Where's the Beach?

800's and Weights This morning I got myself up and out of bed for my speed work day with my running buddy. I was kind of dragging butt. In fact, I almost used deodorant in lieu of my bodyglide on my inner thighs. Yup, perhaps that was a sign to get more sleep. But, I had made plans to meet "A" at 6 am and I'm a girl who sticks to her plans. Even if half asleep. I got in 1.5 miles by the time I caught up with "A." Then it was time to tackle 800's. We decided on a slightly different route - one that was straight a mostly flat. The only problem is that it is still so incredibly dark at 6am. If a section of the street has a light out, it's completely dark. Makes things a little interesting. I may need to learn how to properly fall. Anyway, it was a pretty good speed session. I'm thankful for the cooler temps that's for sure. The humidity still seemed to be rather high though as we were both dripping with sweat. At least it was 63-ish and not...

Morning 5-Miler  This morning we got up a little after 5 am to get in our 5-mile run. Apparently cooling off from yesterday meant 80 degrees. At least the sun wasn't up and there was actually a strong wind that normally would have ticked me off. We started out on our normal route, and my legs felt really heavy initially. The first mile was a slow one. We sort of sped up for mile 2, but then mile 3 was slower again, However, it did include a lot of right and left sharp turns that really slow you down. And, we took a slightly different route thinking this new sidewalk was finished. Let's just say there was some off-roading.  The last mile was definitely a tough one physically vs mentally. I really felt like we were pushing so hard - it was up hill, down one hill, then up up up and more up before finally heading down. I half expected the speed to be something like an 8:30 pace because that's how it felt. But it was actually an 8:57. Not bad mind you, but holy cow...

Two on Tuesday Apparently I actually slept more soundly last night than I realized. It stormed and I had no idea. So I didn't think to check to see if it was raining when I woke up around 4:40. I made myself roll back over and doze because I had the alarm set for 5:20 so we could get up and run. The alarm finally went off and we groggily got out of bed. That's when I heard the sound of rain. But I looked out and it didn't look like it was coming down hard. So I prepared myself for a wet run. I was happy thinking I wouldn't be hot! I walked out of the bathroom and Jason was back in bed (with running clothes on). He asked if I knew it was raining. Yep. Get up. Get movin'. By the time we actually walked out the door, it wasn't even misting. Just wet ground and humid air. Though, the clouds looked pretty ominous off in the distance. We managed 4.5 miles without getting rained on. It was a pretty decent run for me. No runner's high or anything, but not h...

Orange Inspired Last night, Jason ended up making up an Orange Roasted Broccoli & Chickpea Salad . I pretty much just sat back and watched. We had several oranges on hand that were going bad quickly. He had been talking about making an orange vinaigrette, so I let him just go with it. Orange Roasted Broccoli & Chickpea Salad Ingredients  Roasted veggies 1 bunch broccoli, chopped 1/3 yellow onion, chopped 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped (red would be more colorful) 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained Orange segments 1/4 cup raisins  To taste: salt, pepper, red pepper, dried thyme, dried ginger Orange vinaigrette Zest of one orange 2/3 cup (or a little less) of freshly squeezed oranges Splash of red wine vinegar Agave, to taste To taste: salt, pepper, powdered garlic, red pepper flakes, dried thyme, fresh basil, dried ginger Olive oil, enough for desired consistency of a loose vinaigrette Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add ...

Running & Lifting Let's just say today was a long one. This morning I set the alarm for 5:15. Jason and I were tentatively planning to run depending on the weather. They've been calling for rain all day today. It was not raining at all at 5:15 am (or even at 12:15 pm for that matter). So, no excuses. We got up and got ready and headed out the door. It was definitely cooler (only 70 degrees) but a bit muggy. But, with the sun not yet up, it definitely felt pretty nice compared to my more recent runs. The first mile was a slow one for sure (9:26), but I chalk that up to just waking up. The first mile is usually warming up anyway. Not sure what happened, but we kicked it into gear during mile 2 for an 8:50 pace. Mile 3 was just a tad slower, but we were taking more turns, curves, and crossing roads, but still not bad at 9:11. Mile 4 was 8:58. I felt like we were zooming along, but that was another point where we were having to do some meandering through a park (sharp ri...

Running Originally, Jason and I had planned on running early this morning. But, we did have quite a cool down (so it wasn't as necessary to get out before the sun came up) and Jason has been up to either swim or run all week and was wanting to sleep in a bit. I was kind of disappointed at first, but when I didn't sleep well last night, I was really happy we put the run off until lunchtime. Sometimes things work out right don't they? We set out for the run just after 11:30. It was sunny, clear skies, 72 degrees but almost no humidity (or at least no humidity for here). There was a nice breeze, so it really didn't feel terribly warm. We headed towards the arts center where there is a park we have been running through more frequently. It's just nice to take a different route, see some different scenery. The goal was 4 miles with no particular pace in mind. In fact, I never looked at the lap times until the last mile. I know we were speeding up. We both sort of s...