First race of the summer!



The triumphant 10K runner!


Over Father's Day weekend, Andrew and I ran the Annapolis Striders' annual Father's Day 10K, which is part of their Champ Series. This was my third time running the race, but it was Andrew's first time. In fact, it was his first 10K ever!

I encouraged Andrew to sign up for this race after he stunned me by signing up for the Annapolis 10-miler in August. We had a conversation on April 30th that went like this:

Alicia: Remind me to sign up for the A10 tomorrow morning, okay? It sells out fast.
Andrew: I think I might sign up too.
Alicia: WHAT?!
Andrew: I have a wedding to look good for.

Given that Andrew had never run more than a 5K, I was both surprised and impressed by his decision. I was also a little worried. I've never managed to actually run the A10 (thank you, appendicitis and Hurricane Irene), but I know it by reputation. I also have plenty of experience with the terrain and weather that give it that reputation. It is a hilly, hot race with a pretty strict 12 minute/mile cutoff. A very ambitious race for a running beginner.

As soon as Andrew signed up for the race, I went into bossy coach mode. "You need to run 10K's," I said. "Soon. At least two before the A10, and the hillier and hotter the better." The Father's Day 10K doesn't deliver on the hills, but in my experience, it delivers on the heat. For the past two years, this race has served as my annual initiation into summer running.

I wish I could say we trained adequately for this race, but- as I've mentioned ad nauseum in my last few posts- we've been pretty busy. Ever since TriRock in late May, I've shifted my focus from training to wedding planning, and Andrew has followed my lead. When we lined up for the race on June 17th, I was all too aware of our training lapse and I had two big worries: (1) that Andrew would have an awful time and hate me for dragging him into running, and (2) that, for the first time, I would finish a Champ Series race slower than the previous year. Actually, the second fear was pretty much a certainty, so I developed sub-fears that I would finish way behind my previous time and that I would realize my time was bad during the race, lose heart, and give up.

I am happy to report that things went better than expected. Mother Nature gave us a gift of unseasonably cool temperatures on race day, which significantly reduced our misery. Andrew did not finish as strongly as he would have liked, but he finished and I was super proud of him! The fact that Andrew was running his first 10K gave me the heart to do the best I could, even though I knew I wouldn't achieve the time I wanted. Last year, I ran the race in 1:01:37. This year, it took me 1:03:28. So, a bit of a drop, but not as bad as I had feared. Even better, I felt pretty good for most of the race. This gives me hope for the remainder of my summer training and my fall races.

Next up: Andrew and I will both run the Arbutus 4th of July 10K for the first time. This race promises to be the ideal A10 training race: HOT and relentlessly hilly. I'm prepared for it to be a bit of a reality check, but we all need those sometimes, right? A tough race may be just what we need to put down the save-the-dates for awhile and pick up our running shoes again!

Welcome back.

Hello, readers! I am currently one day short of going a whole month without blogging. Sigh. I really hate saying that, as this blog is really important and meaningful to me. My only defense: I've been busy. So, in this post, I'll offer a quick recap of my activities over the past month. Then, in my next post, I'll tell you about my most recent race: the 2012 Father's Day 10K, which happened yesterday.

At the time of my last post, I had just finished TriRock Annapolis. The weekend after that, Andrew and I had engagement photos taken.  For the location, we chose the site of our second date: DC's Chinatown. We picked this spot for the scenery and the fact that this date was pivotal in our relationship. We hit it off on our first date, but #2 was the date that really sealed the deal. A few highlights:

At Graffiato restaurant, which is awesome and was wonderful about letting us shoot there!

Arm-wresting: how active couples resolve conflicts... or maybe just something we do.

A re-creation of our first kiss, in the spot where it happened. I LOVE this picture!

The next weekend, (aka: Memorial Day weekend), Andrew and I took a much-needed weekend away. First, we went to Frederick, MD, where we toured a brewery and ate at one of my favorite restaurants in the world, Volt. (You can read about my first trip to Volt here.) This was my second time at Volt and it was every bit as spectacular as the first!

Andrew prepares to have his taste buds dazzled.

After a lovely day and night in Frederick, we headed down to Norfolk, VA to spend the rest of the weekend with my soon-to-be in-laws. I am very lucky to be marrying into an amazing family and I love spending time with them. A big highlight of this trip was meeting Andrew's 90+ year-old grandmother and hearing stories about how she TOOK HIM TO ALASKA BY HERSELF when he was 12. What a remarkable woman! She reminded me so much of my own awesome grandmothers.

Another highlight was the opportunity to help Andrew's younger brother Marquis pull off a big surprise for his parents. Andrew's parents met Marquis through a church mission and took him into their home nine years ago. Over the past few weeks, he's graduated from high school and been accepted to Randolph Macon college. On the occasion of his high school graduation, Marquis decided that he wanted to throw a thank-you party for Andrew's parents. (Smart kid!) So, Andrew and I helped keep his parents busy at the Norfolk botanical gardens while Marquis prepared the party.

With my future in-laws (minus Marquis).

The proud parents and son at Marquis' party.

After Memorial Day weekend, Andrew and I were home for a few days before heading up to Hunt Valley, MD for the wedding of our great friends Nancy and Jessie (who, coincidentally, got engaged the night of my last trip to Volt!). I DJ'd the wedding, did a reading, and gave a toast. Andrew joined forces with my friend Michelle (the only non-liberal arts people at the wedding) and figured out how to hang lanterns for the reception. We both enjoyed witnessing the union of two people who are absolutely perfect for each other. They are role models for us!

Nancy and Jessie, post-ceremony, leading their guests in some traditional Jewish wedding dances. Those dances turned out to be quite a cardio workout! 

Just three days later, Andrew and I celebrated my 33rd birthday and another wedding! This time, it was my cousin Charles marrying his long-time girlfriend Ashley.

Looks like a happy couple to me! 

Charles brings two kids into this marriage, and Ashley brings three. So, now they are a family of seven! That's pretty daunting, but they seem to be taking it in stride and enjoying it. I'm impressed!

Ashley with her maid-of-honor and all five kids- supermom! 

A mere two days after that wedding, I packed up my camping stuff for my 3rd annual weekend volunteering at Camp Forget-Me-Not/Camp Erin DC, a grief and loss camp for kids ages 6-16. My previous experiences at camp have been so amazing that I've blogged about them several times before. You can read about my 2010 camp experience here and here, and about my 2011 experience here. Or, if you want a really great idea of why this camp is so special, you can watch this video:

Needless to say, my 2012 experience was just as rewarding and unforgettable as my previous experiences. If this video moves you, I strongly encourage you to visit the website of The Wendt Center for Loss and Healing in DC and learn how you can get involved as a donor, a volunteer, or a referral source for campers!

I got home from grief camp on Sunday night (which was a little complicated, as my car died over the weekend!). Monday morning, I jumped into an intensive workshop which is part of my training as a Brief Strategic Family Therapist. My three clinical colleagues and I spent 3 days with our BSFT supervisor (who came all the way from Kansas) intensively studying our cases and doing live supervisions. What's a live supervision, you ask? That's when a family (who has agreed in advance to participate) comes in for a session with their regular therapist and that session is observed live (via closed-circuit TV) by the therapist's colleagues and supervisor. Periodically during the session, the supervisor calls the therapist to offer advice and guidance on how to make the session more productive and valuable.

I felt really fortunate to have this opportunity- its something that used to be common, but is now very rare. But, of course, it was intimidating! Thankfully, I can report that it went very well and I learned so much from it. At the same time, it was exhausting! After camp and the 3 days of training, I was as tired as I have ever been in my life. I've been resting as much as possible ever since and I'm just starting to feel semi-normal again.

So, there you have it. A fun and meaningful but VERY busy month! I am looking forward to a little lull in July before my race season really cranks up August-October. Then, there's that whole "wedding" thing, which will take place on New Year's Eve. I imagine that might occupy my time a little bit.

Stay tuned for the story of the Father's Day 10K, coming soon!