Happy We Love America Weekend!

Hope everyone had lovely 4th of July (or Canada Day, for my Canadian loves!) weekends! I had the absolutely most wonderfully perfect weekend upstate at the lake — so much so that returning to “real life” in NYC was a bit of a struggle. You know when you’re filled with alllll the happiness and feel like life just couldn’t be any better? That was this weekend for me. Home really is where the heart is (especially when home is a lake). 🙂

Let’s recap this festive redwhite&blue weekend in verbs, shall we?

Ran. First thing’s first, even on holiday weekends — my fitness stayed strong! Here’s a breakdown of my 3 runs:

• Saturday, 7am: 9 very, very hilly miles. This was a tough one for me, physically and mentally, even though it was the most gorgeous morning for running (57 degrees and sunshine with a little breeze). I hadn’t run hills at all in a few weeks and I think I had been anticipating having this amazing run, and when I started to struggle, I got disappointed and frustrated with myself. I managed to make it through the whole 9 miles, but it felt hard, and I was so glad when it was done. I did, however, debut my newest run gear obsession, which I absolutely love and want to wear every day now:
  
• Sunday, 9am: 5.5 (a little less hilly) miles, feeling good. Much better than Saturday, so I think my mind & body start to prepare themselves for the hills after the first day and I handle them better? Or maybe b/c it was a shorter run? Let’s go with both. Either way, I enjoyed Sunday’s run much more.
• Monday, 10am: 5.5 miles with the boy. Duplicate of Saturday’s course, but with my favorite running partner this time – and this was one of our best couple runs! Woohoo. We both felt good and ran well despite the heat and hills, and dove face-first into mugs of smoothies I made for us as soon as we got back to the lake.

Total weekend mileage: 20 miles! Holiday weekend running = huge success.

Ate. All.the.fruit. (Hello, summer!) My fave summer post-run breakfast/brunch has been a very berry smoothie lately: blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, half a banana, almond milk and ice, blended with a package of French Vanilla Medifast protein powder = all sorts of amazingness.

(Recycled pic but totally relevant!) We made these twice this weekend and I plan to continue making it all summer. Current food crush for sure.

Played. My brother threw a party at the lake on Sunday, so naturally, games.

Kan Jam, anyone? When I think of “beach day” or “summer party,” this game automatically pops up for me, so I hit Amazon late last week and POOF! it was there by Saturday, in all its frisbee-throwing glory. I’m proud to announce that I hit a Kan Jam in the first game, to the shock of all of us! I seem to have a real future in backyard BBQ games. I’m on a hunt for Fricket poles right now as well (shout out to my Canadians!).

Paddled. I really, really love stand-up paddleboarding. I mean, I was Hundo P sure it was right up my alley before I even tried it, but now that I’ve spent more time on my little blue baby of a board, I can assuredly assert that it’s just so, so awesome. Who doesn’t want to enjoy a gorgeous day standing on top of a lake and getting tan while paddling around and getting a bit of a workout at the same time? Boy kayaking beside me, stopping to take breaks and lay down on the board (planks in the lake? don’t mind if I do!) and just enjoy the moment…it was seriously wonderful. I wish I could start or end every day that way.

Hope you all had lovely, friend-and-family-and-fun filled holiday weekends, friends.

Best part of your 4th weekend?
How’s the summer running going?
Favorite backyard BBQ/beach game?