Birthday Fun

So, I am a little late at posting about my birthday shenanigans.  I had busy birthday, followed by a busy Independence day, followed by a day dealing with my sick kitty.  Nonetheless, my birthday was pretty fun, to me, so I figured it deserved a mention on the blog.

We need to talk about what "fun" means Mommy.

Somehow, I convinced two of my friends to get up early and meet me at the Alum Creek Dam by 6:30 am on my birthday morning.  They both even showed up in running clothes.  They must really love me!  We started with a 1.5 mile warm-up at an easy-for-me pace.

Sarah may just love me a little too much.  :)

Then we jogged to the bottom of the stairs to begin the repeats.  Yes, that's right, I convinced two crazy friends to join me for my Wednesday Dam Hill Repeats.  We bargained on how many they would do with me.  We settled on 5x.  I was still going to do the full load of 10x, but decided I wanted them to still like me when this was done.

They loved it.  No matter what they say.

Of course, somehow they both did more than 5x.  Sarah did it 8x and Lynne did it 6x.  I did 11x, a bonus time as my "pinch to grow an inch" birthday repeat.  Then, I convinced Sarah to run 2.5 miles of cooldown.  I think Lynne did 1.5 miles before saying enough torture already!

See, all smiles!

Judging by the post-workout comments (and the talk of tight calves this morning), I'd say that I successfully pushed both of them a little out of their comfort zone and they are both stronger because of it.  LOL!  I may have actually even convinced them to come out and try it again.

But, I digress.  The best part was that even though I dragged them out of bed early for some crazy hill repeats, they showed up with cupcakes, candles, presents and hand sanitizer (to make eating said cupcakes a little less bad).  I love these people.

What every Birthday gal needs, Triple Chocolate Cupcakes, presents and hand sanitizer

They even brought candles!

Sarah even put up with my sweaty hugs with minimal complaints!

After my post-hill cupcake, I went home where my husband was waiting to drive with me to the car repair place to drop off my car.  I know, super exciting birthday, right?  Sometimes being an adult sucks.  My husband was grumpy because for SOME INSANE REASON he thought I was going to do FEWER repeats for my birthday.   I mean, seriously, does the man even KNOW me?

For some silly reason, his ire, after the emotional high of the birthday fun run with friends, made me cry on the way to to the car dealership.  I think he sensed that he screwed up because when I got in the car to drop him off at work, he asked how my run went.  My response, "it was one of my best birthdays ever until you made me cry."  Such a lucky man, he never has to guess with me!  HA!

Speaking of crying - Avery was NOT pleased when the fun car ride with Daddy ended with dropping Daddy off without her.  She full-fledged sobbed about it.  Wonder where she got that from?  I made an emergency stop at a playground to cheer her up.

Daddy, who?

 And then, we went to Tim Horton's so that Mommy could have a second breakfast...and Avery could have her we-left-the-park-and-drove-a-long-time donut bribe.  Mom of the year!

Mmmm.  Donut.

 Then we went to Marshalls and Avery got presents.  I'm not really sure how that works honestly.  For MY birthday, Avery got presents.  She definitely seemed to love this new puzzle/toy.

I'm too busy to look at you right now Mommy.

The rest of the day was fairly normal except I had to pick up Mark from work a bit early so that we could pick up my now-repaired car from the car place before they closed for the holiday.  On the way there he kept asking me what I wanted for my birthday dinner.  Since I'd eaten the extra birthday cupcake from this morning just before Avery woke up from her nap, food was the furthest thing from my mind.  He kept suggesting Red Lobster, but I knew I would pay for that during Thursdays run....

Long, boring story short, he convinced me to go for the lobster.  Avery was hilarious at dinner and wanted to high 5 everyone in our immediate vicinity.  I had lobster and coconut shrimp and dessert.  And, yes, Thursday's run was all kinds of awful.  Worth it? Probably.

For Independence day, I made more unhealthy food, and got my birthday cake from Mark a day late...but no candles.  This is the first week were I truly feel my diet had negatively impacted my workouts.  Birthday excuses are now over, time to shape up!  :)

So sad about the candle situation.

So, anyone else up for hill repeats?  They are lots of fun, honest!

Last thing, I need your advice!  Mark gave me permission to sign up for a half marathon as a trial race pre-Detroit as my birthday present.  I'm eye-balling the September 22nd weekend as the ideal timing.  Some of my initial race thoughts are all sold out already (I know, I waited a long time to do this).  Any suggestions for a good half marathon that weekend?  I am not opposed to travel.