each other all the time. So far, Sean hasn't won once.

Expensive wine, expensive meals

This post has NOTHING to do with running...

...because I want to remember my weekend in full :) Forewarning: this is long. I'll break it up into a post about Friday and then later on a post about Saturday/Sunday.

First let me be clear about one thing. We don't do nice dinners. Ever. And by "we don't do nice dinners", I mean we never, ever get dressed up and go out. The last time we went to Carabba's, I was in work out clothes (classy, I know). I complained to Sean about never going on dates anymore and so Friday he texted me to tell me we had reservations at 7:30 "somewhere". 

I left work early, came home, had a glass of wine with the hubs, and then we got ready... This told me very clearly how long it's been since I've worn heels because I came wobbling unsteadily out into the living room wearing the heels I bought for my bachelorette party (actually, the whole outfit, thanks, White House Black Market for making me feel rich). I'm very lucky because I don't have to wear heels every day to work. In fact, the majority of the time I'm wearing these bad boys:

Like I said, classy. 

Anyhow, we ended up at Mark's. (Let me pause to just tell you my hubs = awesome.)

Never been? It's ridiculously out of our league. Anyone who gets their initial stamped into the butter they give out must be rich. (Oh and sorry for the crappy picture quality but I turned the flash off so people wouldn't realize I was taking pictures of everything) I'm pretty sure we were the youngest people there and if it had been possible I would've taken the tablecloth home with me just to get my money's worth. 

Mark's is set in an old church, and they really played into all of the details that the church offered - everything was beautiful.

While looking at the wine menu, the wine director cornered us (ok, we were sitting down, she just stopped by our table) and started asking us a million questions about what kind of wine we like, what country/region we like our wine to be from, how dry or fruity we like our wine (is now appropriate to say that we buy 1. wine on clearance at Target and 2. boxed wine from HEB?).

We ended up with a $100+ bottle of wine. You had better believe that when you normally buy wine "because that label is SO cool" or "it's on clearance, let's try it...", $100 for a bottle means that we are drinking every.last.drop.

It was really good, though. She was right on when she described the flavors and it had a nice, smooth, slightly peppery taste afterwards that set well. However Sean's comment was "I can't tell the difference between this stuff and what we had on the way over here..." (Should we have told her that we are SO classy that we drank wine in plastic cups on the way to dinner?)

One of the cool thing's about Mark's is that the menu changes every day. We started out by splitting a salmon sampler that had different types of sashimi salmon with some sort of salad that was to die for. Seriously, one of the best appetizers I've ever had. For the main course, I had seared ahi tuna with risotto and Asian slaw. It was easily one of the best meals I've ever tasted. I tried to eat every bite on my plate but I was so full that I had to leave some of the tuna. 

The whole reason that we went to Mark's in the first place was based on a recommendation from one of Sean's friends. So when we were finishing up our meal and about to grab our check, the GM came out to talk to us and ask us what we wanted for dessert. We both said we were way too full for dessert and he (very politely) told us to pick something, otherwise he would pick for us, and that it was on the house because Sean's friend had called in ahead of time to say we were coming. :) THAT made me feel special. (And let's be honest, you don't really have to twist my arm about having dessert...)

Oh and just to try and redeem myself for re-posting the picture of Sean pointing out the double chin:

We ended up with a raspberry tart with pistachio ice cream that was divine.

Oh yeah, and a candle and a piece of white chocolate that said "Happy Birthday" (I guess now is a good time to mention we were out for my birthday).

If anyone is ever in Houston looking for a really nice (and expensive) place to go to dinner, this is the place, seriously. Actually, the pricing wasn't even that bad, we spent the same amount on a bottle of wine that we did on our appetizer and two dinner plates. 

Oh and if you're wondering, my hubs is seriously the best ever.

Gone on any fancy dates lately? Like I said, we never go on fancy dates. It was fun to get dressed up :) 


Anyone else have the wine problem? I guess we're just really cheap...

Vegas and Workouts

Sean's going to kill me for this but I just can't resist.

Back here I posted a picture of Sean and I. His response was "thanks for posting the picture of me with my double chin". So, in case you had any doubt that guys can be self-conscious about things, here you go:

You're welcome.

I've never been to Vegas. I'm not even sure that I ever really cared about going to Vegas. BUT two of our good friends are getting hitched in Vegas this July! When Sean and I celebrated our first anniversary, we did so with the thought of having a small vacation over our actual anniversary and a big vacation later on in the summer. However, with a Vegas trip in there, we just couldn't justify spending a ton of money and taking a week off work in June and then spending a ton of money and taking off several days in July.

Solution? We're going to Vegas early! And I'm SO excited! I don't know when my feelings about Vegas changed (still not a big gambler), but I'm stoked about going!

Onto week 3 of marathon training :) 

I suddenly can't remember where I saved my cool PDF of my workouts, so this is going to have to do:

Planned miles for the week: 18

Monday: Rest/Cross-training day

Tuesday: 3 miles @ 10:01 min/pace

Wednesday: Rest/Cross-training day

Thursday: 5 mile tempo run with 3 miles @ 8:27 min/pace

Friday: Rest/Cross-training day

Saturday: Rest/Cross-training day

Sunday: 10 miles @ 10:01 min/pace

Yesterday on my weekly trip to Target I picked up this:

I think I'll do reviews of it like with her Ripped in Thirty (you can find week 1 here, week 2 here, week 3 here, and week 4 will be coming this week). But since this has you doing 3 weeks at level 1 and then 3 weeks at level 2, I'll just recap them at the end of each 3 week period. Maybe I'll have a 6 pack after.

The 10 miles this weekend will be interesting considering I'm running a 10k on Saturday. I'm thinking that I'll do the 10k and then do the remaining 3+ sometime Saturday versus trying to do the 10k Saturday and then the full 10 Sunday. Decisions, decisions...

Hope you all have a good Monday! 

Do you try and stick to training plans when you have them? I try and stick to them just because I like having things pre-planned out. But I definitely can be flexible if I need to!

What do you do when you have a long run scheduled that coincides with a shorter race run?

Weekly Workout Recap, Week 2

What I was SUPPOSED to be doing:

What REALLY happened:

Monday: Jillian Michaels Ripped in Thirty Week 4

Tuesday: Easy 4 miles @ 9:47 pace

Wednesday: Jillian Michaels Ripped in Thirty Week 4; 1 mile easy to be a part of NRD

Thursday: 4 mile speedwork - 1 mile warm up at 10:00 min/pace, 1 mile @ 8:00 min/pace, 1/2 mile @ 10:00 min/pace (times 2), 1/2 mile cool down

Friday: Not a thing. I chose to sleep in and sleep off being at Buffalo Wild Wings the night before. Sometimes beer and sports games with two of our best friends on Thursday night trumps working out in the morning.

Saturday: 9 mile long run @ 10:00 mile/pace

Sunday: 50 minute Pilates DVD

Overall planned miles: 17

Overall actual miles: 18

 

The Ripped in Thirty just didn't happen three times this week. And it was the last week. Sad, right? I debated doing it this morning, but Pilates just sounded better and I am all for listening to what I feel like doing versus forcing myself to do something I don't want to. Who knows, maybe I'll do it at some point today (probably not).

 

 

 

And as for that random one mile... well, it was a cross-training day but at 10:00pm Wednesday night I decided I wanted to run a mile for National Running Day. So I did. One of the joys of having your own treadmill. Best Craig's List purchase EVER.

The four miles on Tuesday were a breeze, which was a blessing because I ran them after work in the Houston heat. The four mile speedwork was like running on air. I flew threw it and loved every single second of it.

 

I did the 9 mile run on the treadmill yesterday morning. Things went great the first 6 miles. Then I made the fatal error of looking to see how far I had gone. Definitely thought I had been running longer than I had and that's when EXTREME boredom set in. I just started talking to myself. Out loud. Good thing I was at home. I would love to show you beautiful sunrise pictures like last week, but the truth is, our treadmill is in a room that we have done nothing with yet and it is facing a wall.

 

Beautiful.

 

 

 

 

Or not.

 

 

 

But he sure is cute!!

 

 

Jillian Michaels - RIPPED IN THIRTY Week 3 Review

This is way late, but better late than never, right?

If you missed the review of week one you can read it here and you can read week two here.

She's mean. That's all.

No just kidding.

What I Liked


- I came away sore every session.

- They were in hot pink and black, and I love that color combo.

- The warm-up incorporated weights, which I thought was kind of cool. And I had never done any of the moves in the warm-up before, so win. I love trying new things.

- Static lunges with a twist? I'll take it. And you should too.

What I Didn't Like


- There was a BIG focus on legs. And this little runner's legs were shot by the end of it. I guess that's not bad, it's just kind of hard on my running.

- During the first set of strength moves she did the traditional 3 minutes. Except not. You did the first two strength moves twice like normal, but the 3rd strength move you only did one time. I didn't get it. The first day I did the video I actually stopped working out and hit rewind because I was so confused.

- There was a whole lot of balance moves. And guess what? I'm not coordinated. I can handle one balance move but not two in a row.

Overall: Still love it. I love challenges.

Happy Friday! It's HOT here in Houston. Wish I was back here...

Anyone doing anything fun this weekend?? Tonight hubs and I are going out to dinner, tomorrow we're going to one of my besties river house for a crawfish boil, and Sunday is my birthday!


Is it unbelievably hot where you are too? Houston is a death wish in the summer. But I'll take heat over cold any day.

Getting bit by the bug...

...the marathon bug that is.

Yesterday I signed up for the Houston Chevron Marathon lottery (again, fingers crossed I get in!).

But I am an unabashed overachiever. I'll be the first to admit it. It takes me a while to gain the confidence to move forward with something, but when I do I'm all in, no ifs, ands or buts.

If you remember (or if you don't) I ran my first 5k in December 2010. HOWEVER the first 5k I signed up for was in January 2011. After I signed up for the EP5k in January, I didn't want to wait. Have I mentioned I'm pretty impatient? I am.

Fast forward 7 months.

I've come leaps and bounds with running. Is now a good time to mention that I started "training" for 5k's in 2009? I have a tendency to over-train because I get nervous. But once I take that leap.... Anyway, I digress.

As you may know, I started marathon training last week.

I signed up for the Houston Chevron marathon yesterday morning.

I have been stalking June 1 for weeks now waiting for 8am to roll around so I could sign up. Low and behold at 8am our Internet was out at our house.

So I did the next best thing and logged onto my phone. It wouldn't take my payment over my phone.

So I jumped into my car and high-tailed it to work and was registered by 8:45.

Blogged.

Worked.

Talked to Britt.

Thought hard.

Worked some more.

Talked to Britt some more.

Thought even harder.

And I signed up for the Rock 'n Roll SA marathon.

:)

It's all or nothin' round here, baby.

Marathons & National Running Day

I hope you all are out there celebrating National Running Day today!

Well, kind of. Sometimes it feels not so great while running, but afterwards I (usually) feel great!

There's some great deals out there for National Running Day - go here to see some of the deals that are going on today (perfect time to sign up for a race...)

So how am I celebrating National Running Day? Why, by taking the day off work and running my first marathon.

Or not.

But I did enter the lottery for the Houston Chevron 2012 marathon (!!!!! please, everyone, say a little prayer for me that I get in!!!!!), I'll be doing another day of marathon training (ok, ok it's a rest/cross-training day, so I'll really be doing some cross-training and I'll probably run a quick mile for good measure, just to be a part of National Running Day...), and I'm seriously considering signing up for a Rock 'N Roll race somewhere close by... we shall see (and by we shall see, I mean as soon as I wrap this post up I'm googling what would be a good option...)

This whole having Monday off work has really thrown me off, so I'm a little behind on all the things I wanted to post about. We'll be all caught up by the end of the week (maybe), but for now we'll just take a look at what I'm supposed to be doing this week :) Last week was a huge success though!

There's going to have to be some tweaking on this week, because June 5 is my birthday and I'm not sure that I'll be running that day, but the 9 miles will happen, be it the 4th or the 5th.

GO RUN!

So tell me, how are you celebrating National Running Day?

Anyone running any RNR races this year?