Happy Trails to You.

How was your weekend? I hope it was filled with adventure or maybe a little bit of relaxation. Mine was super busy and filled with lots of running. I can definitely say I’m beyond thrilled to be wearing my compression sleeves under my pants to work this morning. Me + compression = a match made in runner’s heaven.

So…where do I start? Since I didn’t blog all weekend I guess I had better get you all caught up. Friday night was spent with my sweetie…we stayed in and watched Comedy Central shows on my On Demand. It was chill and relaxing. Saturday morning was the Esperanza 5K at Custer Road United Methodist Church. It was a good time! I got to see all of my buddies and we took some quick snapshots before the race.

Going into this 5K race, honestly I had no expectations. My goal was just to go out there, run my best and have fun…then run some additional miles after with the running group that I coach. So I ran my little heart out. Clocked in at 23:08 – 1st place in my age division. Not bad for a no expectations race.

Ann, Shirley and me post race

Love the hand painted ceramic medal!

After the 5K I stayed and got some training miles in with my group – they are training for the upcoming Rock N Roll Dallas half marathon. It was a beautiful morning. Logged 12 miles total. Did nothing the rest of the day. Well, except go to brunch with my homegirl Nat. Brisket quesadillas and mimosas. Nuff said. Love brunching it up with this girl.

That brings me to Sunday Funday! My running buddies made the road trip up to Oklahoma for a trail race! My first real trail race in fact. Granted I did run a 3 mile mini trail run back in December but this was a whole different beast. 25K…15.5 miles of rocks, ridges and dirt roads. Kinda brutal! But a good time with good friends. The race started at 8 AM, so we got up early and made the 2 hour road trip up to Atoka. There was a lady that holds this race every year on her land out there. She’s about 80 years old and is still running, how awesome is that!? We went up to the “start line” and got the READY SET GO! from the lady. And off we went. I took it REEAL super easy for this race. My friends took off and I ended up by my lonesome for a majority of the race. Which at first was a little boring, but ended up being an experience more than anything else. I stopped and took lots of photos.

I met new runners that were from the Oklahoma area and got to chat with them. The aid stations were off the chain!! Why can’t every aid station at every race have potatoes and salt?? Is that too much to ask? I certainly don’t think so.

So anyway, not my best race (my Garmin died midway) and I don’t even know my finish time but it was more of the adventure part of it that I enjoyed more than anything. I did my best to NOT FALL and slip on a rock and I succeeded! That is a victory in itself! After the run we took some snapshots…

From left - Steve, Pepsi, Ann, Lori, Me, & Jessica

…and I got my super cool awards – Amish cherry jam and a slice of tree trunk.

Try putting that bad boy around your neck...

After the run we drove back to Dallas and went to this NY style brick oven pizza spot called Grimaldi’s. We sat on the patio and enjoyed a beautiful sunny afternoon. I shared a pizza with my friend Ann – with fresh tomatoes, basil and pepperoni. Food-gasm! I had two slices and was fat and happy.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell! Back to the real world!

Did you do anything adventurous this weekend? Ever run on trails? NY pizza or Chicago style? 

Sweat it Out.

Almost the weekend! It’s so close I can taste it. This week has been long and all over the place in terms of my work schedule so I definitely needed a double dose of endorphins today. So I went to Danceaton this morning followed by a 4 mile run in the sun. I made sure to pause and smell the flowers for just a bit!

 

I ran in my Inov-8 F-lite 195′s. These shoes are what you would classify as minimalist shoes, so they are great for short quick runs. I really enjoy these and love the hot red color. 

 

They are also great for trail runs. As long as you don’t mind ‘em getting a little dirty!

 

This weekend is gearing up to be a busy one for me. Saturday I will be rocking the Esperanza 5K in Plano with the Luke’s Locker crew. This race was featured in Runner’s World magazine! 

 

The Esperanza 5K Race is in support of the work of Dr. Nancy Rodriguez and Larry Cox at Casa Bugambilia near Matamoros, Mexico. Casa Bugambilia shelters ill and abandoned persons until they can be reunited with their families. It is a center for diabetes prevention and treatment. It provides medical care and physical therapy to people without access to quality health care. Casa Bugambilia advances the education of children through preschool learning readiness classes, tutoring and education enrichment. 

I am excited to run to support such a great cause! The first 500 finishers also receive a ceramic medal hand painted by members of the Case Bugambilia Community. 

Then Sunday I will be traveling to Atoka, Oklahoma to run my first true blue trail race – the A-OK 25K/50K race! I’ll be running the 25K. A bunch of my running buddies will be taking a road trip up there together so it will definitely be a good time. I hear the “medals” there are fun too! Here’s a pic of my friends Pepsi and Lori rocking Atoka from last year.

I will leave you with my new favorite song to groove to. We are learning the choreography to this song in dance class! 

How are you “sweating it out” today? Have you ever done a trail run or race?