Visiting My Bestie in Traverse City, MI

Don't ask me what I did with my best buddy, Cat, in Traverse City, MI this weekend.  Because we did all the things!

This happened!

• Lunch at a tiny little cafe - melt-in-your-mouth pastrami and fresh squeezed OJ
• Hiking on the grounds of a former mental hospital
• Wine and cider tasting at Left Foot Charley's
• Cheese cake at Underground Cheese Cake
• Disc golf at Northwestern Michigan College
• A party at Cat's friends' house
• Dancing at Side Traxx
• Late night food and Jenga at a diner
• Sleep
• Brunch and coffee at a French cafe
• Shopping at Target
• Hiking on Alligator Trail at Sleeping Bear Dunes
• Soda tasting and walking tacos at Cherry Republic

Alligator Trail

Lake Michigan from a trail lookout

It was an adventure-packed weekend!  Thanks, Cat!

Hiking south of Dallas

As I'm spending the weekend in Dallas for work, I did what I always love to do on work trips yesterday - explore the local trails!

My hope as I researched parks in the area was to check out the Cedar Hill State Park, which hosts a section of the DORBA (Dallas Off-Road Bicycle Association) trail network.  I planned to hike and maybe run assuming there wasn't to much bike traffic.  Unfortunately, when I called the park for information, I found out that the trails were closed due to the recent rain storm.  So disappointed!  So I found some back up options, and headed out.

First, I visited Boulder Park, which boasted 10 miles of mountain bike trail.  I couldn't get through to anyone for information on the park, so it wasn't until I arrived that I discovered that this was also part of the DORBA system, and therefore, closed.  Having made the trip there, though, I decided to just walk a little ways down the trail until I found a wet area, and then turn back.  I never found any mud.  The whole park was dry!  In fact, I would call the conditions perfect - not muddy and not dusty.  Just right!

Boulder Park Trail

The trail consisted of a main Blue loop with a number of more technical off-shoot Red loops.  In the interest of not getting lost, I stuck to the Blue loop.

Cactus and Wild Flowers

Texas Flora

The creek was running very low, but it contained fish, so it must run consistently enough to support them.  It must be an old creek, too, as it looks to have worn its path through the rocks over a very long time.

An old but living creek

I love trails!

I ended up hiking 4 miles at Boulder Park.

At this point, it was still early enough in the afternoon to check out another park only about 10 minutes from my hotel.  I was hoping Bear Creek Nature Park would provide a decent place to run during the next week, as the area around my hotel is all highway with no sidewalks.

Bear Creek has a small campground and an equestrian trail.  The website had mentioned hiking trails, too, but I think the equestrian trail is all they have, so I ventured out on that.

More Flowers!

The trail headed out around a meadow and into a somewhat forested area.  It was a much more dry, brushy park.

Bear Creek Trail

As I hiked, I started to see some familiar man-made structures - a mud pit, a climbing wall, a rusted out van with a cargo net over it...  They were the remains of an obstacle run!

Old Ford van with a broken kiln inside

As I was leaving the park, I found a flyer for the upcoming Down & Dirty obstacle run on June 2, 2013.  Looks like it's going to be fun!

http://www.downanddirtymudrun.com/

I hiked an additional 2.5 miles at Bear Creek and then headed to my hotel to shower up and eat a meal.  It was a great day of sun shine and movement!

Mountain Biking for Women

Hello from Dallas, TX!  I'm travelling for work again, and I can't wait for the weekend when I have a chance to find some trails, which seem to be a little more distant from my hotel than I want to venture after a long day of work.  I'll try to get some good pics and post a report later.

In the meantime, my mom pointed me to a nice article today by Teresa Edgar, founder of MTB4Her.com on the Weather Channel website (article and video here).  It's just a quick story encouraging women to try out mountain biking by taking it slow, relaxing, and getting to know the easy-going mountain biking crowd.  I found it very simple and positive.  Check it out!

Building again

The hubby and I are registered to do a Tough Mudder on June 29 near Jackson, MI.  For the unfamiliar, this is a 10-12 mile run interspersed with somewhere in the range of 25 military style obstacles such as wall climbs, tunnel crawls, jumping off of platforms into lakes, ice water dunks, and running through electrified wires.  I'm excited...but nervous!  Some of those obstacles scare me!

To train for this adventure, my hope is to build my endurance as if I was preparing to run a half marathon, build my overall body strength with some weight lifting, and practice some circuit workouts (running mixed with exercises).  I'm pretty confident that I could complete this thing with minimal training, but I'd like to do better than that.  So I got to thinking that I was the fastest I've been in recent years when I trained for a triathlon in 2010, so why not mix in some cross training for cardio variety and softer impact, too?

This seems like a decent idea for the hubby, as well, since he is recovering from some back issues and is not allowed to do high impact exercises like running or biking for a while.  As I put together a training plan, I'm trying to modify his workouts to include more walking and swimming activities...at least for a few more weeks.

I don't know how this plan will work to prepare us for the Tough Mudder, but hopefully it will at least be fun and help us get leaner and healthier.

A few things I've noticed as I've started training:

• I'm starting to like weight lifting more.  I want to get a little bit buff and lean up those squishy areas!
• I swam last night for the first time since my tri in 2010.  What a lung workout!
• Aside from swimming and lifting, I would rather do everything else outside.  I cannot wait for the weather to improve so running and biking outside are more enjoyable!  We had two beautiful "Spring-is-coming" days last week, and it was heavenly!
• I've never created a training plan for the hubby before, but he asked me to put something together that takes his back into account.  Now, how do I motivate him to follow the plan?!

The Arnold Sports Festival 2013

It has been almost 2 weeks since the 2013 Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, OH, but I am just finally getting a chance to post about it!  This will not be as extensive of a write-up as last year, but the hubby and I once again had a great time.  We met up with a friend, Erika, from California, so we got to share her first Arnold experience with her.  This was particularly cool, because Erika has competed in Figure competitions in the past.  She's considering entering the amateur competition in 2014!

We attended the Friday night finals of the women's Ms. International body building, Fitness, and Figure competitions.  It was inspiring to see some of the same faces again this year.  It blows my mind how much work, sacrifice, and dedication these athletes put in to their sports year after year.

Figure 2013

We spent most of the day Friday at the fitness expo checking out all of the pills, powders, bars, beverages, equipment, and clothing available for the body building and fitness crowd.  The expo was huge and packed wall-to-wall again this year.  Attending the expo also gave us a view of the stages where some of the strength and gymnastics competitions took place.

Here are a few of the booths that we visited.

Oxygen Magazine: Erika, Chelsea Gonzalez, Me, Theresa Jenn Lepotrone

Magnum - Erika, James Ellis, Me
I think Erika liked his abs.  Who wouldn't?

Probiotica: Erika, Carol Saraiva (Miss Bikini IFBB), Me

MRI Performance: Emily Nicholson, Erika, Me, Sue ???

Beast: Erika, Desiree Niemann, Me

Mind and Muscle.com: Me, ???, Erika

And the sky opened up

Last week, we had an unseasonably warm spell for a couple days in Grand Rapids, MI.  On Tuesday in particular, it was warm, all the snow was melting, and it rained off and on all day.

I decided when I got home from work that I felt like going for a run in this crazy warm weather (probably around 55 degrees F).  It hadn't been raining for a while that afternoon, so I figured I was in good shape.  I put on my warm wind tights and a fleece shirt without the additional layer of a sweatshirt or vest that I would normally wear in the winter.  It felt great!

What a day!  But as Murphy would have predicted, as I was approaching the geographically farthest point from home on my route, it started to rain.  Nothing big.  Just some sprinkles.  I like running in the rain when it's warm.  But then the sprinkles turned into drops, the drops turned into sheets, and I was quickly running in a full on downpour.  The sky had broken open like a dam.  I felt like I was standing under a waterfall.

The pooling rain water started to combine with melted snow into rushing streams across lawns and down sidewalks.  My shoes were the first to get soaked.  But I hadn't gone a minute in that downpour when the rest of my body was drenched, too, head to toe through every layer.  

What I was amazed by was that my technical clothing kept me warm despite being inescapably wet.  I was so wet that my tights were trying to fall down due the weight of the water soaking the fabric (thank goodness for a drawstring!), and I had to keep ringing out my shirt to lighten the load.

I could have stopped under the overhang of a nearby house or tried to find a car port at the apartment complex close by, but I didn't know how long the rain would last.  I decided that continuing on and finishing the run was the fastest way to get out of the storm.  Fortunately, it only lasted a few minutes.  I spent the rest of the run tugging up my tights and ringing out my shirt, but I was comfortably warm.

I passed another drenched runner as I rounded a corner to take the bike path back to my house.  We shared a laughing hello at our dumb luck and how not unpleasant our uncommon circumstances were proving to be.

What a funny adventure!  It made me appreciate ultra runners and other athletes who endure extreme conditions for extended periods of time with no easy escape if things go wrong.  And it made me thankful for fleece and nylon! 

Snowy Trail Run

Yesterday, the hubby accompanied me for a trail run at a park near our house.  We had run about 2 miles when the snow started to fall dusting the leaf-covered trail and sticking to our eye lashes.  It was so pretty!  We finished a perfect, easy, winter 5k and brushed off our car to go home.

The Hubby Running on the Stream-Side Path

Tough Mudders in Training

The hubby and I are officially registered for the Tough Mudder near Detroit in June 2013.  Yeah!  Can't wait for 10-12 miles of military obstacles.  Fun!  A little nervous it, too.

www.toughmudder.com

2012 Year in Review

Looking at my activity log for the year 2012, I'm a little embarrassed.  The movement numbers are a little low post-April.  I'm glad I didn't log beer consumption, too, because that would probably beat running, biking, and walking put together!  LOL

Nonetheless, I had some fun this year.  In April, I ran a fantastic trail half marathon.  The hubby and I did a little mountain biking, and I was a top contender in our office walking challenge this summer.  We ran a naked 5k, the Color Run, the Grand Rapids Mud Run, and the Warrior Dash.

With the Grand Rapids Sport and Social Club, I played dodge ball, kick ball, broom ball, flag football, and volleyball.  I also made some great new friends.

For the number lovers out there, 2012 saw:

• 102 miles of biking
• 352 miles of running
• 214 push ups
• 172 miles of walking/hiking
• 64 miles (or the equivalent) of other sports

The hubby is pretty much recovered from his back injuries earlier this year and is committed to getting into better shape in 2013.  To that end, we are planning to sign up for the Tough Mudder in Detroit at the end of June.  I'm very excited about this.  I've been wanting to do this for a couple years now.  I'm nervous about some of the crazy obstacles.  The hubby is nervous about the 12-mile distance.

In 2013, we also plan to keep the traditions of the GR Mud Run and the Warrior Dash alive.  We may throw in a Zombie Dash somewhere and maybe an adventure race.  In any case, we should have some fun events to look forward to and some solid goals to keep us on the fitness track.

My vacation time over the last few weeks as been so renewing.  Not necessarily restful, but I've embrased the free time to get out for some hikes, some weight lifting, some skiing, some snow runs.  Work in 2013 is going to be crazy, but I am itching to maintain a good workout routine despite the fatigue of stressful office hours.

On the Paul B Henry Thornapple Trail today

Thanks for a great year, and welcome the new one!  Happy New Year 2013!

Volleyball

The hubby and I just wrapped up a season of indoor volleyball with the Grand Rapids Sport and Social Club.  I haven't played volleyball since high school, so I am not highly skilled, but I play well enough.  It was a blast!

For our last game, many of our teammates were out of town for vacations and business trips leaving just 5 of us to play.  We lost, but we had a competitive game.  Our opponents were good sports and engaged in some back and forth joking that left us all bent over laughing more than once.

Some of our volleyball teammates
Photo by Grand Rapids Sport and Social Club

At the bar after the game

Next up starting in January - more dodge ball!