A Great Day of in the World of Val

(Note: I wrote this post a couple weeks ago, but didn't have the chance to edit it until today, hence some of the weather and pre-marathon comments may seem a bit off...)

So, today was a very good day. Virtually all days where I don't have to go to work are particularly good days, but today was exceptional. Here are the ingredients for a good day in my (sad, little) world.


2 hours of sleeping in (which means getting up at 7am, yeah, very luxorious)




1 leisurely drive to and from Highland Park with the top down on a sunny, 73 degree Fall day in
Chicago in my Elly


15 min of quality chatting with Sheila at the Highland Park VW Dealership when I dropped my
car off for routine maintenance. I actually look forward to bringing my car in for oil changes and routine service because I get to catch up with Sheila! Very nice lady.



5 hours tooling around the North Shore in a loaner Suburu Legacy. My thoughts on the Legacy: excellent pick-up, decent handling, good base package sound system but UGGLLYY. Both inside and out. Ick. Always fun to try out a new car though!



1.5 hours doing my last medium run before the marathon on the North Branch bike tail, watching the beautiful leaves changing




30 minutes eating McDonalds: a cheeseburger, small fries and vanilla shake. Oh, I love the
dietary indiscretions that count as carbo loading;)



3 hours shopping for fun stuff! I never do this so it was a special treat! Got some new Under
Armour T-shirts for running, a new visor (my old ones are ggrrooosss!), and a North Face
fleece to keep me warm in Maine! Then moved on to Banana Republic where they were
having a 70% off sale- sweet! Got a great plum dress for $50 that was original nearly $200
and a fun t-shirt that with a scarf can be my "casual dining" outfit for vacation.



30 minutes window shopping at White House Black Market. I was so overwhelmed by all the
wonderful dresses, I became paralyzed and wasn't able to pick out my "fancy dining" outfit. I
think I'll have to go back this week.

1 hour getting a Mani-Pedi at my favorite Pinky's. I love that place. And I love my "Siberian
Night" dark purple nails:)

15 minutes making spaghetti and broccoli w/ cheese

30 minutes of reading "Run" by Matt Fitzgerald before going to bed at the wonderful hour of
8:30.

I realize that probably sounds incredibly boring to most of you out there in the world, but I am old, I work A LOT, and I need at least 9 hours of sleep a night, so it was perfect for me:)