When A Rule Follower Plays Hooky

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time!  Here’s what was on my agenda:

• Friday:
• Fit Foodie packet pick-up
• Fit Foodie Tweet-Up
• Light Up The Night VIP Cocktail Party

• Saturday:
• Fit Foodie 5K
• Love DC Chefs Experience
• Julie’s bridal shower
• Julie’s bachelorette party

• Sunday:
• Power Systems Obstacle Course Bootcamp
• Fit Foodie Brunch

It started Friday evening in the Mosaic District in Fairfax with packet pick-up followed by the cocktail party where I got to hang out with the other ambassadors.  Saturday morning my friend Erin and I drove back to Fairfax in the steady rain for the Fit Foodie 5K and post-race foodie experience (more on that in a later recap).

After waiting forever for the awards ceremony, we gave up and tore out of the Mosaic District to race home so I could get ready to go to Julie’s bridal shower.  It really would be in poor taste for the future mother-in-law to show up late, or even worse, without having showered after a race!

On our way home, Erin and I talked about how the rain caused our MRTT chapter’s Welcome Run to get rescheduled to today, and how we would love to go… I casually asked Erin if she would be upset if we missed Sunday’s Fit Foodie yoga/boot camp, and brunch, and she said, “You mean like playing hooky?”  She said it would be fine with her and we fist bumped right there on the beltway.  In that moment, I felt the weight just lift off of my shoulders!

I’ve always been the type to follow rules, and since I’d over-committed and said I would go to all of the events, even though it wasn’t required, I felt obligated.  Luckily, lightening didn’t strike me this morning while I ran with my MRTT friends!

Back to yesterday…  The bridesmaids did a great job putting on Julie’s shower, everyone had a great time, and Julie (and Joseph) got a lot of really nice gifts.

After the bridal shower, the MOB and MOG (me) got to chaperone party with the bachelorette and her friends!  Yep, Janet and I are cool like that!

I drove the Cruiser Mobile with half of the guests and decided that the best way to stay young is to hang out with these ladies!

I managed to stay young until 11 PM, that is!  I had been up since 5:30 AM and was exhausted, and since I was meeting my MRTT buddies, I had to get up early again this morning.  After I got home, I stayed up talking wedding stuff with Bill, finally got to bed at 12:30, slept for five hours, and got up to run again!

Erin, Megan, and I had decided to meet early and get a quick three miles in before we met the rest of the crew for another three.  On our way back to the meet-up we ran into our Tuesday/Thursday morning running buddies Dora and Mary!

Mary snapped this picture of us.  It says so many things, but the question it begs to ask is, “Who’s having the most fun?”

Back at the parking lot we took the ultimate selfie with the self-timer on my little Canon PowerShot!  These ladies are truly awesome, and I enjoy every single run with them!  It was great meeting the new members this morning and I hope future runs will bring us together again soon.

I also got to hang out with Katie from Healthy Heddleston before the run.  We’ve followed each other on Twitter and Instagram for quite a while, but hadn’t gotten a chance to meet in person.  If you don’t already follow her, check her out.  So far I’ve had quite a few blogger meet-ups, so I’m definitely meeting my 2014 goal!

On a side note, can you tell that Amanda, one of our chapter leaders, ran Ragnar and got a sunburn two weekends ago?  Don’t worry, she immediately confessed her sunburn sin to me, and I scolded her.

I stopped to take pictures of runners coming toward us right after we turned around, but I had to run too hard to catch up with my group, so I decided to wait until I finished and catch the other runners coming in.  I missed the group in front of us (obviously) and right behind us, but I think I got a picture of everyone else finishing!

MRTT Runner of the Week award has to go to Misty for coming out with her boot and walking while pushing her twins in the double jogger!

After we all finished, we had post-run refreshments of bananas, muffins, chocolate milk, and water; and drawings for cool prizes.  Thank you, Amanda and Elizabeth, for putting on such a fun event!

Everyone enjoyed the post-race fun, and these little legs and feet were happy to get out of the jogging stroller and run around in the dust!

As soon as I got home from the welcome run I grabbed a bowl of cereal and fruit and headed out to run another four miles with my BRF’s Susan and Shawn, ’cause that’s how I roll!

So with ten unconventional miles under my feet this morning, they were very happy to spend the rest of the day resting!

I need to go back to work tomorrow so I can rest after this busy, crazy, fun weekend!

Hopefully, I can get a recap of the cocktail party and race up on my blog tomorrow or Tuesday.  Prepare yourself for a lot of pictures!

 

• Questions:
• Who belongs to an MRTT group?
• Who raced this weekend?
• Are you a rule follower, or do you like to bend the rules?