Hikes, Bikes, and Bruises

Good evening bloggies!

I wanted to get in a quick post before hitting the hay! Had a wonderful and relaxing weekend with Eric. After his brothers left for college yesterday and the house was empty, we took advantage of the stillness and made a delicious relaxing breakfast; oats with almond butter for me and some cereal for Eric. The morning was cool so we decided to do a bit of shopping first. After making some b-day exchanges (almost a month later) at Old Navy, we both headed to Sports Authority to get some athletic shorts. I got these Under Armour shorts which I now love; spandex material but a little bit loose, perfect for runs or weight lifting. After that Eric and I decided to go on a hike in a local apple orchard. It was great to get out and get moving, and being able to snack on a fresh apple isn’t too bad either 🙂

Today we woke up bright and early (8 am is early for our weekends) and fueled up for a trail ride with Eric’s sister Michelle and her husband Dan

It was great to go ride somewhere new and different but it was definitely harder than I’m used to! Much steeper trails and single-tracks with lots of rocks and stumps. Although I’m definitely getting better at riding, I still need to keep up with it an get in ridding-shape. Oh, and I also need to invest in some toe-clips, as is evidence by this beauty:

Photo c/o my Blackberry, that would be my mutilated shin, resting on Eric’s dashboard (elevation is good or swelling) on the ride home. It wasn’t a huge spill or anything, I just lost my footing on the pedal after hitting a bump and the pedal came back at my shin going full-speed. It was one of those gross ones that immediately bled, swelled, and bruised. I didn’t let it stop us from riding but it definitely was tender, and clearly not very pretty.

In general, I’m a girl who has gotten her fair share of scares, bumps, and bruises over the years. I was always skinning knees (shins, elbows, etc) and bruising or injuring in some way as a child. My Pepere (grandfather) used to always cheer me up as he bandaged me by saying “no one will see this on your wedding day.” At this point it laugh it off when I get another gross injury and think of that :).

10-k Challenge update:

I am pretty much right on schedule with my training. I opted out of my rest day on Friday for Jillian Michael’s Yoga Meltdown dvd. It felt good to use some of the yoga muscles that haven’t been used in a while and I was definitely sweaty and sore afterward. My workout for Saturday was supposed to be a 3 mile run but I traded it out for an hour long hike with Eric. Today’s workout was supposed to be 30 minutes easy run and I traded that for the hour long trail ride (probably much more intense than the run). Although I don’t want to skip out on all the runs, I am just trying to make sure I get in a bit of fitness every day. Tomorrow is my other rest day and I am totally taking that as my leg and body probably need it. Tuesday will be my next running day and I am looking forward to a wonderful morning run (my fav kind) on my day off before the heat gets up to the 90’s.

Have a great night everyone, enjoy the Emmy’s if you’re watching them, and I’ll catch up with you soon!!

-Em