Beards, Friends, and Lumber

What an awesome weekend! It was pretty much the ideal.

I spent Friday night on my couch, watching Harry Potter and calling friends and family. I wanted to be nice and rested for a long morning run, plus I was preparing to be up until the wee hours of the morning on Saturday night for Keith’s birthday slash debauchery.

I woke up incredibly refreshed. It brought me back to the four months of always waking up refreshed on Saturday mornings for marathon training. It made me realize how much I missed running.

I put on some sweet new running threads I got for Christmas, and hit the pavement. It was a morning of firsts - I ended up doing the longest run I’ve been able to do since the marathon (as my right IT band has been persistently painful since early November). It was also the first time I ran over the Williamsburg Bridge since the marathon. I came to learn every inch of my beloved Bridge that helped me conquer the rolling hills of Falmouth, MA, so when I spotted a lot of new graffiti on the pavement, I knew it had been awhile...

The run was amazing – the hills felt pretty hard, unlike marathon training when I ran up the steep inclines of the bridge with ease. I also listened to an amazing podcast – This American Life – which featured a show on being in middle school (if you haven’t yet listened to this NPR podcast – I promise you will love it!!). The podcast was both sweet and sad, featuring stories from principles, academics, and current middle-schoolers, on what really goes on in those torturous pre-teen years.

I ended up doing 6.3 miles at a sub 9-minute mile pace, which I was really happy with! High on endorphins, I treated myself to a Brooklyn Label iced Americano, and ran into some familiar faces:

Keith's friends from Baltimore!
Also known as the Horseshoe Gang.

If you're a fan of all that facial hair, then you may appreciate this ad I saw in the subway:

By Braun cruZer. Compare Brooklyn beard to Keith in the above photo.

I probably should have stretched a bit more post-run, but my warm shower and cereal bowl beckoned me not to. I honestly think I could eat my Cinnamon and Pecan Special K for every meal. Maybe some days I do.

A whole lot of fun visitors came up for Keith’s birthday, and we appropriately celebrated by going to a lumberjack-themed party. While our “costumes” were not so different from the North Brooklyn wardrobe, it was still fun to wear a furry hat to a bar.

The Wyman sisters ready for PBR and flannel.

After a weekend of carbs and booze, I’m going to try two new recipes from Shape.com tonight. One is a raw salsa that looks amazing (and full of veggies), and the other is a chicken sausage pizza that will be yummy and healthy. Wish me luck!