Fun Saturday!

Mr. SP and I ran the Park to Park Half Marathon yesterday.  Neither of us was properly trained, but we both made it and had a splendid time doing so.  The course ran from a park just down the street from my mom’s home to another park in nearby Stuarts Draft. 

We ran by many beautiful farms with mountains in the background.  The course was quite hilly which I actually like.  It makes for a more difficult run, but the change in terrain works slightly different muscles and my legs like that.  Plus, I am pretty good at hills and it’s the one chance I have to pass someone!
The race was a point to point.  Mama kindly picked us up at the finish line so we didn’t have to ride a bus back to the start.

I was glad to see the finish!

And so was Mr. SP!  This was Mr. SP’s first running event since he severely strained his MCL a year ago.  He only started running again at the end of January and completed this race with minimal training with no problem.

Our friend, HT, won third place overall.  (HT is wearing the red shirt.)  He and his brother (green shirt) were a few years ahead of me in school and friends of the family. 

I like running races because I’m not really racing against anyone but myself.  For me, I just get out there and run and have a good time.  Tennis makes me nervous because I want to win.  I never get nervous about running because I know there’s absolutely not a chance in the world that I’ll win anything, so I relax, run, and enjoy.

After a quick YMCA shower, Mama treated us to a delicious lunch in Staunton at Mockingbird.  If you ever are in Staunton, try this restaurant.  They use local ingredients and it is absolutely delicious.

The best part of the day for me was a visit to Milmont Garden Center in Stuarts Draft.  It is Mennonite owned and a great place to shop for plants.  In my town, there’s not a single shop that offers this much variety.  I love going here to buy what I need all at one time rather than driving from store to store hoping to find what I want.

I was in plant heaven!

I tried to get everything I needed to fill all my outdoor containers for summer with this one trip.  It required a lot of thinking and deciding!

Luckily, Mama was with me to help with plant combinations.

All done!

Can you tell that Mr. SP entertained himself at the nursery by taking pictures?  Yes, I have a husband with the patience of a saint.  I shopped for a longgggg time!

Now I need to get outside and plant all of these plants.  Goodbye pansies, hello summer annuals!

How much do you want to bet that I’ll end up buying more plants?  I think the chances are quite high!