The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

No, it's not Christmas. It's late summer/early fall--my favorite time of the year. The days are still warm; the mornings are cool, and the foliage is turning colors. It's also marathon season, and the memories of my final training runs before the Chicago marathon always fill my thoughts on my fall runs. Mother Nature hasn't disappointed this week, even though there was some light rain. There's always so much to enjoy on my fall runs!

Weekly Rundown:

Sunday: Trail Sisters run 4.2 miles

Monday: Trail run 7 miles

Tuesday: Fluid Running outdoors!

Wednesday: Trail run 5 miles

Thursday: Yoga with Adriene/Strength Training

Friday: run 3.5 miles

Saturday: waterskiing

After our Trail Sisters leadership summit last weekend, Ilisa and I were excited to recruit some more women to run with us on our Sunday run. We also planned for coffee afterwards at a local coffee shop. We had 11 runners, counting us, so call it a success! The run was at a local preserve with limestone trails, which is a favorite for most of us. We ran in several different groups based on pace and distance. Some started a little early to get in some extra miles. What a fun morning!

With Monday being the Labor Day holiday, the gym was closed, so I headed to my favorite local trails for a run. The weather was perfect--this truly is the best time of the year in the Midwest. I only saw one deer as I was driving in, but after I parked, I heard the trumpeting sound of Sandhill Cranes. I followed the sound and found 3 of them, upset with a gaggle of Canada geese, who were honking at them. Call me a nerd, but I found this highly entertaining! Sadly, the standoff was broken up by a man who walked up with a container of dry corn and tossed it in the direction of the cranes. They were not happy. Neither was I. He may have meant well, but it's important not to feed the wildlife! Other than that, my run was uneventful.

No photos, but I was able to do my weekly Fluid Running sesh outdoors because our park district extended access for an additional week. All the regulars -including me- were very excited! We were treated to gorgeous morning skies, which was just perfect. 

It was raining on Wednesday, but the rain was light, so I went to the trails--this time the east preserve- for a shorter run. Yellow was the theme for this run, as the trails were lined with varieties of yellow flowers. They brightened up the gloom! There were no wildlife sightings on this run, save for a few squirrels dropping acorns on my head!

Thursday's strength workout was another pyramid scheme:

We started with 20 minutes on the clock doing 1 pull-up (I did banded) + 2 dumbbell (25#) bench press + 3 GHD situps + 4 walking lunges. We increased each rep by 1 per round, and at 10 minutes, we decreased each rep by one per round. I did 5 total reps before the 10 minute time was called and finished my final 5 reps before the end of the workout. 

Friday morning brought a beautiful sunrise and 61F temperatures. Perfect running weather, and this was the best run I've had in a while. My knee is still bothering me, but the knee strap held it tight, and I felt as if I was flying around the neighborhood. Sometimes you get what you want, but also what you need. What a great start to my day. 

We drove up to the lake on Saturday. I was hoping to get some waterskiing in, but the lake was choppy. By mid-afternoon, the water calmed enough that I decided to try. I'm glad I did, because it wasn't long after that the wind picked back up again! Not my best ski, but in mid-September, it's better than no ski! Sorry for the blurry photo--my camera is on a tripod on the boat--you get what you get, lol!

Off the road...

On Sunday, we belatedly celebrated all the summer birthdays--my father-in-law, my hubs, and both my boys--by going out to dinner. It's always great to get together, and we had a nice evening! Can you believe my FIL is 94? He's just amazing.

For the past week or 2, I have been experiencing issues with the Blogger platform, which is what I use to post my blog. There was an issue with comments not being published--including my own on my blog. That has been resolved, but as I was preparing this post, I had issues adding photos having to go into the settings to upload them. I have learned that it isn't just me. Even before this happened, I have been considering migrating my blog to another platform. I only blog once per week, so I'm trying to decide if it's worth it. Stay tuned....

How was your week? Are you enjoying signs of fall? What's your favorite time of year? Is anyone else having blog issues? Any recommendations for blog platforms should I decide to migrate?

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown.