How I've missed you

I haven't been able to run since last Monday, when we ran the 10k.  One of my brothers has shin splits, so he's being really careful and letting them heal, and my other brother hasn't been feeling well.  Since it's not  good for me to go out and run by myself, that means no running for me!


Since last Monday I have biked a couple days, hiked\rock climbed, jump-roped for 40 minutes, and done core work.  But it's just not the same.  Those things are lots of fun, but even after doing them, I'm still itching for a run.

But today I was able to do a nice 2 miler! It was a gorgeous day, and it was exactly what I needed!  My calves are really sore from jump-roping for so long yesterday, so along with using the rolling pin on them, I'm hoping a little run will work out the kinks.

A post isn't complete without a sweaty post-workout picture! Heh heh.

Wait..or is it? 

Hope everyone's having a great week so far!

Ah, Friday

It's an absolutely beautiful morning here!  Hoping I can get out and have a great run this afternoon!

 As I blog! 

Wait, what was that you said? You're not really supposed to put up pictures of your towel turban?

I'm still super excited about the 10k I ran on Monday.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be at all, and I know that I can do it again soon.  It will, of course, be harder if it's really hot outside if I'm running in the early afternoon.  But once I've run a distance once, I know I'm perfectly capable of doing it, and then I run that distance more often!

The other day, I was craving a salad for lunch, but all we had in the lettuce department was some sad shreds of purple lettuce, and purple lettuce is definitely not my favorite.  This dilemma called for action!  

This is what I came up with:

- Some shreds of the purple lettuce

- Cold peas

- Cooked carrot

- A sliced baby potato

- Cooked peppers

- Some sliced pear 

It actually turned out really good! I love cold peas in any kind of salad.

Also, we don't have a foam roller, so I've been using this:

Yes, that's a rolling pin.

It feels really good, and has been working great! Along with my rolling pin and stretching, I'm good to go.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Some things happening at my house today are:  A Bible study with a neighbor, laundry, dishes, housecleaning, online college classes, and running.

Happy Friday!

Just do it

Hi everyone! Hope y'all have had a great weekend. 

I had a 4 miler scheduled for yesterday, so we got ready and headed out!  It started pouring rain just a little ways into our run.  Thankfully I has wearing a cap and sunglasses, so that really helped keep it out of my eyes!  I felt really great and strong, even though we were slogging through mud and little rivers flowing down the road (seriously).

As we were nearing our 4 mile mark, my brother Jacob said, "You know...we could always just run the 10k...".  

Me: "Yeah!"

So we decided to just do it go all the way!  It was still pouring rain, and the puddles kept getting bigger, but it still felt good, because that meant the sun wasn't beating down and making our mouths feel like cotton.

*A lake puddle covers the entire road at one point*

Me: "There's no way to get around this one.  *splash* Aw! Right when most of the water had squished out of my shoes!"

Unfortunately, my ipod decided to stop working about halfway through, and I slowed down alot while I was fiddling with it, trying to get it to work again.

Me: "Come back, don't die! What would I do without you - you're the only one I have! C'mon baby!"  (Yeah. It's alot harder for me to run without music...)

I finally just put it away, and adjusted to running without it, concentrating on getting back up to my speed. The Pod is working now, thankfully!

FINISHED! Excited to have done it without stopping or walking once!

Hmm...I wonder if there's any way to photoshop some mascara into this picture

The final time and distance!

Our shoes drying out in front of the fan!

 

Accent Vlog

Sooo...here's the accent vlog I made. *covers face with hands*  I almost chickened out and didn't post it, heh heh.


Aah!  Don't be too scared by that first frame.  Never mind - you can be.  I am!

Someone once told me they recognized my accent as from being from Iowa.  Wha?  I suppose maybe Iowans have weird nasally accents and have strange words for the TV remote like "Flipper" (That's supposed to be a movie about a dolphin...!). 


Thanks for watching!

Does anybody else think their own voice sounds weird when they hear it?

Eh...

I promise a new post is coming soon!  I had one all ready complete with an Accent Vlog but then something happened with my browser and {POOF!} it disappeared.  Soo...I'm going to have to make a new one and try again!

Happy Thursday!

Bath day

Today we gave our German Shepherds, Don and Axe (don't laugh, they were already named when we got them!) baths.  Ew.  Don's like one of those shag carpets that catch a bunch of dirt and other mysterious substances, and moves them so far into the rug that no matter how much you vacuum, you can never get out again.

"Oof.  That's cold."

"I did not ask for this!"

Panya kept busy by sniffing and barking at the other dogs, trying to figure what was going on

Axe wasn't impressed

Drip, drip, drip...

 "Are we almost done?"

This is what I felt like on my run today.  All my feeling great days caught up with me!

But running is still fun!

How was your workout today?

Do you have any pets? 

A great week

This has been a wonderful week!  I felt really good during my runs, and knew that I could go farther.  18 miles this week, yes!

For lunch we fixed biscuits, gravy, scrambled eggs, and hashbrowns, so nothing much for supper is happening.  It was heavier than I'm used to, even though I went light on it.  Super good, though!  I love biscuits and gravy.  And...hashbrowns...

My new favorite way to eat eggs is froached.  Yum, yum, yum!  Put the tiniest amount of butter in a pan, and cook the eggs just until the edges turn white, then add some water to finish them up!

Thanks so much to those of you who have followed and commented, it's been really encouraging to have people read! :)

And if any of you runners out there have any extra advice for someone trying to up their mileage, feel free to give it!

What did you do with your weekend?

Do you say "dinner" or "supper"?

 

I love Saturdays!

Aren't Saturdays the best?  Today we ran 3.6 miles, and I felt so, so good.  I could've done it again!  We only went once around our lap, though. 

My brothers get some good laughs, because after runs I get so incredibly cheerful and perky; I think everything is brilliant!  Apparently, I also say, "Wasn't that so much fun?!" about 50 times.  What can I say?

I'm also trying to eat better breakfasts and see if it makes a difference in my running.  I usually just have a piece of toast with some cinnamon sprinkled on it for breakfast...but that doesn't have much protein\nutrients in it, so this morning I had a yoghurt with raw oatmeal in it, and half a banana with some peanut butter.  I'm thinking about getting a peanut butter IV.....

Speaking of food, I had this for lunch the other day, and it was amazing!  

   Bean burger crumbled up on top of a salad. Yum.

 

 What are you going to do with your Saturday?

Running Route

Hey there!  Today was a cross training day, so my brother Luke and I took a bike ride, and I brought my camera along so I could take a few pictures of where we run!

The downhill towards the beginning of our route.  It turns into an uphill at the end of our run.  Just thought I'd make that clear!

 An uphill that I actually love.  It's not super long, so I really power up it.  I like to point and laugh at it after I've reached the top, heh heh.

 A little straightaway after the hill

 A purty downhill.  The dirt is really red here!

 This is the long uphill that used to seem to take forever to run up.  It's not that bad now!

 I didn't take any more pictures until we were headed back home.  Isn't it pretty?  It's the rainy season right, so things are lovely and green.  Eeh...I'm not really looking forward to the dry season when things get brown and scrubby...

My brothers, Jacob (left) and Luke (right).  

Me after a run.  I made sure to walk in the door and take it immediately so I could preserve the crazy hair, and puffy, red, running face!

 Panya.  *happy sigh*  My little Jack Russell.  If you didn't catch it before, Panya means "mouse" in Swahili.  She's grown a bit now, and is getting spots on her back.  Please stop me before I write an essay on how much I love this dog!

Oh hills, how you challenge me!

Today was a really great day.  Got some work done, and got a great run in!  My other brother, Luke, started running with us again, so we went back a week in the 10k training, so we're repeating week 3 for the second time.  

Today we ran 3.58 miles.  *Arrgh, my legs*  Oh for a slightly level place to run!  These hills and long grades are what try to take me down.  But, I kept going, and didn't stop or walk once!  After coming back and stretching a bit, my dad got home, and wanted to go biking, so we went out again.  That brought my daily mileage up to 5 miles!

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Deanna at Miles to Run suggested that I do a post on what brought us to Africa, and a little bit about my life.  I guess I should get around to putting up an "About" page, heh heh.  

My family and I are missionaries for the Church of Christ, working in Iringa, Tanzania, East Africa.  We've lived here for 4 years so far, and have a 5 year commitment, though we might end up living here for an extra year or so.  

My parents are originally from California, but we moved to Iowa when I was young, so I consider myself an Iowan.  It can be interesting when people ask us where we're from and they say, "California", and I say, "Iowa" at the same time!  Yeah, we never get weird looks from that...I'm sure people are overjoyed to hear the "account of my life story" explanation!

So that's pretty much it!  If you have any questions, just leave it in the comments section!

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I tried making bean burgers yesterday, and they were so good!  I liked them way better than normal meat patties.  I've never been a huge meat fan, anyway.  Instead of a bun, I put it in a homemade tortilla - yuuum!

Hope you all are having a wonderful week!