Wow, the last few day have been crazy busy! On my last blog update, I said I had no plans for the next day, which was my Friday off work. Boy did things change come Friday morning. Bear with me, this is going to be a long update!

FRIDAY

I slept in until about 8:30 on Friday and when I woke up, I decided I wanted to do something fun with Gabby. She was already awake so I called her in my room and asked if she wanted to go to Calvert Cliffs to hike to the beach and look for shark teeth. She said no. I asked her if she wanted us to take her fishing.  She said she didn’t want to (honestly, I don’t really know how to get started so I would have had to talk Steven into this idea anyway) . She just wanted to have a chill day. So then I asked her if she wanted to go to Kings Dominion and she said “Are you kidding me right now?” I wasn’t really 100% sure I wanted to go (my legs were still VERY sore from body pump on Wed) until I saw her reaction.  So we got ourselves together, went to buy the tickets, and were on our way. We were in the park by noon. Gabby loves roller coasters and since it was just the two of us, I let her decide where to go and what to get on. We had such a great day! Her favorite ride was the Dominator. We left around 7 p.m. because she had a triathlon early the next morning so I wanted to get her home at decent hour.

SATURDAY

We had signed Gabby up for a triathlon in Wildewood on Saturday morning. She competed for the first time last year and wanted to do it again. We were at the Wildewood pool by 6:45 a.m. The triathlon didn’t start until 8:00 and her age group didn’t start until about 8:30. She swam 100 meters freestyle with no problems! Next, she had to head to the transition area and put her shirt, shorts, socks, and shoes on. Then it was off on her bike! She had to ride 2.5 miles total and then take her bike back to the transition area and head out for the .75 mile run. It was very hot and she said the run was hard for her this year. She still finished like a champ and knocked about 4 minutes off of her time from last year!

After the triathlon, I headed to body pump with Sam. It was difficult. The new release is brutal on the legs. Sam mentioned the 30 day core challenge to me and we both decided we would start it when we finished body pump. It didn’t look all that hard and I figured it wouldn’t be a problem to add it to the end of my workout. Well, let me just say it was much harder than I thought it would be!! My heart rate was up and I was sweating at the end of it, even if it was only 5-10 minutes.

A little while later, Makayla made it home from her week long trip to Ocean City – woot woot!! I missed that girl. I was so happy to have her back home! I took it easy the rest of the day and went to bed fairly early so that I would be ready for my Sunday long run.

SUNDAY

Sam and I headed out at 7:50 a.m. Since we had 6 miles on the schedule, we decided to drive to the drill hall on base and run the 6 mile trail we like. It was really nice to change up the route a little bit. It was a lot more tough for me then last Sunday’s long run. I felt weak for the first 2.5 miles and battled with myself a bit, but by the last 1.5 miles, I was feeling much stronger! We did stop to walk for .15 (I think) at the 4 mile mark, but other than that, our splits were pretty consistent. When I got home, I did my core challenge so that I could be done with my workouts for the day.

The rest of the afternoon consisted of mattress shopping, chores, checking out a movie at the new RC Theater, and eventually some crabs (Thanks Jason and Melissa) and a beer on the back deck.

MONDAY

I woke up and got ready for work with typical Monday gusto. As I sat in traffic, I decided to give Steven a call to check on him (he had a bad headache Sunday night). He was feeling good and started talking about going to the Redskins training camp and how we should have called off and gone today. We have been talking about going for a while now. We went to Fan Appreciation Day on a Saturday 2 years ago and were not impressed. It was very crowded and felt unsafe. We had decided that if we ever went again, it would be on a weekday. After talking for a bit, we decided that today would have been the perfect day to go out of all the remaining days. I was still on the fence about going; I was already on my way to work after all. I decided to talk to my boss and see what he thought about me missing “Meeting Monday”. He didn’t answer his phone so I decided since I was almost to work anyway, I would just go talk to him. I got his blessing to play hooky.  Is it really hooky if you ask your boss if you can do it?? We ran home, changed into our Redskins gear and tried to talk the girls into going. Gabby was really excited about it, but Makayla didn’t want anything to do with it – lol! So, Steven, Gabby, and I were on our way to Richmond by 8:30. Their first practice (walk through; no pads) was at 10:30 and we made it in time to watch the last half hour of practice.

After practice, we yelled out to Logan Paulson and he came over and invited Gabby on the field with him. It was awesome. He was so big next to her!! He signed her autograph book and then took her to get Alfred Morris’ autograph.  Alfred signed her book and her jersey!

Then Logan told her “Lets run” and they took off to the other end of the field.

He took her to the front of RG3’s line and said “Can you autograph this for Gabby?” Of course he did!! After that, Logan asked her if she wanted any other autographs and she didn’t know who to ask for so she said “No” – lol! He showed her off the field, where we were able to get a couple others (Kory Lichtensteiger Junior Galette, and a newbie who may or may not make the team).

After autographs, we decided to head out for lunch and come back before the next practice. It was SO HOT out there! We made it back to the field around 2:00 or so and practice didn’t start until 3:00. Did I mention it was very hot? At 3:00, the players took the field in full pads/jerseys/helmets. We had a great place to stand and watch them around the 40 yard line. They played until 5:00 and this practice was fun to watch.

I especially enjoyed the scrimmage, the 2 minute drills, and watching the kickers. We also saw Chris Cooley on the sideline (he was sitting right in front of us for a while). Cooley is definitely a fan favorite and we all started yelling “Cooley”. He appeared to be broadcasting live so he didn’t give us much attention other than a high five as he walked away.

After this practice, I didn’t think Gabby was going to get called back on the field. The people standing beside us convinced one of the newbies (Kyshoen Jarrett) to take their kid on the field and he agreed to take Gabby too.  She didn’t have much of choice on autographs this time around. She ended up getting Alfred Morris’ again and then got Pierre Garcon’s autograph – score!!

After that, she headed back off the field again. We saw that DeAngleo Hall was signing at the edge of the field so off Steven and Gabby went to get his. They watched him take off his cleats, autograph them, and hand them to 2 kids. He totally made their day!  Gabby got him to sign her book, and Steven got his autograph on the new football we bought today. After that, we decided to leave, but on our way out, we saw that RG3 was still signing so Steven went over and had him sign his “action figure” for his basement collection. We had a great day! It was so much better than Fan Appreciation Day. I thought Gabby would end up bored, but she LOVED it and never complained about being hot or walking too much. We are now on our way home as I type this. I hope to have it posted (with pictures) tonight. I missed yoga tonight, but I got plenty of walking in today. I still have to do Day 3 of the core challenge when I get home tonight.

It’s been such a fun and spontaneous 4 day weekend!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is the most spontaneous thing you have ever done?