Hello friends! Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and ready to tackle another new week! I had a great weekend of training and celebrating Elle’s 6 month birthday. Yes, I am that crazy dog mom ;) 
Saturday morning started off with a duathlon test run for my race this upcoming Sunday. My coach had a brick workout laid out for me that consisted of a run, bike, run. I headed over to Fiesta Island for some quality training time. Saw a couple of teammates who pulled me through the last couple of minutes on the bike and despite the rising heat, the workout went by pretty smoothly. 
Can you believe how fast this little nugget has grown up?!?! She went from 12 lbs at 11 weeks to almost 35 lbs at 6 months! This girl will be 50 lbs in no time, which makes us excited and a little nervous all at once :)
P.S. Puppy parents: any tips for picky eaters? Elle is a picky eater and while the vet says her growth and weight is normal, I would like to add a little more meat on her bones. She’s a little too lean! 
The first thing I did when I got home from my workout: cuddled with these two. Elle didn’t seem to mind how sweaty I was and gave me a bunch of kisses. We started off her six month birthday celebration with a lot of love, cuddles, and treats. 
After running the usual Saturday afternoon errands, Anthony, his best friend, and I headed up to the Encinitas Dog Park for Elle to get some quality time with some new puppy friends! We go to the dog park at least 4-5 times a week near our house, but going up to Encinitas is a real treat for us. The dog park is HUGE, completed paved with side walks and grass patches, and constantly has a bunch of dogs of all sizes playing. Since it generally takes us 20-25 minutes to get up there (even though I use to bike up to Encinitas every weekend), it was definitely a treat to take Elle to this specific dog park for a little birthday celebration. 
After about an hour and a half there (we could tell Elle was getting wiped out), we stopped by Solana Beach’s Culture Brewing brewery. Another one off the list in our craft beer tour. Also, this coffee IPA is out of this world. I love coffee. I love IPAs. This was the perfect combination, called the El Dorado. Get it on Nitro. You won’t regret it. 
I spent the rest of my Saturday night cuddling my little sidekick, foam rolling, and watching a bit of 30Rock. It was the perfect end to the day, especially because I had 10+ miles of hill repeats with the team the next morning! 
Elle got a couple of new toys for her 1/2 birthday and some things she is less excited about (like a new collar and harness)! She got a whale, a new tug of war robe with a chewy rubber center, and the moose from above she is snuggling with. I think she’s already decided which one is her favorite. 
The next morning started with some lovely hill repeats. Our team does this workout on a crazy mile hill (half a mile down, half a mile up) that has about 1500 feet of elevation gain from top to bottom. Probably one of the workouts you want to do the least, but you know it makes you the strongest. There is also a one mile loop we run a couple of times before doing the hill and depending on what’s on the coach’s schedule, we repeat it a couple of times. These two nuts above that I’m running with? Yeah they are racing IRONMAN BOULDER in two weeks!! I was with them for about 11 miles but they had a 20 miler for the day. After, you know, they already biked 6 hours the day before. So crazy inspirational. And also just crazy!! 
We had dinner at a friend’s house and they made us their version of thick crust pizza baked in a skillet! The one on the left was a sausage pizza and the one on the right was veggie. Both of them were so ridiculously good. 
Imagine 3 more plates like the one above and that was my dinner. 
For dessert, my friend made peach cobbler. Topped with vanilla bean ice cream and it was the best day to end the day. I couldn’t think of better company and food to refuel after a great training weekend!
“Hi guys, hi, hi, hi! I’m Elle! I’m sure my mom has told you a bunch about me, so I’m excited to chat with you all today! Also. Mom and Dad went to see a movie about dogs just like me.. WITHOUT ME. How rude! I’m kind of fighting with them about it, so in case mom tells you anything about me eating one of her shoes… you’ll know why.
I’m going to share with you all what I’ve been learning the past couple months ever since my mom and dad adopted me! First things first. My dad is a chew toy. I love nibbling on him and even though I get a lot of toys from mom and dad, his hands are still the best thing to teeth on. Also, I always win in wrestling. Don’t let him tell you otherwise. 
And I’m kind of learning how to swim. I am still pretty unsure of the ocean and especially those waves. How do you make them stop coming at you? Mom and Dad keep saying we are going to keep going to this dog beach but… it’s scary!
I also learned I love puppachinos from Starbucks! They sure are tasty!
And I learned how to strategically play fight with my best friend, Arya. Speaking of which, we have a play date today! Mom, hurry up and come home from wherever you are!
I have learned how to use a pillow and take over Mom and Dad’s bed. They keep telling me my bed is next to theirs but I think they are mistaken/ just messing with me. 
I am learning how to run! Mom says she wants to wait until I’m a little older to start running longer, but we went on our first run together. Half a mile, and boy was that fun! Now I am pooped! I can’t wait to spend more time on the road with her when we go on more runs. 
And I’m still not a fan of photos. Generally can’t find me looking at the camera unless mom has really good reflexes. But she’s saying I’m learning how to get better at selfies. Whatever that means!
1. I am loving our dog park visits with Elle. She has a blast running around and meeting other dogs, and Anthony and I get a nice mile walk in every time we take her. Fresh air, time together, and extra cardio for all of us! 
2. Reunion with Beta Alumni! Anthony and I were both heavily involved in Greek Life as undergrads. This past weekend, his fraternity had an alumni and active members reunion. It was so great seeing all of his friends again, meeting some of the new chapter members, and being back on campus. Not to mention I was sweetheart for this fraternity, so they have an extra special place in my heart! 
3. Meeting up with Beta’s new chapter sweetheart, Megan! A fraternity sweetheart is a female that goes above and beyond in her friendship and loyalty for a particular fraternity. She is the definition of sweetness, kindness, and I am so happy to have passed the torch onto her. 
4. Poke Bowls! I am glad San Diego has finally caught onto the poke and sushi-burrito craze. In the past two years, four poke food places have opened up. The way the restaurant works is kind of like Chipotle. You pick a base layer of either rice, salad, chips, or a mixture, and then start adding layers of goodness ranging from various types of raw fish, to cucumbers and onions, to seaweed salad to top it off! I grabbed a poke bowl with a friend on Sunday to celebrate my birthday: layers of salad mix, salmon, shrimp, potato salad, radish, seaweed, and ginger sure hit the spot! 
5. I finally got my tri-bike fitted. Since I’ve gotten my new bike, I’ve been told of the importance of getting it fit to your body size. Even though there are general frame sizes for everyone from a certain height range, the fit customizes so you are as comfortable and efficient as you can be on your bike. Especially with triathlon bikes, you will have to be in aero bars and you want to make sure your reach isn’t too far or too short. After my accident, some of the balances issues I had were attributed to how my bike was fitting me, so before getting back on the roads, I wanted to make sure I didn’t have this problem anymore. Gregg from Pro Tour Fittings did an awesome job and made a bunch of adjustments in my seat, aero bars, and suggested for me to get a new crank for my pedals. I can’t wait to put it to work at Turbo tonight and then ride on the roads in a couple of weeks. 
6. Playing fetch with these two. Elle is finally getting the hang of the game! 
7. Uhm I have a big public announcement to everyone on this blog. CPK just brought back their strawberry shortcake dessert for the summer. This is not a drill. Go out and eat one ASAP and report back on how amazing it is!!! I can eat this dessert a million times over. 
8. Anthony and I did a little bit of exploring in North Park this past weekend. I love their hip little coffee shops, restaurants, and this pretty wall of succulents. Can I have this in my apartment please? 
9. Discovered this weekend that Elle likes popsicles! Finding little sweet treats to give to her and poor baby is teething right now, so the cold probably helped a lot in alleviating some of the pain in losing her baby teeth! 
10. Summer sangrias and date night with this man. What more could I ask for?
RunMileswithSmiles 