Pushing the pace

Today is President's Day, a day that has always struck me as an obscure reason to shut down the Federal government. It also means my kiddo's daycare is closed, so I'm home enjoying a snowy day with my little boy. I got him all bundled up this morning to go outside so I could shovel the path to our front porch. I shoveled out a little square area for him to stand in, since he seemed hesitant, and put him down in the middle of it. True to form, he refused to move. He wouldn't even move within the square area I'd shoveled out. I tried to get him to throw a snowball but he wouldn't touch it. It's one of his lovable quirks. Last summer he wouldn't walk on grass and absolutely loathed sprinklers and other water-based amusements. This winter he won't walk on snow or salt. Otherwise, we ran errands, had lunch with Mr. Joanna (his new blog name), and played and played and played. And now the babe naps, giving me time to tell you about my weekend.

On Saturday The Bestie and I went to a crop (12-hour scrapbooking get-together at a crafts store) with The Gangsta. We always have a good time at these. It's good time to hang out and be super girly and tease each other a little bit and spend some money on crafty goodness. When I left my house to go pick up The Bestie my jaw dropped a little bit. We had hoarfrost unlike anything I've ever seen. The frost was so thick on the trees, weeds, everything, that it looked like thick snow and ice. It was drop dead gorgeous. We got to the crop a little after 9. I spent the day making Mr. Joanna a Valentine's card and completing 3 honeymoon pages (might have a picture of two of them later). It was a slow, fun day.

Sunday was possibly the best Valentine's Day ever. We were just us and it was fabulous. We went to church in the morning, then the boys headed home and I headed to the gym for my long run (more on that below). I got home and got cleaned up just about the time the babe was waking up from his nap. We played and all ate dinner together, then went out to get an ice cream cone from McDonald's (49 cents of terrible wonderful) and rent Inglourious Basterds (to watch after the babe was asleep, of course). That's who we are--a couple that goes to see The Hangover on our anniversary and rents Inglourious Basterds on Valentine's Day and plays with our little boy in between. I think that about hits the nail on the head.

So the long run, on the 'mill again. It was great! It took me longer than usual to settle into. I didn't feel like I hit that groove until maybe mile 2.5 or so, partially because I forgot to change the incline on the 'mill until some point after 1.0. With the 'mill at a 0.5% incline, I got through 6 miles at an average pace of 9:28! I'm definitely happy with that. I'm on course to get that average pace DOWN before training gets very serious.

Mileage: 45.9 + 6.0 = 51.9