Nerdy Apple Bottom

I had an unbelievably physical weekend. And I loved it.

I can barely walk, or crawl, or roll over. But I don’t care.

I took an incredible anusara yoga workshop from Christy Burnette at Darling Yoga. Friday night was a two hour session on hip openers. Saturday morning was an hour and a half on just shoulders followed by two hours of back bends. Then a 2 hour afternoon session on forward bends and twists. I can feel just about every muscle in my body right now. And I was right next to the Vegetarian all weekend so that was a bonus. I see her once a week when I go to teach, but it is less social and more rushed. I love getting to just laugh with her.

And as a sweet little bonus between the morning and afternoon sessions, I was able to meet a new bestie for an hour of therapeutic chatter. We met at Starbucks, had a warm drink (and possibly I had chips and coffee cake with a red velvet cupcake to go), and just talked. About whatever came up. I had such a great time. I’d met her at a Max Strom workshop last summer. We hit it off and went to dinner between sessions there also. I hope it is the first of many get togethers. And she’s possibly converted me to a Saints fan. Who Dat?!?

And then Sunday I participated in my first 5k. The Groundhog Run was a good one to start with. Goldilocks, Monkey, Peanut and I ran it. And by ran it I mean I forced them all to walk. I ran a little bit. But really the fact that I could get out of my warm bed that morning and somehow got dressed and make it there by 830ish was a small miracle in and of itself.
Peanut and I happened to get there at almost the exact same time as Goldilocks so we parked really close to each other. That was lucky as she was going to come to Peanut’s soccer game after the run. We made it into the tunnels and waited for Monkey. Peanut had her picture taken with the Groundhog. He (or possibly she) was just slightly taller. I found that very amusing.
It took a while to find Monkey. Ok, she was running a little late and had to sprint to get there in time. And then it began. I ran for a while and then forced everyone to talk with me. My legs were killing me. The yoga workshop was probably not the best prelude to my first 5k. And Peanut had a little trouble keeping up when we all were running. Since we were in tunnels, it freaked her out a little bit with so many people in such a small space moving so quickly. The walking made it possible to just talk and laugh the whole time. Goldilocks even gave Peanut piggy back rides a couple of times. Though Peanut would make her put her down when we came upon the volunteers on the sidelines that were there to cheer us on. She’d say,”Drop me, there’s clappers.” And of course we all ran at the end so the finish line photographer could get a good picture.
After we grabbed some water, oranges, and handfuls of granola bars, we perused the sponsor tables for a bit then bade our goodbyes. Well, except that Goldilocks was coming to Peanut’s soccer game. Yes, she had a soccer game about an hour after our 5k. We got out to our cars and someone had blocked me in. Seriously, who does that at a charity event? If you arrived after me, you were probably going in for the 10k which means you would be there well after me. I was peeved. Seriously, who does that?!? At a charity run?!? *sigh.
But again, thankfully Goldilocks had already intended on going to Peanut’s game so we just rode with her so a little extra time to chat and laugh. [note to self: Good job finding a silver lining] The game wasn’t so great, but at least Goldilocks was able to see her play. And to do a blind bicycle kick which she’d been telling her about during the run.
We planned on doing lunch afterward so we decided on Houlihan’s. Though I’ve had many a pleasant experience there, Sunday was not one of them. It took an hour to get our food (we’d all ordered appetizers), our glasses were questionably dirty, they had Peanut’s and my order wrong which took another 20 minutes, we asked for to go boxes which were given to us after she dropped them facedown on the floor, and it took forever to get our tab. I reluctantly spoke to a manager and they ended up comping the whole meal. So there was a little bonus. I guess. [note to self: glass half full] Oh and they gave us three free chocolate chip cookies. Turned out they were burnt but Goldilocks scarfed her’s down anyway. And later so did Peanut and Bubba.
I had $5 in Borders bucks that expired that day and Goldilocks had a gift card so we ran across the street and did a little book shopping. I was very reserved as one of my intentions is to only buy 12 a year. I ended up buying zero for me. I used the bucks to get Peanut a Manga book she wanted. [patting myself on the back]
Then Goldilocks drove us all the way back up north to get my car. (it was really about 15 miles, but still) and there was my lone car in the giant field.
Thanks, Goldilocks and Monkey for a really great day. I love getting time with my ladies. Peanut included. [she loves hanging out with my friends as they are so awesome about treating her as an equal]
Now to take a little break and start training for the next one…

And one last thing - we made our goal of $150! Thanks to Average Jane, Chaos, Mimi, Granny, Captain Cousin, and the Detective. I have some really great friends and family!