Weekly Rundown–again

So life got in the way again. Imagine that.

I made it about three-quarters of the way through Yoga Month in September before it all fell apart.

Wasn’t Yoga Month supposed to relax me?

Fortunately, nothing large or tragic got in the way, just the everyday busyness of life. So we are getting back on track. I am happy to say that I am a wee bit more flexible after the yoga; and all the resting up I did for my knees in September has worked in that I am running more comfortably. Shorter, slower distances, but running!

I am going to try a Yoga month again–probably AFTER the holidays. And I will challenge everyone to do the Yoga month with me, so get ready!

Monday: Usually I take Monday off, but I hadn’t run since Friday and my weekend seemed pretty easy.  So I did  a morning run on the treadmill of  2 miles  in 19:27. And went off to my day at work feeling motivated. Which was good as it was one of our busiest days in weeks.

Tuesday: off but with 12 minutes of yoga to stretch out after work.

Wednesday: 20 minutes of yoga with weights, 2×15 reps. I love mixing my weights with yoga. I stretch out first, then do a rep–a mix of three arm and two leg movements–with a plank (typical and with a single arm on each side) in between before starting the next rep. And finish off with several  yoga stretches after.

Thursday: A slightly easier morning treadmill session with a 5 minute warm up, 9 minute mile and 1 minute cool down before heading off to work. To  a day that equaled Monday in its busyness.

Friday: Dropped car off for an oil change, then walked home with Daisy, taking a side trip  down the backside of Blinn hill to increase the distance (and add some serious hill work). We did 2.97 miles in 55 minutes, followed by 9 minutes of yoga stretch–for me. Daisy lay on the couch watching.

Saturday: I ran back down to get the car from the mechanic’s, going a bit past to get more distance since the run felt good. Managed  2.70 in 29 minutes. Since it was mostly downhill (except for the first mile, which is about 80% uphill), it seemed pretty easy. And the trip back up over the hill in the car, that was the easiest return trip I’ve had. Quickest too!  Then I took an afternoon ride on Charby, wandering around the back field for 20 minutes. Deciding a saddle might be a bit cold after sitting the barn, I put on the bareback pad and still posted during the trotting. OOOOh, my thighs! But great leg workout.

Sunday: I took Daisy out for a walk. We did  2.7 miles in 43:25, with two sub-16 minute miles. That little doggie sure can trot along. If it wasn’t for the sniffing, she would be a great running partner.  I took Christopher Robin out for a ride in the afternoon. We ended up in the back field by ourselves, since Charby came in and hung out at the barn even we went back out.  We had a few moments when he thought he needed to go in to see her, but he agreed with me when I insisted we were fine by ourselves. He really is a good pony 🙂

Walk for Hope

The hospital where I work has an annual 5K walk for Cancer. I seem to have missed it for the last two years, I want to do it, but then it happens and….I didn’t. This year, I got organized early and  joined a team– Butterflies for Hope. It was started by one of the lab technicians that is a survivor.  Over a thousand other people stood with us on the starting line.

It wasn’t a great day (rained all the way back from the halfway point), but it was marvelous. Everyone was in a great mood, and the air practically pulsed with good vibes. I had a wonderful time with my co-workers on my team, and saw many familiar faces.

I may have stopped for a few good pics 😛  Fall in Maine is a wonderful time, with color even on gray days.  The walk was along the  Kennebec Rail Trail, which gave quite a few opportunities for pictures.

Wings were in evidence everywhere! I particularly liked the rainbow wings. I hadn’t realized that every cancer has a specific color for their ribbon, being most familiar with Pink for Breast Cancer and simply Purple for Cancer itself.

Not only was a  ribbon provided for each, the bibs had room for each person to write who they were walking for, whether it was for themselves or (and) a family member.  And our CEO not only made the expected speech before the walk, he drove one of the carts for survivors who wanted to participate  but could not make the full walk.  I thought that was pretty cool.

A glimpse across the river  to Fort Western

It was a large crowd with pink  in abundance in clothing, hair and beards; puppies everywhere (with pink bandanas and tutus); and children bouncing around with footballs and high spirits.