Running

Thanks to a gift certificate I received for my birthday to the Running Room I was able to purchase some new running shoes.

As you may know from my previous blogs I have been focusing on adding daily exercise to my routine. I have to be careful of what exercises I do due to previous injuries I sustained in a car accident but lately I have really been missing the accomplishment and high you get from running. Years ago running used to be a huge part of my life. While in University I worked out anywhere from 1-3 hours daily. I loved the way it made me feel, how it made my body feel and how I looked.

When I added a full time job, having my first home, being a newlywed and pets in to the mix I found it harder to keep up. My gym dates became few and far between. Sometimes I would have the momentum to go, which would last a week or two and then I would just become too overwhelmed and it was the first thing I dropped.

While trying to strengthen my body post car accident I found running was just too much. It caused my neck and back to seize and I could barely put any weight on my knee. So I began walking instead and sticking to the recumbent bikes.

It is now almost 3 years later and although I have the same problem spots they are nowhere near as painful as they used to be. So I thought I would give it a shot. I enjoy walking with the dogs but I don't feel like it's a great workout - I need something to challenge me and make me sweat!

My husband has also been running for a few years now with our dogs and said he'd really like me to join him. He has been an amazing coach, pushing me to go that little bit further and encouraging me with praise when I hit or surpass my goals. When I have to stop short of my target he isn't mean or negative but still makes me feel great for what I have accomplished.

Right now my goal is to run four times a week along with my daily walks with the dogs. I love running with the dogs, they love to run themselves, and it feels great to have family time with them and my husband. We often run through the dog park as it's a safe area for the dogs and has lots of beautiful wooded trails for us to follow. On Friday I did so well that I beat my previous time by more than 10 minutes. Instead of heading home I asked my husband if we could run a few fields again!

Birthday Celebrations at the Cottage!

What an awesome birthday weekend I had! Being at the end of August, my birthday occasionally falls on the Labour Day long weekend so I decided to head up to the cottage to celebrate! My family joined me as well as my sister's friend and my best friend!

We had a beautiful weekend and took full advantage of the lake! My best friend and I even went out tubing a few times! This was probably due to the amount of margaritas we consumed!

My husband had to work all weekend so he had stayed home....but just before dinner time I turned around and he was there! Hubby had driven 2 1/2 hours just to see me on my birthday, bring me flowers, stay for dinner, go out for an evening boat ride and then drove the 2 1/2 hours home for work the next day! What an amazing guy!

This is the gorgeous bouquet my Husband brought me. I was so shocked when he showed up! There were some definite tears! 

 

The sky was absolutely incredible and I was able to give my sister's friend a tutorial on night photography. I'm not a professional but I have been playing around with star photography a bit and was really happy with how this one turned out! Love the clarity of the milky way and the fact that this is what we see every night at the cottage!

The next morning my Bestie and I got up bright and early to kayak around the lake. The lake we are on is so serene, it doesn't get a lot of traffic and is fairly small so our kayaks cut the water like glass. We loved touring around this one rocky area where the trees intertwined with the rocks and their roots continued in to the water.

In the early evening we enjoyed taking a round trip in my Uncle's newest toy - a pontoon! The sunsets on the lake were incredible!

And just because we could, one day we took the pontoon out to the middle of the lake and just jumped in! We had a blast swimming and even the dogs jumped in for some fun!

When it got dark, we started the bonfire and spent the rest of the night gathered around it. The perfect way to end the summer!