A wonderful weekend, and I'm (possibly) back in business!

This will have to be quick- blogger/internet in general has been slooooow all night.
We spent the weekend (Thurs night to Sunday evening) in Canterbury (Christchurch and Methven). We spent Thursday and Friday with Mum and F in Chch, then drove down to Methven (a skiing town about an hour away) with some friends for A&J's wedding on Saturday. The weather was perfect all weekend. On Friday we mooched. Walked into the mall and read tons. Such a nice change of pace- and I did it all with virtually no guilt! We had schnitzel for dinner (so delicious and so so bad for me...) and then went into town to hit the Ballantyne's (big, upper class department store) sale. Bought sport beans (have not seen them here before) and haribo gummi bears (yu-u-ummy!). Then got coffee from a plac near the Arts Centre. I decided to break the mould and try a chocmint caapucino, but won't be repeating that! Gimme a latte any day. We went home to play Absolute Balderdash. I love playing games with people who haven't had to be coerced into it! P was great at it (he beat me) but Mum recovered from some struggles early on to win convincingly. It was a great game- I think most of the bluffs were at least somewhat convincing. Much harder with 4- the order of guesses can be key!
The next morning we went to Drexel's for breakfast. After growing up in CO, I have a real soft spot for US food- mexican, diner breakfasts, donuts, oreos (oh god, I ate waaay too many over the weekend), PB based candy- you name it. So Drexel's, with its breakfast burritos, genuine maple syrup, real diner pancakes and bottomless filter coffee was perfect. A great place to go after a group run (you NEED to book thoug.) I had major running envy when we drove past the park. It's what I imagine central park is like, or maybe Hyde Park (I know nothing). I was going to post a pic of my pancakes, but I give up.

Anyway, wedding was great. Not very personal, but very *them*. We had a great time, and it was so good getting to spend a whole wekend with P! I spent Sunday wishing I was on my bike. The roads were long, straight and wide, with some slight "hills" and picturesque farmland. I could just imagine getting a nice loooong ride in on that terrain (not like here, where I have to go down breakneck hills every time I want to go anywhere!). When we got back, we had lunch with Mum and F, headed out to a discount mall for awhile (it's what you DO when you're not at home!! and we don't really have malls in Wgtn). Then we drove up to the hills on the outskirts of Chch. Time for more running/biking envy. I wanted to be struggling up those massive hills! I wanted to earn my view and my coffee!

We had dinner with my sisters and D when we got back. I found out today that my middle sis has go a great job for next year. Go J!!! It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out. We may end up with a summer "boarder" (little sis).

I ran tonight. Left home at about 7 and did nearly an hour. Damn GI issues meant I was stuck at 59:48! Silly to be disappointed, but it's all about those arbitrary numbers. Legs felt OK. I won't say great, but no pain. Body and mind were also OK. I was conscious of not being able to push and it was all a little depressing. But ah well- onwards and upwards! I had a minor victory when I decided to keep running up a pedestrian access at the bottom of the big hill. It's much harder than the road! My heart may have been going crazy by the top, but I did it. And then ran the rest of the way up the hill home.

Tomorrow I am being good. Following the rules. XT days= swimming, and tomorrow I will do some weights too. No cheating and adding runs! And not too many 2-a-days.