To catch you up...

Do you ever just have those brief, or maybe even extended, periods in your life where you feel like you are always going, going, going, and don't have a minute to breathe? Let's just say I've felt like that for about the past month. As such, I apologize to anyone who reads our blog and thought that we'd gone off the grid. We're back. For now, anyways.

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to sign up for my first ever half marathon. It's now exactly two weeks away, so I've been running a lot recently. Last weekend I ran farther than I ever thought I could at 14 miles, and it went pretty well. Today I ran 10 miles but felt pretty tired. I just have to remind myself that it's okay to have a sub-par running day every now and then, and it doesn't mean that I won't be able to do it come race day. I'm just hoping for one of my good running days to land on November 20th, as well as record warm temperatures and no rain/snow.

In the last month, I have also applied for a promotion at work. So when I wasn't working, running, eating, or sleeping, I was working on my job application. I feel fairly confident about it because they have opened up a lot of positions and were basically begging people to apply, but keep your fingers crossed for me anyways. I should find out by the end of November or early December.

Believe it or not, we have managed to squeeze in a little fun this month.

A few weekends ago, Andrew's family came in town. On Friday night we went to Patrick Henry's homecoming game. It was freezing and they lost horribly, but we still had fun.

On Saturday we decided it would be a great idea to drive to Mabry Mill and take in all of the fall colors and eat our fill of buckwheat pancakes. Apparently everybody else on the East Coast thought it would be a great idea to eat there, too. When we heard there would be a THREE HOUR wait, we decided we could live without our pancakes. Before heading on our way, we did walk around and enjoy the most photographed location on the Blue Ridge Parkway (apparently it is also one of the most photographed places in the US)...it's easy to see why!




After Mabry Mill, we headed to Floyd and walked around downtown for a while to check out all of the shops. If you've never been there, I highly recommend it. If you go, be sure to check out the Floyd Country Store. After we'd worked up and appetite, we met my parents at the Pine Tavern Restaurant, which is another great place you should check out while in Floyd. Just think Homeplace, but better (I know, I bet you thought it wasn't possible).

The following weekend we finally got to go to our first NASCAR race where they actually raced. In case you don't remember, we attempted to go back in March but the race ended up getting delayed until Monday due to rain and we couldn't go back. Here's this pitiful picture to remind you in case you forgot:


There was no such sadness this time around. It was a perfect day for racing; not to hot, not too cold, and a bright sunny day.

Before the race we walked around and stood behind the people on TV.

We also saw THE Joe Gibbs!

This was the great view we had from our seats

We had a really great time watching the race (and all of the people!) and experiencing the rumble of the cars as they zoomed by.

Of course, we could not go without the famous Martinsville Speedway Hotdogs, complete with chili, coleslaw, mustard, and onions...mmm (we see why they call this the Tums Fast Relief 500).

We had a really great time at the race and we hope to be able to go back to some more, and maybe visit a few other tracks nearby.

So, that's what we've been up to recently. Hopefully things will calm down a little bit, but seeing as how Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it, I doubt it will. Oh well...I guess I'll just learn to enjoy the madness!

Share