Everything Hurts

When I crawled into bed last night at 9:30, I expected to fall right asleep. After all, I had been sleeping on the couch for 45 minutes before I extricated myself from the clutches of the futon. I clawed my way up two flights of stairs, peeled the scratchy contact lenses out of my bloodshot eyes, and blissfully pulled on my PJs. Half in tears, I climbed under the blankets and realized that I was just too tired to fall asleep.

How does something like this happen? Well, we had a long stinkin' weekend, that's how. Let me give you the timeline:

Friday
5:30 PM -- Met the running club for a easy, 3.5-mile pre-race jog.
6:30 -- Dashed home to clean up and head over to Celtic Fest. (This festival probably deserves its own posting, but I don't have time for that now.)
7:00 -- Found our friends and walked around all night eating kettle corn.
10:00 -- Marched back home and dropped into bed (walked 1 mile on Friday).

Saturday
6:00 AM-- Alarm went off way too early.
7:00 -- Hubby's parents arrived and we walked to Celtic Fest for the Celtic Classic 5K.
8:00 -- On the road to my 5K PR of 25:00. Woohoo!
10:00 -- Scurried from the race awards ceremony to grab a bagel for breakfast. Hubby was the 1st place kilted runner and 7th overall finisher, an award that earned him $50 in Celtic Fest food and drink tickets.
10:30 -- Ballet class after a 5K race isn't a good idea.
Noon -- Hubby picked me up at ballet, got me a coffee, and took me home to ice my foot and shower.
1:30 -- Walked back to Celtic Fest where we ate lots of food, listened to music, and watched Irish and highland dancing exhibitions.
4:30 -- Dragged ourselves home again (walked 2 miles on Saturday) for a nap.
6:30 -- Collapsed on the couch with WaWa hoagies and House, MD season two.
9:45 -- Back in bed for another too-short night of sleep.

Sunday
5:45 AM-- Up bright and early to get ready for our 21.1-mile Red Cross Relay Race.
7:30 -- Race started. One of my teammates led the first 4.2-mile leg by several minutes, so I had the unique experience of being in first place for almost half of my first leg. Hubby ran all 21.1 miles and I ran two 4.2-mile legs.
10:30 -- Hubby finished his iron run a few minutes before my team finished. He ended up finishing third in the iron run category and we finished second in the mixed men-women team category. We all got medals...woohoo!
12:30 PM -- Came home, showered, and hobbled down to Celtic Fest to spend the rest of hubby's winnings on two beers, a basket of fish and chips, and two ears of roasted corn.
3:30 -- Gave up on being fest-acious, so we limped home (walked 1 mile on Sunday).
5:30 -- Rented another disk of House and picked up steamed chicken and broccoli from the Chinese takeout next to Blockbuster.
9:00 -- Fell asleep on the futon while hubby played Lego Starwars on his Gamecube.

So, to recap, this weekend I ran 15 miles, walked 4 miles, survived two races and a ballet class, and managed to consume my own weight in food. By the time Sunday night rolled around, my whole body ached so much that I just couldn't fall asleep. I couldn't even get comfortable on my own pillow.

But, so you don't think I'm as miserable as I sound, I should clarify that I had a lot of fun this weekend. All the soreness, grunting, and whining today is just a reminder that I was able to do things this weekend that I didn't think I'd ever be able to do. That's pretty exciting, and you know what? I'd sign up to do the whole thing over again in a heartbeat.