Wow, what a gorgeous weekend we had!  The weather has been really crazy lately, but mostly in a good kind of way (although if you remember, last Friday was FREEZING)!  We enjoyed our long holiday weekend, with weather in the upper 60’s/lower 70’s throughout most of the weekend.  I was definitely ready to get outside and soak up some sun!  Again, I had the itch to get out of the county and do some exploring closer to DC.

I’ll give you more details later, but first let’s recap the rest of my workouts since I last blogged:

Saturday, Feb 11 – Body Pump

Sunday, Feb 12 – 4.5 Treadmill miles (10:10 pace)

Monday, Feb 13 – Rest Day

Tuesday, Feb 14^th – 3.5 Treadmill miles (10:27 pace).  This particular run was brutal.  Every year my family celebrates Valentine’s Day with heart-shaped pancakes for dinner.  We all gorged on the pancakes and then Steven dropped Gabby off at swim.  I knew I had to pick her up at 7:30 and if I wanted to make it in time, I knew I had to run on a full belly.  Ughhh.  None of those 3.5 miles were fun, but check out my pancakes Steven and I made!

Wednesday, Feb 15^th – Body Pump

Thursday, Feb 16^th – 4 Treadmill miles (9:36 pace).  REDEMTION!  After Tuesday’s run, I so needed a good run and I got just that today.  It was the first time in a long time where I felt like I could have kept on running.

Friday, Feb 17^th – Rest Day

Saturday, Feb 18^th – Body Pump

Sunday, Feb 19^th – Family Bike Ride.  Since the forecast was predicting a perfect day AND none of my family had plans AND we all had off the next day for Presidents Day to recover, I decided to convince the whole gang to go bike riding.  And because I can really be a pain in the rump, I took it a step further and decided we should drive approximately 70 minutes away to ride our bikes along the GW Parkway.  I have run 3 races along the GW parkway and am in love with the route so I thought it would be fun.  As a disclaimer, we are not a bike riding family so this was new to all of us.  We basically had to beg, borrow, and steal bikes to even have enough for everyone to ride.  We parked at Belle Haven and headed south towards Mt. Vernon.  My grand plan was to ride all the way down to Mt. Vernon, lock up the bikes, and then take a tour of the mansion to celebrate presidents day (I didn’t tell them that part of my plan…I can only spring so many “ideas” on them at once).  Makayla’s bike turned out to be kind of crappy and she was not enjoying the ride.  After two miles, we decided to turn around and head back to the truck.  Womp womp.  Steven was glad because he found it to be boring (you have to stay single file a lot of the way because the trail is crowded).   

We got back to the truck and fed some ducks and walked a little ways before heading out in the truck.  We did drive down to Mt. Vernon to see where other parking spots are in case Gabby and I decide to come back one day.  I asked if anyone was interested in touring the mansion, but only Gabby was interested so her and I will definitely have to go back.  (Fun Fact – My grandmother and her twin brother were born on George Washington’s birthday, so they were named George (Washington) and Martha (Jane).  The “Jane” part of my first name is after my grandmother.  I tried to convince my kids that it basically means I’m presidential and ‘almost’ related to George Washington – lol!!!).  We spent the rest of the day at the National Harbor.  There was some sort of costume convention going on, which proved to be very entertaining.  So, although my initial idea failed, we still got to walk around a bit, people watch, and enjoy some family time together.  I’d call that a win.

Monday, Feb 20^th – I pushed my long run for the week to Monday since we were up the road on Sunday.  The weather was perfect for an outside run so I decided to get 5 miles in.  Its tough to run outside when you are used to the treadmill, but I managed.  I did walk a few times, but I didn’t let myself walk TOO long and still managed to average a 10:03 pace. 

I also joined a weight loss contest sponsored by my company’s wellness committee last week.  It basically runs from Valentine’s Day until St. Patrick’s Day.  I honestly don’t think I’ll win, but it provides a little extra motivation to make healthier eating choices (still difficult for me).

This coming weekend is looking to be yet another beautiful weekend so there is no telling what I’ll get myself and my family into this weekend.  Stay tuned…

QOTD:  Did you get to enjoy the weather this past weekend?  What did you do?