Hiking as Cross Training

First of all, Happy Valentines Day!!! Hope your day has been wonderful and full of love. Chance took me out to dinner tonight and I got some sweet gifts. You'll have to wait until the end of this post to check them out...or you can scroll down and cheat...  :p

Secondly, I have less than two weeks before the Ragnar Relay. I'm a little nervous. So, this weekend I tried some cardiovascular cross training: hardcore hiking. Chance, 3 friends, five dogs and I took to the Santa Catalina Mountains last Saturday and hiked the Green Mountain Trail.





This hike was tough, as you can see. I was a little worried that I wasn't able to get in a run this weekend, but after the hike, I decided this was even better than a run.
We parked at the General Hitchcock Picnic Area and hiked uphill for 3.9 miles. Plus, there was ice on the trail (really bad in some parts) which called for more coordination.

Seriously Uphill.

Aside from certain parts of the difficult terrain, this is a great hike. It's challenging and a great workout (for us humans as well as for the dogs). I'd love to run it one day.

..............

Now, on to some new awesome stuff!

These were gifts from my parents/Chance, mainly to help out with Ragnar. Thank you!!!

  

I'm definitely feeling better about Ragnar knowing I have the necessary items!
Only 11 more days! O.O