Lifetime of Saturdays

I always hate to see the weekends come to an end, but I find Mondays are a little easier to digest when I feel like I have squeezed every available drop of time and enjoyment out of my weekend, and this weekend just happened to be one of those.

On Saturday, we woke up bright and early for the Monument Avenue 10K. I have done this race for the past three years with my mom and sister and it has quickly become one of my favorites and not just because the course is mostly flat (which is indeed a nice plus!). I love running in the Fan district. The houses are all so historic and unique - a nice break from the cookie cutter suburbs or the redundancy of the treadmill- and the street is home to many Richmond monuments (hence the name Monument Ave).

Me, my sister, and my mom after finishing the Monument Avenue 10K

Not only does the scenery make the run more enjoyable, but so do the people. The street is lined on both sides with energetic fans holding up signs and shouting words of encouragement. This race is probably as much if not more fun for the spectators than it is for the runners. There are lawn parties complete with solo cups (We all know what that means!) and music. There are even bands stationed throughout the race (similar to the Rock n' Roll races) playing songs to keep your feet moving. (Although I still prefer my ipod shuffle. No offense to the bands - everyone just has their own music that motivates them.)

I was a little concerned as to how I was going to do since it had been a few weeks since I'd had the opportunity to run a six or seven miler, but I guess pushing the BOB and the training I was able to squeeze in were enough for me. I finished the race in 53:54 - just under 9 minute/miles.

It has been awesome to have Phinn in the crowd at my last two races. He is my good luck charm! I have set PR's at both of them. I keep telling myself that I don't want Phinn to see me walking or taking a break and that is enough to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Like I've said before the goal of being fit and healthy for my family and setting a good example is POWERFUL motivation for me.

Me and my lucky charm after the race. He was tuckered out from cheering so hard!

Also on Saturday, VCU played in the Final Four against Butler so it was a big weekend for the city of Richmond. After the race, we changed into whatever black and yellow apparel we could find. Phinn and I had better luck than Hunter. His clothing stash at my parents' house doesn't seem to be quite as plentiful as mine and Phinn's. (Hmm... I wonder who packed?!) Any way we changed up and went to a cookout at our friend Meghan's house in the Fan.

The Smith Fam with Meghan

It was our first "party" (using that very loosely) with Phinn and after everyone got over the shock of a baby being there, Phinn was a hit. We also discovered Phinn's love for beer bottles. He was doing everything possible to get his hands on them and was quite upset when I had to take my bottle out of his reach and line of sight. I think Meghan put it best when she said, "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree." At times, he truly is his father's son!

Also while we were there, Phinn had spit-up and Hunter and I didn't notice until some sweet girl came to wipe the floor near where we were standing. She said she didn't say anything because she did not want to embarrass us. Little did she know that once you have a baby, if you are embarrassed by him spitting up when you are out in public, you are going to spend most of the rest of your life completely mortified. She obviously has never experienced a baby diaper blowout in the middle of the Nordstrom's Women's Lounge during the Christmas shopping season!!

We were also able to finish the night with a romantic homemade dinner (Since becoming parents, anytime you get to have dinner alone together whether you are eating PB&J or a filet mignon, it is romantic!) and a glass of wine and a little bit of grown-up conversations before the wine kicked in and we were too sleepy to make much sense. We went off to bed at the late hour of 10PM. (We were both very impressed by our late night!)

Both of us couldn't help thinking that if you told us five years ago that this was what our life would be like, we would have a hard time believing it and now we could not imagine it any other way. I'm looking forward to a lifetime of Saturdays just like this one...