Hiking, running and very little cooking

The title pretty much sums up my last week. I couldn't even remember if I cooked at all last week! It really had to think hard. Then I remembered I made a bunch of dinners in a row at the end of last week. Four to be exact. And I had enough leftovers I haven't cooked since last Monday! We made homemade pizzas one night which turned out really well. I'm trying different dough each time I make them to see which is easiest and tastes the best. I loved putting my own toppings on. We each made our own personal pizza so we could put what we wanted on it. Then I made Sloppy Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. They were a hit. We didn't go through as much meat as we usually do so we were able to have leftovers quite a few days. I made a sloppy joe quesadilla one night that was AMAZING! I never realized sloppy joe meat was so versatile. But I'm just started liking it again. When I was pregnant with Leah I got so sick to my stomach making sloppy joes and I haven't been able to eat them since. I think the ones I made when I was pregnant were very tomato-y. Which you'd think I would like since I love tomatoes but I guess I don't like really tomato-y sloppy joes.

I made a couple other things but I can't remember what they were now. Good but nothing great.

So last Friday Kim took me away for our anniversary. He had it all planned and I didn't even know where we were going when we left. All I knew was we were bringing our cameras so I was happy. We ended up going to Antelope Island. It amazing! I loved every minute of it. Even the minutes when I was freezing cold after the sun went down. I loved those too. :-) I took some great pictures that I can't wait to share and had a great time with my wonderful husband. I kept thinking how wonderful he was; putting together all of this, hoping I would like it And I did. We had so much fun. We tried to get up and to the next morning for some sunrise shots but it was cloudy as could be. So we went back to the hotel, ate all the free breakfast we could and then took a 2 hour nap. It was GREAT! Just want we needed.

I loved when I was hiking around that I didn't feel winded or tired when we hiked. I did later that night and the next morning but while I was lugging around my 40 lb camera bag I was OK. I was hiking up the mountain fine...and I loved that! It made me feel so good. Made getting up at 4:40 am 5 days a week worth it.

Today was a good day too. Not as great as taking amazing photos and seeing a bison for the first time in real life up close...but still good.

Today was the day Brenna and I decided to run down Suncrest Mountain. It was a 5 mile run pretty much all downhill. Brenna wanted to try doing some downhill since she doesn't have a ton where she runs. We both start training soon so we figured this would be fun to try. It really was fun. I still like to run alone but it was nice to have someone there-even if we didn't talk to each other. I have to have music on when I run. I HATE the sound of myself breathing! It reminds me how hard running actually is! But it was nice to have her there. Time went really fast. And at the end, that last mile, I really wanted to stop. I wanted to walk. But Brenna seemed to be doing great and was still running so I figured I'd just continue on until she said she wanted to walk. She never said that and we got down to the very bottom of the road and stopped at the crosswalk (we'd parked across the street). We'd run the whole thing. Brenna said later she'd wanted to stop but I seemed to be doing well and seemed to want to continue so she figured she'd continue. Funny huh. If either of us had said something the other would have stopped. But since we weren't talking we just ran. Which I guess was good since we ended up making it all the way down the mountain.

It was a beautiful view some of the way (some of it was right next to mountains so you couldn't see anything).

It was kind of cold but before we were halfway down I was taking off my first layer. My gloves lasted a little while longer but ended up coming off too. Brenna was impressed I could take off my sweatshirt and wrap it around my waist while I was running. :-) I do it pretty much every week I run. I hate to get too hot when I run. Makes things very uncomfortable I don't like being too cold either but this morning was perfect. Perfect weather, perfect run, perfect everything. The pace was good, there was a wide sidewalk most of the way down, not windy, not too many cars...It was a great run.

I'm a little sore in my hips but I haven't done that much of a downhill in awhile. Plus I was just hiking around Friday so that might have helped with the soreness today. All in all it was great. I felt great the whole time and had to map it again with my car mileage tracker because it went by so quick. 5 miles. We did it in just under 50 minutes which I love. My miles are getting faster.

I signed up today for the American Fork Canyon Half Marathon on June 21st. Brenna is signing up tonight too. I'm excited. Now this one only has about 7-8 miles downhill, the rest is most flat with a little uphill. So I need to make sure I train like that. My last one was almost all downhill so this will be different. But I'm excited. I know I can do it which makes it more enjoyable.

Can you believe I'm use the words fun, enjoyable and love combined with running!?

I told Brenna when I was hiking on Antelope Island I slipped. My first thought was "I can't fall and hurt myself. I have a big run Monday."

Her reply: "You know you're a runner when..."

he, he, he
I'm a runner.