Indian Summer And An Honorary MRTT Member

I’m being bold on the blog today and changing things up.  Last night’s MRTT Give Thanks to our Chapter Leaders party was so much fun that I’m starting with it! 

First off, don’t we clean up nicely?  Not a single ponytail in sight!

Photo courtesy of Bill

A couple of months ago my friend Beth came up with the wonderful idea to honor and thank our chapter co-leaders, Amanda and Erin, with a party.  She sent a message to the rest of the volunteers to see what we thought, and we were all kind of like, “Duh, why didn’t we think of this sooner?”

Photo courtesy of Bill

After a couple of hours of great food and drink, and even better conversation, we paused to thank Erin and Amanda. They are such a blessing to all who know them, and I am honored to be able to call them my friends.

We gave our leaders a variety of gifts including a book each with pictures of fun MRTT runs and races, and memory jars with notes from each of us.  All came from our hearts and we hoped our gratitude would shine through.

Since we were hosting the event, Bill volunteered to make his signature Mexican martinis. Someone asked him how Mexican martinis became his signature drink, and he answered with, “Too many business trips to Austin.”

Bill was a trouper and played bartender until we needed a photographer and then he pulled out his camera.  After taking pictures, he cleaned up the bar!  For that, he just might be made an honorary member of our MRTT chapter! 

Photo courtesy of Beth

Photo courtesy of Lupe

Bill took lots of pictures, some posed and some candids.  Here I am with Jessica whom I haven’t run with since she had her baby three months ago, Tracy one of my early morning regulars, and Kathy, one of my speediest friends.

Photo courtesy of Bill

I love this picture of my super fun Ragnar Trail Appalachians WV teammates Lupe and Gayle.  Gayle was my team captain at WV, and Lupe will be my captain at Richmond.  

Photo courtesy of Bill

And here’s Nikki, Neema, Vanessa, Kim, and me with Daisy photobombing us.  Daisy has a maroon and orange lei she wears in the summer and a maroon and orange knit scarf for the winter. 

Photo courtesy of Bill

The party was a huge success thanks to everyone who attended, shared their culinary delights, and contributed too many bottles of wine.  Here’s just one of the many cute and delicious contributions!

Kelley’s cupcakes

Back to Monday…  Monday started out great with a fantastic report from my dermatologist.  For the past sixteen years I have been seeing Dr. Ha two to four times a year for full-body skin cancer checks.  I’ve now gone one year without any new basal cells or melanomas, something both Dr. Ha and I are very happy about.

Tuesday morning at 5:30 as we were heading out for our run – me in my shorts and short sleeved shirt – we saw a Christmas tree lit up at the shopping center we run by.  On our return trip we stopped for a picture even though the lights had turned off. We ran five miles at a 9:52 pace, and shared Halloween candy stories along the way.

Tuesday’s run ended up being the coldest of the week with the temps in the low 40’s.  Once we finished running and I got home, I pulled my GoPro out for some pictures in our back yard. Now that the mornings are darker, it’s tough to get good GoPro pics until it’s just a little brighter.

Each day the temperature got a little warmer.  By Thursday morning it was about 62° when we ran so even my friends were wearing shorts!  November 5th and we were sweating heavily in the humid air. Surprisingly we ran at a faster clip than on Tuesday. We finished 6.2 miles at a 9:27 pace.  

Friday morning started bright and early with some lifting before my first client arrived. Friday’s strength training session was my third of the week, and it felt good to be back into a consistent mode.

On Saturday I was able to meet my MRTT friends for a Saturday long run for the first time since mid-August.  I’ve either been traveling, racing, or resting for a Sunday race each weekend since then.  It was so fun getting out and running ten miles with the ladies. Somehow I failed to take even one picture.  I’m slipping and I’ll have to work on that…

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap.  Be sure to check them out and the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

Have a great week!

• Questions:
• How was this past week’s weather where you live?
• If you drink, do you prefer beer, wine, or cocktails?
  
• Did you race this weekend?