Running in Shelby Forest

I'm giving myself a pat on the back! I have been consistently running 3 days a week for over a month! Wow! My legs are feeling pretty strong now. :-)
My latest running adventure with "my group" was at Shelby Forest State Park last Saturday. This park is about 30 minutes from our house and situated on a bluff over looking the Mississippi River. It was a beautiful day - in the mid 50's when we started running, plenty of sunshine and no bugs! We ran on the trails throughout the park for about 2 hours and 45 minutes. There were two groups: the fast people and then us slower runners.... We actually all ran together for about 45 minutes, then split into the two groups.
The flowers were beautiful, lots of birds around, the trees are just starting to leaf out and we started early enough that there weren't very many people around. It was a truly awesome day!
The BEST part of the whole run was the food we all brought to eat after the run. It was like a banquet! mmmmmm!!!
Here are some pictures from one of the girls who ran with us.
I need to take my own pictures next time. :-)

Skiing in West Virginia

Over spring break I had the opportunity to go with our church youth group to Snowshoe, West Virginia to do some skiing. It was a lot of fun. The weather was sunny, so it felt warm while we were on the mountain. There was LOTS of snow - the most they have had in a really long time! So between those two things and the great goup of kids we had - it was a great time! I hadn't been skiing in about 7 or 8 years, but it's just like riding a bike.... you don't really forget. I ski alot slower than the kids do, but that's OK. They just waited for me at the bottom of the slopes! :-)I was actually worried about hurting myself if I went too fast - I don't really like feeling out of control!
The worst part of the whole trip was driving there and back. We left Friday night about 7:00 and drove to Knoxville - about a 6 hour drive, plus a 1 hour time change, so it was about 2:00am when we arrived. We slept at a church and then got up about 6:30 on Saturday and drove the rest of the way - another 7 hours. After checking into our condos and renting out ski equipment, we went to the tubbing hill for about 1 hour and 1/2. That was a BLAST!!!
Then we skiied all day and night on Sunday and Monday. Got up early on Tuesday morning and drove 15 hours straight back to Memphis. A VERY LONG TRIP!!! But it was well worth it. I was on spring break last week, so I didn't have to miss any school.
I would definitely go again if I had the chance. :-)

Here are some pictures:

Runing in the cold...

We have had a cold spell here in Memphis that started right after Christmas. Lows in the teens, highs in the 20's, sometimes with a wind chill.... brrrrrrr! I have skipped running a couple of times because of the weather, but I know I can't do that very often!!! So here are some random things I have learned about cold weather running:
1. I don't really mind it all that much.
2. I overdress usually
3. My face gets colder than any other part of my body - mostly because nothing is covering it!
4. It takes my hands about 30 minutes to actually warm up and by the end of the run I can take my gloves off!
5. The sun feels especially nice on cold days!!!!!!!! :-)
6. When I think about my swimmers and how they are training, I start running faster! hahaha! Although this happens ALL THE TIME, not just when it is cold!

So don't let a little cold weather stop you from getting your exercise! It really is lots better than running in the heat!!!!!!!