Friday, June 3, 2011

Friday, June 3, 2011

Smooth & shiny. Today's pebble is just a plain black one that appealed to me with its simplicity.

My walk today was great, though a little hectic at times because I brought my little dog Gilda. Carrying the baby, holding the dog leash and trying to take photos is a lot to do at once! Gilda is afraid of the water, so she tried to stay as far from the waves as possible. I'm still hoping that she'll eventually come to like swimming.
I saw a deer on the beach today! I didn't get a good picture because I was sitting on a piece of driftwood, nursing little J, when I saw her and, of course, Gilda saw her too and started barking.
The stats are off today. I walked until the pedometer app registered two miles (slightly farther than yesterday's two miles, strangely enough) and then walked back. But the pedometer says:
Distance: 3.69mi
Time: 1hr 26min
Pace: 23:25min/mi
I think some of the discrepancy has to do with how I was holding my iphone. I think Gilda slowed down my pace a little - she had to stop and sniff every once in a while. But the pace doesn't really matter to me that much. It will for the race - in order to finish within 3.5hrs, we'll have to keep a 15min/mi pace.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Today's pebble has cool crystalline formations kind of like barnacles.

I had a snafu with the pedometer app that I'm using to record the stats for my walks. When I was 1.64mi into the walk, I stopped to take a picture. Somehow it didn't turn back on when I started walking again and when I looked at it a 1/4 mile later, it still said 1.64mi. So I walked a little more than the app recorded. But here are the stats, according to the app:
Distance: 4.09mi
Time: 1hr 18min
Pace: 19min08sec/mi
Beautiful day today. My ankle didn't hurt as much and I was less sore afterwards than yesterday. Some of the houses along the shore are so funny. I amused myself by thinking about what the people who own them must be like. I saw bunny footprints in the sand along the way too.
I love the white stripes that the waves make on the sand.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

I love today's pebble. It's super smooth and has a nice weight. It would be perfect for skipping, I think. It's too pretty to skip though!

Today's walk was my first official beach training walk. And it was so much fun!
I'm using a pedometer app on my iphone to collect walk stats. Here they are:
Distance: 4.17 miles
Time: 1hr 20min
Pace: 19:20min/mile
Little J slept peacefully in his pack the whole time. The weather was perfect. Almost no one was at the beach - just me, a guy reading a really thick book, and a lady walking a Jack Russell Terrier. It was pretty easy to walk the four miles. The slope of the beach made one of my ankles hurt, but it more or less evened out on the way back. I was super sore late in the day though - especially my back. I have to remember to maintain good posture since I'm not only carrying my own weight but Little J's as well.

Beach Bliss

I live in Michigan. Just five miles down this sun-dappled road from my house is Lake Michigan and this gorgeous beach.

I'm taking part in the Monster Dash Half Marathon in Chicago on October 29, 2011 with three of my closest friends. I just had a baby in March, so I'm not in the greatest shape right now. I doubt if I could run even one mile in its entirety, much less 13.1 miles. So even though the race is months away, I'm starting my training now.
And there could not be a more beautiful and convenient place for me to train than this beach! Of course, if I'm walking on the beach, I can't help but pick up interesting pebbles. So my plan goes like this: take daily walks on the beach, collect one pebble per walk, and blog about it. I'll post a picture of the daily pebble along with the stats for that day's walk (distance, time, etc.).
See you at the beach!