It's marathon week! 10 mile run

A little bit of rain and some colder temps here in New England, but for the most part, it was a good weekend here in Connecticut.  Friday and Saturday I was at a horse show showing Bradley in the Adult Amateur Hunters.  He was okay, I was okay, but it was a great first show to work out a few kinks after a long winter off.  

My friend Courtney had a great show and won her big classic with her horse Dave.

After the horse show, I spent Saturday cleaning, hiking, napping, and packing up the apartment to move.  Oh and fretting about the marathon that was 7 days away.

My marathon taper schedule was thrown completely off with a trip to Salt Lake City and then a terrible cold.  I took a week off running and missed one of my longer runs in my taper.  Thursday I did a little 3.5 miler with Liz but still needed a long(ish) run before the race.

So Sunday I decided I was going to run a nice and easy 10 miles as a way to sneak a little distance into my messed up taper.

I did the standard 3 mile loop by my house, and then ducked into the state forest to run on some of the access roads and trails.  After 5.5 miles I SPRINTED home for a quick bathroom break and finished the 4.5 miles.  The run (and this entire town) was very hilly so I was happy with my time, especially after my running hiatus. 

Olive was also so happy to be out there running again. 

 Really reminds me why I do it. For the both of us. 

After my run I stopped at the tent sale at my local dive shop, tried on a few wet suits, bought a few things, and headed to downtown Essex to shop around and grab a coffee. 

After being away, and confessing my love for Salt Lake City all over the blog, it was nice to remind myself the beauties of New England as well.  

Small town, USA.  Essex, Connecticut is the town I lived in for two years when Thatcher and I were renting a house together.  It was our first place together, where we learned (sort of) how to deal with eachother, where we adopted our first dog, where we took morning coffee walks downtown, where we made some "Essex friends" and spent far too much time at the Black Seal.  Essex is always going to remind me of that time<3  

After going through a few of the shops downtown, I ran into Kristen and her boyfriend Charlie.  I walked into one of Kristen's favorite stores.  As I walked through the store, in love with this and that, who walks in Kristen and Charile. I walked around with them for a bit, swung by a boat show, and picked out these adorable gifts for a jack and jill wedding shower I was going to Sunday night. 

I framed a card inside of a scrap book for the couple, bought the bride to be a little ring holder for the kitchen or bathroom, a cute little sign for their new home, and a "grooms instruction manual" for the groom to be.  I am sure they will love the gifts.


Horseshow, relaxing Saturday, 10 mile run, a dive sale, a walk downtown, shopping, and a wedding shower.  A lovely weekend before the weekend of Marathon Madness :)