Monday, April 27, 2009

To Rest or Not to Rest?

To rest or not to rest? That shouldn't even be a question after running a 10K race, really, but of course it was for me. I love to be busy, so I often have to come close to physically tying myself down in order to get some rest. So, after running my first 10K race on Saturday, I told myself that the remainder of the weekend would be low key and restful. Well, it almost happened like that.

My post-race Saturday started off okay. After crossing the finish line and catching up with some of my husband's wonderful family, the Best Husband Ever and I sauntered back across the river to our parked car. Arriving at home, I took a long and luxurious steaming shower before heading back out for a treat and Scrabble day with the hubby. Because our usual downtown treat locations were jam-packed with runners and their respective entourages, we tried something a little different. He has mentioned in the past that he enjoys the doughnuts sold at a particular grocery store's bakery, so we headed that way. He ordered a croissant and an old fashioned chocolate doughnut, and I got a glazed croissant. I tried a bite of both of his treats, and the doughnut was fabulous. My own croissant was a little too doughnut-y for me, though, although it was light, sweet, and tasty. It was a little bit of a disappointing reward after working so hard that morning, though.

Following our game of Scrabble -- collectively our score broke 600 points, but did not beat our all-time high -- the Best Husband Ever went in to work for a few hours. This made me a bit sad, but I understand because he's under a lot of pressure from this challenging project. Happily, he made some good progress on Saturday.

As for me, the hubby's absence made for a perfect opportunity to take it easy. Did I take advantage of this? Well . . . not so much. I transformed into a cleaning machine, dusting, vacuuming, doing copious amounts of laundry, scrubbing the bathroom, and washing walls. I simultaneously uploaded pictures to Flickr. I even made some of this (stand by for a more in-depth post on this yummy creature tomorrow!):

So my post-race rest never quite happened on Saturday. Oops!

I did a little better on Sunday. Waking up early, I enjoyed working out with some cardio followed by a Tae-Bo strength DVD. This was a special treat as, when our downstairs neighbor is home, my exercising is loud and interrupts his sleep. He was gone all weekend, though, so I took advantage. I love early morning workouts!

After church and stopping by the in-laws' for some visiting and coffee, the Best Husband Ever had a second try at treat day for lunch. Once again, we headed to Bernice's, Scrabble in hand. He got his stand-by caramel roll, while I ordered a savory croissant stuffed with spinach and cheeses including feta, parmesan, and mozzerella. It was fairly tasty, although probably would have been better warmed up. I guess I'm just not having good luck with the treat choices this weekend! Still, I enjoyed trying out new items.

By the time we finished up our Scrabble game, I was exhausted. Partially from sitting in the bakery's sunny window, but also from my rather tiring Saturday. The hubby drove me home, where I had planned to fold laundry and begin packing for this coming weekend's house move. Instead, I curled up with a book (Breaking Dawn, the somewhat average last book in Stephanie Meyer's vampire series) and then promptly falling asleep for an hour. When I woke up, groggy, I blogged and then took Cody for a short hike. None of my Sunday work plans got accomplished (at least, not my plans for me -- the hubby reseeded the lawn, which rocks), but I think that's okay. Rest is important, right? That's what I keep on telling myself. It's okay to listen to my body, assess what it needs, and then take it easy when necessary.

4 comments:

  1. You know, it's funny, but I always get a huge rush of energy after a particularly long/hard workout session. You'd think that I'd want to rest, but I don't. It's like a switch is turned on. It's always the NEXT day that everything hits me. So what happened to you sounds perfectly normal to me! :) Glad you got some rest on Sunday.

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  2. I keep meaning to leave a comment about this, so here goes...Every time you post about a bakery and scrabble day, I want to pack up my BF and haul him and the scrabble board to a bakery. It sounds wonderful. He and I play Scrabble, but he's very competitive, so when I suggested the "total score theory" of Scrabble, he just grunted at me. I don't think he's interested, but I'm going to keep bugging him.

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  3. ummm, I think it is rather mean to show such a wonderful picture of some yummy goodness and than not tell me what it is. sniff.:)

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  4. Tina, I'm glad you like the Scrabble suggestion. To be honest, I wasn't so keen on it myself . . . until I tried it. Maybe you can make a deal with your boyfriend that he tries playing that way one time with no strings attached before he decideds yay or nay? Kara, it's good to hear I'm not alone!MommyGourmet, was I being evil? ;) At least I didn't make you wait for long -- that recipe is up!

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"I am glad you are here with me."
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King