Bookend

Last week I logged more mileage than I have in months – 22 miles! Seriously – the last time I broke the 20 mile mark was the week of of May 28^th. 

Really the week was nothing spectacular – I took two walks, rode twice, and attended a single yoga class. But it’s another step in the right direction.

Most of that mileage (20 miles) was crammed into this weekend.

Things started off on Friday night when Ryan and I decided we wanted to ride our bikes to Danny’s Pizzeria, our favorite pizza place, for dinner. It’s only a mile away from out house so we decided to take a little 6 mile detour on our way there:

It’s funny because there are days we won’t even want to drive six miles to pick up dinner. But if riding a bike is involved we’ll willingly add several miles to our trip – just to be out on our bikes!

Saturday morning I met a good friend down at the Ringling Bridge for a walk – we ended up logging 3.5 miles which is the furthest I’ve walked since Peachtree on the 4th of July.

I’m still toying with the idea of signing up to walk the MCM10K – which is run on the same day as the Marathon, so I’m trying to get my legs used to longer distances again.

The 3.5 miles with Kerri on Saturday morning flew by – likely because we hadn’t seen each other in MONTHS & we had a lot to catch up on! So much more enjoyable to be out there with a buddy!

I bookended the weekend with another ride out to Robinson Preserve. This time I took a longer route to get to the park so I would end up with about 10 miles for the ride.

It was a gorgeous evening for a ride to begin with & the sites at Robinson Preserve didn’t disappoint!

RP has a mix of paved trails and shell trails & since I was on my touring bike (with slightly fatter tires than a regular road bike) I was able to make my way through most of the park.

There is also a “fitness circuit” in the park! At various intervals along the 2.2 mi paved Spoonbill Trail, signs are posted with various exercises – squats, lunges, pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups.

On your way “out” you’re supposed to go through the circuit and complete the exercises, and then walk or run the 2.2 miles “back” to the start. It’s one of those things I’ve always looked at & said “That would be fun!” One of these days I’m actually going to give the circuit a shot!

After dilly-dallying at the preserve for a while I knew it was time to head back home. The sun was starting to set & although I have lights on my bike I didn’t want to be on the roads after dark. Well…and I was hungry…so I high-tailed it back home.

Definitely a nice way to end the weekend & a nice way to end what I consider a “successful” week during this comeback. I’m determined to make this week just as good!

WHAT ABOUT YOU: How did you stay active this weekend? Do you have any parks near you with a fitness trail?