Not a moment wasted

All that complaining about May sneaking up on me last week?  I take it back.  Bring it on.  With the week I just had, I all of a sudden find myself counting down the days to this marathon and summer vacation.  It suddenly can't come soon enough.  

But, if there's one thing I've learned from being on a team like Team in Training, it's that you shouldn't waste a minute of life waiting for something else to happen.  Not even one.  Every week I hear stories of people whose lives were cut too short or stories of those who survived and now live their lives with a new amount of zeal and appreciation.  Each story reminds me that life is fragile and can change in an instant.  So I try my best to live each moment now as if the next one might not be coming.

And this past weekend, I spent every conceivable minute possible doing exactly what I wanted to be doing.

Soaking up the sun.

This newly bloomed patch of freckles (or "sun kisses" as I like to think of
them) is evidence of the properly sun-screened exposure.  While my father
carries his freckles year-round, mine only turn up when touched by the sun.

As I've mentioned before, everything about sunshine in Seattle makes me smile.  And this weekend was no exception.

It started Friday night with a long Lucy walk followed by some solo carb-loading for my Saturday long run and an early bedtime.  I am super exciting on Fridays.

Nothing but blue skies for our Friday evening walk through Phinney Ridge.

Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early to take on a 160 minute long run with Team.  I slathered on the sunscreen, donned my purple passion t-shirt and capris (no shorts for me on long runs no matter how hot...ouch), readied my fuel belt, and headed to Matthew's Beach to meet the Team.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect for this run.  Cool in the shade, almost a little too hot in the sun, and a nice little breeze here and there.

After last week's resolution to reclaim my Queen of Negative Splits crown, I wanted to start this run off slow and easy.  Luckily, two of my faster-paced teammates were on board for this slower-paced start.  Unfortunately, my GPS watch failed to connect to satellites at the beginning of the run, so my split times were based only on the shoe pod, which is nowhere near reliable (it cut my actual distance by over a mile and who knows what it did to my pace).  But, I think we kept pretty close to a 9 min pace or just under for the first half of the run.

The second half of the run, where in past weeks I've felt like absolute crap and have gotten slower every mile, was just what I wanted this week.  I remembered to GU at all the times I wanted to, took some sport beans in between, and stopped at all the Team water stops to hydrate and refill my fuel belt.  By the time we hit our last turnaround, with about 4 miles to go, I was feeling pretty great.  Yes, my legs had the typical long run lead feeling and didn't exactly move very easily anymore, but I felt I had energy to spare.  I unintentionally picked up my pace a little (perhaps pushing my running buddies a little faster than they wanted to go, sorry!) and powered through the final miles, trying my best to ignore my aching legs.  I felt like I accomplished some great mental training for race day--the heart was in it, even though the muscles were more than ready to be done.

And in the end, we got back about 2 and a half minutes early.  So you know what that means: negative splits!  Finishing strong!  Best long run yet this season.  Confidence officially boosted.

While my watch wanted to tell me I only did 16 miles, my running buddies registered a more accurate 17+ miles.  With this great run and my great-feeling interval run from last Tuesday, I'm starting to feel a little more like a marathoner again.

After the run, we all jumped into Lake Washington up to our hips for an "ice bath."  Ice baths are MUCH more enjoyable with friends.  We should have taken a picture of the 10 of us in the water.  Oh well, next time.

And then, since the sun was shining and the weather was warm, we all hung out on the beach with our potluck breakfast, relaxing in the grass, resting our tired legs for an hour and a half.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning.

When I got home, I spent just enough time indoors to shower off all the salt that coated my face, arms and legs, get cleaned up, and grab Lucy.  We dropped off my car for a much needed oil change, and then I proceeded to walk Lucy around the hills of Queen Anne for an hour while we waited.  It started off ok, but by the end, my legs were screaming at me.  They wanted to be done for the day.

But no, not a minute of sunshine to waste.  In Seattle, despite what the weatherman may say, the sunshine can disappear at any moment.  And then who knows when it'll come back.  There's a reason why we are a city full of sun-worshipers who appreciate every moment it's around.

The rest of the day consisted of margaritas on the deck of the delicious Mexican place down the block from me, more Mexican beer at a block party in Green Lake, and then an entertaining evening of watching a very theatrical and enthusiastic San Diego based rugby team sing karaoke at a bar in Queen Anne.

By the time I crashed into my bed, I couldn't keep my eyes open for more than a minute.

I gloriously slept in until 9:30 Sunday morning (I know, I definitely wasted some sunshine time there, but I don't consider my Sunday morning sleep-ins to be a waste of time).  After rolling out of bed, I took Lucy out for another long walk in the sun before heading out to Kirkland for our second Ragnar team meeting.  While we sat outside at our potluck lunch, discussing the logistics of the weekend, I somehow managed to claim the longest, most difficult leg of the race (runner #7, 21.9 miles, the last 2 legs of which are both 8+ miles and considered "very hard" according to Ragnar standards).  As MacKenzie put it, I "like a challenge."  We'll see how my legs like the challenge less than a month after my marathon.  I am secretly excited though.

From the meeting in Kirkland, I headed home to pick up Lucy and a bag of ice, and headed out to West Seattle to meet HLM Sierra in the park in front of her apartment on Beach Drive.

Not a bad view.

I spent the next 3 hours enjoying the last dregs of weekend sun with Sierra, Lucy, and Bob cat.  That's right.  Bob cat.  If you were walking/running/rollerblading/cycling along Beach Drive at any time yesterday between the hours of 4 and 7, you couldn't have missed us.  We were the two girls in sundresses stretched out on a blanket with a large dog and matching cat on a leash, a small cooler of tasty drinks, some cheesy snacks, 2 very thick books, and travel Scrabble perched between us.  We are nerds.  I am 100% ok with that.

Sierra = crazy cat lady in the park.  The looks on the faces of passersby were
priceless.

Lucy, Queen of the Sunshine, protecting us from any fly that dared come near.

Sierra and I are awesome Scrabblers.  Seriously.

I reluctantly dragged myself home at 7 to clean up from the day and begin mentally prepping for Monday.  To say it was hard to go back today would be an understatement.  The sun kept shining all day, the classroom got it's summertime afternoon stuffy heat, and after driving home from work this afternoon, my car thermometer registered this crazy number:

In Seattle.  In the beginning of May.  I swear it's not photo-shopped.

This wonderful weekend gave me a taste of what summer could be.  I relished every conceivable moment of it.  And now, my brain seems suddenly switched into summer preparedness mode.  Time to get the bike tuned up.  Time to air out the swim suits.  Time to pull out the running shorts.

But, until then, I'm not going to waste any of the time that is here now.  There is more sun to be celebrated this week.  And when the rains come again, I'll listen to the pitter patter on my window and remember that rain has a beauty of its own too.

Weekends like this remind me that every inch of every day should be a celebration of all that is good right now.  I'm going to try my best not to waste a single minute.