Goals, games, and milkshakes

We had been wanting to catch a Braves game for a long time, and decided that April was the time to do it. Because a mid-afternoon game in Atlanta in July didn't sound like fun. However, I had set a goal to be able to run 10k by my birthday, and I was running out of time. While I just wanted to be able to run the distance, Dave suggested I find an actual 10k to run. So once we decided to go to Atlanta for the weekend, I found three 10Ks that were also that day. I narrowed it down to the one that seemed like the prettiest run and had a staggered start for the 5k and 10k (so we could alternate running and watching the girls). So on Saturday morning, Dave and I got to run along the Chattahoochee River. Even if it wasn't as flat as the website had claimed, it was still a beautiful day and a great run.

When I started running 8 weeks ago, my goal was to finish the 10k without walking. And then I started thinking I could run it in under an hour. Then I hurt my foot. Then I got better. Then I looked up my family's times when they ran a 10k together in 2009 (I was 36 weeks pregnant and having contractions every 4 minutes, so I didn't) and started pushing myself to be in their range (between 56:11 and 1:00:00; no, David, I'm not counting your time). Then Dave told me about the hills. And I was back to the "finish without walking" goal.

Dave on the left, me in a "Where's Waldo" pink and gray tank top on the right.

I finished. I didn't walk. I felt great (a little bored and frustrated at one point; I had wanted to update my playlist but I think Annabelle may have thrown away my shuffle's cord--boo!), and I loved seeing my girls clapping for me as I approached the finish line. I finished in 56:10, averaging 9:02/mile. I'm very happy with it.

There were a lot of dogs at the race, so Annabelle loved pointed them out and waving to them. There was one that she really seemed to like, and we just happened to be going out to our cars at the same time. They ended up being parked next to us, and as we were trying to get the girls loaded up in the van, we heard one of the owners call the dog over for water. Dave and I looked at each other, and he asked, "I'm sorry, but what's you're dog's name?" The owner looked up, "This is Annabelle!" We introduced our Annabelle, and explained that her nickname was Puppy. They seemed amused (or at least politely feigned amusement) and let us take a picture:

Two puppies named Annabelle

We headed back to the hotel, showered, Annabelle took a nap, and then we went to lunch at the Varsity. I didn't get my post-run chocolate milk, but a post-run chocolate shake is even better.

Then we went to the game. Mabes was totally excited and just took everything in.

We need to work on her hand-eye coordination.

Puppy's first corndog

Runnin' the bases

"For it's root, root root for the home team..."

We couldn't have asked for better weather--high 60s with a light breeze. There had been a huge storm the night before and that game had been cancelled, so we could have stayed for Saturday's double header. The girls were pretty tired by the time game 1 ended, so we hung out for a little bit, watching them get the field ready and see the players warm up (or stay warm, since they had just played). Mabes kept thanking us for such a great day, and was so happy that she got to see Chipper, Brian McCann, and Jason Heyward. The Braves won, Chipper hit a home run, and Mabes got to dance and cheer do the tomahawk chop. It was a great day.