Weekend Report: Birthday Weekend

So you may recall that Saturday was my birthday! For whatever reason, 2/23 is pretty reliably gloomy, so I spent most of my day relaxing, puttering, going for a little birthday run, and getting life-chores done.

I had an conference call scheduled for 2pm (are you impressed by how important I sound?), and by that I mean that LOTR-Emily and I sat on her floor in DC and Skyped with LLC waking up in Hawaii and 6x6 going to bed in South Africa! Four best friends, three continents – aka the best conference call ever.

Then SpeedyKate and I got our hostessing on – my friends came over and she made  an Indian FEAST from her favorite cookbook – Chicken Vindaloo, Amla Chickpeas, Kale, and garlic naan. Yummm. Seriously guys, I'm not a slow cooker person, but this cookbook is amazing. LOTR-Emily made double chocolate cakeballs, and I made myself a Carrot Cake Cheesecake, because why do one or the other when you can do both!? (Recipe tomorrow, I promise.)

The birthday festivities Saturday night didn’t get too out of hand, because Sunday morning I had my second and final looooooong run. Coach George starts every workout proclaiming “it’s a beautiful day for a run!” and Sunday it actually was. The sun was shining, flowers were blooming, I wore shorts, and the air felt like springtime.

We did a 21-mile progression run, starting at around 8-minute pace and working our way down to 6:45s for the last 7 miles. The last part was probably a bit too quick, but it was all downhill. Plus and the gels in my stomach were not sitting well (ugh eating and running)…life rule: the faster you run the sooner you can stop! Think about it.

Sunday post-long runs have become Mollie-reads-somewhere-o’clock, and this week’s location was Union Market, a super-hipster indoor food place in Northeast DC. I sat with a delicious coffee from Peregrine and a semi-disappointing scone from The Bear’s Honeypot (should I quit my life and start a much-needed cookie business in Union Market? Maybe…), and read and people-watched for hours.

Though I was incredibly tempted to stay home for the evening and eat leftover Indian food on my couch, I instead hopped on my bike to go to an Oscars party. Since I’m not a movie aficionado, I definitely did not win the betting pool, but fun friends and good food make it all ok. Though why oh whyyyy do the Oscars have to run so late??

And that, my friends, is that. Birthdays are not a HUGE deal, but they're a great excuse for cake and they also serve as a good taking-stock, goal-setting, sort of New Years-ish life reminder. I'm pretty psyched about this year...GREAT things are going to happen!