Commuter Style

I had the urge to ride my bike to work today! It's actually faster than driving since the whole place is under construction right now. They plan to close my entire parking lot next week so I figured I'd give this commuter thing a test run today. It's actually pretty awesome. What's not so awesome..the water is my building was turned off last night and they haven't figured out how to get it back on. Looks like I'll be using the neighbors potty today!

proof

big ol' mess

Last night I did my weekly trail run with the little Indian...in the 100 degree heat. I had told my buddy that we needed to take it nice and easy with minimal hills. It was just tooo hot to be doing a cray cray run. So we did the easy side then he wanted to add one of the big hills. Ugh...that run wore me out!!

this is what I run in when its 100 degrees

Everyone stay cool out there this weekend! Forecasting 107 for my neck of the woods. The boytoy and I plan is to spend majority of the time in the water! Pool here we come!

Vaca #2: the beach!

For vaca number 2, I went to Pensacola to visit a girlfriend and spent mucho time on the beach! She had just moved down a few days before so I went to help her explore her new home!

First thing was first...we went straight to the beach when I got there. It was dinner time so we had dinner outside with a view of the beach. Then the storm rolled in...we didn't get our walk in but did plenty of that later.

storm's a brewin'

Day 2 we hit the Pensacola lighthouse after a delightful morning run through a nearby neighborhood. Cute little lighthouse with 170something stairs. Fun fact - if you wear flip flops, you have to climb it barefoot. Chacos save the day again.

view from the first little window

spiral iron stairs all the way up

view from the top

I was terrified and it was raining, so we took a pic inside

After some well deserved beach time, we went out to McGuire's. This place was packed!! but they got us in fast and we enjoyed our dinners and beers. Definitely recommended if you are in Pensacola.

yummm

and we saw this on the way home...Krispy Kreme "nuts" with your coffee??

Day 3 was the local farmer's market, lots of beach time, running errands, and our "cab night". We found a few bars in the downtown area went straight to the Pensacola Bay Brewery. Super cool little brewery with tasty beer! The taster platter is huge and only $9. And you get a free glass. We split the taster so the bar tender (Carey) gave us 2 glasses! After PBB, we went to a bar that is outside and had a band playing. A wedding had just ended and the drinks just didn't compare. So back to PBB we went :) We made great friends with Carey, Simon, Kitty, and Chip. We later found out that these were all bar names (except Carey). We were dubbed Natasha - Tasha for short - and Svetlana - Lana for short. And these will always be our bar names. Simon and Kitty invited us to join them on the local side of the beach the next day so of course we agreed! And cabbed it home well after closing down the bar.

beach!

Pensacola Bay Brewery tasters

Day 4 moved a lottt slower!! Learned we aren't as young as we used to be! We went to the zoo to walk off the hangovers after some greasy drive-through. The zoo hurt big time and we had to stop in the shady areas for breaks. But it was totally worth it for the fun at PBB and to see the animals.

goat!

giraffe

momma peacock and her babies hangin out in middle of the zoo

When we left the zoo, we hit the local beach with Simon and Kitty. They were right where they said they would be! Got a tan and learned more about the area! Super cool kids. And we went to bed early that night :)

Day 5 we tried out a new spot for an early morning run. We found a park with a loop that is 1/3 of a mile near the bay and close to a cute neighborhood. We ran through the park and the cute houses. Then it was time to hit the road back to TN. I was sad to say goodbye to one of my best friends and my new love for the beach, but happy to get back to my boys.

And this is her cat, Yoda. Cutest freakin kitty. He played with anything that moved..esp the tags that hang over the side of a mug when I drank my morning tea. 

Yoda

The runs

UPdate: my official chip time was 26:55 and I was 6th in my age group! I'll take it!

No not that kind of "runs". I been trail runnin'. And 5k-in'. Before vaca #2, I went on my weekly trail run with the little Indian and finally remembered to bring my camera. We did somewhere around 3.5 miles in Concord Park.

JB with the dogs

Sit! Stay?

Stay here doggies

running with the pups

all 4 chasing the Indian 

This past Saturday morning was the Wounded Warrior 5k. It was hot and hilly! It sounds crazy, but they had 2 water stops on a 5k!! They were well prepared and I'm thankful! That last shot of water was much needed!

pre-race

after race..runs with monkeys?

Lions, tigers, and bears..oh my!

Warning..this is a long post with loads of pictures..don't say I didn't warn you.

So I've been MIA..partly because of boring things like work...but also because I went on not one, but TWO vacations!!

Vaca numero uno: backpacking in the woods with my boys! It was Joel and I's first time backpacking together and Ari's first time sleeping in the woods. And we all made it back alive.

We headed up to Citico Creek Wilderness Area early on Saturday morning, got lost on the way, and hit the trail just before noon.

hitting trail 105

This hike was wild...it went from normal woods, to crossing creeks, to swamp, to jungle, to rainforest, to fields. It was a 9+ mile hike straight up full of crazy terrain! It was toasty but nice and breezy. The temp told me I shouldn't bother bringing pants, so I hiked in my shorts. BAD decision! At probably mile 7ish, we hit at least a mile of non-stop brush. Not just brush, but brush with stickies and thorns! My legs were torn to shreds! 

section of swamp

pretty green woods

aftermath of brush. hard to see but the battle wounds are there! And yes, I've been informed that I am see through due to whiteness...it's a chronic disease

By the time we got through the worst, it opened back up into normal woodsy trail. We hit a crossroads at the top of a brutal climb and decided to go a bit further on a different trail to try to find an overlook. Success!! We found a stream on the way to re-load on water and then we saw it...the beautiful view!!

my boys' bootays

this sign says "closed to motor vehicles, motorized equipment, hang gliders, and bicycles" they are just lucky I forgot my hang-glider

view from our spot at the top!!

same view but this one looks artsy with our backpacks

random pic of me and the pooch..we are both sleepy/hungry

And we set up camp. 

our home for the night

view from the other side

Then we heard it! A FREAKIN BEAR! Joel and I looked at each other like "what the fu*k was that?!?"  I totally spazzed and flipped out. Joel calmly grabbed Ari and pulled us over to the opposite side of our campsite. He knows what to do with bears. He grabbed a couple of big sticks, puffed up, and walked towards the noise. Apparently black bears are pretty harmless unless the momma has cubs. You just have to make some noise and act big. So he banged the sticks and scoped out the rest of the surrounding area..such a brave man!  Ari and I waited for the ok and then resumed cooking dinner while Joel built a fire. I was scared shitless for the rest of the night. I later found out that this was a bear reserve. Someone...cough cough Joel...chose not to forgot to tell me.

It got reallllly chilly at night and the wind was howling!! Then it started to rain. We staked down the vestibules, backpacks under one side and Ari under the other.  Once he figured out that is where he was supposed to be and he had room to sleep/was a little warmer, the big guy passed out. And so did I! The rain was pretty persistent from about 4am until 10am. We finally got up and moving at 9ish. We managed to bring 1 rain jacket and 1 pack cover between the 2 of us. So I got the wet gear and worn the rain jacket and Joel took the dry gear/ pack cover and wore a hat...and my super thin smartwool shirt! Man looks good in a tight shirt! 

guyyssss...let me in!

no seriously 

We opted to hike down a different route that was supposedly a little shorter but was stream crossings the whole way down. It was awesome!! Didn't rain on us for very long and we were already wet so crossings was a breeze! I wasn't even trying to stay dry! And Ari LOVED it!!  

jungle on the way down

  

that's my purple shirt :)

our 1 rain jacket

waterfall!

and we found this little guy

a stream crossing/swimming hole for Ari

Done!! so we thought...still had about a mile out

We finally made it back, completely exhausted!!! I'm pretty sure Ari didn't move for 2 days after. Crazy trip but sooo awesome!

the aftermath

Teasers for what else I've been up to:

trail runs with dogs

BEACH!

National Running Day

Happy National Running Day..yesterday!

oh happy dog

Ari and I celebrated with a quick 3ish miler jog on one of the local greenways (it's one of my fav because there is an area I can illegally let Ari off the leash so he can drink/play in the water). With my new bangin' shoes!! New shoes really make a huge difference! My old ones didn't look bad at all but they were starting to hurt my legs. Got some new swanky shoes, and bam! No pain! Probably gonna end up getting another pair so I can alternate during marathon training. Now I just have to decide which color!

road bike fail and walk in the park

Monday night I went for a group road bike ride. This is what it looked like pre-ride and the radar showed zero clouds.

those look like clouds to me...

It actually ended up being really nice despite the clouds. The weather was pretty perfect and we didn't get rained on. Despite the ideal riding weather, I was moving very slow!! This ride is a 21ish mile no-drop (meaning no one gets left behind) ride that usually has enough people and skill levels to break into 3 groups. I tend to stick with the slowest and ride a very casual pace. Well Monday there weren't many other riders, so we broke into 2 groups, a faster and a slower. Except the slower was still a little faster than my quads wanted to go. After 3 days of legs, a 4th was pushing it on these gams. I got really discouraged right out of the gate and was not a happy camper. I was miss Judy Attitudey. I am not very competitive with others (unless I'm in dead last), but I am with myself. Again..not a happy camper. I was happy afterwards, when it was over, and I had food and a glass of wine in my hand :) 

So Tuesday I decided to give the legs a rest. But the pup needed some running..talk about energy. We went down to one of the local parks and threw the ball. Absolutely gorgeous day! 

this is one of the two neighborhoods I'd like to live in one day

There really weren't very many people out surprisingly! Typically this park is pretty packed on a nice day. I suspect most of them were drinking beer outside on a porch somewhere. 

happy dog!

We both needed that walk!!