My hamster wheel of life was cruising pretty well. I was moseying along, accepting that I had no social life outside of training and the couple nights of Dexter and dinner I had with Chicken Face. I was content.
In a weird yet perfect twist of fate, I had moved my long ride to Sunday and could do my long run on Saturday. Couple this with Chicken Face being out of town, Nicole being in town, and Kristin, Alyssa and Katie being free and willing to run 18 miles with me, the rings aligned and we became…CAPTAIN PLANET…oh wait…
I blame the DayQuil. You’re welcome.
But seriously, it fell together perfectly and turned out to be a great day. We all met at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. This would be my first time meeting Nicole in real life….why am I nervous?! It’s funny and a bit like online dating — you follow and chat with someone online, but when you meet them, you hope they don’t think your bat-shit crazy (or vice versa). I’m happy to report that Nicole is just as fantastic in real life as she is online! Phew.
We kept the pace slow and steady, stopped for multiple photo ops and enjoyed all of the breathtaking views that the gorgeous SF day had to offer. 18 miles along the Embarcadero, through Chrissy Field, across the Golden Gate Bridge and back, and then to the Giant’s stadium and back. Chatting, making new friends and realizing just how much I’ve missed these girls.
Post- run, I’m sure my desire for Pepple’s vegan donuts became annoying, but it was all I could think of! Next time you’re in the Ferry Building – go try them, especially the coconut one. You can thank me later!
I was on cloud nine. Running, no injury, friends and vegan donuts. Le swoon.
As I was headed home, Aron texted me and asked if I wanted to meet for dinner. Of course I said yes! She had a 30k the next day and I was supposed to have a 115 mile ride, so being the old women that we were, we met for dinner at 5 and both brought impressive appetites.
Deep dish veggie pizza heaven with one of my best friends. We giggled and gossiped, and once again, I felt extremely lucky to have such great friends, but missed them dearly.
Far too often I get stuck going through the motions. Then every once in a while, I’ll get a weekend like this one and will be reminded how much I love being with these women. We are all moving a million miles per hour in different directions, but it’s worth the extra effort to do whatever it takes to get together.
How do you ensure that you make time for the special people in your life during training? Have you ever met a blogger friend IRL?
Happy Running!
Love.
Yep — some of my good friends I’ve met through my blog! Exhibit A: I’m staying at Jocelyn’s apt after having to evacuate mine.
Glad you are safe!!
What a great day! Loved running with you and catching up. Thanks for taking the lead on getting us together. Looking forward to more runs in the future!
What a gorgeous SF weekend. And those doughnuts are now on my list… like the I-need-one-immediately list 🙂 They look amazing! And was that a Zachary’s deep dish by chance??? Zachary’s is my biggest EBay food craving!
Yup!! Zachary’s — my first time there!
Online friend-dating success! So glad to have spent the better part of my Saturday in SF with you and the rest of the ladies! I am still impressed that you had that many friends to call on for a 18 mile 9 min/mile pace run.
Also glad that you actually looked like your photos – I hate when people mis-represent. 😉
PS you can delete this one – accidentally posted twice! Hah
Online friend-dating success! So glad to have spent the better part of my Saturday in SF with you and the rest of the ladies! I am still impressed that you had that many friends to call on for a 18 mile 9 min/mile pace run.
Also glad that you actually looked like your photos – I hate when people misrepresent. 😉
I have not met blogger friends IRL yet!! That would be so much fun!!! I haven’t trained yet but I have to make time for family and friends because they make me sane!!
H Page,
I would love to meet you. of course, Alyssa, Aron and Ron plus have Genki Ramen, Donuts & ding dong ditch Dean Karnazes, I’m there!!! 🙂
We almost crossed paths last year at the Chicago Marathon! I read your blog after I got home and found out you were working at the Expo, who knew???
You girls (and Ron) put a smile on my face! 🙂
What a perfect day!
I’ve met many bloggers but don’t see any of them nearly enough!
Look how pizza-happy the two of you are… so cute!
PIZZAAAAAAAAA! So glad that worked out. Our best attempts at planning things never work out as well as the ones on the fly – just gotta keep those up 🙂
Sounds like a near perfect run, and glad to hear your dating experience went well! (Is your knee all good?)
Oh, when we were in SF last year I was so excited to see the vegan donuts for my husband!
Is that a cheeseless pizza?! Are you testing the vegan waters?
Hahaha! Not a vegan here — there’s plenty of cheese in that pizza. BUT, I would love to incorporate more vegan choices in my life 🙂 Knee is definitely better – thank you!
Of course Nicole is great! She’s a GOTR coach. duh.. jk ;o) Love your dinner date at 5pm. haha