does leisure "activity" count as training?

Mare and I bike on the beach to get some kind of workout in...







I'm wearing my pajamas, so does it count as training???

Honestly, we'd rather be partying...












We were in a Wedding in Florida and the following morning we woke up and decided to run for 30 minutes on the beach. When we got back to the beach house Mare decided that we should do 5 sets of push-ups where you do as many push-ups as possible in 2 minutes (interpret that as ten for me), then hold a low push-up for one minute and repeat. I couldn't get through one set without laughing hysterically because she was using her scary bootcamp instructor voice yelling "Stop laughing and KEEP GOING!" And it was ridiculously hard. AND Kelly's family (the bride's family) kept coming outside and looking at us like we were crazy for trying to workout during vacation.

The only thing that got a good stretch that vacation was my stomach. Later on when Kelly came to the house we broke out the wedding cake none of us got to eat and went to town on it like a pride of lionesses on a deer carcass in the Serengeti. No plates needed. Just a fork and gallon of vanilla ice cream to lubricate our esophagus. No crying allowed then. I made sure to use my dessert bootcamp voice during that eating exercise. Eat! Stop laughing and pick up that fork!!

There are some things you have to get serious about.

friends make you a better athlete/a mini shout-out

Friends push your pace (Becca).
They make you aspire to be better (Jeremy).
They make sure you don't injure yourself (Talia).
And they bring out the best competitor in yourself (Mike).

Friends check up on you and make you feel like you're doing something right (Hil).
They stand in the rain on race day and hold your bags so you can make sure you warm up properly and happily take pictures of you (Sherry).
Friends refuel with you and empathize with you (Dana and Taner).
(One) Friend doesn't give you a hard time for eating 3,000 calories in a day (Maria).

They send you encouraging and funny emails and pump up your self-esteem (Cassie).
Friends keep your ego in check and keep the fear of finishing poorly alive so you always want to train better (Anna).

And they're there for you no matter where you are, no matter where they are (Ally and Laurel).

Friends are the refining fire and family is the foundation.

10 miles of fun weaving and yelling "nice cut!", splashing shoes in puddles, using my fingers as wipers for my glasses, running directly for the port-a-potties, fantasizing about food, fantasizing about a race with music, and laughing in wonder of our 9:17 moderate pace.