Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler

I was in the 'ham this weekend watching my dad transform into this...

King Allen

Isn't he regal? My dad is king of the Beaux Art Krewe Ball in Birmingham this year, which means, while he was getting a workout waving around his scepter and lugging along a 50 pound train, I was busy topping off my champagne glass and stuffing king cake down my trap. In other words, I experienced a little Mardi Gras-induced training setback this weekend. But isn't that the very reason Fat Tuesday even exists?? I mean, right? C'mon, throw me a bone some beads here.

Since I had an inkling that this weekend would turn out exactly as it did, I opted to knock out  my 10-mile run bright and early Friday morning. I mapped my route ahead of time on Daily Mile and was excited to run past the house where I grew up, my elementary school, the 3 villages and the always beautiful Jemison Trail. What I conveniently forgot about is how cussin' hilly my hometown is. Liv + I say we're from Birmingham because more people know where that is and it's easier to explain, but we're actually from Mountain Brook - and the name speaks for itself. I didn't even venture into some of the hilliest parts of town and I still felt like I was going to bottom out... multiple times. Not to mention, Mountain Brook has a tendency to cut its sidewalks with zero warning - more often than not on a super busy street, so right when I would get in a good running groove, I'd realize there was nowhere to go and have to adjust my path. Not cool, hometown. Not cool at all. 

I guess it was a much needed crash course in hill training because I've kinda been avoiding any form of incline thus far (which isn't particularly wise considering that DC isn't exactly flat, either). I'll be hitting up DC's trails once again tomorrow, so I reckon my binge eating needs to come to a close.

Happy Fat Tuesday!