love and be loved

I am at Benn's house today. We went to the track and went running. We did a 5k on the track and then he did hills. I did 2 hills but that was enough for me! Then we cooled down on the nature trail together, stretched and headed home.

Went to the track today in the rain with Benn. Stretched and ran for a while and Benn did some trail running. I was too afraid to slip so I stayed on the track. My head wasn't in the right frame of mind and needed to yake a quick 2 minute nreak after 2.5 miles break to get past it. Then returned to running and completed 4.51 miles. Did some mini stretching and did a 0.52 miles cool down walk. Met up with Benn to stretch and go home :)

Hung out at Benn's house and then convinced his brother, Jonny, to go to Saratoga with me. We planned to stop at Borders to visit Benn at work and then spend the time waiting for him to get out of work by walking down to Congress Park. I looked online for 4th of July events in Saratoga and read that there was supposed to be live music, car show, food, face painting.... It sounded like fun! So Jonny and I walked down to Congress park but it ended up being boring. It was kind of windy out and the live music consisted of a middle-aged woman's chorus that we could barely hear. The car show consisted of 3 or 4 cars, and the 2 Benn & Jerry's tents were looking desolate. So... we decided that, unfortunately, Borders was more exciting than this. We headed back up for Benn's last hour in the cafe where Jonny and I sat and talked and people watched. Finally when Benn was out of work, we drove to Spa Park, stretched, and ran 2 loops on a trail to total 3.5 miles. Stretced and then I hitched a ride with Benn to Pittsfield to bring me home and watch fireworks :)

Stretched and ran on the treadmill for 3.3 miles at 6.2mph and 2% incline (with the last 6 minutes of this phase at 7.0mph and 2% incline). Then did a short "cool down" of 0.3 miles at 4.2 to 4.7 mph. Then sped back up to run another 1.6 miles at 6.0mph and 2% incline. Went upstairs to set up for Skyler (he was sleeping over) and did stretches with him. When he settled down, I lifted free weights.

Got up early and my mom, Skyler, and I drove back home from my aunt's house in Harvard, MA (2.5 hours away). Benn was staying at my house so I met him and had to babysit until noon. Then Benn and I went hiking at Bash Bish Falls State Park. We tried a few trails for an estimated 4 miles and hung out at the beautiful waterfall. Afterward, we stopped at Flavours restaurant for dinner on the way home. We thought it sounded good because they serve Malasian cuisine and we had never been there before. We both got small salads with a fantastic ginger soy dressing and some bread. Benn ordered chicken satay skewers with peanut sauce and white/jasmine rice. I ordered grilled vegetables and tofu with brown rice. Everything tasted great and the waitor was fun and talkative. It was a great day!

Made breakfast for Benn, Skyler, and my mom this morning. Made wheat flour and blueberry waffles and a side of scrambled eggwhites with fat free cheese. Yummyyy :) Then I took a shower and a small nap on Benn's lap. Woke up and went for a walk on pretty residential streets in Pittsifield for approximately 2.5-3.0 miles. It was a gorgeous day and I had a lot of fun! I brought my camera to take pictures of the nice views but forgot the batteries! Doh!

Stretched and ran 5.11 miles at 6.2mph and 2% incline. Then slowed it down to 5.1-5.2mph and 2% incline for 3.02 miles. Stretched and lifted free weights.

Many students weren't showing up today and others informed me that they couldn't make it to their session tonight because they have permission to go home for the weekend. So, I took advantage of some free time by doing work and write-ups. Once I did all I wanted to do with that, I went for a walk around Lee. Ended up doing about 2.587 miles according to the walking option on Google Maps. I walked at a moderate steady pace to get some aerobic benefit and did 45 minutes of walking.

Today, I woke up early to go to a meeting I had scheduled with an event planner at Copake Country Club in New York (almost an hour from my house). I asked my aunt to come with me, and my two cousings came along too. We decided to make a day of it! We were at Copake CC for about 2 hours and it was such a blast! We all loved it and the people there are so casual and friendly- It was a really great experience and felt so comfortable there. The place and the views are perfect and just in me and Benn's taste. I'm positive he would have loved it if he could have been there. After leaving the Club, we traveled to Bash Bish Falls (a big waterfall near the NY/MA border) and walked 1.5 miles there. We spent some time taking in the falls and then drove to Great Barrington, MA. We walked up and down Main Street and tucked in and out of shoppes. Very expensive but nice to look at and get inspired. We grabbed lunch at a little diner on Maine Street and then drove to Stockbridge, MA and walked around some more. Next, we took a route back to my home through Lenox, Ma and stopped at Olivia's Overlook for a nice scenic view of Stockbridge Bowl (lake) before the storm. Returned home just before it began to downpour and made homemade mushroom & spinach pizza for dinner. Yummm!

 Dunno how much I walked total, so I am just inputting the known mileage I did at Bash Bish Falls.

Went running at the track with Benn today. We did a run through the woods for about 20 minutes and then ran at the track and stretched. Afterwards I ran with Benn and he showed me striders. I did an extra 2 after him. The sunset was so pretty! It was pink and purple and really nice running, though it was kind of cold!!

Went Canoeing with Benn, Jonny (his brother), "momma Griff" (Benn's mom) and Aggie (their St. Bernard). It was really fun but pretty windy and chilly at times. Aggie took a nose dive off the dock into the lake = hilarious!!

Really windy again today, but played some tennis for about an hour or so with Benn, Jonny (his brother), "Momma Griff" (Benn's mom), and Aggie (their St. Bernard). For me, playing tennis consists of anxiously awaiting the ball to come near me and the hitting it off at some obscene direction, many times over the fence. Hah.

Hamstrings were pretty tight so took Benn's advice by warming up before stretching out my muscles. Warmed up for 1.1 miles at 5.2mph then took a good amount of time to stretch thoroughly. Then ran 2.12 miles at 6.2 to 6.1mph. Slowed to a "warm down" for 1.1 at miles at 6.0 to 5.8mph. Then continued for  1.24 miles at 5.1 to 4.5mph. At that point, my mom stopped in and had about an hour and a half before she had to go to work. I haven't been able to see her or spend a little bit of time with her in quite a while, so I got off the treadmill and stretched while I talked to her. We made some iced coffee together and did some newspaper jumbles (something we always like to do together). Once she went off to work, I checked my email and did some researching on various things I had wanted to do. So... after about a 3 hour break, I returned to running. I got back on the treadmill and ran 2.55 miles at 6.2mph. Then did a cool down of 1.036 miles at 4.5mph. Then did a lot of stretching on the yoga mat with Ruby (my cat- she LOVES the yoga mat and I have no idea why). Then finished up the night with some leg lifts and more leg stretches.

Benn drove to my house early this morning to go for a hike with me. We headed out to Adams in the morning in order to hopefully miss the storm that weather.com has been daunting us with. We hiked the Cheshire Harbor Trail to the peak of Mount Greylock. It was a good, tiring 3.5 mile hike to the top. It ended up becoming more and more gorgeous out as we went along, and actually quite hot (which is a big change for the month overall). While at the top, we admired a glistening reservoir (and its wildlife), sat and admired the views, and walked up a long spiral staircase to the top of the war memorial at the summit. After that, we filled up our water bottle, emptied our bladders, and trekked the 3.5 miles back down to the car. We stretched and headed to North Adams to to find some food for lunch and ended up in a cute little cafe for salad and a sandwich. It was another great day with Benn!

Been feeling noticibly tired lately and dispirited for the past two days. Decided a run would make me feel better. Stretched and ran 4.1 miles at 6.2 to 6.0mph at 2% incline. Then did a cool down of 1.1 miles at 5.0 to 4.1mph and 2% incline. Did more stretching, free-weight lifting, leg lifts, squats, and lunges. 

Stretched and ran on the treadmills for 3.21 miles @ 6.0 to 6.1mph and 2% incline. Then did a cool down of 1 mile at 4.5 to 4.0mph and 2% incline (with the last 10 minutes or so using 2-lb. free weights). Stretched some more and then upstairs to balance my checkbook and wash a ton of dishes :( Booooo.

Did a nice run with Benn today on the Ashuwillticook Trail and Benn got to try out his new 5 finger shoes. They look comfortable and really cool! He had a good conversation with a woman in the parking lot about them and about running, biking, and strengthening. There is so much knowledge and personal experience behind everything he says. I am envious at how brilliant he is about this stuff.

Stretched and ran about 3 miles with a 1 mile cooldown (with Benn wearing his new shoes). It was a fun date, but very humid outside!

Decided to do Power 90 Cardio 1-2 today.  It includes things like power yoga, lateral leg work, kickboxing, jumping jacks, running in place, etc. The did 10 sets of 30 crunches each for a total of 300. Then did 30 leg lifts on each side. Of course, lots of stretching, too!

Went for a run at the track and nature trail with Benn and his sister, Su. It got pretty mosquito-ey towards the end of the run after the sun went down. But, I liked that I got to see a couple bats zooming through the treetops. Stretched and then went back to Benn's house to stretch becasue it was too buggy outdoors. Poor Benn's calves were sore at the track and he had to ice his knee and hip tonight :(

Spent a couple of days at Benn's house over the weekend into Monday. We got to go see Harry Potter 6 with his brother, Jonny, and then out to dinner on Sunday. I love spending time with the Griffins- it was another fun day! I had to go back home tonight but got to go to Benn's race beforehand at Camp Saratoga. He raced with two of his friends from work. I did a warm up with them and then did a brisk 0.8 mile walk on Scout Rd. to Edee Rd. intersection near Camp Saratoga. It's really lovely in this part of NY and I felt quite peaceful there. There were tons of wild flowers that I was tempted to pick, but instead just enjoyed them exactly where they were :) Walking back, I checked the time and decided to take a run back to the finish line to catch some of the first finishers and so on. So, I did a 0.6 mile run and, on the way, saw some racers running across the road section of the trail. Not knowing many details of the race, I didn't know that they had to cross a road during it and was in the right place at the right time to see Benn striding by. I gave him a yell of encouragement and I kept on jogging my way to the finishing area. I cheered on the finishers and got to watch Benn and his friends finish. Then I went for a cool down with Benn going to other way on Scout Rd. A humid but beautiful day :)

Came back from a doctor's appointment and zonked out for about an hour. My mom said I was a bit feverish and I was kind of out of it. The nap made me feel better and around 3:00 I did Power 90 Cardio 1-2. It includes things like power yoga, lateral leg work, kickboxing, jumping jacks, running in place, etc. I am going to make some tea and do leg lifts, squats, and lunges. I might do free weight lifting later, too!