It’s Friday, so I am linking up with Courtney at Eat, Pray, Run DC, Cynthia at You Signed Up for What and Mar at Mar on the Run for their weekly linkup. Each Friday, they host a link up — a “Friday Five.” This week’s topic is “5 Things I Did This Summer.” I can’t believe that this summer is nearly over. Can you? It had been another really good summer for us.
1.Ran Grandma’s Marathon. Grandma’s was my 40th marathon and was on my marathon bucket list for a LONG time. It is a great run with friendly runners. I highly recommend it. I typically don’t run a summer marathon so it had thrown my NYC training off a bit, but that’s OK. It is funny looking at these pics – it doesn’t look like summer. It was June 20th so almost summer… in Minnesota. Next year, I plan to do the San Francisco Marathon to commemorate the 20th anniversary of my first marathon. Wow! Time flies! Anyone want to join me?
2. Went to my happy place to celebrate my brother’s 50th! We had a great trip back East for my brother’s 50th birthday. He looks amazing – right?! We also visited with The Husband’s sister and her family in PA where they were visiting her in-laws and saw a bunch of friends. It was a great long weekend.
3. Met lots of great bloggers and “Rocked my Health” with Humana in the Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon. The race itself was a massive sweat fest. I was really proud of my pacing and “strategy.” I enjoyed getting a ton of awesome swag, seeing and meeting online and real life friends and running a smart, well paced (and safe) summer 13.1.
4. Entertained my 15 year old niece and acted like a tourist with her in Chicago. My niece, Kayla, visited from Florida for her first solo visit to see us. It was mostly a girl’s weekend as The Husband was out of town car racing. We hit some of my faves – the Art Institute, Millennium Park, The Chicago Architecture Foundation Boat Tour, Eataly and Shake Shack (an homage to NYC dining), shopping on the Mag Mile, Green City Farmer’s Market and the Lincoln Park Zoo. We also saw The Blue Man Group and Pippin.
5. Visited Colombia and met up with Rhys. We typically don’t take summer vacations, but we took a 6 day trip to meet our world traveling friend, Rhys, in Medellin, Colombia with our friend Stacy. We loved catching up with her and seeing this beautiful, innovative city. We also took a day trip to the lake town of Guatape. I hope we will have the chance to visit more of Colombia. Rhys loved Salento and Cartagena, too. The trip was also very inexpensive, too. A win-win!
What were some of the best things you did this summer?
PS. Don’t miss my giveaways and the Wednesday Giveaway Round Up with 37 giveaways already!