Fab Fourth

Let's work backwards through the weekend, shall we? It will be fun, I promise.

As of an hour ago, my dinners/lunches are made for the week - I whipped up a Mexican Taco Stew courtesy of the Whole Foods recipe app, as well as that Avacado Quinoa Salad that I've made in the past.

For the record, the Whole Foods App is legit!

Hopefully I should be set for at least a few days on the food piece.

This afternoon I also logged 7 disgustingly hot miles. So hot in fact, that I had to take a break after 5 and finish up the last 2 after a water/AC rest stop.

Proof of the heat:

Note the 'feels like' temperature...

More Proof:

so sexy, i know.

Prior to the run, Andrew and I had to return our hot ride that he rented for the weekend...

We woke up Saturday morning realizing we had just about zero plans for the rest of the weekend. Time together is short these days as he's scheduled to leave for awhile at the end of the month.

My proposal over coffee that morning was that we either rent or steal a boat. His was better.

"Let's rent a convertible and drive."

It was the luck of the draw that we happened to get the beautiful 2014 mustang. It was a blessing that we ended up in ended up in Shenandoah National Park down in Virginia.

It was a gorgeous 70-some degrees once we were up in the mountains, and the view rivaled some that I've seen out in the Rockies. We both took the day to soak it all in, cruise in our fake rich car, and do some hiking/exploring.

Andrew suggested that I wash my knee in the waterfall pictured above, that the fresh water would heal me. That I'm not so sure of, but I may find out this week if I end up going to the orthopedic doctor. I haven't decided yet if it's necessary or not, but technically I'm currently training for a triathlon & a marathon and shouldn't be fooling around anymore with these aches and pains, ya dig?

Prior to our Saturday excursion was of course the Fourth of July celebrations, which occurred at my house & deck in Baltimore. I really couldn't have asked for more out of our celebrations, I think my roommates would agree... it was a successful evening.

I could babble on forever about the details of the past four days, but I won't. I'm tired and would love to spend the evening stretching, icing, and planning for the week. It's looking to be a hot one here in Salty Balty, and some laps in the pool sounds pretty good right about now.

Hope everyone had an excellent holiday weekend. I don't know about you, but I'm excited to see what this week has in store.

Cheers!

Perfection

I've got to start off this post by giving a huge shout out to the perfect Maryland weather this weekend - without 3 consecutive days of 65 and sunny, my weekend would have been far less fun.

First Sun Sesh of the year!

Secondly, in order of importance, I just got back from running five miles. It felt so great. Not like, hey that was super easy kind of great. But hey, I am continuing to have more and more confidence in my foot, and it feels so good to be running again kind of great.

I wanted to push it and do six, but I think I'll save that for next weekend. I did push to hold an 8(ish) minute pace, and I stuck to it pretty well. 8 minute miles certainly don't come as easily as the did last September but hey, I'll get there again. My body knows how to do it, it's just a matter of re-training. Right?

As alluded to above, Andrew and I spent a large amount of time outdoors this past weekend. We did some frisbee golfing Friday evening, during which for some reason during it I felt super tired and kept whining and sitting down on the course. He loved that.

I think it's because I hadn't eaten enough protein that day? Maybe?

Late Saturday morning we headed down to Great Fall, Virginia, for some pretty beautiful hiking. The weather was once again awesome, and the trails that we hiked offer some grand scenes.

We also saw a large amount of caterpillars while out on the trail, which I hated, because I was convinced I was going to step on one. Andrew kept assuring me that half of the things I was pointing out weren't caterpillars, that they were centipedes, but I stuck to my guns and continued calling every bug we saw from there on out caterpillars.

Sounds about right, doesn't it?

Mr. Grillmaster threw some veggie burgers on the grill upon returning home, and I did the essential by whipping up some margaritas. We had an awesome dinner on the patio, enjoying the last of the warmth that the day had to offer.

Here we are, another Sunday. Another busy week ahead of me. I have this sneaking suspicion that May is going to fly by - the rest of our month is packed with activities and travels and shenanigans. Just how I like it. 

Any racers this weekend? I know there were a lot offered this weekend. I have a small 5k next Saturday with my Girls on the Run team that should be fun for all.

I'm off to throw some weights around, strong is the new sexy after all :)

Cheers!

Sunday Funday

Well, I suppose this weekend could have been worse. Much worse.

Above all else, I was extremely productive. I ran many errands, and cleaned both my room and my car. I also did a lot of cooking, and a lot of running, two of my favorite things, as you all know.

Let's start with Friday. It was jeans day at work, and I took the liberty of wearing my snazzy new feather earrings, pictured below. I also ate a pop tart, because after all, it was Friday.

That face where I'm doing something I know is stupid but doing it anyway.

How great do my nails look?

Saturday morning I got creative with my leftover spicy cauliflower that I told you about in my last post. I mixed it in with some scrambled eggs and hot sauce, and it literally made my day. I think I'm finally coming off of that pancake kick that I was on for, ehhhh, the past 8 years. But seriously, ever since I got the flu post-Boston and threw up some chocolate-chip pancakes I made, I'm more apt to go with the eggs for breakfast. TMI? Get over it.

Saturday night got a little less healthy, as I caved and had a poncho-clad Cinco De Mayo drink with my roomies.  See below.

Considering taking that to my work and dressing my water bottles in it. 

And now, here we are; Sunday. As mentioned, I hiked down on the Maryland/Virginia border with a friend from work. Most of the trail was rocky and followed along the Potomac River, so the views were pretty gorgeous, I can't deny that. It wasn't hiking in the mountains... but what can you do.

Overall, I can't complain about the weekend. I logged a solid 15 miles, did some killer P90x abs, and got A LOT done. Furthermore, I came to an important conclusion: the past few weeks, I haven't necessarily been fair to Maryland.

I've recently taken up the hobby of making snippy comments about the East Coast; mostly generalities about the population and its priorities, traffic, the weather, etc. It's a LARGE population of government workers, many who are very money and status driven, many who couldn't give two shits about you and your livelihood, many who will stare you down if you choose to run errands in your sweats.

I always have, and I always will run my errands in sweats on the weekends. Sue me.

It's been an adjustment to getting the stares, seeing that many stores/restaurants in Foco didn't even enforce a shirt & shoes policy. Kidding... kind of?

Where am I going with this rant? I miss Colorado like crazy. But I don't think I've given Maryland a fair chance yet to make a solid judgement. My first few months in Colorado were rocky as well, and sometimes I forget that it hasn't even been 3 months out there yet. So, in attempt to be fair,  I'm going to try to refrain from making a judgement on living in this part of the country until I hit the the 6 month mark.

I'll revisit this topic then.

Have a fantastic week, and a very happy Monday.

Cheers!