183 days to go ... I'm back!!!!

I text confirmed with Erika last night, silently hoping she would NOT be available for my first day back since before the holidays... no such luck. She was free as a bird!

I silently hoped that when my alarm went off at 5:45 am this morning that there would be a text from Erika saying she was too hung over to make it over to

the park... no such luck.

I was all layered up, complete with a set of thermal undershirt and pants and when I arrived at the park... it was still dark. I can't believe how many people were already there. I mean, not a TON, but there were people there.

First up, jogging. 2 times around the field. Blah. My heart was pounding by the first stretch, but I was treated to an amazingly beautiful sunrise in while running East. Fine, I'll take whatever beauty I can muster up at 6:30 am... just knowing the husband was warm in bed, snoring away and I... huffing and puffing!

It was an arms day! I'm officially on the pretty sunshine yellow 10 pound free weights. I'm gonna feel some muscles tomorrow!

I am contemplating bringing my new little camera that i got for Christmas to the work outs. I mean, who doesn't enjoy my drawings, but my talents with a pencil only go so far!

I borrowed this photo from my friend Jodi's facebook wall today... this is what I was running with... pretty amazing!

Hike up Fryman Canyon

My buddy Andrea invited me on a hike on Saturday. It ended up being perfect cause Erika has other plans, so my normal Saturday workout was postponed.

We went to Fryman Canyon which... is the first place pretty much that I ever hiked in California. I went with my friend Shannon, YEARS ago. And is a really great relaxing not TOO hard, not TOO easy hike. Likes of greenery. Lots of puppies on leashes. And at the end, you travel down a road which I am told houses both Teri Hatcher and George Clooney (the only man I would leave my husband for).

While Andrea and I were at a nice incline, our hearts pumping... something happened that made our heart pump 1000x hider... we came upon a RATTLESNAKE!

He/she was tinyish. And only partially on the well traveled dirt path. I could see its rattle sitting in the grass. This was only the second time that I've seen a snake in the wild while on a hike. It was a first for Andrea. I grabbed on to her to stop her from moving, but only freaked her out more as she jumped in the direction of the slithery guy!

We jumped to the other side of the path, alerting the pair of friends who were just a couple feet away from us with their dog of our findings. We scurried away, certainly taking notice of our elevated heart rate. But I really enjoyed spending some much needed Girly Talk time with Andrea, AND breaking a sweat. Especially since it was a GORGEOUS day in Los Angeles.

"I forgot to bring my rope"

So, I'm back in the swing of things knowing that at any moment life will throw me a curve ball and mess up my schedules and routines, but that's life.

I've been working 1 on 1 with Erika as our group has sadly disintegrated. I hate change. Tammy felt that Erika was not violent enough and started taking up krav maga where she boasts "I learned how to break a dude's thumb last night."

Kazeem has opted to spend his freer time with his kids... lame. :)

And then there was me. Which is FINE, except Erika has nothing else to look at but MY struggling face in pain which leaves me feeling VERY self-conscious. I'm working on learning how to not care :)

Never trust a girl who starts off a session with "I forgot to bring my rope". She improvised and used her jacket... which could have used a stretch, and got one.

She wrapped the sweatshirt around my waist and told me to run as fast as I could... while she held me back with her own straight and friction from the rug! It was really to witness. Thankfully... no one was there to witness.

AHHHHH,

I had to cancel my Saturday workout due to getting home the night before at 3:30am! I feel like I'm never gonna back on track and its very frustrating.

On top of this all, my lower back has been killing me! And I'm a person who very seldom would get back pains, so this is really not fun!

Its been very rainy in Southern California, and as nice as it is to cuddle up with a book and eat fall themed soup, its NOT fun to wanna take a run (like I'd ever do that) or do a hike... which I need to start doing.

But I have my gym clothes with me this week, so I can try to bust in 30 minutes of cardio at lunch time. Or 20...

day ???

So, last night was a bust. Erika had to work late. So sadly, I merrily skipped home and had dinner with the husband at 8 pm.

But remember those headlamps that I bought for the little trek up Half Dome? Here is another great use for them!

This is Brian reading his book in the bunk above the driver's seat in the RV we just rented to visit Yellowstone NP and Grand Teton.

PS. these headlamps are NOTHING compared to those that the miners are sporting below in Chile. Maybe I'll write 33 on mine in support of their story!

Day...

YAY!

Got my workout clothes with me! Ready to go! Tonight is re-start!

The interesting twist of this evening, is the inclusion of my high boss to the group. Gonna be interesting!

Day...

Ok. I'm back. No more vacations in the horizon. Back to work. And back to training.

I don't wanna say that in my absence, I have been sitting on my butt, but I was not working a regimented work out schedule.

I did do a few cool hikes. Nothing HUGE. But its a start in my eyes.

My first hike was really only about 3/4 mile round trip... but to give myself some credit, it was in Death Valley in near 97 degree temperatures. I can't believe how much water I consumed in just a short amount of time!

One difference I can see is that my recovery time is really fast. My heart still races the minute I even look at a hill, but after a few short breaths, I'm ready to continue up.

This is the Natural Bridge at Death Valley.