memorial day weekend 2013

last week was a long week.

I was more than ready for friday to end.

and now thinking back I can’t remember what I did on saturday, besides bbq-ing that night. saturday day must have been pretty exciting.

if I recall correctly I did nothing but relax. I did teach saturday morning fit camp at the gym and then came home. I took a nice long peaceful nap in the recliner. then I finally showered and headed off to a friends’ house to bbq for the evening. it was great company and great conversation. I don’t think I ever laugh so hard as when I’m around these people. many more fun memories to come.

sunday morning I woke up with Hubby with every intention of going for my long run, but my ankle was being funky that morning. I had plans on meeting my parents on the mountain to go hiking but thought that paired with 12 miles might have over done it. so I cancelled my run and chose hiking. I met my parents on the mountain and we had plans to head up to black mountain lookout.

I didn’t have to wait long for the fur-kids to load up.

this would be the earliest we’ve made the trip.

we immediately ran into snow at the road to the trailhead so it looked like we were walking to the trailhead.

we had to do a little bush whacking to get around the bigger snow drifts but nothing too major.

 

we made the trailhead with little trouble. but still had to bust snowdrifts.

this WAS the trail. all snow covered. some spots were clear. some…not so much.

if I had used my noggin’ I wouldn’t have hiked in chacos…BUT I didn’t. my feet got wet and cold and muddy. but I didn’t lose any toes.

we finally lost the trail under the snowdrifts and decided it wasn’t smart to keep going with 3 dogs and a thought of “maybe that’s the trail??”

the dogs didn’t mind the snow one bit. they were able to cool off and get hydrated.

my feet are still muddy. nice chaco tan started though.

I came home. sat down just long enough before it was time to batten down the hatches. a nice evening t-storm rolled through and even though it rained hard I still had every window open to listen to the thunder and smell the rain.

this morning once again I had every intention of going for my run. my calves were extra tight from the almost 4 miles of hiking from the day before and I was in no real mood to head out for 2 hours.

the high school rodeo was in town and we knew a kid participating so…once again I would have had to be up and out early. the dogs needed out about 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off which started off the day on the wrong foot. I crawled back into bed looking for motivation. the minutes slowly clicked by and I wasn’t going anywhere. so once again I bailed on my miles to be accomplished.

we made it up to the rodeo and spent most of the day at the fairgrounds.

being around the horses made me want to ride our own. as we headed out of town to get ours a nice little storm rolled over the mountain and I thought for sure our plans were spoiled. but we got two horses loaded and headed out towards the mountain to ride on a winter range for elk.

the mountain was clear by the time we got to the unload spot.

we saddled the horses and started to get on.

this is about when the fun really started. easy always spins when you try to get on him and that’s what he was doing today. Hubby asked if he wanted me to hold him and I told him no. I wanted to do it by myself. I’m independent…what can I say? I got my foot in the stirrup and stepped up to get on and easy started to buck. I almost had my other leg up and over. I held on for about 3 good bucks and then got tossed and landed in the grass on my belly. when I got up my pants and hands had grass stains and my right arm was on fire. it felt like I tore a muscle. Hubby held onto easy and I got on him with no troubles but he still felt wonky. so I told Hubby to just let me walk him a little bit and get my nerves calmed down.

once I felt good enough to continue up the open range everything seemed fine. easy was still being fussy but we just calmly kept walking.

we got up the hill to about treeline and started side hilling across.

it was gorgeous up there. slight breeze that kept things cool. I wasn’t doing any of the work so I was a little on the chilly side.

this whole ride slim hadn’t been walking well. he just wasn’t picking up his feet. we were almost back to the truck.  he had one good trip, went down on his elbows. Hubby started heading right over the dashboard. I thought they had it saved and then slim’s face went into the dirt and I thought they were going completely over. things could have been a lot worse had they rolled completely over. Hubby was able to bail. slim stood up and kind of shook himself off. Hubby took the saddle horn to the inside of his leg so he’s a little sore there. slim had a little limp when we unloaded him back at the ranch but we think he was just stiff. plus slim has hurt his front shoulder before so it tweaked it again. after this ride though I think we decided that slim will just be a pasture horse. no more serious riding. just a fun out in the pasture, easy little ride kind of horse. he’s just too old to be able to get out there anymore.

at this rate I should have just tracked down our mare and took her instead of slim. but she was being all funky just in the pasture. crow hopping and bucking all around when I went to catch her. with that storm rolling in at the time. it wasn’t smart on our part.

we’re all home. fed. showered. and icing certain parts of our sore bodies from our own rodeo.

work week begins again tomorrow and by golly I’ll get those 12 miles in come hell or high water. and it might just be high water if its anything like the last 2 days have gone.

did I move to the pacific northwest?

for the past two days its been colder (than it was) and rainy. like raining all day rainy.

I feel like we moved to oregon overnight. if I can’t take the two days of the constant rain I know I wouldn’t last a week in oregon.

yesterday was my one day off in 11 days. so I did absolutely nothing. really. I didn’t even shower until 9 pm last night and it was fabulous.

my mom came to town saturday night with all intentions of hiking on the mountain on sunday. but that got squashed when we woke up to overcast skies on sunday. I took her to breakfast since I wasn’t able to see her on mother’s day. then she made the trip back over the mountain. she said the mountain was wet the whole way.

after she left I contemplated actually going for my long run. but knew that I would have hated every second of it and figured out a way to fit it in later this week. wednesday it is. that was easy enough.

I snuggled into the recliner and really didn’t move all day. the dogs didn’t go outside for more than 10 minutes at a time and they were still soaked when they came back in.

I took a nap. watched baseball. wanted to take another nap but figured if I did that I wouldn’t sleep.

I did actually made a trip to walmart to buy the pups dog food. but right when I came home I changed back into comfys.

this morning we woke up to the same grey., overcast, wet, skies.

but I knew that I was going to cowboy up and head out for a run. the temperature was 47* so it wasn’t ice cold I just knew the constant drizzle might be a little annoying.

surprisingly it wasn’t that bad.

I managed to do a quick 5 miles and it only rained hard on me once. the other time it was a colder wind and a little misting…but I was more soaked from the sweat (I always over dress) than from the rain.

I wish I had today off too because I just might go right back to bed and not move all day.

I’ve already been to the gym with clients and got my workout in and now I’m off to my second job.

geez….I got more accomplished in 4 hours of today than I did in all of yesterday!

yesterday I hated running

true story. I hated it.

I set off for a quick morning run and made it only a few blocks before I stomped back home mad at myself, running, and my body.

my body was totally rejecting everything.

I decided I wasn’t going to force it. I knew I had 9 miles on my schedule today and wanted to try to enjoy them. plus I hadn’t had a rest day in over a week.

I tried not to dwell on the fact that I didn’t hit my goal mileage for the day or even the week. I just tried not to think about it.

I worked at the shoe store all day.  when I came home for lunch Hubby had mentioned that the local Legion baseball team was in town. he headed down to watch but I still had an hour and a half of work left. I told him I would call when I left work and would probably meet him at the field. I got lucky yesterday and the Troopers ended up playing the later game so I got to watch a full game and not just an inning worth.

diamonds are a girls best friend.

this morning was a new morning. we had a soccer game to be to at 930 so I knew I needed to be up and out early in order to make the game. and beat the heat. the high today is suppose to hit in the 80s.

it was already getting warm. I easily ran in shorts and a tank…but was still soaked and stinky when I got home.

I can tell my legs are getting stronger. I’m able to hit the hills and still average under an 9:00/mile over a long climb and its easier for me to slip back into my grove after peaking on the hill. I remember when it would take my legs a half mile before they would recover and feel ready to speed back up.

even though it was totally the butt crack of dawn when my alarm went off, I easily rolled out of bed, got dressed, got some food in my tummy and was out the door in no time.

first couple steps ached, but once I settled in it felt easy. easier than normal but I knew I still had about 8.5 miles to go. I did a normal loop in town this time and found the miles flying by. in no time I was half way done and headed back for home. I ended up being short on mileage and that usually just drives me up the wall so I did a few laps around a couple of the blocks in my neighborhood and hit 9 miles on the nose.

I slammed down a protein smoothie, showered, dressed and headed out to the soccer fields. the team we went to watch won! and they play in the championship game this afternoon so we’re headed back out there soon.

I’m thinking a nap sounds fantastic right now though.

What’s Beautiful Campaign

As a Fitfluential Ambassador I was selected to participate in the What’s Beautiful Campaign sponsored by Under Armour.  The opinions in this post are all my own.

Have I got some pretty fantastic news for you!

I’ve been selected to participate in the What’s Beautiful Campaign sponsored by Under Armour! Pretty cool right?

so what’s this campaign all about?

directly from the What’s Beautiful website…

Declare a goal. Then show us how it's done.

Together we're redefining the female athlete by setting epic goals and pushing past where we've ever been and where we thought we could go. Join us. Set your own personal goal. Then document your journey by posting videos and photos that tell your story from start to victory.

We'll continuously post challenges for you. But that's just the beginning. Show us your journey. Show us what makes your story the one that stands out from the rest. If you meet your goal, set a new one. Make it even bigger. Prove to everyone, and yourself, that you have more than what it takes.

The Competition.

Every week we'll give away Under Armour Swag Bags full of gear to women who are seriously getting it. We'll also feature profiles on our home page and in the "Top Performers" section of women who are really setting an example for all of us.

After 8 weeks, we'll announce the 10 finalists who've documented the most impressive, motivated, monumental stories.

Winners will be announced mid-July.

The Prize.

Three winners will be flown to Costa Rica to attend a four-day yoga and surf retreat. In addition to the lessons led by world-class instructors, winners will be treated to transformative massages, spa treatments and healthy, locally-sourced meals prepared by personal chefs. All while staying in plush accommodations looking out at the ocean. A retreat worthy of the women who earn it.

 

Sounds fantastic, right?

it doesn’t even have to be a fitness goal. it can be anything!

so I’m calling all of you lady friends I have to join the cause and set up a profile and join the movement!

I’ve got my profile set up and a BIG goal picked out.

in 4 short weeks I will run my 6th half marathon. I’ve been playing with the idea of doing something bigger.  A MARATHON. this morning as I went to the registration website I sat in front of my computer nervous, scared, excited. fear was all over my body. what if I can’t do a marathon? what if I’m not good enough? but you know what helped me…knowing that I had declared my goal to the What’s Beautiful family I’ve gained through this experience; knowing that there will be a bunch of people cheering for me all across the country when I toe the line for my marathon. so I did it.

I registered for a FULL marathon. and now I’m totally ready to take the bull by the horns and conquer this bad boy. I posted this picture on my profile and the response I got was so welcoming and encouraging. I know I can do this. I will be ready October 6th to run 26.2 miles in the hills of South Dakota!

pick a goal. put it out there for people to see. don’t be afraid! there will be plenty of people rooting you on!

so will you join me?

Kickoff to Spring

I know. I know. you don’t have to hound me. I’ve been MIA. so what. my winter got a little lot crazy and the blog fell to the bottom of the important list.

but I’m back. and hopefully bigger than ever. maybe not quite. I’m going to try to make it a regular thing.

I feel like every spring Hubby and I try to make a trip up tongue river canyon. its our go to hike. its easy and we can make it as short or as long as we want for that day. but I’ll get to more of that in a minute.

this morning our local community college sponsored a color run. all the proceeds went to the wounded warrior project.

the weather was gorgeous. it was just a complete down pour for the better part of yesterday. so it was a welcomed site for the sun and warmth.

one of my co-workers and her son ran the color run with me.

we’re all nice and white and clean, but that sure didn’t last long.

there was a lot of confusion on the exact course. so somehow we were in the middle of the pack to the last people crossing the line. but all that mattered today was the amount of color we all got on ourselves.

we probably did the 3 mile jaunt (or maybe more with that dang extra loop we did).

but when we crossed the finish we weren’t white anymore.

it was a blast! I wouldn’t hesitate to do another one…but more color!

we quickly ate some lunch, showered and headed up to one of our favorite hiking spots.

over the winter we added another dog to our crazy family; and today was her first hike!

breaking in the chacos for another thrilling season in the mountains.

the weather stayed perfect all day long and we had just enough cloud cover that it wasn’t dying hot.

like I said everyone and their dog had the same idea as we did. I have never seen the parking lot overflowing with cars like it was today.

we took just a nice easy hike up the trail.

these views never get old.

twogees had a minor run in with some color at the color run. but it washed off easily enough once she was in the water.

all 3 of of soggy wet kids. they just couldn’t help themselves getting into the water. and sibley (the little chocolate dog) took to the water ok. she just needs some more practice. she wanted to be out there swimming with the big dogs so bad but she just couldn’t muster up the courage. she’ll be a water dog in no time. just need some swimming lessons.

and every year we try a big family shot….but can never get any closer than this. it will have to do.

we were all ready to be home when we got back to the house about 5ish. the pups are still passed out on the floor and I feel like I could easily fall asleep right now.

another successful kickoff to spring/summer. let the outdoor adventures begin. we have quite a few on our list this summer.

I can’t wait to see where we’re headed!