Tiny Thunder Running

So yesterday I completed my 3 and by far my favorite 5k. It was called the Diakon Outdoor Adventure Challenge and I think I agree with all 3 descriptors. I don't have any pictures of what the course looked like- but lets say about 1/2 of it was pretty rocky, had some nice nature made obstacles and at one point we were litterally HIKING it. That being said, I loved every second. I mean, who wouldn't running in an awesome backwoods area that looked like this?? My friend that ran with me did manage to take this fun picture of the group running up the mountain! I think it is super sweet even blurry.. What is even cooler is that we got to ZIPLINE after we completed the run and cooled off a little. I have been ziplining on a small thing a few years back, but here you had to complete a few little challenges before you got there. see below So by this last picture I just couldn't wait to get to the end!! We did the middle/intermedicate course.. so there was one...

So over the weekend I was incredibly lazy. Well, ok lets go with "resting." In recent weeks I think I went a little overboard with stacking up too much mileage and I think doing my knees an injustice. I have decided to slow down on how many days I run and not push quite as far for a little in hopes that my body likes me a little more. I had intentions of getting up on Sunday to go, however we had such a busy and wonderful day Saturday, I felt that resting up was more important. While I feel this was half true, my legs got pretty sore over the weekend and this made it a little of a struggle during my 4 miles this morning. This bring me to my next interesting story. I took a different route than usual- one that I have only taken once before and then switched it up even further by going a different street at one point- BAD IDEA!! Led me next to the creek, which is always lovely, but then brought my out behind some homes and out to a really winding, hilly road. Normally I would h...

So there are many reasons why I love fall- crisp leaves, pumpkin EVERYTHING, beautiful colors, need I go on? But since I started running last April, I have really come to appreciate fall runs. I get to soak in all the wonderful things about fall AND enjoy not sweating to death in the process like I do all summer. It has been two weeks since our weather in South Central Pennsylvania has really taken a consistent turn for the cooler and I love it. No humity and cooler sun make morning runs so enjoyable. I have come to the conclusion that although I want to run most mornings, I really can't or my left knee starts to hate me. The last few weeks I have been running 2-3 days in a row before I take a break and I really don't think this was a good idea. This is a huge bummer, but given I am participating in a 5k on 9/29 I don't want to push it right now. This 5k is actually an adventure run held at a some-what local organization,  Diakon adventure Run , which supports f...

So I have decided to keep a blog to keep my thoughts about fitness in general, but surely it will mostly be dedicated to my new found (in the past year) extreme love of running. I guess for my first post I will tell a little about myself and my fitness history. I was never into sports really growing up. We played outside as much as possible, rode bikes all over the place, rollerbladed and that was the extent of that. In school I always hated having to run the mile and fitness testing.. not that I was overweight or anything, just not very strong or fit. In high school I was in marching band which is a lot of work, but no "regular sports." Moving on to college I think I gained about 10-15 lbs my first year.. not right away but gradually. I started to go to the gym regularly and typically worked on the elipticals or stair climbers and a little weight lifting. During the summers I continued these efforts and got back on track. I have done some other things over the year but not ...