Experiencing Things for the First Time!

On Friday, this post was going to be a colossal rant and rave about my 4lb weight gain in one week, but I've since calmed down, gotten out of my funk, regrouped and had an awesome weekend. Plus, a couple of those pounds are already gone, putting me back into my "normal" range.

Instead, I'm going to touch on the amazing weekend I had and hit some of the high points. In many ways, I feel like a first grader who got to see and do things for the first time! In no particular order:

1.) Ran 11 miles with my partners Thon, Mike and Amy and felt GREAT afterward. (for a change)
2.) Drove up to Mt. Barker with Shawn and Thon on Saturday evening to watch the sun set and the lunar eclipse. Now, THAT's something you don't get to do every day.
3.) Thon and Shawn gave me my first ever lesson on how to drive a stick shift. Yes, I'm 33 years old and still don't know how to drive a stick shift. And yes, I stalled the car...a couple of times, but it wasn't so bad. Do I want to drive on the roads yet? Hell no! But, it's a start.
4.) Went to church and listened to a very applicable homily on marriage and relationships. (haven't been to church in a while so it's kinda like a "first.")
5.) Shawn and I hopped on our Mountain Bikes this afternoon and rode down to Zilker Park for the Kite Festival. We attempted to fly our airplane kite, but didn't have a whole lot of luck. We did, however, have a whole lot of fun looking at the thousands of other kites in the park.
6.) We threw the kite away (nice try) and proceeded to experience miles of Town Lake on our bikes. I'm so used to running this trail, that riding on my mountain bike was a whole new experience that I haven't done in years. We definitely got a heck of a workout with about 10 miles of biking on the Trail.

And in other breakthrough/first time news:

I went to the YMCA today give my swim the real test. I've been swimming in the Swim Ex current pools with no real proof as to whether or not I'm truly getting faster. I've felt confident, but not confident enough to really try...until today. I warmed up for 300m (6 laps) and felt very comfortable. Then, I proceeded to do 10 x 50m repeats on the :15. I was coming in between :55-1:00 every time! I WAS GIDDY!!! Looking back on some old posts, there were workouts where I was averaging 1:14-1:17 per 50. In October, I did a similar workout where I was averaging 1:04-1:06 per 50. Needless to say, my breakthrough may be for real!! I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but that is huge for me...5-10 sec improvement per lap. wow...

Ah...the sights and sounds of being a kid again. We even passed an ice cream truck...Too bad I gave it up for Lent.