Great Weekend

Wow, what a weekend! Over way too soon.

Friday after work the girls at work took me out for drinks, it was pretty fun. Then I met up with some friends for dinner and our Captivating book study, and then went over to another friends to watch the end of the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Saturday had to run down to Belle Isle to pick up my triathalon race packet, did some errands, cleaned my grandparents house and went out to dinner with them, then went over to a friend's, and finally back home where my friend Liz slept over so we'd be ready for our race Sunday morning.

Sunday - race day!

Woke up at 5am, put our bikes in her truck and headed back down to Belle Isle for the SheROX triathlon. It was our first triathalon and it was really fun. The race was all women and it was a .5 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. And the course was on Belle Isle which is one of my favorite parks anyway.

Pre-race

The race started at 7 with the swim in the Detroit River. The bottom was kind of mucky and neither of us are fantastic swimmers but we didn't drown! Yay :) Then we ran back to the bikes and took off. Two loops around Belle Isle later, and a couple stops to raise my ever-lowering bike seat!, then we started the run. My brother had warned me to do a couple bike/run practices, which I never did, and it was such a strange feeling to transition into running. Kind of like that feeling of trying to walk after jumping on a trampoline. But anyway, we finished! Our time wasn't that great- but we weren't dead last- and we felt that was pretty good for our first try. And also considering I've swam 2x, haven't biked at all, and ran only 4x in all of 2012. So I was pleased with my 1:57 time.

The finishers!

It was great to do it together and we're already thinking of next either one of those obstacle course runs or a half marathon. We'll see!

After the run we went to a vegan/raw resteraunt for some buffet and hung out with some friends. Then I went to another friends' house for dinner. My friend Rachel is a wonderful cook and always stuffs me full of deliciousness. And makes me a to-go bag! This time she made Indian: tandoori chicken, cucumber riata, vegetable biriyani, watermelon, and peach/cherry cobblers with icecream for dessert. I was stuffed! They even gave me a birthday present, a pretty green teakettle. I was so spoiled.

After dinner we went to the Michael W. Smith/Jeremy Camp concert. It was great. We spread out blankets on the lawn and listened to a great concert.

So then came the not so good part of the weekend. On the way home around midnight I got gas and filled up my tires so I wouldn't be late to work if I had to do it in the morning. But then my car wouldn't start up again. Not more car troubles!! I'm so close to my goal of a quarter million miles, but apparently that is too much to ask the ol' saturn. Anyway. I was pushing it out of the alley and some guy helped me move it and offered me a ride home. I didn't take it, but thought it'd probably be safe. What are the odds of a murderer just waiting at the gas station for people's cars to break down?? So instead I had an extremely fast walk home. Luckily I only live a half mile away.

This morning rescuer dad drove down and we went to check out the car. We tried jumping it, he checked the battery, it was fine, and a couple other things and then we thought if we could just get it started he could drive it home and work on it. So we attempted a push start. I've only done this when there is a giant hill because you need to get it going pretty fast - but we only had a flat gas station parking lot. So I kicked off my heels and rolled up my dress work pants and started pushing; some guy saw us and came over and offered to help so he and I pushed while dad popped the clutch - and it worked!

My dad is a rockstar.

So dad traded me cars, I got to go to work and he's taking my car home to probably install a new starter or something like that.

Thank you God for such a good weekend: amazing fun friends, a healthy body, kind helpful people, my awesome dad, and being such a good God that loves me and provides.