Mid-Week Mini Vacay

Work has been slow, to say the least.  And while I fully admit just a few short weeks ago I was complaining about how swamped I was, I am now complaining about the lack of work :)  I'm fickle like that :)  I'm also fickle with the weather, since one day it's cold and windy and rainy, and the next, like yesterday, was just...beautiful. *sigh*

Yesterday I decided to take the day off and hang with the hubbs.  His schedule is also quite flexible and after a quick meeting in the morning, he was left to spend the whole day with me - a mini vacation on a Wednesday!  So, since the weather was just beautiful yesterday we decided to take a trail run in the area that I will be running my trail race on the 23rd.  The course description says difficult in many spots, and Ari was able to confirm this as he often rides his mountain bike through there.  I was excited through to get out and switch up the mundaneness of my runs.  Since there have been  few attacks on women joggers on the Bay Area lately, I have been sticking to my busy road (yes, the one where I got hit!) and I'm tired of it.  So the chance to run on a trail, with the hubbs, could not be passed up!

We left a little later than I would have liked, almost 11, and with the temps predicted to hit near the mid 70's I was a little worried about being out in the noon time heat.  It's amazing too, since we have had SO MUCH rain here this season that the grasses are already turning brown! Boo!  Most of the trail is a single trail, with parts of it hitting a fire road.  There are a ton of steep climbs, one even was 0.4 up!  They were challenging but a great workout!  I can't believe this was in my backyard all these years and I never knew it! 

Ari riding ahead of me

I think we were the only ones out there, too!  I ran a total of just over 5 miles and that was about all I could handle.  It was getting warm and the terrain was difficult.  I am just hoping that since the race starts early I won't have the heat to deal with.  I also made my first outdoor "pit stop" while we were out there - Beth, you would be proud of me :)  My advice, find a nice little stream to take care of business!

5 miles 49:17  9:51/mi pace - I was actually quite surprised I was able to keep a sub 10:00 pace with all the steep climbs.  This is going to be great practice for Lake Tahoe, too!

The rest of the day was spent just takin' care of business.  It's amazing how much more you can accomplish with errands and stuff during the week than on the weekend!  The grocery store is dead at 1pm on a Wednesday!  Perfect for me since I absolutely loathe grocery shopping.  Over all, a really nice day spent with the hubbs and pooch!  If ever possible, take a Wednesday off from work - it's so nice to break the week up that way!!!

In other running news, I have been keeping my runs in the lower mileage since I have a tight glute right now.  I don't want to aggravate it too much so the lower miles, along with lots of foam rolling seem to be helping.  I want to do a med-long run this weekend so we'll see what I can fit in.  Sunday I am going to go and cheer on Tara and possibly Kristen as they tackle a Sprint Triathlon on Sunday!!!  I'm so impressed by these ladies :)

Hope your week is going by fast - tomorrow is FRIDAY!  Whoo hoo!

Happy Thursday and Happy Running peeps!