I had a weekend.

I've resolved to have more fun, and this weekend, I did.  Running has taken a temporary backseat and the living is easy.  (Thanks for the suggestions to do RLRF next training cycle though.  I agree). 

My pants are already tighter, and I don't even care. Ok...I care a little bit, but I'll be back at it soon enough.   It was the weekend of beer and doing running stuff with other people. 

Part 1:  Beer

My roommate and a coworker of hers decided they were going to the OC Beerfest on Saturday.  And they wanted to get the VIP tickets for $50 and four hours of uninterrupted beer tasting.  Sounded like the perfect post-marathon week Saturday. 

And it was.

Mini cups in hand, we toured the dozens of breweries with offerings available.  A surprise favorite was the Inland Empire brewing company!  909, baby!  

And the absolute best was the ShockTop Lemon Shandy.  I know it's not a microbrew but I couldn't help myself.  It was like all the refreshment of lemonade and all the taste of a beer. Sigh....

 Unfortunately, I did not get the memo that it was plaid skirt and fishnets day..

Some of the pros at the Beerfest were wearing pretzel necklaces to eat with the beer.  We didn't come that prepared, but didn't stop us from having a fantastic time. 

After several hours of beer sampling, and eating things like kangaroo sausage (it's actually not that good, by the way), it was time to call a cab to get back home. 

2) Neon Blonde + Me

The issue we failed to consider was that hundreds of other people were also counting on catching cabs to take them home.   I needed to get back to my place so I could meet up with Neon Blonde Runner who was in town to run the OC marathon and was staying with me.  I called her to tell her I'd be a bit late, and she graciously offered to come pick us up. 

While I was on the phone with her, several fights started breaking out around us amongst the drunk-angry-cab seekers.  I assured Katherine that I was indeed a classy human being, and waited for her and her boyfriend to save us from this mess.

A half hour later, and after witnessing more gross things than I've care to blog about, NeonBlonde and her boyfriend came to save us!  A heroic end to a fun afternoon.

Remember how Sweaty Emily and Oual met in a fortuitous cross country trip and then became best friends forever?

Well meet "Neon Blast Bunny".

No, of course it is not weird to have random strangers stay at your place if you've already met them on the internet! 

Katherine, her bf, and me drove around Newport and settled in at the Newport Brewery company.  She was exactly how I expected her to be on her blog.  In a very good way. Probably closer to my expectations than anyone else I've met! 

We found out we had some random things in common (grew up in neighboring DC suburbs, almost went to the same high school, had mutual friends, etc.).   I was also focusing on staying awake at this point.  I wasn't drunk, but the wonderful combination of many kinds of beer and kangaroo sausage brewing in my stomach wasn't exactly making things easy. 

I was excited when it was time to go home and Katherine and her bf were soon fast asleep due to a 4:30 AM wakeup call.   (she ended up running a 3:26 the next morning!!). 

3) A Massive PR

Long story short (because this blog entry is getting very TLDR), I ran the last four miles of the PCRF half marathon with my friend Heather the next morning.

I ran to mile 9 of the course and wandered around like a vagrant for a while, randomly cheering on people on the course.  I saw my friends Chiara, Monica, and Pam killing it.  Then I saw Heather. 

She looked uncomfortable but determined.  I tried to be as good of a pacer/companion as possible and to be motivating without being mean or annoying.  Hard to saw whether I accomplished that, and the second half of the course was a gradual uphill which did not help.   I have to say, I was feeling a bit like a douchey version of Bob Harper when I said things like "It's supposed to hurt!  That means you're doing it right!". 

But Heather raced like a champ, and pulled in the race with a massive 19 minute PR.  She also raised something like 6k for pediatric cancer research but you know.....NBD....

It was really cool to be a part of her race and to see her lay it down at the end.  Conclusion:  Heather's a dang champ.