Went running again this morning. Logged 4 miles this time. It felt good, real good. The best part about today’s run (well there were two good things) was that it was foggy the entire time. Not just a little fog-around-the-corner type of fog, but the I-can-barely-see-in-front-of-me kind. It was awesome. Not to mention, the fog was spraying me with mist every once in awhile, which was more than pleasant. It gave me flashbacks to when I lived in England. That was one of the most enjoyable things about living out there. I LOVE the thick fog that was out every morning and night; everything seemed so serene and perfect – ahhhh!

The second fantastic thing about my run was that I changed my route a little bit (see below):

Since I had a long run yesterday along the same route I’ve been going on I decided to change things up a bit. Instead of going north, I ran west – downhill!!!! It was easier on my psyche, but just as hard on my body because I had to control myself from the gravity. Still had the runner’s high afterwards-woohoo!!

This weekend I’m going up to Red River (talk about more serenity!) for our little family tradition. That’s funny, I sad “little” and “family” in the same sentence. My family is nothing but little. We rented only two rooms this year though because not everyone can make it. Last time I went up there it was with almost all my cousins and it was the day after Thanksgiving. It snowed while we were there ☺ I’m just expecting it to be cold this weekend.

I’m planning on running eight miles this Sunday up in the mountains. I’m also planning on huffing and puffing my way through it. Ha. I hope I’m just kidding about the huffing and puffing despite the increase in altitude – CAN’T WAIT TO RUN AT SEA LEVEL!!!!

FIVE

How far is five miles you ask? Well let me tell you. It's from the bottom of my driveway to Paseo Del Norte.


Can you believe that? I can't.

I also can't believe I was up before the sun was. That's just wrong on so many levels. People should not wake up before the sun wakes up. I have to say though, that the sunrise this morning was beyond spectacular. It was so amazing I'm tempted to figure out a way to run with my camera from now on. There were these huge storm clouds sprawling over the Sandias, and once the sun started creeping out it turned the clouds into a work of art. It started as a pale pink, then rose, hot pink, violet, lavender then a bright purple. I thought it was done after that and the clouds would turn gray, but instead they started turning gold, yellow, orange, copper. It was fantastic. Sadly though, I was running in the opposite direction of the view, so I had to keep turning around to see it.

I have a gripe about drivers in the morning, but I don't feel like ruining my morning by complaining about them. Long rant short, drivers need to remember what they learned in elementary school and look BOTH ways when they get to a stop. I haven't been hit yet, but I definitely get close enough to hit the car - only then do they realize some people actually run/walk/bike against the traffic. Silly people.

It's cloudy outside today - I love it. Fall is coming :)

My Heritage

I need better pictures of my parents and possibly a better baby pictures, although how do you get cuter than this:

Whirlwind Week

The reason for my absence in blogging can be described as a "long story short" tale.

My friend Kat flew in a week and a half ago from London. We basically played tourist around the Southwest for a week. It was a ton of fun. We spent a couple long, hot days in Las Vegas (didn't win any money, didn't see any movies stars, did drink a little and did have a lot of fun), traveled to see the Grand Canyon, followed by Petrified Forrest and the Painted Dessert in Arizona and then went to Northern New Mexico to check out everything in the Taos/Santa Fe area.

She also got to witness her first American Football game (complete with cheerleaders) and her first cockroach. We went up the tram and even made it to the NM State Fair. All in all it was a long, fun and somewhat educational 10 days!

I even managed to get my long runs in. What I didn't do was run during the week, and I definitely felt that during my 10-mile run on Sunday. It was hard. REALLY hard. My legs felt like lead and I felt like I weighed 1,000 pounds. I finished it and vowed to get all of my weekday runs in until the race and to keep up with drinking lots of water.

If anyone has any fundraising ideas, I'm all ears. I still need more. My deadline is October 1st.

me

Like: Wine, red grapes, white grapes, green grapes, craisins
Dislike: raisins

some things

I haven't blogged in awhile, just haven't really been in the mood honestly. Tonight feels like a decent time to write though. I had a busy/productive weekend. To spare the boring and lazy parts, I'll skip ahead to Sunday when I helped with the New Mexico Marathon. I was volunteering by being a "motivation station" for the runners. My mom, dad, brother and Emily all woke up WAY before the sun was awake and set up on the very north side of Tramway. Truth be told, I didn't even know Tramway goes the way it does (we were in between Sandia Casino and Country Line Restaurant - WAY OUT THERE!). Anyway, it was really fun to see runners smile because of the signs we had and the "woo hoos" we were giving!

I forgot...On Saturday I bought a new comforter from Kohl's during their fantagreat sale:

I really like it. A LOT. It's ridiculously comfortable and it makes me want to never get out of my bed. Oh! AND the bed frame is new, courtesy of someone from Craigslist who was giving it away for free. Also courtesy of my cousin Francisco for moving it for me!

On Labor Day (Monday) I decided to buy something I've had my eye on for awhile, an Exotic Retreat Bookcase from Target:


:) So, I bought it. Along with this 3-Shelf Bookcase in Espresso:


I spent 2 1/2 hours building this last one, and ended up hurting my lower back a little. BUT, I finished it! Here it is:

I'm really excited about it! The other bookcase is 6-feet tall and will most likely take more time to assemble, that and I don't have room for it in my bedroom, so I'll just wait awhile to put it up.

I also found out I can take a panoramic picture with my camera, so this is what happened when I did that:



Other than my big purchases, I haven't been doing much of anything. Just running. My fundraising has pretty much slowed way down these days. I still would like to get more. If anyone is interested in an Albuquerque the Magazine subscription, let me know - they are giving me $6 (half) of every subscription sold. They make good gifts!!!

Ok...time for sleep. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!