What a Wonderful Weekend!
March 15, 2009
I’ve had such a packed few days I don’t even know where to begin. Friday we traveled "home." I love the fact that even though the husband (then boyfriend) and I moved to Maryland almost 10 years ago, we still call North East Pennsylvania "Home." We don’t travel there as much as we like, for some reason the 3 hour trip seems daunting after a busy week. But this weekend we decided to brave it. :)
Friday night we ate a simple dinner out with Grandma and Grandpa. Hitting a local Italian place I ordered a child sized portion of Angel Hair pasta. Talk about the perfect amount! I really wish more places would let you order smaller sized meals. Why do portions sizes have to be out of control? Why? Why? ok… I’m not going there…
Anyway… I decided to run Saturday morning as I knew Sunday morning would be out of question (you’ll find out why in a minute) so I woke up and strapped on the shoes. I was actually looking forward to running on new terrain so it wasn’t too hard to get my butt in gear.
When I ran 6 miles just a few weeks ago I said, and I quote…
The first mile is always the hardest for me, the last the easiest.
Not this run baby. That last mile, mile and a half was SHEAR TORTURE. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I was so close to actually finishing 8 MILES! Once I hit the 6 mile mark I was like…
"YES! only 2 to go.. I got this!"
Then at 6.5, with my body aching and my knees getting weak, my tune changed…
"There is no way I’m going to finish this. I can’t go on. Maybe I’ll just walk the rest."
At 7 I was motivated again…
"Only a mile.. a mile.. I can do a mile in my sleep.. I GOT THIS!"
Then at 7.5, when I realized the last half mile was all up hill, I went into some kind of runners trance. Some crazed competitive athlete possessed my body and I just mushed my way to the end. When my iPod finally told me "You have reached your goal of 8 miles" I threw my hands in the air and had a HUGE smile on my face. HUGE! I did it.. I freakin’ did it! How in the hell did I do it?!? I have no idea. lol
After the run I showered up and took the toddler and the niece to a friends house. We went to the park, took a walk and just enjoyed the warm weather outside. It was SO nice out and it was great to see all the kids running around in the sun. MAN! I can’t wait for summer! Anyway, we went back to the house, made lunch and played Wii Fit
At this point I was thinking my day couldn’t have gotten any better but it DID! Thanks to FaceBook I’ve reconnected with some old High School friends and we planned a bit of a reunion. Talk about a BLAST! Reminiscing, drinking, playing pool, drinking, bar hoping, drinking. Yeah.. catching a pattern there. I drank a weeee bit too much but hey…. these "going out and having fun" days seem to be happening less and less as I get older. Sometimes a girls just gotta let loose! ;~P
Surprisingly I woke up with only a slight hangover. I’m wondering if the humongous glass of water and pizza consumed at 2AM helped. Talk about a flash back to College. Let’s see… drink all night and end the evening with about 1000 extra unwanted calories. Yea… that pretty much describes most of my college days. Once in awhile is ok… every night… not so much.
Needless to say this morning we had a slow start. But we did finally get out butts out the door for the Wilkes-Barre St. Patty Day’s Parade. The toddler had fun and I got to take a walk around my old stomping ground.
On the food front, my day started with a bagel and ended with some wings and cheese fries. It was fun and boy did the taste good but right now I feel even worse then I did after a night of drinking. I’m actually craving fruit or at least something fresh. I can’t wait to hit the grocery store tomorrow with the toddler. We need to stock up for the week!
All in all I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. Now I have to unpack. Ohhhh how I hate to unpack.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.. here’s to finding our groove Monday morning! :)
| « « Note to self… | Ask Roni _v21s3 – A Vegetable Hater, Loving Yourself, What I Find Hard » » |
On March 16th, 2009 at 1:01 am B said:
There’s nothing like being with family and friends.
On March 16th, 2009 at 5:53 am MizFit said:
So glad you had a fun weekend!
On March 16th, 2009 at 8:28 am Sabrina said:
That’s awesome!!! I pictured Rocky when you said about throwing your hands up in the air. I had a walk like that the other day…I looked up this straight up hill full of steps and thought after walking 3 miles…how am I ever going to make it up??? My legs felt like Jell-o but I made it :) and it felt awesome!!! I’m scoping out the marathon events around my neck of the woods and hopefully will do a few this spring and summer…BTW did you ever get my question about what the K in 5K is in miles? I’m not up on my metrics…I guess I could google…duh ;)
Anywho…congrats on the run, wahoo for the family time and oh so jealous of the girls night out! You are freakin awesome babe :)
On March 16th, 2009 at 8:36 am Michelle said:
congrats on the run! WOW! I don’t know how you do it. Good Job!
On March 16th, 2009 at 8:40 am Rachel said:
Roni! 8 miles?! Do you amaze yourself or what? You certainly amaze me :)
On March 16th, 2009 at 8:46 am Robin said:
8 Miles! From the girl who was pondering even going to the gym when I first started reading your blog! I love reading about your transformation–body and mind! All of the best to you! -Robin
On March 16th, 2009 at 9:39 am Lisa said:
Roni – Amazing run. I just started doing 6 miles on the weekend – three weeks in a row, and am thinking I need to go further because I’m starting to feel a little comfortable. I think its that extra push when you feel like you can’t go any further that makes us stronger!
Sabrina – 1 km is about .625 of a mile. So more than a half, less than three-fouths.
On March 16th, 2009 at 10:15 am Elaine said:
As a fellow Pennsylvanian (Pittsburgh) also relocated (Oklahoma City), PA will always be home. You can take the girl out of PA, but you can’t take PA out of the girl!
On March 16th, 2009 at 11:05 am fitforfree said:
8 MILES!!!! YOU ROCK, RONI!
On March 16th, 2009 at 12:27 pm Anne Marie said:
Congrats on the 8 mile run! That is fantastic!!!
On March 16th, 2009 at 12:56 pm Krista S. said:
Whoa Roni! Congrats on the 8 miles, girl. That is awesome. Glad you’ve had a great weekend. My week & weekend has been great…spending time with my BFF & her daughter (from Toronto) exploring Seattle. So much fun to hang out with friends.
On March 16th, 2009 at 1:55 pm kat said:
congrats on the 8 miles! it’s amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it…and a wonderful weekend w/family & friends.
On March 16th, 2009 at 2:03 pm sara said:
Congratulations on the 8!!!!!
I made something delish this weekend and I thought you should know about it.
Baked Mozzerella Sticks
Ingredients:
1 Egg White
2 Mozzerella String Cheese
1/4 bag (more or less to suit you) whole grain Garlic/Cheese croutons (I found mine at Wal-Mart for 97 cents)
Low Cal Pizza Sauce
Pre-heat oven to 375. Place egg white in a dish. Crush the croutons into a breading consistency and place in a separate bowl.
1/4 each piece of the string cheese (cut in half, then down the middle of each half).
Take a piece of cheese, dip in egg white, dip in crouton breading, dip in egg white, dip in crouton breading again. Place in greased casserole dish. Repeat with all of the little cheese sticks.
Bake in 375 Degree oven until breading is browned and cheese is bubbling through.
Warm Pizza Sauce for dipping.
ENJOY all or 1/2 with very few ish calories..
Ohhh heavens! these were wonderful.
I’ll not EVER get Sonics Fried in nasty fat again.
On March 16th, 2009 at 2:15 pm LaDonna F said:
Sounds like a fun filled weekend.
Can you tell me more about the IPod and how you use it to track your miles? Is there a certain program that does that?
On March 16th, 2009 at 2:18 pm Marisa (trim the fat) said:
What a great weekend!
Funny, I have those same running conversations with myself when I get going! I think the first 5 minutes are the roughest, but then I end up saying to myself, “I got this”, too!!!
On March 16th, 2009 at 4:20 pm Annette said:
sounds like an amazing time and a great RUN!!
On March 16th, 2009 at 4:42 pm Karen said:
You’re freakin’ awesome, Roni! Great run!
Thanks for always being honest and admitting it doesn’t always come easy.
On March 16th, 2009 at 4:48 pm KK (Running Through Life) said:
Congrats on your 8 mile run!! I have days/runs like that….some wonderful and some torture!
Sounds like a fabulous weekend!
On March 16th, 2009 at 9:04 pm sassyaztec said:
Yeah Roni!! glad you had a great weekend. always a blast to hook up with good friends.
On March 16th, 2009 at 11:08 pm Suzan said:
Hi,,I knew I felt a real connection with you! Have you ever heard of a small town in PA, called Swoyersville? My Daddy was born there and I have family there..I have not been there in 30 years..Love your zest for living, it is so refreshing and positive..Life is GOOD
On March 17th, 2009 at 9:03 am roni said:
I have! It’s right across the old Susquehanna! :)
On March 17th, 2009 at 9:20 am pam said:
It is awesome that you made it through those first six miles….but it is plain and simply inspiring that you made it the last two. That is what we love about ya……..It is such a tribute to all hard choices that we have to make every day. …..”Do I go the extra two miles?” Yesterday I was listening to a speaker and he suggested that we all go home and make a list of 10 things we want to change not just about ourselves, but our lives our world our relationships…… ANYTHING…nothing was off limmits. It was a scary thing to make that list…..because you realize that you have to address each one of those as a challenge. CHANGE IS GUTSY! All the small changes you have made over the last few years have added up to huge changes in your life. WOW!
On March 17th, 2009 at 1:16 pm Amanda said:
We still consider Oklahoma ‘home’, even though the Air Force always has other plans for us :)
8 miles?! That is amazing!
On March 18th, 2009 at 4:06 am Allison said:
Love it! Love that you had a great “old school” night! Every time I watch one of your videos and see the “beer pong” poster in the background, I get a chuckle!
A beer every now and then is A-OKAY!