Happy Monday! How was your weekend?? I hope yours was as much fun as mine! We arrived home yesterday evening around 6:30 which left me in a rush to get everything sorted out before the work week began! But it was worth it. We had so much fun visiting Nick’s family!

We arrived to Nick’s parents house around 8 pm on Friday night. Traffic was fairly light for a Friday evening, so I was pleasantly surprised! We had a nice dinner at home and headed to bed pretty early. We were all ready for some sleep after working all day and driving all evening!

Jazzercise + Tempo Run

Saturday morning started wayyyyy too early. Mac started getting restless around 5:30 am because he heard Nick’s two golden retrievers moving around in the living room. So we all decided to get up and have some early coffee. And after that, I headed off to take a Jazzercise class!

This was my morning drive over to the Jazzercise center close to Arnold, MO. Four lane highway is a bit of a change of pace for me at 7 am! I made it with no problems though and stood in the back (I barely made it on time!).

I love standing in the back of classes at this center. The women are all so energetic and friendly – plus they do the quirkiest things during class. I want to be able to take it all in!

The owner of the center came in while I was there, and I was happy to see her! Jan owns the center there in Arnold, but she is also a trainer for new Jazzercise instructors. So she is the wonderful lady that certified me and did my training back in June 2012! We’ve stayed in touch ever since, and I love dropping into her classes. While we were chatting, I asked that she recommend some local trails or somewhere safe where I could get a run in. She recommended a nice, paved trail that was less than a mile from the Jazzercise center. So after class and this quick convo, I headed back home to put on some running clothes and then back over to this trail.

The trail had a nice parking lot and several other vehicles were there – seemed fairly safe and legit! So I put on my ear warmer and took off in a hurry!

I was shooting for around 8 miles. My training schedule only called for 6 miles this week, but the trail was 2 miles long end-to-end, so I figured down and back twice would be perfect for a longer run. By the time I was headed back the first time, I was completely sick to my stomach and getting side cramps really bad. It wasn’t until I finished that I realized I was just running way too fast! I completed the 4 miles with a pace of 7:59 per mile. That was my first time breaking the 8:00 min/mile barrier, so I was pleased with that, just not pleased with my distance. So I called it my training ‘tempo run’ and headed back home to get ready for the day.

Luckily Nick’s mom is a sweetheart and knows me well, so she had lots of fuel in the fridge for my post-workout tummy.

I had several of these during the weekend to help outweigh all the sweets I kept snacking on. I love some thick Greek yogurt after a workout!

The rest of the day was spent traveling into the city to visit with my girlfriend Emily and her boyfriend Nathan. They took Nick and I to a restaurant and bar called Biggie’s that was located on The Hill (known for its awesome Italian food!). So I obviously had to go with some nice homemade meat ravioli. Our meals here didn’t get a photo….my phone was MIA in the car. But it was all delicious, homemade, and really hit the spot after my morning workouts.

Dinner + Chocolate Cake

We headed back to Arnold, MO around 4 pm, squeezed in a cat nap, and woke up with a house full of family ready for dinner! Nick’s parents, his brother and his girlfriend, Nick, and I headed out for a fun dinner at 54th Street. We eat here a lot for family meals because the food is great and the menu has a bit of everything on it!

I had a chopped grilled chicken salad, and it was amazing! It was full of fresh romaine, eggs, pico de gallo, avocado, tortilla strips, and lots of chicken! It was tossed in a honey lime dressing. It was so tasty, I could probably drink the stuff. Needless to say, I almost ate the entire plate! I decided not to overstuff though… I knew there was chocolate cake waiting at home for me!

Nick’s mom got a chocolate chocolate chip cake for my birthday! One of my faves!

It’s hard to see, but this was some seriously dark chocolate cake. I also was modeling the cake while wearing some awesome red PJ pants with my hair in a bun.

I’m classy, I know.

Everyone had a piece once we got home. I may have snuck an extra sliver onto my plate once I polished off this piece. But hey, it was for my birthday, so the calories don’t count!

And with the cake in our bellies, that brought our Saturday evening to an end. I was ready to pass out by 9 PM after all the food!

I’ll spare you the rest of my weekend for another post. It’s amazing how much we cram into 2 days when we visit his family. I hope you’re having an awesome Monday, and I’ll see ya later!