Busy weekend coming up!  Friday morning I am going to walk the:

1st Annual Clayton Ridge Interact 5K Run/Walk

with my daughter, Maddie.  It makes me a little crazy not to run a race sometimes... but to get to do something active with my daughter is worth the "pass" on the run. 

So, once the run is over, I am heading out to the trails to do my long run for the week.  So I will get a great run in anyway ;-) 

Saturday I am running the: 

Colesburg, IA 4th of July Kaboom 5K Run/Walk and 1 Mile Kids Fun Run

Had a nice hilly gravel road run this morning.  It was a bit sloppy but it was shaded off and on, so it was worth it. ;-)

Can I hide somewhere and read?!!!

I need to finish the book I'm reading so that I can jump into this pile of magazines!!!!!

Had a great vacation weekend!  Took the family to a water park/fun resort.  On the way home we stopped at the Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville, Iowa.  Whose idea was it to drag me into Scheels?!!  That place actually makes my heart beat faster... and I have NEVER walked out of there with less than 100 dollars worth of something.  ;-)  

So I live in Iowa.  It is sooo humid here in Iowa during the summer months.  I hate humidity. Sigh..... The other day I ran in blazing sun but the humidity was in the 50's... so I completed a long run with no problem.  Today the humidity is above the 70's but no sun, total cloud cover... and I made it 2 miles before I said NO MORE!  Thank the lord the bigger races in this area all fall during the nice cool fall months.  

Cross-Training Day.  If you are a runner... many times you hate this day.  Other days it's not so bad.  Today was one of those days I wanted to run, but I held back... I chose to do the 21 Day Fix workout.  Sometimes I stream videos off the internet when I need a cross-train option.  To be honest, I have seen this video advertised on one of those "in the middle of the night" infomercials... so I was quite skeptical.  The set includes diet instructions and portion sized containers.  (Not for me)... But it also comes with workouts.  So I tried the workouts.  

I have got to say, I loved it!  It was under 40 minutes... I sweat and I was sore in my rear the next day.  So worth a try if you are looking for something fun, different and quick.  You need some hand weights for some of the videos.

Long Run Day

I am going to try these Muscle Milk chews I grabbed at Walmart one day. I am not sure what to expect, and to be honest... I am a little frightened. I guess we will see. I usually have to stick to Stinger brand. SEEMS to be the one gel or long run Carb source that doesn't make my stomach upset.

Lets hit the dirty road

Heading out to do some gravel running and maybe squeeze in some hills. Do you stretch before you run? I don't.... but I do take my dog for a quick 1 mile walk before my run. That works for me. I save the stretches for when I get home.

I hate to push my likes... wait, I take that back.  I WANT to push what I like... ;-)
If you are not a member of the RunJunkEes Run Club.  You need to go over to Facebook or their website http://www.runjunkees.com/ and check them out.  I have found this group to be a great resource and I have met some FABULOUS running friends through this group.  Please check them out!

Welcome Friends!

I wanted to say "Welcome Running Friends,"  but I decided against it.  I want my page to be open to all of my friends who run, who may be curious about running, who want to start running, or want may want to look at my running rants and laugh at me.  It all works for me ;-)  

I want to show you this picture.  This is my first 1/2 marathon several years ago.  So....  yeah, I am not sure what to say to this.  HA!  I am exhausted at this point, I am wearing a lei and NOT in Hawaii, and I apparently run with my eyes half closed. ;-)  Actually, I just wanted to show you this picture to tell you... that many many of your running pictures are going to look like this.  Be NOT AFRAID!  I have had some good photos... but 80 percent have looked like this fine example of OMG!!!  I keep this picture to remind me of proud I was that day.  I keep this picture to remind me of the progress I have made.  I encourage you to keep and love ALL the pictures you get.  I may look pretty funny in this picture... but the pride and determination that is going on in that head is priceless (prob why I had to squint my eyes.)