Awesome weekend

I love weekends!  And how lucky am I that I have a whole group of athletic friends who think it's fun to s/b/r?!

Saturday morning, we caught an early train from Solana Beach and rode to San Juan Capistrano.  Only about 45 min.  We rode the train with our bikes, which was sort of an adventure.  Only 3 bikes were allowed per car and they had to be hung (remember, objects are hung, people are hanged; that's your nerd lesson for the day) vertically against a wall with hooks.  The Amtrak employee was very grumpy and yelled at all of us.  Maybe she's not a cyclist?  Or she wasn't impressed with her own failed attempt at pulling off sparkly salmon eyeshadow?  Anyway, everyone except Aren made it.  The train was 2 minutes early and pulled away as Aren was in the elevator.  Good thing he's a speed demon and was able to catch us on our return.  When we arrived in San Juan Capistrano, we took a few minutes to become oriented and set off on a bike path south toward San Diego.  In San Clemente, we rode through hilly neighborhoods with gorgeous houses.  We got to ride through Camp Pendleton and next to the ocean back home.  What an awesome and super fun ride!  It was crazy windy, but we all pushed through for the promise of beer and pizza at Pizza Port after the ride.  We finished and promptly started drinking really good beer and consumed some awesome pizza.  The one I ordered had portobellos, asparagus, butternut squash, gorgonzola, mozzarella and BACON on a whole wheat beer crust.  So awesome!

Here's the train and bike crew (minus Aren)

Yes, I wore my super, super cute and comfortable new hot pink kit from Betty Designs (bettydesigns.com). It was awesome and I was very visible :)  It was a super fun day.

This morning I met my friend, Tammy (Team Badass and Team You Got Chicked), in Rancho Penasquitos Canyon for an 8 mile run.  I brought my Hanky Panky but left Rudy at home.  Kinda sad.  Rudy is good for about 7 miles, but he gets kinda tired after that.  He's 7.5 years old and I think his 20+ mile run days are behind him.  He got to stay home and snuggle with Daddy instead.  He had a pretty great time.  Tammy is a foodie, like me, so we talked about food the entire time.  We discussed making sauerkraut (gotta try it!), strawberry ice cubes, and cheese!  Lots of cheese talk...I'll come back to that.  It was a nice run.  We took it pretty easy and walked up the hills, but were steady throughout.  I like runs like that: fun, low stress, not worried about time or pace.  At the end, we ran into our friends and fellow Team Badass members Lauren and Li in the parking lot.  They had just finished a 10 miler.  So awesome to have athletic friends!  Lauren gave me an awesome sparkly (you know I love the bling!)  basket filled with cute little baby Larabars.  Thanks, Lauren!

All that cheese talked inspired us to go to Venissimo, a super fabulous cheese shop, in Del Mar.  We had a little time to kill once we got there before it opened and as we were driving in, I saw a sign for a dog bakery.  They were closed, but opened up when they saw us.  It was so cute!  They had a huge display case with tons of beautifully decorated doggie goodies.  Hank had a carrot cake sample and then I bought a few goodies for he and Rudy to eat at home.  I bought 2 boxer brownies, 2 pupcakes, and 2 strawberry brownies.  Hank and Rudy were both impressed and I kinda wanted to sneak a nibble.   Next stop: Venissimo, aka HEAVEN.  They were super nice and let Hank come into the store with us, so he didn't cry pathetically outside.  They had dozens of cheeses and we were able to sample as many as we wanted.  I bought a 4 year aged Gouda (Noord Hollander, awesome crystals!), a coconut cream cheese (Kokos, not a cream cheese per se, but a cheese containing coconut cream.  Yum) and a crazy good Tumin Rutulin (cow and goat cheese).  Yes, I'm eating the cheese now with a  glass of wine.  Great recovery meal, huh?  Then we went to Pannikin for super yummy coffees.  Such a fun morning!  Glad I have such fun friends!  Trips to Venissimo might have to become a regular occasion post-long run.

Little Man is worn out from his long run!

Today I registered for the Foxy Half-Marathon, a trail half around Lake Hodges in April.  It was time to put a running race on the calendar and this one sounds gorgeous.  Okay, the Baskin Robbins post-race treat they promised didn't hurt.

Big day planned for tomorrow.  Can't wait!