So, What’s Next?

Saturday morning was an eight-mile run. Not to be confused with an Eight Mile run. (Sorry I couldn’t resist. 😉  It’s a Detroit thing. )

I debated on what route to take, knowing I needed to get home pretty early so I could go grocery shopping before a hockey game and then to a hair appointment before a first communion party. (Phew!) After a little debate, I remembered that I had done an 8-miler during my marathon training, only it had ended a lot differently than I planned. It’s still a tossup as to whether that run or my 15-mile run was truly the worst run I’ve ever had.  I think the 15-miler wins out, just because it was so long. That eight-mile run is still very memorable for its misery, though.

I headed out about 6:45, and it was a much different run this time. It was in the low 40s, and the sun was coming up, making for a beautiful morning. I saw a lot of animals on this trip, especially mallards.

These ducks decided that they were not interested in being photographed. 😉

When I ran by the field that I had remembered from my last run on this route, when the snow was pounding me from the east, I saw a much better view this time.

Look at that winter wheat coming up…so green!

When I got to the point that I had stopped the last time, when my fingers were so frozen that I thought I was going to have to call my husband, I couldn’t help but stop this time and take a picture to remember the moment.

I’m definitely much happier in that shot than the last time I stopped there. 😉

I obviously stopped a couple of times to take pictures, but other than that, the run was quite uneventful, and actually kind of fun. I got a bit tired towards the end, but I think my body is still adjusting to running again after completing a marathon. Still, it was a pretty good pace, even with the stops.

I hurried up and went grocery shopping, then made it to the hockey game, which I left early so that I could go get my hair done.  After my post-marathon hair appointment, I think I’ve gotten addicted to having someone else do my hair. 😉 My friend Emily gave me a nice style so that I would look good for the first communion of my husband’s goddaughter.  She’s actually the daughter of our best friends, and I’m godmother to their other daughter.  I’d love to post some of the pictures I took of her, because she is a beautiful girl, but I didn’t get her mother’s permission, so I shouldn’t. But I can post this one!

I took a lot of pictures of her. 🙂 I also made sure to get a few of my little family. Here’s me with my boys.

They look so nice all dressed up. So does my husband (below on the left).

And you know what, so do me and my friend Amy. 😉

I’m not going to lie, I love that picture. Not only does it show off what a great job Emily did on my hair, and how nice that green dress looks, but most of all, I love the fact that for some strange reason, the lighting makes me look tan! I’m so pasty white all the time, that just cracks me up!

We had a fun time at our friends’ house, and they even let us stay the night, since we have a hockey game just 10 miles away the next morning. Considering we would’ve had to of left the house at 6:30 in the morning otherwise, we were really grateful!

There was a lot of eating over the weekend, especially at the communion party, but I did try to make good choices. I only had a small amount of the sub, ate a lot of veggies, but I won’t lie, the cake got to me.  I love good cake, and it was good cake.

Unfortunately, the cake didn’t love me quite so much. I can’t say for sure that the cake was the cause of my weight gain, but I definitely gained weight.

That’s up 1.6 from last week, although it’s still lower than I was a couple of days after my Marathon.  I mentioned in my last post that I was feeling really fat last week when I weighed in at my meeting, and it hasn’t gone away yet. I can only hope that my body will get back to normal, but it’ll probably help if I stop eating cake. On the bright side, I did stop beating Easter candy after my last post, so at least I stuck to that goal! 🙂

While we were at the communion party, my friend Jason (pictured with my husband above) asked me about my marathon. After I told him a little bit about it, he asked the same question pretty much everybody has asked at some point or another: will I do another one? I’ve kind of avoided the question, but I’ve been contemplating it, giving it some real thought, and on Saturday, I told my friend, “Yeah, I think I probably will. Because I didn’t meet my goal, so I’ve got to try again to see if I can meet my goal.” I then added, “Of course that may mean I only do two, but I feel pretty confident that I’ll at least do two!” Ha!

So there you have it…I’ve pretty much committed myself to running another marathon.  Not any time soon, though.  For this year, I have three races lined up, the ones in the Thirsty Three series: a 5k this coming Friday, a half-marathon in August, and then (if the hockey schedule allows), a 10k in October.  I’ll also do the Kona 10k in June with Jamie, and we’ll see if he wants to do anymore races.  Oh, and this Saturday morning, I’m doing a super-hero 5k with both my boys!  So, clearly, completing a marathon hasn’t ruined me for running. 😉

Thanks for reading!