Week in Review 12/04

Mostly a good week last week. #RWRunStreak is going strong and I'm keeping up with my Nike+ Run Club training program, too. The cold weather sucks, but at least it's helping me run a bit FASTER! 🏃

Ultimate Coffee Date - December 2016

Happy December! Since it's the first Saturday of the month, it's time for the Ultimate Coffee Date with Coco & Deborah. It's always fun to catch up with all of you on what's been going over a nice hot cup of joe (or tea, in my case this morning).

The last Ultimate Coffee Date seems both like it was a long time ago and that it was just last week. Anyone else feel this way about November? Just me?

How much to do you LOVE my new December mug?
Not much snow here in Vegas, but I still love it SNOW MUCH. hehehe

Week in Review 11/27

Hope you all survived Thanksgiving and are getting in the holiday spirit!

I started the #RWRunStreak on Thanksgiving as well as a new Nike+ training program. To help hold myself accountable, I thought it would be a good idea to do a Week in Review post each Sunday.

I'm mostly focused on running right now, but this frog doing yoga was just too cute!

Hiking Bristlecone Loop

Sunday morning, Jeff and I got up bright and early. Well, early for us on a weekend. :) We met some friends and headed to Mt Charleston for a morning of hiking.

Gorgeous morning for a hike!

We parked in the Lower Bristlecone Loop parking lot and started our hike from there. In total there were 8 humans and 5 dogs in our little hiking party.

The Sallie-girl came along with us, and she had a total blast walking along the trail with us without her leash. She played a little with the other dogs, but she was so good staying near us and not running off to explore places and things that she shouldn't.

I'd forgotten to charge my watch, so I left it at home. I wasn't planning on running, so I wasn't too concerned about time or distance. I'm guessing we did about 5.5-6 miles, and it took us roughly 3 hours. If I'm remembering correctly.

More on how Sallie, Jeff, and I survived the hike in a bit, but first, let's talk about the actual trail.

Bristlecone Loop is pretty easy to find. From Las Vegas, you travel north on US-95 for a few miles outside of the city. From there you'll take Lee Canyon Rd. It's a left-hand turn, and I'm pretty sure that it's well-marked. Don't take Kyle Canyon Road. That's the first Mt Charleston sign you'll see, but you'll end up on the wrong side of the mountain.

We weren't really paying attention to the odometer, so I'm not sure how many miles you drive once you're on Lee Canyon road, but you'll pass a few campsites and at least one other trailhead, Sawmill. There's a good sign for the Bristlecone Lower Loop parking lot.

What's for Dinner? Week of 1/26

Our little Sallie pup had surgery on Friday. She's doing well, but her recovery has kind of thrown our weekend for a loop. She refuses to wear the medical cone, so we need to keep her under close supervision to keep her from scratching her sutures.

It's so hard for us, because she's been whimpering a lot, and we don't know what's wrong. It hasn't even been two days yet, but I think she's start to feel better. Not quite to her full peppiness but definitely on her way.

Since Jeff will be going to the store on his own today, so I can stay home with Sallie, I'm keeping the meal plan real simple. Time to clean out the freezer. :)

Sunday - Broccoli cheese roll-ups with some canned soup

Monday - Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chili (from the freezer) over a baked potato
I made this a couple weeks ago and froze about half of it. Hopefully it thaws well.

Tuesday - Leftovers
Probably more of the taco chili, but over rice. :)

Wednesday - Chicken Parmesan Soup (from the freezer)
Jeff really LOVED this soup, and he was delighted when he found out that there was more in the freezer. Again, I'm kind of new to freezing leftovers, so fingers crossed this reheats well.

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Grilled Sandwiches

Saturday - TBD

I'm linking up with Laura over at Mommy Run Fast. Go check out what everyone else is cooking up this week.
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Monday Listicles - The Weekend

This week's Monday Listicles theme is things to do on the weekend. Our weekends are generally pretty mellow, so here's a list of some regular things we do and some things I wish we'd do more. So, in no particular order...

10 Things to Do during the Weekend

1. Stay up way too late
We don't do this every weekend, but this past weekend we were up until 3am Sat morning. Just talking about random things

2. Sleep in way too late
When Sallie is feeling generous. She likes her breakfast at a very early hour and isn't too keen on pushing that back. But sometimes I convince her to sleep a bit later.

3. Be a tourist in our own town
Of course we live in a pretty great town to do this. This weekend we went to the Stratosphere.

4. Go for a run
I try to get out for a run at least once every weekend.

5. Make a fun breakfast
Pancakes, french toast, omelettes. Not all at the same time.

6. Go for a bike ride or for a hike
We don't do this nearly as often as I'd like, but one of these weekends we'll do it!

7. ROAD TRIP!
Again, we have yet to do this since moving to Vegas, but sometime this year, I hope we take a few short road trips. LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Grand Canyon are a few of the places I'd love to go.

8. Relax and do nothing
This is how most of my weekends actually go. Or I get caught up on stuff around the house, like cleaning, organizing or doing laundry.

9. Marathon - movies or TV
Now, this is something that we'll frequently do - but we haven't for awhile.

10. NAP
Which includes lots of Sallie snuggle time. Some of my favorite moments are snuggling with her.

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Linking up with Stasha. Head on over there to see how everyone else spends their weekends and to see what next week's theme is.

Running with Sallie

Running in Vegas is not the most conducive to running with Sallie. There are several months when it's simply too hot for her. And her little tootsies.

But she LOVES it!

I took her on my 2-miler on last week. It had been her first run in months! She did a great job, and I must of lit the running fire in her. Not that she ever really lost it. :)

Later in the week, as I was getting ready to head out for my 7-miler, Sallie heard me putting on my running shorts from the other end of our apartment, and came running in the room with that happy take-me-running-with-you smile on her face. Sadly, 7 miles is simply too far for her to run.

She's just a little thing after all.

I took her out with me again last Friday for 3 miles. She was more than happy to run with me.

I love the happy smile she gives me throughout the run when she's a little ahead of me, and she turns her little head to look back at me. It can't help but make me smile, too.

And here are a couple cute stories from last Friday's run...

Sometimes, it hard to find grassy areas in Vegas, and Sallie LOVES to play in the grass. The LVH has a nice long patch of green, and even though we were 2 miles in, and Sallie was already pretty tired, she still ran like a crazy dog in grass. I don't know where she found the energy, but it was terribly cute.

And the cutest story...

As we were running by the Convention Center, there were some men in a golf cart. We all stopped at the same stoplight, and to Sallie's little doggie eyes, the golf cart must have looked like a mail truck. She's got a thing for the mailman - always expecting a treat from him. And she was acting the same way with the guys in the golf cart.

She pulled out her cutest begging tricks. Standing on her back legs, etc.

When the Walk sign came on, I let the cart go a little ahead of us, and she ran after it as fast as her little legs would go. On the other side of the street, the cart went into the parking lot, and we stayed on the sidewalk.

There's a little tiny wall between the sidewalk and the parking lot, and she paused to stand and gaze over the wall as the cart drove further away.

She seemed so sad to have been denied treats by the random men on the golf cart. Funny girl.

Later that day, she went to the vet. She's a couple pounds overweight, so she'll definitely be running with me every Monday for the rest of marathon training, and then hopefully a few times a week after the marathon is over.

She's definitely one of my favorite running partners. :)

Running really wipes Sallie out.

Do you ever run with a dog?
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Working It Recap:: June 15-21

After a great week last week, I kind of fell off the wagon a bit this week. This run streak is really taking it out of me. Less than two weeks left...

Here's how it looked.

Date	Cardio	Push-ups	Strength Training	Commute
Sat 6/15	1 Mile Run	20		WEEKEND
Sun 6/16	1 Mile Run	REST		WEEKEND
Mon 6/17	1 Mile Run	22
Tue 6/18	2.35 Mile Run	23
Wed 6/19	1 Mile Run	24		YAY!! (One way)
Thu 6/20	1 Mile Run	25
Fri 6/21	1 Mile Run	28

Yeah. I didn't even make it to yoga last week. I just didn't feel like going, and now I have to work on Sunday (preparing for testing that starts on Monday of a big project I'm working on), so I won't be able to do yoga this week either. Bummer.

I am hoping to at least ride my bike tomorrow to work.

I've been super tired the past couple of days. I'm talking in bed by 8pm Thursday night. Ugh. This can only mean one thing. My period is coming. Ok. It could mean other things as well, but I'm hoping it's just as simple as that. Plus there have been other signs, too.

My supervisor at work said I should join Gold's Gym, and I could go with her to the gym over lunch. As fun as that sounds, I just don't think I could afford a gym membership right now.

Well, there was a lot more in this post than a work-out recap. It was a pretty boring work-out week, I guess.

Oh, I almost forgot! I took the Sallie-girl with me twice this week. Last Saturday, I didn't end up going for my run until 10:30 pm. Even though she's a small dog, I still  (and Jeff, too) feel a bit safer with her running with me. I took her with me again yesterday morning because she was being weird. I figured burning some energy might help. She had lots of fun chasing the birds. Silly girl!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for an FRS trial pack! It ends tomorrow and the winner will be announced on Monday!
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I LOVE..

It's finally Valentine's Day!! Not that we're really doing anything special to celebrate. I think I'll finally make the nice pasta dinner that I've been threatening to make all week, and maybe we'll take a soak in the hot tub, if it's nice enough outside.

I've only got a few minutes before I have to dash off to work, but I wanted to share three things I'm really in love with right now.

1. My Family

It's a little weird to think that right now my immediate family consists of me, my husband and our dog. I'm 35yo, so I don't think I can really count my parents and siblings as immediate anymore. I still love them, of course. I always will. But the love I have for Jeff and Sallie (yes, I know she's a dog), is kind of a different kind of love. Jeff and Sallie bring me lots of smiles every day. I love talking to them. And playing together. We have a pretty great time together. And I certainly wouldn't change that for anything!

2. My Life

My job is going really well. Our apartment is wonderful. I've been running and working out pretty consistently. I'm enjoying being a #FitFluential ambassador. You already know why I'm loving my bike, too. More days than not I find myself smiling for no apparent reason and just being filled with all kinds of love and positive energy.

3. My Bed

This may sound weird, but I really am in love with my bed.

DynastyMattress New Cool Breeze 12-Inch Gel Memory Foam Mattress-King Size.


We've only been married for 8 years, and this is the 5th mattress we've purchased. 5th time's the charm, right? It's a firm mattress, true, but it just envelopes me in a supportive way that is difficult to describe but absolutely perfect!

I'm not sure I've ever loved something more. Certainly no other mattress has compared to this. I could seriously go on and on and on, but I've got to get to work. If you're in the market for a new mattress, I'd recommend this. Hands down. Best part is that it's less than $700. For a mattress? Yep.

We've had it for almost two month's now, so I feel like this love is real and here to stay. :-)

What are you loving today?
Any big plans to celebrate Valentine's Day
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3 Things

1. On Tuesday, I got an email at work offering registration to run a 5K this Saturday.
   
   
   
   
   I quickly responded to sign me up. This is the same route as the Great Santa Run 5K back in December. As you know, one of my 2013 goals is to conquer a sub-25:00 5K, so as many 5Ks I can do the better. And free is always better. I know I'm still a long way from making this goal. Especially after yesterday's treadmill run. I doubt I'll even PR on Saturday, but every run gets me closer to my goal.



2. Email subscriptions. Please offer them on your blog. About a year and a half ago, one of my favorite bloggers wrote a post about why she loves email subscriptions. I thought she was a little crazy at the time. Who would want so many emails clogging their Inbox? Still, I quickly added the option to my blog. Now that I've gotten much busier with work, and I don't have the luxury of reading blogs as often, I get so overwhelmed with my exploding Google Reader. In fact, I haven't even opened it for months! Instead, I've really embraced email subscriptions. I know there are a couple more that I wanted to subscribe to, so please, please offer it as an option. :-)



3. Yesterday, I had a terrible headache all day at work. I'm swimming in numbers and crazy spreadsheets on top of my regular duties at work. It's a little overwhelming at times, and I think the stress is affecting me. No matter how bad my day is, though, my little Sallie girl always makes me smile.

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3 Things Thursday

1. Apparently, I'm incapable of getting dressed if I don't have work, school, or if I don't go for a run. It's 4:30pm now. Should I don those running clothes after all?

2. I finally posted my North Dakota (state #1) run to Facebook.

3. My Sallie girl is incredibly cute. She's discovered the bin of dog toys. Randomly throughout the day, she'll pounce on one of them. It makes me laugh. Every. single. time.

But she has been a very bad girl here in WA. If she isn't chasing one of the cats, she's running off all over town. She is no longer allowed outside without her leash, because if we take our eyes off her for 1/2 a second, she. is. gone. Being an inside dog all her life, she doesn't really understand the dangers of cars, so we worry.

Big Helper!

All curled up

while we're hard at work!

Training for Grandma's Week 5

Great week of training this week!

Here is what was on the schedule:

It wasn't a perfect week in sticking to the schedule, but I do feel really good about it overall. Here is what it actually looked like:

Mileage breakdown: Running - 18; Cycling - 23; Hiking - 3

Mon, 3/12 - Rest day. I was supposed to still work on my core on this rest day. I'm having such a difficult time making the time for it. Ideally, I would do some core work in the mornings before work, but lately I've been having to do last minute lesson prep in the mornings. I've got no lessons to give during the next two weeks, so I hope to take advantage of this lull and be very productive in planning. The idea is that if I'm productive now, I will have less to do in the evenings (and mornings) of the last few weeks of my clinical practice (student teaching).

Tue, 3/13 - I tried to meet up with a friend of mine to go for a run, but my smartphone was being dumb and not delivering my messages very promptly. Argh! It was such a beautiful evening. I simply couldn't let it pass me by without a run. I left later than I would have liked, but it was still a great run. I took Sallie with me, and she was pretty well behaved. I wasn't sure how my knee would be feeling, so I set out to do 3-4 miles. I totally got into a groove and ended up going 4.78 miles.

Wed, 3/14 - With cross training on the schedule, and it being such a gorgeous afternoon, I suggested to Jeff that we go for a bike ride. We rode out to the Scuba Center in Eagan in order to kill two birds with one stone. Jeff had a question to ask about scheduling some dive training he is interested in taking. It was a great ride. We just took it slow and easy and enjoyed spending time together outside. I remember when 23 miles would have totally freaked me out. Now? Eh. No big deal. Totally skipped the core workout, though. I need to get better about finding time/ways/energy for incorporating this very important component of my training.

Thu, 3/15 - I had parent-teacher conferences after school and didn't end up getting home until around 8:30pm. It was a super long day, so I didn't feel like doing anything besides vegging and crashing early.

Fri, 3/16 - I was gone all day at a seminar. I could have made time for the 2 miles and core on my plan, but I didn't. I knew I was running a half marathon the next day, so I wanted to save up my energy for that. Of course, I still totally should have done at least a little core work. Ugh!

Sat, 3/17 - Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I ran the Get Lucky Triple 7K. You can read my full report on this race here, but suffice it to say, it went really well. Better than I'd expected!

Sun, 3/18 - This was scheduled as a rest day, so I could fully recover from the half the previous day. It was another gorgeous day here in Minnesota, though. I simply couldn't stay inside all day! Instead, I took Sallie for a nearly 3-mile hike down by the river. It was super fun and a great way for me to stretch out my sore legs.

Self-portrait of Sallie and me after our hike.

What's your favorite way to recover after a race? Any suggestions for me on how to actually incorporate core work into my training?

Welcome, BlogTrotters, to Minnesota

Land of 10,000 Lakes

The North Star State

The Gopher State

Land of Sky-Blue Waters

The Bread and Butter State

Whatever you call it, I call it HOME.

I was absolutely delighted to receive a comment on my blog last week from Carabee over at BlogTrotting inviting me to give a little tour of my neck of the woods. BlogTrotting is a fun blog where you can visit other exciting places around the world.

I am genuinely thrilled to share with you a few of my favorite things about Minnesota.

I'm a Minnesotan, born and raised.

I grew up in Alexandria, MN. Hop over here for a brief tour of the main street of Alexandria, as I remember it from my teenage years.

Alexandra is the heart of the Central Lakes area, where are plenty of lakes for swimming and fishing.

I've since moved from Alexandria (more than 15 years ago) and now reside in St Paul, our state capital.

But what I really love about living in St Paul is living across the street from the University of St Thomas. Both my husband and I are students at UST, and we love our beautiful campus. We love to walk the grounds and will generally take any visitors we have on a quick tour.

 

The St Thomas Arches are an important part of UST culture. Incoming freshmen walk through the arches to the applause of current students and faculty, welcoming them to their new home. Neither of us started as freshmen, so we didn't get to experience this, but we are looking forward to Commencement when graduating seniors walk back out through the arches and head out into the world. I'm not sure if this will be a part of my graduate commencement ceremony, but it will definitely be a part of Jeff's. We have two more years of school before we head back out into the real world.

I've actually only lived in St Paul for a year and a half. Before that, I always considered myself more of a Minneapolis girl. While St Paul is growing on me, I definitely prefer the downtown of Minneapolis.

The Minneapolis skyline is beautiful!

The skyway system is wonderful!

You can easily stay dry and warm in the rain or snow.

Another thing I love about living in the Twin Cities is all the fun running paths!

I love to run with my little girl, Sallie...

And take walks with my husband.

We've moved a lot around the twin cities.

We've lived in Minneapolis near the Minnehaha Falls

and in St Paul near Crosby Lake .

I can't forget to mention Como Park Zoo. This is a fun, free zoo. They do accept a suggested donation of $2 for adults and $1 for children. We've gone to this zoo a couple of times .

I could go on and on about this great state! There are so many things I didn't mention like:

and SO. MUCH. MORE!

IMINNESOTA!

No matter where I live, I will always consider MN my home.

Feel free to browse through my blog to discover other random things about me (and occassionally MN, too). If you've visited any of the links in this post, you might have noticed many were from my *other* blog, Dodson Journal. Go ahead and pop over there for even more exciting advertures! I love MN, but I also love to travel and see new things. Mostly these adventures are with my husband, so naturally, they get posted on our family blog.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my little tour of Minnesota.

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls...

But I just can't help it!

It's no secret that both Jeff and I LOVE waterfalls, as described here and here.

For me, it's almost even stronger than love. Is that possible? Is anything stronger than love? It is what binds us, after all.

For me, it's almost like a drug. If I'm out for a walk or in a park, and I hear the sound of rushing water, I can't help but go. chase. that. waterfall!! I keep listening and walking...and listening and walking...until I finally find it!

This past summer, I even convinced Jeff to make a pitstop on our road trip to check out the waterfalls in Sioux Falls, SD. You can read about that here.

A few weeks back, I took Sallie for a walk. I heard the unmistakably, wonderful sound of a waterfall, but I couldn't find it. anywhere.

Today, we went out again but this time hiked even closer to the river.

There it was again. An ever-so-slight, but deliciously exhilarating, sound of rushing water. It didn't take me too long to gasp at the beauty as I turned my head.

There it was!! Complete with icicles. Wow.

Now I didn't happen to have my camera with me - just my phone.

If you look real close, in the back center, you can see two streams of water going over the small cliff.

The camera on my phone doesn't have a zoom, so I knew that I needed to get closer.

Down we hiked. Sallie and I.

Closer. But still not good enough to satisfy my need.

Down. Down. Down.

Finally I could get a shot from the front.

This shot was difficult to get because Sallie, does not get my fascination with waterfalls. She was trying her darnedest to get back up the hill. Guess it reminds her too much of getting a bath. Something she does. not. enjoy.

Back at the top of the hill, I tried to capture one last shot of some icicles. Gorgeous!

I realize they are a little difficult to discern (darn no-zooming-camera-phone), but trust me. They are there. Kind of dead center, hanging from the blob of greenery.