Wednesday: Purge

I am on vacation until after the first of the year, but that doesn’t mean I am any less busy.  Staycations, for me, are full of projects and lists of things I want to get done.

First and foremost, I ran.  I am sticking to my short and slow for this week.  Well, sort of.  It was short but it wasn’t really slow.  And just like Monday, there was no pain but I can still tell that things aren’t quite completely healed.  So maybe that HIKE in the afternoon wasn’t such a smart idea.  That was where I could feel my knee saying, “please stop.”  My knee is so polite.

Run: 3 Miles / 32:50

Hike: 2 Miles / Kiwanis Trail (picture is the view from the TOP of South Mountain)

So, in between the run and the hike, I decided to clean out the cabinets.  WTF?  I thought I had stopped stockpiling food.  But really, I have not. I threw anything away that was “expired” and it could explain why my sisters birthday cupcakes were a big, fat failure.  Everything is gone, cleaned out and looking better.

I will do a recap of my 2012 goals (and results) next week, but I already have a new goal in mind for 2013.  Hike all of the South Mountain trails.  Now, some are short and I could do them right now.  Some even shorted than the Kiwanis Trail.  But there are a couple that are LONG. And I mean 14 miles long.  ONE WAY. So those longer ones may have to be done in sections.  But there are 33 in all and I think it is doable!

In addition to actually hiking (or running) the trails, I will do a write-up on each one.  And in the Phoenix area, once I am done with South Mountain, there are plenty of others to choose from (North Mountain, Squaw Peak, Camelback, the Estrella’s, the White Tanks, etc).

Food went something like this:  Egg sandwich, coffee, a little bit of leftover sausage dip and tortilla chips, a piece of crack (cinnamon) toast, chicken breast with ranch for dipping and veggie mix.

I have more updates for you on the projects I made for Michael, the trail review and what arrived in my mail on Wednesday.  Those are coming soon.

Holiday Update!

Hello there. I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday.  I spent Christmas Eve getting ready to host my family and spend some time Skyping with my in-laws. It actually all went very smoothly.

And now I can tell you about the holiday projects I did for Michael.  The first one was to take a map, cut it in three pieces and mount it to three pieces of canvas using Mod Podge.  And then you use pins to show all of the places you have been together. It wasn’t hard to do, although I did get a little nervous cutting the map.  We will put it up on the walls once we have our own house.

Christmas Day, we headed over to my parents house for gifts and breakfast.  Then we all took a break to get cleaned up and take care of dogs.  We went back over in the afternoon for an amazing dinner (ham) and we watched Ted. I thought it was pretty funny.

I have a couple of great new running tops, a new light for my bike, lots of gift cards, some new makeup etc.  I DID run on Monday and while my knee/quad didn’t hurt, I could still tell it isn’t quite right.  My plan for the week is short 3-milers and see how things feel.

How was your holiday?  Anyone hitting up the after Christmas sales?

Saturday: Another goal

Checked off the list for 2012.  I rode this bad boy to my sisters house!  It was one of my goals when we moved here.  To become proficient enough on my bike to ride to her house.  And I made it!  It was a couple of miles (almost 3) longer than I expected so I had NO problem with hitching a ride back.   It was close to 9 miles one way.

And another piece of good news is that there was NO knee or quad pain involved during or after.  So I hope that I will be back in my kicks and running the canal next week.

The rest of Saturday I spent volunteering at the basket pickup, which was fun. HOLY BANANAS.  No kidding.  Way too many bananas.  Then the bike ride and then nothing.  And I mean nothing. There was nothing to do and nothing on tv to watch (was Beth always so whiny in Cloverfield?).  Even my cupcakes came out like nothing. Which means I will have to make cookies instead.  You get the idea.

Nothing.

 

Saturday: More of the same

The week in review:

Monday: No running

Tuesday: No runnung

Wednesday: No running

Thursday: 1 mile of running and then incredibly bad choice of shoes

Friday: No running

That is depressing.

Did everyone in the world decide to do their Christmas shopping early on Friday afternoon? It was a madhouse out there.  But I got most everything done and even wrapped it all up.  I don’t know what to do with myself now.

Oh yea.  Don’t run.  I am still trying to give it until Monday.

What are your weekend plans?

Thursday: Uninspired

I have been truly uninspired this week.  I did try to run on Thurs, on the treadmill, and made it about a mile.  The knee was still hurting so I called it quits and did some weights instead.  Then a really poor choice of shoes made it hurt for the rest of the day.  I absolutely believe that the knee issue is actually secondary to a quad issue. Remember all of those CrossFit squats and lunges?  I think that is where I started.  NO, I am not blaming CrossFit.  I have exceptionally bad form when it comes to squats and maybe it was just too much.  REST it is.

Run:  1 mile / 10:54

And if you are reading this, then we are all still here.  So there is that. Sorry to the Mayans for being wrong.

Thursday night we did go to see Lincoln and it was very, very good.  A political drama on how he got the 13th Amendment passed.  So please don’t go expecting a Civil War movie or you will come out disappointed.

Just one more work day until vacation!

OH, and don’t forget that this weekend is my big bike ride to my sister’s house.  My dearest, sweetest husband was laughing at me Thurs night at the idea that I might not just ride back.