Day 34 + 35

Greetings friends! I am sorry to have abandoned you all over the weekend, but alas... I did not have an internet connection. Time for a mega-massive-weekend-update!

Saturday started off in the normal Saturday way - working job number two. This was especially not fun since I worked it the night before, but once my shift was over life got better because.... I went to the Brooks Cavalcade!!!!

Brooks Cavalcade of Curiosities

I was super excited to go to this event because I had a ticket for a free prize - they were handing them out at Urban Fit a few weeks ago. The person in front of me ended up getting a bandana (not so exciting) so I figured I'd probably get a sticker or something. Wrong-o! I won a t-shirt!!! Not that I really need another running t-shirt since I have quite the race t-shirt collection, but I was still pretty excited.

The rest of Saturday was spent packing and driving out to Keuka Lake. Andy's family rented a cabin for the week, so we grabbed Anna and headed out there. By the time we got there and unloaded our stuff, it was time for dinner. Then the three of us headed out in hopes to find a good route for our long run in the morning. After that we were off to bed!

Sunday was really our only full day down at the cabin, so we definitely made the most of our time there. I woke up early to catch the Olympic Men's Marathon on TV. It was so inspiring! Then the three of us headed out for our 10 miler - Andy's dad joined on his bike. Andy and his dad took off while Anna and I (we were dubbed "team estrogen") held a respectable pace. My goal for the marathon is to hold a 10:30 pace and we ended up averaging 10:24. We are so good! Anyway, the route we planned from the night before was perfect - 5 miles out and back - not the most creative route, but it went right along the lake, so the views of the water and the lake houses were really nice, plus the road was pretty quiet and almost entirely flat. It was great!! 

Typically during long runs I eat sport beans, but this time I decided to try my first "gel pack." Anna documented my experience. :)

Bottoms Up!

ewwwww

Ok, so it really wasn't that bad. Just different. The flavor of the packet was vanilla, and it really sort of tasted like frosting. You won't be surprised to learn - I really like frosting. However, this had the texture of snot. Snot frosting is not my favorite. Seriously though, it was a lot easier to eat than the sport beans (except it made my hand sticky) and I felt fully energized the entire time. I'm pretty confident that gels are the way to go, so I plan to host a "gel tasting party" in the very near future to figure out which kinds are the least snotty/most tasty. You are all invited - just let me know if you want to come!

Gels (or anything eaten while running) have to be followed by water. In a moment of sheer genius the night before, we planted water bottles along our course. I was so happy they were still waiting for us at the 6 mile mark.

Homemade Water Stop

I actually wish I had more water around mile 8 - of course if I hadn't poured some of it to clean the sticky gel off of my hand I probably would have been fine. All in all, that was one of the best 10 mile runs I've ever done - probably tied with a happy hour 10 miler I did once with Alyssa and Andy earlier in the spring, but I just liked that one because we ran FAST (and hit the hot tub at the club afterwards). But I digress...

Once we were cleaned up, Anna and I hopped in a canoe - because 10 miles of running is clearly not enough fitness for these two girls!

Barbara "Runs like tortoise" and Anna "Runs like hare"

The canoeing was very fun except when I fell on my butt trying to get out of it and got very wet and dirty. Thankfully I didn't hurt myself! After I cleaned myself off, we packed lunches and then.... it was time for another boating excursion. While we were canoeing, Andy ran off with his parents and rented a pontoon boat.

Captain Andy

The entire Brown family climbed aboard and we were off! At first it was fun eating our lunches while looking at the houses from the lakefront, but then the rain came... and the wind... we headed back. At this point, Anna bid farewell. I was soooo glad she came! Once the weather got a little better we headed back in the boat to take Ali (Andy's little sister) tubing, but then we got flagged down by some stranded boaters and ended up using our time to tow them back to the marina. Definitely our good deed for the day.

We spent the rest of the night at the cabin. Ali and I painted our nails while watching the Spice Girls reunion during the Olympic Closing Ceremonies (I'm sad the Olympics are over), and then it was out to the fire pit for s'mores.

Mmmm.... s'mores......

You could see tons of stars where the sky was clear. Everyone managed to see a shooting star except me... I waited and waited....and then I finally saw one, which of course meant I had to shove my fist in the air and let everyone know I SAW ONE. :) I'm glad the Brown Family knows me well enough to not think I'm a total wacko (or at least I don't think they think I'm a wacko, haha). It was a good end to a long and busy day. I was all too happy to fall in bed.

Total Miles Run: 95.12 - less than 5 miles to go to 100!!
Total Weight Change: ??? There wasn't a scale at the cabin, although I'm sure after eating 10,000 s'mores it will not be pretty