I apologize for the lack of blogging lately!
As some of you may know, I arrived back from the Grand Canyon last weekend. I was one of 3 advisors who had the pleasure of taking 9 students on a camping trip over Spring Break. We camped beneath the most amazing moon in Roswell, NM, stayed in windy Tucson, AR then finally made it to the Grand Canyon!
I have come to realize in my many years on this earth, my fear of heights is not normal. I had no problem standing here with Travis to get a photo yet I couldn't handle being in this building (the center was open with a wall holding you back from falling):
So odd! But whatever. : )
We managed to become 1 of 5% of the 5 million visitors who have gone below the rim. We walked about .25 miles down the trail our students and advisor would exit the following day. They hiked all the way down (9.2 miles), camped out and then hiked back up a few days later.
At this point in the week we were super cold so we were in many, many of layers of clothing to stay warm. The average temp was around 60 degrees but there was always a strong wind which made it feel more like 40's - 50's.
We hiked this trail numerous times during our 3 days on the rim of the canyon:
Saw a beautiful sunrise -
And found many interesting things like fake towns!!
My favorite trees of the trip:
I learned so many things about myself (like I enjoy camping and hate rude campers). I managed to stay as healthy as possible on the trip - eating fruit and veggies when possible (I began to crave them by the end of the trip!) and managed to maintain my weight the entire trip. That was hard since you work up such an appetite with all the hiking and moving around! I also rediscovered my LOVE of Cliff Peanut Butter bars! So yummy!
I packed my running gear but sadly, the only run I got in was about a mile - running from the van to the geology store and back on the last day. The air was too thin for me and I didn't want to hurt myself in the process. I figured we hiked at least 5+ miles every day so that was more than enough to keep me in a healthy state.
I also learned that I am in better shape than I thought I was. We went to Carlsbad Caverns. The elevator had a wait of 1 hour to get out so I was one of the adventurous ones who decided to hike back out. If you haven't been there yet, it can be an almost straight down drop at times (it is usually a one-way down walk). Not a fun walk back up but I decided to attempt it. When I started out the woman warned me it was going to be an hour to an hour and a half hike back up. I cursed myself for not bringing my ipod but started up anyway. I kept a decent pace and made it up the steep climb in around 20 minutes. Needless to say, I was extremely proud of myself! I wasn't even that out of breath afterward!
It also reminded me that exercise is important and necessary over vacations! It is so easy to just relax and be lazy but that's not who I am - I prefer to walk around and learn all about the area rather than just sit on a beach and sleep in the sun all break. I'm hoping to convince my friend we need to sight see New Orleans this summer and not rent a car - so we'll walk everywhere!!
Since I've been back Eryn and I have been back on our normal gym routine. I feel wonderful being back in the gym. We've been doing about an hour or so 5 days a week. I'm back to running with Phoebe on Mondays which is also good. Phoebe is a better runner than me so she helps me work on my speed and endurance, which is what I have been slacking on when I run alone.
My goal for Lent is 40 miles in 40 days. I'm happy to say that I've been catching up quickly! I was able to run 3.5 on Monday and 2 miles on Tuesday. That puts me at 7.5 so far. I'm hoping to hit the river once or twice this weekend and shooting for 2-3 miles each run.
Giving up Diet Coke has also been much better than last year. When I gave it up for Lent last year I was very lethargic for the first 2 weeks and had horrible withdraw symptoms. This year I haven't even noticed it! I gave it up right before we left for the Canyon and even during the trip only had the occasional Coke Zero or root beer. I've been slowly increasing my water consumption and bringing tea back into my life.
Another thing I'm working on is using my crock pot on the weekends to make food I can freeze and have meals for the summer. We'll see how well this works but the plan is to make chili and sloppy joe's this weekend and possibly a few chicken dishes next weekend.
Overall things are going wonderfully which is always nice to report. I've already lost 2lbs from my pre-canyon weight and hope to lose about 5 more before our formal on the 9th so I can wear my favorite dress. If I don't, no big! I have a million dresses anyway.
And since I wasn't able to do a 5k in March due to my trip, I'm planning on doing the Heart Walk on my sister's bday (April 1st) with some co-workers as well as the Race Against Racism. I might even look at fitting another 5k in sometime in April depending on what I see.
As some of you may know, I arrived back from the Grand Canyon last weekend. I was one of 3 advisors who had the pleasure of taking 9 students on a camping trip over Spring Break. We camped beneath the most amazing moon in Roswell, NM, stayed in windy Tucson, AR then finally made it to the Grand Canyon!
We managed to become 1 of 5% of the 5 million visitors who have gone below the rim. We walked about .25 miles down the trail our students and advisor would exit the following day. They hiked all the way down (9.2 miles), camped out and then hiked back up a few days later.
At this point in the week we were super cold so we were in many, many of layers of clothing to stay warm. The average temp was around 60 degrees but there was always a strong wind which made it feel more like 40's - 50's.
We hiked this trail numerous times during our 3 days on the rim of the canyon:
I packed my running gear but sadly, the only run I got in was about a mile - running from the van to the geology store and back on the last day. The air was too thin for me and I didn't want to hurt myself in the process. I figured we hiked at least 5+ miles every day so that was more than enough to keep me in a healthy state.
I also learned that I am in better shape than I thought I was. We went to Carlsbad Caverns. The elevator had a wait of 1 hour to get out so I was one of the adventurous ones who decided to hike back out. If you haven't been there yet, it can be an almost straight down drop at times (it is usually a one-way down walk). Not a fun walk back up but I decided to attempt it. When I started out the woman warned me it was going to be an hour to an hour and a half hike back up. I cursed myself for not bringing my ipod but started up anyway. I kept a decent pace and made it up the steep climb in around 20 minutes. Needless to say, I was extremely proud of myself! I wasn't even that out of breath afterward!
It also reminded me that exercise is important and necessary over vacations! It is so easy to just relax and be lazy but that's not who I am - I prefer to walk around and learn all about the area rather than just sit on a beach and sleep in the sun all break. I'm hoping to convince my friend we need to sight see New Orleans this summer and not rent a car - so we'll walk everywhere!!
Since I've been back Eryn and I have been back on our normal gym routine. I feel wonderful being back in the gym. We've been doing about an hour or so 5 days a week. I'm back to running with Phoebe on Mondays which is also good. Phoebe is a better runner than me so she helps me work on my speed and endurance, which is what I have been slacking on when I run alone.
My goal for Lent is 40 miles in 40 days. I'm happy to say that I've been catching up quickly! I was able to run 3.5 on Monday and 2 miles on Tuesday. That puts me at 7.5 so far. I'm hoping to hit the river once or twice this weekend and shooting for 2-3 miles each run.
Giving up Diet Coke has also been much better than last year. When I gave it up for Lent last year I was very lethargic for the first 2 weeks and had horrible withdraw symptoms. This year I haven't even noticed it! I gave it up right before we left for the Canyon and even during the trip only had the occasional Coke Zero or root beer. I've been slowly increasing my water consumption and bringing tea back into my life.
Another thing I'm working on is using my crock pot on the weekends to make food I can freeze and have meals for the summer. We'll see how well this works but the plan is to make chili and sloppy joe's this weekend and possibly a few chicken dishes next weekend.
Overall things are going wonderfully which is always nice to report. I've already lost 2lbs from my pre-canyon weight and hope to lose about 5 more before our formal on the 9th so I can wear my favorite dress. If I don't, no big! I have a million dresses anyway.
And since I wasn't able to do a 5k in March due to my trip, I'm planning on doing the Heart Walk on my sister's bday (April 1st) with some co-workers as well as the Race Against Racism. I might even look at fitting another 5k in sometime in April depending on what I see.
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