Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Delayed Reflections on the Weekend.

It's already Wednesday, but I'm just now reviewing the weekend in my mind, so here it is:

Friday: Went jogging. Bought donuts for co-workers at Rainbow Donuts. Worked until 1:00. Went to the Marathon/8K expo at the Omni to pick up the 18 running packets for all of my co-workers (why did I volunteer to do this? oh yeah, because I'm the only one who lives in the city, and everyone else thinks they'll got shot or mugged if they drive east of Boulevard). I thought it would be as easy as handing a list of names to someone and being handed 18 bags. I was very wrong. First find their name and write down their number. (See boss, also picking up packets, and ask him for help carrying tons of stuff.) Take co-workers #'s to a nice lady named Ethel who gave me timing chips and bib numbers. Take these timing chips (30 minutes later) to the man who scans them to be sure they are correct. Walk through the expo and want to buy lots of stuff, resist, but accept bosses gift of The Stick (it's awesome). Get 18 bags. Get the correct sized t-shirts for myself and 17 co-workers and put them in bags. Leave. Walk directly outside the Omni to the AMAZING parking spot I got even though there were THOUSANDS of people around, all trying to get into the Omni.

Came home to my hard-working husband starting the first coat of paint on the exterior of our house...YAY! It's a beautiful bright light green, thanks Sherwin-Williams.

Went to see Borat, I don't even know where to start, so I'm leaving that one alone. Left movie, while taking 5 minutes in parking lot to decide where to go post-Borat, a police officer treated us (all 25+) like 13 year old punk kids and told us to "leave the premises". Short Pump is a foreign land. I love the city so very much. Here police officers have real criminals to chase and leave the rest of us alone. I pray I will never have to live in a suburb.

Saturday: Woke up 5 minutes before I was supposed to be meeting my co-workers at the office to give them all their race packets. Made it from bed to office in 8 minutes. Ran the 8K. Had to pee the whole entire time, it was very scary. Since I somehow missed the port-a-johns, I seriously considered asking an on-looker in the Fan if I could use their bathroom, but decided to run as fast as I could to the finish. Ran in a great time for myself, 41.50, 8.30 per mile, mostly thanks to my bladder.
Came home to wonderful friends and husband working on painting interior and exterior of house. Worked on the house the rest of the day. Ate McDonald's for dinner, no energy to cook or even buy decent take-out.

Sunday: Slept in, didn't go to Sunday School. Went to Wa-Wa for gas, coffee and breakast, yum. Went to the 11:00 worship service at Stony Point Church, listened to a great sermon on being a peacemaker. Was treated to lunch by my parents at the Hill Cafe. Took a nap since it was the best nap weather ever. Went to Franklin Street Community and talked to lots of great people. Had coffee and biggest chocolate chip cookie ever. Went back to SPC for congregational meeting. Went home, did some laundry, ate a quesadilla James made for me, made lunches for monday, used The Stick to massage my aching left calf, relaxed with husband and dog, went to sleep.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Marathon Training vs. Rainbow Donuts...Donuts Win!

Way back in May of this year, I took a big step for me and started training for the Richmond Marathon. I signed up for the Sports Backers Training Team program. First of all, I realized just how awesome Sport Backers of Richmond is, see for yourself. The training program was intense. We were assigned to a team with encouraging helpful coaches (who are volunteers), I made tons of new friends, I got into great shape, it was so fabulous. It was great having this goal that I was planning on working toward for 7 months, and working hard. Training for a marathon is truly like having a part time job. Don't do it if you don't have that kind of time, it will just end up being stressful, when it should be exhilarating.

And then, I had a seizure. Man, was that a downer. No worries, it's not that serious, I've had one before a long time ago. It's all under control now. But as a result I had to totally STOP training for over a month until I could clear it with my doctor that it was alright to start running hardcore again. I wish I could explain the angst I felt driving down Grove to and from work EVERY day and seeing people running freely (Grove, by the way, has got to be the most popular street to run on in the entire city of Richmond). The hard work, dedication, and love I had developed for running and training for a marathon had been cut short suddenly. I seriously went through some sort of withdrawal. So I got clearance to run again, but my Dr. discouraged me from training for something as taxing on the body as 26.2 miles until it was clear that my meds would be sufficient in prohibiting any more seizures. By that point, even if I had begun training again, attempting to catch up would have more likely ended in an injury.

Looking back, I can see how having to quit training could've been beneficial. Let's be honest, I don't have the time to train for a marathon at this point in my life. What was I thinking, adding one more huge thing? Knowing that everything happens for a reason, and that God's plans for me will only be for my benefit, helps to alleviate my sadness when I think about not attempting the marathon on November 11th. And I can see how training was becoming too high of a priority in my life, creeping dangerously close to the priorities that should never be surpassed.

Anyway, you're probably wondering what all of this has to do with Rainbow Donuts. Last Saturday we were planning on getting some renovation work done on our house and a bunch of our friends were out back roasting a pig, (see here for hilarious video from said pig roast) so I decided to take my friend Blare's advice and try out Rainbow Donuts. On my way there, I passed the Diamond and Sports Backers stadium. The parking lot of these locations is where the Long Training Run for the marathon training teammembers begins. During marathon training you have one long run a week. We (about 500 people) would all meet and run the same route together. Have you ever seen mad amounts of people running around Richmond early on a Sat. or Sun. morning between May and November? They are those crazy marathon trainees. I drove by a bunch of runners digging in to finish up a long run.

And I was buying donuts.

I have to say it was pretty depressing. But only until I realized JUST HOW AMAZING RAINBOW DONUTS IS! I bought a dozen assorted donuts and a large coffee for less than 6 bucks! Not only regular round cake donuts, but bear claws and apple fritters and big cinnamon roll things, and a boston creme pie something, and, the most amazing donut of all...THE BLUEBERRY CAKE DONUT. This is definitely the most delicious pastry ever (the lemon blossom does run a close second, thanks to Paula Dean). Krispy Kreme who? If I'm buying, I will never sell-out to the HOT NOW sign again. I'm hooked.

Since your mouth is watering and you're dying to go, read carefully, it's easy to miss. It is located at Broad and Boulevard. You know where the CVS is? You know where the McDonald's is? Well, it's in between those. Yes, you've probably never seen it, it is truly a hole in the wall. It's connected to the same building as CVS. They're open until eleven or ten every evening, you have time! Go now!

Some awesome people at our church have put together a work day at our house on Saturday (we have amazing friends), and I will be making a trip to Rainbow Donuts early in the morning to have some tasty treats for all the hard workers. I'll probably drive by some marathon trainees running a long run route one last time before the marathon next weekend. And I'll think, "Hah! Sucks to be you because Rainbow Donuts are better than running!"