Summer Running...Goals!

There may be Halloween candy on the store shelves, but summer is not quite over yet!

  I do feel like summer it is the fastest season that goes by and I am not even a teacher ( or a student).  Since the topic is summer running goals left to check off it got me thinking did I even have any summer running goals?

In the beginning of the summer I did not set out to make any goals. With my new job and unpredictable schedule there was no way in committing to future races. However, my schedule didn’t become as hectic as I thought it would be and I was able to get off a few times for events I wanted to par take in. Luckily I was home for the 4th of July weekend and ran a 5k that I placed second in.  

My big race for the season has to be completing my first Tri. Now I can’t say a Triathlon was ever on my bucket list, but once my sister did it and enjoyed it, I felt FOMO so I needed to do it myself to see what it was all about.   

I thought for sure that I was done for the season since the only other race I had a desire to do next was Virginia Beach Rock n Roll. I had done this race the past six years so I came to peace with being ok not running it. I knew this was over Labor Day which meant a holiday and for sure I wouldn’t get that off. Well wouldn’t you know it, I did end up getting of that weekend.  So I couldn’t miss my running streak with it. The only thing is now I have to pay much more than I could have awhile back. Oh well, the price you pay I suppose. 

I am definitely looking forward to seeing friends and running the race down in Virginia Beach again this year. A great way to bring an end to the summer!  

Do you wait until the last minute to sign up for races just in case of the unknown and pay the higher fee or do you sign up early to get a great deal and if something comes up, you can at least feel good knowing that you didn’t pay too much?  -L

We are linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap...August 19

Another week of summer has gone by and I have one more week to enjoy before school officially starts!

To be honest not a whole lot went on this past week but I was able to come up with some highlights ( that I can remember anyway).

My Pappy and I on the Antique Cars.

Sunday my family took my Pappy to an amusement park to see a concert. We got there early enough to buy snacks and ride a few rides, but after that a major storm came through and the concert got cancelled.  Luckily  my dad and I were able to take him back on Thursday to  have dinner and see the concert so it all worked out.

Baylee at Vet

Baylee had her senior wellness check up on Wednesday. I HATE going to the vets because I can not handle bad news about my girl but the visit went well. I am so blessed!

I didn't think I've been getting the most out of my runs this summer, but I've been pretty consistent on getting miles in three days a week and well, that's good enough for me. My mileage has not been anything impressive as I've just been keeping a base of 3 miles or so.  I have a few 5K's coming up in the fall so I don't really have a reason to run more. I kind of wish I had a longer distance race on the calendar but I can't find any that are going to work with my  fall schedule (or logistics) right now.


                                                          And that's a wrap ! -M


                  Thank you to Holly and Wendy for letting us share out week!

Lewisburg Sprint Triathlon

This past weekend I did my first Triathlon. I never thought this would be on my bucket list, because I don’t like to bike and  I'm not a huge fan of swimming either. But earlier this summer when my Mom and sister did their first Triathlon I did feel like I was missing out. Once I knew I had off for this one I decided to bite the bullet and sign up. It didn’t hurt that I got a coupon code either.  I didn’t know my work schedule until a month prior, so that is basically how long I had to train. However, I do run all the time and I teach spin class, so I thought the only challenging part would be the swimming portion. Boy was I wrong! 

I swam about three times prior to the race and had only done a few leisurely strolls with my bike that surely didn’t break a sweat.  My bike isn’t even a race bike, but a mountain bike. My dad kept convincing me to ask my cousin to borrow her bike or he would go out and buy me one. Of course I refused because 1. Who’s to say I am ever going to do this again and 2. I don’t want to ride a bike that I am not comfortable on and practicing with. 

That morning I woke up to thunderstorms and an email that said they were keeping an eye on the weather. I thought for just a second I wouldn’t be mad if this canceled. I would have like to just roll over and go back to bed when that alarm went off.  After breakfast and loading up my mountain bike we were off.  We arrived in plenty of time to set up my bike.  People had their race bike up on a rack and towels underneath by their bike shoes. I thought well this is silly why not just utilize my kickstand? And that is just what I did. In the meantime this man noticed me from the gym and came over to chat. He asks Is this your first Tri? I responded yes. And this is the bike you’re using (as he points down to my mountain bike)? I said yes. His response: No kidding? You’ll be pedaling a lot. I just laughed it off and continued getting ready.  

I saw where I was on the list to start and I wasn’t until 26 mins after the hour so I sat at my transition spot near the pool before waiting in line for my spot.  

Once it was my turn I jumped in the pool and waited for her to count down.  The pool wasn’t as cold as I thought it was going to be, however, we started in the deep end which was a surprise to me when I first stepped down and couldn’t touch. 

Once I was off I did much better than I thought I would and even passed a few people. It was up and down the same lane before crossing underneath to get to the next lane.

 Once I finished I quickly made it to my towel to dry off and put my shoes and socks on. I got to my mountain bike and I was off.

 One thing I wish I would have done was put different shorts on. I was really slipping around on my seat from my wet shorts from the swim.  In the very beginning I was riding that thing like I stole it, but that quickly died down. 

There were many hills and I just kind of got bored riding out through the country side with no spectators nor nothing to see but farms. I made it about 5 miles and then I decided to get my Ipod out and eat some homemade beef jerky out of my pouch my dad made me for the race. Those 15 miles didn’t seem like they were ever going to end. A few people did pass me. They were probably thinking to themselves look at this lady riding a mountain bike, what is she thinking? But I did see a few people walk their bike up some hills, something that I did not have to do. I knew the time I lost during the bike portion, I would be able to make up running. Note to self: teaching spin class a few times a week is totally different than road biking! 

I couldn’t get off that bike quick enough. I was so ready for the run, well so I thought. As soon as I got off my bike my legs felt like jello. I didn’t think I was moving very fast but when I looked down at my watch I thought to myself I am not doing half bad considering what I have just done. The run portion of the course was pretty flat. I wish the bike portion would have been where the run was and vise versa. A part of the run was in the grass, and since it rained the whole night before and that morning, it was very swampy and my shoes and socks were completely wet. By this time, I didn’t even care and just wanted to be finished. I did end up passing a few more people on the run that passed me on the bike so I was happy about that. 

Not even sure what my finish time was but it was a PR since it was my first and I am happy with how it went. After the race I grabbed a slice of pizza and headed back home to relax the rest of the day.  Not sure if I can say I will do another one again or not, but it is definitely a possibility. Never say never right?   -L

Ever complete a challenge you never thought you would even attempt? 

                                                  We are linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Running Gear I'm using

If you have been following me on here for a while you know that I usually don’t take my phone with me during my run. I admit I have even been running in unfamiliar places with no phone. I know it’s probably not the smartest thing and for safety reasons I probably should have it. I just hate carrying it. Plus, with the case I have on it makes it fairly heavy and rather bulky. I haven’t found any pouches that fit my phone comfortabley that doesn’t bother me. 

 Since I am often "on call"  for work,  I always need my phone on me. On days that I do not get called for work, I have plenty of time to run but I still need my phone on me just in case. After a month of carrying my phone during my runs I knew I wanted to find something to put it in. 

I was out doing some shopping the other day and I found this pouch. I was even debating on getting it since I have so many other ones that I don’t use. But really they all were for my old phone and I didn’t have one for my current phone. Also it was only $6.99. You can’t beat that price.

 Inside the pouch there is another pocket that you can slide your phone into so it doesn’t bounce around during your run. In addition, there is a touch screen on the back of it.   And if you want to listen to music from your phone, there is a little opening where the headphone cord comes out. 

I took it home and of course I needed to test it out right away. My phone fit perfectly in the pouch and it did not bounce around at all. The belt itself even fit me very well and did not slide around or ride up.  

You may have seen my post the other day of the strange things I saw on my run. Now that I have a place for my phone during my runs I will be taking it with me a lot more now. I wonder what I will see out on my run next time?   -L

                                            

An InLinkz Link-up

Hiking Mishaps

On Saturday I traded in my long run for a hike with my sister instead.  It was a beautiful day so we decided to drive the convertible to a state park that is a little further than where we would normally go.

When we got to the park, we neglected to look for any of the maps that are normally posted near the trails. Instead, we just saw this sign and we picked a route and went with it. It was easy to find because there were yellow dots on all the trees along the trail to let us know which way to go.

This was actually the easiest part of the hike.

It was NOT an easy hike though. At one point it was straight up and very rocky. We even passed a few people who had to stop and take a rest along the way. There weren't any benches there but there should have been.

We finally made it to what was called "Lookout Point" on the Overlook Trail.

The view was great but I thought perhaps the trail continued.  There was a family already at the lookout and we talked to them for a bit. They told us that the trail did indeed continue up further.   The wife explained to us the trail continued up to the power lines and once we got there the view would be amazing! We walked on a paved road a bit before picking up the trail again.

The first part was very rocky and we had to watch our footing. The trail led us up a hill towards the power lines. We didn't think this part was very well marked and wondered if we were going the right way.

We finally came to this sign. This here is where the hike went all downhill (but only in the literal sense).  Our overlook trail had ended and we were now headed on the other trail but instead of turning, we continued to hike up the power line. I was pretty concerned because we didn't see any other hikers and the further we went the taller the grass got on the trail. Pretty soon we were wondering if it really was a trail. We conversed about what kind of animals could be up here. We would totally be okay seeing a deer but what if we saw a bear or a bobcat? What would we do. We both admitted that we didn't know what we would do. Do we remain quiet? Do we make noise? We came upon a pile of animal feces that was very large ( I never thought I would be writing the word feces on the blog), but it was so large that it had to come from a bear. Okay, now we were frightened.

We mentioned again about how poorly this trail was marked.

And then this happened. What? Clearly this can't be the right way. Why would this creek be in the middle of it.  Well, there had been a lot of rain lately so maybe it wasn't really a creek but just a piece of the trail that got flooded.  Nope, it was a full fledged creek and the current was roaring pretty good.  Okay so now we stood there debating should we try to cross it or go back? 

Neither one of us wanted to go back up the so called trail up the power lines where who knows what was lurking in the tall grass.  Besides, we could tell that beyond the creek and the No Access Gate, there was a road! But the creek was wider than it looked in this picture. We thought we could jump over it but the land close to the creek was very marshy and we were about to sink.  Lacey was pretty sure she could make it to the other side, but I wasn't so sure.  She thought maybe we should take our shoes off and just walk through it. I didn't even have to think about that one, I WAS NOT taking my shoes off. Okay, then we jump!

We both made it and walked a little ways to the road behind us. We had no idea where we were.

We stood on the side of the road trying to get a signal to check google maps, but of course no luck.  We were hoping that one of the people who drove by would stop and ask us if we were okay so we could ask them where the road led, but no luck there either.

We continued walking along the road until we looped back around to the lookout point we visited the first time.

We made out way back down the mountain, to the parking lot, and back to our car.  We were so happy to be done. We spent the rest of the afternoon at our local beach.  While we were there we were looking back at the pictures on our phone and I realized that the arrow on the Boiling Springs Trail was pointing the other direction. So yea, the trail that we were on really wasn't a trail. No wonder it wasn't clearly marked and there were obstacles.

And that was our story about our hike!  Ever have any hiking mishaps?

We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap... August 5

As I was writing the title for this Weekly Wrap, I accidentally typed "July", and quickly pressed the backspace button!  Wow, it really is August already!  I've been seeing people on IG posting about the first days of school already. I thankfully have a few more weeks of summer left!

As far as summer activities go, this is what we were up to this week.

I got two runs in (one was uneventful and one wasn't), and a very exciting hike.  I went to the driving range in Sunday and I now have my own set of golf clubs so I hope to go more often.

I mentioned on IG on Wednesday that I ran 5  Hot and HUMID miles on the rail trail. Near the end of my run I wiped some sweat out of my eyes and my contact lens fell out.  It fell right on the  dusty trail.  Luckily I found it, cupped it in my hand and "hydrated" it!  Thank GOODNESS my eye doctor is located right along the trail so I could go and disinfect it. The bad part is that I had to walk nearly 2 miles only being able to see out of one eye and holding my contact in my hand while trying not to drop it.

Also this week Lacey continued to train for her next event. She's crossed over to the dark side and she too now decided to do a triathlon.

She is much better at the swimming than I am.  Her race is next weekend.


I wanted to do a long run on Saturday but opted for a hike and some beach time with my sister instead.

Oh our hike was very eventful and I'm not gonna lie and tell you I wasn't frightened at some points. I think I'll try to tell that story later this week.


Thank you to Wendy and Holly for letting us share our week with them!

Disney's Culinary Tour

One of the days we were at Disney we took a culinary tour at Animal Kingdom Lodge.  I stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge last year when I went on vacation with Scott but I had no idea about the culinary tour then. I wish I did because this was something I know Scott would have liked to do (he's not so much a parks person).

The culinary tour takes place at the African restaurant Jiko. We met our tour guide their around 4:15 pm and she shared a little about the restaurant and the African history that inspired it's decor. We then got to talk about the important stuff...the food!