Busy Bees

We have just wrapped up a fun but tiring weekend.  Woo.

On Saturday morning, my running buddy and I woke up and ran 11 miles at 7am.  It took us almost exactly 1 hour and 50 minutes.  (Did you know that I ran 30 miles this week?)  That was our last long run before the half marathon.  We are totally ready.  After we ran, she and her boyfriend came over and I made us all Spanish baked eggs, then she and I went to the Saturday market and the fabric shop.  As always, it's great to have girlfriends, especially as finals approach. 

Saturday afternoon was a BBBS group day at a Capoeira (Brazilian martial arts) studio.  My LS had a great time.  I, on the other hand, felt like my legs were going to fall off.  We were there for two hours, and after running 11 miles, not so easy.  But my LS had a great time and it was awesome for her to be exposed to something new. 

After a few hours of martial arts, I picked up Trooper and took him to a park where our friends were playing kickball.  (We had a really summery, dry weekend.)  Trooper was def the MVP of the game.  Then we grilled and played games before I had to put the Legal Beagle to bed.

This morning was one of my fave 5ks: King Estate winery.  We (my girlfriend and I) left Eugene around 7:45 this morning and drove around 40 minutes out to the winery.  It was a really foggy morning, but by the end of our run, the sun broke the fog and the winery looked beautiful.  The terrain was really hilly and it's a great challenge of a course.  I even rewarded myself with a half a glass of wine at the end.

After we drove back to town and ran a few errands, I took Trooper Z. to the dog park.  The pollen has been really bad here and he's had about 3 days of really intense itching.  The poor pup itches and itches and itches.  I can hear him itching in the other room right now.  We are giving him 2 Zyrtec a day, 1 cyclosporine, and I gave him an oatmeal bath.  Poor poopers. 

And finally, I made a few tasty recipes tonight.  They were both great for a nearly 80 degree and sunny day in Eugene (yayyyyyy global climate change!)  Even the Legal Beagle said they were both fresh recipes.  I made a spicy Cuban mojo chicken with a side of cilantro lime rice.  I also fried a plantain on the side and daydreamed of going to Cuba.

Well, blog readers, my dogs are barking.   

Last Days of Winter

Tons of daffodils are blooming around Eugene.  These ones are from the grocery store, but they still bring a lot of sunshine to our kitchen.

Spring is transitioning in with weird Oregon weather.  Today it we have seen rain, snow, and sun throughout the day.  This past week was one of the rainiest of the season and was a rude reminder that it does, in fact, rain a lot in the Pacific Northwest.  Today we did fun things like wipe away mold and mildew from the walls, windows, etc. of our apartment. 

Yesterday was a nice St. Patty's Day.  After spin, I took my LS to a BBBS sports day.  Last week she was home as she had acquired head-foot-and-mouth disease (elementary schools are petri dishes) so she was really excited to go out with me this week.  And then it was friends and fun with the Legal Beagle, out at the bar, listening to bag pipes and drinking beer. 

This morning I woke up at 8am for a 4 mile run with my running buddy.  (This week was a recovery week, with only 15 miles total.  Next week we are back up and will end the week with 23 miles!!)  After we ran our gentlemen joined us for a lovely breakfast.  It was fun to have our workout and breakfast over before 10am.

After breakfast, my GF and I went to Target to buy seeds and supplies for gardening!  She has garden plots in her yard (the luxuries of a house!) and has invited me to share the space with her this year.  We picked up seeds for the following: basil, cilantro, peppers, peas, carrots, zucchini and we plan to get tomatoes, strawberries, and lettuce at a specialty store.  I'm looking forward to get back to gardening, as I haven't been able to since our sweet little garden plot in St. Charles. 

We Heart the Weekend

Life is always nicer on the weekend.  On Friday night, we ate Little Big Burger take out, drank IPAs, ate Girl Scout Cookies, and went to bed early.  I slept 10 hours.  (Sometimes on the weekends I sleep for 11 hours!) 
Saturdays have become my run around day.  I go to a Spin class every week (one of my cross training workouts).  After spin, I took our taxes to the UO campus where students will do your taxes for free.  Free but a three hour wait (ugh.)  But we ended the night on a fun note, having dinner at our friends' house and playing the Wii.
The Legal Beagle is spending most of the weekend studying away.  Before we know it, it will be spring break and then finals.  And then summer, when I get to see that guy even more!
This morning is my distance run.  7 miles today.  If you are a runner (or walker), a great resource for mapping your routes is the gmap pedometer.  There's an option to enter your weight and it will also tell you how many calories you burn.  I think we are going a total of 18 miles this week.  Next week is a little bit of a recovery week, so our Sunday run is only 4 miles.  The exciting news is that after today, we are 25% of the way through our training!  And it will be light out later.