Saturday In A Nutshell

Good morning, friends! How has your weekend been so far? Relaxing? Busy? A bit of both? Mine has been....busy! I feel like I've been on "go go go" mode all weekend, but hopefully that will slow down a bit today (although my to-do list is scarily long right now and everything has to get done before the Pens game at 7....nothing interrupts Pens games in my world...especially when we play the Rangers). Yesterday looked a little something like this....

Wake up a little before 8 and wolf down a loaded British muffin from Trader Joes before going to my favorite places on Earth:

Trader Joes

AND

Target

See that purple yoga mat in the right corner? Guess who signed up to take a yoga class with a friend on Tuesday night? ME! I am so excited that it worked out with our schedules, and the class we are attending is geared toward runners and cyclists at Yoga Hive.I cannot wait :) I realized after signing up, however, that I needed a yoga mat (since I lack one) beforehand....thank heavens Target came to the rescue again....

Then this happened....

Lessons I learned on said run:

~It is imperative to check the Pitt basketball schedule to see when their games are. If they are home and around the time you will be running, DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR OAKLAND (location of Pitt's campus). It will be a madhouse, the sidewalks will be full of people who are not paying attention and run into you and then give you the dirty look for running into you, and no drivers will be paying attention, either, which is only, slightly (read: VERY) dangerous.

~You may be asked to stop, mid-run, and "pose" for a photo for some freshman participating in a photographic scavenger hunt of different neighborhoods in the city (who won you over by saying they loved the purple running clothes you were wearing). Since you, yourself, had this very same assignment 6.5 years ago (WOW......can we say old?!), you will smile, nod, and wish them luck...and then take off super fast to make up for the time spent "running" in place.

~You may be complimented on your running form near the end of your run by two gentlemen who actually did see you and stop/move over to let you run by them. You will thank them for their kindness, especially since it's near the end, you are tired and frustrated, and you don't feel the least bit graceful/possessing good form.

~Do not expect any drivers to pay the slightest bit of attention to you. They will not and will give you the dirty looks for them slamming on their brakes at stop signs they planned to roll through.

~You may not say rude things to Flyers fans you pass during your run (even though you know you can out run them). Everyone is entitled to support their team (even if it's a dumb one). And for the record, I did not do so...just something I thought/was slightly tempted to do more than once.

~Do not attempt to answer your phone when your mum is calling when the microphone in your headphones is broken. She will not be able to hear you and will inevitably think that you have been kidnapped or your phone has been stolen, and you will drop your phone while trying to communicate with her, which leads to howls of frustration and some potty language along Penn Avenue in East Liberty (and then an apologetic phone call 30 minutes later, assuring your mum you are ok).

~You will realize after you calm down that perhaps all of those things happened to make sure that you didn't kill yourself on a run since you are still fighting a bit of a cold. You will also realize that despite the odds and frustrations that is a damn good finishing time and then proceed to suck down your chocolate milk with pride, while putting off foam rolling torture till the last possible second.

~You will learn that these make you feel much better, too.~

~You will also learn that boys are not like girls and when they say they are picking you up at 1:50 to go watch the Pens game at Hot Shots, they will, in fact, be there at 1:50 and you will be forced to leave with your hair only partially dry from your shower.

Those last couple may not be from the run itself, but they were lessons learned closely after, so I still count them.

It was my first time visiting Hot Shots, and all I can say is that I will happily go back anytime, especially for a Pens game. Hot Shots is a local saloon south of the city. It was crowded but not packed, and we had no problem finding a table. All of the tvs were tuned to the game (obviously), and their menu was big, which made deciding a little difficult since all of their many sandwiches and melts looked tasty. I went with the barbecue chicken sandwich with fries....

all of which was gone in about five minutes, since I was a little runner hangry by the time it arrived. It was excellent and incredibly well priced ($6.95 if you can believe it), which definitely made it a place I would gladly return to in the near future.

And the game itself....

Penguins: 3 Flyers: 1

It was indeed. There may have been some celebratory shots taken...and I may have been complimented by the locals on my choice of Jameson Irish Whiskey (who also called the boys pansies for picking peppermint schnapps)...which may have been the icing on the cake of a pretty awesome day....just saying.

Have a spectacular Sunday!

Which hockey game did you watch yesterday? Have you ever had a run that was frustrating for a similar reason? Favorite things from Target and/or Trader Joes?