How About a Trail Run...

I have been thinking about what my first race of 2014 would be.  I think maybe I haven't really wanted to jinx myself my actually planning a race, and when I woke up this morning I had no races scheduled.

What a difference a day makes.

I have been saying that I would like to run an actual trail race.  One with registration fees, race t-shirts, timing chips and aid stations.  Looks like I'm going to get my wish.

Tomorrow at 9 am, I will be participating in the Sooner State Games trail race.  I actually registered for this event in 2011, but I believe it got snowy/icy and we opted to run our planned long run for marathon training instead.  There is no backing out now.

What's even better is three of my favorite running peeps will be joining me on the trails, and I will get so see some of my favorite trail runners too.  It should make for a very interesting day.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that we are doing the long race?  It's only 12 miles, and I know that the "only" portion of that statement is purely subjective, but up until now, the farthest I have ever run/walked on trails is six miles.  Peer pressure from my running friends sure makes my life more interesting!

Of course, now the big question is: What do we wear?  Guess I need to work on a little carb loading and hydration.

January is Almost Over...

My goal of spending more time with my blog has already been a huge failure.  Three weeks into the new year and I have blogged about a whole lot of nothing.  Maybe I need to get a life.

So what's been going on?  Running.  Work.  Family.  Food.  (Not necessarily in that particular order.)  Basically a whole lot of boring, everyday, regular life sort of things.  You could probably add a big dose of Race Envy to that list.  Apparently, I have friends that do plan races every now and again.  Maybe I should be hanging out with those friends more.

We are three weeks into January and I have logged 78 miles so far.  I should be on track to start the new year with a 100 mile month.  Don't get too excited because the universe has a way of wrecking my plans when I get too excited.  One day at a time, right?

So let's talk about today.




 

We don't usually run on Wednesdays, but Mother Nature has scheduled a bit of cold weather for tomorrow, so we opted to run our Thursday hilly route today.  After yesterday's 6, very cold, very windy miles, my legs were a little bummed to be asked to run again. I did everything I could to push them up and down the new, hilly route we have added from Rochelle's house for the last couple of weeks.  Let's just say I am glad that is over.

 

I did get a new pair of my beloved Brooks Ravenna 4s earlier this month and I am loving them.  I am sad that the 5s are so different, and my local shoe expert thinks the new version is not a good choice for me.  Apparently it's too much shoe for my narrow feet.  There is even talk of my second shoe being a brand other than Brooks.

 

Here's hoping they will change their minds and go back to the 4s when the 6s come out at the end of the year.  Although, I don't think this one pair will last me that long. 

 

I do need to do some serious thinking about what race I want to run next.  As always I feel a little lost and without direction.  I like to have a plan, but sometimes it's hard to come up with one.

 

One non-running relating bit of news, Camy has her audition for the high school orchestra tomorrow.  Seriously, high school!  I don't know if I'm more nervous for her to do well, which I am confident she will, or freaked out over the fact that she is auditioning for HIGH SCHOOL.  I am no where ready for that. 

 

This cannot be good for my mid-life crisis. 

 

I'm going to go sit in the corner and take some deep cleansing breaths.  

WIAW, It’s a New Year…

I have not done a WIAW post in a long time, so I thought I would just see what kinds of food pictures I’ve taken recently.

Could be really boring, so here goes.

The last couple of weeks seem to have had a number of these.  I love being able to pick up a bottle of wine at CVS in other states that don’t have stupid liquor laws.  We drank a little red and white while we were in Chicago for Christmas.

We found the cutest little Italian restaurant while we were in Chicago, compliments of yelp.  I had to go with the house sangria, and I was not disappointed.

My sister-in-law’s boyfriend, Ryan, told us we had to check out Potbelly Sandwich Shop before we made our way back to Oklahoma.  We waited until almost the last minute, we had lunch in the airport before we caught our flight home.  I had the Mediterranean, with hummus, feta, cucumbers, roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts.  I am only sad that we don’t have these in Oklahoma.

Lots of cookies were baked this year, sugar cookies go with pumpkin beer, right?  Of course they do.  Sugar cookies go with everything.

I took the girls to Blu on Friday for lunch.  We had my favorite blue cheese truffle chips, and they were big fans.  We will be going back for these.

I have been making lots of soup lately.  It has become my favorite thing to pack for weekday lunches.  Sweet potato with roasted cauliflower and barley.  It was really good.  The recipe didn’t call for barley, but it just needed something, and it turns out that barley was just the thing.

Veggie pot pie soup, one of my favorites.  It’s just comfort in a bowl.

So there you have it, my most recent eats.  Or the ones that have been documented most recently.  We will see if we can get back on track with the WIAW posts in the new year.