It’s finally nice out! I’ve been making the most of it running outside a lot the past 11 days.

In fact, I ran 4 miles straight for the first time in my life last Wednesday. It felt great and I gave a little Rocky-esque arm cheer when I crossed my imaginary finish line. I ran it at a slower pace than I’m used to because I was focusing on staying in my aerobic heart rate zone, but I could have ran another mile if I wasn’t on a time crunch for dinner.

Riding the wave of good weather feel good vibes, I decided to do some training on hills with my 23 lb backpack. My goal is to do an exercise wearing it each week because I want to get used to wearing it and work the extra muscles involved with carrying it. I drove out to Pioneer’s Park and ran some laps up and down 2 hills with 60 foot elevation rises. I had an audience while doing it. There was a couple hiding behind some bushes having a picnic watching me. Then when they got up and left, another couple sat down to enjoy the sunset right at my turn around point. I just used it as motivation not to slack and walk more than I absolutely had to. 😉

It’s just over 1,000 feet to those trees

Finally, I thought I’d share with you my morning meals.

I have tried to reduce the amount of sugar in these smoothies since recording this because it felt like a lot once I watched this video back by taking a multi vitamin and lower sugar protein powder in lieu of the chocolate breakfast powder on some days.