#36er

I had such a great weekend!

Over time I have realized that to be a great mother, to be a great wife, to be a great friend…we must spend time together as women…without children and men!  I adore my children, love my husband to bits BUT getting away with girlfriends is a must!!!  The time away from home only makes the heart grow fonder and recharges our patience. Not only do I get to spend time with some of my best girlfriends, chat, bond, get advice and just be together but it also gives Daddy time to bond with the kiddos without having mommy being a helicopter parent.  Its a win/win for everyone!

I love these girls…but I have to say I do miss my other besties too. They make me laugh like no other...our history makes us like sisters…and I miss them! Can’t wait to someday do a girls trip with ALLL my girls….do you think that is possible some day???

Anyway…I’m not one that thinks that my husband needs to spend every second of the day/night with me and the kids.  We, as a married couple, encourage each other to hang out with friends whenever possible (which is about once a month or so).  Yosh goes on “man-dates” that usually include fine dining and some cocktails, movie dates (for movies I don’t want to see) or board game nights!  And us wives try and get together as well…to craft, eat, pamper ourselves, shop, whatever.  And of course we come together as one big huge group, husbands, wives, kids, pets whatever haha a few times a moth as well!  Our friends are our Framily (Friends/Family)

Back in May I saw an ad for the She.Is. Beautiful Pinkest Run Ever in Santa Barbara in September. Hello…runs that weren’t terribly long distanced AND you can wear pink, sparkles, whatever….RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!!   I started researching some hotels and the financial side of a weekend getaway.  And…what do you know…I talked most of the girls into joining…even our NON-RUNNING friends! They had the option for a 5k or 10k.  There was something for everyone!  Some of us trained a bit more than others BUT it was a great experience.

Us ladies laugh because it was a “weekend getaway”…which actually was more like 36 hours away from our husbands and children. #36er AND it really only ended up being 33 hours! Some husbands didn’t mind being Mr. Mom for the 33 hours…others were a bit frazzled and ready for the mama’s to return! Kids are tough darnit! Single parents are awesome…don’t know how they do it!

We loved Santa Barbara. We ate a lot. Drank some (no one wanted to be hungover for the run!). And ate some more! haha  Upon arrival into the city we picked up our race bibs, found our hotel, drove the run course and then found food!  After food we got some booze and lounged by our hotel pool. It was nice and relaxing.

State Street Santa Barbara!  And btw Santa Barbara Brewing Co has some YUMMMYYY pulled pork nachos..I’m still dreaming about them!! And this is just moments before Heather broke my wine bottle opener! lol


Thank goodness for self-timers on our iphones!! Set it and RUUUNNNNN! I have a problem with trying to look “relaxed” after running from my camera! lol

We found a nice place called Jane for dinner that got some good reviews on yelp! I recommend the red onion rings…they were delish!

Had a pretty cool old fashioned movie theater with cool lighting.  I posed for heather and once we got everyone there for the group shot the theatre lights went out…it was like they did it on purpose!

 
The group shot is hilarious…it got Taryn and Deanna mid-yell at the theatre workers for the lights!! haha

The race was fun…but hard!! It was the hilliest course I have ever ran…and kicked my booty! But with the encouragement of Taryn we got a pretty good time!!

Taryn and I finished our 10k in 57:38….not bad!! I stole the pic from the race website of our finish….

I was so proud of my non-running friends!! It was Heathers first 5k ever and she did freaking awesome…so cool huh!! And Lindsey and Kyla aren’t regular runners and still kicked butt! Deanna rocked it…being 12 weeks prego didn’t stop her in any way!!

We went back to our hotel to ice, booze, shower and then headed back out to eat more!! heehee.

And Heather introduced us to McConnell’s ice cream…we may OR may not have had it twice on this trip!!! Its freaking delicious!!!

 

Thanks for an awesome weekend girls! I vote that our next 36er we head out late Friday night, have some drinks…then have time to recover on saturday and run on sunday!!! Win/Win!!  Oh and trying to use my slow-mo video in a movie…its a work in progress as of now.