Rain

O.K. So, now another post in the same day....
Maybe I should call it "Disappointment" as I feel so disappointed about the rain. Don't get me wrong, I love the rain, really, I do. I also know how badly we need every drop we can get! Here's the thing, we are scheduled to run three times a week, Mon or Tues (whichever works better on a certain week), Thurs, with our running group, and Sat with our group. So, on Monday there was no rain, it's April and here in So. Cal, one does not even consider rain a possibility in April! Anyway we decided the schedule would work better if we ran on Tuesday. Tuesday came and with it the rain! ARGH!! So, we adapted; quite honestly I was coming down with a sore throat and Mike's thigh muscle was still slightly sore, so we though it best anyway. Wednesday (no rain) we decided to run an "easier" than normal run since we would be running the next day. Now, we are at Thursday afternoon, and it is raining!! Disappointed? Yes!

Guess I will have to pray and hope for no rain on Sat!!!

Patience is a virtue....



Post Script:
As it turns out, I am just a big whiner! Two hours after I posted this blog, the sky was bright blue, the sun was shining, the ground was almost dry, and it was warmer than it has been in days! Too funny! Anyway, I DID get to run, alone though, on account of Mike's injury needing more rest. This time when I ran alone, I did not count. I just ran till I was tired and then walked for about 40 steps (well, I guess I did a little counting =))! That was much more fun than the first time alone with only counting to think about! =D

Sacramento

Sacramento

As I have been investigating and learning about my newly adopted runners world, I have noticed that so many runners run in races. Let's see, there are 5K's, 8K's, Half Marathon's, Marathon's, Ultras and Relay's. I am sure there are more that I have left out or not learned about yet. Many runners travel to different cities, states and countries to participate in these runs. It seems that they are always having so much fun and adventure!

Well...this past weekend I had my first opportunity to run in a different city! "What?" you say, "are you in shape enough so soon to join a race?" Sadly to say, "Of course I am not, silly!"

However, Mike and I were up in Sacramento for a marriage conference this weekend and we woke up before dawn (5:30am) to run the grounds of our state capital! Our time constraints only allowed for a half-hour run, but, boy was it worth it! It was absolutely beautiful!

When we arrived at the Capital building it was actually still dark, the dawn was just arriving with the soft glow of the sun. Many birds serenaded us as we ran. Beautiful flowers colored our path and majestic old trees lead the way. At one point a glorious aroma filled the air! My untrained nose thought "Orange Blossoms", but no orange blossoms were in sight. Maybe it was cherry blossoms, I may never know. Whatever it was from, it was very welcome to me!

We ran through the rose garden (pictured), and up the Capital steps Rocky style. Every one who has been there is laughing, I know, but you got to take what life gives you! =)

It was very quiet, just us, the birds, a few cars, a couple maintenance men, and a couple "walkers". I certainly call my first (oh, another first!) run in a different city a great success! =D

Firsts

Yesterday I ran alone. That was a first. I have always run with Mike, Alyssa, or with members of our running group, not yesterday though, it ended up just me. I must say that I really did not like it very much. I had to do way too much counting! We have not yet acquired our GPS contraption that, evidently every runner needs, that calculates miles, steps, time, and beeps when you Pre-set a determined time or pattern of times, therefore we must count steps. Mike has calculated approximately how many steps we run per minute and we time our run-walk-run pattern accordingly. All that to say, Mike is the one who is calculating and counting...not me. I just run and let him do the counting! Well, if I am alone, then I must count to keep on track, not fun, pretty boring. Wow, I appreciate Mike's counting a whole lot more now!

I have discovered that as I engage in this running adventure, I am encountering many "firsts". There is the "first" Saturday in January that Mike and I woke up at the ridiculous-for-a -Saturday hour of 5:45am to run with our "Beginning Steps" running group. Then there's the "first" time I realized I really didn't have any appropriate running clothes, and as soon as possible bought my "first" running duds. Then there is the "first time" we ran two miles, and then the "first" time we ran three! Then there's the "first" time we joined the "real' running group(not the beginner group)to attempt running part of their 7 mile run, they left us in the dust as we are still very slow!!. Then there's the "first" time I tried running in a wilderness trail and getting my shoes and socks really dirty. Then there's the "first" time last Thursday we took a trail with the regular running group and ran to the dam and back, our furthest to date, 3.4 miles!! I have bought and read my "first" book on running. And humbly I will admit the "first" time (and hopefully the last!) that I tripped over a rock and fell! How embarrassing, I scraped up my knees and hands...I do not remember it hurting that much when I fell as a child! I am enjoying all these "firsts", well except for the fall, and am looking forward to the many more "firsts" to come!

My friend Skip, is the official photographer of our running group, and also the one who invited us to join the beginner's group, has photographed us along these past weeks. He has agreed to let me use his photo's on my blog! Thanks, Skip! So, hopefully in the next week, I will have photo's to show you many of these"firsts" that have happened along the way!

The Begining

I never thought I would be one to blog, and yet, here I go! My husband and friends are all blogging so, I thought I would join them. I informed my husband of this new venture for me last night and he asked what my blog would be about. Hmmm, it is supposed to be about something? Oh, that kinda puts a wrench in things, what to do? I began to search my brain for ideas, then I found the one! I will blog about my adventure of becoming a runner.

Yes, I have recently become a runner. Actually, my husband Mike and I began "running" with a beginners group about 10 weeks ago! I say"running" because, well, our lungs could handle very little actual running at first, and still we huff and puff quite a bit. So, I say "running" as a very loose term. We really are starting with a walk-run type of training.

So, I will blog about this adventurous part of my journey to becoming a healthier person. I have already learned much about my new sport, however, I have only read one book about it so far. My running adventure is already changing my ideas about long term health, nutrition, and benefits of a runners lifestyle. I am fascinated about learning how our bodies work and respond to how we treat them, hopefully I won't bore you with that! See, when I turned 40, (5 yrs ago) I decided that I was going to live to be 100, a healthy 100yrs. So, this new running life-style I am adopting is all part of that long term, live to be 100 plan...so, here I go!