Morning-I’m back!  It’s been quite a weekend in Madison.

I spent most of my day off yesterday catching up on life.  I stocked up on groceries.

I couldn’t tell you the last time that I grocery shopped on a Monday.  I’ll just say that it was an interesting experience.

Peppers, onions, zucchini, and pineapple were chopped immediately.  Chopping in silence was calming after a busy, high emotion weekend.

Stretching and foam rolling was necessary after the chopping marathon.  My hips have been so tight and my foot is back to being sore.

Once I felt loosened up I headed over to Aaron’s house for a grill out.  First up was assembling the vegetable skewers.

This was one of two pans.  I figured we’d make a large batch that could be stretched for 2 meals. 

While Aaron was grilling, I spotted ripe tomatoes!

I didn’t mean to nab the Roma tomato but I barely touched it and it was resting in the palm of my hand.  It was a lovely mistake.  They showed up with dinner.

Grilled salmon, roasted sweet potatoes, and grilled vegetables.  The salmon was simple but perfect.  I dabbed the salmon with paper towels, rubbed olive oil, salt, and pepper onto the salmon, and sprinkled lemon zest on top.  Aaron took over from there on the grill. 

Half Marathon Experience

Remember when I announced my decision to run the Madison Mini Marathon?  I didn’t know if it would end in success or injury. 

On Friday I didn’t hold back from carbs.  During a break from teaching people to carb count, I toasted a bagel and hoped it was higher in carbs than it appeared.

It had 45 gm carbohydrates, meh.  I chowed down while charting away.  Must get out of work by 3:30!  And I did despite picking up an extra patient at the end of the day. 

I found this note when I returned from the last patient.

My coworkers are awesome!

Packing started as soon as I got home.  I began getting nervous which led me to dilly-dally around at one point.  I was becoming so anxious about getting up to Madison, but I had to wait since Aaron didn’t get off work till 6.  I tried to relax and finished up packing with time to spare. 

I took one last look at my training plan.

It’s time!  After 3 months, the race was here.

We drove straight to packet pick-up once we arrived in Madison.  I didn’t stick around for any of the expo because it was already 8 and I needed to eat and check into my hotel.  We next met my parents at Pizza Brutta.  Aaron ordered pizzas for us.

Margarita, pesto, and arugula prosciutto.  Housemade mozzarella cheese made these pizzas! 

I wasn’t too hungry but knew I needed to fuel up.  I also prefer to force feed myself at night rather than in the mornings.

We checked in around 9:30. 

I settled in and crawled into bed as soon as possible.  Falling asleep was no problem for me.  It took me maybe 20 minutes to calm down and doze off.