Today I took an adventure after class to avoid a city-street run in DC. Since I go to school in Baltimore, Patapsco Valley State Park was a convenient stop on the way home.

I had the Grist Mill Trail in mind, knowing it was for runners and bikers. However, what I thought was the trail turned out not to be. See that little trail below. It really goes to nowhere.

I never found the trail but it didn’t matter. I was just happy to run in a secluded area on a street where no cars were. I logged 4 miles at my normal place (about 10:30ish), and then ran a few sprints at the end. My 4 miles took about 43 minutes. I’m really pleased with the way my running is going; each day gets a little easier and I always feel like going farther.

I got home to several surprises. The first was a shipment of POM Wonderful – how exciting!

I don’t know if you can tell, but Scone hopped up on the table and was in love with this box for a few minutes.

My second surprise came in the form of pizza. Bill made a mighty fine pie tonight. My half is clearly the one with black beans and no jalapenos (yuck!)

I took this size portion and went back for seconds. I was ravenous!

I also brought another lobster placemat out. I totally forgot my mom got me these…

Black Bean Turkey Pizza

• Garlic and olive oil as a base
• Spinach
• 2% mozzarella cheese
• black beans (a mountain!)
• mushrooms
• grilled turkey

I didn’t know if I’d like the turkey, but I ended up really enjoying it. Bill wanted some “protein” on his pizza, so I agreed we could use the turkey even though I didn’t know how it would work. Definitely a good choice.

After dinner, we took a trip to Target to buy a few special gifts. I ended up tossing this in the cart for fun.

It seems like everyone is doing the Shred due to Caitlin’s challenge. I figured why not give it a try? Everyone seems to love it! Plus it was only $10.

Did I tell you that Bill is now training for a 5K? We have decided to run the 11th Annual Manna 5K Run. Bill said his first day back to running wasn’t so hot.

What advice can you give someone who’s getting back on the running wagon?