Hiking - not just for the summer

I went hiking with my brother, sister and brother-in-law the other day. It was great! I thought it odd that my brother has been going hiking in the winter, what with the snow and temperatures in the 30s, but he's leaving for Missouri in about 6 months and wants to get his fill of the mountains before then. I agreed to go, but wasn't too thrilled about traipsing through the snow. It was President's day and most of us didn't have work, so we decided to go on a snow hike. We got started and it wasn't too long before I realized why people do such a thing. It was beautiful! It was a clear day and with the snow covered mountains, it was a great sight. Here's what it looked like. And even though the three of us weren't too excited about going, I think we would all say we would go with Jeff again on one of these great hikes.

Running in the rain/snow

I went running on Saturday. I wasn't too thrilled about the idea. My brother had texted me in the morning and asked if I wanted to go with him. I turned him down because he is much faster than I am and I knew I would just slow him down. I told him I'd go later. Well, I got all ready and looked outside. It was raining. I'm not a fan of running in the rain/snow. But I knew my brother had just gone and I couldn't not go and have that hanging over my head. I finally talked myself into going and braving the elements. He told me of a new route I should take. The first thing I said to him was, "it's uphill the first half of that route!" He said, "Yeah, but on the way back is great, you'll love it. Running in the rain is great!" I decided to change up my usual route and go for the uphill. I'm not a fan of hills. They kick my trash. So, I walked for a bit on the hills. And it was raining. Then it started to snow a little. I saw cars drive past me and they were probably thinking "that girl's crazy." Because, that's what I think when I see people running in weather like that. And now I'm one of them. I made my 5.5 mile route in just under an hour. Not ideal, but I'll take it, since my training hasn't been up to par this time around. And I have to say, it wasn't so bad running in the rain. I actually quite liked it. Maybe it was the fact that not many other runners were out, so I had the road to myself, but it was a good run.

Swimming

I realized I didn't do much blogging about my training for my first triathlon last year. And since my second one is in 3 months and I just went swimming for the first time today....I thought I'd write about it. That's right, I signed up for this triathlon in December and just went swimming for the first time. I'm screwed. The bike and run I'm not so worried about, but the swim....Oh the swim! I am not the best swimmer. Don't get me wrong, I can swim, I just don't have very good technique. So, really, I should have been training since the moment I signed up for this thing. I talked myself into swimming today since the winds were 25-28mph and that didn't seem too enticing to run in.

I got to the pool and got in. It was at that moment I realized just how in trouble I was, looking to the end of the pool and knowing it was going to be pure torture. I got to the end of the pool and I was already winded. And this isn't an olympic sized pool, so it was only 25 meters that I'd gone. I got through 450 meters and it sucked! Literally. I was trying to work on my technique today and ended up sucking water. Needless to say, that didn't last too long. I fell back into my awful swimming technique. And my sister can attest to it, it's not pretty. She wasn't there to laugh at me today because she couldn't sign up for this one with me. I could blame my lack of training on the fact that I haven't had my swimming buddy with me, but that's not true. I just haven't gone. And it's really sad when the little old ladies are passing you in the pool. Yeah, I'm that girl. The one that gets passed by the geriatrics with their paddle boards. Awesome. The swim is going to kill me!

I'm a runner

This is the perspective of my family when some of us start talking about running. This is pretty much what my family and coworkers thought when I told them I had signed up for my first marathon last year.

Reality check

I went running with my sister this morning. It has been about two months since I've done any running. It was a reality check. I found out just how not ready I am for my upcoming races. My first half marathon for the year is next month. Next month! I'm so not ready. Then I have another half marathon in April and my triathlon in May. Don't even get me started on the training for that because I haven't even been swimming yet. It's awful. I'm so far behind. It's depressing. But I went out today, so that's a start.