The promise of SPRING

For years and years, a neighbor of ours has held a 60-degree party. Regardless of day of week or what else seemed to be going on, on that first day in the late winter/early spring when the mercury reached above 60 degrees, the neighbors would get together for an impromptu cookout in said neighbor's driveway. It seems like most years we have missed it just because we haven't been paying attention. This year, however, the neighbors didn't have their party. And while I am a bit sad at this lapse in tradition, we did make sure our little family got out to enjoy the day.

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day, and the temperatures did indeed top out just over 60 degrees. So, while all the kids in the neighborhood, including ours, ran around and did whatever it is that kids do outside on the first warm day of the year, the husband took off on his 36-mile training run. Lucky him!

I would have loved to go out and run, but since I am still not running I took the bike out instead. Ten miles on my heavy hybrid were enough to get the heart pumping and the quads aching a bit, so I would call that successful. There were a number of times I thought I should stop and get a picture, but then just kept going. So, in the end, I only have this one picture to show for my first sunny-day bike ride of the year. I thought it turned out pretty artsy, though!

As soon as I got home, I barely had time to change clothes and grab a snack before we headed out again to join some friends at a local park. There the kids rammed around in the woods and up and down a small hill. They got muddy and worn out, and it was just great fun.  We wrapped up the two-hour outing with a 1.5-mle (or so) walk on this boardwalk. I didn't even know this existed, so what a lovely surprise it was to find it!

These early days of spring (or in this case last days of winter) need to be embraced, because they are short-lived. Sunday it was back to overcast skies, temps in the 40s, and even some rain. In other words, blah weather. Probably because of that, I didn't mind going to the gym to tackle my planned two-hour workout. I was curious to see how it would go with the stitches, as towards the end of my 1.5-hour workout the Sunday before I could definitely feel them pulling. Yesterday, however, after an hour and ten minutes on the elliptical and 50 minutes on the recumbent bike, all was still well. I didn't feel the stitches pull at all, which made me very happy. I can't wait to get the little buggers out tomorrow, though!

For posterity

After working out, I got home to find the husband and kids all ready to head out the door to the climbing wall. Although I miss climbing, I am not ready to cram my feet into my climbing shoes yet, so I wished them well. The rest of the day was grocery shopping, cleaning, and cooking dinner for my parents, which we then all enjoyed together that evening.

Actually, the dinner turned out really good. A friend had sent a link to a lentil and black bean taco recipe, which I am ashamed to say confused me at first. I wasn't sure if the mix was supposed to be served as soup or served inside tacos. Since said friend is on vacation currently, I couldn't very well ask, so I decided to do both. Soup for the adults; tacos for the kids. Okay, okay. The latter of which was just an attempt to mask the lentil and black bean mix, since I knew they would never eat it on its own. So, I smothered it in cheese and lettuce and slapped it on taco shells and called it good. They ate it, but declined seconds. The adults thought the soup was delicious, though! And, I must be thinking spring and summer and warmer weather, because I also bought and served fresh strawberries and ice cream for dessert. Normally, I am NOT a fan of strawberries out of season, so I can only explain this lapse in judgement on wishing for a change in the weather. As expected, the berries did not taste as good as they will once they are in season and local, but they were good enough to please the less finicky among us (and I didn't even think they were all bad.)

Today is another blah day weather-wise. It seems the sun is trying to peek out a bit, but mostly it seems content to hide behind the clouds and wait for another day to come out and play. After my typical oatmeal breakfast, I hit the rowing machine for 30 minutes of easy effort rowing, which then turned into 45 minutes of easy effort rowing, so that I could finish an episode of Downton Abbey I was watching on the Roku. Sad, I know, but it got me another couple thousand meters down my imaginary river!

Happy Running! Or Rowing....