Weekend warriors!

That's some kick-ass terrain to run on!

We've had some busy productive weekends lately!  Running, beer brewing and bottling, chopping down trees, construction, and school functions...to the point that I'm craving a few hours to just  snuggle on the couch with the cats and a good book on my Nook.  But I'm NOT complaining!!!!  A couple weeks ago, I challenged myself to running 8.5 miles on our hilly road (see photo above).  I'm training to run a 5k, a 1/2 marathon, and possibly a full marathon this summer.  The most I've run on these hills is 6 miles and i wanted to see if I could take it up a notch.  Miles joined me on the run and had planned to head back home after a few miles while I finished the run.  He ran the 8.5 with me and  at that point I was still feeling pretty strong so I decided to tack on an extra route.  We kissed goodbye and I started down a hill...it wasn't more than 10 ten seconds before Miles yelled out, "wait up!  I'm gonna do it, too!"  Being the stronger runner, I was SO happy and proud that he pushed himself with me on that last leg of the run!  By the end of it I was definitely ready to be done!  When we got home I hopped in the car to track to mileage of our run.  It turned out that we ran 11.5 miles that day!  My longest run yet!  I'm feeling pretty happy with my endurance and will... and confident in my ability to run a half marathon right now!
Now might be a good time to update folks on how things have been going for me over the last year running in minimalist shoes.  I am still LOVING my Vibram 5 Finger toe shoes...but it's been a rocky transition.  I'm going to just cut and paste a message I sent to a knowledgeable runner that I admire, detailing my experience these last months with the VFFs- as well as what I felt on this 11.5 mile run.  But I will use this in a second post today so that this one isn't so long.

Miles going up...

Dana going down....

Ewwwwwwwww!!!!

Previous night's
healthy fuel

Previous night's
healthy fuel
 made not so healthy! 

After months at a standstill, we finally started up work on the new addition again and got our main interior wall finished! I was MANICALLY happy to be out there pounding nails! Next weekend we'll be erecting the last 2 small walls and then it's on to powering up the room with electrical.  Slow progress is better then NO progress and I am filled with glee when I get to don my manly tool belt!

Workin on that wall...