Life. Do it up!

I was away for only 36 hours this weekend, but it felt like a week's worth of vacation and festivities and, really, like I'll be riding that wave for a good long while. You know that kind of weekend? Yeah. Excellent.

Started off on Saturday morning in Cambridge, MA, to run my first 5K with Pa, Ben, and Jed (and others) from the Do Life movement. Didja hear that, Peeps? A 5K! Me?! Now, all you real runners, don't fall off your chair laughing. I know 5K is a warm-up for some of you, but for me, it's big. I mean, I've been walking that distance or even double that distance for many days in the past year, but running? No. Never did. Never expected to. But when the body has energy and the joints don't complain, it seems a natural progression and -- dare I admit this? -- I'm *liking* it.

I started loosely following the Couch to 5K program a few weeks ago. I say loosely because it's supposed to be a 9-week program and they warn you not to jump ahead, even if you feel like you can, but I did it in 3 weeks because I'm an idiot rebel like that. It was steamy on Saturday morning, though, so I (and the other couple of women I hooked up with) did a fair bit of walking during that 5K. Still, it's all movement and it's all good.

Then I headed to NYC, where I trekked around and had an amazing lunch of raw gourmet foods (I ordered appetizers so I could try a variety -- tostada, hand roll, pizza, ravioli) at Quintessence and raw dessert from One Lucky Duck. I ate that mint chip sundae on a bench outside and took the tiramisu and lemon square with me for another time. Boy, it's too bad that a raw foods lifestyle is so boring and restrictive and deprivational, eh?

;-) Saw some live music, enjoyed wandering the city solo, and met up late at night with a friend who was letting me crash at his place (lest y'all get the wrong idea: platonic! guest room!).

Up the next morning for another 5K! This one was in Central Park, again with the Do Life guys (and many others). If you check out Ben Does Life, you might see my smiling mug in 3 of his recently posted pics. This time, I again met up with two women with whom to run -- all of us at about the same pace and endurance. I took 1-minute walking breaks a few times, but this one felt like I really ran it. And I was able to hold conversations while running with them. And it was fun. So. Much. Fun. I left plenty of time for chatting with people before and after, met some fabulous and interesting folks, and really got the biggest buzz from the whole thing.

Back to friend's house, we had planned to take his motorcycle to the beach, but decided the traffic would be horrendous, so instead strolled the High Line and Hudson River Park on what had to be one of the most spectacular weather days of the year.

I googlemapped my weekend this morning and came up with about 23 miles of walking/running, total. No joke. Yet another Lacy Baktus along with podcasts to keep me occupied on the train ride back to CT to fall into bed, so tired but yet so energized.