State Eve

Hey guys!

I just got back from my final practice match for the USTA state tennis tournament, which starts tomorrow. Last year was my first year playing singles at state and it went pretty well. I only lost to one lady (two times) and I won my other two matches, so overall I was pleased. I’m really excited to play again this year. It seems like I have prepared a little bit more this year, so hopefully that will pay off some. My first match is tomorrow at 12:30. It’s gonna be super hot! There is no shade on the courts whatsoever, which means that the heat index out there is unreal. I’ve got all my supplies ready to go though, don’t worry.

They include lots of things to help me grip the racket once my hands get sweaty (that was my main problem last year), a cooler to put all my drinks in, a cooling towel to wet and wrap around my neck and shoulders between games, a new YETI stainless steel tumbler that I am super excited about (it is supposed to keep ice twice as long as plastic tumblers and it works just as well for hot beverages), and lots of good nutrition and hydration.

While I was at the courts this morning, I noticed a new sign hanging and thought it was pretty interesting. Tennis is bringing lots of people and having a huge economic impact in Mobile. Pretty cool! While I was standing there the guy that did all the research for the sign actually walked up and so we chatted about it for a few minutes. He seemed to be really appreciative that someone was interested in his work. I told him I’d put it up on my blog 🙂

Let’s see, so what else has been going on? Well, my mom and I had a nice long walk yesterday morning. We walked six miles. While I wouldn’t necessarily classify six miles as a long way (to run), it definitely felt like a long walk. We have always enjoyed walking and talking, it’s kind of our thing.

I think that walking is a wonderful way to add in some cross training, so to speak, to get a break from the repetitive nature of running. Running is obviously a high impact exercise, which can cause injury to the hip, knee and ankle joints. Walking is a low impact activity and is potentially less damaging to the joints. Walking also burns more fat for fuel than running because while exercising at a lower intensity, fat is being used as fuel. As you increase your exercise intensity from walking into a run, more carbohydrates from your body are used to fuel the exercise. I always end up being pretty sore after the day after a long walk, and I am hardly ever sore after running, so I know walking is working out some different muscle groups, which is another plus.

When we got back from our walk, I was seriously craving some granola, which is very odd. I can’t even remember the last time I had that, but alas I went in search of some granola and ended up at Fresh Market. I have a love hate relationship with that place. I love all of the variety that they have in the store, it’s definitely different brands than your typical grocery store, and their fresh produce and meats are amazing, but the prices are high and I always end up leaving with more than I go in there for (so basically it’s like Target). I went in for granola and left with granola, a bunch of yogurt and two things of trail mix. Le sigh (that is a french sigh in case you weren’t following).

Brooks was feeling somewhat left out and wanted to help me display my granola, which resulted in that you can’t even actually see the granola … but it is Little Red Wagon cranberry orange granola and it is really good. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice until I got home that it says on the back “enjoy by 06/14/15,” so ironically not all that fresh. I was really excited to see that they had a variety of noosa yogurt flavors. Noosa is a really thick, Australian-style yogurt. It is kind of similar to Greek yogurt in that it is thick and has a good bit of protein in it, but it is creamier in my opinion. One of Daniel’s co-workers introduced us to it and we hadn’t been able to find it at any of the local grocery stores. They have it at Target, but only in one flavor, strawberry rhubarb. This was the first time I had seen it anywhere else, so naturally I had to buy one of each flavor. It only makes sense.

Daniel and I went for an easy 5 mile run when he got home from work.

And later I whipped up our third Blue Apron dinner, which was seared steaks and mashed potatoes with sautéed radishes and snap peas. I know I mentioned that the last recipe felt like a lot more work than the first one, but clearly I hadn’t gotten to this one yet … one of the steps was to trim off the ends of the snap peas and pull off the strings that run the length of each pod. I mean really. So basically they just asked me to perform surgery on each one of the peas. Another step had you peel the rind of the lemon and mince to get two teaspoons of zest. I think if I had a peeler or a zester, this step wouldn’t have been that bad, but I am working with a plain, old-fashioned knife so this felt like surgical procedure number two.

All kidding aside, it turned out really well.

If the weather holds up, I’m heading over the Robertsdale later for the Robertsdale Summer Track Series that Rebecca is putting on to raise money for her XC team. Tonight’s events are the 400, 3200 and 4 X 800 relay. Typically if I do a 400 or an 800 on the track it is part of a much longer workout, so I am curious to see what times I will be able to run in this type of setting, while still saving something for the other events. Should be interesting!

Other than that, I’ll just be tennis-ing it up for the next few days. Gotta run!