Run Up, Run Down, Repeat

Brink and I woke up early!! That's more than once this week!!  Woohoo!  And I only hit snooze once.  Small victory!

After downing a cup of coffee and a glass of water, we drove to a nearby park where I had previously scouted out a hill to run.  We started out by running down the bike trail for about half mile and turning back towards the hill.  So with a one mile warm-up under my belt, I tied Brinkley to a tree to be my cheerleader for my hill repeats!  

"Go, Mom, Go!"

As he watched from the sidelines, I ran up, I jogged down.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  I did 7 laps up and down, which equaled a mile.  Google shows my one-way trip as about 400 feet, which matches up with my Garmin watch was tracking.

After getting my fill of the hill, I grabbed Brink and we headed back down the bike trail for a half mile and then back to the car for another mile.  My watch read 3.02 miles in 33:08 minutes.  That's an average 11 minute mile!  I'll take it!  

It was a successful morning!  I've never done a dedicated hill repeat workout before.  All of the articles I've read say that hill repeats will make my legs stronger and me faster.  We shall see.

W is for Wednesday

And for waking up early, which we did!! Brink and I ran two miles before 7am! It was a pretty good run and the temperature was perfect!

It was back to work for me today. The day was steady. We finally got some rain this afternoon!!! The foothills looked pretty cool all covered in backlit rain clouds!!




Rain brought rainbows!! I chased them around town in search of gold but never found the end. Drat! Maybe next time.




Now I'm finally home and making chili and sweet potato fries for dinner. I think tomorrow we'll just take an easy morning walk so I can sleep in a bit. We'll see how I sleep and how soon Milo starts butting me in the head to wake up!

Tuesday Tidbits

I really wanted to wake-up early today to go running. Really, I did. But sleep won out and I slept until about 9. By then it was 84 degrees outside and there was no way I wanted to run five miles in that heat.

My backup plan was to ride my recumbent bike inside with the air conditioning but it turns out my bike is broken.

So my Plan C was to go to the pool to get some exercise. And I had it all to myself!!




I did probably twenty laps doing various strokes. At one point, I thought I was doing really good. The hardest part was not having goggles so I couldn't really breathe correctly because I didn't want to stick my head in the water and get water in my eyes when I was looking for the wall.

I'm going to invest in some goggles. And maybe a swim cap. Swimming was fun this morning!! It wasn't perfect or pretty but it felt good!! I also did various lunges, sprints, and jumps to try to work all my muscles.

40 minutes later and I was whooped! Whooped but also intrigued by the possibility of adding swimming as a workout. I can get a decent discount to the area pools so I could even do it come Fall and Winter!




Later in the day I had a movie date with Moxon!!! We went to see the Disney-Pixar movie Brave. Auntie Worm's timing was bad and we got stuck in the 3d showing. Moxon prefers the normal showing because he gets tired of wearing the glasses that don't fit correctly! Why don't they hand out kid glasses??!! And why don't they make them butter proof??!! I think he spent most of the movie peeking over the top of his glasses!



We both enjoyed the movie and talked about our favorite parts on the way to the car!!  His favorite characters were the triplets!

I had to get ready for my work week once I was home again. Laundry, dishes, making Brinkley food, making dinner...




I used the Rhodes dinner rolls to make a mini pizza calzone. It was okay but definitely not the same as a homemade pizza!

Brinkley and I are now in bed early. We're going to try the early morning wake-up call thing again!! Wish us luck!

Monday Miles

Brink and I went for a two mile walk this morning. We found this feather along the way.


Brinkley and I went for a mile and half walk this evening. We found this chocolate and cherry ice cream cone along the way.


We also found this pretty awesome sunset.






More on my Monday tomorrow!!

Walt Disney World: Day 4

Disney World day four got off to a bit slower start as everyone kind of slept-in from the previous night at Magic Kingdom.  Slept-in implies extra sleep though and that's definitely not what it was.  Our first stop of the day was to Blizzard Beach and the Winter Summerland miniature golf course.  Moxon loves mini-golf so all played one round on the Winter half of the course.

Let me tell you, other than the decor, there was nothing Winter about this course.  I think everyone would agree in that the hour that we were playing mini-golf was the HOTTEST hour of the entire vacation.  I don't know what the Summerland side of the course looked like but the Winter side could use some more shade.  And made some gigantic fans for air flow.  We were all more than happy to devour some ice cream for a mid-morning snack when we were done.

After mini-golf we hopped on the bus for Epcot.  I don't remember exactly what we did in Epcot.  I think we rode Spaceship Earth, Nemo, and walked up to the United Kingdom so Monty could eat fish and chips.  Oh!  We also did the Universe of Energy ride/show with Ellen Degeneres.  In all of my time at Disney World, I never did this.  And I was pleasantly surprised!  I think we all got a kick of out it for the most part.  Well, Mom and Dad probably liked it more for the air conditioning than anything else!

Moxon also got to meet the characters while we were at Epcot.  I'd say we had pretty good timing.  We only had to wait about 20 minutes or so to meet the characters.  It's kind of neat that you can wait in one line and meet all of the Fab Five.  I think the first time I met them we had to wait in lines for each one separately.  

After Epcot, we rode the monorail over to Magic Kingdom because it was open late for resort guests.  It started to downpour once we hit the monorail ramp!  Perfect timing!  For some reaason Moxon was rather ham like on the monorail.  He normally could care less about Auntie Worm's camera but was goofying around once the thing started moving.

We put up with rain in the Magic Kingdom for a while.  I got to ride in a hunny pot with Moxon for the Winnie the Pooh ride!  He was a log of fun to ride with!  "It's Tigger."  "There's Rabbit."  "Eeyore!"  I wish we could have gone around and around again!

We also hit up the Philharmagic 4D show featuring Donald Duck.  Out of all the 4D shows in Disney World, the Philharmagic show is my favorite!  I love that it features a lot of my favorite Disney movies and the songs that I love so much.  It was the perfect thing to check off the list while waiting for the rain to stop, which it did.

We headed over to the New Fantasyland to ride Dumbo and Goofy's Barnstormer!  There wasn't much of a ride of for the Barnstormer!  It was a hit with Moxon!!  It became one of his favorites quickly.  It's still just as short as the old ride but it's just as much of a tummy tickler.

The wait for Dumbo was quite a bit longer.  This time it was Grandma's turn to ride with Moxon!

The order of events after Dumbo is lost in memory.  I know we got something to eat and watched the fireworks from Tomorrowland then I think Mox, Grandma, Grandpa, and Brent rode Toy Story while Monty, Becky, and I rode Space Mountain.  Space Mountain was awesome!  I just tucked my head down and giggle/screamed the whole time.

After Grandma and Grandpa ditched us for the night we raced the cars on the Tommorowland Speedway and decided to truck it across the park to hit Splash Mountain again.  Just like the night before there wasn't much of a wait.   Moxon wasn't interested in going so Becky stayed behind with him.  One trip down the mountain and Moxon was crashed out in the stroller so we called it a night and headed for the gates!  

Along the way we stopped at the Dole Whip station in Adventureland for some pineapple ice cream!!  Soooo good.  I love being in the park that late - room to breathe and mosey.  

Foothills Trail to the "A"

Brinkley and I woke up early today to hit the trails before the temperatures could skyrocket to uncomfortable levels.  We headed over towards the west side of town to the Maxwell Natural Area.  There were only two cars in the parking lot when we got there at about 7:30.  Three runners came through the parking lot as we were getting ready.  On our way back down there were a lot of mountain bikers heading up.

The trail goes north behind the stadium and slowly gains elevation.  About a mile down the trail it turns back south as the trail heads further up the mountain.  Brinkley and I took lots of breaks along the way to hydrate.  There is not much shade on this trail so I was glad there was some overcast from smoke.  And by not much shade, I mean none at all.  This would be a horrible trail to take mid-day.

The four mile round trip took slightly over 2 hours.  It probably wouldn't take that long if I really got after it but I didn't want Brinkley to overheat.  The view from the top was a pretty good one too!  In all the years living in Ft. Collins, I've never hiked to the "A" or visited Maxwell Natural Area.  There were tons of prairie dogs though.  I kept telling Brinkley to stay on the trail and away from the holes.

Flat start behind the stadium.

We went right about a mile and then back about a mile to the top of the "A"

Num, num, num.  He's getting good at drinking from the CamelPak.

Gaining some elevation.

Where the Foothills trail meets the "A" trail.  Nice view of the reservoir.

Final climb to the ridge line.

View from the top of the "A"

Brink really like the view!!  He would watch each car and bicyclist go by.

Happy Hikers!

Great view - smoke and all.

Painted rocks.  The freshman are slacking.  It's a bit faded.  

I'll probably hike this trail again.  I wouldn't mind doing this one in the winter when it's not so warm or smokey.  I bet the view is even better without the haze!!

Finally Friday

I continued my bust the funk streak this morning with a 5k around the lake. Brinkley was NOT happy with me when I told him he wasn't going.




Doesn't this face just break your heart? Well, it sure does break mine.




The run went great. For the most part I beat the heat. I was starting to feel it towards the end. I felt pretty strong and never winded. I may make the lake route my standard Saturday morning run.

As soon as I got back, I leashed up Brink for my cool down walk. And I was rewarded with this happy face when we got back home!!!! LOVE THAT FACE!!




The rest of the day was spent trying to survive this...




I was more than happy to get home and peel my sticky uniform off!!

Bring on the weekend!!

HOT!

Two weeks and the High Park fire is burning like the day it started.  It's going to be a long summer around these parts.  It was hotter than H-E-double hockey sticks outside today.  And tomorrow will only be hotter.  I think I may stick an ice pack down my vest to help keep me cool during the day.  Ugh, I'm surprised the sweat and smell doesn't knock people when out when I'm talking to them.

I'm headed to bed early today.  I'm exhausted as usual.  My plan is to get up and beat the heat for another run in the morning.  I think it's time for me to conquer the lake route again.

Two Miles

This is what two hot and sweaty miles look like for me.  And you know what?  Endorphins kick some major hiney.  I needed this run.  Badly.  Not just to prove to myself that I'm not turning into a sloth but to expunge some internal negativity that's been trying my patience.




This is what two hot and sweaty miles look like for Brinkley Miles.  It's a combination of celebration and freaking out.  He's always over the moon when we get back from a run with one of those happy dog smiles accompanied by a constantly wiggling butt because his stub tail is wagging.  The rolling around thing is a result of having to go through a patch of sprinklers on the sidewalk coming home.  Brinkley is terrified of sprinklers.  I'm pretty sure he thinks the water is acid or something.  He's so afraid he might melt that he's willing to push me further into the water or trip me to get himself to safety.

Running Mail

Half way through  my work week!!! Hallelujah!

I got a fun package in the mail today!  You remember that time I signed up for a half marathon on then decided to go on vacation instead??  And then I was bummed I couldn't get a refund and asked if I could at least get my shirt??  It finally arrived!!  And I'm pumped that it's a Brooks technical shirt.  The running geek in me is over the moon!  I may even break it in tomorrow morning!

I was planning on going for a run this morning.  But it didn't happen.  I chose sleep over everything else.  That's been happening a lot lately.  I think it's a good way to avoid reality...especially given the incredibly odd dreams that I have.

I'm off to start my nightly routine and head to bed.  The earlier I can get up the cooler my run will be!

Walt Disney World: Day 3 Part Two

After recharging, we returned to the Magic Kingdom because it was scheduled to be open until 1 am.  We walked through the gates and out to Main Street in time to see the start of the Main Street Electrical Parade!

Moxon watched from a top his dad's shoulders and the rest of us watched from our tip toes.  Imagine that... arriving at the start of something and not feeling entitled to a front row seat!!

The parade was much shorter than I remember.  Anywho, Becky, Brent, Monty, and I thought it would be wise to swim upstream to try and get fastpasses to Splash Mountain before the fireworks started an hour or so after the parade.  That was a bad idea.  We didn't get very far in the crowd before the pre-fireworks show started.

Pictures taken by PhotoPass photographers from that day in the park are displayed with cool light patterns on the sides of the Castle.  It was pretty neat to watch.  And it was a good thing we caught it because the last night of our vacation this portion was cancelled for some unknown reason.  The fireworks started right after and we quickly learned we were not in a great position as there was a huge tree just to the left that covered most of the fireworks.

After the fireworks we met back up with my parents and Moxon who were swimming upstream towards us as most people were exiting the park.  We headed to Frontierland to complete our Fastpass mission.  I think we grabbed some and got in line anyways because there was only a 15 minute wait, which really meant five minutes of walking right up to the ride.  We just hopped right on!!

We had the whole log to ourselves and had a blast!  Moxon and Becky were right up front and he was doing his best to peak out over the top and check out all of the characters.  All of the mini-drops had us laughing.  And when the big drop came we had even more reason to laugh because Becky and Moxon got absolutely soaked!!  I'll never forget the look on Becky's face when she turned around to see if we were as soaked as she was and finding out we weren't!

See how nonchalant Moxon looks?  That was his scary ride and photo face.  All of the photos were similar to this.  All of the adults are screaming and Moxon is in silent contemplation or shock.

We had so much fun that we did it again with different people up front in hopes to equal out the family drenched factor.  It didn't work.  The boat must have been waited perfectly for Becky to get that completely drenched.

I think we rode it one more time before Moxon had enough and was on to our "one more time" gig.  As we were leaving Splash Mountain we had to wait for the tail end of the night parade to go by on its second showing before we could cross over into Adventureland where Pirates of the Carribean awaited!  It was shut down earlier in the day when we were exiting the park so we took advantage of it even though we were all waddling around with wet clothes!!

The ride was just as awesome as ever!  And I loved the addition of Captain Jack Sparrow!!  Normally I'm not of fan of changes to classic rides but this one was subtle and fitting.  One thing that was missing was "There be rough water ahead, matey!"  Never heard it.  And I was expecting it!

Pirates pretty much wrapped up our first day in Magic Kingdom.  It was nice to exit the park without having to dodge a million people.  We walked right out and got on the bus to the hotel with no problem!

I'd say we managed to accomplish A LOT for a day in Magic Kingdom with a stroller in tow.  And I'm with Moxon, it makes me sad talking about it now because it was fun and now it's over.  Sniff, sniff.