More Flags, more fun!!

So, this weekend I decided to take it easy and take a break from running. I went to Six Flags with some friends to celebrate my birthday and "be a kid again". It was AWESOME!!! We left my house around 8am Saturday morning and drove all the way to the middle of nowhere in western Massachusetts. Along the way we enjoyed some awesome 80s flashback tunes and organic lollipops to start the day off and go back in time and maturity for the day. We got to Six Flags right when the park opened and hit all the major thrill rides right away. Started off slow with the Tomahawk ride and then moved on to bigger and better rides like Flashback and Bizarro (redesigned Superman), then Batman and Minderaser. The Superman/Bizarro ride is still my favorite. Although the last time I went to six flags it was a totally different experience. I was too wide to fit comfortably in most of the rides and the safety harnesses were kinda painful. This time was awesome, I had lots of wiggle room and my butt fit in the seats just fine. I'm a little bummed that for some reason when we rode the Bizarro ride the cameras weren't working and we didn't get a picture because that one would have been AMAZING! But we did get this pretty great photo of all three of us on the Batman ride (I'm the one in the yellow T-shirt with my hands up):

Now THAT's how you should celebrate getting old, act WAY younger than you really are and just have FUN!

After we ate lunch in the parking lot tailgate style, we headed back into the park for some slower paced rides like the merry go round (to really feel like a kid again) and then a few other fun thrill rides. The last ride we went on Pandamonium, probably would have been fun, but the line was wicked long and the entire time we were waiting we were stuck behind this ridiculously annoying old woman. She was complaining about the teenagers in the line being loud, but she was louder than them! We made every attempt to turn our backs to her and ignore her, but she continued to talk to us and scream "Ladies!! Ladies!! I asked you a question...." By the time we got on the ride and finished it, we were all pretty much spent. We stopped at the Coldstone Creamery on the way out and got some yummy ice cream to finish off the day.

Sunday, I got up and ate breakfast (waffles with fresh berries and whipped cream) and ran into the Lowell for the Lowell Firefighters 5K. It started a little over a mile from my house so running there was a good warm-up. The clouds hung around for most of the race, but it still felt pretty hot and steamy (and for once, I'm not talking about the firemen). I ran the race in a respectable 26:03 and finished 8th out of 52 in my age group. Stuck around after the race for some free lunch and socialized with some fellow runners. Then ran back home and hopped on my bike for a nice 23 mile cooldown. Perfect way to end my birthday week. :)