(ETA: I just realized how long this post was. Read it all if you want detail, else scroll to the bottom and I'll have a bulleted list of pertinent points)
Friday night, as mentioned before, Tjett and I went over to our neighbors' house for dinner. It was so much fun. When I said like they seemed like nice people, I wasn't mistaken. Super, ridiculously, amazingly, nice people. Hanna and Brian had cooked just an amazing meal: Grilled chicken breasts that had been marinated in a variety of flavors (one was teriyaki, one was lemon herb or something, honey barbeque...and something else delicious that I don't remember); a lentil salad with parsley, red peppers, and walnuts; cooked carrots and zucchini. And for dessert, we had HOMEMADE cheesecake. So good. Their little girls were pretty cute. Anastasia, who's 8 months old (and almost walking!!), and Esther, who is almost exactly 2 years older. Esther is a talker. My goodness is she a talker. Brian and Hanna are both talkative, but neither of them are particularly loud. Esther is a loud kid. But an adorable loud kid. But we just had really good conversation, and just a really nice time. I hope we hang out with them again!!
Saturday morning was the Illinois Marathon. I ran the 5k. I discovered at the Expo on Friday that everyone BUT the 5k and relay runners received 'commemorative drawstring bags' and polyester/wicking/running shirts. We got a plastic bag with a cotton tee. But it all worked out! I still don't have a 'performance' shirt, but my friend Adam was running the half and volunteering which meant that he got 2 bags, so he gave me his extra one :)
But the race itself: It. Was. AWESOME. Started out kind of terrible...I had to pee almost as soon as we lined up, and the announcer guy kept saying '15 minutes' or '5 minutes' but then '10 minutes!' I had started kind of far back, and it was really hard to hear him. So he could have been saying, you know, 15 minutes until some guy made a speech, or whatever...but I didn't want to miss the start, and so I just dealt. Turns out I probably could have gone (about 10 times) but I didn't. Also, it was a 5k run/walk. I thought I was starting in a good position...I wasn't at the very very back because I was going to be running, but since I am by no means fast or competitive, I tried to start pretty far back. Apparently I started too far back. Or more likely, the walkers started too far up. And wouldn't stay to the right. I wasn't the only one trying to weave in and out of people...even though I'm not trying to set a world record, I was still trying to do my best, and it's frustrating getting 'stuck' behind people! But the run was great. I was trying to push myself, so by the middle of the second mile I was pretty tired. But I somehow caught a second wind and finished really strong. The course was as such that it ended in the football stadium...as we rounded the last corner, we went down a ramp, onto the field, and there was cheering, and I got high-fived by at least 3 people. I saw the time as I finished, and it was not quite a minute faster than my previous time. I got a really kickin' medal, and then I had some water and we hung around for a little bit, then went home to try to find our friends in the marathon (which we did not...we live right by the 4 mile mark, and all of our friends run more than 4 miles in an hour...we were just a few miles too early!).
We checked the official chip time later on...ok. This is huge. Forget almost a minute...I knocked of THREE (3!!!) entire minutes off of my time!!!!!!! I finished in 32:57!!!!!
Then we went to Kohls, because Tjett needed a belt and I wanted to find new jeans. Jeans shopping always leaves me angry and depressed. Women's jeans are sized in such a way that even though you may be one size most of the time, certain brands will run small, or fit differently, or forget about your hips. Most of the time I just can't find jeans. And the ones that come closest to fitting are usually 1 or 2 sizes above what I think I am or should be. So I wasn't totally looking forward to this. I tried on one pair that was the size I normally am. Not surprisingly, they didn't fit and I was angry and sad. There was the terrible back-gap, and the front just didn't fit right at all. And then it dawned on me...these jeans were too BIG! So Tjett convinced me to try on a size smaller...and oh my goodness, they fit. Mostly, anyway... But yes. It is possible that Levi runs some of its jeans big...but what a good feeling. I haven't been able to fit into almost anything this size since 10th grade. God bless running.
Saturday night we had a post-race party at my friend Greg's house. We didn't stay past 10:30, but the few hours we spent there were really fun. I saw some people I hadn't seen in ages, and ate a lot of good food and drank some (but not too much!) booze. Claire made these AMAZING asparagus roll-ups...white bread, chive cream cheese, and a stick(?) of asparagus, wrapped up and stuck in the oven for awhile. I ate about 10 of them, and I wanted more. I could have made my meal entirely out of them. She also made fruit pizza for dessert, which I liked way better than my Oreo truffles (everyone else seemed to like them; I thought they were kinda gross). We also watched some of the local news coverage of the marathon. The news teams in town are not great. I've been spoiled by Kare 11. But they had a little blurb about some of the outfits that people wore to race...including my friends Marla and Adam, who dressed up for the half as a banana and bee, respectively. The news lady was about done with the segment when she saw Adam's costume and just said, "Oh! and a bee! I just saw it!"
That brings us to today. This morning was my once-a-month high school sunday school gig, and I was pretty sure we would talk about Salvation. Until I got there...someone had donated a big screen LED TV and mounted it in the High School room at church. I was kind of joking around with one of the other high school teachers that we should just watch The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (it was in the stack of movies, and it has very Christian themes)...and then Pastor Julia came in, asked if we were using the DVD Player because she only had a couple confirmands show up and so she wanted to have them watch something. And then she suggested we combine classes and watch it :) And so we did. The first 45 minutes, anyway. I like talking to these kids, but it was a fairly nice surprise not to have to try to mediate a conversation.
And then the CROP walk. It was about 5-6 miles through campus, and we brought Tia. At first she was a bit hyperactive, but after about a mile she calmed down, and then she tuckered out pretty fast. It was kind of a cramped walk, but we walked with the folks from church and it was a good time. I think last year was better organized and a nicer route, but this was fun too.
And we had nachos for dinner.
What a great weekend.
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In short:
- Eating with my neighbors was great.
- I cut off 3 minutes of my 5k time! I got a sweet medal. Marla was a banana, Adam was a bee.
- I officially am down one pants size...
- Fun with folks I haven't seen in awhile.
- Movie at church!
- CROP walk and sleepy Tia!
Congrats on the 5K time. There's nothing better than running a personal best.
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