a good day

Sorry, Saturday - your place in my heart has been stolen by Sunday. I still love your long runs in the morning, and your occasional evening out, but you've got nothing on Sunday anymore. Now that I have a job which very rarely activates the Sunday blues, I love the (relatively) late mornings in bed, the chance to enjoy a cup of coffee with Kyle, an uplifting church service, and lazy afternoons.

This Sunday was missing a few of those elements, but it was a good one nonetheless. I was up at 6 to head to a 7:30 race just south of Baltimore, the first test of my arduous winter training season. It was a hilly 10 miler and I was shooting for 8 minute miles, and I felt a little intimidated by the women in their fancy arm warmers, discussing their anticipated 7:40 pace.

Well, it turns out that I showed them, finishing up in a very surprising 1:13:14 - 7:19 pace. I knew after the first 6:45 mile that I had to either drop back or commit, and opted to see if I was up for the challenge. My last couple of miles were around 7:30 so I slowed down a little, but was really thrilled overall. Take that, arm warmer ladies!

I carpooled down with my buddy Dan, a social worker therapist at Hopkins a little younger than our parents, with whom I volunteer for Back on My Feet. I told him I'd drive him if he let me pick his brain about counseling for part of the 30 minute ride. He was extremely receptive and helpful, already trying to figure out how he could help me land an internship that's more than 2 years away. We decided to establish a casual mentorship and I'm really excited to call on his experience and local connections as I finish up the second half of my master's. (Is that proper use of the apostrophe? I never know in this case! Please tell me if it's wrong...using those incorrectly feels to me like having something stuck in my teeth or my zipper down and nobody telling me!)

We hosted "Focker Fest" for Kyle's roller hockey team, the Fockers (as an aside...my mother-in-law asked if she could get a Fockers jersey and wanted it personalized. Kyle told her ok, but it would have to read Mother Focker). It was a tightly-packed service porch (family room for those of you who missed that post) for the vieweing of the heartbreaking US-Canada gold medal hockey game. I enjoyed witnessing the differences between girls' and guys' get-togethers:

- girls wait until the food is served to indulge, and even then usually have to be prodded to serve themselves; guys dig in before you've even got it on the serving platter

- guys burp, belch and fart at will, without exclusing themselves (occasionally congratulating each other on "a good one"); girls never burp, belch or fart - everyone knows that. ;-)

- girls offer to help the hostess clean up; guys retreat to the basement to check out the host's stuff, and make more of a mess when they track the dirt back upstairs.

It was a great time though, and I felt fully justified in partaking in the wings, ribs, pizza and beer due to my earlier run.

Almost done... it was an excellent day because of the anticipation of good things to come this week for Kyle. He has two companies vying to gain him as a new employee, and either would be a good long-term career move. He'll get the second official offer tomorrow afternoon so we're praying it's a good one and the decision will be easy!

Ok, finally...the 8:30 bedtime. aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.