Weekend Update

Where to begin besides I had a great weekend and I wish they were all this good.  Heather and I went out to eat at Chilis Friday night and got the 2 for $20, what a great deal, especially because they have some very good choices that include desert!  At one point I said that I was going to get the buffalo chicken salad and try to be a bit healthier since we would have the loaded fries appetizer and desert of deliciousness.  Heath then suggested a burger would be just as healthy since the chicken is breaded and the ranch they include with it.  I decided to get the salad since I used to live on it when I traveled thanks to Chilis To Go.  Again I cannot stress enough how good of a deal this meal is!  About as soon as we were seated we were interrupted by a work phone call which luckily only took a few minutes to resolve. 

Saturday we went to the Albertville Outlet Mall.  We went for two things, letting her look for some clothes and to go to the Carter’s store for our niece.  We stimulated the economy a bit more than expected by the end of our trip.  She had some good luck finding clothes that she was looking for, and we spent some time looking around at the different shops since I had never been to this mall before.  We went into a kitchen store to see what I could not live without, and by the end of the day we came out with a new shiny 15 piece stainless steel set of Emeril pots and pans.  I have been wanting to make the switch from our Cusinart non-stick to stainless recently.  I just do not care for the teflon pans, both from a cooking and cleaning aspect, but from some negative things I have read about some possible health issues from the teflon.

We also picked up a few other pieces of clothing for ourselves and a bunch of stuff at the baby store for our niece.  Overall it was a very good day, although we spent a bit more than anticipated.  After dropping off the clothes for our niece, we went home and made dinner.  Mmmm turkey burgers with all the fixings.  We then sat and watch the Iowa football game vs. Penn State.  What a game, although our offence looked lacking for most of the game, the defense looked amazing outside of the first play they were on the field.  What a great victory!  Yet again Iowa as the underdog is the team to watch this season. 

I slept like crap on Saturday night for whatever reason, which made getting up in the morning for our 9 mile run a challenge.  It took me a while to get going, and the weather was a bit cooler and windier with some strong 20 MPH gusts.  It made the run a bit more of a challenge than I expected.  This was my confidence builder for the marathon since my last long run was … eh at best.  Although this did not have the distance, my knee felt pretty good and all in all it was a success.  I am still a bit sore today, Tuesday, in my quads.  Hopefully in the next day or so it goes away and I will have a few days before the race.  We picked up some new flooring and purchased a water softener which I later installed that day to replace the broken one from when we moved in to our place over two years ago.  The install was pretty painless since it hooked up to the existing bypass valve with no modification.  We now have soft water, and hopefully no more hard water spots on our dishes, showers, and toilets! 

We had dinner with Heather’s aunt and grandparents to celebrate her aunt’s birthday on Sunday.  I helped pick out the cake, chocolate fudge surprise.  it was a surprise I did not put more weight on for as much as I ate, and as I am writing this, I wish I had another piece!  Sunday night I was ready for bed at 8, talk about lame!  I held off a while, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light. 

We have a week of cleaning and getting the house ready for company this weekend (and it just has needed a good cleaning for a while.)  This will keep my nights somewhat busy fixing a few things (a piece of trim that our dog decided to use as a chew toy.)  Since this is supposed to be a recovery week, my final run was tonight, a easy 3 mile run with Heather before this weekend. 

Looks like the bike is to be delivered tomorrow, although I will not be around to sign for it, go figure, but then again it is not like I am going to be riding before Sunday afternoon.  I must say, I have been reading a bit more about MetriGears new Speedplay power pedals.  They are set to release in Q1 2010, just about perfect timing.  What a great location for a PM.  Not tied to wheels, although I do not have race wheels, not tied specifically to a bike like a crank is, not that I have two bikes, but dang pedals.  Considering the cost of a set of Speedplay Zero pedals and what they are talking for these, they will be a strong competitor in the market if they turn to be as reliable as they say.