Another Amazing Day in Tahoe

Yesterday, we took it nice and easy and enjoyed some down time. We went horse back riding at the Camp Richardson Corral, located on highway 89 past Camp Richardson. Overall our experience was great. We were the only ones during the time we selected. Which meant it was just us and the trail guide. Our horses did really well and we were able to cover more ground than most parties do in the hour time slot. 

Rachel, really in her element.

The corral also offers boarding and during the winter time it offers authentic sleigh rides. There was a age restriction, at least 6 years old. But they did offer "pony" rides for the little ones if they weren't old enough to ride on the trail. 

Here I am petting the horse before riding, and yes I am very scared. 

Here are our horses; Cigar and I can't remember the other's name. Cigar had a very calm personality. In fact the trail guide told us he doesn't want to get to left behind so he will gallop to catch up. He is also very thoughtful before any obstacle he goes over; as in he thinks about each foot placement. Kind of like me. Rachel's horse on the other hand, took the quickest route and didn't care if it fell behind. All in all each horse was a good pick for each of it's riders. 

After our horse ride we headed over to the Beacon Bar and Grill and enjoyed some lunch. We had the clam soup which was amazing. I ordered the fish and chips which were dispassionately over cooked and Rachel enjoyed the Lobster and Shrimp Po Boy Sandwich, which was amazing as well. 

Then we did some site seeing, tourist style. I took Rachel up to inspiration point and we looked down upon Emerald Bay and just enjoyed the moment and being with each other. 

So far, this is the perfect vacation for us. We have enjoyed some great hikes, some horse back riding and also some amazing views, but most of all we have enjoyed spending time with each other and taking it all in. 

Fun in Tahoe

It has been a crazy week in the Pigeon household, but we are also taking some time for ourselves and relaxing in beautiful South Lake Tahoe on our Honeymoon (Wedding post to come when I have pictures!)











Yesterday we enjoyed a very nice day hike. We headed to Fallen Leaf Lake and did the Glen Alpine Trail Hike. This hike took us to a beautiful water fall and also to Soda Springs and Grassy Lake.

The weather was coming in, so we made sure to bring some warm clothes and I am glad we did as the first part of our hike brought in some snow flakes. As we climbed the weather cleared up and became sunny with wind gust. We ended up turning around about 1 mile after Grassy Lake due to some pretty gnarly looking clouds and I knew I didn't want to get caught in that weather system.

The Glen Alpine Trail is located at the end of Fallen Leaf Road and the trail can take you to Mt. Tallac, which offers incredible views of Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe. You can hike to Gilmore lake, Half Moon lake, Susie and Heather Lake, as well as Lake Aloha. The views are breath taking and the great thing about coming to South Lake Tahoe at the end of September is the trails are pretty much empty, plenty of parking as this is the down time as in non peak season.

On the Pier enjoying the view

Pretty Cool Tree

Taking a moment to enjoy the view

Water Fall on the right, and that is me pushing the tree over

Ohh, wait....I shouldn't have pushed the tree over!

More to Come, stay tuned on what other adventures we will have. (Today Horseback Riding)

Update

The past few months since TRT100 or should I say TRT 67.5 I have not done much runner to be honest. In fact I do believe and this is hard for me to say I have been injured. I somehow injured my hip flexor muscle and it was really difficult some days to even walk. Every-time I would take a step forward, I would have shooting pain and weakness in my quad. So with a heavy heart I had to stop running. I did try to run a few times, but that was cut short about .5 into a run when I ended up having to hobble home and pretty much rest the rest of the day. It has not been fun. But I would like to think that this injury is behind me and I might be able to start running again.

Since I haven't been able to run, I have increased my focus on strength training. It may not sound like much but with the injury I had I knew I needed to increase my strength so that I would be able to come back strong. I didn't start this strength training until the beginning of this month, September so that gave my body a chance to really recover. I have incorporated, some basic squats, push ups and leg lifts. On day 1 of this new training, I kept the repetitions small so I could slowly transition my body and hopefully avoid any set backs. It was pretty comical to see me do a full a push up at the beginning, because to be honest I have no upper body strength. Now, I like to think that there is progress as the push ups are being completed easier and I am able to increase the reps. I can also feel my legs and core and getting stronger. Now the real challenge is to keep this up going forward and not to lose my motivation.

The other thing I have changed is my diet. Now when I was running a lot of miles each week I basically could eat what ever. Now don't get me wrong, I still choose to eat healthy when I was running a lot. Since I wasn't running, I knew my weight could and would easily get out of control if I continued eating like I was running, and I did not want that to happen. I have increased my vegetables and fruit and lean protein and decreased carbs, like bread and potatoes but I do eat the good carbs occasionally.

It was real challenge at the beginning, because I was always hungry I never had that full feeling. I think I finally figured it out and to be honest I really don't miss those carbs. I do have a "cheat" day every now and than, but I believe that that is healthy because in my opinion one can not totally deprive one's body. I feel great, I feel energized and I enjoy going to the farmer's market each Sunday and Wednesday and eating the fresh organic fruits and vegetables has been great. I don't even think twice to make some rice or potatoes.

I am really hoping that this injury has healed so that I can get back into running. I will continue with my strength training and add some more exercises as I feel my body is ready for that. Sometimes it is good to slow down, change up the routines and just enjoy being.