Weekend Randoms.

I'm pleased to announce that yesterday I successfully ran a mile after ellipticizing. No pain before, during, or after. Today it's time to try a real run :) I will be using a treadmill today because the hip inflammation was likely caused in part by running on hilly surfaces, among several other things! Just wanted to share that exciting news with you.

In other news, I got a baby watermelon at the supermarket. I was too daunted by the normal-sized ones, but I was a little worried that the baby one wouldn't taste normal! Luckily I was wrong!

Yesterday we had some important business in the city, so we made a day trip out there. 

I went to Jungle Jim's for the first time... It was AMAZING. It was just like going back into a grocery store in Luxembourg :)

They had "grumpaccinos..." Apparently this is a fantastic marketing tactic because I normally would never buy bottled coffee but as soon as I saw Grumpy Cat's face on there, I had to have it. It was a need, not a want.

Today we are going to hang out with 2 of our awesome friends from Europe. One of them just had a birthday so I picked these up at Jungle Jim's for him, since we ate many of these at one point during the semester. Remember these from the UK??

When we got home, we visited our friend at their HOUSE. Yes, house. We are getting old.

This is what I saw when I went on weather.com this morning. Apparently all of the places I've lived have something in common...

Happy Labor Day!

Things Lately.

The BEST concoction ever.

Have you ever tried one of these? I'm really enjoying them lately!

I finally received my yearbook from our semester abroad and I'm still really excited that we crushed the competition on this one... ;)

My hip has still been inflamed, and I took Monday and Wednesday completely off (other than all my bike riding and walking back and forth from campus, and I'm about a mile-and-a-half so that makes a good workout in itself!). I did about 45 minutes of spinning on Tuesday, and that felt okay, plus a 30-minute foam rolling class, which maybe helped. Today I knew I had to take action since I'm still not ready to run, and I don't want all my fitness and hard work over the past several months to just disappear. I did 36 (yes, 36!) minutes of pool running early this morning before the elderly ladies' aqua Zumba took over the pool. Pool running started out slow and boring but I liked it more and more as I went along. 

I brought my cap and goggles in case I needed them to do laps but the awesome thing about pool running is that you never have to put your face in :) 

So my hair and face stayed dry and chlorine-free!

I first learned about pool running as cross-training (or as a replacement for real running when you have an injury) when Hungry Runner Girl started using it as a tool when she got injured before her marathon. She made great instructional posts here, here, and here which I've consulted to make sure I'm doing it properly! Before I saw her doing that, I thought it was something only elderly people do! Now that I've done it, I can say that it's a GREAT workout, although not as great a real running.

Hopefully I'll get to try out the elliptical in a few minutes and see if that feels okay - just to get some extra cardio! I'll be back on the roads in no time!

More Pictures, Less Words.

Snack time.

Beautifulness.

Oven works!