Painting is Really Freaking Hard.

Because that’s what I spent my day yesterday doing.  Between the shoveling on Monday and home-improvement around the clinic yesterday I have been getting my XT in for the week.  I know that one of my goals last year was to XT more but I don’t think this is what I had in mind.

Okay so I wasn't really doing home improvement stuff per se. But man, was JTT cute 😉

Don’t tell my mother but I did some serious handyman stuff yesterday including but not limited to: spending 2 hours in Home Depot trying to find the correct color of paint that was needed to match the hallways, spackling and then painting two offices and a kitchen as well as scrubbing down a bunch of walls.  And rearranging furniture and mounting bulletin and white boards. Really now? I don’t even do this in my own home. Oh what I will do for a good recommendation.

In terms of running, yesterday I got that run I had wanted to post work.  And it was SPECTACULAR. I was probably high off of the fumes from the paint and cleaning supplies but I ended up with 8 miles at an average pace of 8:23. It just felt effortless. I really didn’t feel like I was pushing the pace at all but I was working hard because I had to take my gloves off during the run AND my last mile was sub-8. Holler: I’m back.

I should make it a habit of running after work as those seem to be my least complainy runs.

I woke up this morning ready to tackle my run and set out for one of roughly 10 miles, 10.8 according to my map.  It was slow and hard and the route I picked wasn’t really cleared of snow.  So I probably got some long jump and high jump action in there.  Variety.  You know, mixing it up.

Thanks google images

But overall the run didn’t really suck and I do think that “I’m back” in terms of recovery because I knew that yesterday was awesome.  I did feel really sleepy and exhausted this morning so, barring any huge energy rushes, this will probably be my long run this week. I’m still trying to make it 4 full weeks of easy running before jumping into a “base building” phase for Boston.

I also did my PT exercises (which I hadn’t done since SUNDAY!), pushups ( 22, 22, 30, 30, 24, 24, 18, 18, 60 ) and situps (33, 33, 45, 45, 36, 36, 32, 32, 100  ).  This was W6D2 and I can’t believe that next week I’m expected to do 100 pushups in a row as the program is ending. Eeeep.

But I guess I can’t really complain too much.  I’m sure that the pushups (and I swear that after every set I grumble…can it be a grumble if it’s said in a big girl voice?…”I HATE pushups. Why am I doing this?!”) have helped me.  I’m not sore after shoveling and painting stuff. In fact, after doing both tasks I felt rather accomplished.

Jeez.  I just re-read that sentence. Am I maturing into an adult? I cook, bake (yes Jess I plan on making a pie from yesterday’s post from scratch this weekend), clean, shovel and fix things? Good thing that NYE is coming up soon and I can totally dash that allusion.

So Not Martha This Weekend.

There were tons of things that I wanted to get done on my day off Monday and, in the end, only two of them got done.  I guess that’s better than zero, right? Regardless it was a wash in terms of really exciting stuff.  I did end up making that snow angel and also ended up going sledding with some hooligan friends.  Running up and down the sledding hill counts as hill training right? And shoveling out my car counts as weights right? Doubly so because I’m ambidextrous and can could work out BOTH arms without having to slow down the rate of shoveling and time spent in the cold!

Tuesday brought about a snowy 9.3 miler.  Quick despite the snow.  And despite my eyes just not wanted to open either. A little achy but nothing that was painful.  I think I was a little overzealous with the hometown routes this weekend (all my favs are so long!) and the sledding/shoveling on Monday that used new muscles! Of course there were pushups ( 45, 55, 35 30, 56 ) and situps (70, 80, 54, 45, 90 ) although I will say that I would have thought shoveling out on Monday would have been easier with all the pushups I’ve been doing.  I guess I shudder to think of how I could really be feeling if I wasn’t doing them.

Wednesday (today) is so far a rest day due to my overall sleepiness and waking up at 0403 and thinking that an hour and fifteen minutes of extra sleep would be nice. And then doing it. But I’m hoping to get a quick 6 miler done after work. We’re painting and scrubbing the walls and other fun handyman stuff today so I’m showing up to work in old running gear. No excuses for not being prepared when I get home. Fingers crossed.

And now for some excitement.

Peppermint Chocolate Cream Pie

I make no bones that I was born and raised a box cake-brownie-cookie gal.  I’m slowly getting into the from-scratch stuff (mostly because when I do want to bake I have the time to go all out) but this dessert made for my family’s Christmas Eve dinner was not. Overall I’m not sure if you save any time by going the box/mix route here but I totally saved myself stress. And the holidays shouldn’t be about that.  I guess that’s why I’m posting this.  To show that not everything has to be done on your own if it makes life easier.  I mean, Betty Crocker has made an empire on that idea, right?

I’m sure that there are multiple real recipes that you can find out there and variations on it, but here’s how I made this baby for the fam (For those of you who are so inclined to make it from scratch I’ve included what I’ve done in the past at the very end of the post).

• 1 Keebler Graham Cracker pie crust
• 2 boxes Jello Chocolate pudding
• 1 tub Cool-Whip
• Peppermint Extract

I took out the crust, made the pudding (with 1% milk according to the directions on the box and added in 5 drops of the peppermint) then spread the Cool-Whip on top.  It needed to be refrigerated for a few hours (like 6ish) before serving but it’s a very easy dessert to make.  Very delicious too.  Just ask my brother.

Oh man my brother is getting so big! And me so old!

The great thing about this type of pie (especially if you go the easy route like I did) is that there are many variations on it. Like vanilla or banana pudding as well as other types of extracts and other types of graham crackers (I used the honey flavored here).  Adding banana chunks is great too(for the banana pudding duh).

See opportunities are ENDLESS here people. Another subset of this recipe is the actual J-E-L-L-O route.

Okay so not the J-E-L-L-O it's alive picture I was searching for but this was good for a laugh. Thanks google.

This one is a little trickier just because you need to fold in the Cool-Whip while the Jello is still hot. I’ve never tried making my own jello before but I’m sure you could if you really wanted to? Who knows, Jello is a mysterious food.

• 1 box jello (any flavor your heart desires or the occasion calls for although I prefer key lime)
• 1 tub Cool- Whip
• 1 graham cracker pie crust (either homemade or store bought)
• Fruit of the same flavor as jello (optional)

1. Make one package of jello as directed on the box using ~2 cups of hot (boiling) water and stir until dissolved. Then add 1.5 cups of ice water and let chill for 5 ish minutes in the freezer or until thick but still pourable.
2. Take the Cool-Whip  and fold it into the jello until one consistency.  Add the fruit in if you choose to (I usually don’t) and pour into the pie crust
3. Let sit in the fridge for 6ish hours and then enjoy

In the end it’ll look something like this:

Thanks google images. No pic of my own because I haven't made this one recently.

And here are the from scratch ingredients and directions.  I’m thinking I’ll make one of the varieties from scratch when I go to a NYE party in Boston on Friday (anyone got any super duper plans to ring in 2011?!). I have the day off so I have time to not stress about turn-on-the-oven baking.

Graham Cracker Crust (from allrecipes.com):

• 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon ( optional and very good if you use cinnamon cracker crumbs! )

1. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter or margarine, and cinnamon until well blended . Press mixture into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate.
2. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 7 minutes. Cool. If recipe calls for unbaked pie shell, just chill for about 1 hour.

Cream Filling (also from allrecipes.com)

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate (or alternatively I’ve used 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/4 cup cornstarch)
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine sugar, flour, milk, and chopped up chocolate in 2 quart saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble. Continue stirring for 2 minutes.
2. Mix a little of the hot mixture into the egg yolks, beating rapidly to avoid cooking the yolks. Stir the warm yolk mixture into the remainder of the chocolate mixture, and cook for an additional 90 seconds. Remove from heat, and stir in butter or margarine and vanilla.

Whipped Cream (sigh.  I’ve only done this one once.  I prefer the Cool-Whip methodology even though it’s not hard per se. I just hate to do it. But I used an allrecipes.com recipe for this too)

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

1. In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.

It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Oops. Wrong time of year.  Although I’m trying to stay positive with all the snow that was just dumped on my doorstep.  A day and a half after Christmas aka a day and a half too late for snow in my opinion.  Is it Spring yet? Not that I’m bitter or anything 😉

Although on second thought I am typing this from bed because the ~18″ of snow gave me a snow day. I haven’t had one of those in YEARS! It feels good 8) It’s a great way to cap off a Merry Christmas holiday.

My immediate family.  And check out the huge tree in the background! It dwarfs me and I’m 5’11”!

I did a bunch of stuff over the weekend, including running.  I’ll try and keep this short and running related, mostly because I read this post from Shelby 😉  Since it’s essentially the dreaded recap post I’ll try to do bullets with pictures.  That way my blabbering doesn’t get too out of hand hah!

• Friday was my first hometown run since the summer! It went well, felt good and fast, especially since compared to where I’m living now there are NO HILLS there.  It was nice.  The run was a tad over 9 miles and felt quite speedy.  I’m pretty sure it was a progression run as I felt a lot faster toward the end.

• Christmas morning brought a bit of sleeping in (I was so exhausted!) and a Christmas run. This year Christmas fell on my LR day and I had *just* enough time to get it done and shower before driving to my uncle’s for Christmas dinner.  I managed to get 11.2 miles in with the mid-miles being nice and quick and sandwiched between some sloth.  It was nice regardless to be a bit over 10.  Longest run since the marathon!

• It’s been a tradition, oh forever, for me to run my Christmas run in a Santa hat.  Like, tradition even before I could call myself a runner and called myself just a kid who was running for bball.  I don’t know what I’m going to do when I move to a warmer locale next year because I’ve always *needed* the hat! It was 16* when I stepped out the door.

• Sunday I ended up with a good 9 miler which was decently paced before driving back to Providence. Nothing exciting about it except that I hadn’t run the route since August. And pushups (20, 20, 24, 24, 20, 20, 22, 52 ) and situps (30, 30, 36, 36, 30, 30, 105 ) followed.  As well as rolling / PT exercises because I hadn’t done them since Thursday. Oops.

Some other highlights (other than the 3 pain free and not totally slugish runs!)  included

• Going on Christmas Eve to a neighborhood that tends to go all out with their Christmas lights

Go Pats and Sox! As much as I want out of New England I’ll miss the 24-7 Boston sports coverage!

• Waking up semi-early on Sunday in order to get that last hometown run in before the nor’easter hit us.  And waking up out of a deep sleep. Although the highlight was, I do believe, that I still smelled of beer and icing. Hallmarks of a good Christmas I tell you.

• Driving through the snow storm on Sunday afternoon.  Which took forever because of idiots who live in New England and yet are completely surprised by the snow.  Grrrrr but I ended up home safe and sound.  Maybe with high blood pressure. Which wasn’t made any better by this sight early in the evening

View from Sunday night.

I totally handed back in my I’m-a-BAMF-New-Englander card when I whimpered and said that I wanted to get away from this all. And I didn’t have a good shot of my car but let’s just say it would have been wise of me to do a little shoveling / brushing off periodically during the storm. Oops.

The storm is still kind of going on right now.  And I get to run in it later due to the aforementioned snowday.  It makes me feel like a kid.  I even want to make a snow angel. Which is weird because MM and snow =/= friends. First, though, it’s breakfast in bed.  Trying to not think about all the snow I have to shovel later. Maybe I’ll just ignore it for a few more hours. And then go run.  And pray that a heat wave comes and melts that snow off my car.  I can dream, right?

And I’ll leave you with this video that Lindsay sent me a few days ago.  I probably should have put it up on Christmas day but it was Christmas and I didn’t.  Better late than never, no?

And check out the giveaway from Julie (Hot Legs Runner) and Running and Rambling

A Little Bit of Green and Pumpkin.

First: I LOVED your answers to the questions I posed on Wednesday. Hilarity.  You guys are the best

Second: Sadly I’m not talking about green money.  I wish. Nor am I talking about green pumpkins which is likely a good thing!  And I could be talking about the Celtics but, for once, I’m not (although WOOOOT to another win!)

I wasn’t planning on blogging today as I’ve been busy (but duh who isn’t this time of year with work and the holidays and everything) and every time I sit down to type about my runs it’s all the same really. Buttttt I had a kick ass run on Thursday.  So I’m sharing 😉

I got up on Thursday morning and saw…SNOW. Again.  It really stormed on Wednesday and I was hoping that it would have dissipated by Thursday. Nope. It was the big light fluffy stuff, not a blizzard or anything icky, and I am so glad that I ran.  Well duh I ran.  I did an elliptical session the day before.  No way I could make myself do two in a row.  But I’m actually happy that I ran because it was a really stellar one.

I’ve been shying away from posting my paces as I recover for a bunch of reasons, first and foremost being that my pace shouldn’t matter in the days and weeks post-marathon.  That and partly because I’ve been doing lots of slow running and I felt really jealous when seeing others doing fast stuff and I’m not.  Because I’m really competitive. Green eyed monster anyone?!

Only not so warm and fuzzy. Thanks google.

Granted slow is all relative but suffice it to say that in the weeks post-marathon my runs have ranged from the slowest run at just over 10:00 pace to the more recent 8:57 that I did on Tuesday.  I saw lots of 9:30ish paces in there and I did get some LMPs in but overall these runs have been much slower than what I’m used to. The trend is slowly getting faster with the same effort but still, I want to jump right back in!

I’m not going to lie and say that mentally I was okay with it the slower paces.  I went back and forth between being cool and not cool with it. Going from “yes this is what my body needs” to “ugh another slow splits?!”.  Don’t get me wrong: at the end of the day my life isn’t ruined by not running speedy during these runs. But it sometimes felt that way right after a run.  Which makes me feel awkward typing out this post. Especially since I’m saying this in order to set up how awesome my run on Thursday was and how sweet it felt.  It makes me feel a bit bratty.

After running the first loop well I decided to sneak a peak at my splits at each check point  (I did a 2.2 loop, my pathway (essentially 2 @ 2.2 for timing purposes), 1.1 loop)

• 2.2 miles (19:13, 8:44 pace) Okay this could be a good run
• 2.2 miles (18:47 minutes, 8:32 pace) Well there you go. Hope I don’t break something
• 2.2 miles (18:05, 8:18 pace) Jeez think I can hold onto this for one more mile?
• 1.1 miles (9:00, 8:10 pace) Holy S$#%, this is like PRE-MARATHON RUNNING

So 7.7 miles total in 65:05 which is a 8:27 pace.  If that isn’t beautiful I do not know what is.  I’ve been waiting for my legs to come around and give me those mid-8s that just felt like I wasn’t doing anything except having fun.  The only sad thing is that I ran out of time to capitalize on the fast pace and great feeling!  Of course the preventative stuff happened post-run (don’t want to jinx myself here) and I did W5D2 of pushups ( 19, 19, 22, 22, 18, 18, 22, 47 ) and situps ( 30, 30, 36, 27, 27, 33, 100 ) as well as the PT exercises, rolling, stretching.  The works.

I’m not going to consider myself fully recovered from the marathon — I think it’s good for me to still be on a break because I’ve *never* given myself an off season — but man, did this run feel good.  No aches, no pains, no nagging anything to suggest I ran a 3:09 marathon just 2.5 weeks ago. Not too much more to say on it because I feel the data just speaks for itself.  For once the numbers are in line with how I feel while running

Elite Boston Marathoners. Maybe not as good as this though 😉 Thanks google.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and / or weekend if you don’t celebrate! I’m going to try and blog but hey, it’s the holidays so I may not. Unless I have another stellar run like I did on Thursday! I’m hoping that some hometown runs do the trick. If fact, I’m off for one now. Happy Christmas Eve y’all!

But in case you’re feeling ambitious today I’ve decided to also share a recipe. Since it’s the holidays (and YAY for going home for the holiday. Aka no work — and more importantly no early bird wakeup Friday) I’ll share a recipe.  This one was probably more appropriate for Thanksgiving as it has pumpkin in it but I’m pretty sure that pumpkin is good for year round stuff. I mean I’m not a die-hard like some people but I’m not going to discriminate based on something as silly as month.  Case in point: I made it for the Celtics game last night.  I received no complaints.

And if not, well then, simply don’t make it. Like most of my recipes, this one came from a friend but when she gave it to me the recipe card said it was from “The Baking Pan” so I guess that’s where she got it. I didn’t actually look to see if it was still on their site but I’ve written down the directions per her. And I’m just going to go out on a limb and say that if you do find it, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is word for word the recipe on the site as I just copied and pasted her email hahah!

And yes I know there are lots of words that follow. So feel free to just look at the pictures.  Unless you try to make it.  Then I’d suggest reading the ingredients and directions 😉

Pumpkin Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

• Small amount of vegetable shortening and flour for preparing pan

Cake:

• 1 cup dark or golden raisins, plumped (or a combination of both)
• 2 tablespoons finely minced crystallized ginger
• ½ cup quartered red candied cherries
• 3 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 5 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree or, one 15-ounce can of pumpkin.
• 1¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1½ cups walnuts, coarsely chopped, 2 tablespoons reserved for the top

Orange Glaze:

• 1 cup confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest (about ½ orange)
• 4 to 5 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

This is so totally the bread that I mention below. Same recipe. But I felt I didn't a good picture to break up the text 😉

 

Directions:

Cake:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare one 10 inch cake pan and lightly grease it with shortening and dust with flour
• Plump the raisins by steaming in a colander in a double boiler; steam the raisins about 1 minute or until softened. Thoroughly drain, or spread the raisins on paper toweling to dry. (in the interest of time we did not do this.  I’d imagine that the cake would have come out even tastier if we had)
• In a small mixing bowl, combine the drained raisins, ginger and cherries. Stir in 1 tablespoon of flour to keep the fruit from sticking together. Set aside.
• In a medium mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg; whisk together to mix.  Set aside.
• In a large bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs; beat on medium-high speed for 2 minutes. With the mixer still on medium-high speed, slowly add the granulated sugar to the eggs, either one tablespoon at a time, or in a very slow steady stream, taking 3 to 4 minutes to add all of the sugar, and beating until the eggs and sugar are fully incorporated, and the mixture looks light in color and thickened.
• Add the brown sugar one tablespoon at a time, taking 3 to 4 minutes, and beating until the sugar is fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula so the mixture blends evenly.
• Reduce mixer speed to medium, add the pumpkin puree, and beat for 1 minute. With the mixer still on medium speed, slowly pour the oil into the batter in a slow steady stream, and then beat for 1 minute longer.
• Reduce mixer speed to medium-low, and blend in the flour mixture all at once, mixing just until incorporated.
• Remove the bowl from the mixer. Using a balloon type whisk or large rubber spatula, fold in all but 2 tablespoons of the walnuts, along with the raisins, ginger, and cherry mixture.
• Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with the back of a large spoon. Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons reserved walnuts over the top. Bake 65 to 70 minutes or until a long toothpick, wooden skewer or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Place pan on a wire cooling rack to cool for 10 to 15 minutes then remove cake from the pan and place the cake on the wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

Orange Glaze:

• In a small bowl, combine confectioner’s sugar and orange zest. Add 4 teaspoons orange juice and stir until smooth. Add additional teaspoon of orange juice if needed to make a good drizzling consistency. The glaze should be like a soft icing, but thin enough that it will run down over the sides of the cake
• Drizzle glaze over the cake, allowing the glaze to drip down the sides.  Let the glaze set before serving.
• ENJOY!

Close Up. Yum

And since this cake was such a big hit to the party I brought it too I decided to use the recipe and make it into a bread.  Minus the glaze because I wanted to take it into work for the doctors that volunteered Thursday night at the clinic. Kind of as a thank you for both being a volunteer as well as coming in the day before Christmas Eve. It was a bit tricky getting it made before work post-run but soooo totally worth it!

Everyone loved it as a bread too.

A Bloggy Secret Santa and Some Q & A

So I officially feel like a loser because I’m just mailing my bloggy secret santa out on Tuesday.  Even though I made mine and feel superior because of it 😉 I’ve been told that it’ll get to my buddy by Friday. So fingers crossed! I did bust my butt last night to finish it because, when I got home from work on Monday I found this waiting for me:

I also had a package from my mother. Not quite as cool but I had TWO packages waiting for me. Awesomeness

And an adorable card inside as well

Awwww 🙂

Now the fun part. The part that everyone waits for:

THE GIFTS

I LOVE IT! I don’t actually know who had me because he/she was all mysterious and didn’t sign it.  I’ll have to do some blog stalk reading 🙂  I love Clif products and the crunchy pb might be my favorite bar.  And the shot blocks got me through the tough last part of White Rock.  And I love the book Once A Runner and it’s awesome to have a real copy. I may or may not have downloaded and printed one off a few years ago.  And the “Virginia is for Lovers” shotglass? How did my secret santa know? Hint Hint hahah!

Thanks Bloggy Buddy! [Edit: After some sleuthing I’ve discovered that it was Heather from The Crazy World of a Running Mom!]

Before I get into the Q & A maybe I should mention a little bit of running stuff? After the dud run Monday I knew that I needed to foam roll and PT exercise and all that jazz regularly and did so after work. Because that’s what good runners do 😉

And it payed off.  After a fitful night of sleep where I just couldn’t STAY asleep, I got up on Tuesday to do my run.  In the snow.  It was really pretty but the roads were “ehhhh” (and I don’t really trust drivers in the snow) so I stuck to my pathway and got a really good 8.8 – 9 miles! It was (and you’re probably sick of my saying this) the fastest run post-marathon that I’ve done.  For real.  By quite a bit and was very close to being within the range I was in pre-marathon for *easy* runs.  Not recovery but easy!  A most excellent feeling and the truly great thing is that the run just felt like I was gliding.  I didn’t feel dreadfully slow and yet I didn’t feel like I was really pushing myself.  Dare I say that I’m getting my legs back under me?! I might have just jinxed myself though! I finished off the workout with my pushups ( 36, 40, 30, 24, 42 ) and situps ( 54, 60, 45, 36, 75 ) as well as the PT exercises.

Today was an elliptical day. Blah.  Not directly related to the hip stuff (because I’ve found that keeping up with the PT stuff is working wonders) but, after chatting with one of my favorite docs at the clinic Tuesday night, I decided not to push it.  His exact words when I asked him what to do today were “nothing that you enjoy doing“ hahah!  Hence the elliptical.  But the workout was pain free and I continue to be pain free so I’m leery that I needed the non-running day but whatever.  In the long run it’s bound to be good. I am a little annoyed that I couldn’t take advantage of the earlier sunrise  (holler winter solstice yesterday! meaning LONGER DAYS AHEAD. hizzah. It also means that we’re entering true winter here but hizzah just the same.)

Enough running business for now.  I was tagged by Shelby (eat drink run) to do these questions.  And I decided to play because, while I’m very happy with how my pace is improving and my body is responding to recovery, it’s not the greatest blogging material. I didn’t pay attention to the rules of the game but I do know that I’m not answering the same questions she did.  So I think I make some up afterward and then tag people.  Whatever. The truth is that I read all the blogs that comment here so I do want all of you to do it.  Seriously.  If you really want me to link to you then well your S.O.L.  😛

1. Vacation: beach or mountains?

• Beach. Hands down. Mostly because the mountains can be chilly at times and I hate any chance of being cold.  Granted hiking would be cool but you really can’t beat your toes in the water and @ss in the sand.

 

Clearly these feet are A) not mine and B) do not belong to a runner

2. Luggage: check it or carry it on?

• Carry it on.  I was SO PISSED when I had to check my luggage on my trip for WR. My sister swore up and down it would fit as a carry on.  She lied. And I was out the fee to check the bag.  Both ways.

3. Bed: make it or leave it a rumpled comfy mess?

• When I was younger I always left it a rumpled mess. Mostly because my mom made it for me.  When in college, and I realized that the dorm room was a LIFE and LIVING space I changed my tune.  Plus it’s so awesome to get into a made bed at night. And no I’m not going to share a picture of my bed. I thought about it but then thought about the creeper search terms that people use to find my blog and decided against it. Sorry.

4. Races: smaller or bigger?

• Toughie.  I’m going to say bigger.  Because bigger = better? Mostly because bigger races = faster people entering = me being pushed.  That means I’ll likely never out and out win, which would be cool, but I’ll typically run my best.

5. Toilet paper roll: over or under?

• However it happens to be when I put it on.  I might be the only person who doesn’t care.  I just place it on the roll.

6. Pancakes: thick and fluffy or thin and crepe-like?

• Thick and fluffy.  Because that’s the way Americans eat ’em 😉

 

Good Morning Sunshine

7. Alarm: get up or hit snooze?

• Get the ‘eff up.  Lately on the weekends I’ve been hitting snooze but that’s rare.  Once my alarm goes off I get up. I am going to amend this and say that, save for my post-marathon slumbers, I rarely wake up with the alarm and get up 10-15 minutes earlier than it.   I do wait until the alarm goes off to get out of bed though

Thanks google

And now my questions. I think I’m supposed to do 7 so I’ll try and come up with that many but we’ll see if I can… YAY I did it. Enjoy 🙂 (and seriously. I read y’alls blogs.  DO IT!)

1. Dishes: clean them up right away or leave them for later and do lots at once?
2. What is your favorite US president and why?
3. Favorite song of 2010 and why?
4. Seasons: Fall or Spring?
5. Are you a brand loyalist all the time? Some of the time? None of the time? If so to what brand?
6. Sweets: Pastries or Ice Cream?
7. What would you say to a guy who said “So leave your keys on the kitchen counter / And gimme back that ruby ring with the big diamond”? [Edit: I don’t think some of you guys listen to that quote in context to the song. Hence why I provided the video 😉 ]

And before I forget: there were lots of questions on what “bleeding the line” means in terms of my oil burner.  It’s just a way of saying that I had to let all the air go out of the tubes “the line” because if there’s too much air in the line then the burner won’t suck up the oil.  All it involved was me loosening a valve to do so but I felt really BAMF doing it!

Things I’ve Learned: Weekend Edition

I typed out a post just now but deleted it because even I couldn’t stand how teenager whiny I sounded.  Especially because I was just bitching and moaning. Nothing positive.  No bright side. So I’ve turned it into things I’ve learned this weekend.  Because learning is ALWAYS positive. And fun.

• If it’s 8 days until Christmas then good luck finding those gingerbread kits.  Because my friend and I wanted to make real gingerbread houses Friday night but decided to at 2100 that night.  Meaning we could have made the dough for the walls but decorating would have to wait.  And let’s face it: decorating is what gingerbread house making is all about.  After hitting up several stores searching for those $10 kits there was nothing in sight.  So we said “Eff it” and watched Iron Man 2 instead.

 

Or maybe eating it's the best. Thanks google for the image

• Sleeping in until 1000 isn’t a bad thing.  Unless of course you have a billion things to do during the day.  Luckily that wasn’t really the case for me on Saturday when my alarm went off at 0845 and I fell back asleep until a little past 1000.  But it felt glorious.  And lazy. I also did this, but to a not-as-late degree, on Sunday morning.  Mostly because it was cold in my apartment (see a later lesson for why) and because

• Late nights at the GCB (the Graduate Center Bar, literally in the basement of a building at the university) are fun.  It’s essentially a dive bar and I tend to shy away from it because I’m not a student but the drink are extremely cheap (and relatively strong) and there are graduate students there.  Hotttttt. I also think that it was this late night (coupled with restless sleep because it was cold in my room) lead to the sleeping in Sunday morning.  So worth it.

 

Good times with good friends = awesomeness. Not taken Saturday night though.

• Running post-breakfast is a good idea and leads to good running for me. Although it’s tough to get my butt out the door because I’ll get sucked into the internet vortex or the good book that I’m currently reading.  And even if I manage to pry myself away it takes FOREVER to actually put the running clothes on and get out there. Lesson: do this on days where I have nowhere to be.

• But once I got out there it was amazing! Lesson: sunny runs and runs where I’ve let my body wake up are the bestest. On Saturday I ended up with 10.8 miles, first double digit post-WR and it was definitely the FASTEST, by a long shot, post-WR. Again, the pace isn’t where I’d love it to be but it was 0:02 away from being within McMillian’s easy pace/LR pace.  So I’m thrilled. The day was perfect for it too: 36* and sunny.  Definitely beats the teens and dark that I’ve been doing during the week.  Sunday was a shorter but equally fast (like 0:01 seconds off that easy pace) run in some cloudy, yet warmish, day.  It felt like it was going to snow though.  Boo.  But both runs kicked booty AND ended with LMPs (last mile parties) and WAY fast splits. Leading me to my next lesson:
  

• Rolling, stretching, PT exercises are good.Coupled with the Pushups ( 29, 33, 29, 29, 40 ) and Situps ( 45, 50, 45, 45, 70 ) I’ve been doing my body is feeling good and on that Saturday run I was pain free.  Holler.  I’m feeling like a better/stronger/faster/less hurting runner.  This can only help me in the long term.

• As can checking the oil burner more frequently (what you thought this would be 100% running?!) Because on Friday we ran out of oil and spent 2.5 days with no heat.  Let’s just say mid-December in New England is not the best time to do so and apparently my apartment, being nice and glorious in it’s antiquity, is not well insulated.  AKA we burned through our oil wicked fast, like 3 weeks fast.  Luckily we finally went out to buy a wrench and bleed the line so we have heat.  I feel incredibly BAMF for being able to bleed the line myself now.  Like a regular MacGyver

thanks google images

• So I spent most of the whole day working on my bloggy secret santa gift (SORRY TO THE PERSON I HAVE. I’m 99.99% sure it’ll come the Monday after Christmas! I’ll have it in the mail before obviously but I have no idea if it’ll get to you in time), catching up on blogs (as well as reading through the blogs of some new commenters!) and watching the first season of Chuck.  Because Chuck is an awesome show.

And he's a wicked cute nerd, like me 😉 Thanks google images

• And finally, after staying out way late for two nights and sleeping in for two days Monday mornings suck. I normally don’t care too much about Monday mornings but man it is ROUGH getting out of bed at 0545 (or getting into bed before 2300 the night before!) after getting out of the habit.  And the running isn’t too stellar usually as was the case this morning.  But, after having pain free and fast and AWESOME runs for the past 4 days, I can’t say that the dud of a run this morning was all that awful. And I will say that Monday morning runs are worth it because I get to see my friendly older pair of men walking the pathway when I’m out that early.  They’re always so upbeat and happy and I smile when I pass them and tell them to have a great morning/week/whatever.

What about y’all. Any lessons learned this weekend?

Check out the giveaway from Janae (Hungry Girl Runner) and Julie (HotLegsRunner)

1. Vacation: beach or mountains?

2. Luggage: check it or carry it on?

3. Bed: make it or leave it a rumpled comfy mess?

4. Races: smaller or bigger?

5. Toilet paper roll: over or under?

6. Pancakes: thick and fluffy or thin and crepe-like?

7. Alarm: get up or hit snooze?

Question: What Kind of Coach Purse Does Jennifer Garner Have?

Answer: I’m sorry to the person who used that google search term to get to my blog yesterday but I have no idea. Maybe Sarah (SkinnyRunner) does? 😉

My Thursday was CRAZY busy. Both with work stuff and life stuff. But, and this must be some sort of Christmas miracle, I got everything I wanted to get done yesterday done. It was a bit stressful but nothing that a couple of deep breaths and one GIANT cookie that got mailed to me from a really great friend couldn’t cure.

No pictures out of the baggie because I knew it was going to be so good that I wouldn't be able to put it down. It lived up to those expectations.

And yes, those are both candy bits *and* CCs. I feel so loved. And it was seriously as thick as my finger. HEAVEN.

Workout wise Thursday was PDG (pretty damn good). Before work I completed an 8.2 miler that was, well, rockin’. Granted I say that with the mindset of marathon recovery: the pace was still slow but it was MUCH faster than any run post WR. I checked my watch at the half way point and thought NO WAY was I running that fast. But I was. I didn’t have a LMP but I did have a second-to-last mile party. Then I slowed down a bit for the last mile with a slight surge over the last block before getting to my door. I’m telling myself that it was the warm down 😉 So while I still have a long way to go before I can consider myself recovered I was quite encouraged by this run. The run was also without hip/IT/pirformis/whatever the heck it is pain. Another encouraging thing.

Lots of pushups (25, 29, 25, 25, 37) and situps ( 38, 45, 38, 38, 55) from W4D2 as well as PT hip exercises followed that run and almost made me late to work. Maybe that’s why I felt really rushed at the clinic? Besides the fact that I wanted / NEEDED to get those exercises in I was also running late because I mailed the first batch of Christmas cards out. Yes that’s right: FIRST BATCH. You see, what typically happens is that I mail my initial 15-20 cards out and then inevitably forget a bunch of people. So I know I’ll be mailing another 5-10 out this weekend. But I’m such a good friend so it’s all good.

Like these guys: (All I know is that, based on the C’s vs. Knicks game on Wednesday night, NY cannot handle THE TRUTH)

So much amazingness going on here. Well that was Wednesday. And by golly it was the perfect thing to come home to after work.

This morning (Friday) I awoke eaaaaaaaaaaaaaarly. Okay so it was 0545. But when I get up at 0800 on Tues/Thurs it makes the 0545 alarm so much more painful. It was obviously to run (sorry Jess for the lack of willpower to XT! But you ditched me Tuesday 😉 ). It was cold (duh) but I felt like I was appropriately dressed and never felt cold on the run. Success. The run itself was a quasi-success. It totally was NOT as great as my run Thursday in terms of both pace and feeling in the leg. I’m blaming it on the fact that I ran out of time to roll post-workout and then was too lazy to stretch or roll post-work. So I’d gone 48 hours of not treating the leg-o with some TLC.

That said, the run didn’t suck at all. And it was probably the second fastest run post-WR. Which says a lot because it was an early run and my paces typically aren’t the most stellar at 0600. So another encouraging thing-a-ma-bob. I even got a LMP out of the run. I had only planned on running 6 but decided to tack on one more, because today is Friday and after some changes at work (sadly nothing scandalous) I have a new supervisor who doesn’t work Fridays. So I had those extra minutes to spend running. Should I have spent them rolling and stretching and PT-ing? Highly likely but I did spend 30 minutes doing that stuff so, again, it’s all good.

Anyway…something that ISN’T right  or good is the following picture. I’m all for holiday spirit and all (and I’m getting into it myself in my own way) and I thoroughly enjoy driving around the neighborhoods that put all fancy and creative lights up. But I’m very thankful that this person is not my neighbor.

Check out the giveaway from Tricia (Endurance isn’t Only Physical) and Running and Rambling and Amanda (Run to the Finish)

So It’s Not Tuna…

I like that you liked my truths post.  I encourage y’all to do it (even though I know lots of you already have and I’m late to the game!) Apparently lots of you were shocked that I eat lots of tuna.  But let’s face it: I am beyond poor (just google AmeriCorps VISTA stipend!) and beyond lazy, so tuna shows up a lot.  I’ll gladly let some of you come and cook for me however 😉

In my defense I have posted some of my better meals (like chilis and pasta salads etc).  Sadly (?) this is not one of them.  Because it’s dessert.  I should have spent my energy on my dinner (and then redeemed my quite possible lame-cooking status) but I was focused on the after-dinner part.  For the record: I baked chicken in italian dressing with a baked potato and beans.  Not picture worthy though and definitely not tuna!

But this baby is totally picture worthy:

Mmmmmmmmmm slice of goodness

It’s a pineapple cake.  Not a pineapple upside down cake.  But a pineapple one.  C’mon I’m lazy remember? I got the recipe from a friend but I’m pretty sure she got it off of Food.com or AllRecipes.com.

“Wicked Simple Pineapple Cake”

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 tablespoons pineapple juice

Directions to make this beauty

Cake:

1. Combine flour, sugar, vanilla, baking soda.
2. Gently mix in undrained can of crushed pineapple. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the pineapple juice to use in the glaze.
3. Pour into greased and floured 9×13 pan.
4. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, until center is set. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Glaze/Frosting:

1. In a separate bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla, pineapple juice, and milk. Add more milk if the mixture is too thick. It should be a little runny.
2. Pour glaze over hot cake.

AND ENJOY

Like I clearly did because I forgot to get a good entire cake shot BEFORE we dug in. Oops.

As far as my running stuff goes…

I finally broke out the tights as the feels like temp was 3*.  Sure it was really 16* (and actually when the wind blew I felt a bit overdressed) but I figured that tight muscles are part of the issue with my leg and so I’d rather avoid making them scrunch up more and not being able to fully extend/hurt when I do.

That said, my leg didn’t bother me during the entirety of the ~6 mile run.  Maybe I didn’t go far enough (6 miles has been the threshold so far), maybe it was the XT yesterday, maybe it was the PT/rolling/stretching yesterday or maybe it was me visualizing my hip muscles to relax while running (corny yes but the more I think about how tight they are the worse they seem to get!) as well. Who knows but the run felt good and, despite it being ridiculously slow by my usual standards, it was faster than oodless of my runs as of late.  Ahhhhh recovery ; )

After the run I ran the risk of being WAY late to work to spend lots and lots of time babying: rolling (which felt amazing yet painful), stretching (which felt great too) and doing the PT exercises (which, like yesterday, made me realize how weak my hip muscles are!).

I also saw the volunteer podiatrist on Tuesday during clinic. Mostly to thank him for the socks recommendation because I used the new socks during the marathon and my feet ended up with NO BLISTERS during the race.  I also wanted to show him a callus that formed on my big toe because, unlike most calluses, this one HURT.  Or at least whenever it rubbed up against something.  So he removed part of it and now? No pain.  Apparently my big toe joint doesn’t have the greatest range of motion because I’m a runner and I’ve developed a pinch-callus.  Luckily they take a really long time to grow back so I’m good to go.  I love having a podiatrist who is good with working WITH athletes rather than just telling them to stop doing what they love.  This guy is the MAN.

Maybe I should have showed my appreciation through cake hahah!

MM’s Whole Truth

Enough heckling (*cough*Lacey*cough*).  I’ve finally finished my “Whole Truths” post.  It wasn’t sooo hard to answer the questions but it came down to the fact that I wanted the answers to be blog friendly 😉

And enough heckling (not that there really was any per se) about me running on my silly/stupid effing leg. Even though I spent a combined hour stretching and foam rolling and woke up pain free, I “borrowed” my roomie’s university ID and spent 70 *glorious* minutes on the elliptical.

I felt like Russell while watching all the people running on the TM. They looked bored too. But didn't they know they got to RUN?!

Clearly the glorious-ness was sarcasm (which, by the way, there is a great need for a font for).  But I didn’t run.  Fingers crossed that my leg responds well!

I was going to do a spin workout but the only bikes that were free were the recumbent ones. I also rolled and discovered that my hipflexor in the “bad” leg is SO TIGHT and SO WEAK. I’m not saying that it’s the problem but it can’t be helping too much so I started up the PT exercises that I used last spring and there definitely was a huge difference in range of motion and strength between the legs.  In the “bad leg” I really could feel the problem area being worked.  No pain but I don’t think I’ve really targeted those muscles in awhile.  Guess that means that I should really start to lift again! I also got my pushups (21, 25, 21, 21, 33) and situps (32, 38, 32, 32, 50) in as well (this was W4D1)

And yes I know that ibuprofen, while my drug, isn’t good to take long term and I’ve actually stopped taking it because I’m not taking it regularly enough for it to truly act in the way I want to (reduce any possible inflammation).  So there 😛

Onto happier / less annoyed news: yesterday in the mail I received this baby from a friend in Dallas:

My name in the paper ❤

where it informed me that I was, in fact, 8th woman.  I don’t know where I saw 9th (*cough*stupid WR website*cough*) but it’s in the papers that I was 8th.  So there.  I’m calling it the truth and since the title of this post is MM’s Whole Truth it’s got to be right.  Plus it’s in print.  You can’t really retract that baby. I think I’m going to frame it

Now actually onto the title of the post…

So Lacey did this little thing earlier this week last week (?) that she titled “The Whole Truth” and the idea was to answer the questions as best as you could.  Apparently Mark Bittman did this in a magazine and Lacey liked it.  Since I like her (and my posts will likely be boring until Boston training starts up again) I decided to copy.  Originally I think she wanted people to answer these and send them to her so she could post a big version but I missed that memo.  Sorry for stealing your thunder Lacey! (I also didn’t answer all the questions because I couldn’t come up with answers that I felt comfy sharing on the blog). And I deleted Bittman’s answers so if you want to check out his you can go back to Lacey’s original post of the Whole Truth

Enjoy!

If I could say one thing to myself 20 years ago…

You are one helluva strong person.  Keep your head up (granted 20 years ago I was only 4 but I think the message should have been reinforced from a really young age 🙂 )

My favorite place in the world…

Someplace warm and sunny

Yes this is a real place 🙂

The lesson I keep learning over and over…

I’m MUCH stronger than I think

The movie I watch when I want to laugh…

Zoolander. Although Tropic Thunder is giving it a run for it’s monaaaaaaaaaay.

Thanks google

The most scared I’ve ever been…

Well I’m not going to post the *most* scared but one time that I’ve been terrified was the night before starting 6th grade.  There were lots of changes in my life at that point too and going from elementary to middle school was terrifying.

No one knows I…

Well now everyone will know it but when I was in middle I acted like I was from the hood.  For real.  I’m from a really nice suburb.  Awkward.

Unhealthiest thing I’ve ever passed off as dinner…

Well I don’t really cook.  My idea of dinner most nights is a can of tuna and some steamed veggies (mostly because I work lots of clinic nights and it’s easy) [Edit: I eat the tuna with italian dressing so it’s not sooo bad hah!].  I guess that’s something that I’ve tried to pass off as dinner.  I have tried to pass off an ice cream sundae as breakfast before.  My mom wasn’t too happy about that when she discovered me and my younger sister eating it before school one day!

Personal philosophy…

The Platinum Rule (aka treat others the way they want to be treated)

Book that changed my life…

Where the Wild Things Are.  Don’t judge: it was the first book I could read on my own and thus sparked my reading obsession.

I unwind by…

Running, talking to friends, being pen pals with friends (heyyyyyyyy I am an old soul! Heck yes to the letter! And especially this time of year when I can write long Christmas cards!), getting lost in a good book.

Proudest moment in my career…

Getting my undergraduate degree and, much more recently, having the CEO of the clinic tell me she was really impressed with how I handle myself with patients, providers, board members and the press.

What keeps me up at night…

Usually things that are out of my control.

I define “downtime” as…

Moments where I feel zero stress

Coffee or tea?

I’m leaning towards coffee at the moment. Scary because I NEVER drank the stuff until entering the work force.

Guiltiest pleasure…

Watching marathons of America’s Next Top Model or The Biggest Loser

Fierce. Thanks google.

My mom was right about…

Things often have a strange way of working themselves out.

My mom was wrong about…

Raising 6 kids in a 3 bedroom house being a good idea.

thanks google (yet again)

The last time I lost my temper was…

Coming home from the airport after my Dallas trip.  I’m going to blame the fact that I was really hungry but I totally freaked out on two of my younger sibs. I think my sister was saying that she wasn’t going to keep her cat away from me and my brother kept making jokes about how Texas = stupidity (it was a spongebob joke but still.  I lost it).

My favorite moment of the day…

Waking up right before the alarm goes off and the covers are all comfy

I wish I had more time for…

Reading.

I always make time for…

Running. And friends (just so you don’t think I’m totally running obsessed 😉 )

I’m currently reading…

Harry Potter et L’ecole des Sorciers.  Plus a John Grisham novel when thinking in French is too much intellectual stimulation 😉

Home means...

Talking without words (and I wrote that and thought that some of you pervert would misinterperet. But I’m goingto keep my original answer and clarify: Comfortable silence)

Check out the giveaway from Amanda(Run to the Finish)

Ibuprofen Is My Drug of Choice At The Moment

…but only because I can’t afford anything stronger 😉

Whew.  Busy weekend much? I didn’t do anything terribly exciting.  After a whirlwind weekend last weekend (which I can’t believe that it’s been a week plus since I ran my race! and wrote two recaps for — the first link is the original and the second is the splits (which I’m glad you like!) with a few pics that I put up yesterday– and I even eluded to a 3rd if I can figure out how to steal the race photos hahah) a chill weekend was just what I needed.

I could go into all the details of what I did but the non-running highlights were:

• Going to the theater (fo’ free again) to see Vieux Carre, in 15* weather and then walking home is a very light flurry.  It was pretty and it was also fun to see the snowflakes smash themselves into the ground.  This snow was okay because it was only a dusting and definitely did not stick or accumulate.
• Walked to downtown and around downtown for 5 hours searching for Christmas stuff in amazing 45* weather!

• Got annoyed because I came away from that trip feeling empty handed (even though I didn’t actually)
• Made Christmas cards while watching Sweeney Todd

I should clarify that my making Christmas cards is to buy already made ones and then draw simple pictures and write really long personal notes inside of them ( I tend to send cards to people I don’t physically see that often or on a regular basis so the notes can get long if I’m not careful).  I am no Martha Stewart, as much as I want to be.

And there was actual running.  Because, a week out of marathon racing is the time that recovery ends. Or so I used to think. I’ve found that the above statement is likely wrong in my case with this particular marathon as, I’ve said it before, this is the first marathon that I’ve really RACED HARD.  As Jess told me in one of her comments: “Unfortunately, recovery is more than just muscle soreness going away. Annoying, I know.”

thanks google images

So I’m actually happy that I’ve run less than I did the past week (and even the least amount since back in August!).  I mean, duh, I don’t really like it (not do I like the fact that my pace has taken a hit post-WR) but it’s kind of what I need to do. While the soreness of my muscles is long gone, the really intense race obviously did more physical damage than just soreness: all my tendons and ligaments and CELLS were pushed to the limit. Even if I can’t feel or see it, I need to respect it.

I still have a bit of a twinge in my pirformis/IT band/knee/ whatever the heck it is.  I probably tried to jump into running too soon in terms of days post-race.  But keeping the mileage down has been great overall. Especially mentally. Post-WR I can’t imagine how I was able to run speed work or LR or run more than 6-7 miles at a time really! Guess the effort took a lot out of me (and you can click one of those recap links to see just how hard I was running!).  But I’m slowly getting back to feeling good and taking care of myself (if I can nip this leg issue in the bud).  And at the moment that means *NOT* logging the mega miles that everyone knows me for 😉

Feeling good was the case on Saturday when I ran 9.3 in STUNNING WEATHER.  In contrast to the 10* of Friday morning it was nearly 45* when I hit the streets. I was only planning on 8 but literally ran into my running buddy on my good old pathway.  His words when he caught up to me: “I thought it was you but then I thought ‘Nah she’s running so much slower than the last time I saw her’” HAH! It was fun to tell him about WR and the more I talk about it, especially with runners who “get it” the more I feel like I own it. My pace definitely picked up a bit over the miles I ran with him but when we parted and I had to stop at a set of lights my leg tightened up a bit a I cursed my hubris for tacking on that extra mile.

Sunday and Monday brought runs that were similar in nature: waking up with no leg issue and good for the first 5-6 miles before the pirformis/IT/knee/whatever the heck it is started telling me to stop.  On Sunday it acted up at a stoplight again while trying to start back up. The only really annoying part was that it was raining by the time this happened so I really didn’t want to stop and walk.  I was a bit smarter on Monday (today) as I planned my route to end when the leg irritation starts with the option of shorter loops close to my apartment if I was feeling good.  In the end I didn’t use the extra loops.  Not because of my leg but because I told myself that to tempt fate was silly.

And ending a run without pain was more important than mileage, well minimal pain because I could feel that if I ran any further then it would be real pain. Annoying because the weather was WARM (49*) but learning curve? Yes please

 

I definitely bump around a lot on my running career path. Hopefully my trend is up too 🙂 Thanks google images

Plus I’ve been talking to (and trying to listen I swear!) lots of runners, smarter and more experienced than I, and the gist is to baby is:aka ice, less miles and more XT (I’m trying to “borrow” my roomie’s ID so I can get into the university gym as she’s a student), ibuprofen, rolling, stretching and a new thing: sitting on a tennis ball while at work! And I’ll trust them 🙂

Sorry to be so boring.  Major changes at work + marathon recovery = nothing exciting to write about. And running-wise it likely won’t get much more exciting as I’m facing the idea of going extra EXTRA easy with this twinge, although I’ve been talking with friends (who are runners) and I’ve been hearing some encouraging things about the future.  But, like I mentioned last week, I’m still trying to enjoy the moment right now post WR.  So I’ll let these thoughts sit on the back burner for a bit.

That said, I’m hoping to put together some funner posts for later this week (which include my “truths” that Lacey might have told you to heckle me about and maybe a recipe if I can get my act together 😉 ) as I know that on the running front what I’m going to be: short slow recovery run.  Because, well maybe I could push a little harder to make a post exciting, I don’t really want to. In all likelihood that excitement would be a trip to the ER or something!

But to give you something to listen too and bop around: this song is in my head RIGHT NOW and totally has been all weekend.  It’s one of those songs that the radio station plays non-stop (I’ll end up posting the others later this week because I’m sure they’ll be in my head!).

Check out the giveaway from 26.2 is my cooldown