Getting Ready to Run!

Yesterday I went to several different sporting good stores looking for a good heart monitor to use for running. After leaving several stores disappointed with the selection (or lack thereof), I ended up in R.E.I, where the gentleman behind the electronics counter was kind enough to answer my questions and get me thinking a bit more about what I really wanted out of a HRM. I was going to go for a cheaper model that just tracked calories burned and heart rate, but decided that it was worth spending the extra money on one that would not only track those two things but also tracked distance and time. I ended up going home and ordering the Garmin Forerunner 305 HRM online after reading lots of good reviews. Now, I just have to sit back and wait for it to arrive, I can't wait!
For dinner I made salmon on the George Foreman grill, it came out delicious. I made a rub of grapeseed oil, garlic and chopped fresh basil and dill. I actually picked the basil and dill from my planter boxes on the balcony, how cool is that?

This was the fish before I cooked it, the fresh basil and dill smelled wonderful!

When it was done, I served it on a bed of greens with some garlic infused vinegar, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a squirt of lemon juice. I even garnished it with some parsley for good measure.
After dinner we took a motorcycle ride out to Los Lunas for some pie and coffee at Village Inn, it is my one sugar indulgence of the week.

Here I am, ready to ride
Here is Rod, looking good in his riding jacket ;)
Today I did my regular Thursday volunteer work with a local occupational therapist who uses assistance dogs as therapy dogs to work with her clients. It is a really fun job, I enjoy working with both the dogs and the kids. I even hope to get my own dog soon and train it as a therapy dog.

Here is one of the activities that a couple of clients was doing with one of the dogs, putting socks on a dauschund, it was too cute, I just had to take a picture!

Since he was a trained therapy dog, the dog was a pretty good sport about it and the kids had a good time trying.

When I got home I did a 45 minute circuit workout that I put together as I went along, alternating arm and leg exercises with 60 second cardio intervals, then I followed it up with a quick abs routine at the end. It was a pretty good workout, my legs and arms were pretty shaky by the end and I think I will be sore tomorrow. For dinner I made the curried millet and chickpea stuffed peppers recipe from one of my favorite blogs, the front burner. It came out pretty tasty and didn't take too long to make, I will be bringing leftovers for lunch at work tomorrow at the rehab hospital!

Getting Back on the Bike (literally)

Today Rod (my hubby) and I are both pretty sore from all of yesterday's exertions. My back is sore from my shoulder blades down to my lumbar region, the upper back from the sawing and the lower back from the digging. At least I know that I got a good workout :) Today I decided to ride my bike to work and back so that my lower body now matches my upper body in soreness. It was a good ride, except for the insanely strong wind along parts of my route, and it reminded me how much I enjoy riding my bike. If we are still living in the condo by the time school starts I think I am going to start riding my bike to class every day, it is a good 20 minute ride each way and it is a nice way to start and end the day.
I also decided today that I am going to try my hand at running again. Rod and I used to run every morning when we were in Washington, but have been out of the habit for a few years now. I think we got discouraged because we didn't really have a goal that we were working towards and we also tried to start off doing too much too soon and we eventually just stopped. Today I discovered the couch to 5k program, a nine week program designed to get newbies started, with the expectation that by week nine they will be ready to run a 5k. I have never so much as thought about running an organized race, it seems very intimidating, but I have decided to give it a try. Rod agreed to do the program with me including run a 5k with me at the end, which is a big boost knowing that I won't have to do it alone. For some reason I have gotten the feeling lately that the universe is trying to direct me towards running again, it could be the random emails from runners world (I don't know how I got on their mailing list), the food blogs that I have been reading lately that also discuss running, or my wonderful friend Ana who keeps inviting me to do 5ks with her, but I am starting to feel like it is time to give it another try. I am hoping that the couch to 5k program will give me the direction and motivation that I need to be successful this time around. I am also thinking that the nicer climate and huge number of races that Albuquerque has to offer will be a nice incentive.
I think we are going to start the program next week after we get back from visiting my in-laws in El Paso for the 4th of July. I love my in-laws, they are wonderful people, but they always stuff me full of tortillas, beans and cheese while I am there, while at the same time there is no opportunity for exercise. I always come back from their place feeling sluggish and bloated, so I figure I will be more than ready to start getting my butt into shape upon my return. I am pretty excited about all of the possibilities and I will definitely be blogging about my progress as I work through the program. Stay tuned!

City Girl in the Country

Today the hubby and I headed out to our property in Belen to get some work done. We bought the property about a month and a half ago with the intention of fixing it up and moving into it, but we have since decided that it is just too far from the city for us. Instead, we are going to fix it up and use it as a rental property. We got the property dirt cheap, so we don't regret buying it even though we decided not to live in it, it should pay for itself and become profitable within a few short years, so it was a good investment in the end.
Plus, the mountain views from the front porch are beautiful
I also love the wildflowers that pop up in unexpected places

Anyways, we needed to make some storm doors to cover up the huge tube in the ground that will soon contain our new well pump from would-be thieves or vandals. The doors actually turned out pretty well, unfortunately, the sky decided to open up with a torrent of rain and hail right when we brought them outside to dig the holes for the posts and install them. We figured that it wouldn't be a big deal and the rain would pass soon enough, it never lasts for long out here. We actually welcomed it since it cooled the air down quite a bit from the nearly 100 degree temperatures that we had been dealing with all day. Forty minutes later, when we were still digging and still getting pounded with rain and hail, we weren't quite as thrilled. We finally managed to get the holes dug and the doors installed despite the weather, now we are ready for the new well pump, which will finally bring running water to the property, yay!

Here is a picture of the doors, before we brought them outside. I didn't manage to get a pic of the installed doors because of the rain.

To get to the title of this post, some of the other things that I did today at the property were shoveling cow pies and sawing logs. The city girl in me had to laugh at myself as I did each of these things. I think my hubby, a country boy, found it pretty amusing too, particularly as we took turns sawing through a three and a half inch square wooden fence post with a hand saw. It was definitely a workout! We had two posts that needed to be divided into three pieces each, so there was plenty of cutting to do.
The cow pie shoveling occurred when I noticed that one of the neighbors cows had decided to leave us lots of lovely, combustible presents all over the back part of the property. I figured that I may as well take advantage of this free fertilizer, so I scooped it up and used it to fertilize the pine tree, apricot tree, and grape vine the the previous owners had planted. All three are looking pretty sad and droopy lately, so I hope this helps perk them up. I also made a chicken wire cage for the grape vine, which the rabbits have already picked clean. It had some big, beautiful, healthy looking leaves on it a few weeks ago and now it is completely bare. Hopefully it will recover now that it is protected from hungry bunnies.

Digging the trench around the grape vine

The grape vine safe in its new "house"
This city girl is feeling pretty tired but proud of everything that was accomplished today. I think I'm going to sleep well tonight :)

First Post and the Lavender Festival

Lately, I have been reading several fabulous blogs about fitness and healthy eating and decided, why not start my own? My blog will include fitness and healthy eating, since they are an important part of my life. I will also use it to document all of the wonderful events that I attend here in Albuquerque as well as my adventures in knitting, OT school, amateur gardening, and anything else that I decide to try my hand at.
Today seemed like a good day to start my blog since we went to the annual Lavender Festival and I took some nice photos. We started out at Los Poblanos Inn and Cultural Center. We didn't get to see the Inn, but the grounds were beautiful. They had beautiful fields of lavender, and I just couldn't resist taking a few pics.


We walked around for a bit and I bought some lavender and honey goat cheese made by local farmers. I am eating some now as I write this post and it is delicious!

Next, we went down the street to Casa Rodena Winery, which was also participating in the festival.

The grounds were beautiful! We wandered up a grape vine lined driveway to several Mediterranean style buildings, one of which was open to the public. We wandered in, got some sangria and found a shady spot in the grass to sit and listen to the live bluegrass band. It was pure heaven!

Here is the driveway:

I had to be a dork and stop and take a picture with some of the grapes, they were just so pretty!
Here are some of the buildings:

Here is a pic of my hubby enjoying some sangria:

It was a wonderful day, and to top it off the newest episode of True Blood is on tonight! Life is good!