We started the morning with the continental breakfast again, and then I headed out to run. I technically had 6 miles on the schedule, but had trouble finding a trail so I decided to settle for 5. But then the trail ended earlier than expected and it ended up being 4.5. I’m realizing I’m not taking this training cycle or race too seriously so I’m ok with it. We found a bike path that went near the square and through vineyards.

Then, we went to Cornerstone Gardens for lunch.

Asian chicken salad with mango for me. For dessert, my family split a balsamic strawberry parfait and a strawberry torta, which was warm cake with strawberries baked in the center.

Then, we walked around the gardens a bit.

This picture shows a really cool display-a wishing tree. People write wishes on sparkly tape and tie it to the tree.

After the gardens, we returned home.

Ok-onto the life news. After being sick a fair amount last quarter, I thought I was better, or at least mostly so. However, I had another incident of the really sick feeling Monday night. I was planning on going to Crossfit, but halfway there I turned around and decided I wasn’t up to it, which I was extremely bummed about. If I had to guess, rich cake combined with my long run set it off. I spent the next few days feeling yucky on and off. It’s partly why I shorted my runs. It’s not a consistent sick feeling, but it’s kind of unpredictable. I feel pretty good right now, and I’m REALLY hoping I’ll be ok to do 15.5 tonight, but I really won’t know until tonight. After a rough evening Wednesday, I decided I should return to the doctor. He thinks it may be diet related, so I get to go on an elimination diet to try and identify a common trigger. The three things to cut out are dairy, gluten, and nuts, and I’ll add them back in a week at a time (minus nuts because of my allergy). As a result, things may look a little different around here for a while. I’ve been mostly avoiding dairy although definitely not completely lately, and I need to be more careful with nuts, including coconut which I have a mild allergy to but usually don’t avoid. So I’ll keep you guys updated on that and hope something works so that I can be back to 100% soon!

A foot update-today I visited my dad’s physical therapist so that he could check out my foot (plantar fasciitis). He thinks I shouldn’t run so much, and I’m considering cutting back for a while. I know I want to do the Giant’s Race in August, but I would consider doing the 10k instead of the half and focusing on other things instead-more on that in a second. He told me that my calf on my bad foot is pretty weak, and I walk badly on that foot-one of those things has caused the other so that’s something else I need to work on.

In terms of happier news, I will probably be focusing on spin a lot more in the coming months! I think I will be teaching more regularly at the gym I sub at, but in addition, I got hired at another place to sub! I’m extremely excited about this because it is the gym that I’ve always gone to, that I took my first spin class at, and that I learned to love fitness at. It’s a chain gym, and I always felt that if I was teaching there, I’ve met my spin teaching dream. Ahhh! Additionally, I still need continuing education units in the next year, so I see lots of workshops in my future!

What’s up with you?

My family just got back from a little mini-vacation to Sonoma, by way of Muir Woods.

Muir Woods is a Redwood Forest, and I haven’t been in 15 years, so it was a perfect stop on the way to Sonoma.

We took the 2 mile trail, which took us about an hour, with plenty of picture stops.

(Working on teaching my mom proper selfie form)

The redwoods were beautiful. I think the pictures speak for themselves!

We got a bit of a late start, so we were plenty hungry for lunch when we finished the hike! We stopped in Mill Valley for lunch, which had an adorable little downtown. My mom and I split an artichoke and a chicken balsamic chicken sandwich with garlic aioli.

After walking around a bit, we made the rest of the drive to Sonoma. My parents walked around the square a bit while I iced my sore foot, and we ordered room service for dinner-a turkey wrap for me!

Wednesday morning, I started with a training run on the treadmill-4 miles. Breakfast was a complimentary continental buffet, but they had tons of options!

The muffin ended up having nuts. Boo!

Then, we were off to explore the square.

Chocolate tasting! We came home with a box. They had samples of the apricot ganache filling of the apricot truffles, so I had to bring home one of those!

The Sonoma Mission:

I found us a fantastic little lunch place-The Sunflower Caffe. They had outdoor patio seating, with a fountain. On a California spring day, this was perfect.

I had the Vegan Pita, which was a whole wheat pita stuffed with greens, avocado, and a bean salad and served with red pepper sauce. Delicious!

Sonoma square:

There’s a lot of history here. The square was the site of the Bear Flag Revolt, where California declared its independence from Mexico in 1846.

M&M cookie from a little bakery.

In the afternoon, we visited some dogs. My family may be getting a puppy this summer, so we went to meet a breeder and her beautiful dogs.

On the way back, we passed a dairy farm with a whole bunch of calves out front. Since I’ve been obsessed with ruminants (especially cows) lately, we pulled off to get a closer look. This guy was friendly!

As promised, I will have a post on the dairy industry and cows up soon!

We went to the El Dorado Kitchen for a nice dinner.

Roasted brussels sprouts.

Cod with roasted cauliflower and grapes.

And caramel banana upside down cake with meyer lemon ice cream. Amazing.

After dinner, we saw Insurgent. I didn’t love it. I thought the first book in the series was the best anyways, but I don’t love the actor who played Tris. She seemed a little whiny, and I thought there were some bad special effects. The books are always better though! Did anyone else see it?

Since this post is getting long, I’ll cut it off here and throw the last few things into my life update post!

What is your favorite animal?