Happy Saturday!! I wanted to do a mid week update, but alas, we were camping all week with no access to Wifi. God really blessed us with a fantastic week. This week was the county fair, so on top of my training schedule and camping we went to that. My daughter participated in the hula hooping contest, which happened to be on the hottest day of the whole fair! Of course. So we sweated it out. She didn’t win, but she got really close to the ending.

She loves to hula hoop, she can do tricks and everything. I’ll have to share a video sometime. I’m so proud of her. We also met up with a friend of ours and her 2 girls on Tuesday. They are the cutest little girls. Here’s a shot of my son with her youngest on his back. Don’t pay attention to his chipped front tooth, we haven’t been able to get him in to get it fixed yet.

Like I said, isn’t she adorable? We looked at plants, flowers, animals and checked out the 4H projects and vendor booths. We had a really great time. I absolutely love the fair. It’s one of my favorite highlights from the summer!

Yes, this is my daughter being kissed by a goat. I had a friend of mine tell me that was both cute and gross at the same time haha!
As for my training this week, I got alot accomplished and hope that tomorrow, when I run my longest run so far, 5 miles, that I can do it!
Sunday: Sunday I got up early, 6am again, I’m doing pretty good with that, and ran 3.47 miles before church. Came home, showered, had a banana and got ready for church. I need to get to bed earlier though, I was almost falling asleep at church and that’s not cool! Later that day the kids and I went on a 4 mile bike ride together.
Monday: rest day. We packed up the camper and headed out to the campground. We stayed at Linder Point at the Coralville Reservoir. We love it there. This time thanks to getting the shelf on the back of the camper, we were finally able to bring the kids bikes. Abby was especially happy about it, as she loves to ride around the campground.
Tuesday: Got up at 6am again and ran 3 miles. I love, love, LOVE camping and being able to run new routes. This included some hills and made me happy I have a love hate relationship with hills, as most all runners do. I was so happy I got up so early to run, as that ended up being the hottest day of the whole week. Phew! Later that day was when we went to the fair with the kids. We ended up going out for pizza that night, as no one wanted to make a fire and cook. It was just too hot.
Wednesday: I had a short training run of 2 miles and did it at 6am again. So beautiful that time of the day, when the birds are singing and the traffic isn’t too bad, oh and the humidity isn’t bad either, that’s why I get up so early! Later that day the kids and I went on a .71 mile hike on the wooded trail too. It was glorious. We rode our bikes around a bit as well. That night the kids had youth group so while they were there hubby and I went back out to the Fair and watched some of the talent contest.
Thursday: Rest Day. Thursday morning we decided to see if the site we had was available for that night as well, and we booked it for that night. We were supposed to come home that day but we stayed till Friday. The kids and I rode our bikes around a bit that morning. That afternoon from 12-4 I worked at my volunteer job at Informed Choices of Iowa and then ran home to get my running shoes. I had left them at home the day before, thinking we’d be at home on Friday, but we weren’t! We had some friends come out to the campsite for dinner too, which was really fun!! We love having people out to the sites when we are camping.
Friday: work at 5 am to the sound of rain/thunder. So no 6am run for me. I’m not as much a beast as some runners, and I prefer not to run in the rain unless it starts when I’m already out on the trail! So unfortunately we had to pack everything up in the rain. No bueno! I did my run that afternoon, this time I drove to Scott Park in Iowa City so I could run a different trail than I usually do. It was hot and sunny, and I got my first blister, but I did the full 3 miles anyway! BEAST MODE
I have to say, this was a really great week! I also got a ton of work done for my business last night after my run. I had catching up to do with things, since we were gone all week. I got 2 blog posts posted for clients and finished up editing a recent session. I was pretty disappointed that I had to reschedule Friday’s Senior session due to the rain though. The way it cleared up later, we probably could have done it anyway. But you just don’t know! They said it was supposed to rain more later that night, but it didn’t.
Speaking of rain, we had a gorgeous rainbow at the campground on Thursday evening, and it didn’t even rain! I love the sign of God’s promise to all of us, I’m reminded daily of His blessings. So I am leaving you with one two last images for the week.
I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Gen. 9:13
Happy Running!
“The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. Exodus 15:2
