Block Party Forgiveness

To say my neighbors outdid themselves when planning our block party for Labor Day evening would be an understatement. We had a dunk tank, bounce house, two corn hole sets, ladder golf, a fire pit for making s’mores, and fireworks, but most importantly, we had a Chick-fil-A truck! Additionally, we had several canopies set up for us to huddle under once the rain started. That’s right, the party was set for 4 – 8 PM and after a beautifully sunny day, it started raining at 4:01 PM. Luckily, the storms moved through (yes, there was thunder and lightning) and within a half hour, the sun came back out. We braved one more quick storm before the weather cleared up for the rest of the evening.

I’m usually full-on in the middle of organizing events like this, but with my children grown and on their own, I enjoyed taking a back seat and letting my younger neighbors do all the planning, setting up, and cleaning up afterward. After a full day of training clients, I started baking chocolate chip cookies at 2:30 PM and stepped out onto the cul-de-sac with two plates full of fresh-out-of-the-oven-melt-in-your-mouth-little-circles-of-deliciousness and was instantly forgiven. 😉

 

And Now on to a RunDown of this Past Week’s Workouts…

 

Running

Because of Tuesday’s early work schedule, I was out the door the morning after our block party at 4:45 AM. The entire cul-de-sac had been cleaned from the previous night’s activities except for the fire pit which had been moved to the side of the street to cool. The Chick-fil-A trailer was awaiting pickup and taunted me with thoughts of breakfast chicken biscuits as I ran laps around our neighborhood.

 

Thursday’s run was filled with animal sightings. I was able to head about an hour later than usual so it was daylight by the time I finished. At mile four, I saw a small fox on my front porch, but didn’t stop to take a picture. As I finished up my run, a momma deer and her baby walked from my neighbor’s driveway and across our front yard before pausing to check me out. As I approached them, they ambled away and eventually ran down the hill toward the creek in our back yard.

 

For Saturday’s ten-mile run, I was treated to the company of my running friends, three of which I hadn’t seen in ages.

 

Just like two weeks ago, we passed another group of runners from our MRTT chapter and stopped for a large group picture.

 

Biking

On Sunday, Bill and I met our friends at Carolina Brother’s (a barbecue place) for a combo pavement and gravel ride. We rode on the W&OD Trail to Purcellville before turning onto very hilly gravel roads for about 15 miles. All told, by the time we got back to where we’d started, we’d ridden 45 miles. I thought Bill had planned a less-hilly route, but boy was I wrong!

 

More than once I was the last person to crest the hill and on this particular hill, I fell way behind (can you find me way back there?). On a positive note, I finally figured out my front gears and for the most part did a much better job on the steep uphills than on previous rides.

 

After we climbed the last of our hills, we paused to refuel and enjoy one of the many beautiful views western Loudoun County has to offer.

 

Riding back down the hill was a lot more fun than riding up, but I’m still extremely cautious and ride very conservatively down gravel roads. I did, however; get my speed up to 33.2 MPH on that fun hill I mentioned a few weeks ago. Because of how slowly I climbed those gravel uphills, my overall average speed was only 12.4 MPH though.

 

I don’t like to brag, but I earned a “Climber 3” badge on our ride. 😂😂😂

 

Once we finished our ride, we ate lunch at Carolina Brother’s. I had pulled chicken barbecue, baked beans, and mac ‘n’ cheese, and boy did it hit the spot!

 

Strength Training

Another good week with three out of three sessions completed…

 

Yoga

I felt very burned out early in the week after a weekend filled with so much cardio. Even though my body begged for yoga, my brain won, and it was Wednesday before I pulled out my yoga mat.

 

It’s on the Blog

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…

I’m not even going to mention why I didn’t get my recap of our hikes at the Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon posted last week or promise that it might get completed this week…

 

In addition to the workouts I mentioned above, here’s a complete rundown of my workouts from this past week (completed mostly in our home gym)…

 

  • Questions:
  • Did you do anything fun for Labor Day? Did you work?
  • What are your thoughts on smelling food cooking when you’re running? ~ I normally don’t like it, but I do like to think about food on my long runs, especially as I near the end of my run.  
  • Did you race this weekend?

 

And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post may contain affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!