I can't lie

I spent last weekend with my favorite person in the world, so I was a tad concerned that this weekend would pale in comparison.

He loves to read. Clearly a genius.

Nothing can equal seeing that gorgeous little guy in person, but this weekend turned out to be pretty fantastic. 

I had serious anxiety going into it, because Friday night was the big surprise party for my BFF Carolyn. I've been on the planning committee with her husband and our third partner in crime, Casi, since summertime. We ran through about a million different scenarios to throw the party at their house. We finally settled on a long, complicated one that ended up with me getting her out of the house and distracting her while the party was set up.

I felt I had the hardest job, and I was the least suited to it. I get horribly, horribly awkward when I'm anxious. Additionally, I'm a terrible liar, and I don't "think on my feet". Eric would have been much better in this role. Our respective positions on lying are perfectly demonstrated in this scene from How I Met Your Mother. Imagine Eric as Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), and me as Marshall.

Despite all that, I managed to successfully complete my job, and Carolyn was completely shocked. Mission accomplished.

She thought she was going to a Halloween party, so she wore
her costume for awhile anyway. Huge bonus points if you
recognize it.

I gave her the greatest gift ever.

As I've mentioned, I was feeling a little stressed, so Eric and I decided to spend the night at their house to maximize our party enjoyment. 

In the Prime of my Dinosaur, playing our favorite new party game.

Saturday morning, I somehow managed to get up early to meet Lily for a run before my shift at work. We both forgot our Garmins, but we think it was somewhere around 7-ish miles (I did an easy 4 Friday morning too). 

After work, I met Eric and our team for our last football game of the season. Our last game, and our first win! We technically won the first game because the other team was forced to forfeit, but this was the first win we achieved through actual playing!

Much more importantly, after the game, I had a Jack Daniels burger. That would be a burger marinated in Jack Daniels. I couldn't stop talking about how good it was for at least 2 hours. It also came with an optional side of a Jack Daniels shot for only $1! I couldn't partake, because I had to drive, but is that a good deal or what?

On Sunday, I was up early to meet Kara at Rosaryville for our final long trail run before the Stone Mill 50 miler.

Obligatory blogger selfie

As if that wasn't exciting enough, I finally replaced my trail shoes on Saturday. I've known I needed to for awhile now. If I wanted to break them in, it was now or never.

I only upgraded from the Brooks Cascadia 7s to the 8s, but it was a world of difference. I couldn't get over how much I loved the 8s. I liked the 7s, but they always slipped in the heel for me, so I was considering getting another trail shoe. But the 8s had supposedly fixed that problem, so I went for it. I was so glad I did. One of the main reasons I love the Cascadias is that even though they're trail shoes, they have enough support to handle a few road miles. I don't feel the pounding of the pavement on my feet like I did in my old trail shoes. After more than 5 1/2 hours of running, my feet still felt great (no heel slipping either!), and I even wore them to Wegmans and the rest of the day. 

Alright, shoe nerd paragraph over, that truly just read like a commercial, which is sad because Brooks isn't sponsoring me or compensating me in any way. I don't even know why I linked to them. I guess because I want all of you to experience heaven on your feet like I did.

This run was absolute perfection. The weather was a crisp 40 degrees when we started at 7am, and just slightly warm (maybe 55?) when we finished around 1pm. The trail is usually crowded, but it was nearly empty today! We had to jump out of the way for mountain bikers just a fraction of the normal amount. The creepy pot/pan/doll display was even decorated for Halloween!

I think finally being a lazy ass paid off, because this run felt fantastic and seemed to fly by. Our snack break at mile 15 was seriously there before I even knew it.

The usual healthy trail running fare. Generously provided by Kara.

I felt even better after some Cheez-Its and Mega Stuf oreos. I highly recommend trying these. Like, now. Stop reading this blog post and get to the grocery store. They have so much more cream than double stuff.

I didn't get that super tired feeling until around mile 24, and even then it wasn't bad. I was wearing my Aspaeris capris, and between those and my new shoes I basically had zero pain. We did 26.2 miles in 5 hours and 39 minutes - tons of time on our feet to prepare for Stone Mill! This run was such a huge confidence boost - the last time I actually completed a long run was my 3am 18 miler an entire month ago - September 27! And even then I strongly considered calling Eric to pick me up.

Kara was nice enough to send me home with some extra snacks.

Full disclosure - the Cheez-Its didn't make it out of the park. And I gave the oreos to Eric.
He hid them from me to ensure he actually gets to eat them. He's learned the hard way before.

After the run, I stopped in at my favorite place on Earth. Wegmans. They don't pay me either. Yet.

IT'S FINALLY TIME

This was technically a peak week in my Stone Mill training, and I ran 65 miles. I wish it were higher, especially after hearing that Kara ran 85 miles this week (incredible, right?), but what's done is done.

Are you more like Barney or Marshall when it comes to lying?