Weekly Run For Steem & Wednesday Walk in the Berry Patch

Happy Wednesday!!  There are so many really great initiatives and contests on Steemit that I sometimes have a hard time joining in on all of the ones I would like to support.  I am sure many of you can relate!  There is only so much time in the day, and only so many hours I can (or want to) sit at the computer.  My solution--combine them when I can.  I love keeping up with my running and other higher intensity activity, but also really enjoy taking the time to leisurely soak up the beauty of being outside, as well.

I actually got to do a little bit of both yesterday on a beautiful day in Atlanta.  This post will act as my #runforsteem entry to keep up with Hive account@jumowa's weekly initiative (contest post here).  I'm also throwing out a little love for Hive account@tattoodjay's recently started #wednesdaywalk challenge (info on it here).  They are basically just two ends of the same spectrum and encourage all of us to get out to enjoy moving our bodies in whatever way we can.  Taking a nice easy-paced walk is also a great way to recover from a hard run. :)

The weather has been fantastic the past couple of days, so I got up early to make sure I got my run in before we went down to the berry farm.  I had planned on getting some intervals in and even started loading up a new pyramid workout to have ready in my Garmin.  It took longer than I expected, though, so I ended up deciding to save the tough stuff for tomorrow and just got out there for my run.

It is kind of fun to finally start playing around with more of the features of the software.  I still need to finalize my next training plan, but it will definitely help having the ability to load in custom workouts and perhaps even use the calendar to remind me to get it in.

Since I started running a little low on time, I just stuck with a steady, moderate-paced 5k through the neighborhood.  I took it easy last week after doing the Memorial Day race and then I killed my legs on a workout on Friday that killed my motivation to run over the weekend, so this was my first run in a week.  Yikes, definitely need to be more consistent!  The run felt good, and I kept a solid pace throughout.  I will definitely be ready to hit the speed work tomorrow for my next run!

After getting back, I had a quick breakfast before Hive account@dksart and I got in the car to drive down to Southern Belle Farms again.  Here in Georgia it is getting to be the very tail end of strawberry season, so I wanted to make it one more time while I could still get some.  The farm is quite nice and large enough to offer lots of space to stroll around in even if you don't do any picking.  Though we missed the start of peach-picking by a day, they did start blackberry u-pick yesterday so we were able to get two kinds of berries to enjoy this week.

Let me take you on a little walk around the farm starting at the front market (hhmm, maybe should have taken some pics inside for #marketfriday)...

They have all kinds of goodies in the market, but of course the real draw is getting out and enjoying the farm.

It's been quite rainy this spring, so the strawberry rows were a bit muddy.  We wore old shoes, so no worries there.  I think I heard the tractor tour guide saying the trees in the back were muscadine grapes, so they will have those in the fall.

It was a little tougher picking than it was when we came earlier in the season, but still so worth it!  After we got a few buckets of strawberries we walked over to the blackberries.

It is just at the beginning of their season, so there are tons of berries just popping up on the bushes.

Many are still green, so I can imagine in a few weeks these will be bursting with color and flavor.

We did find plenty of plump, ripe ones to snag for our buckets.

I couldn't help taking a few more gratuitous berry shots.  It's always a beautiful thing to take the time to connect with the source of the food that nourishes our bodies.

We were sweaty, itchy and dirty by the time we left, but all in all it was a wonderful day!  I snagged some peaches from the market, as well, so now the next few days I will be frantically trying to eat, bake or freeze all of our bounty so nothing goes to waste.  I wish I could share some of them with you all, but at the very least I will show you what I come up with in the kitchen.

I hope you all get some lovely weather to get outside today and enjoy whatever activity moves you.  I think it is global running day... (hint, hint) ;)