4th of July - Good Stuff

Well, it is Tuesday and the long 4th of July weekend has come and gone.  It was a fun weekend if not an exhausting weekend.  It all started on Friday for me as I had off from work; however, that didn't mean that I wasn't busy.  It was actually an action packed day as I tried to cram as much into the day as possible before heading to the beach for the long weekend.  Here is what I had:

• 8:15AM Doctors appointment with my wife (didn't get in until 8:45AM)
• Grab breakfast and then drop her off at her office (10:15AM)
• Swing by Brooks Brother to try and buy some dress pants (unsuccessful)
• Put my daughters rooms back together (painted them last week)
• One hour bike - solid ride, around 19 miles
• One hour swim - ended up being 25 minutes
• Pack for the shore
• Pick up my wife by 4:00PM (arrived at 4:02PM)

We finally got to my parents house around 6:00PM, thanks to a ton of traffic on the way down (just getting over the Mantaloking Bridge).  Once there we ate dinner and then had to head out to see my old college roommate from my Freshman year at Rutgers.  I hadn't seen him since we graduated way back in 1993, but he still looked the same.  We had a great time catching up and also meeting each others respective families.  I do hope that we manage to keep in touch a bit more.

Saturday was a beautiful day that started out with my going for an hour run on the various Jersey Shore boardwalks (Lavallette, Ortley Beach, & Seaside Heights).  It was a my standard seven mile run from my 'rents house down to Midway Cheese Steak and back.  I forgot to look for Snookie and The Situation while I was down there, but I doubt they would have been up at 8:00AM.  As usual, my pace was slow, but I didn't manage to run a solid last mile at 8:00 pace.  After the run it was all about going up to the beach and hanging out with my daughters who I hadn't seen all week.  I was kept very busy by my oldest daughter who wanted to go into the ocean constantly.  I really had a great time with her....and also my youngest daughter (see picture to the right) who helped decorate a pyramid that I build for the girls.  I don't think we left to head back to the house until around 4:00PM.

Sunday started early for me as I had to get in a 2.5 hour bike ride.  I was out of bed by 5:10AM and on the road by 5:35AM.  I was around 20 miles out (around Belmar) when the rain hit and stayed with me for the remainder of the ride.  It really sucks riding in the rain, but then again you never know when you will have to race in weather like that.  I headed north all the way up to Deal before turning around and heading for home.  All in all it was a good ride, aside from the headwind I had to deal with on the way home, and I logged around 46 miles.  I was happy to get in such a good workout.  What about the rest of my day?  It consisted of eating four glazed donuts, two naps on the couch and then a walk up to the beach with my wife, mother and daughters (we just had to get out of the house).  It was a lazy rain day at the shore.

We made sure we were up at the beach early on Monday since we were going to be heading home by 1:30PM.  I think we were at the beach by 9:00AM and it included a lot of going in the water with my oldest.  We were definitely busy for the three hours or so that we were there, knowing that we were going to be leaving soon.

So there you have it, my busy weekend down the shore....although having read it again, it doesn't seem all that busy.  I guess when I was living it it seemed to be awfully chaotic.  Anyway, I am looking forward to a good week of training coming up.  I have an short run on tap for tonight that I am going to try and run hard as well as a swim session that I have to fit in.  The rest of the week is pretty much the same...SWIM, BIKE, RUN.  Cheers!