I fell behind on my posts while on vacation so I’m trying to catch up. I was without my laptop for 10 days and no internet for 8! My phone was used for mapping runs/hikes and of course taking pictures :-) It was actually liberating to be unplugged. It was nice not worrying about checking my phone for messages/emails. I did miss out on signing up for the NWM though :-( Oh well, it wasn’t meant to be anyways….

I will have pics on my Instagram (@msmammamia) from my vacation. We went camping in the redwoods and at my grandpa’s property. But before we left, I rearranged Week6 of my training to get all my runs done Before we left. It was grueling to run 30+ miles in 4 days, but I got it done.

Mon 8/18:

Leg Circuit at the park with the boys – 3 rounds
Narrow to Wide Jump Squats x10
Jump Lunges x10 (each side)
Plié Squat x10
Forward/Backward Lunges x10 (each side)
Step Up Hops x10 (each side)
Elevated side Lunge x10 (each side)
Step Squat with Leg Abduction x10 (each side)

Walking Lunges w/ Squats down the basketball court
Walking Lunges w/ Hamstring Curl back
Lunges w/Squat down the court
Traveling Side Lunges w/ Squat back
Lunges w/ Squat down the court
Curtsy Lunges with Squat back

Stair Circuit
Jump Squats – 1 step at a time
Lunges – skip step
Jump Squats – skip step x3 (with kids)

Week6 Day1 – 8 mile tempo run. This was suppose to be tomorrow’s workout but I’m rearranging the entire week and doing all my longer runs before we leave to our camping trip. Gio rode his bike next to me while I ran and he did great :-) So proud of my boy for pushing through at the end when his legs were getting tired.

Tue 8/19:

Week6 Day2: 6 miles – This was all I did because I wanted to save my energy for the long run I planned on doing on Wed. 12 miles at home was easier than trying to figure out where to do it safely while I was camping.

Wed 8/20: 

Week6 Day3: 12 mile slow long run. I didn’t even try to go fast for this one. It was tough the whole way but I did better than I thought I would. We also packed up our car and drove to Sac a couple hours later.

Thur 8/21: Gio’s Birthday! One of the reason’s we came to Sac was to celebrate Gio’s birthday with his grandpa Geno and to also pick him up since he was coming along with us on our trip.

Week6 Day4: 5 miles before it got too hot.  We picked up a few final things for camping, Gio’s birthday present – a Nintendo 3DS XL) and took him to John’s Incredible Pizza for his birthday celebration. It was just the 5 of us since his behavior this past year did not earn him his usual party. He didn’t seem to mind because he still got to play games, eat as much pizza as he wanted, and pig out at the dessert buffet. We spent the rest of the day organizing and packing up the car. I realized how much work and planning my grandpa put into our annual camping trips as a kid.

Fri 8/22: Spent 6 hours in the car driving to the Elk Prairie campgrounds. We set up camp, made dinner, and then relaxed. Smores for dessert.

Sat 8/23: We actually had to move to a the campsite right next to us. We wanted to have it for whole time but it was reserved for the day we arrived so we took the one next to it, and moved over Sat after the people left. It was actually a smooth transition. We just lifted the tents up and walked them over :-) I did go for a run with Ben and Gio after breakfast.

Week6 Day6: 3 miles – first run through the redwoods. It was so pretty. Gio did pretty well keeping up. We took a trail that took us up a steep hill that I ran up and left the boys behind. I met back up with them when I turned around. I think I must have done something to my hip flexor or hamstrings because after this run, my left hip was tight for the rest of time :-( But my new trail running shoes were awesome! I am so glad I picked up a pair before we left. Having the right kind of shoes really helps.

Ben and I also took the boys for a short hike before dinner. We pretty much went the same way I went for my run but did a loop.  The hills was tough for Seppe but he got through it. It was nice going slower and taking time to look at everything. Boys had a lot of fun. We even saw some deer.

Sun 8/24: Drove to a Klammath Lake and did the Walk Through the Trees. We got to bring Reggie along. We rode the sky trail. It took us longer than we thought it would but we did stop to take lots of pics. We picked up some homemade fudge and smoked salmon.

The boys made friends with other kids that were there from NY and Oregon. Gio finally started to enjoy the trip once he made friends.

Went on a short walk with Ben before dinner.  We meant to go further but we ran into some elk. The first one was injured but I was still hesitant to get close. Ben heard the rest of the group coming through the bushes and a few minutes later, 4 more showed up with another big horned elk. This one definitely did not like us being close and watched us the whole time we walked away. Ben thought it was funny I was so scared, but there was no way I was messing with a wild elk with horns that big.

I was looking forward to doing more runs through the redwoods but a little worried at the same time.  I knew that I would be doing the rest of my runs on my own. I was glad that there were plenty of trails to run on.