When I feel like jogging....

... this is where I go. In the springtime the blossoms from the nearby orange groves would waft in through our windows and the surrounding area. It was such a heavenly scent, and it stayed that way for at least THREE WEEKS! Anywho, Adam said it reminded him of living in Oceanside back when he was in high school, and he could smell the orange blossoms from some nearby trees there.

So I decided to take a camera with me to get some good pics, although this isn't smellavision and you can't smell what is happening. I guess you'll just have to imagine or experience it for yourselves.

The orange orchards(? do you call them orchards or groves? Groves seems more likely...) are right by our apartments and are now owned by UC Riverside. There aren't any sidewalks, but there is gravel, sand, dirt (and broken glass, my favorite!) along the roadsides and that's what I like to run on. I'm hoping it will help save my knees for a few years longer with the cushioning and what not. So I try to map out a good route for me to go on, but it can still allow me some creativity and tailoring. And I can measure it by car odometer to find out how many miles I'm doing. I started doing this back when I lived with Madison and I had a great route to go around Irvine. Then Hina talked me into doing the L.A. marathon, so that motivated me, and I did my first 10 mile straight run on my own nifty course. I moved to Costa Mesa while I was still training for the marathon and had to find a new route to run, but I found that running by the back bay along Irvine Avenue was a good way to go. I could do a 5K in about 30 minutes and a 10K in an hour and worked on my endurance, being able to run 6-7 miles without stopping to walk. Then when Adam and I got married and we moved, it was hard to motivate myself to run and I had to find a new course. Unfortunately, the birth control prescription I was on made my legs feel weird and throb and it would scare me to run because of the tingling. Side effects are no fun. Cue the weight gain...

So anyway, I'm off the meds and trying to stick to an eating and exercizing regiment and I'm feeling better and I've lost just a little bit of weight. I'm hoping that I can shed more in the next few weeks and months. The views are nice as I'm jogging though. Here are a few of them.





Don't mind the barbed wire. I don't.



Orange trees all in a row. Orange trees as far as the eye can see!



The setting sun. It's so hot I need to wait for sunset to get my jog on.



There are a lot of palm trees along the way and they are beautiful. I love them. And they give me some shade sometimes when I'm crazy and I go out around noon.







Okay, I'm gonna jog tomorrow! Or go for an hour-long walk. I've been doing that lately and it's been very enjoyable. I went and walked around the UCR Botanic gardens a few days ago and it was awesome! I got some good pictures on my cell phone of some swimming turtles!

Okay, I'll put more pics up tomorrow. Adam and I are going to bed. We are tired, and it is 2:39 a.m. We are crazy t.v. watching night owls!