Michigan, Chickens, and Wedding stuff

Once again, I'd like to apologize for my long period of silence. I didn't intend on leaving such a long gap between posts, but alas, life got in the way. Who knew that weddings were kind of a big deal to plan!? 

Fear not though, running is still up there in my priorities. And I am slowly clawing my way back to a full recovery! Thank you knees, you wonderful Dears, you. 

So what have I been doing for the past couple of months? Mostly wedding planning, gift making, and traveling back home to Michigan to celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year with my family. There's been some running sprinkled in between, and a lot of eating. The holidays were a pretty exhausting time, as you can probably tell from the bags in my eyes in this photo. Jon and I were jet lagged and had a really hard time sleeping for the first couple of days.

I've been on a strict regimen of slow and easy running, thanks to my virtual Coach, Mathew Nark. I've been running "easy" for so long that I think my legs forgot how to actually move fast. My easy pace is a nice and chill 10:00-10:30 minute pace, and is also my MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) pace (148 bpm heart rate).

My trip to Michigan kind of threw all that out of the window. For some reason I was struggling to maintain a low heart rate and my legs felt like lead. It only became more challenging when a pile of snow decided to dump from the sky. The weather shifted from an unusually warm 50 degree high, green grass and sunny skies, to a white out 20-30 degree high and a snow/sleet storm. 

some rain, green grass, and warmer temps to start with!

Running in it was tricky because, well, my Mom lives out in the sticks. They hardly plow the roads, and didn't plow the roads until several days after the snow fall. I was running in the single tire track that was impressed into the fluffy white snow. It only became more challenging when they decided to plow since it shaved the roads into a slippery sheet of ice. 

trying to not die but the roads are deceivingly icy.  

I have no idea how to run in the snow. I didn't have cleats for traction so I kind of just hopped from different parts of the road that looked a bit more solid. My Hoka One One Challengers did decently well in the terrain and I can happily say that I left without falling on my face. Even with stupid jumping photos.

While it was great to be back home and see family that I haven't seen in years, I was also looking forward to being reunited with our furry and feathered friends. My family doesn't possess any animals of any sort, so Jon and I were seriously deprived. Seriously. When we went to go look at our wedding venue, we saw a barn cat and I'm pretty sure 90% of our attention was on that cat. 

The barn cat we almost stole.

I have to say, probably the worst thing about rural Michigan is the food. We were stripped from our hippy dippy California grocery stores and crowded farmers markets, and left with lots of frozen food, fast food, pizza and what we call, "sad eggs". Jon and I have become pretty snobby about our meat and eggs, since we now know just how lovable and full of personality our chickens are and want others to have a bit of freedom and happiness too. 

My visit to the chiropractor had me complaining to him about how achy I felt in Michigan. My joints hurt, and I briefly and privately thought maybe I was getting a form of arthritis. Wrists, knees, back, hips...they all hurt. ESPECIALLY my back. The first thing he asked me was, "Well what kind of food were you eating?" followed by a sheepish grin from me. While I still consider myself to be pretty healthy, I did indulge in a lot of pizza, pastas, and foods that I don't normally eat out here. It explains all the inflammation...

Oh, and speaking of eggs! Our chickens are laying! My running obsession has transformed into a farming/chicken obsession. I may have to transform my blog into "farmlittlegoat". If you haven't had a real farm fresh egg, you are missing out. They taste so much better and are much higher in nutrients. The egg white is firm and tall, and the yolks range from a darker yellow to a dark orange depending on what the chickens have foraged.

Look at those dark orange yolks. This was our first egg, a double yolker at that!

Anywho, that's all I have to post about for now. I have a backlog of things I'd like to write about, but will have to save those for when I have some time to really organize my thoughts. Thanks for reading! Here's a couple bonus photos from our time in Michigan.