Yesterday night, I met my friends Sara and Harley at the Pine Hollow Trail head for a fun run organized by the Cuyahoga Valley National Parks Assoc. They offered a few trails that you could run, we chose the 5 mile loop that ended up being the same loop we did for the Muddy Paws. But that was fine, b/c it is super challenging. The trail has several very technical part and a lot of really steep hills/stairs. So, it was a sweaty, muggy, exerted 5 miler last night. I felt great when we were done, and made myself charge up the hills even if I had to walk it out at the top. We really enjoyed ourselves and capped the night with dinner at the winking lizard. For those of you who don’t know CVNP has a series of races in the fall, every Tuesday in Oct. They take place at different locations and you don’t know what you are doing until you show up. Once we did a team relay, once there was geocaching. It’s a great way to see the parks and have some fun. For $75 you can get all 5 races and a really kickass Pearl Izumi pullover with fall running series embroidered on the back and some of that money goes to the park. You can sign up online, go to the CVNP website or go into Fleet Feet. Good stuff. If you don’t want to fork out $75, you can just pay $5 for each run.

So, I didn’t get home until after 10 and by the time I was showered and in bed it was 11. 5:30 came way too quickly. But I knew Ilana was waiting for me so I dragged my tired body out of bed and ran 5 miles with her. We ran up Fairmount Blvd to Richmond road which is a steady incline that is deceptively hard. But you get to fly on the way back down. So, here I sit at my desk. My legs are pleasantly heavy, but I am tired. I didn’t get enough sleep and I prefer to have 12 hours between my runs if I can help it. Tonight if I can get home in time I want to go to yoga.

I am excited b/c I just printed out a HM plan for Gary. He wants to do the one I am doing in CA in Oct with me. I am thrilled! He’s never ran over 5 miles, but he is super fast and is totally built for running. I hope he gets the bug.

Do you find Patrick Stewart yummy? Baldness and accents = yummy in my world.