Weekend Recap

Wowzers, what a weekend. It was awesome. And tough. Recap!

Amanda and I left on Friday afternoon, around 3. We had the car loaded with food and gear, and Jersey in the very back and Sadie in the middle seat. They were SO good on the way there, it was amazing. We stopped for dinner in Williamston (chosen for the name) and ended up at the "Hitching Post" where we partook of the "All You Can Eat Seafood Buffet" mainly for the novelty. We tried not to crack up too much as we tried to identify what fried marine creature we were eating. Pretty intense "cultural" experience. We got to Kitty Hawk, picked up the code for The Pearl, our house for the weekend. And the code didn't work. So we took the dogs on a late night walk while we contacted the emergency lock out people and finally got access. Stayed up a bit more chatting and enjoying a glass of wine, and then to bed.


Stephen and Trent left early early Friday morning to drive to Tennessee. Trent had a crazy day of kids locking themselves out of their vans, shortages of boats, and proctoring an economics exam to his kids missing class. Saturday morning they raced, and Amanda and I lounged about, napped, walked the dogs on the beach, read good books, ate our good food, and were generally lazy. Unfair for them.

Trent's team did really well, his "A" boat of novices got second out of 34 teams, and the only team that beat him was a "real" varsity team. Awesome!! They frantically loaded boats and kids and left Tennessee around 6pm. To drive to Chapel Hill, and then drive to the Outer Banks. Craziness!

While they were driving up a storm, Amanda and I continued to be lazy, finally making it to packet pick up to get our numbers and shirts and check out fancy running gear. Back to the Pearl where we dealt with more entry code issues. Lots more walks on the beach and naps, and I made a broccoli linguine in cream sauce for dinner. We laid out our gear for the morning and hit the hay, with the boys still on the road.

They arrived right around 5am, which was our scheduled time to wake up and get ready to race. However, we had to adjust the schedule for a little snuggling. We made coffee, ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches and Trent drove us to the start at 6:45, after a brief chase of a rouge Jersey.


This was my third time running this marathon, Stephen's second, and Amanda's first marathon ever. We all had very different expectations and goals, but it was great to have friends on the course. Trent got us there and saw me off to the start, reassuring me that my normal pace would be fine, regardless of training.


And for a majority of the race it was, I trucked along at 8 minute miles for the first half, chatting up with various new friends along the way and being amazed by the beautiful scenery. Trent was excellent race support and I felt pretty good.

However, around mile 15, I started to hurt. I had nice rally around mile 17-20 with a super friendly fella from DC who was encouraging all of us, but lost him right before the big hill. And then, man, I just kinda got exhausted. My whole body from my waist down cramped up and I was left to shuffle along.

But then I realized, I just got married, I've had a crazy month, that I comfortably ran 20 miles is pretty darn impressive. So for the first time ever, I walked during the race. And ran, and walked, and shuffled along. I was proud of myself for sticking with it, but almost more proud of myself for letting myself take it easy. I can be pretty tough on myself.

Finished under 4 hours, far from my fastest time, but I was satisfied. Met up with Trent and Stephen, who also had a rough race of starting to fast and bonking at the end. I am sure staying up most the night didn't help his race either.


Amanda came trucking in and was thrilled with her race. She was comfortable and on pace the whole time and had a great first race experience.


We sat around the race finish for a bit, Trent got us beers and fries and we took a quick nap in the sun. But showers were starting to sound very very nice. We hobbled to the car and headed back to the Pearl. We soaked our legs in the ocean, drank some nice cold Coronas, ordered pizzas and watched tv. We all napped and woke up and were lazy beings. It was fantastic.

This morning, we were all feeling better. I think because I let myself walk at the end, my legs aren't too sore and I probably avoided doing some serious damage. Definitely creaking about a bit, but I am doing pretty well. I made everyone spinach omelets, like my dad taught me, and we enjoyed the beautiful deck and played with the dogs.

We cleaned up the house and checked out around 10, but hung out a while longer. Sadie and I had a great play session and she is definitely getting more comfortable with the whole ocean phenomenon. She was really good this weekend, I was impressed. She is still not so bright, however...


Trent and I hit the road around 11, with a quick stop for some staples at the JCrew outlet. We made it home by 4 after an easy drive, and Trent went off to help unload boats from the races. I roasted acorn squash with brown sugar and sprinkled them with walnuts and cranberries and turned a bunch of apples that were about to turn (only two from SLO, mom!) into a big batch of apple sauce. The house smells amazing. Lots of cleaning, relaxing, and getting ready for our week. Hooray for a long weekend.

Making me happy today

Pictures of baby animals. I need a baby porcupine (via Unruly Things).

Watching 30 Rock on Hulu in my jammies, while eating cold oatmeal, vanilla yogurt, and pomegranate seeds mixed together, my new favorite breakfast recently.

The amazing power of the Dyson vacuum against Sadie's bi-annual shed marathon. I think she loses her entire summer coat and replaces it with her winter coat. I could vacuum twice a day and still battle.

Fall morning runs with Sadie in the forest. She loves the cooler weather, I like all the gloves and ear-warmers I get to wear.

Getting to spend the weekend with my favorite Amanda!! At the beach!!!

Getting an invitation to Jamie's store opening party. This place is going to be so amazing. And trouble for the wallet.

Sweet sweet emails from my dear friend Jill, doing the Peace Corps in Nicaragua. It is amazing to see friends grow and change, but stay the same.

Deirdre. Seriously, my lab life would be fairly awful without her coffee break discussions.

Continuing to get wedding presents. So fun.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Updates

So I am finally officially back, I feel. I had a crazy week with two presentations, lots of meetings and obligations, and now I am finally done for a bit at work. Science is going well, which is great, but keeping me very very busy!

Still waiting on our official pictures from the wedding (I go to his website about 10 times a day), but as soon as they are up, I will be sharing them.

Trent and I are settling into our fall schedules, he has morning practice at 6am, I run with the dog and we rendezvous for breakfast and biking to work. He occasionally has afternoon practice, and occasionally I am working late, so we are usually both home by 8pm. We've been cooking up a storm with all our new fancy gadgets and dishes, so dinner together watching the Daily Show on Hulu.com. I usually stay up later to work or read, Trent is exhausted and asleep by 10.

Otherwise we've been: Writing tons of thank you notes, studying for the GRE's (Trent), dreaming about Thanksgiving plans, doing lots of yoga classes (me), and enjoying fall in Carrboro.

This weekend, Amanda and I are driving to the Outer Banks on Friday. We are staying in a rental house for the weekend to run the OBX marathon (her first marathon!). The boys have a race in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Friday and Saturday, but are driving all the way out Saturday night to meet up with us and so Stephen can run the race. We are staying Sunday night and heading back on Monday. Should be a nice little getaway. I am nervous about the marathon, as I did not have time/priority to train appropriately, but I just made an awesome running music mix that will hopefully keep me motivated and we'll see how it goes!

Husband and Wife

We are newlyweds. Oooey, gooey, newlyweds. You'd think after 7 years, we'd have this smitten thing over with, but oh gracious no. I think saying those lovely words in front of each other and in front of our community made us realize how amazing our love is. I can't quit calling him my husband at every possible opportunity.

Thank you to everyone who played a part in our day. It was amazing to see the strength of our family and friends pull everything together. It was an absolutely perfect moment for us. Thank you.

I'll be putting up lots of pictures from our awesome photographer and discussing my favorite details soon. And of course, our adventures in the Dominican.. and boy did we have some adventures! No bites/stings/trips to the ER though, hurray.

But I need a few days to just be newlyweds, to ride the buzz of joy and amazement.

Here's the music video of the song my sweet husband sang for me. I am a lucky lucky girl.

weekend recap

We had a great weekend being home and around Carrboro. Highlights include-

1. About 12 hours of sleep per night. After the past couple weekends, and fighting off colds, this was awesome and essential.

2. Gorgeous fall morning run in the forest with Sadie.

3. Fantastic tickets to the UNC vs. UVA football game, thanks to the Frazongs. Too bad the game was pretty sad. We ended up finishing watching the game at the Station when we realized how expensive lunch would be at the stadium. And much more comfortable!

4. Finish errands at the mall. Returning things, picking up last minute things (luggage for our trip!). Some ridiculous traffic due to all the football games and U2 concert, but good to get it done with.

5. Dinner at indian in Durham with Adam and Corriene. Trent went out with crew boys till late, but I went home and went to bed (see #1).

6. Sunday run with Trent, dropping off Sadie to play with Jersey, running to Weaver Street for awesome breakfast.

7. Stellar yard working session. Trent finished the brick path (hooooray!!), I spent a cathartic couple hours tearing out crabgrass. I am my mother's daughter.

8. Amazing chicken soup from a chicken we roasted on Friday. Trent has this recipe down! Lots of pepper, cayenne pepper, ginger, onions.. best way to cure a cold.

9. Clean house, clean sheets, long shower. Tucked in to bed, reading the New Yorker. Trent says I was asleep by 8pm. Whoops! Sorry parents, I had my phone ready to call you.

10. Drizzly morning today, we drove up to Hillsborough to get our marriage license. Dropped Trent off at work, ate more chicken soup for breakfast and now at lab doing last minute things so I can leave my flies for two weeks!!

Lots of packing to do today, and last minute emailing. Tomorrow my boss is hosting a party at his house as our farewell hurrah. Then Wednesday, early early, I fly to San Francisco. And Thursday off to Hawaii! Exciting times, I tell ya. Good thing we had such a relaxing weekend.

Other team...

A couple other racers look like they had a great race. These are Amanda's nieces after their race. Not sure about the distance or personal records, but they are certainly enjoying those popsicles and isn't that what racing should be about.

Pictures from the Triathlon

Luckily Amanda and Sheila were good tri-wives and went to the race on Sunday. And took pictures to share with us! Here is the full team, post race...

From left, Paul the prof friend from Davis, Erik the plastic surgeon, Thomas the assistant coach to Trent, Stephen and Trent.

All exhausted. It is amazing they all finished so close in time to each other.

Trent finishing. He was very happy with his bike and swim, but the run was pretty hard. Especially because of a brutal stairs workout he did with his team earlier in the week.

Paul finishing. Paul was an extra champion because he had JUST gotten back from 2 weeks of straight conferences, in Jackson Hole, Rome, and Montreal. He got back the day before!

Stephen dominated and did amazingly for his first race.

Paul and Sheila, Amanda and Stephen, and Trent and I went out to dinner last night at Acme for Trent's birthday. It was a lovely evening, delicious food and the joy of conversations with people whose lives so closely relate to yours. Science, careers, babies.. it was great.

This weekend's pictures..

I am determined to catch up. Come join me...

During our only free time during the conference it was rainy and cold. So delicious coffee and fancy organic chocolate was the perfect remedy. Deirdre agrees.

British post-docs having their first American hot dogs. We know how to have a good time.

This pretty much sums up the rest of the genetics retreat. Good science, lots and lots of drinking and rowdiness with colleagues. Highlights include heart to heart with my boss about marriage, a gleeful reminiscing of UC Davis with another professor and drinking 40's with my committee members.

Trent and team had a great time racing on Sunday, although the race sounded mighty hard. They all finished within about 20 minutes of each other and no one had flat tires or big troubles, which is great. I came home around 4 and at 5pm we headed out with Thomas, Stephen and Amanda to go to Erik's house for a bbq. Fantastic house in the forest, and his friend from work was an amazing baker and made this terrific "triathlon" themed cake, including a Ken doll's sunglasses and sneakers, a Lego medic, swedish gummy fish in the water, and a real watch. And it was delicious!!

We all had to get pictures of this amazing cake. From the left, Amanda, Stephen, Erik's adorable Portuguese mother, and Erik. Bonus Sheila laughing in the background.


The Frazongs! Stephen had a great race, finishing first out of the "team." He was pretty exhausted afterward though. Amanda was the good wife who went to both the crew race and the triathlon. Trent's boys crushed NC State, a great first race to motivate them to stick with the sport.

Me and my 28 year old fiance. I take advantage of this month and half that he is two years older than me. I am so proud of him for doing this race and doing so well, especially with all the other activities on his schedule. And inspiring all these teammates to give it a try, and that all his teammates completed the race successfully. Quite an accomplishment.

New York!

Alrighty, here is the photo tour of Jean and Trent's impromptu trip to New York City!

Up early early Saturday morning, quick drive to the airport, easy flight to Newark. Here is the skyline coming into view. We arrived by 8:30 am.

Brett picked us up and drove us back to Brooklyn.

Where we met their adorable cats and got briefly settled. They live in Williamsburg. We tried to get breakfast around 10am, and it was hilarious how many places were closed. Hipsters don't do early. We found a great place though and had breakfast. Too dark for pictures though.

We quickly headed into Manhattan and to Central Park. On the way, of course, we managed to find the fanciest triathlon store ever. It was crazy!

Beautiful day in Central Park, we really lucked out with the weather. We walked and walked.

We found the OctoberFest Parade, with lots of German princesses and men in costumes. We tried to go to the official Octoberfest event, but the line was crazy long and we were not that dedicated.

We headed to the American Natural History Museum. I was excited about "Extreme Mammals!"

Cute picture with the hubs to be in front of the museum.

The museum was great, tons of exhibits for us science nerds. We spent a happy few hours, including a great planetarium exhibit. Space is awesome.

Snazzy science appreciators. We had lunch at a fancy mac and cheese place on the Upper East Side and ran into an old friend from UNC who is getting married this weekend. Fun to chat. We walked around Central Park some more and then headed back to Brooklyn. Trent and I wandered around Williamsburg while Brett and Errica grabbed a quick nap and then we rallied for a fantastic dinner at the Greek restaurant across the street from their apartment.

Amazing Greek food. And a Greek band. Terrific evening. We were exhausted and headed home afterwards.

The next morning, Trent and I got up early and went to the corner store to get fixings for breakfast. Once charged up, we headed back to Manhattan. We walked around New York University, the village, and Washington Square. Here is the beautiful archway.

We randomly encountered Gisele doing PR for a clean water organization she works for. Kind of exciting. She is about 6 feet tall and gorgeous, and 6 months pregnant. Cute.

The gang at Washington Square. Notice the people in lifevests behind us, they were also part of Gisele's organization.

Quick recharge with delicious ice coffee and cookies.

We went to a fancy soap store in the Village that had this amazing scrub. It makes your skin so soft. Definitely had to buy some.

Had to try Pinkberry. Oh goodness good. I would eat this everyday if we had one here. We met up with a friend of Trent's from high school who is now a lawyer and had a nice chat in the sun.

Walked through fancy SoHo, and stopped in crazy stores. Including a fancy fancy puppy shop.

We decided to take the ferry to Governor's Island. Inspired by a New Yorker article recently. It was a gorgeous day, a free ferry, and not too bad of a wait. Here is Brooklyn!

And a blurry picture of the Statue of Liberty. I love ferries.


We had picked up Mediterranean food for lunch and had a picnic on the island. Unfortunately, then my camera battery died. But Governor's Island was great, it used to be a naval base but is totally empty now. They had an art instillation that incorporated the whole island, each house/fort had its own art project. We spend a lovely couple of hours wandering.

Back with batteries, I had to laugh at the high security dogs they send to Governor's Island ferry station. Apparently not the top priority for security.

Ready to take a break we headed to a classic old bar, McSorely's. Up until the 70's, no women were allowed inside. There are two types of beer, light or dark, and you get two tiny pint glasses with each order. Which was fun, and trouble.

Cheers!

The gang, pleasantly tipsy. We made our way back to Brooklyn after this.

This is the top of their apartment. We enjoyed some beer and snacks on their roof while taking in the gorgeous view.

Sunset over the bridge! We went to an amazing pizza place that is their favorite and then out to a bar where their friends band was playing. Hipster paradise. It was a blast.

Our wake up calls in the morning.

My leg is super comfy apparently. Brett had to work and we wanted to give Errica a rest day before her marathon 3 full days of work ahead, so we headed out by ourselves. Back to Manhattan, getting of the subway near Times Square.

We did what we do best, walked and observed. It was fantastic.

Hustle and bustle.

A trip to NYC would not be complete without a gyro from a truck for Trent. It makes him terribly happy. We sat in front of the fancy Macy's and enjoyed. Then caught the train to the Newark airport, quick flight home, dropped Trent off at work. I used the rest of the afternoon to do wedding errands and relax for a bit. Back to work the next day. It was terrific, romantic, spontaneous, and awesome. Perfect pre-wedding getaway!