If you're happy and you know it...

...clap your hands!

Ok, so I recently posted about how lazy and unmotivated I've been lately.  And how I only want to eat foods that aren't particularly good for me and how I've gained weight and blah blah blah.

Well, I'm training for a half marathon.  And I've been beating myself up because I haven't ACTUALLY been training.  The longest run I've done in my life has been 8 miles and that was at sea level.  The longest run I've done for this training is 6 miles...

... until Saturday.  A dear friend persuaded me to "poach" the hospital's "Bfit" program. They mark trails for long runs.  So, I joined her Saturday morning in the cool, cloudy weather and we ran 10 miles!  YEP!  I'm officially back on my training!  Woohoo!  I was so proud of us.  And I am feeling so much better about the race.  If I can do 10... I can do 13.1!  I just know it!!!

For some reason, at one point during the run, I kept singing "If you're happy and you know it..." with obnoxious repetition.  Thus the name of the post.

What also makes me happy is the fact that AFTER a 10 mile run, I felt good enough to go on a 7 mile bike ride!  Then I came home and did 1 hour of yoga!  What the heck is going on with me?  It's awesome!

 I was all excited from my epic day of exercise yesterday and agreed to another mountain bike ride with Mike today.  It was cloudy and drizzly... and there was an 80% chance of precip... but it's Tahoe.  It's never rains here.

Well, we climbed all the way to the top and guess what? It started raining.  Pretty hard by Tahoe standards.  THEN, on our way down, it started hailing!  And let me tell you something... hail hurts!  We had no choice but to keep riding.  I wanted to ride fast to get it over with, but the faster you ride, the harder it hits you.  As painful as it sounds, I couldn't stop laughing the whole time.  We were fine and we came home to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and steaming bowls of chili.  So warm and comforting.

There was one tiny little mishap at the start of the ride.  There are lots of dogs on this road (it starts as a road, then you drop into the trails at the top).  There was this dog on one side of the road, and (typical of dogs) it decided to dash suddenly across the road, right in front of my bike.  Basically, I t-boned the dog... it yelped... I went down.  It was all very graceful.  Luckily, I was fine.  The dog was fine.  And the owner of the dog was very apologetic.

Anyway, I'm very happy (and I know it) to be feeling a little better.  I think I'm slowly crawling out of the funk I've been in lately.  I fully intend to keep this momentum.  Also, what makes me VERY happy, is the random surprise we got this week from two of our friends in NC.  They sent us a HUGE canvas picture that they took while they were out here visiting.  It's a panoramic shot from the top of Mt. Tallac and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We have the best friends!  I'm sort of hoping to do a smallish living room remodel (mostly furniture... hopefully) and then I'll post some pics of the picture in all it's glory on our wall!  Stay tuned!

Sorry for the lack of pictures!  

Mother's Day and Downieville... again

Let me start by saying how AWESOME Friday night was.  We didn't do anything exciting BUT, we did have an awesome thunderstorm... with RAIN!  We got some snow during the past week but that all melted pretty quickly.  The thunder clouds started rolling in Friday afternoon.  We cooked dinner and sat at our table which is next to the window.  We just sat and watched it storm.  It was SO nice.

Saturday morning we woke up early, fixed breakfast (grits, bacon and eggs... yum) and then headed back out to Downieville so that I could ride the mountain bike trail.  It's 16 miles of downhill-ish biking (there's some climbing involved, but not much).  It was awesome.  We had just enough time to eat a burger and fries for lunch, then took the shuttle back up to the truck and headed for home.

GLAD I DIDN'T NEED THAT BACKBOARD! 

THERE'S A SWING ON THE TRAIL

THE TRAIL FOLLOWS THE BEAUTIFUL YUBA RIVER

SUCH BEAUTIFUL WATER!

Sunday morning I woke up early (on the one day I could've slept in... ridiculous).  We had breakfast... went to church... and then went paddleboarding on Fallen Leaf Lake and Lily Lake.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures though.  Not even 1 single picture.  Oops.  It was a beautiful day.  We were excited to paddle Fallen Leaf because it's usually too rough.  It was flat and calm...

... until we got out into the middle of the lake.  Then the winds picked up and created white caps (small ones... but still).  We sat on someone's dock for a while, waiting on the wind to die down. There house was all boarded up so we figured we were ok borrowing their dock for a few minutes.  When the wind didn't die down as quickly as we hoped, we paddled back, and drove a little further down the road to Lily Lake.

Lily Lake is beautiful but small, and much less clean/clear.  It's a little murky but it was full of wildlife... geese and their babies... huge beaver dams and some small little dams that created a wetland effect.  Plus, you're surrounded by HUGE mountains that still have a little bit of snow on them. It was nice.

We came home for lunch and talked with our moms to wish them a happy mother's day.  Then switched our boards for our bikes and headed out to ride a local trail with some friends.  Overall, it was a great weekend, full of adventures... just the way we like it.

To our mother's: Words can't even express how much you both mean to us.  You raised us to be the people we are today (and we think we're pretty awesome).  I'm so grateful for your support and encouragement.  Thank you for being a wonderful role model to me.   If we ever settle down and if we are blessed enough to have children of our own, I hope I can be half the mother that you two were to us.  We love you dearly.  We miss you so much but we appreciate your support.  

Downieville, CA

I've been packing our camping stuff all week because I was so excited to get away for the weekend.  We planned a trip to Downieville, California for camping and mountain biking.  It's a popular mountain biking spot along the Yuba river where you can get shuttled to the top of the mountain and ride 15ish miles downhill to the town. 

Friday afternoon when I got home from work, Mike had the truck all loaded up and ready to go.  We hit the road by 4:00 and we were setting up our campsite by 6:00.  We were lucky to get the last campsite that you could reserve ahead of time.  We didn't get to pick our site... we just had to accept what was available.  It was by far the best campsite in the whole campground.  We were the closest site to the river.  We put our tent as close as possible without actually being IN the river.  It was shady and private.  It couldn't have been any better.  

SWEET LITTLE WATERFALL ON THE WAY. 

 Our first evening at the campsite, we were surrounded by mosquitos.  I hate mosquitos.  I'm terrified of covering myself in Deet because I've known people who got deet poisoning and apparently it's not pleasant.  I put on long pants and a long sleeve shirt but they were still biting.  I broke down and sprayed my clothes with bug spray.  I was so bummed.  The mosquitos were ruining my mood.  

Luckily, we didn't have to deal with them for long!  Right after setting up our gear we made a fire and smoked them all out of the campsite.  We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores.  I was happy again.  The next day, the weather was BEAUTIFUL!  It was a perfect 70ish degrees with a breeze that kept ALL the bugs away... except this one: 

 The next morning, Mike and his friend had reservations on the 9:00 am shuttle.  I had planned to take Zater for a long run to wear him out, then he was going to hang with Mike's friend while he fished so Mike and I could take the 1:00 shuttle.  

I decided to ride my bike instead of running and there was a perfect little fire road across from the campsite where I knew Z could run off a leash and there wouldn't be any traffic. It was an uphill ride for me but the grade was very gradual and easy.  Most of the road was in the shade and the temperature was perfect.  

We made it back to the campsite by noon.  I fixed a sandwich.  I waited on Mike to come back.  He didn't.  So, at about 12:40 I loaded up in the truck and headed into Downieville to see what was going on.  I got there a few minutes before 1:00 and Mike had JUST finished riding.  He was hungry and tired.  There was NO way we were making the 1:00 shuttle so he moved us to the 3:00 shuttle.  

I decided to walk around downtown Downieville before heading back to the campsite.  That didn't take long.  It is an adorable little town.  

ELEVATION 2900'
POPULATION: 325
"DOWNIEVILLE: A WAY OF LIFE"

THE ONE LANE BRIDGE INTO TOWN.

That's it.  You've literally just seen the entire town.  It's tiny.  But awesome. 

So, sitting around the campsite before our 3:00 shuttle, Mike changes his flat and does some maintenance to his bike.  To make a long story short, his bike was ride-able but not in perfect working order.  Plus, he looked tired.  I knew he didn't really want to go on a second lap so we decided just to hang by the river for the rest of the day.  (Luckily the shuttle company was kind enough to give us a refund).  

After ALL that excitement about riding... I wasn't even going to get to go.  But, we are planning a way to make up for that... which may include going back to Downieville again next weekend for a day trip???  Possibly?  

Anyway, we swam in the river.  I lounged in the hammock and read a book about hiking the Appalachian Trail (it's called A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and it's hysterical - I highly recommend it). We ate salt and vinegar chips until our tongues felt weird (kinda fuzzy???).  It was nice.  We made an early campfire and cooked cheeseburgers.  We sat around the fire for hours and watched a HUGE moon rise.  Of course we ate s'mores again and then headed to bed.  I was bummed to miss the bike ride.  After all, that was WHY we were in Downieville.  But, I must admit it was still a pretty awesome day.  

Sunday morning we drank our coffee by the fire, toasted bagels with our marshmallow roasting sticks, and waited for the sun to come all the way up.  The weather at night was crisp and perfect for sleeping next to a river.  The mornings were chilly but the daytime was warm and sunny.  

Once we were all packed up, we decided to take the scenic route.  We drove up the fire road across from the campground.  

PACKER LAKE

LOWER SARDINE LAKE

BEAUTIFUL LAKE TAHOE!!! 

 It was SO nice to get out of town and see a new place this weekend... 

but it was also so nice to come home to this beautiful place.  

I still can't believe we live here.  

Hope you had a wonderful weekend too!