Current mood:	cheerful
Current music:	Casting Crowns - Praise You In This Storm

Why my weekend was better than yours
First of all, I took Friday off. So to start off with it was a three day weekend. Add to that that I was traveling on Monday to get to Indiana and it's almost like a four day weekend (we'll choose to ignore that I was flying both Friday and Monday).

Friday evening I arrived in Jacksonville, Florida. Immediately I noticed that the weather was better than the crap we had been having up in Minnesota for the past two weeks or so (which had been depressing me). Krista picked me up at the airport and we crammed my luggage into her Smart car. If you've never been in one of these: it's a trip. We spent the evening just relaxing. It was great to finally see her again since it had been two years. Also, her parents are pretty cool and I got to chat with them Friday night and off and on throughout the weekend.

Saturday morning was lazy until we finally got around to heading to the beach where it was...lazy again. There was a little physical activity involved in some brief swims and me teaching Krista how to throw a Frisbee (and she said she couldn't be taught). I learned, once again, that I'm fairly bad with sunscreen. I burned the front of both of my legs from the knee down and got an interesting burn on my stomach. I say interesting because it's interwoven with places of non-burn where I actually managed to apply the appropriate amount of sunscreen.

After we cleaned ourselves off from the salt and the sand, we headed out to meet up with Krista's friends for the "Run For the Pies". Her friends, it turns out, are pretty cool. We all car pooled up to the actual race and hung out waiting for it to start.

This was my first time running in any kind of race and, when it's a 5k with about 1400 people, it turns out there's a kind of madness involved. Especially right at the start before the pack has really established itself to people's speeds. I pushed myself harder than I ever have running (not that this is saying too much for me). I didn't win a pie but I did finish in 26:15 which is a personal best for me (as I run about the same distance when working out). The combination of Florida heat and my sunburn made me feel like I was going to pass out after the race was over, but I don't count this against the weekend.

After the race, what was quite possibly the coolest thing happened at dinner. The five of us were sitting around the table. When the food came, one of Krista's friends said grace out loud. This blew my mind. I had forgotten what it was like to be with a group of people my own age, that I could relate and be friends with, who were also believers. It made me realize how much I miss it. This was further affirmed the next day when we went to a Bible Study with all of these same people.

Sunday, of course, was Father's Day. After the Bible Study we came back to Krista's parents house and helped prepare Father's Day dinner. I say helped prepare but really all they needed me to do was get down a bowl that was up high and stay out of the way for the rest. As the meal was being prepared there was an awesome Florida storm. It kept up for much longer than expected (as these things are usually short) and cooled things down enough that we were able to enjoy our meal outside. After dinner we got ice cream because, you know, mmmm...ice cream.

Krista and I followed this up with a trip to Starbuck's to just hang out and talk which was really nice. We then came back for a movie. I agreed to a chick flick since she is, in fact, a chick and we watched "The Holiday." It was pretty good. Some of the lines were just right on the nose about relationships and people feeling mangled by the process.

Krista had to work a half day on Monday so we didn't stay up to late. I packed while she went to sleep and then went to sleep myself. Monday I got to see her place of work and hang out at Barnes and Noble for a while until she got off. Then we did lunch and hung out at the mall, killing time before my flight.

All in all, the weekend was fantastic. I got to do an official run for the first, and I'm fairly certain not the last time. I got to meet some cool people who have the same beliefs I do. And I got to spend time with a person whose company I truly enjoy. How does your weekend stack up? That's what I thought.