The Mother of All Weekends

It was one long weekend! They say time flies when you're having fun, but I think it's the complete opposite when you're driving, which I did a lot of between leaving work Friday afternoon and finally arrive back at work this Monday morning. My blue '08 Volkswagen Rabbit took me on a 745.3-mile adventure over the last three days, and I am spent! Here is how the weekend panned out:

Friday:
4:00 PM - I got off work and drove straight to Northwestern High School for our tournament baseball game. We were down 2-0 going into the top of the 7th (last) inning and scored 3 runs, but gave up 1 to them in the bottom half, to take the game into extra innings. In the top of the 8th inning we scored 3 more runs to get the 6-3 victory. We play state-ranked Canton Central Catholic this Wednesday at Norwayne HS in the district semi-final.

6:30 PM - I left the baseball field and went straight back to work, since I forgot my race packet for Saturday morning's 5k in Columbus.

7:15 PM - I left work, stopped by Subway for dinner, then went home. I cleaned up the house a little bit (basically organizing/packing clothes since I knew I had a long weekend ahead of me), and cleaned out the car a little bit.

9:45 PM - When packing for Saturday's race, I realized that I had forgotten my running shoes in my locker at work, so I drove back into work for those. Once my plant locker had been raided to get the necessary items for the next day, I went back home for the night.

Saturday:
5:00 AM - I left my house and headed for Columbus to participate in the Komen Race for the Cure 5K. The race itself started at 8:30; but with an estimated 50,000 participants, the city shuts down, roads close, and parking garages fill up quickly! Because of that, we were encouraged to get to Columbus by 7:00 AM to ensure a parking spot before all the roads shut down... and boy, was I glad I did! The event ended up attracting 50,286 participants, a new record! I couldn't believe how crazy it was! We had the option to purchase a timing chip for $5 when we initially signed up. I declined; and I'm glad I did, because it would have been hard to get a good time trying to manuever through the crowd and dodge people the whole race. I ran in the 2nd wave (runners without chips) and probably passed 10,000 people in the next 26 or so minutes. It was a blast, and I'll be doing it again!

9:30 AM - I left Columbus and started heading back home. Of course, though, like every other trip to Columbus, I had to stop at Skyline Chili in the Polaris Parkway. I got there at 9:45, but they didn't open until 10:00 AM, so I hung around for a few minutes. After getting my 4-way with bean, I went across the street to McDonald's for an M&M McFlurry, then headed home.

12:00 PM - I stopped by my parents' house on the way home to say "Hi," give my mother her Mother's Day card (yes, I know it was late!), and to see if they had my favorite pair of dress pants that I can't find. No luck with that, but everything else went well. I finally got back to my place in time to gather a few things up and settle down for a bit.

3:05 PM - I left my house and headed to Jennifer's apartment to pick her up after she got off work so we could go to the BBQ at my brother Kris and his wife Annie's house, which started at 5:00 PM.

4:05 PM - Jennifer and I left her apartment, stopped at Giant Eagle to get some potato salad for the BBQ, then headed into the Cleveland/Lakewood area to Kris and Annie's house by 5:00 PM. We had a great time there with the extended family, hanging out inside and outside, playing games with small wiffle balls (I beat Jennifer both games, but she took me to extra innings in one of them), and eating good food.

8:30 PM - We left the BBQ and headed to Wal Mart to pick out a present for Keira, my niece, whose birthday party was the following day. After spending some time there trying to decide, we finally got back to Jennifer's apartment. We were first thinking of catching a showing of "Date Night" with Steve Carell and Tina Fey, which looks hilariuos! However, we both had had a LONG day and were absolutely spent. In fact, we both almost fell asleep leaning against the living room wall watching some children playing the Wii at the BBQ, and that's when we knew we wouldn't make it through a movie. So instead of going to watch a movie, we camped at Jennifer's place Saturday night to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

Sunday: (yes, we're only to Sunday)
1:15 PM - After sleeping in (Yay!), Jennifer and I headed off to my house so I could shower, pick up some things, and pack for the rest of the day.

2:30 PM - We left my house and went to Mom and Dad's to wrap Keira's birthday presents. After wrapping them, we left for my brother Rod and his wife Mandi's house in Holmes County for the birthday party, which started at 3:30. It was a fun celebration for Keira's birthday, but it was kind of crowded and VERY loud! Luckily I looked at my clock and saw it was 5:04 PM, and we had to get going, so we jetted.

5:04 PM - Jenn and I left Rod and Mandi's and headed non-stop to Ursuline College in Cleveland so we could meet up with Jennifer's friend Nicole to pick up a TV and stand.

7:10 PM - After loading the TV and stand into my car, we drove directly to the softball field in Lakewood for my double header softball games at 8:00 and 9:00. We lost both games, but were missing some key players, and our team didn't hit or field too particularly well, either. But every team has an off night, so we chalked it up as just that. Haha! We'll be back at it next week and hopefully get a few wins to get us back on track. Oh, I forgot one of my cleats at the field, but luckily it was picked up by someone we knew, and I'll get it next week at our game.

10:00 PM - After dropping both softball games, Jennifer and I drove back to her apartment. It was late, so I stayed the night there so I could get some sleep before work the next day.

Monday:
6:30 AM - I left Jennifer's apartment and drove straight to work in Orrville, completing the weekend.

Zzzz... Now this week ahead I have baseball games scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with the Indians game Friday for Jennifer's birthday, and another softball double-header Sunday. Zzzz...

Smile! May God continue to bless you.