This past week has been super busy and filled with lots of things.

So let’s back it up and start with some things I may have already covered in other posts but who can remember all that nonsense.

Monday M and I went for a 14.1 mile bike ride, then to pick strawberries and have lunch at Ekert’s, then home to make strawberry jelly, because strawberry jelly is awesome. I think I covered all of this in my last post, so sorry for boring you with already given details.

Tuesday evening I broke out my new trail shoes, which I got for trail running (thanks Captain Obvious) and hiking. I head to Indian Camp Creek and did 2.5 miles on one of the trails there. They have tons of inter-connected trails that are sometimes just a tiny little dirt strip in the middle of a huge field, so following them is an adventure. I had to cross a creek (twice) and I saw a snake that was about to cross right in front of me on the trail! It was only a garter snake, but still startled me when it turned around and high-tailed it back into the tall grass.

Wednesday night I was supposed to swim, but didn’t. I forgot to bring a suit with me and once I got home I didn’t feel like leaving again to drive anywhere, so I was lame in that aspect.

Thursday I had two miles on the schedule and decided to try out a new trail that has just been completed in the last year or so. I don’t know that it will be a regular route for me, because it has very little shade and it was kind of boring as far as scenery goes. Also, my Garmin decided to quit keeping track of my mileage with .27 miles to go, so that was annoying. Luckily I was able to fix it in Garmin Connect afterwards, so my splits corrected themselves and my pace adjusted for the right amount. But still, WTF?

Friday was a scheduled rest day and I did rest indeed. Saturday I woke up and it was just rainy and crappy for the better part of the day. I started cleaning the house up a bit and got most of the living room pick up but then M and I ran some errands and things kind of just fell apart there after. I did make homemade mozzarella cheese sticks that were pretty tasty, so a win there.

The rain did let up enough for me to get my four miles I had scheduled in. In a shocking move, I actually really pushed myself over the course of the run and came in with some really nice splits and surprised myself with some of my times actually. I’ve been playing it pretty safe with most of my runs and I was a little surprised by the fact that I held such a fast (for me) pace for the run. Especially considering the hills that I run up on the course I had chosen. Towards the end of the run I was definitely feeling the push and effort, but I am really happy with how it went.

Sunday I spent the whole day adventuring. I started things of with my first ever stand-up paddle boarding lesson. It was a little on the chilly side, but I have been wanting to try this for forever now, so I toughed it out. I fell in once, and then I fell on my board once. But it was a blast, and now I am thinking I need to invest in a paddle board. Because I have all the room needed to store one of those!

After paddling, I grabbed some lunch, went to my parents to throw my clothes in the dryer since I had no time to drive all the way home and change, and then headed to my painting class I had signed up for. I did a portrait of my lab, Cody. It turned out really nice and the class was tons of fun. I highly recommend doing one of these classes because they are so relaxing! Anybody can do them and walk away with a nice painting.

Then it was home, change, and rush off to a birthday party for our friend’s little boy. It was still a little chilly, but it wasn’t too bad. There was good food and everyone seemed like they had a nice time.

This week I’ve been a bit of a bum and also trying to catch up on all the things I didn’t get accomplished the past two weekends. So nothing too exciting will be happening around the house until this weekend, I’m sure.