The Weekend Report

I am a girl who really loves her holidays, and I mean holidays of all kind. But I must say the 4th of July holds a special place in my heart. I have so many wonderful memories growing up of BBQs and shooting fireworks with my cousins back when I would spend my summers in Texas. Plus, I just simply love being an American.

The festivities really kicked off on Thursday, since the holiday made Thursday my Friday. For our summer program, we took the kids to the skating rink and one of our helpers wore his Captain America suit, and it was hilarious to watch him skating around the rink. And once when he was chasing a wayward child, he looked like he was going after a bad guy. Just like Steve Rogers, although perhaps less graceful.

After I wrapped up work, I went to meet with my surgeon and nutritionist for my 6 month follow up post weight loss surgery (I will share more about that when I do my 6 month post). When my doctor found out I was running, he told me to get out and do a good 4th of July run. That is exactly what I did.

The weather was just gorgeous Friday morning, so I knew I had to run outside. I went to my favorite, local trail. I thought I would have a pretty slow pace since it is a somewhat hilly trail. But I had my fastest run ever! I usually average a 16 minute mile, yet on this run only one of my 4 miles was over 15 minutes. I'm getting faster! Slowly and steadily, I'm getting faster. 

I used to always worry about what people would think when they saw me, a fat person, jogging. But for the most part people are super encouraging. When I was running, this fast lady who passed me a few times, stopped to tell me how amazing I was doing. That was so nice to hear!

After my run, I was sitting on a bench on the trail resting, when I looked down and saw a huge caterpillar crawling on me! I hate bugs, and I just flipped out. It was so hard to knock off, it was clinging onto me for dear life. Yes, I know it couldn't hurt me but GROSS.

After my run, I changed into my swimsuit and headed down to the water park. I've been dissapointed that I haven't gotten to swim that much this summer due to poor weather. But the forecast was clear so I headed out. I spent some time in the wave pool and lazy river. I even ran into some of my coworkers and ended up hanging out poolside with them for awhile. The sun felt oh so good! Does anyone else love the smell of chlorine mixed with sunscreen as much as I do?

When I got home from swimming, I took a nap, waking up just in time to watch the fabulous, local firework show from our bedroom window with Adam.

Other activities from this weekend include: buying a washer for our new home on an excellent 4th of July sale, packing up some boxes for the move, watching Disney's Tarzan & the movie Her, dinner at Ruby Tuesdays, and tons of pinterest and etsy browsing for home decor ideas. Right now, my life revolves around the new house. I just can't wait to get in there!

Unfortunately, Saturday I woke up with really awful leg pain, that feels like the pain I had last summer, that lingered forever. I think I can attribute it more to heavy lifting at work than running. It makes me want to cry (and maybe I have cried from anxiety about it) because I'm worried it won't get any better for a long time and it will keep me from my training. I've been doing so well and I love running so much lately, and I just don't want to lose my conditioning. Any runners have any advice?