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Hi everyone,

I’m back to blogging after taking some time off with my family. A quick recap, bear with me…

We took a road trip that started at the  Grand Canyon, (now we want to go back and hike down the canyon, camp, then hike up the next day). Has anyone ever done that or thought about doing it? I want to hear about it!

Before leaving Arizona we had to stop in Winslow to take a picture…

Our next destination was Prairie Grove, Arkansas. My husband and I lived there for 9 months, while I was pregnant with my first daughter. We wanted to take her to visit, even though she only lived there for 4 days before we moved back to California. We went hiking at Devil’s Den a place we frequented way back when, visited friends and walked around the “busy” little college town of Fayetteville.

Then we made a quick stop in Eureka Springs, AR (it rained) and moved on to Topeka, KS to visit my in-laws. For some reason I had this vision of a flat farmland for as far as the eye could see, but it was actually quite pretty and green with gently rolling hills. The weather cooled the day we arrived so we had a respite from the hot humid days we spent in AR. I actually got 2 runs in during our stay. The first was supposed to be an easy 3 miles to prepare for my run the next day with my husbands Uncle Stan, but I took a wrong turn and almost got lost (thank goodness for Google maps!). I ended up running 4.5 miles and I can attest to the fact that there ARE hills in Kansas, small hills, but hills nonetheless!

After a few days in KS we headed to Colorado for a quick visit with a friend, paddle boat around a lake and go to a concert at Red Rock Amphitheater to see Darius Rucker. What a great venue and Darius put on such a fun show. AND I got a work-out in because we had to hike up a trail and then climb a crazy amount of stairs to get to our seats! Dang! (not my first word choice)

So as you can imagine I am in desperate need of some fitness goals for August. After spending so much time in the car and eating out I’m feeling a little sluggish.

My Goals for August

• Start a running journal. I say running but really mean fitness. I plan hope to keep track of what I’m eating, miles I run, work-outs, hours of sleep and how I feel in general.
• Train for a fast 5k or 10k (I haven’t decided). My goal is to improve my pace by interval training and doing hill repeats. Hopefully my bullet journal will help motivate and encourage me.
• Plank! I just read about how a fellow blogger does a 5 min plank. I’m going to try her suggestion. Check out her blog Running With Perseverance. The thing to remember with planking is form. It is so easy to lose good form as you tire. Make sure you keep your back straight and tighten your core. If you find yourself getting too tired and you can’t hold your form then rest for a few seconds and start where you left off.
• Make 1 new, healthy recipe a week. There are so many healthy recipes on the internet, surely I can find one a week that I want to make.
• Do my arm work-out 3 times  a week. To see my arm work-out go to my Pinterest board here.
• Stretch or foam roll for 10 mins after my run. Another thing I’m hoping my bullet journal will encourage me to do.

I think that is a good start. Check back next month to see how these goals turn out.

Do you make monthly, weekly or daily goals? How do you keep track of them?

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Keep Running!

Denise