Weekending

I love weekends. Love, love, love.

Lately, however, I feel like I haven't had a true weekend-- either I'm travelling for interviews (fun, but exhausting), or catching up on the work I missed/will miss because of interviews (not so exhausting, but considerably less fun.)

At any rate, this past weekend was true, beautiful weekend, and I loved it.

Like all good weekends, it started on Thursday night-- a trip Sugarland with Maddie and Lauren. We ended up skipping the famous frozen martinis (of Food Network fame!) and instead settled for coffee, gelato, and hours of good conversation. Amazing.

Saturday, I tackled my longest run since 2008-- 16 ginormous miles. I'll be honest-- it was hard. Really, really, surprisingly hard. For whatever reason, my running brain simply wasn't "on." Just six miles in, I started to get hot, antsy, and simply tired of running. I still got the miles in, but certainly never had the amazing, I-love-running! sort of feeling. It was a little disconcerting, seeing as I have a half next weekend, but I'm just pegging it as a bad-run fluke.

At any rate, Saturday's horrible run was completely redeemed on Sunday.

Why? Because I spent the majority of yesterday hiking through this:

And meandering by this:

And soaking in views like this:

All the while enjoying fantastic conversation with my lovely friend Hannah.

It had been a year and a half since Hannah and I had seen each other, and despite post cards and Skype Dates, it was absolutely amazing to catch up in person. Hanging Rock State Park is one of my favorite little nooks in North Carolina, and the fall foliage and crisp air were simply perfect.

While 16 mile run on Saturday + 6 mile hike on Sunday = sad, sad knees, it was totally, without question, worth it.