Run Forty-Eight: I really did run on Tuesday!

I felt so good when I was running on Tuesday!

I really did go for a run on Tuesday evening between work and our awesome, awesome anniversary dinner. It was actually an excellent run on the treadmill -- though the best distance in the picture can't be trusted because the time is a little longer than usual. (Only 30 seconds longer, but the best distance is only by 1/100th of a mile.) Anyway, I'm not putting much stock in that. 

What I am putting stock in is that it felt amazing -- light and easy and I could breathe and it was all really good. 

And then I came home and we had our anniversary dinner (steak with a bleu cheese pan sauce and roasted broccoli) and it was even better. 

It wasn't supposed to be a 4.3 mile hike, but we
got on the wrong trail and had to come
back to the car along the road. 

Wednesday morning early we went for a two-day trip on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. We drove down to the south end of Skyline Drive and proceeded north. We did a couple of nice hikes on Wednesday -- totaling about 3 miles -- then stayed the night at Skyland, a wonderful lodge in the park. We sat in our cabin and watched the sun set over the Appalachian mountains last night, then fell asleep really early. This morning, we got up and did another hike up to the peak of Hawksbill Mountain that was about 4.3 miles. 

The coolest thing about the hikes was that I could do them -- last year when we were on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I had a terrible trouble with anything like hills when we were hiking. Even the shortest up-hills, I had to go very slow and stop often to catch my breath. It was disappointing and I was really upset with myself.  I love hiking -- getting out into the mountains and the trees and away from the noise is a balm to me -- so not being able to do it was incredibly sad. 

This year, because of running, I didn't have to stop once on any of the up-hill hikes, not even for a moment, not even going up to the top of the mountain. I'm crazy pleased about that. 

So with a run on Tuesday, my next run would ordinarily been today, but instead we did a big hike and it was awesome.

Next run is scheduled for Saturday. We've got some plans and the weather seems like it will be dodgy, so I'll probably be on the treadmill. Goal for the run: Be AWESOME!