A Loopster reunion (!!!)

Since last August, I've been training. 17 weeks for Rehoboth, a couple of cutback weeks in December, and then right back into the week of New Year's. So I was kind of thinking that maybe I'd need a little break after this Maniac business was completed.

But I feel good and I want to run. So I'm running.

Back up to 30 miles this week and working on easing some speed into my legs. Nothing exciting on Monday or Wednesday of last week--just a couple of 5 milers. I had plenty of time to putz around in the garden getting a few tomatoes planted.

Torrance helped:

Meanwhile, Luxy, aka elderbeast, found a much comfier spot to hang out while I sweated a bit:

Cute dog pics, check!

My sister's birthday was Thursday and with Adam working late, I decided to fly solo and meet her and the new hubster downtown at a delicious tapas restaurant.

(Me, my new brother-in-law, my sister, and her BFF)

I wanted to run double digits on Friday--toyed with doing 12, but then an old friend told me he wanted to run 4 at the Greenway. So I decided to run 10 by myself and then enjoy a few miles at a more relaxed pace afterwards.

When I woke up, it was gorgeous. Slap yo mamma beautiful! Upper 40s, crisp, low humidity, and just enough cloud cover.

My legs must've known the summer slogfest is rapidly approaching because this 10 miler felt pretty darn great:

I finished just in time to walk up on my old friend getting ready in the parking lot.

Flying Frickin' Tomato!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I gave him a sweaty hug and soon we were running shoulder to shoulder, miles flying by. It always goes by too quickly when running with a Loopster. There was so much to chat about and I honestly kind of forgot we were running until he suggested we turn around at 2.5 instead of 2. What's another mile between friends?!

We chatted about going to Marshall. I'm going to go if I had the time/resources to get away for yet another Loopfest weekend. He needs to make sure he's healthy enough to run 13.1 on a new-fangled hip. So, um, not that we need any additional peer pressure...but just putting that out there....

Those extra 5 miles probably wouldn't have gone quite so nicely if I hadn't had been in the company of FT. I was spent when we pulled up to the trail head. But I had talked myself into a Frosty as a reward.

I had to work Saturday (boo!), but was fortunate to have another fun evening planned--a Jason Aldean concert. We met up at my friend's house to make tacos and margaritas before the concert and then brought drinks down to tailgate at sunset before the show started.

Somehow in the past few years 10 years since I have been to this particular venue, I aged a lot. I'm wearing my Braves hoodie ('cause it's chilly), jeans, and Kinvaras. But if you're 17, you wear daisy dukes, cowboy boots, and a piece of cloth that is loosely defined as a "shirt":

The people watching was arguably as good as the live music on a beautiful night with friends. I ended up getting home waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay late and decided to sleep late this morning before I had to work (boo again!). I finally felt human around 1pm, so it was a wise choice to wait until this evening to run.

Speaking of running...I have now officially booked my trip to Portland (for Hood to Coast) and Jackson Hole (our post-Portland Yellowstone adventure). I have mentioned it before, but the Jackson Hole marathon just so happens to be on the Saturday we leave (conveniently at 5:45pm). It's at 6300' elevation--about a mile higher than my 1000' feet in the ATL. With all the traveling and elevation difference, I think I'll just relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery if I sign up. Ha...if I sign up...