Weekend Wrap Up

Can I just take a moment to profess my love for summer?  I know some teachers love the idea of year round school, but I absolutely ADORE these two months (+ change) off every year.  Hello pool side reading!  (Which I sadly haven't been able to do yet because the weather in Chicago is super sucky right now.  Oh well, no complaining because no matter what the weather is like, I don't have to go into work tomorrow!!)

I spent my weekend doing a mix of celebrating the end of the school year and focusing on my training goals for summer.  Friday evening I hopped on a train to Chicago to visit a long-time friend.  We went to a vegetarian restaurant, biked through drizzling rain down the lake front path to a German street fest, enjoyed some craft beers on a patio post-street fest, got soaked biking home in the middle of the night, stopped for pizza on the way back, and passed out on the couch watching Arrested Development.  All in all, a perfect first night of summer.  (Although I would not particularly recommend riding a bike in skinny jeans, especially in the rain...Seriously, I don't know how the hipsters do it.)

Bikes!!!  Btw, the bike I was riding was at least a couple inches too big for me...Getting on and off at stop lights was...interesting...

Celebrating my German heritage!  I am such a pretend German though--I don't know when I have ever in my life eaten German food (besides pretzels), and being a vegetarian, I doubt I ever will!  The beer is good though. :) 

Locking our souvenir mugs to the bikes when we got to destination 2...Come on, you know those babies would have been stolen...Who WOULDN'T want a plastic mug with American, Chicago, and German flags on it??

Saturday morning I work up, took a bus and train to the opposite end of the city, and attended the Chicago Area Runner's Association summer marathon training kickoff clinic.  I got a free membership to CARA for summer training because I am fundraising for Autism Speaks.  I am totally a solo runner, so training with a group will be a completely new thing for me.  I'm excited, though.  When I'm logging lengthy double-digit runs, I think it will be awesome to have the group support.  

Swag

 The clinic was super informative--we were in sessions all day about things like basic marathon training, nutrition, injury prevention, running form, etc.  I was in the novice group obviously because this was my first marathon, and I was hoping to learn something new.  I definitely did and took pages of notes!  I left the clinic excited about training and with a head full of information.  Oh, and Hal Higdon was a speaker!  I felt like I was in the presence of a celebrity!

They encouraged us to write down some goals for summer training.  In addition to sticking with the training plan and stay uninjured, here are mine:

I have been slacking on stretching and foam rolling lately, but I know it is super important for me, especially since I am starting marathon training with an injury (IT Band Syndrome).  Foam rolling and using the stick helps keep my ITBs happy and prevent all sorts of other issues.  I'm committing to rolling out after every run and before bed every night!  

Today was a slow-start day.  I woke up early (after falling asleep at, wait for it, 9pm...) and proceeded to lay in bed for hours reading and playing on the computer.  I had a brick workout, the last one before next Sunday's tri, on the calendar this morning, but the weather was not being my friend.  It was under 60 degrees all morning!  I am a little bit of a wimp, and biking around in damp clothes and with wet hair is not my favorite.  I figured I could be lazy all morning and attempt the brick at noontime when the temperatures were a little warmer.

I finally made it out there for that brick...and thought I was going to die.  It was about 55 degrees and windy.  My hair was wet and dripping down my shirt.  It basically sucked.  Plus, I got lost on the trail where I was biking, and became convinced I'd have to approach a random fisherman to borrow their phone and call my dad for a resuce...luckily I found my way and avoided that.  By the time I made it back to my car, though, I decided to say "screw it" to my run and head home to a hot shower.  I am still working on warming up!

Red, frozen fingers 

Now I'm off to lay under a blanket before watching the Blackhawks later tonight with my fam--hopefully another win!

Awesome Dad and I in matching Toews jerseys...I know, we are adorable...

What did you do this weekend?