Catching up

Have you ever had those workouts where you work really hard and push yourself to finish even though it totally sucks and you do it and you should feel really good, but afterward you just want to go home and crochet a blanket for your mother-in-law?

I realize I've been really bad at blogging lately, for no other reason than that I'm busy, and it's a lame excuse. And I'm sorry. So today will be a comprehensive post of stuff I meant to write to you about.

Yesterday, I went to the gym and did a speed workout on the treadmill. It totally sucked. Then I did some strength training on my arms, because a strong upper body is supposed to make your body process oxygen more efficiently and therefore run better. As an added bonus, my arms, shoulders and back will be more shapely and less squishy when I wear my most beautiful new dress to Jen B's wedding at the end of this month.

This past weekend I went on a 7.5-mile hike with Jen A and Toby around St. Mary's Lake.

It was a good hike, but my body was completely exhausted from it (and last Thursday's run, gardening all day Friday, and doing standing lunges on Wednesday until I couldn't lift myself up anymore because I was talking to my mom and had lost count). That's why I didn't go on my long run Sunday. It was a good day for hiking, and apparently a good day for snakes to be out on the trail as well. We saw two: a little green snake which scared the living daylights out of Jen when she nearly stepped on it, and a bigger black snake which I thought at first, from a distance, was a bicycle tire (although Jen hadn't seen it at all until I pointed it out).

Then, on Wednesday, I went on a 4-mile walk with Mom because the weather was so nice. We saw a bunny who kindly let me take his picture.