Weekend Happenings

Well, the weekend is over, but it was a really good one. On Friday, Chris and I cooked dinner for the 5 other couples in our Bible study group. It was by far the biggest meal we've ever made, but I think it went pretty well. It was nice to be able to provide everything, rather than our usual potlucks or bring-your-own-____. This is a really great group of friends that we have, and so we enjoyed treating them all to a meal and then just hanging out and eating family style (although happily not dysfunctional family style).

Saturday it got up to 73 degrees!!! Woohoo!!! Chris and I did a LONG ride of about 53 miles, it is the same ride I did the day after he left for Nigeria and was no less tiring this time around. When I am in full cycling training mode, a 50 mile ride is hard but doesn't leave me completely wiped out like it does now. It was especially hard because we had a cross/head-wind for the last 15 or so miles. But at least the weather was beautiful. Riding through the plains can be a little monotonous, but it is awesome to be able to see the mountains, especially when they are covered in snow and looking especially bad-ass.

Almost right after I got home, I had to leave again for softball practice. First, I tried to make an amazing smoothie/recovery drink, but broke our blender because I ran it with a spoon inside. Not good, I ended up with blueberry/yogurt/protein powder deliciousness all over the kitchen. :( So I had to settle for my standby recovery drink of gatorade and protein powder, which gets the job done but is not nearly as exciting as a smoothie.

Softball practice was a lot of fun, although my reflexes were dulled considerably from the ride. It was the first practice of the spring and so felt particularly exciting. I'm playing with friends from the department. We've played in the fall intramural league for the last 3 years, but this is our first time to play in the city rec league. Last season we were actually pretty decent, so I'm looking forward to hopefully having a winning record. :) Sometimes it is a little disappointing how much my skills have declined since the glory days of high school softball, but we will be playing a lot this year so hopefully I'll get better as the year goes on.

Today's weather was disappointingly different from yesterday's - about 45 degrees colder, cloudy, and windy. Yuck! Chris and I went to church at 9:30 and sat with our friends Mollie, Jeramy and Christine. Afterwards we chit-chatted and had bagels and coffee. It was a nice way to start the day, even though my concentration was not at its best during the service (I was thinking about 3 things: 1. Trying to decide which serving opportunity that I discussed with Erika on Thurs would best suit me; 2. Wondering if it was too cold to run for 90 minutes outside, or if I should go to the gym instead; 3. Wishing I could go out for breakfast with our friends after church.)

I spent 4 hours today working on CMMAP stuff, which was a slight pain but good to get done. I went to the Bean Cycle for some of the time and that was nice. Then this evening I went to the gym and ran/walked on the treadmill for 50 minutes (during which time I wished I had eaten a substantial lunch instead of a piece of pie at the Bean Cycle). After that I went to the wonderfully relaxing 'restorative' yoga class ... so nice! Chris was busy today too and did a lot of laundry/cleaning while I was gone. And, he pretty much had dinner ready when I got home from yoga, it was awesome! He is a good guy.

Well this was long, sorry. So, you'll be happy to read that I am signing off and going to bed! thanks for reading!