Walking, Running, Riding, and Restoring

I always try to find the good in things.  So, in the midst of all the stress with the things going on in my life lately, I've found increased motivation to get out to walk, run, and ride my bike.  Lots of good ways to restore my sanity, relieve some stress, and get healthy as a result.  A win, win, win!  

I always carry my cell phone with me.  And, being the picture taking fool that I am, a lot of pictures get taken along the way.  Here are a few from the past few weeks.  They're all from Instagram....that's why they have black frames on them.

My walking partner, Salsa...

We love going to the Santa Plateau in our local hills.  It's a beautiful place!  And, it's a great place to ride a mountain bike...

It's also a great place to go for a walk or hike.  Gorgeous!

I think I could sit on one of these benches all day!

There are seasonal pools of water there.  They call them "vernal pools".  They're currently looking quite beautiful!  I love the walkway that goes over them.  Sometimes they're filled with fairy shrimp, tadpoles, tiny frogs, and little snakes.  I love it when the pools are there!

My husband and I were mountain biking there last week and came around the corner and saw a pig!  It was out for a hike with it's family.  It seemed very happy.  It would stop to nibble some grass and then look up to see they were ahead and start running to catch up while it grunted softly.  Funny and cute!  I have to say....I've never seen that before!

It was about 70 degrees and sunny that day.  Beautiful!

I love all the big, old, oak trees up there!

I was up early yesterday morning.  I opened the blinds in our living room and the sun was streaming in.  Penelope was soaking it up and looked like she was meditating.  Good job, Penelope!  A good reminder of something I need to do more of....stop, close my eyes, take some deep breaths, and meditate!

Colorful Run

I ran on a path this morning that I hadn't been on in a while.

There were some colorful and pretty surprises along the way...

There were newly planted flowers along several blocks of the pathway.

Taking photos slowed my pace time way down but it was so worth it.

They were all so pretty!  It was an extra nice start to my day.

Happy Thursday!

Ruffly Workout Reward

Remember the incentives I gave myself a few weeks ago to get back into a regular exercise routine?

The first reward was an exercise top for meeting my first week challenge.

For meeting my challenge the second week, I bought this pullover...

I couldn't resist the adorable ruffles on the front sides and on the back...

The sleeves are nice and long...just the way I like.  The back is a bit longer than the front.

That's really nice too.  And, it goes with my new exercise top!

Those challenges and rewards were a great way to get me going!

I didn't reward myself with anything this past week.  It felt so great just to meet my
challenges for three weeks in a row!  I ran/walked over 35 miles in those first three weeks.

My daughter came home from college over the weekend to teach music lessons and we went
for a trail run on Sunday to add a little extra fun to our workout routine.  It was great!

I'm on week four now and have two of my five day minimum workouts done!

I'm running more and more and walking less.  I give myself at least one longer distance day each week.  And, I'm hoping to bring my average pace time down.  My incentive now is a 5K in March!

Oh, yeah.....and, I still try to go to the gym at least twice a week with my hubby to lift weights.
Trying hard to keep it up!    Yeeeha!  :-D