Weekend Recap

So we promised each other that despite the date, this was not going to be our anniversary celebration weekend. We justified it by deciding that since our wedding fell on Fall Break last year, it is only appropriate to celebrate on Fall Break this year. So we get an extra long weekend to celebrate.

And he had a crew race. But we had a lovely, and adventurous, weekend still!

Friday night: Exhausted from a long week. I made homemade pizza and we shared a bottle of vino verde while catching up on Hulu.

Saturday: Both up early, I was off to do a local UNC 5k race with the crew team and Trent was off to work on his 10 page paper about Bandura's social cognitive theory and its applications on school based interventions on childhood obesity. Fun times. The race was great, very mellow and a nice way to force myself to do a bit of speed work. Rode my bike there and back home where I felt a little under the weather so had a lovely long, snuggly, nap with Mr. Pilot. He is mellowing and SUCH a nice dog. Up to finally shower and then meet up with Trent at Weaver Street for lunch. We made sandwiches with fresh salami and cheese and set to working. I was chosen to give the student talk at the biology retreat coming up so needed to get going on that. Lovely few hours typing away and drinking tea.

However, an idea was sneaking into my head. Trent was planning on going up with the crew team boys on the bus, at 3:30am, while the other coaches left Saturday night, hauling the boats, and spent a night in a hotel. He wanted to spend Saturday night with me. A couple of phone calls later, and we decided to head up that evening with them. We went home and did a massive house cleaning (so nice to come home to a clean house) and then dropped Pilot off with Amanda and Jersey for the night. We went to the boat house and watched the team load the massive boats on to the trailer, and then hit the road around 6pm. It was the second weekend in a row where we sat in the back of a big truck and didn't have to worry about driving or lodging, love it!

Easy drive up north and we arrived in Fredricksberg around 10:30 pm. We all bunked down in a very nice hotel room and crashed.

Sunday: Up fairly early to drive the rest of the way to the course. We arrived right as the team did. The race was on the Occoquan River, just south of Alexandria in Northern Virginia. Beautiful!! Corienne, the head coach's girlfriend, and I stayed in the truck chatting for a while until it warmed up and then I headed out for my long run. The change of scenery was great, I found a path along the river and ran for hours. This scenery is some of my favorite, the trees and the river and all the public parks. Love this area.

Back to the race to enjoy some of their snacks and then my dear friend Calen picked me up for lunch. He lives in DC and works for the Union of Concerned Scientists and rented a Zipcar to come visit. We were besties during our time abroad in Costa Rica and I am pretty sure we are long lost twins. I have so many great memories of stomping through the forest singing 1950's show tunes and Peter Paul and Mary songs with him. He absolutely loves science and really helped me own a lot of my quirky traits. Unfortunately he's had a rough couple years, but is really starting to find his way again and DC is the perfect place for him. We had a nice lunch on the river in the historical town of Occoquan (so cute) and it was fantastic to catch up with an old friend.

Back to the race and Calen and I puttered around and tried to not get hit in the head by any boats. He left around 4pm, fantastic parents brought a big pasta dinner for all the rowers (and us), and we were back on the road by 6pm. Long drive home, not as fun as the team didn't do as well as they had hoped, but Trent and I spent a lot of time working on his paper that was due today and napping. Home around 11pm, to find Mr. Pilot home and exhausted from his weekend getaway. We all slept very well. And he is spending his first day outside of his crate (in the office with all the chewable things removed), fingers crossed!!

I am very much looking forward to our romantic getaway weekend coming up, but in some ways I feel this weekend really reflects what I love so much about our relationship. We compliment and support each other but each have our own lives and hobbies. We are definitely better together, but not too shabby on our own. And any time we get to spend together is fantastic. Even though he was so busy, he definitely made me feel special and a welcome part of the weekend, and I am glad I had got to explore a new area. I am so lucky to have such a perfect partner in this adventure!