fitness | 365 Days Handmade

August 10, 2015
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Day 221/365: The Day We Ran 8 Miles and Then Drove 160 More

Today was a long but productive day. We got up at 6 AM because our half marathon training schedule called for an 8-mile run. After we got home, we had just enough time to take showers and eat breakfast before making the 80-mile drive to the Stub Hub Center in Carson, where we had tickets to see the L.A. Galaxy play the Seattle Sounders at 1 PM. It was a packed game and a lot of fun, but it also meant a lot of time being in the car and waiting in lines. Now we’re back in Ventura and I could easily go to bed, even though it’s only a few minutes past 8.

Hope your weekend was a fun one, too!

I took this photo a few seconds right before L.A. scored their first goal. (Check out that packed stadium!) Go, Galaxy!

July 31, 2015
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Day 211/365: First Day of No Sugary Goodness

The Ventura Half Marathon is a little over six weeks away, and I have to start getting serious about the diet part of my half marathon training. Up until now, I’ve been letting myself eat candy bars and chocolate-covered marshmallow cookies and key lime pie. Two days ago, as I was huffing and puffing my way through mile two of a fifty-minute training run, I told myself that I had to cut sugar out of my diet. And then I told that self that I would, after the last of the key lime pie was gone.

So now the entire pie has been eaten, and there are no more cookies or desserts in the refrigerator. Today I refrained from buying a Snickers Almond candy bar from the vending machine at work (although I caved and bought one yesterday; it was delicious), and I didn’t ask my co-worker if I could have a handful from his Costco-sized bag of fun-size candy bars (from which he’d been supplying me all last week). I’m going to count today as my first day of no sugary junk food and see if I can hold out for at least 30 days.

Goodbye, pie. Sigh.

July 8, 2015
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Day 188/365: Week 6 of Half Marathon Training

I got home from work–10 hours of what is my Monday after a 3-day weekend–and I was fully prepared to camp out on the couch for the rest of the evening. But, nooooo. Sean said, “We have to run today.”

“Can’t today be a rest day?” I asked.

“No,” Sean said, “because tomorrow is supposed to be the rest day.”

Drat. He was going to be disciplined and stick to the half marathon training plan that I’d printed out and stuck to the refrigerator door.

So I changed into my running clothes and put on my running shoes, and we went out for a forty-minute run, according to schedule. I spent the first half hour alternating between being mad at my husband and trying to distract myself from the various aches and pains that were developing along my hamstrings and shins and the arches of my feet. I spent the last ten minutes focused on just getting home and putting this run behind me.

Just as it is with every long run that I complete, by the time I got home, I felt pretty good about what I’d accomplished, and I was back to liking my husband again. Especially since he’d made puttanesca while I was at work, and we would be able to sit down to eat in a matter of minutes.

I didn’t take any photos of our dinner, but here is one from our 4th of July breakfast that Sean made. My contribution was the handmade quilted placemats and handmade napkins.

Even though he won’t let me slack off the training schedule, he does make the best breakfast.

May 27, 2015
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Day 146/365: Red Hots Sock #1, Done

Today at work, I was telling my buddy the lieutenant about the Summer 2015 Run Streak. “Yesterday was the first day,” I said. “I ran one mile in 11 minutes and 11 seconds. That was the first time I did any running since last November.”

“Eleven minutes to do a mile?” he said with apparent surprise. “That’s all it takes?” He seemed to be under the impression that finishing a mile in eleven minutes was a pretty quick feat– like practically no time at all.

“Thanks,” I told him. “I’m glad you think so. Because in a few months, I’m going to have to do 13 of those in a row.”

May 26, 2015
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Day 145/365: That Time of the Year Again

Last year, I committed to participating in the Runner’s World Summer 2014 Run Streak, in which I ran a mile a day for 41 days. The Run Streak began on Memorial Day and ended on the Fourth of July. By that time, I was inspired to sign up for a half marathon. I chose the Big Sur Half Marathon at Monterey Bay scheduled in November. A few weeks later, I learned that Ventura would also be hosting a half marathon in September, so I signed up for that, too. Naturally, I had Sean commit to running both events with me.

I ran cross country in high school over twenty-five years ago, so I needed to brush up on my knowledge of race training. I did my research and read a ton of articles and books on running a half marathon. I put together a training plan and (mostly) stuck to it. I don’t know exactly how many miles I covered during the training period, but I can tell you that it was plenty.

The last time I ran serious distance was on November 16, when Sean and I completed 13.1 miles in a little over two and a half hours at the Big Sur Half Marathon at Monterey Bay. After that, I pretty much stopped running. I put away my running shoes and took a very long break, up until today, Memorial Day 2015, which marks the first day of another summer run streak and the beginning of a new half marathon training plan. We’re already signed up for this year’s events in both Ventura and Monterey Bay, so it’s time to get serious.

Anyone care to join me?

May 10, 2015
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Day 129/365: A Good Day to Hike and Eat

Spooner’s Cove at Montana de Oro State Park, Los Osos

Today was all about eating and getting some exercise in between meals. First, Sean cooked a breakfast of home fries with my favorite over-medium eggs. Then my friend Roberta came over and picked me up. We had plans to go hiking up the Valencia Peak Trail at Montaña de Oro State Park in Los Osos. Altogether, we hiked a little over four miles, but the view along the way was beautiful.

Spooner’s Cove now looking quite distant…

…and even farther away…

And finally we’re at the top! Off in the distance there is Morro Bay. You can hardly see Morro Rock because of the fog.

By the time Roberta dropped me back off at the house, Sean had been waiting for almost two and a half hours. It was well past lunchtime, and he was grumpy from hunger.

“Why didn’t you eat?” I asked, pulling off my hiking shoes and trying not to get trail dust everywhere.

“Because I didn’t know when you were coming back. I thought you’d be gone for only just an hour. And then when it got to be two hours, I didn’t want to start eating because I figured you’d be coming home soon and the first thing you’d want to do would be go out to eat.”

“Sorry,” I said. “Come on, let’s go out to eat. I’ll pay.”

“You better,” Sean said. Grumpily.

I drove us to Mama’s Meatball in San Luis Obispo. We ordered vegetarian sandwiches made with good homemade bread and fire-roasted vegetables including eggplant and peppers, with fresh mozzarella and basil.

I think the food made up for Sean’s wait.

April 21, 2015
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Day 110/365: Beautiful Day for a Hike

Today was my regular day off from work. I met my friend Roberta for a hike to another one of San Luis Obispo’s peaks. The last location we hiked was Madonna Peak, and I shared this photo that gave you a view of the prison in the distance. Roberta didn’t know the name of this peak that we hiked today, but across the valley, there to the left of the photo, you can see Madonna Peak that we hiked the last time. To the far right of the photo, you can see Highway 1 snaking its way out to Morro Bay. Follow that road and you’ll reach the ocean in about twenty minutes. Or our house with a view of the water. Either way, this is a really nice area to have access to both mountain peaks and the ocean.

It is also a good area to eat a huge fisherman’s platter at a dockside restaurant one day and then take a hike to burn off all those calories the next day.

March 22, 2015
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Day 80/365: The Day I Went and Took a Hike

Today my friend Roberta and I hiked to the top of Madonna Peak in San Luis Obispo. It was a good workout and something I need to do more. The neat thing about the view was that we could see the prison where I work. If you look in the upper center portion of the photo, you’ll see a line of light-colored buildings. That’s it. It looks small in the photo, but I promise you that’s it’s actually a fairly large facility. It is also not that close to the city as it appears to be.

The other thing I did today was finish my multi-colored pastel granny square. (Well, I didn’t really have a choice– I ran out of yarn.) It measures approximately 12″ by 12″, which doesn’t really amount to anything useful. I’m thinking of frogging the whole thing. Maybe I’ll make a hat.

March 10, 2015
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Day 68/365: Hike (Resting the Arm and Shoulder, but Not the Legs)

This morning I met my friend Roberta to go for a hike up the side of a large hill or small mountain, whichever way you want to look at it. If I didn’t have plans with Roberta to go for this hike today, I would have just sat on the couch all day with the TV on, eating potato chips and chocolate, and either knitting or crocheting and not leaving the house. I think I would be great at doing solitary confinement in prison.

Anyway, so Roberta and I hiked up this large hill/small mountain in Los Osos, and it was not easy, but it was a good workout. When we got to the top, we both pulled out our cell phones to take photos of the view of the Bay and of the fog rolling in over the water, but the sunlight was so bright that neither one of us really knew if we were capturing any good photos.

Luckily, I did take a good photo. It’s just showing up small here. Click to get a better view!

The funny thing about the hike was that when we reached the lookout point, we discovered that somebody had carried an old bench all the way up there. Having just barely clawed my way up to the top of that mountain, I couldn’t imagine how anyone could be that agile and fit as to carry an unwieldy 50+ lbs bench while navigating that steep hiking trail. That takes some commitment and dedication.

How’d that bench get all the way up there?

But I guess in the end, the view from the top makes it all worth it.

That’s the Morro Bay Rock in the center of the photo, underneath all that fog. And somewhere in the distance, across the Rock and also underneath that fog, is our house on a way smaller hill than this one.

365 Days Handmade

Making life a better place, one day at a time

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