100 Miles to Go And just like that I only have 100 miles left to reach 5,000 miles of riding for the year. I told my husband that if I say I’m going to do anything similar next year to just stop me. I have the ability to get a bit obsessive about things and […]
Don’t Neglect Weight-bearing Exercise While spending so much time cycling last week, I neglected walking. Now that I’m no long running, walking and strength training have become my go-to exercises for providing that much needed weight-bearing benefit to keep my bones strong. As my Mom says, “Getting old isn’t for sissies,” and I’m amazed at how […]
For the second year in a row, 2024 found me toeing the starting line at only one race. When I first started this blog almost twelve years ago I declared that I wanted to run forever. Little did I know that I wouldn’t be able to keep that dream alive and that on January 27, […]
A Shiny New Cycling Goal After Sunday’s ride I checked Strava to see how many miles I’ve ridden in 2024 and was shocked to see 4,246.2 miles pop up. I shouldn’t have been surprised considering we’d taken our gravel bikes with us on three cycling focused road trips in 2024: Florida in January, the Dakotas […]
It’s time to sit down once again with a beverage of your choice and chat – I’ll remind you that I don’t like coffee or tea so my drink of choice today will be hot chocolate. Let’s chat about things other than just running, cycling, strength training, yoga, and complaining about our most recent […]
A Brief History of the Greenbrier River Trail Paralleling the Greenbrier River, the 78-mile Greenbrier River Trail runs from Caldwell to Cass Scenic Railroad State Park in eastern West Virginia. Easily accessible from many locations, it is a favorite playground for cyclists, runners, hikers, and horseback riders. The trail became West Virginia’s first rail […]
Decorating and Exercise I can’t really say that decorating for Christmas is great exercise, but I certainly got my steps in while making multiple trips up and down two flights of stairs over the course of three days. Once home from Thanksgiving dinner with family, I started decorating and spent most of Friday and Saturday […]
~ Runfessions ~ A collection of statements admitting that one is guilty of a variety of running crimes… It’s time again to join in on the fun and clear my conscience of recent running, biking, fitness, nutrition, and life in general faux pas. I know I’ll feel better when I’m done, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll […]
Eckert’s Orchard A trip across the country wouldn’t be complete without stopping in Belleville, Illinois to visit family. While planning our road trip, my husband routed us through Belleville so we could see my my aunt (my mom’s sister) and cousins, who we hadn’t seen since the summer before Covid. About a week before […]
Waning Days of Fall I tried to get outside as much as possible this past week because I suspect the weather isn’t going to stay this nice much longer. I made it out every day except for Friday when we got snow flurries during the morning before it turned to rain in the afternoon. The […]
Gravel Grinding Mecca of the USA Our summer road trip took us through Emporia, Kansas, the gravel grinding mecca of the USA and home of UNBOUND. As they say, “When in Rome do as the Romans do,” so we pulled up the 2024 25-mile UNBOUND course, drove from our hotel to downtown Emporia, mounted […]
Birthday Miles, err Kilometers For the last several years on my birthday – probably since the onset of social media – I’ve been running or cycling miles equivalent to (or an abbreviated version of) the number of years old I’m turning. Last year after a particularly difficult 66-mile ride, I decided there would be nothing […]
Theodore Roosevelt National Park “I do not believe that any man can adequately appreciate the world of to-day unless he has some knowledge of…[and] some feeling for… the history of the world of the past.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt National Park was established in April 1947 to honor avid outdoorsman Teddy Roosevelt, our […]
From Meh to Great With the weather continuing to be gorgeous (I think we’re on day 39 of no rain, though), my husband and I took advantage of getting out on our bikes. After about a month of feeling somewhat meh about riding, it felt great to get back on two wheels again! As we […]
Waterfalls of a Different Sort It was a quick ride from our hotel parking lot to the Sioux Falls Greenway Trail, accomplished by maneuvering over the very short gravel segment connecting the two. Once on the paved trail, my husband and I made our way to Falls Park, the highlight of our ride. The […]
Yes, I Count Gardening as a Workout I spend a lot more time gardening in the fall and spring than I do the rest of the year, and yes, I count those hours as workouts. We have a lawn service that mows each week (my husband highly encouraged me to give up that favorite chore […]
Let’s Go See a Waterfall Our summer road trip took us to Minnesota to not only check another state off of list, but to visit friends who have a summer home in the Minneapolis suburbs. Occasionally, my friend Betsy and I ride together at home when she’s in town, so it just seemed natural […]
Busy Days of No Workouts I roll my eyes when my clients tell me that they don’t have time to work out, but after the last two weeks, I have a better understanding of what they’re telling me. I always thought they could get up earlier or workout after work, but now I realize that’s […]
History of the High Trestle Trail When I let my friend Kim know that my husband and I would be traveling through Iowa and would love to stop by for a visit, she and I both understood that a visit would indeed have to include a bike ride together. I let Kim do the […]
Fall in New England First, then Virginia We arrived home from our New England trip where we enjoyed spectacular fall colors to a mostly green northern Virginia. Leaves are starting to turn, but it will be another couple of weeks before we see full color here. As with the past two years, we’ve set ourselves […]
