The Weekend

What a weekend. I'm. Pooped. Out.

First, thank you all so much for your comments and e-mails over this last week. I could probably dedicate a whole week worth of talking typing to tell you how awesomely lucky I am to have the family I have, how incredibly loved Michael was, and how he has touched so many of us with his life and how he lived it. There were something like 600 people at the service on Saturday. Does that hint at the reach his life had? I could never put it all together to explain just exactly the impact of his passing and the things I learned from him in his last days and through the people who shared the loss this weekend has had on me, so I will not go there at this time.

I will tell you that the weekend had a cleansing effect on my soul. The pain has eased tremendously just by being with family and sharing our tears and hugs. After the graveside service on Friday, we did something my family has been doing for years and years - hangin' at the pizza parlour. We packed that place with family and there were many smiles and laughter abounding. It brought back fantastic memories of pizza parties of my past where the aunts and uncles and cousins were there and I would eat my weight in pizza (some things never change) and slurp down a frothy root beer to chase the cheese and pepperoni down.

Saturday morning turned out just as I had strategically planned it. I had e-mailed mom earlier in the week that I would be bringing my bike down for the ride I would be missing with my group. I knew Dad couldn't resist joining me :-)
We had a great ride and although my avg speed still didn't top up into the 15mph range, I spent a fair amount of time riding flat and fast between 17 and 20mph and it felt great! Dad has the best steady cadence and cornering skills! Although I corner like an old lady, I think my cadence work wasn't half bad either.

After the ride we went to the memorial service and then much later, home with very puffy eyes and feeling pretty wrung out. We went to bed early in order to get some sleep and get up for our Sunday plans ~ Mom and Dad and Bro and SIL and the kids headed to The Truffle Shuffle. Mai and cute cousin #1 did the fun run...

and then headed out for the two miler with SIL, while the boys and I got ready for our 4 miler. Ron and Dad just started running again in the last week or two after a lengthy hiatus and I was supposed to be taking it easy, so we planned a 10:30 pace to start and then hoped to get up to a 10:00m/m at the end. The race was CROWDED!! It was slow going at first. At mile 3 Dad had to deal with something, so shooed us ahead and we picked up the pace to a screaming fast (for us ;-) 9m/m to cruise into the finish line. It felt good. Really good. And I have more to say about this, but I'll save it for tomorrow...
when I have A LOT more to say about this Phat Phace...

Oh...and when I got home last night, ready for a glass of wine and bed, the boy was so excited to hear the truck drive up and see his Mama, that he opened the door wide and let the dog out!....and awaaaayyyy she goes. Could have been worse. An hour later, barely worn down by my chase, she got distracted by a cat she wanted to eat and the Super Husband was able to catch her.