Another year has passed which means another Valentine’s Day/birthday combo for Brittany has come and gone. My birthday is February 15 (the day after Valentine’s Day), and while I don’t need much on either day, I DO like to keep them separate. I told this to Duncan when we first started dating, and he jokingly referred to the two days as one calling them “Birthentines Day”, and it has stuck ever since.
While Valentine’s Day is a great excuse to gobble a brownie, and make a special meal, I tend to put most of my focus on my birthday. This year when Duncan asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I told him I wanted to run a 5K…together…with him…he would be running too…as someone who doesn’t run. I thought for sure he would push back, but much to my surprise he agreed.
We cooked a delicious meal on Valentine’s Day, ate a giant brownie, and we were up and ready to go the following morning.
The beauty of my birthday falling on a Saturday this year is that I knew we would be able to find a 5k somewhere nearby. Because my birthday is the day after Valentine’s Day, I also knew we would be able to find a Valentine’s Day themed 5k. How perfect for Birthentines Day. I found a race about 45 minutes away from us, got really excited, but then discovered it was SOLD OUT!
Back to the drawing board.
I don’t love driving into Seattle these days, but I knew that might be my only option. I found a race with a 5k, and a 10k option on a looped track which felt too good to be true. I prefer running 10k if given the chance with organized races, so I was able to run the first 5k loop with Duncan and the second 5k loop solo. The run was called “Better Together”, and the website alluded to this being Valentine’s Day themed, so naturally I had to get us matching shirts.
Once we arrived at the park where the race was taking place I knew I might have been very, very wrong about this event. There were no other runners in sight. It turns out this park has “races” every two months or so, and because of this they use the same race bib’s for each run (meaning no themed bibs), some events are smaller than others, and there isn’t really much participation in the theme.
At least there wasn’t on this day.
Duncan and I were THE ONLY ONES WHO WORE ANYTHING THEMED. I was momentarily mortified, but honestly I got over it pretty quickly. We got our bib’s, walked around for a bit, and then lined up with the other 90 or so people (SMALL SMALL SMALL EVENT AHHH) to run. The only way to tell this was at all Valentine’s Day themed was the blow up photo op.
The run itself was nice, the park was a good change of scenery, and Duncan pushed himself more than I would have expected. I kept trying to get him to slow down because I didn’t want him to burn out, but he just kept flying. He was at the early stage of a multi day sickness, which makes his fight all the more impressive! I loved watching him push himself, and we finished his 5k with a 10:45 pace.
After I left him for my second lap I only had one goal: catch up to and beat the girl in front of me. I managed to pass her AND one other person. I finished my 10k 1st in my age group…because I was the only one in my age group. LOL, I love the little wins. We both paid an extra $6 to get a medal, and honestly the medals were very pretty.
Overall we had a good time, Duncan is willing to do another one (no promises on anytime soon) and we both have awesome new shirts to wear at any given moment. We may have been the only ones in Valentine’s themed clothes, but that just meant we got the most compliments.
We managed to get a compliment from the race photographer as we ran by him, and he took this whimsical shot of us. HAHA.
After the run we made our way to the best bakery in all the land. I had a free birthday reward, and I’m a sucker for all things free. This bakery is insanely busy every time we go, but I did not anticipate we would be fighting for scraps by getting there around 1300. They close at 1600, but when I say they had BARELY anything left I mean it.
My reward was good for a muffin or a cookie, and obviously I wanted the more expensive of the two. I ended up getting a muffin I would have never chosen if I’d had options, but they had literally ONE muffin left in the entire shop by the time it was my turn. This muffin turned out to be one of the most heavenly items I have ever consumed.
I’m not a peach gal, and despite the peach slices being huge in this muffin the overall flavor was superb. Well done Wren’s Nest. We were able to each get a savory item as well, and after properly entering into a food coma we made the drive back to my house so I could snuggle with my bestie the rest of the night.
This is the first birthday in a while I haven’t gone for a hike, but this was a fun change of pace. I’m officially on the downward slope to 40, which is the most mind boggling thought I have had in a long time. Somedays when I sit deep in my thoughts I truly feel like I just graduated high school. I am still 18 saying goodbye to all my friends I will never see again.
I am still 24 getting a job at Starbucks and discovering who I am slowly but surely. I am still 22 starting THIS BLOG having no idea I would still be scraping by with it 14 years later. I am still 28 and just letting go of the societal pressures of what it means to be successful, quitting a corporate job and moving to Yellowstone for 5 months. Life is weird. Memories are weird. But muffins are forever.
Q: We are all just overgrown children fumbling through life, right?
Blissfulbritt 