New blog, who dis? You may have noticed that Runs With Pugs has enjoyed a bit of a facelift. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for the past few months, and finally moved forward. I hope you love it as much as I do (photos to come so keep reading)!
Sunday – 3 miles, walking + Plank Challenge Day 24
Sundays call for gentle walks, so off I went.
I certainly wasn’t sad to come home to these yummy pancakes, either.
We also said goodbye to our puppy houseguest. We loved having him and we can’t wait for him to return. Luan tis super sad to be without her buddy, but she also took some serious naps after he left.
Monday – 4.62 miles, speedwork/walking + Plank Challenge Day 25
Speedwork…. ugh!
I stuck with the whole five 1/4 mile repeats, with 1/4 mile recovery in between. For my next trick, I may try to head out of the neighborhood and hit the bridge for some hill work.
Tuesday – 5.01 miles, running + .57 miles, walking + Plank Challenge Day 26
J’s schedule means our Tuesday run time is on a tighter schedule, but that’s ok. We make it work, and if I need to get up earlier for extra distance, then so be it.
Cooking club! On today’s schedule was a one-pot lasagna meal and rosemary parmesan focaccia. This was another keeper of a recipe.
Wednesday – 3.76 miles, walking + Plank Challenge Day 27
Sure, the morning walk was fabulous.
But can we talk about National Chocolate Cake Day? Yes, I had to throw a cake together in honor of the occasion, and it was quite tasty.
Thursday – 5.01 miles, running + 2.00 miles, walking + Plank Challenge Day 28
Guys, I can’t explain it, but this run dragged forever. The company was great, and the weather was fine, but it felt like we were out there for days. I had to wind down with a good stretch afterwards.
We spent all of the rest of the day on school. A had procrastinated on a lot of his work, so he needed to complete it all. He got it done, but I hope he learned a big lesson about staying on track.
Friday – 3.4 miles, walking + 2.12 miles, hiking + Plank Challenge Day 29
I went for a quick, quick walk.
And then I took the day to myself. The boys had a father/son day planned, so I had a “me” day. I went to Washington Oaks State Park for some hiking and sight-seeing.
Next up? Tacos for lunch.
I ran some errands, and finally made my way home. Our neighborhood hosted a Food Truck Friday, so we walked to get dinner, too. I was straight up worn out by bedtime.
Saturday – 9 miles, running + 1.36 miles, walking + Plank Challenge Day 30
Would you believe that there was a 20 degree temperature jump from the start of my run to the end??? I was so uncomfortable the whole time because I couldn’t sort out what to wear.
I confess that I took a nap after lunch. I just wanted to stretch out, and get some rest. Then we rallied for an incredible movie night.
Goal-getting
Here we go.
I confess that even though I planked daily, I had to leave off the actual challenge moves. They just proved to be more than I could handle, which was upsetting, but also, planking is planking.
So about that new blog makeover? Here it is! It’s just what I needed (thank you to HelloYayDesign for all your hard work and expertise!).
On tap for February are a few new things. For example, I am leaving planks behind and trying a Balance Challenge.
And I am also establing a 14-day Kindness Challenge in honor of Valentine’s Day. It’s going to be great to do with A and his friend, so I’m looking forward to it.
I am linking up with the Weekly Rundown, with Confessions of A Mother Runner and Running on the Fly! Check them out!
How was your week in training?
Who’s ready for February? Any special plans or challenges on your horizon?
The new blog looks great! I haven’t updated mine in awhile. It always feels like so much work whenever I try to make some changes. Great job with your workouts this week!
I paid the designer to install it. I just didn’t want to do the work LOL!
I love your blog update, especially the colors, and you weekly goal tracker is awesome!
The one pot lasagna looked really good – I’m all about anything that requires less dish cleanup, lol.
It was a great recipe! I can send it over to you, if you like. It was quick to make and there’s lots of room for variations.
yes new blog looks great! Another strong week of workouts for you. Way to finish the month strong
Whoo hoo! Thank you!
Love the facelift, the blog looks great!
Also, your food pictures are always amazing. Those tacos…and the pancakes!!
Beautiful flowers too on your hike.
Great job on the plank challenge!
Thank you and thank you! It’s hard to photograph food and the lighting in my kitchen is awful. I have to work hard to make sure everything looks appetizing.
Those flowers on your hike are so colorful! This morning while I was skiing I kept thinking how everything is white right now and it is messing with my head, lol! I try to dress as brightly as possible. Thank goodness for inknburn.
I love the new blog design! So fresh!
Have a great week!
We definitely don’t have the problem of non color here. We are now in azalea season!
Thank sos much! I’m so happy with it!
That lasagna tho! It really cheers me up to see all of your FL photos and to know that there’s a place in this world that’s not buried under snow and ice. I’m looking forward to spring. Great job this week!
Yeah, no snow or ice here, that’s for sure!
The lasagna was good. I don’t love lasagna, so this was a nice way to change it up, and there are so many ways to vary the recipe. This one had sausage, but it could be meatless, or full of veggies.
Spring will be here soon!
The blog looks great! Great job finishing the plank challenge, but yes–planks are planks 😉 I think I’m going to incorporate some ab/core work this next month and UP my plank game. The balance challenge sounds like a fun thing to focus on!
Balance is mostly easy for me, but it will help me strengthen my right side. I’ve been totally lazy about that. I got a little frustrated to not finish ALL the cool planks, but my toes and leg couldn’t take it.The balance should be more manageable and get me revved up about something for March.
I do like the new look! OMG those pancakes! They look so fluffy and delicious! You’re running is going so well — I bet the balance work will help too.
Mr PugRunner made them and it was the first time we didn’t have any sacrifice pancakes (for some reason, the first 1-2 are always awful and go straight to the dogs).
I hope the balance workr is great.
That park looks amazing! As does your blog.
Some runs suck for no known reason!
This week should be snow, snow, & then some more snow. Tis the season.
A kindness challenge is always a good thing!
Neat! We are expecting cold and wind, wind and cold. Luna’s ears got blown around yesterday, and made her cry (she does NOT like her ears to blow).
It was a beautiful park, and I am in love with my blog!
Your blog looks great! Can’t wait to hear how the balance challenge goes, and also the kindness countdown. Did you get that from somewhere, or make it up yourself? Maybe I’ll throw a couple of those into my week!
I made it up myself. I am happy to send the pdf your way if you would like it. You can really just do them on your own, but I frame them and let A mark off completed tasks with a dry erase marker.
Love the new blog look! January was great for you and just because you couldn’t do all the plank moves certainly doesn’t mean a fail, quite the opposite!! you continued with what YOU can and that’s what it was about right?
love your Feb plans as well <3 I also really need to work on my balance.
I did get a little frustrated about the planks, but it wasn’t worth being in pain.
Join me in the challenge! It’s not a huge time commitment, and can easily be done while cooking or standing or brushing your teeth!
Is your son’s cooking class Scouting related? Thanks for posting the balancing challenge!
It’s a virtual club through his virtual school. He had Scouts after the club, so he was just being efficient.
Let me know if you give it a try. It looks manageable, but also, just want my body needs.
Pretty new blog! Thanks for sharing who helped with the design because let’s just say mine is not so fresh anymore! Love the kindness challenge! I’ve got a mountain of towels/linens etc in the garage that needs to go to the animal shelter.
Marcia recently posted…Snow Run? Snow Bird? Snowed In
Definitely check her out! She has a huge sale going on, and she was a dream to work with.
My running buddy wanted to include her children in some helpful, community service type things, so I came up with something for us all to do. I love keeping the focus on giving and kindness.
Productive fitness week! Love the new look!
And those tacos look soooo good!
Thank you! And these are literally the best tacos. One was pork fried rice, and the other was skirt steak with avocado, potato sticks, and some yummy sauces and veggies. Delicious.
I love your new blog design! And I love the collage wall behind you. I’m working on something similar and just can’t seem to pull it all together… I think I just need to start from scratch. I’ve also been talking forever about redesigning my blog. It’s looked the same forever!
Send A to Virginia to cook for me!
I’ll pack his bags and his cookbooks! He’s so good in the kitchen!
Sometimes, when you have a collage wall, you have to just take it all down, clear your head and try again. It took a few tries to get what I wanted.
Love the new look.
Mine has looked the same since 2008. lol.
Good job on your challenges and runs.
Things are looking pretty snowy up north.
I love to see your son enjoy cooking! Great job on running 9 miles. I also love to see how involved and active you are to make sure your son is doing his schoolwork. Sadly it doesn’t happen in my classroom.
Nice blog update! I cooked with my son tonight. He did most of the work and I just instructed. He made fried rice. It’s interesting to see how much kids enjoy helping out with meals – they just need to be invited! I’m all about then learning those life skills. Your meal sounds delicious!
I love when the kids cook. It is such a great skill and he will definitely get a lot of use out of it in the future.