Just Plodding Along

or when in Napa do what Napians do..... After the Ragnar relay my lovely in-laws swung by the finish line, scooped me up and took me to Napa for a much needed shower, a good nights sleep and then the next day it was time for some wine tasting!!! To avoid that whole drunk driving thing we went on a tour with Platypus Tours.  Platypus Tours designs a tour including four tastings at wineries of their choice and a picnic lunch. The first winery we went to was Whetstone and was by far my favorite. It was just so beautiful and the wines were amazing.   At each stop we were informed about the wine and the winery. It was fun to learn about the wineries and wine making but to be honest after the first tasting I was not much for paying attention. Cheap Date!  Our tour guide was awesome. Here she is holding the cheese tray, our snack between wineries. She also made us a delicious lunch and made sure we stayed hydrated so we could make it to all...

aka the time I ran will a bunch of other bloggers through wine country and loved it. This relay is my fourth and final relay of the year and I have to say this relay only confirmed that runners are awesome. Once again I jumped in a van with some people I knew and some strangers to run for 36ish straight hours and everyone ended up being awesome. I had a great time and made some great new friends that I wish I lived closer to cause I would make them run/hang with me all the time (they may be thanking their lucky stars that I reside a few states away, no really guys best friends for life, deal with it). Actually this relay I felt better during and after than I have on any of the other relays this year and I am not sure why...it could be that for days after I was in a wine haze touring Napa....that might have something to do with it. Fav tank from my friend Stacey- yes I will run for wine. Photo credit: Cat Sexy spandex clad leg credit: all mine I rolled into town last Thursday a...

Is there anything better? So much fun but having too much fun for a full recap yet. More to come on relay awesomeness. I do feel super excited about how the relay went and am looking forward to perhaps setting some big running goals for the future. I am also looking forward to some big wine drinking after touring Napa.

Sunday I wanted to do a long run and I decided that I should also get a t-shirt as a reward for doing this long run so I signed up for the Run Wild 9 miler in Castle Pines Colorado. Perfect distance and close to where I am staying. I have gotten kind of used to doing long runs with people so the thought of doing one by myself seemed daunting. Plus the past week was gadget free week and I was curious to do a 'race' without my gps watch or iPod. I was curious to how it would feel to not know what speed I was moving. So a measured course with a few strangers seemed like the best solution. I rolled up around 7 a.m. to grab my swag. The race didn't start until 8:30 so I kicked back in my car and napped for a bit. About a half hour to the start I wondered up to the start area and noticed that everyone around me looked super fit. That is the thing with doing races in Colorado....Coloradans are a bit of a different breed. Everyone looked like they had probably hiked a 14er...

Just going to throw it out there- Ragnar team You're the Wine that I Want is in need of two runners still for the Napa Valley Ragnar. If you are thinking that flying/ driving to San Fran last minute to run with some freakin awesome strangers, including myself, through wine country sounds like a blast we would love to have you! Relay starts this Friday. Must love sitting in vans, running at various parts of the day, laughing a lot, sing alongs, and talking about all kinds of random topics that pop-up during night legs. If you are at all interested please email me for further details- justploddingalong@gmail.com Wine people, WINE! https://www.ragnarrelay.com/race/napavalley

Funny how just running without worrying about time or distance in a beautiful setting can make you love running again. While I am a big fan of having goals and working towards them and pushing yourself to be faster, stronger, better, sometimes you just need to run and not worry about all the other stuff. This past week I did hill repeats, ran trails, ran roads and enjoyed them all. I don't really know how far I have run or how fast and that is okay. The important thing was I ran. Well maybe the important thing was that I wanted to run and was happy at the end of each run. And that is what I was looking for.

If you haven't read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running  by Haruki Murakami please do! I really liked this memoir. Based on the author's training journal while preparing for the New York City Marathon it is engaging with reflections on getting older and running, and running being more than a way to stay fit. It made me think my training journal with mileage, time, and for the past two months, constant whining about the heat could be taken up a notch with some lyrical prose. Favorite quotes: ...I don't think we should judge the value of our lives by how efficient they are (50). Running every day is a kind of lifeline for me, so I'm not going to lay off or quit because I'm busy. If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I'd never run again. I have only a few reasons to keep on running, and  a truckload of them to quit. All I can do is keep   those  few reasons  nicely polished (73). People sometimes sneer at those who run every ...

I need a goal so I don't get lazy. After the next relay the schedule is looking a bit empty in terms of running races.  Plus I need more medals. I just don't have enough.... Plus having races on the calender keeps me motivated to get out there and train. So I am on the hunt. I know I want to do the El Paso Half for sure in February. Maybe a 15K involving chocolate and friends also in February. Perhaps the Bataan Memorial Death March in March. Maybe a turkey trot in November. There is a holiday 8K in December. I think my new goal is to try to get a new PR in the half marathon so a sub 1:59. I also want to get better at trail running or really just do more trail running. I live near over 50 miles of trails...though they are pretty technical. Seems like the perfect opportunity to get stronger at trail running.  With that in mind my general training plan will include a day once a week or every ten days of speed work, one day a week a tempo run, an incr...

Since this weekend was a long weekend D and I decided to go on a mini vaca. Not wanting to spend hours in the car we picked Elephant Butte which is only about an hour and a half from where we live. It also took us right by Hatch which is the home of Sparky's which makes the best green chili burgers. What, do you all not base your vacations on food? Weird. After stopping in Hatch for lunch (and standing in line for like 45 min. this place is popular) we made our way to the Butte near Truth or Consequences. Since we don't own a boat or any other water craft our general plan was to hang out, maybe swim and hit the hot springs in town. When we checked in the office staff made it very clear that the cabins were rustic. That was not a great sign. The cabins were not horrible but they were a bit buggy. Like there was a spider in the bed. And we woke up to a large, drowned centipede (it drowned in the puddle from the air conditioner....cabins had air and a bathroom so not ...