Weekly Rundown- What a Ride!
Wow. I feel like I’ve lived a lifetime in the last seven days. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the weekly rundown! Without further ado, let’s get into it. Sunday Zero workouts. We woke up very early, packed up my son’s car, and then started off on our adventure! This is our second year driving to Texas. We do it in two days, and- learning from last year’s experience- we decided to make the first day the longer day of driving. We started in Boca Raton, Florida, and made it all the way to Mississippi. Monday Woke up and hit the hotel gym, where I was excited by the selection of dumbbells. But first, I started with Marcia’s Cardio Barre Workout. There’s 10 minutes of lower body barre-type moves, and then 10 minutes of core. Then I did a total body strength session- squats and deadlifts with the 20 pound dumbbells (the heaviest ones I have at home are 15 pounds), and obviously lighter weights for biceps, triceps, and shoulder press. (Side note- boy are my triceps weak. Must work on that!) After that I felt totally ready to get back in the car for another day of driving. The second day of this trip is harder- you have to pass New Orleans (although we took a bypass route this time), Baton Rouge, and then Houston (which we had the pleasure of hitting during rush hour, arg.) I really wanted to get to Waco while it was still light, and we almost made it. We were treated to this sunset as we drove into town. Tuesday Okay, ouch. You know how, whenever you do anything new or increase your weights, it makes you really sore? Yep, I woke up with super sore legs, thanks to those 20 pound dumbbells. But it was my big day in Waco (my son was busy with school-related things) and I had plans to hit the trails. I talked about my trail runs in more detail here, but I basically had an epic adventure. Waco’s Cameron Park is apparently the second largest inner-city park, behind NYC’s Central Park (who knew?) It has an incredible trail system, so I used the AllTrails app to help navigate a trail that was so hilly and rocky, I had to alternate running and walking. Remember how I said my sister’s neighborhood was hilly? HA! Those were SLOPES! These were hills. Meanwhile my sore legs were screaming at me, and I still felt that tiny tug on my hamstring- but because I was constantly switching between running, power walking, and scrambling up and down, no one thing hurt for too long. The entire excursion took me 2 hours and 40 minutes, and I was exhausted at the end. But I loved it. I then cleaned myself off as best I could and changed clothes… …and then explored downtown Waco! It’s an odd combination of old, rundown buildings, and beautiful new upscale shops- thanks to Chip and Joanna Gaines of “Fixer Upper” fame. I walked around, shopped a little, and happened upon this… Where I bought my new favorite shirt. I also browsed in the “Magnolia Home” shop to get gifts for the family we were staying with. Super fun afternoon of shopping. Wednesday Once again, OUCH. Today my quads were SO SO SORE. Obviously I’m not used to all those hills! This was the day my son was moving into his apartment, but I had the morning to explore a different trail. Once again it was insanely difficult. and my quads were seriously screaming at me. But funnily enough, my hamstring pain was completely gone. Go figure! I found some flatter places off the trail to get in some good running, and this hike/run was a little over an hour and a half. Then, apartment move-in! But first, let’s look at the weather. I took this screenshot after my run/hike on Tuesday- yes, it was 95 degrees when I finished. Notice how the day we moved into my son’s apartment it was 103, and then the next day, the day I left, it cooled down by ten degrees (seriously?) Anyway, when we got to his apartment, the moving gods were smiling on us- we discovered he was on the FIRST FLOOR. This was significant because his building has three floors and no elevator. I think if I had to walk up and down three flights of stairs with heavy boxes in 103 degree heat I might have cried- or at least, my quads would have cried. As it was, it was no picnic. While we were moving in there was a group of girls moving into the third floor, and we kept seeing them climbing up and down. At one point one of them exclaimed, “You know, I really wouldn’t mind these stairs at ANY OTHER TIME.” Hee hee. We got him moved in and then went on an epic shopping trip to stock up on, oh… everything. I forgot how much you need when you’re moving into a new place. We had already moved a bunch of stuff from his roommate’s parents’ house (they generously donated a ton of kitchen equipment) but he needed groceries- a shower curtain- a blender-a floor lamp- etc. It’s amazing how many things you don’t think of ahead of time. By the time we were done with that I was ready to collapse, but my son and his roommate went over to the music building to practice at 10 pm (must be nice to be nineteen!). I slept on their couch that night, which, not surprisingly, did not help my sore muscles. Thursday Travel day! Have you ever noticed how traveling from one place to another seems to take all day, even when you fly? I flew out of the hilariously small Waco airport to Dallas, which is the polar opposite. The Dallas airport is so huge you take the Sky Rail to get from one terminal to another, and even