Long Weekend Update

First, let me start by saying I had a great, great long weekend.  Maybe a little too great. 

The BF, myself and our couple friends went camping.  I had bought myself a tent for my 30th birthday last summer but work and other travel plans got in the way of us using it until this weekend.  I was very excited to try it out.  Last weekend we planned our getaway spot.  Thursday, us girls planned our menu.  Friday, I did the shopping.  Saturday morning - we were off!

The weather forecast was calling for rain, and the temperature predictions had been dropping all week, but we're TOUGH!  As we were driving out to Ahbau Lake and rising in elevation and encountered snow, we started questioning just how tough we were, but only for a minute.  We got a campsite right on the lake, and with space between us and the next campers over, which was nice considering it was a long weekend and we were expecting it to be busy.  Extra nice since the BF had decided on the way out that he "doesn't like people" anymore, or at least for the weekend.  I think we were all in NEED of a long weekend getaway!

As soon as the tents were set up, the eating began!  Smokies for everyone (veggie dogs for me)!  It seemed we were just packing up lunch and it was time to start getting dinner prepped.  Corn on the fire (yum!) and burgers, and then there were the marshmallows.  Sugar OVERLOAD! 

Sunday we were up early to a beautiful, clear morning.  The guys headed out fishing while us girls hung out at camp - EATING.  We did go out for a paddle in the canoe across the lake, but that was the most ambitious exercise of the weekend.  Though our campsite was beautiful and looked out across the lake at new growth, the drive in had been on logging roads past clear cut after clear cut.  Not the most picturesque place to go for a hike.  Not that we had time to hike - there was too much food to be eaten!

We got out the mountain pie maker for lunch

and the boys had caught us loads of fish for dinner!  Strangely, all of our neighbour campers had pulled out in the afternoon, so we were spared the music choices of others and the sound of kids on their four-wheelers and had a nice, peaceful afternoon and evening with, of course, more snacks, fried bread dough with cinnamon sugar and more marshmallows.

I really should have taken more pictures of all the food - but I was too busy eating it!

Needless to say, 3 days of almost no movement beyond the canoeing and a short walk uphill to the outhouse, plus all of that food, not to mention the Chinese takeout we had when we got home feeling too tired to cook, made today's 10km run rather painful.

I started out at a good pace, feeling comfortable for the first 3 km, but after a quick walk break had a hard time getting started again.  For the rest of the run, I never felt comfortable.  I could get my pace back up, but I couldn't hold it, and running more slowly didn't feel any better.  I felt like a slug.  BUT (and this is a good but), I kept running.  I looked at this run as practice for feeling like crap on race day.  With my grandmother visiting the week before my next half marathon, I'm sure there will be meals out and baked treats, and it will be hard to get out to run while she is staying with me.  Also, early June weather in Prince George could range from snow to rain to hail to humidity, and there's always a good chance that air quality will suck in a mill town.  So I ran the whole 10K I had planned and tacked an extra km on for good measure.  I took walk breaks, but never longer than a minute, and not more frequently than every 3K.  I finished slightly behind my most recent 10K pace, but still faster than I was a couple of months ago. 

I'm back on track with cutting back on sugar today.  I went grocery shopping and stocked up on lots of good, healthy snacks.  I don't think I'll want to look at another marshmallow for quite some time (or at least until the next camping trip!)