And Happy Birthday to my Dad. (Interesting read: the wikipedia article on Memorial Day, in case you aren’t sure what it’s all about.)

How’s your weekend been? I hear it’s one of those “long” weekends for most people? I don’t know about you guys, but if I have four days off, I call it a vacation, not a weekend. I did not have four days off. That must be really weird! (I rarely have two days off in a row—such is the life of a musician. And as a self-employed musician, even when I have a day off, I’m usually still working in some capacity. I’m not complaining, just puzzling over all of this.)

For instance, today, I should be practicing for this weekend’s Chamber Project St Louis concert. And I think I shall, after I blog and finish watching The Mentalist.  (Does that make me sound old, watching a show on CBS?) I’ve got plenty of teaching busy-work to catch up on but I think that can all wait until tomorrow.

It’s been a fun weekend though. Saturday’s race didn’t actually happen for me. Chris and I went for a lovely dinner Friday night at Sidney Street Cafe.

Salad and Bouillabaisse. Delicious. Except that I woke up in the middle of the night with some, shall we say, stomach issues. I think maybe the bouillabaisse was too rich for me or something? So getting up at 6:30 to go run was…not happening. Not wise at all. I felt bad missing it, but I think I would have felt worse trying to do it. Instead I ended up sleeping until around 11:30.

Then I had to work. Two weddings.

Oh, wait, that’s a cat.

First was a Quartet with Serenade Strings for Nicole and Braden’s wedding at Trinity Lutheran Church. We were in the balcony for it, which is fun because you get to see almost everything that is happening.

If by everything one means the audience. The minister was a funny guy and had the audience in stitches on more than one occasion.

Then it was off to the Botanical Gardens to play for a trio gig with the Rosewood Ensemble.

Katrina and Clark got married at the Lehmann Rose Garden. I loved this picture because of the reflection in the water, and I loved her dress!

We played for the ceremony and then raced over to the Ritz in Clayton to play for the cocktail hour. It was an exhausting day especially since I didn’t feel terrific.

Yesterday was a relaxing day off (as is today). I made dessert for a potluck (recipe to come, ha!) and then attended said potluck AND an engagement party.

I made chocolate eclair dessert. It’s a graham cracker and pudding type thing and is both easy and delicious.

At the potluck I had some issues drinking wine out of a plastic cup—ended up spilling on my skirt in FOUR different places.

It was a nice skirt while it lasted. Hopefully the stains will come out.

And then this morning I went for a run. I was hot and sweaty, so I took a selfie afterwards.

Tonight we are grilling steaks and veggies, assuming the storm passes through quickly. Otherwise I guess we’ll just sit around in the dark crying.

What have you been up to?

I was waiting to write a race recap until I could find the results online, but you know what, it doesn’t matter. It wasn’t a PR, it was a slow race for me…and that’s what you all expect anyway, right? Plus…the results ARE online…except not my time, for some reason. Too slow I guess? They gave up? Whatever.

Tour de Grove 5k

My friend April asked me about this race one day when there was a deal to get the entry for $15 (half price). We figured, might as well!

The race was a 5k along a course that later would be used for the “Tour de Grove” which is a professional bike race. The 5k course was a double loop with a little spur out to the side, I’m guessing to make it 5k.

The Grove is a neighborhood not too far from where I live. According to the website, “The Grove is a growing vibrant business and entertainment district along Manchester between Kingshighway and Vandeventer in St. Louis City. In the Grove you can find a diversity of independently owned restaurants, nightlife, retail, and services. It is also home to the premier nightlife in the area, and is a thriving center for the LGBT, artist, and cycling communities in the St. Louis area.”

All of that is true. It’s also the neighborhood where Chris got punched in the face randomly walking with a friend going to a bar. Things he learned that night: he can really take a punch. But that’s not really a race recap story now, is it? That’s just your normal, “the night I almost got mugged but then they ran away because they didn’t realize that I would keep standing” story. But that’s really quite unrelated.

April and I, pre race

Anyway, we met super early because we needed to register the morning of and we weren’t sure how easy that would be. Answer: really easy. We both arrived 30 minutes before our planned time and parking was a breeze (plenty of parking near Vandeventer and Chouteau). Registration took about two minutes and then we found ourselves with about an hour to kill. Oops.

It turned out there were less than 100 runners in the race. If we had been fast runners we might have been excited by the chance to do well. But instead we were nervous about coming in last. We decided it didn’t matter. Because once you’ve come in last in a race, it’s okay. Plus last in a tiny race like this would be no big deal.

Anyway, we agreed to just stay together unless we got really annoyed. And we didn’t. We ran the whole first loop and then the heat started to get to us and we took a few short walk breaks. I think our time would have been around 38 minutes which seems really slow…and maybe it was…or maybe the course was long because both of our running apps clocked in at 3.4 to 3.45 miles. But I hate people who say that, and they claim the course was certified. But then again, they claimed they’d have results online and neither of us seemed to show up.

It was a nice race though. Great, well marked course, though the double loop is kind of boring, at least you know where you are going the second half. We almost got run down by the 2nd place male at one point…but we didn’t. It was a fairly flat course and the T-shirt was good (I’m actually wearing it right now.)

Other plusses: nice volunteers and staff who handed us bottles of water as soon as we finished—none of that dazed wandering around looking for water while trying not to pass out. So I’d totally recommend this race. It was a fun way to spend the morning.

April and I, post race! Proud and sweaty.

Chris came home from a concert the other night with this. And he doesn’t like bacon…so he said I could have it all.  Note to bacon lovers: marry someone who doesn’t care about bacon: MORE FOR YOU.

Ran today, was 87 degrees for the high. A little hotter than I expected, but it was awesome. I had a great, challenging run, and I am super thrilled with the fact that I’ve been getting out there and running really consistently again.

That’s it for tonight. Quickie blog post. This goes with my trying to blog more consistently too 🙂

Tell me something you are getting back in the habit of doing!

Here’s a great looking event that was brought to my attention recently! It is a 5k and more on May 25 (in St Louis.) 

This is the second year of the event. They are calling this event as a “celebration of healthy accomplishments,” but it is also a call to St. Louisans to get healthy and fit. Mind and Body is a family friendly event and will include a 5K, fitness challenge, healthy living seminar and local vendors. The event is sponsored by Whole Foods, Qdoba and Bommarito. Fredbird and the St. Louis Rams Cheerleaders will appear, and there will be a $500 prize awarded to the first place finisher of the race.

Here’s a link to an article about the motivation for the event. From the article, “Fast forward to today: Since deciding to take control of her health, Pastor Ringo has dropped 35 lbs., going from a size 12/14 to a size 6 and gaining lean muscle. As a whole, the weight loss group has lost more than 600 lbs. They continue to meet bi-weekly and strive to incorporate new exercises such as spinning into their workout routines.”

Register for the 5K at www.cdmmindandbody.org. I hope to see some of you there! $500 prize for the winner! (though I’m sad because that’ll probably just be some guy…let’s bring it, women!)

Disclaimer: I was provided a free entry in return for blogging about this race, but nonetheless you know I love races and think that everybody should be inspired to live a healthy lifestyle!