Week 21 (of 2024) – RETURNING HOME

Happy to report that there is no more shoulder pain. Just a whole bunch of stress. (Car stress!) Also, I didn’t listen to any books on my trip, but I have continued reading:

Also, if you don’t know.. my ethnicity is Japanese (1/2) and I have ALWAYS leaned more towards that side than my Caucasian side. However, I know next to nothing about my family. These last couple of years I have had a growing interest. And randomly someone on Reddit asked about books on the Japanese Internment camps. Which led me to realize that I might not know the full story of what happened. My grandpa was in one, I think my grandma too (but she passed away before I ever asked, I was only 8 years old).. I had a school assignment and I interviewed my grandpa (aka gramps) and he told me only the good parts. Which made me realize he was shielding me from what really might have happened. So, now I am listening to: “Farewell Manzanar” by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. And it is already so interesting! While I don’t know the timeline of my grandpa’s life, I do know he used his time in camps to learn English, he had recently moved to Hawaii from Okinawa when Pearl Harbor was hit. And after the camps he worked for Lockheed Martin and then had a house with tons of acreage and they raised peacocks, chickens, ducks and had a huge koi fish pond!

Monday – (5.20.24) – Plan: Unilateral Stability, Glutes and Power + Core Work)
Actual: car problems came roaring it’s big ugly head yet again and no gym time was made. Instead it was talking to a mechanic and getting information. Dropping off car for work and praying it isn’t too bad. It was pretty bad.

Tuesday – (5.21.24) – Plan: Run 6.5 mi with Vina and Phoebe (morning) + Stretch/Mobility and XT
Actual: This run was easy and then it was hard. I never felt out of breath, but my legs were just tired and heavy.

Wednesday – (5.22.24) – Plan: Run 3 mi with River (morning) + Glutes & Core Strength
Actual: I was so comfortable in my bed this morning I seriously thought about skipping. But I didn’t. YAY! I wish there was a way for me to take a nap during the day, but honestly I snore so loud (haaaaa) I would never just fall asleep in my office and close the door for 30 minutes.

It felt great this morning.. and also the elevation in the mountains wasn’t that bad (while working out/hiking) either! However, we were going at an extra easy pace and also by the end of the day I was exhausted. So maybe that’s where it was taxing?

Trying to get River back out there, I feel like it’s been weeks…. I was plagued with sickness, then shoulder pain, and then the vacation soooo I guess it has been a couple weeks. He obviously still gets his multiple times a day extra long Frisbee sessions but there’s something about taking him out on a run that hits differently. It’s so fun! I love how he looks up and checks in and it’s like he’s got this big goofy grin on his face. AND we saw deer! He was very skeptical of them and weary ha!

We mixed in walking and running so the pace is slower but I definitely didn’t pay any attention to it. I wanted to try to keep my HR low. And on the way to our destination I kept it at like 135 and then coming back it spiked some. So we did some walking too. I’m just trying to not stay in that gray zone all the time because I’m not doing speed sessions right now and I want to recover from the semi speed ish of Vina runs.

I’m seriously considering getting kettlebells for home. They have a deal going on, but I haven’t bit the bullet just yet. I haven’t been going to the gym, but I think with my limited time this morning I might go to complete my workout. I started doing strength cut it short and cut to this 5 minute ab session.

Thursday – (5.23.24) – Plan: Morning REST + Full Body Strength + XT
Actual: today is the first official day of summer break! So I don’t have to wake anyone up and I can kind of set a new schedule for a bit and not have to rush in the morning as much.

I ended up going to run with Vina and honestly my body feels pretty beat up. I felt like I was running through a pool.

Weather (my app updated and I’m not sure I like it yet)

The wind felt spectacular and it really wasn’t that warm out. But my body is just feeling extra heavy and tired from stress I think. So I definitely will prioritize more sleep and probably not do a run for a couple days. I am going to try to get my butt to the gym for some recovery work and strength training though.

I am TIRED today! But I am glad I got up.

I met up with Vina around 1.8ish miles? So our average times being in the low 10s was actually really surprising! I felt like we were crawling!

Lunch time: Mobility work with emphasis on hips, knees and ankles + core work

Friday – (5.24.24) – Plan: Morning run/walk with River + Glute Medius, Hamstrings + Stability
Actual: I chose sleep and then I was able to leave at 12:30 to beat holiday traffic. Hazel was asleep when I got home and I decided to lay down too. Once she got up so did I and then we played outside with our foam airplanes and around 4:30 we headed to the park to play in the water. My whole idea was to wear these kids out 🤣 but jokes on me! They stayed up late anyway. Hendrix and I played Donkey Kong for a while and then watched movies and hung out and ate popcorn!

Saturday – (5.25.24) – Plan: REST
Actual:

Sunday – (5.26.24) – Plan: REST
Actual: the original plan was 8-10 miles, then I saw the weather and thought better of it and then Jesse surprised us with planning a trip to the River. So I knew I needed my energy and couldn’t push a longer run.

But , to be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Like it wasn’t ridiculous. But it kinda was?

I got my hydration pack ready before I knew I was changing the mileage to 6. So I still took it because it’s better to have too much water than not enough!

My left hip was really acting up and after I left Vina I basically just had to walk/hobble home because it was too much to keep running.

After our run we got ready for the river where we spent 4 hours playing! And we brought River because he loves swimming and we brought his Frisbee and he enjoyed swimming and chasing so much. I left my phone in the truck so I took zero pictures! But Jesse caught a couple

We hooked Hazels floaty to River and he pulled across… With a lot of supervision, she had a blast!!!

Hazel was so comfortable in the water (despite the chill still!) she kept just trying to float down on her own, luckily with floaties on, but she just loved every second of it. And afterwards we all slept for 2.5+ hours!!! It wiped us out.

Running total: 20.94 miles

Walking total: 4.3 miles

Week 20 (of 2024) – the week of family + BACK/SHOULDER PAIN + THE SMOKEY MOUNTAINS

I briefly touched base on the fact that I hurt my back…first things first, when we tried to push the car in, it didn’t want to budge. The e-brake was off and it was in neutral. But the front axle wasn’t in and the dang car didn’t want to BUDGE. I pushed with everything I had, and I did it wrong. We got it moved, I thought I was in the clear, but waking up Monday morning I screamed trying to roll over and I was in 12/10 pain. It was unbearable!

Needless to say, no work for me that day! And no run, no walks, no NOTHING! There was another storm passing through and Hazel fell asleep around 11:30a, I joined shortly after around noon and we slept till 2:30p! (the pain really took a lot out of me!) My mom and aunt arrived around 6pm and we had pizza for dinner and chatted the night away.

Monday – REST – after pushing the car yesterday I felt like I had been run over by a semi truck. My shoulder and back were in so much pain I was crying and yelling any time I had to move. It was horrible. The pain took so much out of me I took a near 3 hour nap.

Tuesday (5.14.24) – Plan: walk with River to loosen things up
Actual: we had a lot going on after work. My mom and aunt are in town and Jesse was making a feast, which he needed help with. So I didn’t get to go on a walk with River but we did play Frisbee which helped movement to my shoulder. If I keep myself dosed with ibuprofen I am okay, if I don’t … I am a crying sobbing mess. I feel like I’ve torn something.

Wednesday (5.15.24) – Plan: Run with River 3-4 miles
Actual: I didn’t keep up on my ibuprofen and so when I woke up around 1am to try to turn over it was full blown 12/10 pain. I cried a little and got out of bed to ice my shoulder and take pain killers. Obviously I decided there was no way I was waking up extra early to attempt a run. My body needs to sleep to recover. Movement is good, but sleep is too. I did go on a .5 mile walk/run with River to test things out. Still hate the New Balances as they feel so flat and not springy. And my shoulder felt okay for the most part.

I made these little watermelon signs for around our yard since Jesse decided to plant a BUNCH around .. now we know where they all are and won’t accidentally pick them and mistake for weeds haha

After some last minute grocery shopping for the family and a dinner of mashed potatoes (been craving these!) and chicken we settled in for the night and still managed a later sleep than normal. Probably around 10:30 or so we got to bed. I frantically packed and sure hope I brought everything! I always hate packing and feel like I’m forgetting something or packing too much.

Thursday (5.16.24) – Plan: Run with Vina and Phoebe then leave for Pidgeon Forge!
Actual: I found the magic potion, take ibuprofen every 4-5 hours so it doesn’t wear off and you’re in pain. So this morning I woke up pain free since I took more around midnight. Unfortunately Hazel got bit up really badly by bugs the other night and has been dealing with a BUNCH of itching. She woke up around 3am furiously itching. I had to give her antihistamine medicine and spray her down with calamine lotion. She struggled to get back to sleep for a while, but she didn’t cry much at all. So, I was definitely groggy waking up. But pain free! (Shoulder and even heel pain)

Weather: the absolute perfect morning for a run – weather was on point!!

Wearing: spanx athletic shorts, Reebok tank + blue craft endurance pro shoes and feetures socks.

The run went so smooth and perfect! The weather was perfect and we made it just under 7.5 miles. My shoulder felt great, heels felt pretty good and hip only felt tight for a moment. Definitely need a hip mobility workout later today.

After the run I got ready for the day and we were off on our road trip by 7:30am! And we with the time change, we didn’t get to the hotel til about 6:50 or so. I slept for a majority of the drive. I was apparently exhausted beyond belief. It was the first time in a long time I could just turn off and not worry about any kids. And my mom and aunt let me just be and I laid and enjoyed every single moment. Of course, when I was awake it was great and we chatted but then I would doze back off. We went out to dinner after we got to the hotel – which was amazing!!
This is what our presidential suite looked like!

the kitchen! my mom was facetiming my dad showing him the room too!
view from kitchen looking at living room/dining room
I shared a room with my mom – the black out curtains (currently open) were awesome!
our amazing golf course view!
the jacuzzi hot tub we utilized after our hikes!

Friday (5.17.24) – we woke up around 8 or so and got cracking on getting ready. The weather said that Friday it was going to thunder and shower by 11am, so we were really trying to beat the storm.

Turns out, nothing came! And the “easy” 2.7 mile round trip hike – or what we thought – was really 6.2 miles round trip with 2,000ft elevation! We only brought a little water, no snacks and our smiles. We didn’t realize just how long the hike was and it took us about 3.5 hours to complete.

These were some really cool mushrooms!

We thought we were almost done with the hike because it was ~1.5 miles in and so we were taking pictures hahaha

The picture doesn’t do this justice, but it was like turquoise!

Lots of millipedes! (or centipedes??)

On our way out of the Smokey’s we saw cubs climbing a tree! mama bear was under them watching.

The final destination, there were quite a few waterfalls but this was the big one.

After our hike we went to a delicious deli and had the BEST sandwiches ever. Doesn’t food just hit better after a long hike?! Then we headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit. My mom and I put on our swim suits and sat in the jacuzzi for a while soaking up the hot water. Then we all got the wild idea to try to go to Clingman’s Dome.

As we drove up there though… it got REALLY foggy. And of course it did, it’s the SMOKEY MOUNTAINS!! But it got so bad that we couldn’t see a foot in front of us and it wouldn’t have been worth it going to the top and only seeing white!

So, we stopped at Newfound Gap – where the state lines meet!

Saturday (5.18.24)- We tried doing Chimney Tops Trail, but it was WAY too steep and we were sore from the day before, so we quit.. but still hit a total of 3 miles and around ~700 ft. elevation gain.

Then we went back to Newfound Gap for a pic and up to Clingman’s dome – still foggy up there so I didn’t take a picture haha

Sunday (5.19.24) – the long drive home! Which really turned out to be short. We left around 10am after stopping by the Walmart for the SOFTEST shorts ever and then we went to pick up a bottle of requested Smokey Apple Whiskey and we were off on the road. We got home at 5pm exactly and had dinner with the family and it was fantastic!

Total running mileage: 7.45 miles
Total Hiking: ~10 miles and 3,000ft of elevation gain!

Week 19 – of 2024 – The Week Of Car Fixing and Stress Compling

After MONTHS of waiting for this book to become available, it finally is!! I really do enjoy easy running and I know for a fact that I run faster than I should with Vina and Phoebe but luckily with River it is a slooooow run. Although, with this humidity rolling in I have noticed our paces decrease dramatically but they could probably decrease more to keep from being sore or tired. I can’t wait to see what I learn from this book!

Monday – (5.6.24)- Plan: Monday morning miles with Vina!
Weather:

Wearing: pink tank + balega shorts + wright socks (really really loving this brand! And the price point when you get them at TJ Maxx is perfect)

Feeling: back still hurts and is achy, I really do feel like I am laying on some sort of lump in bed. But I did get some good sleep despite waking up every ~2 hours randomly.

I was on the struggle bus the whole time. But I am happy with the average pace because it felt like I was barely moving. And the street I have to run to meet up with them… I swear it felt like it stretched on and on for 10 miles! I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere at all.

My clothes had to have weighed 7 pounds with all the sweat that I collected! Even Phoebe seemed to be struggling a little on this run!

No strength training for lunch today because I have my car at the mechanic and I will have to rely on someone from work to take me to pick up the car.

A SHORT core routine at night and Hazel made it more difficult by adding resistance (her body weight) ha!

Tuesday (5.7.24) – Plan: 3-4 miles with River + lunch time Strength
Actual: I decided that I would run with Vina late last night but I know I still owed Rivs something. So instead of dilly dallying inside waiting to leave I took River out on a ~10 minute / 1ish mile run. He definitely wanted more so I played Frisbee with him and he was somewhat content. I know he wanted to keep running but I knew he wouldn’t make it 6 miles. Heck, I couldn’t even make it 6 full miles haha!

Weather: spring is officially over and it is the beginning of summer! Vina says that this is basically how it was summer running last year because I mentioned I don’t think I can cut it if it gets to 80+ in the morning with 95% humidity! I felt like I was just bleeehhhhh the whole run!! Also, the sun came up/first light at 5:30! We were SHOCKED when it started getting light out so early.

Wearing: blue senita tank + spanx flowy athletic shorts + wright socks + new balance 1080s – also, I feel like I need bug spray but ALSO it would literally slide off of me so quickly and I don’t want to sting my eyes, so I don’t know what to do about that.

Kayaks are back in the garage lol

Gotta be honest, the new balances are no longer my favorite shoes to run in. They feel quite flat and bulky now. And they only have like ~150 miles on them, but there’s just no spring and my heel hurts in them pretty badly.

Had to take a picture of the beautiful clouds today! Man it was pretty 😍

First Run- warm up with Rivs. Feet were definitely feeling it but once I warmed up they stopped hurting.

Run with Vina and Phoebe – also Vina got a new puppy! Same kind as Phoebe! Mini Aussie Shepard I think?? Surprised average pace was even in the 10s as it felt mind blowingly hard and slow just running through heavy heat.

My left heel started really hurting, I was out of water (for some reason the water fountain wasn’t working and I couldn’t fill up!) and I was just so over it. So I did a run/walk combo and just tried my hardest to make it home. It was a rough one.

Wednesday (5.8.24) HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE! REST DAY maybe a cross train lunch time. Maybe not?!? 

Thursday (5.9.24) – Plan: Run with Vina and Phoebe + lunch time Strength

Yesterday and today are rest days. My body NEEDS it. It’s screaming for it. I slept so well last night but during the day I could barely breathe through my nose. I’m sure this is partly allergies but also partly sickness. I’ve been doing these early morning runs for almost a month now and the mileage climbed and quickly with really no set back weeks. Minor ones but I was still pushing it (for me). So I skipped the run this morning which Vina filled me in it was basically her and Phoebe crawling because it’s 80+ and 90% humidity … EW.

Hazel has started requesting we color before bedtime and I am here for it!! We had to get her special markers that only mark on certain paper because she loves trying to write on her hands and feet and furniture 🤣 I didn’t want to keep telling her no and have marks all over the place (mostly herself, she would literally draw on her face too) so these markers even though a tiny bit more expensive help so much. We have special blank paper and also bluey colored paper which we have been really getting in to! I love that she has been making into a little routine. She likes winding down watching bluey and miss. Rachel, then coloring and then she will very reluctantly let me change the show to an animals documentary in which we will both pass out quickly to.

Friday (5.10.24) – Plan: Run with River

There was quite a storm that passed over through the night into the early morning. I woke up around 4am and it was still going on so I turned off my alarm and slept in late. I think my body really needed these days off and it’s important to give it that rest and recovery. When I went to let River out it was actually crisp! It made me wish I tried to get out but I knew it wasn’t safe . Just the temperature was so much lower and it looks like it might be the case tomorrow too! So I’m hoping to get in a run. There was a lot of wind and some of Hendrixs school was damage (poor quality pictures because Hendrix decided to zoom in x10)

Portable classrooms Hendrix is in because they are expanding the school
The awning cover for the car drop off/pick up line also got taken off

Saturday (5.11.24) – Plan:  a beautiful morning can’t wait to go run! Vina and I set out for 9-10 miles !

Everyone slept in so late that after my run with Vina, resting and coffee I took River out for a small run for .9 miles. My hip was tight, so I couldn’t keep going.

Sunday (5.12.24) – Happy Mother’s Day! Today we just hung out, it wasn’t super warm and it was mostly a chillax day. I took River and Hazel on walks and some bike rides this weekend, but no more runs. I took a great nap and Jesse worked on the car more. I tried helping him push it in the garage and everything felt fine… till the next morning and I really messed up my shoulder and back!

Bike Rides to the park ~1.1
Walks – .75mi with River and Hazel in the evening

Totals: still managed 23.31miles – which for taking so much time off, I will take it!

Week 18 (of 2024) – a foggy and very sleepy week

I think this will be a cut back week and I most likely won’t be doing a long run this weekend because I am hoping that the weather is good for Jesse to fish. He has been patiently waiting for good weather and the truck to work. I told him he could take any or all the days this weekend. It is only fair. Also, goal for the week, TWO 30 minute strength sessions and lots of stretching. ALSO, prioritizing RESTTTTTTT. I am tired. (This was written on Monday, and now editing on Friday and I don’t know if I prioritized rest so well during the week)

Alsoooo back on my chick lit books:

Monday – (4.29.24) Plan: run with Vina and Phoebe
Actual: absolute exhaustion but since the girls were counting on me I woke up and did it. The first .6 miles my heel was hurting quite a bit – I think it was from wearing old shoes while weeding on Saturday.

Me – literally wanting to sleep instead of run

Monday Lunch: 30 minute strength + stretch
Actual: I made myself go to the gym even though I didn’t want to AT ALL. And I didn’t do the whole workout but I did 3/4 of it and for today, that’s good enough. I also included in some core work that left me good and tired!

Tuesday (4.30.24) – Plan: 4-5 miles with River + lunch time cycle
Actual: it was storming this morning so I turned off my alarm and decided to sleep in as much as I could. I was absolutely exhausted last night and I didn’t want to force myself out of bed. Besides when I did that last week I still managed to get in a bunch of miles! Ha

River, of course, was upset but when I finally got up it wasn’t raining so he got to play extra hard. And the sky was awesome! Today I turned into a complete rest day. My body needed it.

I loved how the sun was lighting some of the clouds this morning! Had to capture it

This is just one little branch from our pear tree, but there are dozens more pears all over that just keep growing and growing! I am not sure how long it takes for them to ripen and be ready though. This is our first year it has fruited!

Here are the corn rows Jesse planted from seed. And we hope to have rows on either side of the corn “plot” with TALL sunflowers!

Wednesday (5.1.24) – Plan: REST / 4-5 miles with River boi
Actual: It was going to be a rest day if I went out yesterday but since I didn’t this morning it was on. And oh my… it was FOGGY.

Wearing: bright green shorts + black tank + pro compression socks + pink craft ultra shoes

Ok- so kind of a scary story… it was foggy and very dark. Luckily I had River with me though. We were running, not even a .5mi from home and there was a guy dressed in all black walking towards us, but staying in the shadows and no flashlight or anything. No, he was not out for a leisurely stroll or a run. He was in a beanie, black sweatshirt and black baggy pants. (It was HUMID this morning so no one should’ve been that covered up) I saw him coming towards us because a passing car lit him up. I moved River to the other side of a culvert to give space so River didn’t jump. The guy instantly mirrored our move to stay in front of us. I moved again, so did the guy. Eventually at the last moment we swerved to the other side and passed him quickly and the guy couldn’t move too. He turned and kept watching us as we passed. That was a bad feeling and bad intentions were coming from him. I kept turning around to make sure the guy wasn’t following us, but when I did see him as we passed he quickly got on his phone as if to call someone. So after that I was spooked and watched every single car pass by to make sure no one was slowing down.
I was originally planning an out and back route but instead we detoured and went a different way so there would be no chance of running into that guy again. The only unfortunate part was there were no longer any water stops on the route for Rivs. I will not be another female runner attacked and killed. I am very thankful I had River with me. River ran 3 miles straight and then 1.5 miles walk home. Poor guy was tired and thirsty at the end.

Also – after that whole interaction happened my phone started turning off randomly and wasn’t working so I wouldn’t have been able to call for any help. That made it worse! ANNND there was a gentleman standing in the dark (later I found out with his dog) but just standing there on the sidewalk and so I moved to the other side of the road. Tried to say hello, but he didn’t respond but when I saw the dog I realized he was trying to control the dog to make sure it didn’t pull him to us. IT WAS A CREEPY morning!

Thursday (5.2.24) – Plan: 6-7 miles with Vina and Phoebe+ 30 minute Strength (afternoon)
Actual: woke up this morning with some sharp pain in my upper back. Did a good mobility session to loosen it up and took Tylenol for the extra bits of ouch. It helped loosen it up but still hurts a bit.

Looks like this morning is just as foggy as yesterday!

Feeling: I wish I had a little more sleep and my back wasn’t hurting so badly. You know when you have like a wad of blanket or something you’re laying on wrong? That’s kinda what it feels like. Also I have to up my intake in caffeine because I nearly fell asleep while driving home from work yesterday! I only had a cup of coffee in the morning and by 3pm I was dragging, but more than just dragging when I was driving home. It was not good! Quite unsafe.

Wearing: Reebok bike shorts + ryka crop top + wright socks + pink craft ultras

Fuel: energy shot acai electrolyte drink

Running towards Vina was the thickest part of the fog. Couldn’t see more than 8 ft in front of me. So my head was on a swivel – as best it could be for my neck and upper back being tight! My heels gave me a little stubborn pain but they loosened up and stopped complaining a couple minutes into the run.
As the humidity creeps up though, I’ve realized I need to carry my phone in something, probably a ziplock bag AND like in my waist belt because today I just kept it in my pocket and when I took it out to listen to music on my way home it was drenched and there was a message saying “insert sim card.”

My clothes were properly drenched. And also since I didn’t wear a hat sweat dripped into my eyes which was annoying! So I’ll definitely be wearing my hat from now on. I kind of really want a ciele hat! But I don’t know if I will look good in those. They are funky though.

I really like my splits! I didn’t realize Vina and I sped up, we split at Mile 5. And I think I might’ve forgotten to pause my watch when Phoebe took a long poop (mile 3) but oh well! Like this trend of moving faster despite me feeling like dying haha – I know there’s a lot more downhill on the way home and I try to use the momentum to carry me faster but sometimes its just hard to keep moving.

Friday (5.3.24) – Plan: 5-6 miles + Mobility
Actual:

Weather:

I had a pretty iffy night of sleep, I kept waking up every 1-1.5 hours and would just lay there till eventually nodding off. But it never really felt like deep sleep. So when my alarm went off I pretty easily just got out of bed. Yes, I was a little tired but with no long runs planned this weekend I needed to make the most of today.

Wearing: spanx athletic shorts, under armor shirt, wright socks and craft endurance pro shoes

It was shockingly WARM this morning, humidity only started effecting me after mile 2 and I enjoyed running with my hat. It kept the sweat away for the most part and I didn’t overheat.

His inability to just stay still is astounding

It wasn’t as foggy as the last couple mornings but we still stayed off the other route I usually do with River. I brought a water bottle for River and that seemed to help him a lot! He still struggled after mile 2.5 though. I am thinking of getting him a little bandana thing that keeps dogs cool. Overall, 10/10 run! It was great to just be present (no music at all) and run and move my body. Also, my shoulder loosened up after a very freaky IG reel popped up on my feed showing me how to loosen a shoulder when it feels really tight. And dang it! It worked.

It’s nice that River is a slower runner because it really makes me take it easy. 😉

I made it to the gym today, it felt like I was being drawn there and I wasn’t forcing myself! Which was a great feeling. I used a 40 lb barbell!!! And 20lb kettlebell (I think, I can’t remember now -ha!!) but I think it was 20. It moved pretty easily. I changed hollow rocks to planks. This was a GOOD one. Lotsa sweat. Which kinda sucks since I just washed my hair this morning and I wasn’t trying to get that sweaty.

Saturday (5.4.24) – Plan: Driving to Pensacola to get chickens!!
Actual: Right as we all packed into the car and I tried turning it on, 3 different service lights came on… Then it wouldn’t switch into reverse, then it was shaking and rumbling like it was ready to die. So we definitely couldn’t make it to where we wanted to go, it would’ve been especially bad if we broke down WITH the chickens since it was getting hot and humid FAST. so we mixed the plan and got to figuring out what was wrong. I need to have it serviced at the dealership and that’s going to happen on Monday. So for the rest of the day… We cleaned 😞 and there was a lot of cleaning and work to be done

I was able to steal a TWO hour nap! I feel like I  am catching up on sleep for waking up and running so early during the week. My legs were also feeling the workout I did yesterday!

After the nap, Jesse decided to pack up to fish that night since Sunday looked like it could be windy. So when he left me and the kids went to the park to play in the water and then came home to clean up and have dinner. When we finally got to sleep (10:30 😩) we had the deepest best sleep ever.

Sunday (5.5.24) – Plan: Jesse is fishing
Actual: I woke up before everyone else and enjoyed a nice slow morning. I did sleep in til 7am! So I call that a major win! I played with River and then came inside and the kids woke up. They had a quick breakfast and then I dragged them all out for a ~2 mile walk with River before it got too hot. It was huuuuuumid. Summer is here. After the walk, I had to do a gazillion dishes and then run around after hazel. And we went on an almost 2 mile bike ride, had lunch and then took another glorious nap! I think the humidity is sucking our energy up because these naps are on another level of wonderful.

We had a fend for yourself dinner and popsicles in the evening outside while the kids ran around in the yard

Total running mileage: 19.93 (so close to 20!!)

Total walking: 2.51

Total bike: 1.89

Not too bad for a week with no long run and all the early wake up calls. And the humidity absolutely skyrocketing AND getting in some much needed naps on the weekend ANNNNNND two strength sessions!

Week 17 (of 2024) – do I need better titles?!

While I have consistently (for the last 4+ years) have had a working title of the week and the year, I am considering doing other titles….
Possible titles for this week:
1. I am tired, but I will run!
2. Pollen is killing me!
3. School is almost over which means summer is near!
4. The spring is spring-ing!
5.My head is POUNDING – will my brain fall out?
6. My legs feel like 1000 year old tree stumps!
7. The week of all runs outside and no strength

Goals this week: warm up and stretch for each run!

Monday (4.22.24) – Plan: run 7-8 miles with Vina
Actual: Unfortunately I got an early morning text from Vina that one of her kids got sick in the middle of the night and couldn’t make it. I feel like if this were a couple months ago I would’ve been bummed and just either gone out solo and bummed or resorted to the treadmill. But instead I laced up and took River out. He was so ready to go too and so excited! I am trying to space out his runs since he is just getting back into it, but I think he’s doing just fine. He kept a great pace today. A little slower than I wanted, but he is doing really good!!

We had a little cold front come through yesterday and it lingered today which was nice to run in. I just wore a light weight jacket and shorts since there were some chilly winds also coming through. Btw.. best purchase I’ve made is the dog running leash I got a couple years ago from Stunt Puppy!

These splits are from our run. Not too bad!

I tried taking him home after our 4 miles to get in a couple solo miles, but he didn’t want to leave me. So after some water and food at home he came out again, but as newbies are (😂) he couldn’t hang on for long. It was an A+ for effort! I was basically dragging him along as he was falling behind after a .5 mi.

After we hit 1 mile I let him do a cool down walk, which let him sniff everythinggggg… One of his favorites! Ha!

Total mileage: 5 miles
The evening was dedicated to helping Hendrix practice his Neil Armstrong speech AND we went on a little walk and Hazel ran. I think she ran about .4 miles total and then we found a new kitty for her to love on and we were stuck on the sidewalk for about 10 minutes (I forgot to track our walk/run)

Tuesday (4.23.24) – Plan: 6-7 miles with Vina
Actual: 8.29miles avg pace 9:50min/mi
Weather- just those couple degrees difference between this morning and yesterday were big ones. My legs were red and numb.

Wearing: long sleeve moisture wicker + spanx athletic shorts + wright socks + blue craft shoes + hat – have you tried wright socks?? I REALLY like them and recently found them at TJ Maxx for $5-6 (normally they are $15ish) and I LOVE them!

*the weirdest thing happened last night, my watch and the oven clock (that we use all the time to tell time – ha!) both went out of sync/ the time changed. I didn’t notice my watch till this morning but the clock said 8pm last night and I didn’t second guess it, so I told Hendrix it was time for bed. 15 minutes later I check my phone for the time as I’m walking out to put River away and say “omg it’s only 7:30!” 😐 Thennn this morning as I’m warming up for my run my watch says 4am!! And I’m like WAIT WHAT!! I know I woke up at 4:30?! So I manually change the time on my watch…. Then during the run I look down and I’m about to tell Vina I’m running late and gotta head back because my watch says 6:20am and she’s like “it’s only 5:50” and then we check our phones and 5:50 is correct. THENNNN at the end of my run I sync it to my phone and Garmin and Strava both say I ran it YESTERDAY AT 4:30PM. I restarted my watch, resynced it to the phone and so far it has stayed the correct time and date!

Back to the run: Right as I headed out the door I threw on another jacket because it was CHILLY OUT. This made me warmer but also cold because I had cold sweat now running down my back. My legs were rather numb for most of the run but the company was good.

Loving the splits and that I was picking up the pace – mostly I was encouraged by getting inside to be warm and hot coffee ha!

After this run I had a hot coffee and was running quite behind so I didn’t shower till later – which I think was a bad idea! It’s like I have a super stuffy nose all of a sudden and I should have gotten out of my cold/wet gear. 😦

Today, was the history presentation, so I went into work late:

Clara Barton, Queen Elizabeth I, Mohammad Ali, Neil Armstrong, Julius Caesar ( I think) and Elvis Presley – from left to right

Wednesday (4.24.24) – Plan: 3 mile easy run/walk with River in the morning and cycle + strength in afternoon
Actual: I had every intention of getting up around 5am for a nice little walk possible run with River. But all day yesterday I battled sneezing and stuffed up nose due to pollen. (it was so out of control, a lot of people at work and even Vina said how much it was effecting them!) It left me utterly exhausted yesterday and I was still stuffed up all day so by 8pm when I was falling asleep on the couch. Then, as I woke up a few times in the night my head was pounding so hard it was just a ROUGH night. I knew I needed even that little extra hour of sleep and waking up to force activity wasn’t going to help me in the long run. Then, I didn’t go to the gym…. I am really feeling like I am fighting something and kind of thought I would overdo it if I did strength – but I probably needed to do it 😒

After dinner, taco salads – yumm!! We took River on a walk. It was just over a mile and while slow moving it was nice and relaxing. Despite all the pollen, I love the temps right now! It’s perfect and not too hot and humid and not freezing cold – although as long as it’s not windy the cold doesn’t bother me that much…

Thursday (4.25.24) – Plan: Long run ~10 miles
Actual: the 8.3 miles on Tuesday WIPED me out so I did let Vina know that I was only doing our normal 6-7 mile route. (which I enjoy that this is our average mileage for a random day because if I were to run on the treadmill during lunch I would only be at like 4-5 miles and then done)

Weather jumped up 12° or so from the last morning (Tuesday) we ran so there was a lot of elbow sweat!

Wearing: balega shorts + lightweight long sleeve top + bomba socks + new balance 1080s

Feeling: I definitely feel more rested but I’m still struggling. I can’t put my finger on it, it’s showing up as lack of motivation but there’s something else there. But the only thing getting me out the door was knowing that Vina and Phoebe were going to meet me and I was getting impatient last night over very little things.

During the run: I felt really heavy- my legs and just me in general, I was very puffy. My left heel hurt pretty bad until I warmed up about a mile in but I nearly turned around and called it quits. My left calf also was feeling a little strained and just in general I couldn’t lift my legs, so I felt like I was shuffling. I have neglected all strength training and cross training this week, I have only done my morning runs and then been a lump on the chair at work. So that could be partly the reason I am not feeling like myself. Also, I haven’t been eating to fuel my body very well – so there’s some factors! Crazy how so many factors go into feeling well. Makes me wish I just made better choices in general with eating and then I would feel amazing all the time! lol – live and learn!

I ended up walking about .4ish miles home because I couldn’t lift my legs any more! Once I hit the final hill I just had to stop. It was like enough is enough. – total mileage today was 6.4 miles

In the evening we went on another little walk which was fun. (love when the kids request the walk!) And the only way to get Hazel to hold hands crossing the street was if she held onto Rivers leash on one side while I held the side closest to him – in the event he unpredictability ran! -no picture because I left my phone at home

Here are some more greenhouse/plant updates! Our fruits and veggies are coming along and some blackberries have become ripe, but still waiting on cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and others to ripen up!

Jesse added in a window for crosswind – which helps so much to keep it cooler in there too!

Friday (4.26.24) – Plan: REST / XT
Actual: I had no intention of running today. Well, a small one, because I set out clothes JUST in case I woke up and I’m glad I did. River ended up waking me up just after 5am and instead of crawling back into bed I just got up and got dressed. Things were going great… until they weren’t! He swerved in front of me and did a dead STOP. I smacked my left shin right into his head. He seemed completely un-phased, but I was nearly knocked down. I ended up hobbling over to the water fountain really quite worried I wasn’t going to make it home. But, luckily after a couple minutes the pain went down and I jogged it home. We really did seem to be going MUCH slower on the way home. We did 3.15 miles
*also happy to report that my heels felt much better today!

Love the way he looks at me

Saturday (4.27.24) – Plan:  8-10 mi with Vina
Actual: It was Phoebe’s birthday today! So mileage was the utmost importance.

Woke up to a great temperatures, not too warm and not cold at all. And not too humid. We got some good breeze at times as well! And the sky lighting up earlier and earlier is welcomed while running but not when I want to sleep in – ha! River woke me up 5 minutes before my alarm, and then whined when he found out I wasn’t taking him with. (I played a good game of Frisbee after the run though so he isn’t too sad!)

Wearing: blue crop top tank + balega shorts + green plantar fasciitis feetures socks + craft endurance pro (blue shoes) – I have really been liking the cushion on these!

Feelings before run: ready! I hydrated with some caffeine/electrolytes and water and ended up not eating because I had a late PBJ for dinner and I really didn’t feel like I could stomach anything else. I did bring along a gel to fuel just in case but ended up not using it.

Warm up- I finally found my resistance band – I swear I turned my gym bag inside out but there it was this morning sitting under my towel in my bag! So I was able to properly warm up my glutes and feet today and did some core strength as well.

Vina ended up choking on a bug, I ran into a hanging telephone wire….which scared the 💩 out of us! I screamed, she screamed … We both jumped! It was pretty funny actually. I’m sure there’s a good heart rate spike during that time! And then we ended up going down a way we’ve been before but have avoided because that one time that dog got aggressive and we didn’t know if it would chase us! I was super hesitant. We still saw him, but he was sleeping! And we ran really quietly by him. Vina saw he was on like a cable at least but we still didn’t run back that way – ha!! As much as we both love dogs, we aren’t gonna be messing with them if they are mean and aggressive.

Coffee + breakfast+ 3.5 hours of weeding (yes… 3.5 hours!!!!!!!!) 😩😅 we had lunch and then Hazel fell asleep and I showered and laid down to rest and apparently fell asleep (rightfully so!) for about 45 minutes. Then we got up and had some snacks and packed up to go to the park. Hazel wanted to play IN the car and today, I was okay with that. It meant I just had to sit there and relax while she pretended to drive.

She insisted on seat belts as well

Sunday (4.28.24) – Plan: REST
Actual: I woke up and my legs were pretty much like dead tree stumps. I knew it wasn’t from running it was all the weeding. Also, I only was able to sleep in till 6… But I told myself better than waking up at 4am like I have been! So in reality I DID sleep in! Ha! I laid in bed trying to go back to sleep til about 6:30 – Jesse got up at 6 (which is unlike him) but I guess he said his lower back was hurting. So I laid there and waited for him to get coffee ready 😂 my only day to do that! I woke up and started drinking coffee and ended up doing a little mobility routine to help with the soreness and whattaya know… It worked really well!

Once Hazel woke up and we went outside for a bit I tossed her in the stroller and we took River on a 2 mile walk. It was a beautiful day but the wind was gusting again!

After that we played more and then headed to the park for a couple hours.

Had lunch, bathed River and watched Peter Pan and fell asleep for a delicious nap!

Went grocery shopping and then cleaned the dishes I put off ALL weekend lol and made cheeseburgers and onion rings for dinner! Plus I have been craving chocolate chip cookies and I ate like 5 huge ones.

Fell asleep around 9:15pm. Honestly, I think the weeding from Saturday took me out more than any of the miles this week!

Total running mileage: 32.2 miles
Total walking: 4.5 miles
1 mobility session
0 strength training
0 cycling

The goal for next week: find the balance between running, strength & cross training

Week 16 (of 2024)

Pear tree update: look at the little pears growing!!

GOALS FOR THE WEEK: At least TWO strength training sessions, ONE mobility session and ONE cycle session.

Monday- 4.15.24 – Plan: run 60 minutes with Vina and Phoebe
Actual: I thought it was going to be a little warmer, or feel warmer but it was a little chilly. In the end it was nice wearing a tank top – ha! I always try to remember the running rule, dress like it is 10 degrees warmer.

I really felt like I was flying the first two miles going to meet Vina – despite legs feeling like lead. But I was only going average pace 10:10 lol.

I love how a run makes me SO HAPPY in the morning.. or really any time of day – ha!

Monday Afternoon: STRENGTH TRAIN!
Actual: At first I thought I forgot a SHIRT AND SPORTSBRA… and I was about to be so upset with myself.. but luckily I had a both! So, off I went.. I told myself all I needed to do was complete this 30 minute workout and then I was done.

I really like these unilateral workouts despite not being that good at them. I keep working at it though – and since last year I have increased my KB weights so that is a huge plus. The first circuit I used 40 lb barbell for the front squats, did 8 box jumps and used a 20 lb KB for the cleans and did 8 each time/each side.
Circuit 2 I moved down to a 30 lb barbell because I definitely didn’t think I could do 40lb for the RDL’s!
Circuit 3 – I remember when I could barely do a reverse nordic, but now? I can go pretty low! So that is quite cool.

I haven’t been properly stretching AT ALL after runs, and I feel stiff. So I did this foam rolling workout which WOW, it all hurt so good! and then I did a little mobility afterwards and stretched some more.

Tuesday – (4.16.24) – Plan: 30-45 minute run with River
Actual: Basically everything that could have gone sideways Monday night did – AC went out, River barked at every moving leaf, grass, armadillo, frog resulting in really poor sleep and I cancelled the run. In a way, probably for the best as I was really sore from the run and workout from yesterday!

When I got home Hazel was playing in the sprinkler and then she helped me water some of the trees.

Jesse and Hendrix planted corn!

Hazel watched quietly as Hendrix watered.

This is a bell pepper! I am so excited, it is going to get huge!

Wednesday – (4.17.24) – Plan: Strength + 6 mile bike ride
Actual: our AC and the house fan were out for most of the night and I never realized how much I count on that white noise to help me sleep! I felt like I was up for most of the night, but I wasn’t going to let poor sleep stop me from a run today. I did it yesterday, but not today!! Plus, I owed River a run! It was warm all night and into the morning.

It wasn’t too warm outside, and we started earlier than normal, around 4:45a because I just wanted out the door!

Wearing: bright green shorts (Walmart brand)+ black gap athletic shirt (from 10+ years ago!) + pink balega socks + blue craft endurance shoes + hat to keep bangs and sweat out of my face! *I really like this bright green, so easy to be seen!

We kept it real easy pace, but it seemed to be taxing on River – or maybe it was humidity and the lack of consistency in running? This is only week 2 of him running with me again – ha! But I have been doing longer Frisbee sessions with him to keep up his leg turnover and trying to walk him more/longer. Anyway, we saw a couple cats and a few dogs with their owners out there, stopped at 2 water fountains and found a mini free library. You know, the ones where you can take a book and give a book for free? I almost brought one home but decided against it…. for now. By the way! I’m reading (actually reading and not just listening but I wish they had a listening option since I don’t have as much time to sit and read and this would be fun to listen to WHILE running)

These were our splits. Mile 2 is actually going up a tiny incline so that’s cool! But he petered out quickly after that.

We ended up walking another .75mi home because he refused to run any more.

I did this 30 minute workout that absolutely destroyed my glutes  and then did an extra 5 minutes of core work from another routine.

Early evening Home Depot (and Harbor Freight) run… hazel had a blast running down the aisles and following Jesse around and helping get supplies. Possibly the cutest duo ever – while in Harbor Freight she “lost” Jesse and was shouting out “dada! Where are you? Dada!!” And my heart melted… I remember when Hendrix and I used to shout for Jesse in the stores because we lost him, its such a cute memory.

Thursday – (4.18.24) – Plan: Run with Vina ~75 minute run
Actual: another exciting morning running with Vina!

Wearing: neon green new balance crop top + navy blue Reebok shorts + gray bombas + pink craft endurance ultras + a hat to keep the flyaways at bay!

Feeling: I finally got some decent sleep last night so I feel really rested and ready! But body also doesn’t feel as stiff as I thought it was going to be from yesterday’s strength.

The run: I felt like I was running through swamp water, it was 91% humidity

Friday – (4.19.24) – Plan: Cycle + Mobility

Actual: Hendrix was invited to a birthday party and we decided to make it a family night to get out of the house. Plus, I really needed a rest day. For lunch I had to go shopping for the present which resulted in the much needed break.

We let Hendrix run around like a crazy kid with the others and didn’t “police him” too much and he got to play laser tag, go bowling, eat cake and pizza. Our original plan was for us to bowl after the party too, but Hazel was too over stimulated and only managed to hang on for the 2.5 hours we were there.

This driving game didn’t work at all, but she sat here for 30+ minutes shifting gears and turning the driving wheel.

She hopped off the bike pretty fast when it turned on and wanted nothing to do with it ha!!

But if we didn’t make it “go” and it was at her own will, she was willing to sit on it and play

This dino shooting game was ONLY for her and Dad. Not me. At all.

The necklace she is wearing is part of her Moana costume, but she wouldn’t wear her dress out – only the necklace.

Her last major activity, besides literally running EVERYWHERE was putting the rocks into a bucket and sorting them.

Saturday – (4.20.24) – Plan: 8-10 miles
Actual: took the kids to a couple parks and played then Hazel fell asleep pretty quickly at lunch time and I got to lay down for a rest as well. Grocery shopping and playing commenced after nap time.

Sunday – (4.21.24) – Plan: REST
Actual: 2.5 mi run with River and Hazel plus a .5mi cool down walk. We were running against some REALLY strong winds too!

Airing out the house from the bacon we were cooking. But he does this stance way more than he should 😂

We never and I mean never take family pictures, so I’ve been taking really random ones where no one else is looking but me – ha!!

Total running mileage: 19.8 miles
Total walking mileage: 1.21 mi with River
Total strength: 1 hr and 16 minutes (2 sessions)
Total stretching/mobility – 15? minutes 😂 (foam roll + a little stretch Sunday)

Week 15 (of 2024)

Monday (4.8.24) Total Solar Lunar Eclipse Day
Plan: Strength training plus cycling – I did not want to go to the gym, but I knew I really needed to. I used 20lb KB for most of the exercises except I used 35 lb for he power cleans in circuit 2. I also did a 15 minute (3 mi) bike ride and it felt really difficult.

my calves were poppin’

Tuesday (4.9.24) -Plan: 45- 60 minute run outside hopefully with River!
Actual: weather was looking prime!

Wearing: Reebok shorts + gray tank + wright socks (I really like these socks! They are so soft!) + blue craft shoes

*running outside really just hits differently! Also maybe because it’s the first thing I do in the morning and it is just nice. ALSO I’m extremely grateful that Hazel sleeps in and doesn’t wake up crying while I’m out so there is NO guilt to me going out to run. I’m so happy that guilty season is behind us. When she nursed I was always worried to leave because I didn’t want her crying for milk in the morning and waking everyone up. Now, she sleeps in til 7:30-8am every day! So I get my run in, shower and get ready and still have coffee to myself.

For how untrained River is most times, he’s a surprisingly really good runner. He hardly pulls and he stays close by.  I woke up this morning and got ready and we headed out just before 5am. Vina drove all night from Texas back home so I knew she wasn’t meeting us. We ran around my old stomping area and ran down to a park (1.5 miles away) where we stopped for water and then back up and to another park about mile away. River managed about 3.6 miles and then I let him walk it home. It was really nice and relaxing and I loved how I wasn’t as on edge as I would be running alone. Crazy things happening in the world and I just feel like we gotta really stay vigilant. But not many people will mess with someone with a big (90+ pound) dog.

Don’t mind the messy a$$ garage!! Lol and I finally got NEW batteries in my vest

Treat bribe so he took a picture with me

Our shadows… We saw a few people out walking but not many. It was such a a nice morning too! River did great and didn’t get in anyone’s faces… He loves giving kisses if you’re nice but he listened and stayed off of them.

He took his job of easy running pace really seriously lol.

Walk home .mileage

Wednesday (4.10.24) – Plan: 45 minute run + mobility
Actual: well, well well…. The weather took this one away from me! We were under thunderstorm and tornado warnings in the afternoon and I didn’t make it to the gym. It was also way too dangerous to EVEN DRIVE HOME and I had to stay at work and take shelter.

Thursday (4.11.24) – Plan: 60 min EZ run outside
Actual: I was planning originally to run with River this morning, but then Vina texted asking to run. Which works out perfect since I really want to ease him into running slowly and not too fast. Tomorrow I plan on taking him for a run in the morning. *Written at 4:30am*

Weather:

At 4:45am I got a text from Vina saying one of her kids was throwing up and we had to rain check it. Obviously I was already up and still ready to go. So, River got tagged in! He was so excited too. And it was a great morning, at first I thought it would feel too warm and I didn’t want to push him into too humid of weather too quick. But it was perfect, and there was a lot of good gusts of wind. Also, I was feeling really slow and clunky today so River enjoying a slower pace was really nice. Vina and Phoebe are little speed demons and I don’t think I would’ve hung on long. About 2 miles in (after a stop for water 1 mile in) River literally just stopped and sat. His way of telling me he needed some water. 🤣 But it was the cutest thing. So I gave him some sips from my bottle and promised him within the next mile we would be at a park and getting more water. And off we went. There were quite a bit of debris in the road and on the sidewalk from the heavy winds and rains yesterday but with my flashlight from my phone it wasn’t too bad. I kept monitoring his gait and making sure he didn’t limp at all. (He’s pre-disposed to hip issues and I’ve seen him limp before when doing too much) but today he looked so strong and no limp in sight. I was very happy about that! I love morning runs so much!  – I also love that river loves being out and running too and he’s surprisingly so good when we see other people out there or even dogs. He’s always been good at ignoring dogs when he’s “working” and even though we came across a few. There were 2 dogs that tried to lunge at him and were reactively barking, and he looked to me and I said “with me” and he popped on the other side of my hip and ignored and I was like HOT DAMN I did something right in training!

Turns out I was downright tired in the evening… We went grocery shopping late afternoon and then mostly played outside til 7:00 or so. And by about 9pm I was fast asleep on the couch! While I wanted to try to run Friday morning, I decided sleep is better.

Friday (4.12.24)- Plan: strength + cycle + mobility
Actual: I planned on it but as much as I planned it didn’t go to plan. I couldn’t muster up the energy or discipline to go. Plus I was utterly exhausted today… Rest was more important today, but I’ll get there. We will prioritize strength next week!!

Saturday (4.13.24) – Plan: 10 mile run
Actual:

Wearing: I pulled out (the night before) shorts + tank… Luckily I had a gray jacket stuffed in the basket of the stroller because otherwise I would’ve been MUCH colder. There is a nip to the air for sure! But no wind so that’s a really good thing, but still with no sun out and it being 49° it was chilly.

Have you ever had a code brown? 💩

I hope not!

But to start off… the run, Vina and I were both running a few minutes behind but met up nonetheless and off we went. Our goal was 8-10 miles at a real easy pace. The first 6 were great but by mile 7 both of us needed a bathroom real quick. Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of options and so we had to hustle and by hustle I mean Vina was able to run to the bathroom and I was left with a run/walk shuffle because it was just too much bouncing! 😅 Sorry for the TMI, but I think you understand the gist. Luckily the bathroom was about 1 mile away and I barely made it there……barely! We are super lucky to have public bathrooms open at all times of day/night around here too! Otherwise I would’ve been squatting in the woods in broad daylight 😅. So, after that debacle we were around 8-8.5 miles? And we said our goodbyes. I hit 10 miles before even making it home and walked .5mi to the “finish line” but honestly I thought I was much closer than .5mi and then I took River out for a quick loop run and we were averaging 9:35 min/mi pace but I stopped us at .85mi (our house) because I really needed to have coffee and stretch and slow it down! So, in total I ran 10.85 miles and walked .5miles and I owe River some more miles for sure.

This jacket is from Gap, and I have had it for probably 15 years! I think this is the oldest piece of clothing I own! And it’s still relatively in style. (Crazy)

I took this picture because it was just so beautiful and I couldn’t pass it up, but it was also during my run/walk shuffle to the bathrooms.

I had glorious coffee when I got home and then everyone woke up! Hazel loves trying on everyone’s shoes… Today it was brothers shoes and attempting to running in them – ha!

Afterwards it was time to get to work! I put away 3 loads of laundry and got to working on weeding the gardens. Then we FINALLY cleared out the gym space and the garage space! And cleaned that while Hendrix helped clean the playroom.

Sunday (4.14.24) – Plan: take River and Hazel on a little run around the neighborhood.
Actual:

My legs were so heavy today there was no run to be had. But we did go to the park and run around, they did go to a neighbors and run around and play with friends and we did end up going on a walk with River. 2.4 miles!

I felt pretty exhausted all day today but I’m glad I got some mileage in and River got in a walk. He ended up passing out really early in the night and then we all followed shortly after. Playing in the sun is tough work!

Total running mileage: 19.3 miles (not too bad!)

Biking:3.6mi

Walking: 3.6 mi

Strength training – 1x …. I want to make sure I get in at least 2 good strength sessions as I keep the mileage up. That’s my goal for next week! And to keep the runs with River going on Tues/Thurs!

Week 14 of 2024!

With not needing to focus on structured training for a race, I think I will incorporate more easy running, strength and 1 speed workout a week. The two speed workouts a week feel like too much right now. I was trying to follow a more speed focused training, but it really feels like too much and I am not prioritizing the right thing right now. So, we changing it up!

Started the week reading this:

Ended the week reading this:

I guess this is a 3 book week because by Friday I started reading this one:

Monday (4.1.24)  Actual- I met up with the lovely Vina and Phoebe and ran 6.5 miles. It was only 68° and 91% humidity! The elbow sweat came first and she also confirmed she sweats there first too! Haa. We are going to try to make Monday mornings a routine, it was so nice chatting away and running. I loved every single second of this run!

I really think I need to just bite the bullet and wake up early and run ALL the time instead of running on the treadmill. The outdoor fresh air (even if it is heavy and muggy) feels so great!

I wasn’t that hungry this morning, but I also knew that there was a possibility of getting a little peckish during my run and I absolutely HATE feeling hungry while running, so I figured a French roll and butter for the win! Also, this is just a French roll that is always on sale at Walmart, we have been getting them and just slicing them up, toasting them and eating them with butter. I love bread and butter! ha

Can you see the elbow sweat!? ha!! I was waiting for Phoebe and Vina to come up the hill, I would have ran down, but then thought…. I DON’T WANT TO RUN UP THAT HILL TOO! lol.

We had such a scary experience on the run! First off, it was still very dark and as we were running our usual route, there was a dog (Pitbull I think) out front and it started barking at us. We couldn’t tell if it was leashed or not, no one else was out there! So, we slowed down a lot but kept moving and prayed for our lives it was leashed and wasn’t about to run after us! Then, right after that encounter a car came creeping up behind us (leaving for work) but nonetheless we got scared as it was coming up behind us! haha

There were some great April’s fools pranks by the IG community:

The running dietician

I am actually hoping to go to the gym for lunch time to get in some strength + 6 mile cycle, but I will play it by ear to see how I am doing.

Honestly, if I do nothing else this week, at least I had a really successful Monday! Hahaha – I made it to the gym for lunch!

I mostly skipped circuit 3. I can’t hop – I accidentally hopped down from a box and my left foot shot up with PAIN. immense 9/10 pain. I immediately sat down and just winced so hard.  I used a 20lb KB and that was definitely enough weight for now!

Oh🤣,I did the Bulgarian squats in circuit 3 but nothing else lol. And then biked 5 miles while scrolling Reddit.

Tuesday 4.2.24 – Plan: 45 minute run+ 5×30 second strides at the end + mobility
Actual: a couple things I forgot until late yesterday!  1. I forgot that today I have to leave early from work so I wouldn’t be able to get in my run at lunch. Luckily, Vina’s client cancelled and she was able to meet me for a run today! 2. I forgot to check the weather yesterday, but today it is 72° (at 4:45am) and 90% humidity! Dew point is 68° and a nice 12mph wind from the south.

The breeze was a welcomed blessing! My legs felt VERY heavy and I am in need of a good stretch. I got really good sleep last night despite some weird dreams. I know for a fact if Vina wasn’t meeting me I would have turned off the alarm to sleep more. It helps so much when you know you’re meeting someone!

The fit… Before the run! I didn’t have any food because I was so full from last night – I ate too many meatballs! Haha

There were SO many people out this morning, we have never seen so many walkers and runners – it was nice! We went a different route because of yesterday’s crazy dog encounter. So I vetoed that route for a while haha. We made up a different loop that took almost to the same mileage as yesterday! By mile 5.5  my legs were donezo! And I was so thirsty! I took one 6oz water bottle and it definitely wasn’t enough. I came home and downed an electrolyte drink haha!

Wednesday 4.3.24 – Plan: Active Recovery Day – mobility, stretching, walking (I hope I wake up early and take River out for a run/walk)
Actual: I unintentionally took a full break today and worked through lunch, which in reality was probably for the best.

Thursday 4.4.24 – Plan: Speed Work + Strength
Actual: Once again Vina came through because of a cancellation to her class lol. Funnily enough Jesse and I both fell asleep really early last night and I really didn’t want to run this morning. But vina was waiting on me and that’s just the kick I need to get out the door. It was MUCH colder today. Like 20° cooler than Tuesday!!

Also by the time I got back home, it had gotten even colder! It was 44° by 6am!! We wore shorts and a long sleeve and I was a little chilled throughout the whole run. But probably would have overheated if I wore leggings or a jacket.

Pretty happy with the pace I kept with Vina. It really didn’t feel in the under 10s at all! The first two miles I clearly was on my own just jogging along. When I run to meet Vina, I haven’t been listening to any music or podcasts or anything. Just listening to the sounds of birds and enjoying the quiet. So different from the past!! But also with it being so dark I want to be aware of my surroundings and make sure I dont

I am thinking of possibly not running Friday and just biking so I can save my legs for the weekend. With already doing nearly 20 miles this week it’s a HUGE jump from the last month so I don’t want to go in tooooo hard. Luckily it’s been easy miles and I think I’ll stick with easy runs for a bit before adding speed again? (I think lol) Hoping if time allows I get in a biking session today at lunch with some mobility work!

Over the last couple weeks these are the projects Jesse has been working on/completed

1.89 mile walk with Hazel this evening

Friday 4.5.24 – Plan: 60 minute run easy
Actual: I didn’t get my run in and I’ll be honest I was a complete grump. But I did it to myself by not going to the gym. Regretting that laziness! I was getting a bit spoiled by running outside and yeah… Gotta not do that. I wasn’t even planning on running but just movement would’ve been nice!

with the last two days of rest, I was a little more easily triggered on being overanxious and not so nice. Does that happen to you? My patience was thin and I knew I needed a run. I texted Vina who had already mentioned wanting to run this weekend and we set up for a run on Saturday morning.

Saturday 4.6.24 – Plan: REST

What actually happened: Since I didn’t run for the last two days, I HAD to get out and run, emotionally I was jumping off a cliff and needed it so badly!

Weather: 51° / feels like 49° / light 4-6mph wind from the north – with the lower humidity we both knew this run was going to be epic

I didn’t sleep well (maybe because I didn’t do any movement the last two days!?), but woke up ready to go. Had my bagel with PB and honey like I was for Marathon training since I knew we were going out for a little longer. I’m hoping like 1.5 hours. Still want to be home before everyone wakes up lol and the past week when we’ve only run an hour I didn’t fuel at all, mostly because I really wasn’t hungry but also it was a shorter run. *fueling and having caffeine before a run is what I should always do lol

Wearing: new balance grey long sleeve with this fancy cowl neck kinda zip up thing (first thing I grabbed from my drawer) + (new) spanx shorts (interesting right?) athletic line – got these because they are flowy but also have spandex underneath and hold phone/ gels! Got them at TJ Maxx and thought I would give them a whirl. They aren’t like shape wear although the brand is known for shapewear!! Wearing green feetures + black new balance shoes to cushion me on my long run.

**I guess actually resting (no runs for 2 days) + fueling before a run makes you like 10x better because this run was amazing! I felt like I was flying!

I did bring my Nox Gear vest, but I ended up grabbing dead batteries from the drawer (WHYYYY were dead batteries in there?!) so it didn’t light up at all. But I had the reflective band thing on the waist so I feel like that helped some. I ended up turning on some music to get me to Vina’s meeting point, I needed to get a little pumped up and it worked because I didn’t really want to go run but when I turned on the music I felt like I was “flying” also just everything felt soooo smooth and effortless! We met up and ran through the athletic park, stopped for a quick bathroom break and kept going. The moon was insane! It was a crescent moon but also like orange! There was A LOT of animal chatter on our run, we heard coyotes, owls and birds chirping a bunch. It was fantastic 😍

Usually I can tell I am holding Vina back on pace because I truly like to cruise. But today, I was pulling back because I could tell she wasn’t hanging on. Granted it was colder and she does much better in the humidity. So she was really flying Monday and Tuesday while I was dragging a little more. Funny how weather does that. Do you do better in the cold or heat? Humid or dry? Usually my warm up paces are in the high 10s or 11s but today it was low 10s for the first 2 miles and it was just effortless. I left plenty in the tank after our run because I have a lot of yard work to do today. This was almost exactly 90 minutes lol! How perfect.

Shorts update – really nice! Soft and great, only thing that stinks is there’s only one pocket on the compression part and not on both sides. But that’s okay! They are super soft and there’s a small pocket with a zipper in the back waist band where I kept a PB bar just in case I needed it. I ended up not fueling during the run, but I did have two water bottles that I almost finished.

After my run and some semi-good stretching, a small cup of coffee and a scroll through the ‘gram I went outside and started pulling weeds. Magically, an hour flew by and then we headed off to Home Depot to get chicken wire…. I had no idea how much chicken wire cost, but dang!! $150 later and we came home and started wrapping – which was a little harder than I thought it would be. We started at 10:30am!!!!!

We took a small lunch break for sandwiches and then went back to it. I think the bottom half took like 2.5 hours!

Sunday 4.7.24 – Plan: 90 minute run?

Actual: I was pretty dang tired and my goal was to sleep in this morning. I managed to sleep in till 7:30 am!

I really wanted to take River on a run, even if it was short. It didn’t seem like I was going to get it in because to be honest I was exhausted today! Allergies took a toll on me today! The wind was blowing and a lot of pollen was in the air.

I did even more weed pulling! And we went to the park twice! Hazel had a blast running through the water

After dinner, I mustered up some energy and we ran around our little loop with River and managed 1.75 fun miles

I was tired the whole day, no matter how much caffeine I had, but after this run…. I had more energy than ever – ha!

Total running mileage: 30.37miles! Wowwwwww lol both Vina and I were shocked, it really helped her schedule was free and I was up for waking up early. It was a bit easier than I thought it would be the only problem was that I didn’t want to go to the gym at all during lunch and the made for a long day at work!

Week 13 (of 2024)

It is spring break! Which means I don’t have to wake up a grumpy 9 year old to go to school – ha! – I really want to focus on: hitting my miles and paces, strength training, stretching and playing outside with the kids.

Also, how is it already week 13 of the new year?!? And how is it already spring? And how is it 2024? Ha! Time is wild. And it never stops and I am baffled.

I am currently listening to Throne of Glass, which took me a little bit to get interested in, now I am invested and enjoying the story!

The second half of the week I started this book:

My mom and aunt get to go to italy in a week for a cruise and then they are staying after the cruise for a couple weeks? To explore!!

Monday (3.25.24) – Plan: 50 min speed play run
Actual: so, originally I thought that today was like an aerobic day and not speed. So mentally, I was not ready and physically I probably could’ve and should’ve taken it easy since yesterday felt hard. But, I didn’t. So, I really tried to do this and I ended up altering it a bit. Here is the prescribed run:

I did a 5 minute warm up first And I ended up doing the first 8 minutes then the next 5 minutes I contemplated just doing easy 6.0-6.2 and then though OH SCREW IT! and I did part 2, but altered it to do 1 minute walks in between each faster pace. And then I completed part 3 with no altering although I wanted to go slower haha, I didn’t. And then part 4 was done and I ended at around 56 minutes and a total of ~5.35 miles. Of course because of all the walking my average pace suffered. I need to balance more easy miles with the speed work. But this plan is calling for two speed days. Maybe I just need to do the aerobic pace as more easy pace. (I think I’ll do that) Also, I was sweating ssoooooo much that I was grabbing paper towels during each walk break to dab the sweat away.

Finished with some stretching and mobility movements at the end and then a glorious shower to get the stink off!!! Haha

It was pretty windy and dark this evening so we didn’t play outside. We made tacos and I burned the heck outta my arm!

Tuesday (3.26.24) – Plan: 40 min Aerobic Run
Actual: so, I changed the “aerobic run” to easy peasy pace run. I went at about 5.5mph and there was a couple times I upped the elevation just to get a little bit in. And it was only for like maybe 30 seconds at a time. I climbed 27 ft so NOT much haha. My heart rate was around 136-140bpm the whole time. I genuinely took it easy but I feel pretty beat up. I also decided I really dislike how the Topo Cyclones feel. I don’t like the 5mm drop, I like 8-9+ mm drop. I also decided to do a strength workout and I realized I lost a lot of strength!

I did 3 rounds of circuit 1, 2 round of circuit 2 and then 1 round of circuit 3 and I called it quits. Lol. I went from 25lb KB to 20lb and it was still so rough.

Total mileage: 3.57mi at 11:12 min pace.

Once I got home the kids immediately asked to go to the park. (Jesse’s truck isn’t working right now so they’ve been stuck at home during spring break) So off we went to the park to play before dark! Hazel made me run around and climb everything. After the park we had dinner and baths and relaxed.

Wednesday (3.27.24) – Plan: Strength + Cycling
Actual: woke up this morning pleasantly sore and ready for some.mlre strength training and then cycling to flush the lactic acid!

Well, I did it again! I skipped the gym. But at least I did some strength yesterday. I’m still hoping to get some in tonight and hopefully cycle with the kids. I got some necessities though! Like a new shower curtain liner, shoe inserts, a new sun shade for the car, window shades for the kids when they sit in the back, the best hair conditioner for 1/2 off and sunscreen! So, win win!

Thursday (3.28.24) – Plan: REST – Going to try on running shoes with Rina (not to be confused with Vina who I ran the marathon with- ha!!)
Actual: the night went by way too fast last night! Thank goodness I don’t have anything on the schedule today. I can’t wait to go back to sleep!

We got MOD pizza which something on it really upset my stomach because I was in the bathroom not even an hour after eating it! Then when I got home I took the kids to the park and the store to grab some soil!

Friday (3.29.24) – Plan: 50 minute speed play
Actual: I had a raging headache today and couldn’t get myself to the gym at all. Guess this week is a little lackluster in running.

Saturday (3.30.24) – Plan: 8 mile LR
Actual: Jesse and Hendrix went out early in the morning for fishing which meant no long run but I still managed to get in some running with hazel. First off though, we slept in! She slept til 8:30!! And I woke up around 7:45, had my coffee, did the dishes and had a great slow morning. We had bagels and cream cheese for breakfast and then got ready to head out. My goal was just to go as far as we could. I knew she wanted to go to the parks so I was already mentally prepared to do lots of stopping. So, first off we stopped at our normal playground which happens to be one that Hazel sometimes just hates! And we don’t know why lol, but she sometimes will play there and other times she adamantly says Nooooo. Today, she did not want to stop there, so we headed to another park near the bay. Our first stop ended up being 1.74 miles away from home. We played there for a while and had some snacks and then she wanted to walk on her own. We walked, ran and jumped around. Then I convinced her to get in the stroller if she wanted to get to the park faster. She gladly jumped in after 10 minutes of exploring on her own. The next park we tried to go to was at a school which surprisingly was locked. So we passed that and went to another. At this point she was getting tired and I could tell she was over it. We headed home and got a total of 5 miles today!

Had to share because this is my first time trying this flavor and it is SO good!! I don’t do many energy drinks, but sometimes I have to on the weekends to keep up with everything haha

Sunday (3.31.24) – Happy Easter! (Mobility Day)
Actual: We had an Easter egg hunt without the eggs lol. While we thought we had leftover eggs from last year, we did not! Silly me never checked so instead we used some of Hazels old ball pit balls and Mardi gras beads! Once the kids found them all I just distributed candy out. Lol that actually made for a much easier way to make sure they didn’t get candy overload!

I did minimal, and I mean minimal weed pulling before taking the kids to the park! It was around 75° out and the sun sucked all my energy out. We stayed out for a little over an hour and then came home for lunch. Hazel wanted to watch her new favorite show “Ms Rachel” and we curled up in bed and passed out to her songs haha! I didn’t want to lay down because I was going to attempt a run, but she made me and I looked at her dead in the eyes and said “if I lay down i am going to sleep” and she then quickly passed out right next to me haha! 

This weekend was full of pollen so I was sneezing soooooo much, and that always takes my energy out of me! so, after a glorious nap we went to the grocery store and then played some more outside. It was a great weekend but running wasn’t really on the menu much, which was okay. By 7pm I got a great text from Vina asking to run Monday morning 😄

Week 12 – of 2024

I am going to start working on my speed. I want to get faster. I want to start challenging myself to stay in a more uncomfortable zone and push myself.

Also, I forgot to mention one of the best parts about Sunday… While it was raining and Hazel was sleeping, I did exactly what I wanted. I curled up in bed and watched my show “One Day” and it was blissful! I think I even mentioned to Hazel earlier that day like today just feels like a lay in bed and watch shows kind of day… haha and I got to do just that!! The boys watched Jurassic Park out in the living room and I just got to fully melt under the covers. 😍 Also, Saturday included a birthday party after the race plus extra park play for the kids afterwards and delicious burgers for dinner.

Listening to:

Monday – (3.18.24) – Plan: 50 minute aerobic run
Actual: Aerobic = not easy, but not threshold… Around 30 seconds slower than your 10k pace…. Which still seems fast to me. So I opted for about 6.2 on the treadmill rather than my normal super easy and relaxing 5.5-5.8 and a little faster than 6.0. it felt great and I felt strong, EXCEPT .. I looked down and my legs were bleeding. These shorts I was wearing I’ve had for almost 5 years. They’ve been through a lot and the seams are now getting a bit rough. They rubbed my inner thighs raw. I jumped off the treadmill at 19 minutes, ran to the bathroom… Cleaned myself up – but saw it wasn’t that bad. I had so much left in the tank so I found my glide stick, slathered it on and went back. It felt fine until the last 5 minutes of my run, and I did have to pull down my shorts a couple times… But overall, not too bad. It STUNG in the shower though!!!

Blood cleaned up so it didn’t look as bad. But matching marks on both legs

Tuesday – (3.19.24) – Plan: Strength
Actual: first day of spring! I had to leave work early and couldn’t make it to the gym to do my strength!

And while I still LOATHE it being so dark in the mornings I am LOVING how light it stays in the evenings. Because it makes it so much easier to run around and play with the kids. Which then means I get to tire them out and they get all their sillies out outside! So, yesterday we went on a bike ride and Hazel passed out for about 10 minutes before waking up to pointing out dogs lol and then we played in the playroom for a while and swung on the tire swing. And hazel and I ran back and forth and back and forth from the driveway to the swings. I swear she’s going to be a runner! I sure hope so! 🤞🏽🤞🏽 She tells me “ruh!” And then wiggles her arms to motion swinging arms like running. And I say YES! and she lets out a loud giggle and off we go running. It’s so pure and joyful! She would flop on the grass after a few sprints and rest for a bit and then hop back up to run more. We ended up having fish for dinner and then got to bed around 9:30 or so.

Wednesday  – (3.20.24) – Plan: Speed Workout + strength from yesterday
Actual: while it is so important to fuel before a run, I need to remember to not eat my whole entire lunch before I attempt to speed workout. I experienced a lot of uncomfortableness and almost barfing all over the treadmill. While I know I also need to embrace getting comfortable in the uncomfortable pieces, really hate barfing. I did not give up, there were times when I definitely just ended the speed portion of it and so I think that I probably could have just lowered my speed instead of going straight to the walk portion. But this is first week of me trying this new plan so I will give myself Grace. I did stop my speed portion twice and then I decided to slow down the speed because I knew that I wasn’t going to make the 9.5 or whatever it was. So it seems like I was comfortable in 7.8 range, and the 8.0 was just a little too much for the 3-minute blocks.

You can still see the blood on my shoe that I can’t get out ha

And, I did try to do the strength training portion, but I couldn’t because I was sweating so much (haha) there was so much sweat just going into my eyes and making me cry that I could not properly do anything other than go and take a shower PLUS I was on a time crunch and had to make it back to the office. But…

It was another glorious afternoon of running around outside with the kids, going on a bike ride and Hazel insisting on walking on the treadmill. Treadmill is only set to about 1.0-1.2 mph because I still have to hold her hand and she gets a little freaked out some times.

Tires were mostly flat so we couldn’t ride it, but Hazel could just fine so we pushed her around on the grass sprinting back and forth.

Hendrix brought the bubble machine in and accidentally spilled some lol

We had egg burritos with bacon and watching Inside Out in the evening. I love this current weather of in the 60/70s and it’s not too horrific. I’m not ready for summer time humidity haha. I’m scared!!

Thursday – (3.21.24) – Plan: REST
Actual: I thought I started my watch but apparently I didn’t! I met up with my friend and we walked around some nature trails for 30 minutes. Just enough time to get back to the car, search frantically for a bathroom and not pee my pants! Haha I had intended on taking pictures but the need for a bathroom stopped me from taking any. It was a nice day and felt great to get on the trails. In the afternoon we went on a 1.6mi bike ride.

Friday – (3.22.24) – Plan: 35 min Speed + Core Work
Actual: 10 min warm up at 5.5 and then

356 ft of elevation gain! And then the 7.0 for part 3 felt so easy 😂

Total mileage was 4.1 miles and ~45 minutes

Saturday – (3.23.24) – Plan: 6 mi LR (effort: medium level threshold ~9:30 – 10 min/mi?)
Actual: ~2 mile walk with River and Hazel and then 1.5hrs of weeding and listening to my audio book! Then it was grocery shopping and out to the parks for play!

Sunday – (3.24.24) – Plan: Mobility
Actual: today we did (almost) 6 miles, 5.95 miles to be exact. It was REALLY windy and my legs felt weirdly so heavy. But we did it. * Just realized now that they were weirdly heavy because I was pulling weeds and basically holding a squat for 2 hours yesterday. 😒🤣

I finally managed to refind the little offshoot from the main road trail that’s so cute with all these painted rocks and a great little outlook to the bay. We stopped here to see the water and have a snack. Clementines for the win! Luckily she didn’t throw a fit when I said we weren’t going in the water haha! But she did want to explore the rocks and watch birds for a bit, which was welcomed!

She was covered in a blanket in the stroller but refused pants and shoes haha
Much slower than I wanted, but that’s okay. It was a tough morning with wind and heavy legs

After our run, we had to stay outside in the sunshine and we watched our lizard friend attempt to get a worm- we did not get to see it eat it though, hazel kept going back to check to see the progress and shushed everyone watching so we didn’t spook it.

Then we went to the park to play in the sunshine before nap time. And we ran through the grass with our shoes off. This felt great!!

I love how much she loves running 🫶🏽

We made delicious mini BBQ chicken pizzas, had a little nap and then we were back out at the parks playing. Hazel and I occupied a soccer field for a while running and throwing someone’s forgotten soccer ball. Then when we got home we took River out on a walk.

Goals for next week:

Get my strength in!!!! And also hit the hard fast paces. I can only get faster and stronger if I actually do the work!

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