Buckle up, this is a long one. Skim away! 🙂 I just want to ensure I document this week as it was a bit monumental to me.
And be forewarned, it ends with a political rant.
Monday. 6.9 miles easy, with 8×20 sec strides at the end
Personal training at Nordic Balance over lunch, upper body focused session.
Tuesday: Rest from running, personal training at Nordic Balance over lunch, lower body focused (with pull-up work as always.)
Wednesday: 9.2 miles before a flight from Heathrow to Minneapolis; with 3×2 miles at marathon effort.
Thursday: 11 miles on the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes! My old running routes.
With a few running friends at first, then solo.
Count only the sunny days!
Then a long full day of packing, ending with a dinner with friends at Rosalia in Linden Hills.
Friday: 4 mile run with Dustin: a loop of Bde Maka Ska, just like in the old times!
Then another full day of selling stuff on Facebook marketplace, giving stuff away to family and friends, packing, cleaning, more packing…
Saturday: 16 mile long run, the first half with a friend, then second half solo.
The humidity broke Friday night, and it was an absolutely perfect running day in Minneapolis. It was as though the city was trying to convince me to stay!
The movers came while I was on my run to take away some big items to storage (some furniture, all our art), but Dustin and my dad were there to manage the process, and we agreed at that point, I would just get in the way!
There was still a lot to do for the rest of the day before we went to stay at our friends’ Julie and Justin’s place in the neighborhood (by that point, our remaining bedroom set had be moved, so we had nowhere to sleep!)
We had a fun dinner at Hola Arepa and then stayed up late, drinking great wine and catching up. They have the sweetest chocolate lab named Prince who hung out with us as well!
Sunday: Dustin did his long run this morning and I ran 5 miles solo.
Then, more work at the house, before ending the day with a delicious dinner at Pizzeria Lola in South Minneapolis, (my favourite), with my sister and her family and my dad.
It was an early birthday celebration for my dad and a HUGE thank you dinner to him for all his help with the house. We could not have done it without him. He’s the handiest, hardest-working, most helpful dad I could ask for. I am so lucky to have him (and I know he reads this blog- THANK YOU DAD, I love you and you are the absolute best!)
If I had to guess my dad’s love language, its definitely acts of service. He showed me how much he loved me by helping us in so many ways, ways we didn’t even realize we would need.
Summary: 52 miles of running, 2 personal training sessions, lots of moving boxes and packing!
Monday: Dustin and I ran 7 miles together with some quicker miles in there, with a route to Cedar Lake. They don’t call it the City of Lakes for nothing- we have lots of lakes to choose from to run!
My dad departed back to Michigan (with a van full of stuff to deliver to my sisters!)
We were just about done at the house, so we decided to squeeze in an afternoon at the Minnesota State Fair. We hadn’t actually been to the Minnesota State Fair since 2019- pre-Covid! It was cancelled in 2020 (or maybe there was some sort of drive-through version) and then we weren’t comfortable going in 2021, and then we had moved to London by 2022.
It was SO magical and fun. If Minnesota wanted to convince us to stay in the US, they just needed to show us the Crop Art exhibit at the fair. It was honestly so heartwarming and amazing. Same with the Creative Activities (all the arts & crafts competitions. The BEST.)
This is just a small sample of all the pictures I took of the crop art. I just love it.
There were a lot of submissions for the crop art honouring Melissa Hortman and her family (and her dog that was also shot.) In fact, there were quite a few political submissions. Made me proud to be a Minnesotan.
And of course, there’s all the good food…
And the Minnesota state fair traditions like the Butter Busts!
Also the animal barns of course. Glad I’m pescatarian.
Can’t skip the giant slide!
Such a fun day and I’m so glad we could fit in a bit of time there.
We also had time to connect with our neighborhood bocce squad over the weekend. I miss those days…
Tuesday: I met up with my friends for one last run together; they went a bit shorter as they both had to work and I ended with a 10 mile run on the morning.
I ran into Dustin as well on the run and was able to capture the beautiful sky around Bde Maka Ska.
Later that morning, we had a charity come to pick up the remaining furniture and homegoods that we weren’t keeping, and then we did a final clean of the house. Time to bid farewell to the house we owned for 17 (!!!) years…
We had an 11 pm flight from Minneapolis to Heathrow, so we were able to squeeze in dinner on at Mothership before making our way to the airport. Yes, we did eat a lot of pizza while back in Minneapolis!
It was a very busy trip; I knew we had a lot of stuff, but we are not hoarders or anything like that! We just did not do a great job of clearing things out when we moved to London, as we always assumed we would just move back to the same house.
One part that really breaks my heart is that my mural in my treadmill room will be painted over by the new owners.
My friend Angela painted it, and it was so perfect; its the Minneapolis skyline, with the chain of lakes we ran every day, with our house, the church where we got married, the club where our run club would meet, and then a small picture of Matilda, Dustin, and I running around Lake Harriet in the bottom right.
That was a tough one to say goodbye to…..in fact, there were so many reminders of Matilda at our house- dog beds, dog crates, dog toys, and more. Fortunately we found a shelter that would take most of it (and some of the dog beds went to friends and family.)
Back to London.
I really struggle coming back this direction vs. going to the US, with regards to jet lag and fatigue.
I felt like I was in a daze on Wednesday as we unpacked the SIX (!!!) suitcases of stuff we brought back. Wednesday was most definitely a rest day…
Thursday: Another rest day from running. I was exhausted. I did fit in personal training over lunch at Nordic Balance (and WOW, I lost a lot of strength in just a week…) and ended up being at the office until nearly 10 pm after being off of work a week.
Rough return to reality- and it wasn’t even a “fun” time away!
Friday: Finally back to running, but London was London’ing and it was pouring rain for my 6.5 mile pre-work run.
The weather did get better later in the day, and we received word from our agent back in Minneapolis that everything went well with the final walk-through and we are officially closed. Time for a celebratory pint!
Saturday: Taper long run, 12 miles on a brilliant London morning with friends.
Then I went to get an anti-aging treatment/facial at my favourite spa, followed by a sports massage (and a bonus 15 min foot massage.) Self-care after a stressful time!
Sunday: Dustin and I plan to run with Ruth as long as the weather is okay, and then I’m booked in for some lap swimming at the Parliament Lido.
Summary: Under 40 miles of running, 1 personal training session.
After an emotional week back in Minneapolis, seeing friends and family, clearing out 17 years of memories from a house we “built” together, I was feeling so nostalgic for Minneapolis…only to land in London to hear about the tragic shooting at Annunciation School and Church in South Minneapolis. I have very strong opinions about gun control, particularly assault rifles. It breaks my heart to hear these stories from the same friends and family who were affected and to hear about the tragedy that occurred in the city I love. There is no need for any civilian to own an assault rifle. Period. This uniquely American tragedy keeps happening and nothing is changing. I fear for my loved ones and my heart is so, so heavy.
I could go on, but this measly blog with >100 readers is not going to change anyone’s opinion, is it? Heartbreaking.
So I’ll wrap this up as I always do….
I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner; check out their blogs to connect with other fitness bloggers for workout ideas and inspiration.
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