We're married!

We did it!! What a wonderful weekend with friends and family. We did so much - running, biking, decorating, organizing, eating, socializing... You name it. The weather was rainy on Thursday, decent on Friday, except for a heavy over night rain, then decent on Saturday. The sun came out enough to bath us in sunlight for photos. And then Sunday and Monday the weather was absolutely delightful!



The ceremony was short and sweet and although I messed up a bit, it was pretty funny and just made the whole thing more us. C talked almost the whole time we were in the ceremony. This caused me to lose my concentration at one point - when I was supposed to repeat something about being faithful to be exact.

But no matter, I'm happy to be C's wife. And I think he's glad to be my husband, even if my organization skills don't quite match his. ;)

Name my ride

Work threw a surprise wedding/shower party – took me totally by surprise. It was great for us – we got some great cards, advice and gifts. And it was perhaps equally satisfying to my colleagues who got to see me blush 20 shades of red. No, I’m not good at surprises.

Anyway, beautiful day yesterday. Rode to work and then met C, Andrea and Phil at Hains Point for some short loops. The wind was wicked on the back side of the point so I was happy to draft off the boys after 3 loops. Even so my hr was pushing the high 150s. I was glad to hear later that Chad’s got to 167 or so. Did I mention I love my Cervelo P2C?! I feel fast no matter what speed I’m cruising. My position is great for riding aero and I love that I can pick up speed relatively fast. I still need to work on powering up fast but since our race schedule is heavy on the endurance stuff I’m not going to stress out about it. Such a great ride really needs a name. Got any suggestions for a name for my bike?

We are getting all sorts of cue sheets together for riding in Massachusetts. Forecast is for high 40s in the mornings – I stopped riding here in that weather. I already started packing my cool weather gear – so NO excuses! But seriously, I can’t wait until summer!!

Sundays

Ah, the culmination of a fantastic weekend. My sister flew in and 8 of my best girlfriends got together for a short road trip. We ended up at Three Fox Vineyards in Delaplane, VA. The winery is at the top of a quarter mile driveway that goes up and up. The vineyards slope down on the left side as you approach the tasting room and down at the bottom of the right side is a bubbling brook and picnic tables and hammocks in the shade of trees that turned out to be infested with catepillers. We enjoyed a great picnic lunch and got to be very good at launching catepillars. We tasted several great wines, though I did sit out the reds. I am generally a great fan of pinot grigio, but I ended up buying a bottle of the La Giacosa Chardonnay.

We piled back in the van and headed to Rappahonnock Cellars in Huntly, VA. Again, we ended up tasting a bunch of great whites and reds. I ended getting a bottle of the Noblesse Blanc. And we got some impromptu marriage advice from two couples enjoying the wine and sunshine. Hhmm, I remember it was quite philosophical, but that's about it.

Michelle's GPS ended up taking us on some great out of the way roads. And in the end it just couldn't get us to the next destination. So we toured some backwoods of Virginia before heading back to DC to finish the day with a picnic on the bank of the Potomac River. I loved Saturday. All the things I love to do but never seem to find the time - touring wineries, hanging out with girlfriends and picnicing.

Today my sis and I slept in and ended up lunching with C at Cafe 8. After dropping M off at the airport I took a nap and then ended the day with an easy run on one of my favorite routes, the "two bridge loop", which basically takes us down to the Memorial Bridge to cross over to the Mt. Vernon trail and then back across the 14th st bridge. I got to see sunset over the river twice in one weekend!!

Thanks Michelle for travelling down. Can't wait to celebrate with everyone next week! Here are some pics from each place.