Dual tournament weekend

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I’m back!!   Our weekend was pretty crazy…as if one hockey tournament isn’t crazy enough, this past weekend, our family had to to contend with TWO! JJ had a local tournament, while Jamie had one in Cleveland. Lucky me, I got to go to Cleveland! 😉 OK, I’m only half-sarcastic when I say that. We did have a good time, although the team didn’t do as well as we would’ve liked.

At any rate, this tournament was an odd one in that the games were Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Because President’s Day was Monday, and it seems that every school in Southeast Michigan except for my kids’ had that day or even the whole week off, they scheduled Monday games. JJ’s tournament was the same, so both of my boys had to miss Monday. It kind of sucked, because they actually had Friday off, so a Friday-Sunday tournament would’ve been perfect!

I didn’t feel like spending three nights on a hotel, especially an expensive one like the Hilton that we stayed at. ($150 at night, yeesh!) So, I chose to leave Saturday morning to make it in time for our 11:20 a.m. game. That meant we had to be there at 10:20, and with Cleveland being more than 2 1/2 hours away, that meant we had to leave about 7:30 to get there with time to spare. That doesn’t sound so bad, until you realize that Saturdays are my long-run days, and that meant I had to get up a little before 5 AM to get in even just a 5-mile run. And how awesome was it that it just so happened to be the coldest day of the season so far:

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Got a love those 4° runs. 😛 But I did it, and then we hurried up and finish packing, and after a quick road-trip selfie, we were on our way!

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The trip was pretty uneventful, and we actually made it on time. I made sure to announce that to everyone, since I’m pretty well-known for never being on time.  They played hard in the first game, but, as often happens with these young teenage boys, they let their emotions get the better of them at the end. In fact, there was quite a crowd in the penalty box:

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Yes, those are four kids in the box. 😛 They were only down 1-0 at the start of the 3rd, but they ended up losing 3-0. Grrrr…

Our next game wasn’t until 8:45 at night (ugh), so we had time to kill.  The team was planning a group dinner at 4:30pm, so with just a few hours to kill, I forced Jamie to do something fun for ME for a change. Turns out we were in the hometown of James A. Garfield, our nation’s 20th president, and we were just a few miles from his former home, which is now a national historic site.  And you know I love me some history. 😉

 

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Poor Jamie…he was so unenthused.  Meanwhile, I was in my element.  I wanted to stay and read every little placard and document, and then stick around for the 45-minute tour, but I’m not that mean to my son. 😉  I did my best to engage him in the experience by to bridging the gap between the election of 1880 and current election year politics, but I’m pretty sure it fell on deaf ears. :p

We went back to the hotel after that for the team “dinner.” I put dinner in quotation marks, because me eating dinner at 4:30pm is a joke. We’re more like 9 o’clock dinner people. 😉 And, since it was pizza (as these group gatherings always are), I was happy to skip it and just have a little salad. One of the moms who sat next to me also had salad, and when she sat down, she leaned over and said, “Can I ask you a question?”  I of course said yes, and then she leaned even closer and whispered, “Okay, I have to ask: did you have pizza?”

I actually started laughing when she asked. Most everyone on the team knows that I’m a runner and that I’ve lost quite a bit of weight, so I found it amusing that she wanted to see if I actually could actually fit pizza into my diet. I told her I didn’t, but then I also explained that I don’t really like pizza, so it’s not hard for me to turn it down. She then mentioned that she had joined Weight Watchers a few weeks ago, and was trying really hard, and that’s why she just had a salad. I explained to her that I try not to deny myself the things I really like, but pizza is so fattening, it’s just not worth the calories/points to me. She agreed, and then she admitted that she’s trying to lose weight for a vacation during spring break. She also told me she’s lost 6 pounds so far and has been pretty pleased with the program. I gave her lots of support, and we talked for a little bit about Weight Watchers, and I also explained how I became a runner.  It was a nice conversation, and I hoped that I helped give her some motivation.

Later on, the boys had their second game. It was a nail-biter, but, I’m happy to say that for the first time in many months, they got a win!

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The other team was really good, but our boys played hard, and our goalie was amazing. He even stopped a penalty shot, and then did a little “Cam Newton dab” afterwards. It was so fast, I missed getting a picture. 😉

After that win, spirits were high, and we all went back to the hotel. Since our next game wasn’t until 3 PM the next day, everyone stayed up late. I had allowed Jamie to bring the Xbox, and about half the team ended up hanging out in my room.

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(Shades of last month’s tournament, ha ha!) It didn’t bother me, because it kept them out of the hallways and therefore underneath hotel security’s radar. While the boys played their games, I made my dinner.

I mentioned in my last tournament post (Pittsburgh) that I’ve figured out how to save money, stress, and calories on tournament weekends by bringing my own dinner ingredients, along with my crockpot.  Once again, my sweet husband cooked me up some of his homemade meatballs and some pasta the night before, and I brought along that and a couple of jars of my home-canned spaghetti sauce.  Unlike last time, I had both a microwave and fridge in this hotel room, so I had everything I needed to make an easy, delicious dinner.

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Spaghetti, meatballs, a salad with all my favorite fixings, and of course, some wine.  I won’t say that it was a low-calorie meal or anything like that, but it’s at least easier for me to calculate the calories, since I made it all myself.  Plus, it’s way cheaper than ordering at a restaurant!  And as an added bonus, the wine isn’t just cheaper, it lasts longer when I drink it in a little baby Solo cup. (And now you have to sing with me…“Red Solo cup, I fill you up…”)

I did end up going over my calories on Saturday, but only by about 130 calories, thanks to my run early in the day and my good eating choices for lunch (pre-dinner).  Oh, and do you remember me mentioning in my last post that I discovered that my iPhone counts steps? Well, I’ve learned that I really do get a lot of exercise in when taking pictures at the hockey games: between the two games and the general running around for the hockey tournament, I got in over 10,000 steps on Saturday…and that was above and beyond my run!   I average about 3000 steps for a mile of walking, according to my Garmin, so that’s pretty impressive! 🙂

Because our game on Sunday wasn’t until 3 o’clock in the afternoon,  and because it’s one of my two days I don’t run, I got to sleep in until 8:30 AM! Granted, I went to bed at 1am, but still, that’s pretty awesome!! I was able to leisurely have my coffee and English muffin, made right in my room with my little espresso maker and the microwave. The hotel offered us a free breakfast each morning, but I didn’t need anything heavy, so I was happy with my standard breakfast. And actually, because I had so much leisure time, I had two coffees. Man, was I wired for the rest of the afternoon. 😉

Unfortunately, Sunday didn’t go so well as far as games. If they had won their 3 PM game, they would’ve gone to the championship. That team had gotten soundly beat by the two other teams in the division, including the one that we beat, but somehow, our boys just couldn’t get it together. They lost by a fairly large margin in the afternoon. As if that wasn’t bad enough, that meant we had to be back to the rink in less than four hours to play the same team again in the consolation game. :/

Because we didn’t have a lot of time, and I didn’t want Jamie to eat too much before the hockey game, we just had snacks. He had some trail mix, and I had some chips and salsa. They lost the second game as well, so then we went back to the hotel, getting back around 10:30pm. Unfortunately, because of the way the games had gone, the boys didn’t get to swim at all Saturday or Sunday, because by the time they got back to the hotel after the games, the pool was closed. :/ However, since we had the Xbox, at least the kids had something to do. They were all kind of down about having lost the two games, but eventually, as teenagers will do, they perked up. Jamie and I just had the leftover spaghetti and meatballs Sunday night, so, once again, saving money and eating good, wholesome food…win-win!! I will say, I did go just a touch overboard on the bread and wine Sunday night. 😉 But I tracked all of it…to the tune of about 500 cal over my 1300-calorie goal. Oops! I wasn’t too concerned, though. Hockey tournaments should be fun, and I’m allowed to live a little once in a while. So I did! 🙂

Monday morning was another day to sleep in, although not as late. Mondays are a run day, so I was up by about 7:30. It was a bit chilly, around 18°, and I could have run on the treadmill in the workout center. But honestly, what’s the fun in that? We were in a town called Mayfield Village, and it’s pretty old, so I was looking forward to seeing some of the historic buildings, as well as just the town in general.

I got out on the road a little bit before 8:30, and because we were in an industrial area, I was able to run in the road for about the 1st mile or so. Once I got to the main road, I had to switch to the path.

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Unfortunately, it had snowed lightly the night before, and underneath that snow, there was ice in some spots. That made for a much slower run than my normal Monday pace run. But that’s OK; every run doesn’t have to be fantastic. And I was enjoying the sights:

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After I was on the main road for about a mile, I was able to go back into a neighborhood and use the streets again.  I saw some local inhabitants, and we exchanged friendly pleasantries. It was nice!

Unfortunately, it was cold enough that my phone decided to die about two thirds of the way through my run. :/ That was a bummer, because there were some cool buildings I wanted to take pictures of, including the village hall, which looked quite old. Also, the huge snowdrift on the sidewalk in front of the village hall that I had to climb over!! That was fun. 😉

By the time I got back to the hotel, I ended up doing about 3.5 miles. As I came in the front entryway, I discovered Jamie having breakfast with some of the other families from the team in the restaurant right next to the lobby. When I walked in, all bundled up and panting from my cold run, every single parent, to a person, looked at me like I was crazy. Ha ha! I think it was the head coach who looked at me and said, “You are nuts.” And then everyone else chimed in. Someone made a comment about, “You know there’s a treadmill just down the hallway, right?” I laughed, and then I told them my theory: one of the best things about running is discovering new places!

While all this was going on, JJ was back in Michigan at an 8 AM hockey game. If they won, they were headed to the championship. Jason texted me about half an hour after I got back from my run to say that they had won! Then came the question of what time the championship game would be. We had been told that it would be at 3 PM at Joe Louis Arena, but, as it turns out, that was only if one of the two teams who had paid extra (a lot extra) to play there had also qualified for it. And, because fate is fickle that way, neither of those two teams, both from Canada, qualified! Thus, the two consolation games would be at Joe Louis Arena, where the Detroit Red Wings play, and the championship game was at the crappy local ice arena…at 1pm. Since it was 9:30 by the time this was figured out, and it’s almost a three hour drive from Cleveland to Detroit, this put me in full panic mode. Because Jamie was in the pool, and we weren’t even close to packed!!

What followed was the quickest packing job I’ve ever done, and a non-stop drive from Cleveland to Detroit. The good news is, I made it in time to see the whole game; the bad news is, they lost to a very good Canadian team by one goal. But they were still tournament runners up, and they definitely deserve a trophy they got!

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We eventually managed to get home, unpacked, and then I took a two-hour nap.  😉 after that, it was leftovers for dinner, get all the homework and ironing done, and then fall back into bed around 10 PM.

I was up early Tuesday morning for another run. With clear roads in a slightly warmer temperature, I was able to do a sub-10, although  just barely.

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So after all the eating and running around, I know you’re wondering what the result on the scale was!  And…

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Up exactly 1 pound from last week. And you know what? I’ll take that! I had fun and ate what I wanted, but I didn’t allow myself to feel any guilt over it. So, if a one-pound gain is a result, that’s ok! Plus, I’m still technically in that 120-ish area, so I’m pretty much at goal, right? 😉  I have no regrets about anything from this past weekend, and I still feel good in my skin, and to me,  THAT’S what’s important. I’m confident that I’ll get back on track this week; in fact, I can tell you that I’ve done great so far.

Thanks for reading yet another post about my hockey life, lol!!

2 thoughts on “Dual tournament weekend

  1. Meg B

    I am seriously planning on following your crockpot plan next time I go on a vacation like that. Nothing like home cooked.

    After reading this post I can just say PLEASE let me boys play on the same team!!!

    Reply
  2. Cindy R

    No wonder all the boys want to be in your hotel room, you have the food! Your Italian dinner and salad look much better than the food served at the majority of hotels. Thanks for sharing your tournament weekend with us and the info on President Garland’s hometown.

    Reply

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