Weekly Review April 10-16

Busy week of fitness, farm, and life! We had a major event that really changed our outlook on the farm this week. Read on!

Our apricot trees blossomed this week. It was pretty!

Fitness
I continue to make good progress in my April fitness challenges. At this point, I've done 7 out of 13 different running routes/workouts for #Oisellefullhalf, and I've put in 25 miles toward my 50 mile goal in Million Mile Month--half way! I'm also getting really close to my goal of scoring 600 points in Shape Up Montana this year. I'm not ready to coast toward any of these challenges yet, though. Gotta keep working so I can get them done.

Here's how the week shaped up:
Sunday- I had an awesome 6.4 mile run up to the Goldstone Road and back. I didn't push pace, just went for it. When I got back, Harvey gave me a ton of kisses. I'd like to think he was telling me "Thank you for taking me for the run!" He's not usually a big kisser.

Post-run vizsla kisses!

Monday- No running or dedicated physical activity but I ended the day with four miles of walking on my pedometer.
Tuesday- 3 miles on treadmill before school (running), 30 minutes of yoga, and 4 miles of walking.
Wednesday- 30 minutes of yoga
Thursday- 4 miles of walking
Friday- I was sick, so I did nothing.
Saturday- I felt slightly better, plus the weather was really lovely and it was too nice to stay inside, so I forced myself out for a 2.2. mile walk/jog. Felt good to move a bit, even if it was really a struggle just to do that.

Year To Date, through April 16
Running: 148.7 miles
Walking/Hiking: 53.7 miles <-- Really pumped up this one this week!
Yoga: 685 min 
CC-Ski: 500 min / 14.1 miles *Done for the season
Alpine Ski: 3 days *Done for the season
Mountain bike: 34 miles 

Also in Fitness news, I'm really excited about next Sunday-- it's the Icebreaker Road Race in Great Falls. Jeff and I are pretty firmly planning on going down to run it. I'm planning on doing the 5 mile. It would be my first official race of the season, and I'm pretty pumped. Hoping I can stay healthy to be able to run it.

Farm
We were really busy in the first part of the week with seeding.

Photo cred: Jeff
Jeff had checked in to see how the peas we seeded last week were doing, and happily, they are already sprouting!

Jeff and Tom got all our barley seeded, thankfully, just ahead of some much needed RAIN that fell on Thursday and Friday. Truly, this rain is the biggest news of the season, perhaps even of the entire year so far. We were DESPERATELY in need of some rain. Last year was pretty much drought conditions the entire year, and we really depleted our pasture, not to mention our crops taking a huge hit. Starting off this year with minimal optimism for both crops and pasture grass was not a great feeling. We had actually talked and planned for what we would do if it didn't rain this year again--how many cows would we sell? how could we cut input costs on farmland?

And then it rained over 2 inches. And it was glorious, and there was much rejoicing! It can be very hard to convey to people outside of agriculture just how dependent we are on rain. We can plan and plan and do everything within our own power to try to ensure a successful farm or ranch season, but if we don't get rain, we're in trouble. With this rain being over 2 inches, it was huge for us. We're feeling much, much better about our pasture grasses taking off, hay ground being productive, and our crop land getting the moisture it needs to germinate and sprout strong seedlings. This one weather system totally reversed our entire outlook on the year, and we are so, so grateful.

After the rain, there were huge puddles and lots of mud EVERYWHERE!
Photo credit: Jeff

Life
Jeff and I have been enjoying early season baseball games. I'm a Cubs fan and he likes the Braves. Otherwise, nothing earth-shattering in the Life department. I was not feeling well over the weekend, and still am not feeling 100%, but I know it will pass. I'm looking forward to the beautiful weather we're supposed to be having this upcoming week, and hoping to get some good runs in outside. This week, I'm grateful for the rain, my awesome husband who is a constant source of strength for me, and simply the ability to run and move, and that my body is capable. 

What are you grateful for this week?

Our rain translated in to snow on the Sweetgrass Hills.