What a fun weekend!

This weekend just totally rocked!

Saturday morning I met the girls - Nancy, Aleks, Wendy, and Danielle - at 8:15 for a 12-mile run. Gabriel came with us on his bike. It was a colder morning than it's been lately, only in the mid 40's, but the morning was about to blossom into a gorgeous day.

It took me a good four miles to warm up. I attributed that to the beer I had the night before - honey orange wheat, yum. Gabriel, however, never really warmed up. Plus, right off the bat we went up a fairly long sustained grade, so he had to work hard right away on his little single-speed bike. And I forgot that running along the waterfront past beautiful houses is a lot less interesting to a six-year-old than to us. But that was cool - he kept his whining pretty quiet and only to me.

At one point he and I stopped so I could put my earband on him - my head was warm, his ears were bright red - and it took me long enough to hook him up that we couldn't see the girls any more. So I had to run much faster than the pace we'd been holding (about 10 minute miles) to catch back up. I think I ran about an 8 - it felt 5K fast, not sprinting fast - and my HR was in the low 170s. Gabriel kept trying to talk to me, and I kept telling him it was hard to talk when I was running that fast.

Then towards the end, we had to climb back up the other side of that hill from the beginning (for you locals, Market Street in Kirkland). Oh my goodness, he was out of the saddle almost the entire time. It was so adorable to watch. He was totally out of his aerobic zone and I kept waiting for him to stop and tell me to walk his bike. But he never did. He rocked it! But I kept talking to him and I reminded him about how I couldn't talk when running earlier, and how he felt on the hill was how I felt going fast.

We had planned to do two parts to the run: 8 miles, because that's what Nancy wanted to run, and 12 for the rest of us. Nancy graciously offered to hang out with Gabriel while we finished the run. This was so cool - she took him to get hot chocolate and let me finish out what I'd planned. Already as I saw how cold Gabriel was and how he just wasn't up for getting back to the cars then going out again I'd been simultaneously justifying not running more and walking through my day to see when I could get those additional four miles in. I would have been okay with stopping then - or at least I would have tried to be - but it was awesome not to have to.

Then later, when we ate bagels and coffee after the run, Nancy actually thanked me for letting her hang out with my cool kid. That made me feel awesome - I really do have a fabulous kid!

So the rest of Saturday was errands, the zillionth birthday party one of my kids had to attend this year, and chilling at home. The only thing of note after the fun run was that I had to pour hot water over a container of ice cream John had brought home for me. It was taunting me from the freezer, but I showed it who was boss! (Yeah, right. I'd already eaten half of it the day before.)

Today was great, too - another gorgeous day, and slightly warmer. I met Jessi and a few of her friends - including Tammy - for a bike ride! (This was my first time meeting Tammy, even though she was one of the first blogs I started stalking months and months ago.)

We rode around the south end of Lake Washington and kept a reasonable, social pace. It was so joyful to be out in the sun (it wasn't warm, but I'd dressed well so I was comfortable) and enjoying the company of some more fabulous women!

When we got to Mercer Island, Tammy broke off from us to head back, and we started on a detour around the island. It's 12 miles of pretty much all hill - and it feels completely up no matter which way you're riding, but a low-key up. Like, at one point, I was pushing pretty hard, but we were holding 20.4 mph uphill. Seriously.

However, with Tammy gone (she had been holding us to the agreed-upon pace), Jessi pretty much took off. Her excuse: But Mercer Island is like a rollercoaster! And she was so right, so even though her pace brought me way out of my zone 2 and into a zone 4, I wanted to do it. It felt right and I knew I'd feel even better when it was over. As much as I worry about it, I really enjoy being the slowest cyclist in a group. I love getting that push to keep up and do more. That's not to say I don't enjoy the rides when I'm one of the stronger ones, but that I need to incorporate both into my training, for fun and for fitness gains.

After I got home, John and I decided we'd take the kids out for a bike ride. We did part of the route that the girls and I did earlier in the day, because it went right through Boeing, and I knew Gabriel would love to see the airplanes up close. So we rode about another 7 miles - Gabriel practically gave me a heart attack riding on the streets where there was no sidewalk or trail, but he's learning to hold a straight line and watch for cars. (Camille was in a trailer attached to John's bike, so he got a better workout towing her around.)

Weekends like this - enjoying time outdoors with friends and family - are no doubt the best part of having lost a lot of weight. I feel great!