Run Which Way: I Had a Birthday

Saturday was my birthday! What do you think I did first? Right! I went for a run. We drove up to Red Lodge (because it's my favorite) so I could run 12 while Mitch climbed the pass.

For the last two weeks I have put in some serious back to back long run weekends - both with a combined mileage of 30'ish miles. This week is somewhat of a taper week since we have a race next weekend and my body was telling me that it might have been overdue. I was tired and struggled to maintain my normal downhill speed. No records set for my birthday run, but it's all good. It was a gorgeous day and I soaked it up by stopping in some pretty places to soak my hat in the creek and take pictures.

I climbed down off the road at Lake Fork Road into a little clearing for my first hat plunge. Rock Creek is very cold (it's snow melt-off, so yeah) and nothing feels better on a warm day than a cold hat on your head.

A few miles down the road from the last stop, I thought I would take the road down to a campground and use the restroom. The road was longer than I thought, so I never got there. Instead, I took a few minutes to unload my hydro vest, consume a gel and get pictures in this very pretty place. Oh... and soak my hat, again.

This view from the road shows what a beautiful day it was.

This house just outside of Red Lodge: If anyone wants to buy this for me for a birthday present, I will not argue.

Post long run dip. I was very brave and sat my butt all the way down in the water. As I said above, Rock Creek is VERY cold. I stayed in longer than usual. My new water shoes are great!

Mitch doesn't believe in ice baths so he was stumped as to why I would want to take one.

We had lunch at our traditional spot in Red Lodge before heading home. Later, Mitch took me out for a nice dinner at Umi's Hibachi grill. I have come to the conclusion that I have the most popular day for a birthday! There were at least 4 other people at the restaurant celebrating. I know this because a parade of employees make a racket with drums and chimes and then sing Happy Birthday if they know about it. The gal at our table who was also celebrating must have asked them not to do that because all they did for her was bring sake for us all to toast. We kept mine completely hush, hush but I got to live vicariously through several other people.

Sushi for an appetizer. Mitch had his first taste of real sushi, but I had to take the mango off first.

The "onion volcano." They do the same show every time and I wonder if the chefs get tired of it.

After dinner we went to Doc Harper's. I've been wanting to check it out since they opened, but I knew they would be $$ and I was right. $9.50 for a standard size martini glass. This is an Espresso Martini which was delicious, but for the same price I could have had a fishbowl size margarita at Dos Machos. That being said, it was nice to not be tanked the rest of the night.

And so ended my birthday. It was a busy and beautiful day full of things I love doing. What more can a girl ask for?

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A look back to June 1 - Global Running Day

For my upcoming July marathon, I ordered a pair of Altra One 2.5s which arrived in perfect time to wear on Global Running Day. If I had known how clown-like the shape would be, I probably would have chosen a different color. I have named these in my Strava account as my "Ronald McDonalds." I'm still deciding whether they are awesome or not. I ordered them because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Altra Superior trail runners. These are as close in weight and design as I could find in a road shoe. I'll review them once I have a few run a few more miles. The first couple of runs were tough, but that is true of most new shoes. By the end of yesterday's long run, they seemed to be breaking in so I have hope.