My birthday is next Friday, September 5th, and the race is my present. A half marathon - 13.1 miles in Lake Placid, New York. I cannot wait. This will be my second half that I will have done. My first was in Wilmington, Delaware in May, 2013. I have been wanting to sign up for another one ever since, but have been very wary about my knees.

Ever since high school track I have had tendinitis in both of my knees. Throughout the years the chronic injury kept getting worse. One of my knees would swell up after a sprint or long run, and the swelling would last for a good 2 weeks, limiting my range of motion and having me limping around with minor pain sometimes. When the inflammation went down and I started running again, it was only a matter of time when the other knee would flare up and repeat the same process. 

Over the last few years I have been strengthening and stretching my leg muscles, wearing my knee braces, and decreasing the amount of days that I run.  I was hesitant on signing up for any races when I moved to the Greater New York Area this past May, because I had a new job as a Personal Trainer and wouldn't want to be injured while on the job. Could you imagine seeing a Personal Trainer limping around the gym two weeks at a time?

However, I have been on a couple long runs (Stew and I ran 8 miles the other week) along the Hudson River, overlooking an amazing view of NYC, and kept telling myself that "I have to do it."
 "I have to sign up for a run. I want to keep myself motivated with running. I love it too much to stop."

So I did it. I signed up for a 13.1 mile run for the day after my birthday. I'm celebrating my birthday with something active, and something that I enjoy greatly. My goal is to do a bunch of halves to eventually work my way up to the full 26.2 marathon.  

Go hiking - With this warm weather approaching, it is the perfect time to explore the area around you. You can easily go online and look for hiking trails around your area.

Go for a bike ride - bike riding can be a fun activity either by yourself or with friends and family.

Go for walks - Brisk walks with friends and family is a great way to get out, enjoy the weather, and stay active.

Play a recreational sport - play basketball, soccer, tennis, football... anything that you would enjoy playing with some friends.

The weather this weekend is great. Going from temperatures that were varying from 4-14 degrees fahrenheit, to this 50 degree weather - seems like the perfect temperature.  Definitely great weather to be doing some activities outside. Like walking or running.  This is a great opportunity to take your workouts outside during this “heat wave” (just make sure you dress appropriately.)

I’m up in Hoboken for the weekend, and my boyfriend and I thought it would be a  great idea to go for a long run to embrace the day.  Before our run we started our day with a great, nutrient filled breakfast, and then headed out the door.  We ran from Hoboken up to West New York - about a 9 mile run - with great views along the Hudson River of New York City.  

It may not be summertime sun, but with the proper clothing, it is perfect.  Do something active outside with friends or family to change up your routine.

• Do your workouts outside
  
• Go for a walk
  
• Go for a run
  
• Ride a bike
  
• Play pick up games (Basketball, soccer, etc.)

Take advantage of the temperatures, and do something outdoors.

I love to run, absolutely love it! The running trails I normally run on are already paved, streets, or flat fields and tracks.  My boyfriend took me to Wissahickon Park, which is a part a Fairmont Park in Philadelphia.  This park has so many different trails to run, bike, hike, and even ride horses on.  

The trails we chose were the unpaved rocky, dirt terrain up a large hill.  Now I know this sounds quite intimidating to some, but I thought that this was the greatest run.  It was different from what I was used to, a new atmosphere to run in, and kept me alert the entire time I was running (You have to know where you are stepping if you run on this terrain, otherwise you can seriously hurt yourself.)

It was very scenic, we ran through the woods right along the Wissahickon creek.   It was pretty cold out, it had flurried a little bit before we decided to head out, so we were both bundled up greatly, with layers on top of layers, gloves, and ear warmers - we were warm and we were ready to run.

I think I may try and get more into this type of running.  It’s different from what I’m used to, and will be good when a change is needed
 

Run Keeper is a great running app that I like to use that tells you the distance you ran, your run time, your average pace, calories burned, and more.  When using it today it told me that we ran 4.67 miles in an hour, averaging bout 12:56 minutes per mile. Not bad for a trail run, huh?

If you are not a runner, Wissahickon is a great place to go for a walk, hike, mountain bike ride, and horse ride.  If you are interested in finding a new place to go for these activities in the Philadelphia area, this is a good spot to try.