Track Party and a Bengals Win!

Tuesday: Track work out

Every time I think life might settle down a little bit, things seem to get just as crazy again.

I suppose that is just how life is, so I should just enjoy the ride!

Monday night the Bengals played the Steelers for their home opener.

Of course the Steelers are a HUGE rival of ours.

Rival + Home Opener + MNF = INSANITY! 

We had so much fun tailgating with our friends.

We grilled, played corn hole, and flip cup.

And we get to do it all again on Sunday when we play the Packers!

 

Hello, football season!

Needless to say, K and I both took Tuesday off. We didn't get home until almost 2 a.m. and we are FAR too old for that!

We enjoyed attempting to sleep in, brunch and a trip to the zoo yesterday.

Such a fun day off!

Then it was time to hit the track!

Yesterday's workout was 2 x 1 mile, 8 x 200s.

I held back a little for the first mile and completed it in 7:30. My second mile was 7:09.

 6/8 200s I finished in 40 seconds. The other 2 were 43 and 44.

And thankfully my calf held up! I really think it was the hills Saturday that aggravated it so much. Unfortunately it's hard to do too many miles in this city without running hills, so we'll see how it does on this coming Saturday!

Weekend Review: Grandpa turns 91!

Saturday: 5 mile run outside, TIU thigh workout x 3

This weekend we didn't have much on the agenda, which was a nice change of pace for us.

Of course, we still managed to stay busy!

Saturday I headed out to run much later than normal. A lot of the women from my running club were out of town for a race, so I took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in a little. It was also MUCH cooler, so sleeping in gave it a little time to warm up outside too.

Yes, 45 degrees at 8:37 in the morning. Hello, fall!

I decided to just run in my neighborhood. I haven't done that in a while, wanted to stay close and thought the rolling hills would be good training for me. I set out for the 2.5 mile loop. I planned on doing that a few times then adding some more, depending on how I felt.

The last .75 of the second loop my calf was screaming at me - I had even worn my compression socks too. I think it was the hills that it did not like. I have mostly been running fairly flat courses lately.

 After my failed run K and I went to the gym.

I did the TIU thigh work 3 times through and ended with a few arm exercises too.

This week I am going to try to lay off the running just a bit and see how it feels. Boo!

Saturday night we celebrated Grandpa's 91st birthday! The family went to Valley Vineyards for dinner. It was a beautiful night out which was perfect since you grill your own fish or steak at the vineyard! They have everything you need to grill and the sides and dessert are buffet style.

It was such a fun and unique dinner!

Sunday was spent doing errands and cleaning and also watching our nephews play baseball.

We had so much fun at both of their games. The weather was incredible and we got to play tag and football and also chat with our family.

Lily and Carson cheering on Danny as he bats!

Such a fun weekend!

9.11 In Honor of 9/11

Wednesday: 3 mile run outside, 6.11 bike inside

Sometimes I get these "great" ideas and before I even tell my friend Kelly what they are, she says she is in to do it with me. I'm not sure who is crazier based on that!

So, when I suggested we do a total of 9.11 miles in honor/remembrance of 9/11 it was no surprise she was game!

The weather was super hot and humid again yesterday, so we decided on a 3 mile run outside then coming inside to finish off the remaining 6.11 miles on the bike.

Source

Even the measly 3 miles felt hard yesterday, but maybe that is appropriate.

My calf was burning (apparently standing all night on it Tuesday night hurt it just like running on it...), the sun was blaring down on us. It was a hot and hard 3 miles.

After some water we jumped on the upright bikes in the gym and started pedaling away.

The 6.11 on the bike was much harder than I thought it would be too. Of course we were also trying to go as fast as our legs could. My quads were burning at only 2 miles in.

This is when I looked at Kelly and told her not to let me have any "great" ideas ever again.

Clearly I am not a fast cyclist. Maybe I should work on that!

Everyone remembers in their own way on special days like this. I tend to do it through exercise because it gives me time to reflect and clear my head. I get to think about how grateful I am to be here, able to run and bike...remember the drive home from white water rafting in 2001 listening to the radio and trying to figure out what was happening.

It may not be much, but it's the way I choose to remember and reflect.

So, I completed my 9.11 miles, sweaty and absolutely exhausted, but mindful of the day that forever changed us.

Dos a Cero in Columbus Again!

So no workout happened Tuesday.

But that's OK. I did stand up and jump around like a crazy US soccer supporter, so that counts for something, right?

We originally did not get selected to be able to buy tickets to the US vs. Mexico world cup qualifier in Columbus. We were totally bummed about this. We had a blast last year watching the US play Jamaica and were looking forward to this game for a while.

But, husband came to the rescue and managed to get us tickets!

We took a half day off work and headed up to Columbus early to avoid some traffic.

We had a great lunch at North Market (more on that later) then headed to a bar across the street to entertain ourselves for a while.

We found a bar with multi person skee ball and a beer pong machine!

I didn't even know they existed!

Then it was off to the game.

We were already hot and sweaty at this point. It was 95 degrees. Hello, Ohio, it's September, did you forget?

The patriotism is AMAZING - it brings tears to my eyes. The National Anthem was sung louder than I have ever heard it before.

Once again the US beat Mexico 2-0!

It's the 4th time the US has beaten Mexico in Columbus with the exact same score!

The crowd was INSANE and the experience was absolutely incredible.

It's definitely a night I will never forget!

A Trip to Young's Jersey Dairy

Monday: TIU thigh work out (x 3), 3 mile run outside

 It was super hot - 93 degrees on our run last night, so we just took our time.

There's not much else you can do when the temperatures soar. 

Ben and I hadn't run together in a few weeks so it was good to catch up. His wife joined us on her roller blades so of course we were heckled about being so slow.

My quads were burning at the beginning of our run. We always start uphill and we also had a headwind to contend with.

It was only 3 miles, but we were very happy to be finished and get some water!

Over the weekend we visited Yellow Springs and Young's Jersey Dairy.

It's been on our list of things to do since K had never been and we both love a good ice cream place!

It is a working dairy farm with tons of activities!

You can watch them milk the cows, feed and pet the goats.

It's all fun an games until you think a goat is about to eat your hair!

They also have miniature golf, batting cages and seasonal activities such as a corn maze and pumpkin patch.

We ate our ice cream so fast that we didn't get any pictures - oops!

If you order the flavor of the week, you get your second dip free! You better believe I took advantage of that - especially since last week's flavor was cookies and cream! Yum!

We were a little obsessed with the animals, but all the other activities looked fun too!

I see many more trips to Young's Dairy in our future!

Weekend Review: The Birthday Couple

Saturday: 6.3 mile run outside, hiking (roughly 3 miles)

Well, hello Monday morning! You arrived quite quickly this week!

We had quite the busy weekend: 3 birthdays to celebrate, a memorial, and an engagement party. 

Since mine and K's birthdays are 2 days apart, we split the difference and celebrated together on the day in between. We took a trip to Yellow Springs and spent the day exploring.

More on that later. For now, here's some of our weekend in pictures!

More on our adventures later! I'm still recovering!

Dance Party With a Toddler

Thursday: Body Blast at lunch, 3 mile run outside after work

Today will be a much needed day of rest, yesterday totally kicked my booty!

I quickly realized Wednesday night that jump roping was NOT a good idea for my calf.

It hadn't been bothering me much at all, so I didn't even think about it while I was jumping.

I managed to get through Body Blast without doing any alternatives and sucked it up for a quick 3 mile run after work.

I've been loving these shorts from Target.

They are super comfy, wide waist band and i love the gray in the back and black in the front.

And I wore them for my 4 minute and 40 second half marathon PR!

 

Now it's back to almost 24/7 compression wear though. Ugh!

I did spend the rest of the evening in the most comfortable running pants I own.

Gap gfast leggings

The actual ones I have are no longer available - I got them on clearance, but they are the gfast lightweight ones. They are amazingly soft and comfy. 

 Mine have these awesome stripes on them too. I'm pretty sure K made fun of them last night, but I love them.

I spent the rest of the evening with this lovely little lady.

We played and danced, danced and danced some more. We were laughing so hard and her laugh is just so contagious. For some reason I taught her how to do "the car wash" dance. Just thinking about it makes me laugh. She's quite a little dancer!

I loved watching her show her mom and dad her new dances moves when they came home!

Next time you've had a rough day or in a bad mood, grab the nearest toddler and teach them your favorite dance moves from the 1970s! It's sure to put a smile on your face.

And that was definitely a third work out for the day. I was exhausted!

Enjoy your weekend!