Things that made me smile last week

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Yep, for some reason last week was a craptastic work week.  Between the office politics and the co worker who feels the need to talk during every second of the work day, I was definitely spent.

This was my dinner, Thanks Mr. Beam

But the week ended on a good note.  Friday, my BFF came to visit from New Jersey.  She moved there to be with her Fiance last October.  I miss her terribly!  If you read my marathon post, she's the one that suffered, err I mean, trained and ran with me.  We've been through a lot together!

We all met at our other friend's house, Melissa for a Mexican dinner feast.  It was so yummy!!

Nom, Nom, Nom

We ate and talked and ate some more.  The weather was fantastic, so Melissa built a fire.

We had so much fun we realized it was 4:30 AM and that we should probably to to bed.  LOL!  I cherish these times with good friends.  I love them!

Here's to a better week!

So that is what made me smile last week - how about you?

Must.Pick.Up.The.Pace!

This was one of my views this morning while walking on a local rail trail.  When the weather get nice I prefer to exercise outside instead of the gym.  This time of year is perfect!  Temperature is just right, not too cold, not too hot.  

So I'm all ready...little wrist weights on, my iHeart radio tuned to my favorite station and I'm doing my warm-up pace.  After that I start to pick up the pace a little.  Finally I'm cruising along at what I thought was a pretty brisk pace. I can feel people approaching me from the side.  I suddenly was passed by two (clearly older than me) people who were also walking.  What the WHAT?!  They just effortlessly zoomed right on past me.  Guess my "brisk pace" wasn't as brisk as I thought!!

Ok, I thought to myself, time to pick it up.  So I push a little faster.  Again, I can feel someone approaching me from the side.  This time I was passed by a (clearly older than me) woman who was RUNNING!  Oh man, I'm feeling a little bad about myself now.  So I decide to wog (a word I like to describe how I RUN - a cross between a "walk" and a "jog").  While doing intervals, my mind starts to drift back to a few years ago when I was training with my BFF for a 1/2 marathon.

We trained many times on this very trail.  It was quite an experience.  I have to say that the training schedule was far worse than the actual 1/2 marathon itself.  It was grueling! While I was able to cross that off my bucket list at 40 years old, I really have no desire to run a 1/2 again.  LOL  I don't mind wogging since it is as good workout; just not for training purposes.  

I am reminded of this quote that I see on Facebook every once and awhile:  

• "If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run."          --John Bingham

So if you run, then just run!  Or in my case...WOG!  :-)