Weddings = Endurance Events

One of my best friends was married last Saturday. And as far as I'm concerned, a wedding is an endurance event. It's a test of strength and stamina for all involved parties - the bride, groom, parents, attendants, etc. For months, you're training and preparing. You need to consider the time and place and setting when choosing your ideal outfit for the big day. There's pre- and post-event food, and along the way there are mini-events such as showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties, etc.

I was a bridesmaid, and aside from random odds and ends and helping where I was needed, my primary role was to bake the cookies (snickerdoodles and brown sugar cookies) and pralines for the wedding favors. It was a perfectly sized wedding with only 100 guests. While I baked the sweets, my mom assembled the boxes and glued pink flowers to the tops of the boxes.

Here is a picture of Karen in her gown. See that dark bead work? Her mom added those to the bodice of the gown, down the train, and along the base of the skirt. Karen's mom is the next Martha Stewart. Check out the centerpieces for the tables (She made those too!).

This is my new friend Aunt Julia. She's a very sweet lady with a big heart. Her task on Thursday was to package the cookies.

And for those of you who are interested in our Team In Training training, the big ride is just 2 1/2 weeks away. We have one more training ride left. It's a 90-mile ride this Saturday in Middleburg, VA. Very, very hilly horse country. Next week, 11/8, our bikes are being shipped to Tucson.

Gainesville, VA

Saturday's ride was in Gainesville, VA. It was a great day to be riding bikes. Not only did the weather cooperate but the Fall colors were in full force.
Here's a picture of me and Chris at the first SAG stop.

Team Captain Charlie made ribs and potatoes for all to enjoy at the last SAG stop. They were perfect snack to get us through the rest of the ride.

Chris with Bridgett, Charlie, and Will at the end of the ride.

Meet our Coaches

Our Team In Training coaches for this season (they are a great group of guys!):

John (in his very cool Jelly Belly jersey)
Kelly (he was Chris's team captain for our first TNT event, America's Most Beautiful bike ride in Tahoe) Will (he was also our coach for the Tahoe ride)

Covered Bridges Ride, Frederick, MD

Last week's Team In Training ride was the Covered Bridges, starting from Frederick, MD. It was a beautiful ride. The day started at cool but it warmed up nicely and ended up being a perfect day for a long ride.

The ride seemed to take all day because of obstacles we stumbled upon along the way (mainly an arts&crafts festival called Colorfest in Thurmont, MD and a route that had us crossing a major divided highway half a dozen times).

Part of the ride took us into Pennsylvania which was cool.

Terri, a Tahoe alumni, and her dog Honey helped sag Saturday's ride.

We only have three more training rides until the big event in Tucson on November 17. This week, we'll be in Gainesville, VA for a 72-mile ride. We're missing next week's 85-mile ride from Vienna, VA, but we'll be back the following week for the big 90-mile ride in Middleburg!

More pictures from Steamtown

The photographs from the race photographers are online. Below are some of my favorites..

Kristin (she looks happy to be running):
Sylvia and a new friend she met on course around mile 13. Sylvia said the two of them did nothing but complain during the last half of the marathon. Binni and Marie at the finish.
The four of us at the end of the marathon.

Steamtown Marathon, 10/7/07, Scranton, PA

So, after a Team in Training training ride in Berryville, VA, I drove to Scranton, PA to meet 3 friends for the Steamtown Marathon. We all survived the run and today, we're feeling pretty good...A little stiffness in the legs and some sore quads, but overall, we're doing great.

The picture of the 4 of us was taken before the race: Kristin, me, Sylvia, and Marie (from left to right).

Kristin finished strong with a time of 4:01:26. Sylvia finished in 4:31:57. I ran the marathon with Marie. Marie hit "the wall" at mile 18, so that's when the Team In Training team captain in me came out. I talked her through the last 8 miles and we finished together in 4:51:23/24.

The marathon was a point-to-point, and we ran through many small PA towns. The spectators, friends, family, and residents of these towns, were great...Very motivational and into cheering on the runners. At two points, people were passing out beer (who can think of drinking beer at a marathon??). The best neighborhood was around miles 23-25...The houses were gorgeous, the entire neighboorhood was cheering us on ("you're almost there"). At mile 24, a lady was passing our Reisens (chocolate covered caramels). Who knew that was just the thing we needed to get us through the last 2 miles?!? I'll be training with Reisens from now on!

Team In Training - Davidsonville

A couple of weekends ago, our training ride (61 miles) was in Davidsonville, MD. This is a great area to ride. It's a fairly easy route with a few moderate to challenging hills. The best parts of this particular Davidsonville route is that one of the rest stops is at North Beach where there is a wonderful pastry/coffee shop called Sweet Sue's (we sampled a variety of their cookies and all were perfect),

and another rest stop is near a store that sells the greatest pies. For our snack, we sampled peach, apple and blueberry pies.