Weekend at the Farm House!

This past weekend I was so happy we got to return to Ancramdale, New York for our annual summer trip to a friend’s parents’ country house. It’s a really cool tradition that started when my husband graduated from Hamilton College.

Every summer he and his college friends (and now their families!) head to upstate New York for a relaxing weekend in the country. It was so awesome to see old friends and new babies! Even though it rained most of the weekend, it was still very relaxing to get away.

There are a lot of dairy farms near Ancramdale and there are some resident grazing cows who hang out across the street. This year, there were two new calves, who could not have been cuter!

I went on two great runs while we were there. On Sunday, I got to see a total of five deer on the run! I saw one standing in the middle of the road (at 11am!), three in a group in the woods and one along the side of the road staring right at me! Running up there is definitely full of nature—the scenery is absolutely stunning!

I have decided to start transitioning to my minimalist shoes permanently. I have done a lot of research over the past year, much of which has led me to the conclusion that this is the best decision for my running.

I know that it’s going to take a while to make this transition, and it’s going to require a reduction in my weekly mileage and pace, but I am going to go for it. I did 3 Saturday and 3 Sunday and am going to take Monday off.

I have good foot strength from being barefoot a lot as a child and almost all the time around home, so I don’t think my feet are going to give me too much trouble. The ankles are a little sore and the calves a little sore, but nothing extreme. I plan on just taking it nice and slow and staying injury-free.

This weekend I finished reading Tread Lightly: Form, Footwear, and the Quest for Injury-Free Running by Peter Larson (of Runblogger) and Bill Katovsky. It’s a great read for fellow runnerds!