Catherine Hiles

I suck.

It’s been a reeeeeeeeeally long time since I posted. I tend to do this. I had a blog once before–primarily a recipe blog–and I posted faithfully once a week or so for the first few months, and then it just died out. I tend to start things out with plenty of enthusiasm, but then it starts to feel like a chore and I put things off.

But I love posting here, and I really hope to start doing it more frequently.

So, in the past month, I have run 140 miles, dreamed up a time-zapping extra project at work (hence the lack of blogging here), complained daily about the humidity, cut off all my hair, had my mother to visit from England, and much more. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen some of these pictures, but if not these will be brand new for you!

My Mum’s Trip

Yes, we do more than just drink beer, although these pictures suggest otherwise…

Looking out over Northern Kentucky from Cincinnati’s Eden park

We headed down to the ‘Nati to head to Eden Park and check out the butterfly exhibit at the Krohn Conservatory. I couldn’t get any butterfly pictures because the buggers wouldn’t stay still!

Beeeeeeeeer!

After seeing the butterflies, we headed down into the city and stopped by the Christian Moerlein taproom for a nice cold beer. I got the hefeweizen and it was delicious.

My mum and I at our local brewpub!

We took a stroll down to our local brewery, Star City, for a beer one Thursday after work. It’s about a mile away, so perfect for a breezy summer evening.

Ben and my mum at Warped Wing brewery in Dayton

On Mum’s final weekend, we took her to our favorite local brewery, Warped Wing in Dayton. Their limited-edition beers are the best.

Trip to Lexington, KY

We went to Kentucky for a family birthday party, which was actually about two hours from Lexington, but we decided to stay the night in Lex rather than in rural KY (although it was beautiful there!).

Leaving Ohio

Once we arrived in Lex, we hot-footed it over to West Sixth Brewing where they had a projector screen playing England vs. Italy. It was the first match for England, and I was full of hope. However, it was not to be, so now I am team USA/Belgium/Netherlands/Germany. It’ll be tricky for me this week when the USA play the Netherlands, but I’ll probably root for the USA.

Beer sampling at West Sixth in Lexington while watching England lose in the World Cup

The next morning, we explored Lexington, starting with beautiful Triangle Park.

Lexington’s Triangle Park, right outside our hotel

We sat there and drank tea. It was hot. Should have gone with iced tea instead.

Enjoying the sun

These happy faces made our return to Ohio well worth it!

A happy welcome home from Dougal and Stumpy ❤

Miscellaneous

Dougal and I have been hating the humidity we’ve had here in Ohio. Our early morning runs are zapping about twice the energy they normally do. Dougal likes to stop and rub his head on the grass for a nice break, and I’m more than happy to indulge him.

Dougal taking a break on our sweaty run

A couple of weeks ago, we ran The Heights Half Marathon just north of Dayton. I went out too fast; it was hot and humid, and I came in three minutes below my PR. Not a big deal, but I missed placing in my age group by just a minute or so, so it was bittersweet.

1:53 – not a PR, but enough to make me fourth in my age group, 13th female overall!

I had my hair chopped off a few weeks ago because I was sick of dealing with it in the heat, but the guy who did it screwed it up. So I had a second haircut and got a huge amount of bulk taken out, so my hair no longer looks like a wedge. It also doesn’t look like this, because I don’t have the magic hands that hairdressers seem to have.

Haircut

And that, my friends, was my June in a nutshell.

On Thursday we’re heading to Europe for a little over two weeks. We’re flying to England first to spend time with family and friends, and then onto Portugal for the wedding of one of my best friends, plus a little vacation time. I’ll be sure to post pictures whenever I can!

Hope everyone had a fantastic June, and wishing you an even more splendid July!

What was the best thing you did this month?