Weekend Review {10/24}

FRIDAY

After my lunchtime departure from work on Friday, Teh MD-AR and I headed downtown for packet pickup, lunch, and touristing.

First up was lunch since we were starving.  I decided on Prohibition for lunch since I hadn't been there before.  I learned that they are definitely more of a watering hole than eating hole.  The food wasn't bad, but I think my overly-high Charleston snob standards led to my disappointment.  Nonetheless, the drinks were awesome and the food was good (despite limited options).

Chicken sammich, mexican corn, baby crab cakes.

After we were fed, we took advantage of the fabulous weather/day and walked around downtown, marveling at old houses, dodging tree debris from the hurricane (that was in the process of being cleaned up), mouth-breathing because of the stench of horse pee, and trying not to get hit by cars (if you were me standing in the middle of the street trying to take photos).

Teh MD-AR on a cobblestone street

Did you know I have never walked around Charleston and taken photos?  I know, right?  I've lived here since Oct 2014 and haven't made the time to shoot.  #excusesfordays

Truthfully, I could have walked/driven around for hours shooting, but we had a limited amount of time, so I tried to make the best of it.  Teh MD-AR got to pet at least 3 dogs, 2 of which were whippets she may or may not have chased down the street.  Around 3, I realized that we still needed to pick up our bibs for the James Island Connector 10k we were running the next morning.  So we packed up and headed over to the park for pickup.

With bibs in hand, we headed back home to meet Teh German and feed the beasts and head to dinner before the Nash Bash.  We had agreed on Home Team BBQ for dinner since my goal was to get Teh MD-AR to as many delicious food places as possible.  When in Charleston, eating good is a priority.  Not eating well.  Please note, these things are different.

As we were getting out of the car at Home Team, there was a realization that the tickets were still on the counter at home, no one had grabbed them.  We live about 30 minutes from the concert venue, with no traffic and we were 25 minutes away from home at Home Team.  Yeahhhhh, that wasn't enjoyable.  We would have been there shortly after 6pm.  Instead we arrived right around 7:10.  Love & Theft had already taken the stage (which I heard on the radio).  This wasn't a huge deal in the long run, but it was inconvenient and for the 3 type-A personalities in the car, there was an underlying annoyance at having to deal with this forgetfulness.  Nonetheless, we made it.

We saw: Love & Theft, David Nail, and Billy Currington.
Fun fact: I really only cared about seeing David Nail and Love & Theft.  I know very few Billy Currington songs, but I ended up recognizing more than I thought I would.

Teh SC Teacher and Teh SC German met us there and later another coworker of Teh German's and his friend showed up as well.  Poor Teh German barely recognized any songs, but he was a good sport about it.

The biggest lesson I learned about myself and concerts from this experience is that I shouldn't do general admission concerts/seating.. EVER.  I was overstimulated and I was touched by too many strangers and my gimp toes were stepped on more than a handful of times.  I was over it about 1/2 way through the last set.  I was actually counting down the time to when it would end.  Then we finally decided to move back after Teh SC Teacher informed us that there were huge open areas about 20 feet behind us.  This was way better.  Of course, Billy did an encore which was actually pretty good.  He did one of his songs and then Friends in Low Places and Shut Up and Dance.  We left after Shut Up and Dance because we were tired and chilly since it was late and super windy.

Love & Theft

David Nail

Billy Currington

Selfie with a plane landing over head.

After we got home, we released the hounds, prepped doggy breakfast, and then crashed hard since we had to get up relatively early for our 10k.

SATURDAY

Teh German insisted on setting a 0645 alarm on Saturday morning.  My goal was to leave by 0730 and I couldn't figure out what he was going to do for 45 minutes.  Turns out, his plan was to shut off the alarm and stay in bed.  He got up at 0715, after I'd sufficiently harassed him.

We ended up leaving the house around 0745, but because it was Saturday morning and barely any traffic (and Teh German was making good use of the fast lane), we made it downtown by 0810.  We had a parking snafu since the roads were blocked and we couldn't get to the parking garage we had a pass for.  Instead, we found parking on the street and prayed to the parking ticket gods that we wouldn't get a ticket since it seemed to be in an area for residents only.  We made our way to the start line with just the right amount of time to spare.  We had time to stretch and there was a delay while they cleared the traffic from the bridges we'd be running.  We still started right around 0830.

BTW, 0830 is the PERFECT time to start any type of run/physical activity when it's chilly/fall/winter outside.  Gives you time to sleep in and still early enough that the sun isn't going to melt your skin off.

I got a super LOL out of my bib number on Saturday morning when I realized I could be a 404 error for Halloween, if we hadn't already planned our costumes.
Someone on FB commented that I could be the Blue Screen of Death, which made me cackle since my blue outfit was completely unintentional (and the skirt is actually purple).

Race selfies with my race groupies.

Views from the run:

I hadn't ever actually appreciated the Charleston skyline coming from James Island and running 6.2 miles gives you plenty of time to appreciate.  In all honesty, this 10k was probably one of my best runs of 2016, for so many reasons.  And you have to exclude Disney runs from my 2016 runs.  They are on a different level than local runs.

You may not remember back in April when I ran the Cooper River Bridge Run, I deemed it my worst race.  Then all summer, every run was miserable because it's the temperature of the sun here, then the gimp toe situation the first weekend in August.  Then I ran a half marathon at Disneyland and that definitely became my worst race ever.  Then during hurricane weekend, I was moving the grill and ripped off the toe nail on my "good" foot.  I didn't run at all after Disneyland until a week before the 10k.  I was giving my toe a rest.  I even went to the podiatrist to get it checked out just in case.

When I ran the week before the race, it felt good.  Everything felt a little rusty, but I was able to complete 2.25 miles with almost no pain in my toes.  We were all trepid about my running a 10k.  And by we all, I mean Teh German, Teh MD-AR, me, Teh WJL, the Chiro, the Podiatrist, and anyone else who knew my toe was jacked up.

When we were about 4.5 miles into the run, we were chugging up a hill, and I wanted to cry.  But this time, tears of joy.  Nothing hurt!  The weather was perfect.  The views were amazing.  My earbuds didn't die like they said they were going to at mile 2.  I did have some guilt about leaving Teh MD-AR behind, but she finished within 10 minutes of us.  It felt good to be doing what I love again.  It was such a radical change from my last race when I had to stop crying to cross the finish line before any cameras caught me.

YALL, I'M BACK!!!

When Teh German and I crossed the finish line, we got our medals and then I immediately turned around and ran the course backwards to find Teh MD-AR so I could run the end with her.  Thankfully, she wasn't too far behind us.  I ran with her and a lady she'd befriended until the finish chute and let them pass through on their own.

We sat for a few minutes and stretched and had some water.  Then we checked out the tents that were at the finish area.  We took a photobooth photo, tried to find food, Teh German picked up a beer, and then we decided to go get breakfast instead of eating a hot dog, the only food we could find.

I wanted to try a place called Callie's Hot Little Biscuit, so we headed deeper into downtown to find parking and wait in line for noms.  It might not have been one of my better life choices as we were all hangry and the wait was a bit too long for some of us.  Honestly, it wasn't the best thing I've ever eaten, but I stood and waited for our order while Teh German and Teh MD-AR waited outside and I noticed that regulars weren't ordering the specials, but just plain biscuits with toppings.  AND I learned that you can call ahead and pay over the phone so you don't have to wait in the line.  Lessons learned for next time.

I didn't even take photos of the food, despite Teh MD-AR's reminder because I was just too hungry.  I got lucky and found 2 chairs at the minuscule bar area and let Teh German and Teh MD-AR sit while we ate.  After our foods were gone, we stopped by the visitor center for a magnet for Teh MD-AR and some silly photos of us, which I can't show you because I can't find them.  Finally, we headed for home to snuggle with dogs, shower, and nap.

After a 2.5 hour nap, we woke up and got ready to head to dinner at Sesame.  Thankfully, Teh MD-AR reminded me about tickets before we left, otherwise, we'd have been coming back home to get the tickets.. again.  I tried something new at Sesame and wasn't overly impressed, but my belly was full and we got the brownie sundae and it was delicious.

After we paid, we headed to the coliseum for the Stingrays season opener.  Sadly, we lost in overtime, but it was a good game until that point.  I may or may not have used my mustache flask for the first time ever and it was a solid life choice.

After the game, we weren't overly tired since we'd had a nap and Teh MD-AR and I started the puzzle I bought special for her visit, a Thomas Kinkade/Sleeping Beauty mashup.  We said we were just going to do the edge, but ended up doing a bit more.  We finally headed to bed around midnight.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning was sleep in morning.  Teh MD-AR had an appointment with Roux's Humom to take photos of Olive and Zoey (her dogs) at 0900.  Phil and Meri insisted on going with us, so I dropped Meri off at Roux's house and then Phil stood around with me until he couldn't take it anymore and I jogged him home (meaning I was jogging and he was walking quickly).  His paws are much better and he's even bandage free now!

After Olive and Zoey were done with their glamour shots, we stopped and picked up Meri, and then we went home for me to shower and then head to brunch at Holy City Brewery.

I ordered the south and west bowl and had to send it back because my poached egg still had runny stuff and I just couldn't.  I wanted to, but I couldn't.  I need Charleston cooks to learn that runny white eggs are NOT cooked eggs.  And if it's clear?  Don't even put that shit in front of me.  Yep, I've seen that too.

Teh MD-AR said that Holy City's chicken and waffles changed her life.  I'm glad I could facilitate that.  After Holy City, we crossed the bridge for some Metto, then headed home because Teh German and I were in the midst of a struggle and he was super bad company and I was done being around him.

When we got home, Teh German set himself up in the loft for a youtube video session that lasted until bedtime.  I ended up crashing for a nap, as did Teh MD-AR.  When we got up, we started doing puzzle again.  I couldn't figure out what to do for dinner, so we ended up being super healthy and eating frozen pizza.

Shortly after 9pm, we finished the puzzle!  For only 750 pieces, that sucker was difficult!

After doggy breakfast was prepared, we headed upstairs for bedtime preparations.  I finally broke down and spoke to Teh German after an all day silent treatment battle we'd waged.  Obviously, we're super good at healthy communication.  It was a good chat and we accomplished not going to sleep angry.

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Overall, a fantastic weekend.  Despite some hurdles and communication issues, no one was scathed.  I'm super pumped that my run was so fantastic.  It motivates me to get back to running, which is perfect timing since I stepped on the scale this morning and had to choke back a sob.  All this eating and not working out is catching up to me.  Le sigh.

This week includes getting back on schedule, accomplishing some House tasks that took the backseat last week, and continuing to encourage Teh German to be a little more flexible when life doesn't work out as planned.  I'm not looking forward to saying bye to Teh MD-AR tomorrow, but she'll be back in November for Thanksgiving and the Goo Goo Dolls concert!!!

Happy end of October, Gentle Readers!