Hike Happy

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After the realization that we have neglected to hike much this year outside of St. Ed’s, we decided to hit the trails a little harder this week. The day after Lake 22 I was really feeling the hike in in my legs so I knew it was a good idea to keep on climbing the hills! We managed to get a hike in to a local beach, one more at St. Ed’s, and then the clouds opened up and dumped on us for the first time since I don’t know when as we were headed to a hike in Redmond. Despite the rain, I decided I was still going running on Friday until I saw lightening touch down in the ravine behind my neighbor’s house… That kind of curbed the idea of a run and I ended up getting my mileage in on my treadmill! The same for Saturday- I was able to squeeze in 20 minutes, but I made those brief minutes count by running them consistent and, for me, hard- I did almost two miles at 5MPH/10 minute miles with a little walking for warm up and cool down.
Our goal for the rest of August and September, while the sun shines, is to hike as much as possible whenever we can. I really wanted to hike Rattlesnake Ridge/Ledge, whichever one. I also would like to explore up north in Skagit and Whatcom counties. When we lived up there I was quite heavy and missed out on many hikes I would have liked to go on.
As far as official events go, I have a few things coming up this fall. On September 13th I’m running the Beat the Blerch 10K in Carnation so I’m busy training for that. I can easily do the mileage, but I want it to feel practiced and like a breeze. Isn’t it funny how I can do it, which is an accomplishment in itself, but now I want to do it better? Silly.
On October 3rd I think I’m double booking two events. First will be the Celebrate Schools 5K that contributes it’s money directly back to my school and district, depending on how many people run it. The more people who run representing Oak Heights Elementary, the more money we will get directly for our school! I’m hoping to really promote it this year and get a lot of people involved (hint hint)!!!
Later that day I’m hoping to be one of the inaugural stair climbers at the Base to Space climb up the Space Needle. This is the first year they are opening it to the general public so it seems like something fun to have on my resume of activities. I will have to raise $250 for cancer research in addition to the $100 entry fee, but in light of the plethora people I know who have been diagnosed with horrible, disgusting cancers in the last two years, as well as those who have been fighting even longer, I think it’s more than appropriate. So Dawnelle, Gary, Curtis, Genevieve, Brad, Johnny, Lawrence, Cynthia and the rest of the fighters and survivors, this one will be for you.
(I will post the link for anyone to donate to my climb once I am officially registered- I’m waiting to make sure I can do both of the events, timing wise, and I thank you in advance if you can support me in any capacity.)

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I had to share this super simple and yummy, healthy recipe that I got from Gigi’s 4th grade teacher in exchange for the few minutes I spent painting on the school mural- an excellent deal. It’s called ‘Creamy Cherry Tomato Sauce’ and all you do is roast a batch of cherry tomatoes with a little garlic powder, onion powder, salt and a small amount of olive oil at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until the tomatoes look wrinkly. Put them in a blender, bullet or use a hand blender like I did, purée it, add some basil, then season it to taste. We ate it over tortellini with sides of Caesar salad, garden salad, fresh green beans, pan seared carrots and more garlic bread than anyone should have access to. We had a small dinner party, obviously… Lol! I thought, however, that this would be really good with the vegetini spiralizer that spins zucchini into pasta, and if you garden, at this time of year you have more cherry tomatoes and zucchini than you know what to do with. Enjoy!
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Lastly, I want to draw your attention to a new favorite blogger named Skinny Meg at www.skinnymeg.com. She’s another warrior who has lost over 100 pounds, but her focus is mostly on muscle build and fitness now. I don’t find too many weightloss bloggers who stick with it for long periods of time. Weightloss is tricky and has so much shame attached that when we fall, we fall hard. If you have a blog and fall off the wagon, I guess the blogs just disappear along with the writer. Meg has droves of journals that go pretty deep into her past, lots of info and I just got all inspired by her! I’m particularly interested in her leg/hip/butt workouts… So check her out if you need more weightloss/fitness blogging goodness!
This is her, rocking the single leg workout! I have a lot to learn from this lady!!!!

One Comment

  1. I love this post for so many reasons! I will also be doing the Beat the Blerch next month…I totally forgot that they’ll be shipping all that stuff soon!

    And for sure post a link for Base to Space, that’s a great undertaking and an amazing cause!

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