A Dose of San Diego Sunshine

Greetings from San Diego!

One of my good friends from when I used to live down here is having a baby very, very soon, so I decided to make a trip down south for her baby shower. Crystal is also along for the ride (she and I met when we both lived down here). Today, we took advantage of the hot, sunny weather and went from a run along one of my old favorite routes, a 5k loop from Little Italy down to the Embarcadero and back.

Tank: Under Armour [similar]

Sports bra: Lululemon [similar]

Pants: GapFit [similar]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

Since I'm used to running in San Francisco's permanent spring/fall weather, the heat took its toll today! It was not a very fast run for me, and I was sweating quite a bit by the end. Fortunately, this tank top is vented in the back, so it was a great choice for a warm day. I think shorts would've been a better option for the bottom half of my outfit, though. 

Crystal and me mid-run at Seaport Village

Here's hoping that the rest of the weekend has equally beautiful weather!

Let's Skip the Super Bowl and Go Running

Let me admit something to you all — despite being a girl who loves sports, the prospect of watching the Super Bowl this year was not appealing at all. I'm far from being a fan of either team involved. In fact, I dislike both. So, instead of watching, I took advantage of the fact that everyone else was inside by their TVs (and that it was yet another beautiful day) to go on a nice run and run some errands!

Shirt: C9 [exact]

Pants: American Eagle [similar]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

I received this shirt as a gift for Christmas but haven't tested it out yet. It was great! I loved that it was a bit longer than most of my running T-shirts. It's also fitted, but not skintight. All around, it was a good one! It appears that these shirts are on clearance at the moment, so I may have to snag a few more. Target was one of the places I went during my Super Bowl errands, but I didn't spot any there.

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend!

Giving Barre a Shot

My friend Crystal has been talking to me about her barre classes for months now. Any time I mentioned feeling out of shape, she's quick to suggest joining her at her Dailey Method classes. Since I run a few times a week, I always felt like I was fine. However, I've started noticing my lack of core and upper body strength lately. I know core strength is important for runners, but because I don't particularly enjoy doing crunches in a gym, I neglect it.

So, I gave in. I finally agreed to give The Dailey Method's barre class a shot tonight.

Tank: Forever 21 [similar]

Pants: Yogasmoga [exact]

Sports bra: Lululemon [similar]

First thing's first: this is definitely a good workout. I discovered muscles that I didn't know existed several times over the course of an hour. However, I also had a few moments that I had absolutely no clue what we were even supposed to be doing in the class. I'm not sure if that was a reflection of the teacher or the way the classes work in general, but it was a bit frustrating. But, regardless of what I was doing, I was sweating quite a bit by the time I left. Only a few hours later, I'm already super sore and somewhat scared about what I'll feel like tomorrow! I can't say I'm sold on The Dailey Method yet, but I'll definitely give it another shot.

Yesterday, I went for my Wednesday running club yet, but neglected to take any photos. I promise good photos this weekend to compensate for it!

Running and Rock Climbing

Despite the cold weather this week, today was much nicer! So, I decided to head down to the water for a run in the sunshine. I even busted out a tank top for it! Before I headed out, though, my friends Kim and Brent texted, asking if I wanted to join them at a climbing gym nearby. I hardly ever get in upper body workouts and had been wanting to try climbing for awhile, so I figured why not?

Tank top: Under Armour [exact]

Sports bra: GapFit [similar]

Pants: Under Armour [exact]

Running Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

I found this sports bra at the Gap Factory Outlet last weekend, and I love it! It is reminiscent of Lululemon's Energy bra, but at about a fifth of the price. I particularly loved how it looked with the backless tank top I wore. These pants are also part of my latest Under Armour haul. The fit was fantastic! They're very compressive and completely opaque. Even when I was crawling up these walls with my legs all over the place, they stretched well and I didn't have to worry about anyone seeing anything I didn't want them to see. Between these and the C9 pants I shared the other day, I think I've found my new go-to running styles.

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

This morning was an early one for me — and I am not a morning person! One of my clients at work had a launch, which meant I started working at 5am to ensure everything was ready to go. So, I was in bed chipping away at launch-related work until about 9am.

At that point, I decided it was time for breakfast. I had already decided to work from home since I knew I wasn't likely to get a long enough break in my work to physically make the trip into the office, so I got ambitious. Also, my two weeks of no gluten recently ended, so it was a perfect opportunity to throw gluten back into the mix. My housemates and I get weekly produce from a local farm, and this week's items included a few Meyer lemons. So, I decided to whip up a Meyer lemon pound cake!

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1 1/4 cups sugar 

4 eggs

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

Zest of 1 Meyer lemon

Glaze

Juice from 1 Meyer lemon

Powdered sugar

Zest of 1 Meyer lemon

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease one standard-sized loaf pan. 

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. With mixer at a very low speed, add flour, baking powder and salt. While the dry ingredients are being incorporated, slowly add in the milk and vanilla. Add in lemon zest.

Pour the cake batter into your greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, checking at regular intervals. Test the cake's doneness with a fork or cake tester — it should come out clean. 

While the cake is cooling, combine the ingredients for the glaze in a bowl and whisk together. Use as much or as little powdered sugar as you'd like for consistency (I used about a cup and a half). Pour the glaze over the still-warm cake. 

Enjoy!

For those of you looking for a cake recipe that isn't overpoweringly sweet, this is for you. The glaze is nice and tart, which offsets the mellow, vanilla flavor of the cake itself. It's great as a breakfast bread or a dessert. This recipe is definitely a keeper for me. I'm looking forward to seeing how the leftovers go over at the office tomorrow!

Skiing Northstar

Reunited and it feels so good :)

I was back on snow this weekend for the first time this season! My friend Julia (who I worked with at the USSA and skied with all the time over the last two years) recently moved to South Lake Tahoe to work for Heavenly Mountain Resort, one of the resorts Vail owns in the Tahoe area. I've already been up to visit her once since she moved, but we weren't able to go skiing that time. This weekend, though, we went up to the north side of Lake Tahoe and spent a day on the slopes at Northstar!

It was an absolutely beautiful day! Unfortunately, there hasn't been a ton of snow in the Tahoe area yet this season so the conditions weren't perfect, but it was still a lot of fun. As the odd skier who enjoy groomers, it was great for me. I did have the challenge of skiing in skis that were in desperate need of a tune up (the edges were pretty much nonexistent), but that was fine! My legs were another story, though. Running clearly does not work the same muscles as skiing because I was hurting by the middle of the day.

Northstar itself was a great resort. It definitely had some Deer Valley vibes to it (in a good way). The groomed runs were very well done, the lake views were stunning and the on-hill staff were incredibly positive and friendly. Even with it being a busy holiday weekend, we were still able to find plenty of runs to ski that weren't crowded or chewed up. Both my morning coffee and afternoon Mexican food were delicious (although, as with every ski resort, they were overpriced). I love the fact that all of the Vail-owned resorts give you your on-hill photos for free, too! It's a nice touch.

It was an awesome day and I can't wait to get back up to Tahoe for another day on the snow! There's no such thing as a bad day when it involves skiing :)

Vacation, the Flu and Exercise

As I shared the other day, I started my Christmas vacation very enthusiastic about the prospect of running throughout it. After all, I was headed to sunny Florida! Why wouldn't I want to run in warm weather on the beach?!

Then, the flu decided it needed to take out my family over the holidays. First, my mom got sick. That meant missing virtually all of our family Christmas festivities. However, her fever broke before we headed down to Florida, so she still came along. Next, my sister got sick. She, unfortunately, was at the peak of flu horribleness when we left, so she stayed home. I woke up the morning we got to Florida with those beginning twinges of a sore throat and cough. Through some fanatical tea drinking and 12-hour nights of sleep, though, I was able to get through things with a bit more comfort than my mother or sister!

Sister (left)

Shirt: C9 [similar]

Pants: C9 [similar]

Shoes: Nike [similar]

Me (right)

Long Sleeve Half Zip: Nike [similar]

T-shirt: Gap Fit [exact]

Pants: Yogasmoga [exact]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

So, we did manage to get in one run before the flu struck. Christmas Eve Eve (two days before Christmas) was unseasonably warm in Indianapolis, so we took advantage of that and went for a run while listening to some One Direction (we're both fans and pretty unashamed about that). A few days later, though, my sister was down for the count and had to opt out of our family trip to Florida. My bout with the flu, though, fortunately held off until I was safely ensconced in 75-degree weather.

Sports bra: Lululemon [similar]

Shorts: Lululemon [similar]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

It was KILLING me not to go running in the amazing weather we have been having here in Florida! I've always been told that you shouldn't run if you have both body symptoms and head symptoms (e.g., muscle aches and pains combined with sinus congestion), so I waited until the body symptoms subsided to get my run on. I probably wasn't quite at the point where I should've been running yet, but I took it super easy (walk-running) and relaxed for quite awhile afterwards. Also, I'm not typically the running-with-no-shirt-on type, but I figured it was warm and everyone else on the beach was in bikinis, so why not?