This weekend has FLOWN by. I am not complaining because it’s true what they say — time flies when you’re having fun, but all the excitement and running around has caught up to me…so now the best thing I can do is catch you all up. I know you’re all anxiously awaiting this post, right?

I was going to do a wordless wrap up for the weekend but I’m settling on a photo-licious recap instead!

Friday was a low key night. I played some tennis with a friend and then went to a really really sweaty hot yoga class. I was entirely pooched so when my friends came over and we watched the Olympic opening ceremonies from the comfort of my apartment and didn’t end up doing much of anything, there were absolutely no complaints on my part.

I left yoga hangry so I threw together a quick salad with salmon.

My dessert was three part: an apple, a coffee with some biscotti baileys and a few hershey kisses. Confirmed: this is serious deliciousness. 

We had a pretty early night even though Nina, who was visiting for the Lil Mudder race on Saturday, makes me uber happy so we had to stay up a little past our bedtime and chat!

We took Saturday morning at a leisurely pace. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Lil Mudder (except awesome) so I had a quick yogurt mix with raisins, almonds, banana, and almond butter. Om nom nom!

Nina and I met up with Sarah (1/2 of our Tough Mudder team for August) and made our way to the event. We were pretty nervous–I’m not going to lie!

Reminder of the day:

…so we tried it! And it was fun and these pictures do NOT do it justice, so I’ll do my best…

I’m guessing on the numbers, but I’d say that there were around 30 mudders. We started out in a small park and got our run on. We ran over piles of dirt and gravel, lunged, piggy backed our partners (Nina, I can’t believe you had to carry me — and you were SOOO strong), did burpees, played with water balloons, scaled that wall you see above (with or without help)–twice, squatted, did pushups, ran on trails, sprinted up hills, carried logs up inclines, demolished our shoulders carrying said logs overhead (or just mine, cuz they haven’t had any love like that lately), and had a lot of fun doing it. The whole course was just over 10km and I think it took us about an hour and a half, but it flew by and I swear I’m not just saying that. I was surprised at how tough the running part was (but I don’t think I was alone in this even for the runners in the group) but also at how well non-runners handled it. 

So a lesson came from it: you can be pretty darn fit and fast without having to run your butt off every week. Just something for me to add to the list of things to think about and the reasons why I’m getting more and more excited for my Crossfit certification weekend. 61 days, for the record!

Another one: I’m going to be feeling it at the Tough Mudder. But if it’s anything like the feeling I had after this one, I think I might be hooked. Triathlons are fun, but this was a different KIND of fun.

There really hasn’t been much time to think this weekend…because the fun continued right after the race with some swimming, eating, and sunshine. I can’t believe how awesome the whole Lil Mudder was. It’s a small world because one of my addiction enablers the baristas from my favourite Starbucks actually ran the show. He did a crazy amazing job because it was safe, challenging (but everyone was able to do it and we had fun), and all that good stuff! And after the race, like I said, there was swimming and eating, which was graciously provided by those lovely Life by Design folks I keep mentioning. Spending the afternoon with a bunch of people who are all into living awesome and healthy lives made for a perfect day.

Steph came and helped out!

Besides “god I loved that pork”, I left feeling really grateful that I am connected with that whole community. I was pretty fired up and hit the road to my sister’s happier than happy can be.

• 

  om nom nom dessert

  

  Icing on the cake?

When I got to my sister’s place in Windsor, we took our time getting to dinner. She gave me a necklace that was a bit belated for my graduation gift (it was slow to ship) — it says “Follow your bliss.” My sister may not be into cheesy quotes herself but she gets me!

We had dinner (and drinks) at Spago, a restaurant in Little Italy. The wait for a table felt kind of like an eternity but it was nice to catch up with my sister and when our bill came, we only paid for our meals. Beers and a complimentary appetizer on the house? I won’t argue with that.

 

After dinner, we walked down to a little gelato place and made the already perfect night that much sweeter! I thought I’d have room after my mostly vegetable dinner but I really couldn’t handle the whole gelato. Still, it was pretty tasty (cappuccino and bacio flavours for me, tiramisu and pistachio for my sister) so the couple bites I did manage to fit were much appreciated!We really only had energy for board games afterwards…

Luckily I slept like a rock because today was filled with fun!

The pictures really speak for themselves–after a late and leisurely breakfast (mine was a random mash up) we headed to Point Pelee Park with a picnic in tow and hiked all that gelato off.

ames, but I’m not complaining.

 

The day was perfect. Hiking, nature, sisterly bonding. Whooh!

My drive home went really quickly! I listened to the Life By Design radio show and heard their announcement that they’re going to be a Crossfit affiliate come their re-opening. Gosh so many awesome things all at once. I had a feeling they might be doing this–crossfit coaches on their staff, so many parallels between Move By Design and Crossfit, etc.–but it’s REALLY cool and I kind of squealed when I heard it since I am counting down the days til they open up. Who knew someone would be so excited just to join a gym? Like I said, these people are doing something big and I want to be a part of it. I have a lot to learn but I’ve got somewhere to learn it now — and it’s coming together perfectly!

Anyways, you can picture me squealing and beaming with excitement at your leisure, but back to my recap and this uber long novel of a blog post…

When I got home I threw together a tasty but uber fast mix of shredded zucchini, leftover mushrooms/onions/ground beef and some tomato sauce with parmesan cheese.

And then made my way to Starbucks because my mind was racing. Blogging and americanos seem to bring me back to where I need to be. I was going to do yoga this evening but I am tired tired tired and to be honest this is more what I needed…Consider me centred…

On that note, have an awesome night! This week is another busy one for me. I fly out on Friday so have LOTS to do before my big trip to the mountains. There’s bootcamp, appointments, an article, and of course some time for fun on the agenda. Yay!

How was your weekend? What’d you get up to?
Have you ever done a mud run?