It's Marathon Monday here in Boston. The sun is shining and the weather is supposed to be decent for all those marathoners (and spectators) out there today.
And there are a LOT of them.
For me, the day of the marathon is a day to get into work early (as I usually do) and then stay at my desk for the entire day. Since I work about 2 minutes from the finish line and it is a MADHOUSE out there all day long - it's best that I stay far away.
This week is also school
vacation week, so between that and the fact that today is the marathon, my morning commute was very
quiet this morning. My ride home however, will be anything but quiet. From past experience, I can safely say that I'll be crammed onto the train with a million spectators and an equal amount of runners - still wrapped in their foil
cocoons.
In spite of the fact that it's a crazy, crowded mess - I admit that I always get a little teary watching the news coverage of the finish line. Completing a marathon is such a HUGE accomplishment anyway, and then there's always some inspirational story the newscasters cover which reduces me to tears and makes me want to run a marathon myself.
That feeling goes away quickly once I remember that my body practically goes into shock when I have to run around the bases,
never mind running 26.2 miles. I don't even like to
drive that far. Enough of this marathon talk! Good luck to all the runners and all their fans.
May you have an easy run - and may I not get stuck sitting next to you on the train.
In other news, I had a GREAT long weekend.
On Friday, Jim and I were both home from work so we got up early, did some stuff around the house/yard, and then had a 'support your local businesses' day!
We went to lunch in my hometown at a little
lunch place we LOVE. It's called
Cucina Mia and it's owned by two sisters who grew up right up the street from me and it has amazing food. Seriously, it's
de-
li-
cious....and you should go. (
Cucina Mia - Quincy, MA)After lunch, we went to
Albertin'a for ice cream. That's the place that sponsors my softball team and the ice cream is
SOOOO good. (
Albertina's Ice Cream - Rockland, MA)Get it? We're sponsored by an ice cream shoppe (you have to add the extra letters in order to make it special and fancy) and we're the Scoops. Albertina's Scoops. SCOOP IT UP!!
Fun, fun, fun....yummy, yummy, yummy.
After ice cream, we went home, picked up Scooter and went to a local state park for a mini-hike. The weather was beautiful, (finally we got some warm weather!!!) Scooter was thrilled to be outside, and Jim and I got to work off that ice cream.
After the visit to the park, we came home and later in the evening met Jim's mom at Ye
Olde Standish Grille for dinner. As my faithful readers know, I love the Grille. It was an extra special visit since it was the first Friday we're been there since probably December!
After dinner, Jim's mom came back to our house for a couple games of cards. We played Skip-Bo and Scat. Yes....there's a card game called Scat and I played it with my mother-in-law - all the while
giggling every time we said the word....because I'm a really a 12 year old.
In my
research, I've learned that Scat is also known as
Thirty-One,
Big Tonka,
Blitz, or in South Louisiana -
Cadillac. Who knew??
Either way - we had fun playing....and I won both games. After Jim's mom left, we continued our catch-up on the Harry Potter films by watching 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'. I definitely enjoyed the movie, but since it was one of my favorite books in the series, I was a little disappointed
with it. Granted, I understand they can't cover
everything that was in the book, but there were a lot of
specific things and details that were kind of glossed over. Of course, I'm sure I'd be even more disappointed if I had to sit through a 5 hour movie.
Sorry - I just realized this is turning into an EPIC post....I'll keep it brief from here on out....Saturday - got up, did stuff
around the house/yard and went to NH in the late afternoon for a 'cocktail party' at a former co-workers house. The house was built in 1837 and the amount of work they had put into renovating it was AMAZING.
Sunday - got up early, showered and Jim and I went grocery shopping. After shopping, I headed into Boston for softball practice. Practice was great, but I'm feeling a little sore this morning. I need to get myself to a batting cage, pronto! I'm doing well, but I really need to do more hitting...especially since our first game is on May 2
nd!!!
After practice I headed home watched the Red
Sox win, (YAHOO!!) took the dog for a walk, had dinner and then Jim and I took Scooter out visiting. :-)
We stopped by his sister house as well as Jim's parent's house. We were there not only to visit, but to sell raffle tickets for my softball team's fundraiser which is coming up on May 9
th. Thankfully they all bought tickets, so I've made some progress in selling them. Noe I have to go after my family. :-)
One final note....I just noticed this morning that my 'counter' has surpassed the 5,000 'hits' mark and that is CRAZY!!!!
Thank you all...you're awesome.
Now shut off your computers and get running!!!!