Los Angeles

Christmas Workouts and The Start of Marathon Training

Christmas has come and gone and nobody is even thinking about it anymore, but I had some good workouts last week that I wanted to share, so everyone’s just going to have to deal. Christmas Eve morning was spent at November Project at the Hollywood Bowl, and I wore my special naughty santa Christmas sweatshirt (that I didn’t take off for the next couple days, apparently).

This workout was SO fun because it was a scavenger hunt and we had to run around the Bowl finding letters and completing the exercises listed before moving onto the next, and finally trying to figure out what the letters spelled out. Many of the exercises included singing Christmas carols while doing burpees. It was also fun because I met fellow blogger Kaitlin over at California Endless Summer. I think this was my first real-life blogging meet-up! She’s a native Southern Californian but now lives in NYC and was visiting family over the holidays.

I stole this picture from Kaitlin.

The whole gang.

After November Project, I had to work at home for a few hours, but then we headed up to Santa Barbara to spend Christmas with my family.

Mandatory sunset beach picture.

On Christmas, we opened presents with my family and then ate the feast my mom cooked and Jeremy, my dad, and I headed down to the beach to watch the sunset, per tradition. It was SO cold and windy (the coldest Christmas in memory).

My medal from the Santa Barbara Half Marathon I ran at the beginning of November finally arrived in the mail (there were delays and didn’t hand them out at the race), so that was exciting.

Jeremy got me this awesome Nike tank that has the Santa Barbara Running Company logo on it, and I can’t wait to wear it when it warms up.

We have been drinking some incredible coffee ever since Christmas…

Christmas sunset.

The day after Christmas, I drove to More Mesa Bluffs to get a run in. I don’t know why I didn’t go here more to run when I lived in Santa Barbara. There were barely any people and I had the trails to myself pretty much (except for a run-in with a couple horses that forced me to run along the edge of the cliff and I was convinced I was going to fall to my death). I completed 4.11 miles @ 9:23 min/mile.

The next day, I ran 3.4 miles @ 9:05 min/mile along beach paths near Santa Barbara City College, where I did stadium stairs after. My mom was walking on the track and took some pictures while I was huffing and puffing up and down the stairs.

View from the top of the stairs.

Side note: My Garmin has been acting up and not working properly so I wanted to do a factory reset to try to get it working again. I watched a video online and it said if I did a ‘soft reset’ it wouldn’t erase my data, so I did that. Well it DID erase all my data and I lost the workouts I hadn’t recorded yet. Good thing I was also using MapMyRun at the time and could manually enter them. But still, it was a little heartbreaking.

Anyway, I got back to Los Angeles Sunday and didn’t exercise since I was starting my marathon training plan the day after. So as of Monday, December 29th, I am officially training for my first marathon! I did 5 miles Monday morning.

First day of training for my first marathon!

First day of training! It was 41 degrees and I was wearing three layers on top.

My marathon (the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon) isn’t until May 24th so I’ve got a good amount of time to build up my distance, and my coach Lauren of The Foodie Runner has created a plan for me and I’m so excited to complete it. I want to do weekly recaps on Sundays of my training; I think it’ll be fun to be able to look back on the entire process.

On New Year’s Eve, I went to November Project in the morning and we did 35 minutes of stadiums stairs, and I ran two miles after. It is so cold in LA right now, and I’m pretty sure it’s cold enough to warrant wearing big winter coats and not being made fun of by the rest of the country. I am so spoiled; I don’t know how you guys live in places with real winters that last for months. It’s been in the 30s when I wake up and the wind was blowing so hard during the NP workout. I DO love wearing my cold weather running gear though, I think it looks so much cooler than tank tops and shorts.

It’s supposed to warm up to the 70s again next week, so normalcy will resume.

The rest of New Year’s Eve was spent enjoying this cheese plate Jeremy made, some sparkling wine, walking to a restaurant in our neighborhood for oysters, and going out with my friend that lives in London now. I made sure not to drink too much so I would feel good for my run the next day, but unfortunately I went to bed really late which always results in horrible sleep. I think I got maybe 2-3 hours. I still did five miles the next day with two fast miles at the end, and I think if I had been fully rested I would have reached my goal paces of 8:30-8:45.

Jeremy’s cheese plate with chicken liver mousse and caviar and toasted sunflower seeds.

The rest of the day was spent eating… I had chilaquiles for brunch and the most delicious tacos from a place called Guisados for dinner.

Hope everyone had an excellent first day of 2015!

I’m All About that Base

Hello! Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Jeremy and I went up to Santa Barbara to spend time with my family, and it was really great. It was about 80 degrees and I spent lots of time at the beach.

I really love being in driving distance to Santa Barbara.

Traditional post-Thanksgiving beach walk.

We were instructed at November Project to take a picture in our shirts and tag it #np_tsa and it took me a while before there was no one around so I could take a selfie without anyone seeing.

Lots of selfie outtakes.

This guy is SUPing (stand-up paddleboarding) with dolphins.

I can’t stop with the beach photos.

From a few weeks ago – three of my favorite things: the beach, Pez the dog, and coffee.

The local running store was having a Black Friday sale. It’s the only sale I attended.

I got this Oiselle shirt, socks, and an armband for my iPhone 6.

I got this Oiselle shirt, Smartwool socks, and an armband for my iPhone 6.

Almost done…

Okay this is the last one.

Anyway, I got a new job and I started a couple weeks ago, so adjusting to that and moving into our new apartment has been… a lot. But everything is good and exciting and moving to a new city is SO FUN. I highly recommend it. My job is downtown L.A., which is not too far from where we live (I was worried about a one-hour commute at least if I got a job anywhere on the west side of the city), and it’s fun to be downtown around lots of cool bars and restaurants and old buildings.

One view from the new office.

My running has felt a little lackluster lately, especially last week. I was on a good run of workout weeks, but last week I slacked. I did five miles in Santa Barbara on Friday that felt good, but I think that was one of two runs last week… oops. My main focus right now is building a good base to start marathon training on January 5th (!!!!!). I’ve enlisted the help of Lauren from The Foodie Runner as my coach for marathon training, and I’m so excited to get started. I am really looking forward to having a training plan, and especially one that’s specifically made for me. I think having someone to keep me accountable and encourage me is going to be so beneficial. I’ve been exploring our new neighborhood a good bit on foot, and am really glad the Silver Lake Reservoir is nearby, it makes for a nice loop. There are also lots of super steep roads around, which will come in handy if I have any hill workouts to do. I’ve been getting a little bit faster, most of my runs are now under 9:30 minutes/mile, so at least there’s that.

Neighborhood view – I love seeing the Hollywood sign.

The local reservoir.

There are a good amount of “secret” staircases in L.A., and I found one of them the other day.

They made for a nice view at the top.

Jeremy and I have also been exploring the restaurants and bars in walking distance to us – this was a really important factor when choosing an apartment. Los Angeles is not known for its walkability, but we can venture out easily and find lots of places to visit within a two-mile radius.

One of the local Mexican restaurants.

Where we got breakfast burritos.

I’ve still been going to November Project every Wednesday morning, and I’m so excited because starting this Friday, it’s being held at Echo Park Lake, which is a 5-10 minute drive from me. I need that cross-training!

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One of our workouts outside the Hollywood Bowl.

Our yearbook photos arrived.

There’s also a studio nearby that’s called YAS Fitness Center, which is half spinning classes half yoga for athlete classes (one class is thirty minutes of one then switches to the other), and they are having a special right now so I think I’ll buy some classes. I haven’t done yoga in a long time (or stretched much) and I know spinning is a great cross-training exercise. Otherwise, I’m going to keep working on my base, hopefully running 20-25 miles a week until January 5th. I keep getting butterflies when I think about marathon training; I know I have to strengthen my mental game for the race too, I’m feeling pretty scared of the distance at the moment.

A few more pictures for good measure.

My favorite juice at my favorite beach.

Sunset from our new porch.

I want to jump in.

Hope everyone has a really great last month of 2014!

For Real This Time

Before Jeremy and I left for Europe, I decided I wanted to run my first full marathon abroad while my parents were visiting, and chose the Cork City Marathon in June. It was not a fully thought through decision, and no one had even planned transportation to get to Ireland. Shortly after, our plans fell through and we all decided to go to Italy instead. For about two weeks, I thought I was starting marathon training. In that time, I realized that training for my first full marathon while traveling would be really hard, and not all that realistic. So, technically I’ve been registered for a marathon before. But this time, it’s for real.

!!!!!!!

A few days ago, I registered for the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon on May 24th. I’d been wanting the Oakland Running Festival Marathon in March to be my first full for a while, but it just seemed too soon and I didn’t really feel comfortable with it. I researched different marathons for weeks, and finally decided on this one. The course starts downtown Ojai, and ends along the ocean in Ventura. It’s close to Santa Barbara so my parents can come, and it’s a holiday weekend so I’ll have an extra day to recover. It’s a pretty small field, but I’m hoping that won’t affect me too much. My next marathon will have to be a big one with lots of crowds to see the difference. I’m working on building a base to start training in January, and I’m pretty excited. The Ojai mountains are beautiful, and it should be a really nice course. It’s also touted as “lightning fast” because of the downhill elevation, but I doubt I’ll be running anywhere near lightning speeds.

I was worried about too much downhill at first, but I read every review of the race I could find and the consensus was that it's a gentle slope that you hardly notice.

I was worried about too much downhill at first, but I read every review of the race I could find and the consensus was that it’s a gentle slope and you hardly notice.

In the meantime, I have the Santa Barbara Half Marathon on Saturday, which I’m not really prepared for. I feel like I’ve said that for my last couple halfs, and I hate it! But with traveling and moving and all that, I’ve been trying to get back into a good running groove. I ran ten miles last weekend, and I did two out-and-backs from the house we’re staying in currently. I thought it might be boring to do this, but it actually made it go by faster because I could think about it in 2.5-mile increments. I also listened to the Serial podcast, which made it go by super fast. I highly recommend it if you want something to get hooked on.

Found some leftover Halloween candy on the ground. I didn’t eat it.

Tried these for the first time. It’s kind of fun eating jellybeans while running, although they stuck to the inside of my shorts pocket because of how sweaty I was… gross.

The Wednesday before Halloween, November Project was having a Not-So-Casual Wednesday workout, and I wore a dress shirt and tie. It got hot really fast.

The only time I dressed up this year for Halloween. I felt like a server at Olive Garden.

The whole gang. I love being at the Hollywood Bowl for sunrise!

Walking around and looking at the neighborhood’s Halloween decorations.

In other news, I’ve had a horrible stiff neck this week, and it’s been really painful especially at night.

My stiff neck home remedies.

These feel nice and warm, but didn’t seem to do much in the way of relieving pain.

My mom visited me here in LA and we went to lunch at Petit Trois – SO GOOD.

There’s only counter seating, which I love.

Ham and butter sandwich for me, Croque Monsieur for my mom.

Jeremy and I visited the nearby Golden Road Brewery, and had some nice lunchtime drinks and food.

It rained one day last week! It never rains here (hence the terrible drought) so it was great. And caused a fire-like sunset.

That’s about it… Jeremy and I are heading up to Santa Barbara this morning to spend a couple days there before the race on Saturday. Hopefully I’m able to finish the race and not crash and burn at mile 7… wish me luck!

Weekly Workouts

Last week was another pretty good week as far as workouts go. I’ve got the Santa Barbara International Half Marathon coming up in a couple weeks, which for a minute I thought maybe I wouldn’t run, but the last couple weeks have changed my mind. I still think it’s going to be a struggle, but I’ll just focus on finishing half marathon #6 and trying to enjoy it. I’m tired of going into these races with half-assed training behind me, so I’m looking forward to ramping up the consistent training and maybe sub-2 during half #7.

Monday – Rest. I ran 8 miles the Saturday before then hiked on Sunday, so I took Monday as a rest day.

Tuesday – Ran 4.5 miles, average pace 9:24 min/mile. I ran along the LA River bicycle path for the first time. The path runs for many miles, so I only saw a small portion of it, but it’s a nice option to have. I do prefer Griffith Park though since there are more runners and more shade and it’s not directly on the freeway. There’s actually a 10K taking place this weekend on the LA River Path, but it’s pretty pricey ($65) so I don’t know if I can swing it. It ends at a brewery though, which I’m all about, and it includes a pint glass and a beer. We’ll see. The money goes to a good cause – The LA River Corporation – and the course is flat so I think I could PR…

Wednesday – Woke up early and drove to the Hollywood Bowl for November Project. We did thirty minutes of stadium stairs with some strength work sprinkled in. I love seeing the Hollywood Sign behind the stage during sunrise.

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November Project LAX

After NP I drove up to Santa Barbara to spend some time with my family. I took the family dog Pez on a nice long walk on the beach.

Pez refuses to touch the water.

Thursday – I woke up in time to get down to the beach for sunrise, and ran 4 miles at a 9:27 pace.

When I got back to LA, Jeremy and I enjoyed a pumpkin beer, my first of the fall season.

So good.

Friday – Rest. Jeremy and I drove down to San Diego to spend the weekend with my grandma.

Saturday – I got a late start but still wanted to get a long run in. I ended up running 9 miles at a 10:11 pace. It was 70 degrees and humid, and I was sweating like a crazy person. It was tough, and I made sure not to stop (I paused quickly to take one picture, but that was it). When I was running in Europe I stopped a lot to take pictures and find my way if I got lost. I’m trying to cut that out so I can get more accurate results, which I did on this run. It was a tough one, and made me a little nervous about the SB Half in a couple weeks, but hopefully I can build up my endurance some more in the next week or so, and race day adrenaline will take care of the rest. I had a Salted Caramel GU with me and tried to eat it around mile 6. It really grossed me out and still does when I think about it now, and was only able to get down maybe half of it. I really liked this flavor when it first came out but I think I just got sick of it. Or maybe it was a really old one and it went bad… who knows. I’ll stick to the mocha flavor with caffeine.

Running along the bay near Mission Beach.

That night we had dinner with my aunt, uncle and grandma in Del Mar.

Sunday – Rest. Not ideal, but we got back to LA late afternoon and I decided to take it easy so I could have a good run today. I’m about to go on that run and it’s a little hot out there, so hopefully it’s not too difficult!

Back To It

During one of our hikes in Griffith Park recently, with a tiny Hollywood Sign behind me.

Last week was the first week in a while where it felt like I was finally getting back on track. I had a pretty good week of workouts, and now I feel motivated and ready to get back in shape. I ran a 10K last Sunday, and felt pretty sore on Monday and Tuesday so I didn’t do much in the way of exercise (so, not the greatest start to the week). But Wednesday morning was November Project, which brought more soreness after, but it was a great full-body workout.

On Thursday morning, I ran a little over 4 miles at a 9:40 min/mile pace, and it felt pretty good.

Found a nice trail near where I live and I saw lots of other runners.

Found a nice trail that goes by this golf course near where I currently live and I saw lots of other runners.

Later that day, my friend Liz (the same one Jeremy and I just saw in Spain and New Orleans) was in town, so we spent the day eating tacos and ice cream.

Crazy good shrimp tacos and fish ceviche from a taco truck called Mariscos Jalisco.

Portland’s ice cream shop Salt & Straw opened in LA recently. If you’re ever in Portland or LA, you have to go.

Frog legs from a cute wine bar called Mignon downtown LA.

Liz tours with a band and Jeremy and I went to her show that night and didn’t get home till about 2am, so a 5am wake up call for November Project didn’t happen. And thanks to my high maintenance sleeping habits, when I go to bed really late I usually don’t end up getting much sleep at all, so Friday was spent recovering from a sleepless night.

On Saturday morning, I drove across the city to park in Marina Del Rey to get a long run in. I’m registered for the Santa Barbara International Half Marathon on November 8th and I really want to do it, even though I won’t be in top shape (or close to it). I set out to do eight miles and ran to the Venice Beach Boardwalk and back. I’ve been stopping to take pictures too often on my runs lately, so I wanted to cut back on that. I only ended up stopping once to use a public restroom next to Muscle Beach (not recommended, lots of crazies) and then quickly twice to take pictures (and I didn’t stop my watch). I felt pretty good until mile six where I started fading, and realized I forgot to bring any fuel with me. But I finished strong, and I hope to do nine miles this weekend, which will hopefully prepare me a bit for the half.

Crossing a pedestrian bridge over to Venice.

Venice Pier.

It was a long haul to the beach for my run, but it was totally worth it.

It was a long drive across the city to do my run by the beach, but it was totally worth it.

On Sunday, Jeremy and I went hiking, which was the second time hiking since we moved to Los Angeles. We’re really near Griffith Park, which is a HUGE park with tons of trails. The Hollywood Sign is also located in the park, and you get nice views of downtown LA and the sign. The hike was four and a half miles and provided some really great views.

All in all, it wasn’t the best week of training by any means, but you gotta start somewhere. Hopefully next week will be even better!

A 10K and My First November Project Workout

I ran the Cancer Center 10k last weekend in Santa Barbara and it made me realize how much fitness I’ve lost recently. I actually did a pretty good job keeping in shape while we were traveling, and had an enjoyable half marathon in Ireland at the beginning of September. Since then though, I haven’t run that many times, and I got sick and didn’t do anything for a week. I was hoping the 10k would be one of those runs where you surprise yourself and have a great performance, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. The first mile of the course or so is downhill, and I got excited and went out way too fast. The 10k course is two 5k loops, and by the time I hit, oh I don’t know, mile 3? I was spent. It wasn’t pretty, but I managed to finish strong and pass a few people in the last quarter-mile.

Half the reason I run this race – big breakfast buffet from the local Four Seasons Biltmore resort.

There were pain au chocolats, croissants, mini quiches, sausages, bacon, bagels, frittatas, etc.

Pretty excited to be wearing a different shirt to run in for the first time in seven months.

This is the third year in a row that I’ve run this race, and I like it because it’s a local, small race, and in 2012 it was my first ‘real’ race. Last year I set a 10k PR and came in fourth in my age group. This year I also came in fourth in my AG but I was a couple minutes slower.

2012 finished in 60 minutes; 2013 finished in 56:07; and 2014 finished in 58:26. Nice chronological bib order though.

This year’s splits: not pretty. I never run miles in the 8 minute zone, no wonder I crashed and burned quickly.

Anyway, it was a good wake-up call to get my butt back in shape if I want to start training for a marathon and break two hours in the half soon, which I was hoping to do this year but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. I’m trying not to get too down on myself though and trying not to compare my performance to this time last year, but instead just keep in mind that it is a slow progression and I’ve got to stick with it.

November Project

Yesterday morning, I arrived at the Hollywood Bowl at 6:30am for my first November Project experience. I’ve heard a lot about it through other people’s blogs and finally set my alarm at 5:30am to make it there. And it was just as fun as everyone says it is. I’ve done a few group runs/classes before, and I’m pretty quiet and keep to myself since it always seems like people have their own little group that has been established. But as soon as I arrived at the Bowl, people were introducing themselves to me and giving me hugs, even though it was still dark out. Hugging is a big thing in November Project, and I didn’t mind one bit.

The entire hour was really fun, we started with a group huddle and some warm ups, some zombie tag (where a few other people and I had to act like zombies and whoever we tagged had to do five burpees), some freeze tag (but instead of freezing, again more burpees), then we partnered up and one person ran stadium stairs while the other did a series of exercises like push-ups, wall sits, planks, burpees, etc. I got such a good workout, and am feeling it today. I haven’t strength trained in months, and I used to do bootcamp when I lived in Santa Barbara, so this seems like a good way to get some strength training in once a week at least. November Project also meets on Friday mornings at 6:15am, but it’s all the way at the Santa Monica Pier, which would take 35 minutes or so to get there, before finding parking. BUT I really want to do it (last week they ran in the sand then jumped in the ocean afterward), so I’m going to try to make the trek either tomorrow morning or next week. My friend Liz is in town today and we’re going to her show tonight (she tours with a band), so it depends on what time I go to sleep tonight.

From November Project LAX’s Facebook page:

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What happens when it’s somebody’s birthday.

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This guy got the Positivity Award yesterday, he is about to embark on a ten-month walk across the continent of Europe. Way to show me up, man.

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Group picture. I’m in front of the flying baby.

Off-topic question: blog friends, is it worth it to go self-hosted? I’m sure I know the answer, but I was curious what people think about it. I would also pay someone to migrate my stuff since I’m spending all hours applying for jobs and it hurts my brain to even think about doing it myself. Thanks for any advice!

Since We’ve Been Back

Goodbye, Europe. This was taken in Dublin outside our Airbnb right before we made our last trek to the airport to fly home.

Monday marked three weeks since Jeremy and I flew back to the States. I’ve been trying to process how it feels, but honestly it just feels like we never left. Europe already seems like a distant memory, and I have to look at the pictures to remind myself we were there for six months. The startup disk on my laptop is full so I can’t get the pictures off my camera just yet, which means I am unable to share pictures of Ireland at the moment, but that’ll happen at some point. I also want to do a whole wrap-up of the time we spent in Europe and all the places we went. In the meantime, there are apartments to be rented and jobs to be found. Back to reality.

Here are some pictures of what we’ve been up to the past few weeks:

First order of business as soon as possible: a big ol’ to go cup of coffee in Columbus, Georgia. So tired and jetlagged.

Publix sub, of course.

Walking around Columbus – this river is right downtown and you can kayak down it.

This place had very tasty Southern food.

Hung out with this dog for a minute while stopping to buy some meat from a farmer for Jeremy’s family.

I’m so sad this toothpaste we got in France is empty, it made me chuckle every time I used it.

We went to Athens and ate at Seabear Oyster Bar – highly recommended if you’re ever in Athens. That’s a Negroni slushy on the right.

My scallion pancake from Seabear.

Visited Athen’s newest brewery, Creature Comforts.

Is this not the saddest magazine cover you’ve ever seen?

One of my favorite corners in Athens; this is the exact spot where I started my runs way back in 2002.

Stopped at Jittery Joe’s for some coffee after a run in my new Mizuno Wave Prophecy 3s.

Visited my friend Liz (who we had just seen in France and Spain) in New Orleans. Donut flavors: red bean and rice, and peanut butter and honey.

Wandering around New Orleans.

Drove across the country again. I think that must have been the 20th or so time for me. Not exaggerating.

Of course we stopped at In-n-Out.

Got up early the night after we got back to Santa Barbara to run by the beach. Oh how I missed it.

Got up early the morning after we got back to Santa Barbara to run by the beach. Oh how I missed it.

Another run, another beautiful view.

Beach walks with Pez the dog.

View from the top.

Trail ran a little bit.

The old stomping grounds.

We moved to Los Angeles.

Oh yeah, we moved to Los Angeles. As much as I love Santa Barbara, Jeremy and I were looking for a bit of a change, and settled on LA so we were still fairly close to SB. And now we’re closer to my grandma in San Diego! We’re even driving up to SB this weekend so I can run a 5k or 10k (haven’t decided yet).

For some reason I thought this tree would be a nice photo op.

There shouldn't be allowed to be something this cute in existence.

This car is so cute it shouldn’t be allowed to exist.

Another view.

We’re in the middle of apartment hunting, which is very stressful. I don’t remember ever having this much trouble, but there is lots of competition, and it seems like you have to decide within five minutes of viewing a place if you want to live there for the next year because there are seven other people there filling applications for it on the spot. So much pressure! We rented an Airbnb for the month of October so we’d have time to look around and explore all the different areas of LA (there are so many, this place is huge) and not feel like we had to settle on something immediately, which is proving to be a very good decision. I’m also job hunting, and I have an interview tomorrow, so fingers crossed that goes well. All my clothes are still in storage so I had to do a little shopping, but I think the dress I bought was a good decision.

There’s a Madewell like ten minutes away from our Airbnb in Atwater Village. It’s dangerous.

My first run as an LA resident. The highway’s not too pretty, but the mountains are.

The LA River bike path is nearby, and I’m excited to explore it.

Driving around apartment hunting with the Hollywood sign right there.

Oh yeah there’s a heat wave.

As far as running goes, I’m feeling pretty blah about it. Shopping was a wake-up call; all those donuts, Southern food, In-n-Out, and everything I ate in Europe was bound to catch up with me, and it finally did. My pants don’t fit and my arms aren’t toned at all anymore. They’re big ol’ jelly sticks now. Plus I’ve been sick the past few days and haven’t exercised at all. I’m supposed to run a 10k this Sunday but may go down to the 5k since I’ve only run nine times since my last half at the beginning of September. I also have the Santa Barbara International Half Marathon in exactly a month, so not sure what’s going to happen there either. I really need to get my butt in gear and start training again, and I feel like my motivation is slowly creeping back, which is a good sign!

Lately, In Pictures

It rained recently and I got to wear my new rain boots. I was very excited.

Jeremy and I headed to the Patagonia headquarters in Ventura to scope out backpacks and rain jackets.

Jeremy found a backpack.

Downtown Ventura.

Trying on all my adventure gear.

We made tofu tostadas one night for dinner.

Recovering after my long run with compression socks, foam rolling and frozen corn.

Valentine’s Day consisted of this pizza and lots of red wine.

We took a picnic to the beach yesterday, and I got some serious reading done.

Sushi on the beach.

Walking around our neighborhood the other evening at magic hour.

This popcorn was delicious.

I love miniature things. These lemons were too much.

I’m in the middle of trying to get my French citizenship, so my mom, grandma and I drove to LA today to go to the French embassy. It was closed.

Crazy fog driving to LA this morning.

My second home.

I didn’t have a dog with me, but I appreciated this dog drinking fountain/treat dispenser all the same.

Fanciest Coffee Bean I’ve ever seen.

I took my mom and grandma to Real Food Daily in Santa Monica for lunch. I ordered the Mediterranean Bowl: Wild arugula, heirloom tomato and avocado in lemon herb Za’atar dressing with cucumber kalamata salsa, white bean basil salad, red quinoa tabouli, almond feta & whole wheat Za’atar flatbread. It was SO GOOD.

Driving through Malibu Canyon on our way home today.

Leaving Santa Monica.

Driving home on Highway 1.

Hope everyone’s week got off to a nice start!

Lily Runs the World

training while traveling