100 miles! ~ {April 29th to June 6th}

I know I just posted it, but this picture makes me insanely happy! : ) 

Below are my miles these last five weeks - just because I'm so happy about them and want to remember. : )  And this is my (very loosey goosey) plan for the next sixteen. All (sweet) feedback welcome!

June: weekday runs a minimum of 3 miles at least twice and weekend long runs minimum of 4.
July: weekday runs a minimum of 4 miles at least twice, weekend runs 5, 5.5, 6, and 6.5
August: weekday runs a minimum of 4, 4.5 miles at least twice, weekend runs 7, 7.5, 8, 9
September: weekday runs 4.5 and 5 miles at least twice, weekend runs 10, 11, 12
September 25th: 13.1

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Northlake with the kids 2 mi
One of my favourite runs ever. The sun came out and all three of us ran the whole way (to the bridge/waterfall) and back. It was a dream come true to run with my kids like that!

North Lake with the family 5 mi
The kids ran with Dad and played by the waterfall - I walked almost to the end of the trail. Absolutely gorgeous afternoon. Sunny, crisp, beautiful. Refreshing.

My Favourite Forest Trail 2 mi
I haven't been able to map our forest trail yet - but I am guessing it was about 2/2.5. I got out just before it started raining hard. Ran the last leg home (nothing like the high school line-up to inspire that!) I'm slowly getting my legs back, one day at a time, after six weeks of bad migraines. This morning was a victory and a day determiner for me. I'm thankful.

North Lake Trail with kids and my husband 3 mi
It was Sissy's first walk since surgery - we were seeing if we could do the 5K on Saturday. She did great. We just went slow and steady. Weather is grey and drizzly.

Haggen to Haggen 5K 3 mi
It was pouring rain. The kind of pouring where your shoes squish and your pant legs stick cold and soggy to your goose-bumpy legs. And my girl was under general anesthesia only three days ago and has a newly casted arm. And still she wanted to do this 5K even if we walked. So we did. And we came home to hot baths and a sense of accomplishment.

Columbia Neigbourhood 3.5 mi
Ran with my running girls for the first time. Probably about 2.5 run with a couple walking miles, too. I need to get my watch programed to time it. It was not raining and flowers and trees are blooming everywhere. One massive lilac bush we passed was incredible. I was hitting nausea by 30 min and definitely need to build up some stamina after a hard last couple months. That was discouraging - but being out there was wonderful!

Cornwall Park 3 mi
Ran with friends and it was such a beautiful run. The trees, the morning light, the meadow, all the smells of flowers we passed... it was why I run. I felt a lot stronger today in spite of an epic migraine yesterday. I was scared to run after that and instead it felt restorative. We are purposefully not timing or measuring our runs - so everything is an estimate.

My Forest Trail and Neighbourhood 4.5 mi
Wet, soaked, rainy, pretty forest, met a friend at 5:30am & did it. : )

Hillsdale Hill Loop 4.1 mi
Was hard to want to get up after yucky dental work yesterday and feeling sore ITBs after yoga last night. But it was a gorgeous sunrise already at 5:30am. May be our last clear day for a while and I wanted to be in it. Such pretty lake views, too, from the top of the hill. It was more walking than running today but it was beautiful.

Yoga Class
First time I did a yoga class at this studio with friends. It was wonderful, intuitively led, safe, encouraging, refreshing. Definitely exposed my tight areas I need to work on (breathing, hips, etc) but it was such a gift to go to it. Loved it.

Padden Lake 2.6 mi
First weekly run with Saturday morning running friends. Ran the hills much stronger than I expected. Wonderful company and beautiful light on the lake. It felt great!

Northlake Trail 6.2 mi
Oh my word the lake was gorgeous. It was glassy and misty and rainy and so, so pretty and worth it to get out there. Walked with a great friend. Tight muscles but so wonderful to walk in the rain forest.

Through Cornwall Park and Neighbourhood3.5 mi
The rainbows of garden flowers that we keep passing by are making up for the wet and grey skies. Walked (one wasn't feeling so good to run) with two friends through lots of pink confetti from cherry blossoms. It can feel hard to get out there every morning at 5:30, but it's always beautifully worth it.

Down Eldridge 2.5 mi
Sweating at 5:30am with good friends and no rain. I'm still smiling.

Trails in Cornwall Park 3 mi
Ran up hills and through mud with amazing ladies. I think it's the longest we have run together yet without stopping/walking - it was BEAUTIFUL. Sunshine, amazing light in the trees, chilly and feeling strong. My ITB has been twinging on my right leg and also my knee on left leg - so that's why we ran all trails today. Hoping yoga tonight and stretching today will ease some of that out.
(FWIW: We don't really calculate time. I keep an eye on it, but my commitment on these runs is just to enjoy. It's so good for me! : ) )

Yin Yoga
Loved some of the deep and lengthy poses. Butterfly, pigeon and alternate hemisphere breathing were my favourite tonight.

Padden Loop 2.6 mi
Mist was coming up off the lake as the sun was rising. And my friends both said it choked them up, too. It was that beautiful. ITB (or TFL, or both) are feeling better post-yoga/stick rolling and arnica oil. Friends + Beauty + Running may equal the secret to life. : )

Intuitive Flow Yoga
Migraine during class that got bad. But it was markedly improved afterwards. The class was pretty rough b/c of that, though. No regrets and still feel well-stretched out.

Lake Padden 3 mi
This was my hardest run in two weeks. Too little sleep & calories and I felt it. But the happy thought is we definitely were running faster and that was okay with my body. It was lack-of-sleep tiredness, not pace - so I am choosing to be encouraged by that. Otherwise it would discourage me.

Cornwall Trails 2.5 mi
I love the girls I run with.

Cornwall Park 3.5 mi
Did two figure eight loops through the park - so more of the hills. It felt so good to sweat a bit harder this morning. So thankful for friends to run with. It makes ALL the difference.

Cornwall Park 4 mi
Walked the second loop with the group this morning. Beautiful ladies to be with at 5:30 every morning and a gorgeous, gorgeous sunrise today before I left the house. Definitely feelings the planks I did last night today... so funny. I did such weeny ones. : ) So our group goal is one minute planks every night before bed.

North Lake Trail 6.5 mi
After a crazy night of kid vomiting and being up most of the night I was just proud of myself for still getting out there. But it felt like my reward for doing the mama clean-up during the night. And it was gorgeous. Misty, light rain, on the water, ferns, multiple fish splashing out of the lake and we even found a freshly cracked open robin's egg on the trail. My favourite colour blue. So grateful for my running girlfriends.

Padden Lake 5.2 mi
Ran with a new running buddy joining us (hi Rachel! : ) ) - and then walked the second loop. Heavy legs but it felt great as always to run by the lake.

Galbraith Mountain 3.5 mi
You know you have amazing running buddies when one even comes to babysit for me on a holiday so I can go trail running with my husband. Most beautiful view and trails I've run locally. It was incredible! We had so much fun.

Cornwall Park 4 mi
Ran two loops through the park with the girls. I think our hills are having an impact - we definitely picked up the speed today and it felt great. Saw the beautiful sunrise and orange light in the trees again. Some days I go the whole rest of the day thinking of that beauty.

One Cornwall Loop 2 mi
This has been a bit of a stressful week and I am still feeling the trail run soreness from running on the switch-backs. So I feel a bit sluggish - but I did it today. Have a lot of miles coming up this weekend so tomorrow I am doing another rest day.

North Lake Trail 6.2 mi
I knew at 5 am when I read online that there was fog on the ocean that we'd probably have beautiful mist on the lake - what I didn't know is that when I was driving up to it the whole thing would look like a watercolour painting. I started welling up it was so beautiful. It was the first run this year without a fleece to start with and it was gorgeous, gorgeous gorgeous by the time we ended with the sun filtering through the forest. Longest miles we've run with the running girls, too, without walking (we walked the last mile today.) So beautiful, so encouraging.

Girls on the Run Race 3.1 mi
300+ girls all cheering each other on as they run the out and back trail course. For every mile they ran they got a necklace of beads, everyone's race bib was #1 and all the girls were cheered as they finished and given medals. The spirit of these races always make me cry - but having my daughter run it, on the first hot day, with a cast, yeah, it was a tearjerker. One of my running buddies came and ran it with my daughter and I and that meant the world to me, too. She was surrounded by amazing women runners cheering for her beautiful heart. Epic.

Rosario 3 mi
We hiked out to Rosario Point with friends - bald eagles, seals, whale watching boats and brilliant sunshine. The kids played in the (freezing) ocean, climbed manzanita trees and we all loved the views at the top of the bluffs of the Olympic mountain range and San Juan islands. It was gorgeous. We were all pooped and crashed in bed at 10pm - and it was still light outside.

Cornwall Loop and a bit 2.5 mi
Beautiful run with still clear skies (three days in a row of that is making us all insanely joyful) - a little stiff from hiking, a bit dehydrated and less sleep (and drank 50 oz of water post-run!) but ready to start adding more mileage to my weekday runs. Only two more weeks of teaching school until summer break. Yay. : )