Juliana Moves

You guys, it’s August. Can you even believe it?! I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. As previously mentioned, this summer has been chockful of travel and adventures and fun (and bouts of illness), so it has sped by in all the best ways. Fortunately, I still don’t feel myself urging fall to come too early and I think that feels like growth!

August is enjoyable to me though. It is certainly still summer – the pool is open! our tomatoes are still growing! it’s still so hot! – but the impending feeling of school and shorter days and cooler weather is also very present. I feel like I’ve got to keep squeezing out all the summer joy I can.

We are finally home for the month (mostly). Patrick has a little trip soon and I have some work travel later this month, but it’s all very brief. All my weekends are Virginia weekends this month. Hallelujah! I’ve got a lot of trail running to do 🙂

Since we last chatted, we had a lot going on. We went to the beach in NC for a week, spent a lot of time on the trails, ate a lot of sandwiches, and enjoyed life. As this blog has always served as a diary/time capsule for me, here are the photos!

Patrick went on a work trip in the middle of the beach trip (lol) so he was only there for a few days in total. I had a lot of running to do that week, so he joined me one morning before his flight. It was SO humid in NC. SO HUMID. I can’t remember the last time I experienced something like that. See how sweaty we are? We were about 5 miles into this run and it wasn’t even that hot. I don’t miss that!

We took Alaska to the beach! Our VRBO had a golf cart, so on our second to last day we brought her down to the beach with us briefly. Don’t let the look on her face fool you – she liked it!

One day when I was in the water I got unexpectedly knocked down by a big wave and felt the tragic moment that my Goodrs slipped off my face. Every time I went to the beach after that I would look for them as if they’d magically wash ashore. Alas, no luck. Enter: my $18 Publix knock off Pit Vipers. LOL. So me, right?

On our last night, Patrick demanded Italian ice. I got the Sonic which was cherry and lemon lime. It was pretty freaking good. I had run by this place on an earlier long run in the weekend and thought about stopping but didn’t. I wish I had! It might’ve turned my slog into something more pleasant that day.

I also had an acai bowl for the first time in my life and then proceeded to get it maybe five more times. It was so delicious. The fruit was perfectly ripe and the granola was such a good texture. YUM!

I love a Pub Sub. And I love sour cream and cheddar Ruffles. The combination is perfection. I wish I could eat this sandwich right now!

Shockingly, I didn’t read quite as much as I expected to at the beach (aka 1.5 books). I did read The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha and loved it. The suspense was legitimate! The odd legs photo is because I was trying to show Patrick my unexpected sunburn.

After returning from the beach, I finally ran on something other than the paved trail along the island (hey, a great resource but it got old!). I did a pretty enjoyable long run through Rock Creek. It is so green and beautiful in the summer.

Our garden was also popping off when we returned! Since I took the above photo, we’ve picked sooo many more tomatoes and some cucumbers. I cut up those banana peppers and quick pickled them. I can’t wait to try them today!

On Friday morning, Patrick and I had a spontaneous little coffee date at a cute new coffee shop in ALX. It was lovely.

This weekend was also a big running weekend. On Saturday, we headed out to the Appalachian Trail so that I could try running on the Rollercoaster. This is basically a section of the AT that is nonstop up and down. It was so brutal. And beautiful!

Initially my plan was to go 6 out and back southbound and then 4 out and back northbound to get to 20 total miles. I packed 2 liters of water for my first chunk and then planned to fill up again at the car. Y’all. This trail is nuts. I hadn’t done elevation in a good while, so I knew it’d be rough but I did not expected to feel so crappy. It wasn’t too hot but it was quietly humid. I was rationing water for the entire second half. I also knew I wouldn’t make it to 20 miles that day. I haven’t felt that dehydrated in a long time. But I survived!

I meant to bring my water filter with me but the flow had been messed up for a while and I forgot it anyway. I definitely would’ve filled up at Pua Falls (aka my turnaround point). As soon as I got home that day, I began the journey of troubleshooting my filters. I fixed it! I plan to carry it with me on every trail run for the rest of the season.

While I was dying of thirst on my trail run, Patrick was getting his century ride done for the month. He still had a ways to go, so I drove into Leesburg for some lunch. I love an Italian sandwich.

Yesterday I planned to actually do my 20 miler at Rock Creek and got absolutely flooded out. Look at this poor sopping wet blue jay! It started raining when I was about 8 miles in, but by the time I was approach 14 it was absolutely torrential. The trail was flooding, the roads were flooding, and it was so dark with lots of thunder. Patrick rescued me and we had to find a different way home because the small road by the stream was flooding. Nuts!

In this week ahead, I am excited to keep up my training (although I am pivoting and making today a much-needed rest day), cook a lot of delicious food at home, and generally slow things down. An important item on my list today?

Make peach cobbler!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

JN