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? 

Do what you love.

Happy first Friday of 2012 to you! I hope your day is buzzing along quite nicely like mine is. My coffee is delicious and strong this morning. Watch out, world!

My morning started out with a strength training session in my apartment gym, followed by a 4 mile run around the park in my neighborhood watching the sun rise.

After my invigorating workout and a yummy shower I headed off to work and made my usual pitstop at Cheers Starbucks for my bold coffee. I decided to get me a cup of their perfect oatmeal as well. I added their dried fruit to it as well as my own peanut butter and honey. Delicioso!

So, last night, I went on a little work assignment and got to go to a free movie screening to see the upcoming movie Joyful Noise. Since I am writing a feature piece on the film I always like to be well versed on the movie that I am working on. I love doing these movie reviews, they are so much fun. Here is one I did not long ago for the movie Jumping the Broom, fantastic if you haven’t seen that movie by the way!

Since the movie premiere was at Northpark mall I decided to head over there a little bit early and do some shopping. Since I hadn’t gone shopping in quite some time I was like a freaking kid in a candy store. I went to Lululemon and bought the pace setter running skirt, a workout top and these awesome “run fast” socks. It always helps to have some words of encouragement.

 

Joyful Noise was a cute, feel-good movie. I hadn’t seen Dolly Parton in a movie since Steel Magnolias but she’s still got it, plastic surgery and all. It was pretty much your typical Sister-Actish type of movie. Lots of diversity though which I can appreciate.

This weekend I am looking forward to the Beat Goes On kickoff for Luke’s Locker! The runners will be doing a 3 mile time trial run to determine which pace groups they belong in. Since I’m a coach I will be there monitoring everyone. Hopefully I can squeeze in a run of my own before hand. Either way, it will be a good time.

I also signed up for the A-OK 25K trail run on March 4th in Atoka, Oklahoma! Some of my trail running buddies did this race last year and it looked like so much fun.

It was super cheap to sign up (only 25 bucks, hello!!) and a few of us will be carpooling up there to do it. Super stoked.

I will leave you with this. Are you doing what you love? I sure am!

Have a happy weekend!

Deck the Trails Race Recap & Weekend Fun.

So, this past weekend I ran my first trail race! It was so much fun. I am definitely looking forward to doing this race next year. It was held at the Coppell Nature Park, which is a beautiful trail perfect for a hike or trail run.

The race started around 8:30 am, which allowed for plenty of time to get out there and pick up my race number and t-shirt. I found some of my running buddies out there and we took some snapshots before the race.

Legwarmers on, ready to RUN!

The race was relatively small (about 427 total in the race), which is a nice change of pace from the larger races that I’m used to running. It was also an inaugural race, which was also nice to be a part of. The gun went off, and off we went.

I was feeling strong that morning. I was fighting a little bit of a bug (UGH) and I had a sore throat but my legs were feeling speedy and strong. I just kept telling myself, ‘Ok, it’s only 3 miles. You’ll be done before you know it!’ The first part of the race was part grass, part road leading into the trails. Since I had gone on a couple of trail runs before (just casual ones w/ friends) I sort of knew what to expect. I love trail running, because it takes you off of the constant pounding of being on the roads all the time, and it’s nice to just be immersed in nature.

So we went into the trails, and were asked to go into the trail single file. This was okay for me, since I had already sped up and jumped in front of a bunch of people, but most people were not very happy with that request, in case they did want to pass people. Aside from that, I enjoyed being on the trail, and in the middle of the woods. We left the trails and headed for the finish. I didn’t wear my Garmin watch so I really had no idea about my pace the whole time, I just knew I was pushing hard, and just kept telling myself to push harder. I glanced at the clock in front of me. 21:30 finish time. 7:10 average pace. Without the help of my trusty Garmin. 2nd place in my age group out of 46 girls. Still got it, I guess.

After the Deck the Trails race, I taught dance class at 24 Hour Fitness in Murphy. I loved the Christmas décor in the aerobics room.

I ran some more errands then went to my friend Karen’s spa party & gift exchange. I had a great time catching up with some old girlfriends, and I even got a cute sparkly top…better than the stationery I got last year!

Me & Lead Danceaton instructor Gaby

Later on in the evening, the BF and I were starved so we decided to check out this new Brazilian restaurant called Villa’s Grill. It is a quaint, romantic restaurant located in downtown Irving. The food is delicious, it is conveniently close to home and it’s byob. Does it get any better than that? I think not.

So overall a great weekend. Looking forward to more holiday festivities coming up, like the Jog’r Egg Nog’r 15K at White Rock Lake this weekend. I’ll be running it w/ a good running buddy of mine so it’ll be a good time. Bring it on!