Cold Running.

Monday, Erica was out of town so I did my own workout while watching 30 Rock. It was pretty much the best at-home workout that I've done. Even though the cardio was way down, today I can tell that I did some work. I can't always tell when I'm on my own. It's as though I quit before my muscles even get tired.

Our 2nd session starts next week. During this first 12 week session, my body fat went down 2%. So, that's pretty awesome. Equally awesome is that the dip in body fat has not affected my milk production at all. Yays all around.

Thursdays and Saturdays, Erica and I have been meeting for super early runs. Like, 630am. This means, 30 minutes before the sun rises and before the world warms. Things look a lot different at this time when you are outside vs. gazing out the kitchen window over a warm cup of coffee. For one, it's dark. Good news: don't have to worry about makeup. Bad news: can't really see anything. I had intended on bringing flashlights and a pair of gloves on Thursday. I ended up bringing zero flashlights and two right-hand gloves. I woke up 10 minutes before I was supposed to leave, so I still consider this to be a "win".

Today, we met at 715a, which felt like I slept in. We only had 30 minutes so we did 15 min out and back. It was seriously frigid. I could only find one glove, so I voted on pulling my hands inside my sleeves. It's weird how it's so different running in the cold. I'm not as concerned with UV exposure since we are running so early, but my skin still suffers dryness and chapping from exposure. Regardless, it's so nice running with someone. It's especially nice running with someone that I've known for a decade.

2.91 miles in 30 minutes.

Fruitless Fall.

I read the most amazing book this past week. It's "Fruitless Fall" and it is all about honey bees and colony collapse disorder. It was a very interesting read--full of information but told in a way which draws you in. Basically, it's not just one thing that's wiping out the bees, it's a bunch of different things from insecticides, mites, viruses, fungi, you name it. The cool thing is that if you let these diseases, etc. take their course, stronger bees come out of it and make stronger generations who are more resilient to these calamities. And of course, the less we mess with the bees the better they do. There are some really interesting bits about pollination (did you know vanilla beans are the most labor-intensive crop because they are pollinated by hand? vanilla's natural pollinator is extinct) and ecology. If you walk away from this not wanting to set up a hive, then you obviously were reading a different book altogether.

In other news, Erica and I ran 5+ miles on Saturday morning--it was a balmy 46 degrees. We also met super early this morning and ran 6 ish miles. We both left our Garmins at home so I really have no idea how far we went. It was 25 chilly degrees as the sun rose and such a pretty run. We saw one other runner out, and he's that guy that even I think "Oh, jeez. Take a break," because he is out every. single. morning. regardless of weather. That caused me to question what I was doing out there, though only briefly because I was having such a nice time.