Scenes from my run

One of the things I've done to keep myself accountable is join a running club. I would say that all in all I am not a 'joiner' so I may not keep it up past the one season, but it has definitely allowed me to find new places to run and keeps me running at times that I haven't necessarily wanted to.

The club is currently training for the Garden of the Gods 10 Miler. So, we've been training there for the past few weeks. It is really, really hilly, but pretty much one of the prettiest runs ever.

I took photos of some of the views on my drive home the other day and thought I would share.

My camera phone pictures definitely don't do it justice.

if you've never been here, I highly recommend visiting this beautiful, free and open to the public park. It is one of the best places to visit in the Springs.

Hopefully you have a pretty run planned this week. Happy running :)

A Typical Dog Park Excursion

Charlie loves the dog park. If I happen to say d-o-g-p-a-r-k out loud, he will literally pace back and forth in front of me until we get into the car.

Normally, we find a ball and throw it around and loop around the park for a bit. And then it happens... we come to the area of the park where the stream is and I say, no water this time Charlie.

This is always what happens anyway :)

Shredding It

Over the holiday season I found Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD for around $6 at Target and picked it up. In February, right around the time that I started my training I decided to give it a try, but I only lasted a record-setting one day! I think that my heart wasn't in it, but still... one day out of 30 does not bode well for traits like consistency and dedication.

Last week I decided to pick it up again and stick with it. Today is day 8 and I've only skipped one day (Sunday). Dan told me that Jillian would tell me, "No Excuses", but I feel like the 9 mile run I did that day was a good trade off.

I plan on doing 10 days on each of the three levels. Since each workout is about 25 minutes, I have been able to do one before I get to work each morning. Charlie gets really confused during the ab portions when I am down on the floor. It took me about 5 days to teach him not to come stand over me during those parts of the work out.

While I'm pretty sure that my abs won't be looking like Jillian's at the end of 30 days, I am getting better at doing push ups. What's most important to me though, is sticking with it for 30 days. Since consistency isn't really my thing, this is a good challenge to take on. Now I am off to Shred it!

Lucky Number 7

Seven years ago today, Dan and I had our first date.

I wasn't too sure of him at that point in time, but after a lot of persistence and quite a few dates, he ended up winning me over :)

I know that Dan looks at those days as pretty much the luckiest time of his life... right hun?

Looking back, it feels like forever ago and not very long ago all at the same time.

In seven years, we've moved across the country with each other, been through various jobs, bought our first home, done a million and five home improvement projects on said home, taken many a road trip through the plain states between Colorado and Michigan, traveled to exotic and not so exotic, but fun locales, seen plenty of concerts, attended too many weddings to count, and raised our pride and joy Charlie boy!

Not too bad for 7 years if I do say so myself!

In many respects, we are total opposites, but I think that is one of the main things that makes us such a good fit.

He reminds me pretty much all of the time to slow down and take things a bit less seriously.

And I can always count on him to have made coffee in the morning (a highly desirable trait in my book). 

He is hardworking and diligent...

a dedicated teacher and coach....

a creative spirit...

and my very best friend. (Even if getting a smile out of him for pictures can be a task.)

We make a great team,

and we're lucky to have each other.

Love you D.

Cheers to lucky number 7.

xo