A Weekend in Vermont

Last week, I went up to Vermont for the most glorious weekend.

Chris, Betsy and I were going to run a half marathon, which we did in the 85-degree heat (it was a little messy and a lot slow), but mostly we just relaxed and enjoyed a weekend with our friends. 
 

Elizabeth likes cooking even more than I do, so we ate well. We also explored and swam in a river (it was FREEZING, and I was a little worried about getting swept away by the current). I took a million and a half pictures and read almost all of this book.

I feel like now that I've been on that trip, I'm really ready for summer to begin. I plan on swimming a lot, reading even more, and spending plenty of time on my porch.

Yesterday

Well. Yesterday didn't exactly go as planned.

The plan was to have people over for waffles and mimosas, then go to Copley Square to cheer for our our friends who were running the marathon.

The conditions were perfect, so my friend Nat actually finished minutes before we got there. He ran the marathon in 2 hours and 40 minutes. He is a beast. We saw Emma turn onto Hereford, and she looked amazing.

Once Emma passed, we left our spot for a walkabout. My brunch friends all went back to Somerville while I walked around the Back Bay and went to my friend Christine's house to say hi. I was four blocks away from the finish line on my way to meet up with froworkers when I heard two booms. They weren't crazy loud, and my first thought was that they must have been a truck going over a bump or something. Then I saw a sea of people running towards me, and smoke rising in the air.

I spent the afternoon holed up at Christine's house on Beacon Street, watching the news and checking in with friends and family to make sure everyone was okay. All my people were fine. As I said on twitter, I'm so thankful for that, while also so sad that the same is not true of everyone's people.

I'm going to go for a nice long run along the Charles River today. It seems like the appropriate thing to do. Favorite running path in my favorite city? I think so.

Item Number 4? Double Check.

S0. When I turned 25, I made this list.

One of the things on it, number four, was to run a 10k (that's 6.2 miles).
I'd recently kind of sort of started thinking about running again (I started running for the first time when I was nine, and then I stopped by mid-high school), and that seemed like a lofty but achievable goal.


{We didn't exactly remember to take pictures. So roomie Emma and I did a reenactment in our living room. It went down just like this, promise.}

This past weekend, I finished a half marathon. That's 13.1 miles, or more than twice my goal. Once I started really running last fall, I just kind of realized I liked it, so I kept going. Suddenly, a half marathon made sense. I signed up for one in February, but then I got horribly sick the weekend of the race, and it snowed, so instead, I raced yesterday, in New Bedford. The weather was perfect- it was sunny and not too windy, and I kept a pretty steady pace right through to the end, where they gave me orange slices and a medal.



You guys, it was amazing. It was so much fun, and the weather was nice, and we got to run along the ocean, and I pushed my body to go faster than I thought I could, and it was just awesome. Now, I think everyone should do a race like that.

Really, though, I only did it because seven months ago I told the internet that I wanted to do a whole bunch of things. I'll do a recap closer to my birthday, but now, I think everyone should make a list like that, too.

p.s. Thanks to Christine for being my super awesome race buddy and Nicole who doesn't read the blog for SCREAMING for me at the finish line. That was so super motivating.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday, friends!

Today is Patriots' Day, which means that here in Boston, some of us don't have to go to work. It's also the day of the Boston Marathon, which is possibly my favorite sporting event all year. My roommate Anna and I are going to go watch the elite runners race down Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay in a couple of hours. I can't wait- I haven't seen Boston live in years.

{Via Apartment Therapy}

I'll leave you with this breakfast nook. I can't stop staring at it- can't you imagine yourself sitting here on a lazy Saturday morning, drinking coffee and eating baguette and reading the newspaper? (An actual paper newspaper, not the New York Times online, which is all I ever read anymore). Heaven.

The other day, I skipped my morning run and made breakfast instead.

I fried an egg (did you know that sunnyside up are way simpler to make than over easy?), and made toast in the fancy new toaster,

I cut up a grapefruit,

and I even made coffee. (I'm slowly getting better.)

It was a good choice for how to spend a morning.

(Plus, I went running in the afternoon).

I am in love with the weather in Boston this week.

Today, we had lunch outside.

Tomorrow, our boss offered to take us on a picnic.

Come January and February, we'll be up to our eyeballs in snow, and that will be magical, but right now? I'm just enjoying this little bit of spring that we're getting in November.

Outdoor running and picnics all week long! Hooray!

Irony

I got home today, too hungry to go running, even though that was my plan.
So I ate some ice cream.
Then I wasn't hungry anymore, so I went running.
Then I made some coffee cake to bring into work because, that last one? Well, Berko and I were hungry. And so was my mom. It didn't make it out of the house.

Just Call Me Speedy

I just went for a run.
My second run in a week.
I am such an exercising speed demon.

So What if it was Really Short?

I just went for a run. In the rain. The pouring rain.
I am SO hardcore.