Saturday

Just had a wonderful day with Tim and my parents. They came down to DC, a two-hour drive from Havertown, Pennsylvania, for the day to "celebrate" my 25th birthday. It was a great day. I woke up early before they got here to get my ten-mile run in. It was extremely hot and even though I brought a water bottle it was gone in the first ten minutes anyway. I ran to the Lincoln Memorial, across the river to Arlington National Cemetery, along the Potomac to the 14th Street Bridge, across the Bridge to the Jefferson Memorial and back up Capitol Hill towards home. Today I had to take many walk breaks. I am starting to listen to my training guidelines, "walk every two to three miles on long runs." It is hard, I feel like I am disappointing myself and not really get a "real" run in. But I am starting to learn that training for a marathon is all about discipline, steadiness, and listening to your body. So, today, I listened to my body and to the burning of the sun already at 8am this morning, and I opted to walk every couple miles. And it proved to make a huge difference.


After coming home, stretching, getting ready, and putting a pot of coffee on, my parents arrived. My mom brought breakfast, Tim and I provided the OJ and coffee. We had a very slow morning catching up. Then, after my mom and I had finished the last drip of coffee, and Tim and my dad had reached the end of the golf conversation, we headed to Alexandria and to shopping.

Since my dad was here I wanted him to pick out his Father's day present. He picked out a wicker chair for the front porch at home, and Tim and I ended up getting two as well. We also picked up a gallery of frames for one of our living room walls. Now we just need the pictures to go in them...we intend to take a lot in Ireland.

After a cat nap on the couch, and some great conversation, we headed to dinner. We went to the Starfish cafe since my dad and Tim were craving raw-oysters. We had a delightful dinner, great food, and I must say the oysters were some of the best I have had.

And now, after sending my parents off with big hugs and kisses, Tim and I sit in our new wicker chairs listening to the music that Tim has just set up on our porch (he really amazes me with what he can do sometimes) and blogging. Both of us on our laptops, sending eachother links to look at, laughing, smiling, discussing blogs, and getting to learn a little more about eachother, our family, and this great big world we live in.