Wordless Wednesday: Monday's Stormy Sunset

 

Three Things Thursday

1. Just keep swimming! I absolutely love how swimming makes me feel. The feeling of jumping into the pool and just gliding through the water. It get this sense of clarity, as I often spend a lot of my swim clearning my mind. Something I feel I can do more swimming than running or biking. But, after a mile or more of swimming, I am sometimes left with a feeling of complete exhaustion. After Monday's swim workout of 2400 Yds, I came home and fell asleep for a half hour. After waking I felt so groggy and out of sorts. Anyone else deal with this and how can I overcome this? Is it something with nutrition?
2. Running with the fiance.... J and I have ran together in the morning before he heads off to work a handful of times. These runs have been some of my favorite runs this summer. This morning was absolutely gorgeous - 58*, cool, no humidity, and we got to witness how beautiful our surrounding neighborhood is with the sun coming up and pink skies. I look forward to more runs down the road. I wonder if I am going to be able to get him to join me for outdoor runs this fall/winter as the mornings will be dark and cold?!
3. Hills ... I have never really been fond of hills. I mean, who is? Over the past 10+ years, whether I was living in Grand Forks or Fargo, there were minimal hills to run. In all honesty, I don't think there was a single hill in either city, unless you count a bridge going over the interstate or railroad tracks. Now that I have moved back to the central part of the state, there are more hills, trees, beautiful scenic views.... And in our neighborhood? You can't run a mile without going up or down a hill. And I love it! There's a hill a couple blocks from our house that I couldn't run all the way up today, but I am bound and determined to conquer that hill this summer!

Weekend in the cities & Twins Territory 4K Run

My fiance, J, and I spent the weekend in the cities with my sister and BIL. Saturday afternoon, we did a little bit of shopping and Steph and I found shoes for me for my wedding! I was so excited when I found something that fit, that I liked, and were comfortable for only $34! So pumped!

That afternoon, before heading to the Twins game, we hit up a restaurant that was new to all of us... Psycho Suzi's! If you are ever in the cities and looking for something to try I highly recommend it! They have some crazy drinks and awesome pizza! J and I decided to "create our own" and had chicken and BBQ sauce on ours. It was delish! Afterwards we headed to the Twins game and watched them lose. Booh. 

Yesterday all four of us participated in the Twins Territory 4K Run. My sister and BIL participated last year with my parents and enjoyed it, and I was sad I missed it,  so J and I decided it would be fun to do this with them this year.

Prior to the start of the 4K, my tummy was not happy with me. In fact, it had been bothering me for almost a day and I think a lot of it had to do with the icky food I ate in the past week. Steph and I made one last pit stop at the porta-potties before the race start, choosing the slowest line ever. It was so gross and I couldn't believe there was NO hand sanitizer in my stall what-so-ever. To top it off, when I was exiting the potty, TC was standing outside my stall, pointing to his imaginary watch on his wrist and shaking his head. Everyone started laughing and I was totally embarassed!

A few minutes after that we were at the starting line, ready to go. This was to be J's first race ever and I was super pumped to be running with him! The race started at 7am, and as we all complained about getting up so early, it was a nice, calm and cool morning, with a beautiful sunrise.

The course was laid out, starting just behind the metrodome (home of the Vikings), and finished at the new Twins outdoor stadium. There were markers for each kilometer that we ran, first base, 2nd, base, 3rd base, and home plate across the finish line. I missed the first base, so I didn't even notice until the 2nd base showed up. By this point, I had been running most of the first half of the 4K run, but my right knee started bothering me. I was so frustrated and spent most of the 2nd half of the 4K walking/running. booh. The outside of my right knee was feeling icking, like my ITBand was tight. I was frustrated, but finished strong across that finish line. It seems like I never know when my knees are going to act up.

At the finish line, we grabbed our metals, water, fruit, and snickers protein bars! I had never tried them before, and I really enjoyed it! We took some photos and walked the long walk back to the car!

I am looking at some other races or events in the near to distant future, but fear I won't have much time to train with wedding planning. There's a 5K in September that I might check into.... we'll see!!

Three Things Thursday

1. All moved in! This past Saturday, with the help of many friends and family, we were moved into our new home! We are still working to figure out where everything is going to go. Not working right now has allowed me to spend most of the day unpacking, organizing, re-organizing, and cleaning at my own pace. Pictures to come soon!
2. Still Jobless.... yes, I am still looking for work. In fact, it seems like more positions are opening up as we are getting closer to the start of school, but still really no jobs in my area. It's so frustrating, but I am trying to make the most of it and hope something good will come of this situation.
3. Workouts have been sporadic, but I am still trying to get in 5 workouts a week. The past week has been a little crazy with moving but I am doing something. I just wish I had something I was training for... hmmm..