Ivy Creek Park with the Pups

Took the pups to Ivy Creek Park tonight for a little stroll around.

It was a lovely warm evening. Perfect for a walk!

Thought I'd share the few pictures I took on the way :-)

This is how you walk with two hound breeds. Noses to the ground!

Crossing the bridge. 

Pretty wooded paths.

Focus, guys! Focus! They insisted on snorting every single smell of every single person, plant, and animal that has ever been through here.

I recently learned that this is jewelweed. It's small but pretty and has a lovely citrus smell if you walk by enough of it.

Momentary pause where they lifted their faces from the ground. Well, sort of for Jill, she's always at ground level. 

Poor old Jill needed a break so we sat down on a bench in front of the lake to rest.

"Hey guys...hey! Come here, sit pretty for a picture."

"Look cute and stuff."

"Both of you look at me!"

"Oh for crying out loud." 

I took probably a dozen more trying to get one where they were both looking at me. It never happened. 

Oh well.

It was a nice evening and now they are thoroughly tired...even though it wasn't a very long walk! They're just old!

How do you enjoy the outdoors when the weather is nice?

Till next time,
Catherine

My first 5k - Rachael's Paws and Purrs

I did it! I did my very first 5k! 

Ok I definitely didn't run the whole thing, most people didn't...but I completed a 5k! 

Pre-race smile in the chilly morning. Still felt fairly confident at this point!

And we're off! Runners first, run/walker combos in the middle (that was us) and walkers in the back.

Speaking of walkers...who's excited for The Walking Dead to come back on in October?! This girl!

The course was on the Blackwater Creek Trail in downtown Lynchburg. It was a beautiful day with no humidity and cool temperatures on this gorgeous trail hiding just next to the busy downtown life.

"Quick, act like you're running hardcore!" 

The bridge over the water was so pretty! Here's another "action" shot. That's my husband and a friend of mine in the picture. 

We ran a handful of times but none of us were fully prepared to run the entire thing. We power walked the rest of the time. Most importantly we had a great time! It was so much fun and all the pups that came had a great time too. 

Most of the finishers waiting for the last walkers.

Giving out trophies and medals to human winners and dog winners! Not to mention they had great prizes for the raffle portion!

Here's us as we were leaving. I'd like to title this photo "We finished!" but I think "Look at this mondo bag of fruit we got!" fits better. They had tons of food leftover and just told us to take it...so we did! We've got enough bananas and apples to last a couple weeks! Runner up title: "Oh joy the sun is right in my eyes."

And I'll call this one "We did it! Now let's celebrate with some Chic-Fil-A."

Up next...the Ashland Berry Farm Pumpkin Run that benefits the Hanover Safe Place! Saturday, October 5th in Hanover, Virginia. Come join me!! 

I'm thinking to keep myself motivated and to have a new goal always ready, that signing up for one 5k a month might be a good idea. Or insane? I haven't decided yet. 

We're deciding on our November 5k now. It's between the Glowstick 5k on Sunday, November 3rd in Fredericksburg, Bottom to Tap 5k on Saturday, November 9th in Richmond or the Children of Our Hearts 5k on Saturday, November 9th in Lynchburg. 

I couldn't find any nearby 5ks for December, though. Too cold?

Tell me about your first 5k! If you've never done one, what's holding you back? If I can do it, so can you! Know of any good Richmond/central Virginia 5ks? What's the most fun 5k to do?

Till next time,

Catherine

Couch to 5k - Week 4

Yowza.

That's all I can really say about Week 4 of the Couch to 5k program.

Now to be totally honest, I'm not the most out of shape person but I'm definitely no athlete. I've always been overweight but have always been used to hard work. My teenage years (and then some) were spent throwing hay and scooping poop at the barn. So I can keep up with hard work.

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Running, though...is a different story.

And it always has been. I've always thought it was the coolest thing to be able to run but always relented to the fact that I "wasn't a born runner," "didn't have the drive to run," and "couldn't become a runner." This past couple of years I've become really determined to change that. Who says I should listen to those detrimental voices telling me "You can't do it."?! Not anymore. Even if takes me an entire year to be able to run a 5k, I'm committed this time.

Though I hope I can do it by my second 5k on October 5th! (A month from the date of this post.)

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Later this week I'll try and write a more in depth post about the Couch to 5k program and my experiences with it so far. But for now I wanted to publicly declare that running will NOT get the best of me and it will be one thing I conquer.

And if I can do it...so can you!!!

Let's encourage each other and reach our goals!

What's your favorite motivational quote? How do you push through eating healthy/working out when you plain old just don't feel like it? What are your weight loss/health goals? Share with us! 

Till next time,
Catherine

Spontaneous Weekend Visits

Can you believe it's July 1st? How in the world did June slip by so fast? 

That's ok...bring on the fall weather!!

This past weekend my mother-in-law and brother-in-law decided to come down for a spontaneous trip! We love having friends and family visit so we were super excited that they decided to come over!

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When we got official word they were on their way and after a trip to the grocery store, my husband and I went into a cleaning frenzy. He helped, though, really. Now I don't see this as a fault and I know my in-laws and friends won't think less of me if the house isn't spotless (who has time to keep a house 'spotless'?), but when people come over, it is a perfect excuse to clean the house in record time! Works like a charm. I'm a pretty organized and clean person, but the house always looks great seconds before guests arrive! 

They arrived late Friday evening and so we mostly talked and played games. I had to work Saturday morning so everyone else stayed up and hung out when I went to bed early like the old lady I am. Saturday afternoon we all went down to the Farmer's Market to sample and buy local, delicious goodies. We bought eggs and potatoes for a super late breakfast and even bought the most delicious goat cheese from Spring Mill Farm. Sun dried tomato goat cheese is my guilty pleasure...it is to die for!

After the Market and a delicious homemade breakfast (at 2pm?!) we relaxed for a bit but then decided we should go out and enjoy the day. The hot, hot day. We drove down to Peaks View Park and walked the trails and got some sun. It was really nice, but quite hot. We were ready for some AC after a few miles!

Even Kito got to come along! He had a blast!

Don't tell but we even stopped by DQ on the way back for smore's blizzards! 

Sunday we made poppyseed chicken (delicious...recipe post in the works!) and butter! Yes, we made our own butter! It's incredibly easy but I won't give it all away now. I'll try and have that in a post for you all this week! 

All in all in was a wonderful weekend. Can't wait to have them out again!

And to top it off, now that it's July...it's officially my birthday month! This is the first birthday in about 5 years now that the camp we always work isn't happening during my birthday! Not that we don't love working camp, but I'm so excited to actually get to celebrate my birthday this year! It's also my "quarter of a century" birthday as my husband likes to remind me, so we're thinking an awesome celebration is in order! I can hardly wait!

How was your weekend? Do anything fun or productive? What are some awesome birthday ideas? I'm up for cliche´ or unique ideas! 

Till next time,

Catherine