Thursday, April 30, 2009

Strange Dreams

I've been having really vivid and strange dreams these past few days. Some of them have been very sad and extremely disturbing, and have put me in a weird mood this morning. I wonder what triggers these types of things to happen.

Dinner with my friend Kerensa was awesome. I really think this girl is my long lost twin sister in so many ways! She is also in marketing and she said she wants to give it up to go to culinary school and open a Bed and Breakfast with her hubbie within the next 5 years. I almost died....although a B&B would be a little too much for me, it's just insane how we were on the same track.
We had a great time, hung out for 4 hours, and just caught up. I'm really glad I got to see her :)

Today is my friend Elizabeth's birthday so we're planning on meeting up for a drink after work. My plan is to eat some grub, go to the gym, snack, Spring Cleaning part II, late lunch/early dinner, meet Eliz for drinks. We'll see how that goes.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

I need a Camel Pack!

I decided to run outside since we New Englandahs (err, North Easterners? I don't thin I can consider myself a New Englander until I live here for 10 years or something like that...Oh well) aren't used to this warm weather so soon. I didn't realize how hot it was though and proceeded to run five miles without any water. Now, normally I wouldn't have done this. I run all the time without taking sips out of my bottle when I'm at the gym. I usually don't have to drink while I'm running (I know I know...) but today I learned my lesson. About halfway through my run I saw a bank clock that said it was 89*. "That's why I'm dying," I told myself, while trying to lick my lips. I basically turned around right at that point and decided I couldn't go any further. I still got the five miles in but it was a really tough run back home. I had a really hard time recovering too.
I usually don't run outside in this weather. So shame on me. So, although I wasn't exactly sure of my mileage, I ran for a total of 50:49 which I'm pretty confident means I made 5 miles. Then I crawled for the last two blocks back home.

After I calmed down and showered, we went grocery shopping. I got some awesome looking tomatoes and a 2 pound carton of strawberries that I can't wait to dig into!

I'm meeting an old co-worker for dinner tonight at The Barking Crab in South Boston. She's from San Francisco so I'm excited to have the chance to see her.
Cheers till then

It's the little things

I'm so excited that today is going to be another gorgeous day!
This morning I got up at 7:30 and knew I was going to make my favorite oatmeal breakfast. Yes I eat oatmeal nearly every morning...but at Keri's there were a few key missing ingredients that made this morning's oatmeal *S*O* much better. Soy milk and bananas.

I'm planning a five mile run today, not sure where but it will happen soon. Since I don't really any distances in and around my apartment and I don't have a Garmin (I really want one) I feel like the only way I can ensure my run is the correct distance is by going to the gym and running on the treadmill. UGH! It's gorgeous out. I feel like that's just wasted outside time!

Monday, April 27, 2009

80s, babies and brides, Oh My!

Some things just don't change
Friday April 24

Shylo was able to get me a weekend guest pass to the Y on Friday morning and I was there at 9:30. I had my oatmeal at around 8, let it settle, and then was off. This will be day 2 without coffee...strange...
They got some new and fancy equipment that I was really impressed with. I used the elliptical despite their new additions simply because I didn't know what the new machines were like. 30 minutes on the elliptical and about 20 minutes of weights, squats, lunges and abs, then I was on my way to visit my old boss at the newspaper. We decided lunch was going to be outside since it was GORGEOUS, so I met them at 12:30 with a sleeveless shirt and my new sunglasses. Even though it was only 72, I got a tan line on my arms and neck! Spring is HERE! (at least for now)
Lunch was OK...a chicken Cesar salad at the Country Club. I didn't eat the croutons (and got harassed for it) nor did I eat the mini muffins it came with.

After lunch I made my way over to Ives Cream for the B*E*S*T ice cream EVER. This ice cream shop is run by Alex and Katie Ives and all of their ice cream is made fresh with milk from their farm. The best. And they're great people, which makes it even better. I only had a baby serving of Butter Almond and a little bit of Birthday Cake (sooo good!) and had a nice chat with Alex. (Did I mention how amazing their ice cream is?)
Then it was off to see Keri and Ella (her beautiful little girl-she's 8 months old)

After eating a quick english muffin for dinner (which I got picked on for since it was whole wheat with organic peanut butter) we decided to go out. I knew I didn't want to drink too much, so I had water in between my beers. We got home around 1, which is much later than I've been staying up lately...wow I'm getting old...

So many babies, so little time
Saturday, April 25

My day was planned around my friend Sarah's baby shower in Norwich, and then to Binghamton to see Amy and Liz (college roomies) who were in town for their sister's bridal shower. It was HOT today, 90* in April?!?! But it wasn't humid so it felt nice.

I was so excited to see everyone! Sarah's party had an 80s theme but I didn't dress up since I was going to see the twins after. The party was a hit! Sarah looked so awesome!! I was very happy to see her.

The food was really great but I did my best to eat mostly veggies and fruit. I surprisingly avoided the pizza (can you believe I was in NY for four days and did not have one slice of pizza?) I had some chips and this amazing black bean salsa, some cheezy dip (not too much but man it was good) and about 5 chocolate covered strawberries. MMMM those were good. This wasn't a good eating day for me but it was Saturday, I was with my old friends, and I knew I'd be running 6 miles the next day...so I wasn't going to feel bad for a little bit of splurging.

After the baby shower I drove to Binghamton (about a 45 minute drive) to see Amy and Liz. We had a really good time...and of course, decided to reminisce about the good ol' days....when we were drunks and I was fat. We looked through about three boxes and two huge photo albums and I was thoroughly embarrassed. But hey, it's part of why I'm here right?
Seeing them was awesome as well...it had been waaayyy too long.

After I got back to Norwich Keri and I walked to for a night cap. We chatted over an ice cold Amstell Light and hung out until around 12:30 and now I'm realizing that my plans for a 6 mile run in the morning is creeping up on me. Will I make it?

------I'm trying to train for the Utica Boilermaker 15K...Starting last week I decided to add 1/2 to one mile to the end of my longest run once a week. My longest run for the past few weeks has been 5 miles, so I thought this would be a good week to try 6 miles. I have 13 weeks until the race so I figure that gives me plenty of time to get myself in shape for the 9.3 miler. GO ME!-----

Another gorgeous day in the Hole
Sunday, April 26

I woke up at 8 this morning and I was not a happy girl. I had been sleeping really well on the couch the first two nights, but last night something was different. I just couldn't get comfy. Plus I had been on the go for two straight days and that's something I haven't done in a while.
I had oatmeal and some water, hung out for an hour to let it settle, and was at the gym at 9:30. I could barely keep my eyes open. Day three without coffee?? This has to change. Soon.
I started my run out at a 10 minute mile pace to wake myself up and get things moving. Since I haven't run 6 miles in a looonnngg time, I had no idea how fast/slow/long it was going to take me.
The first mile was a great slow warm up pace and by the time I was at 9 minutes I was ready to push up the pace. But I had a little voice in my head saying "Easy Does It!" so I only pushed it up one decimal every two minutes until I got to 6.5 (9:13 mile). I ran at that pace for a mile and before I knew it, I had already completed three miles! I was half way there! From there, I decided to pump it up a little more. I had run the three miles in about 28 minutes, so for the next three miles I did something that looked like this:

28-30 min 6.6
30-32 min 6.7
32-24 min 6.5
34-36 min 6.6
(4 miles in 36:30 ish)

Mile 4 to 5 was a little faster
36-38 6.7
38-40 6.8
40-42 6.9
42-45 7.0
5 miles in 45 minutes.

At this point I figured, OK. I've made it this far. I'll push it to 5.5 miles and see how I feel from there. So I ran at a 6.7 pace (8:58) and when I got to the 5.5 mile mark I still felt good so I pushed it up to 6.8 for one minute, 6.9 the next, and 7.0 for a good sprint until I got to 5 3/4 mile, and jogged at a 6.3 pace to end my run, finishing 6 miles in 57:18. Not too bad, I think, for my first time running six miles with a pace in mind. I was really happy with myself.
I spent the next half hour stretching and lifting. It was a great workout!

After my shower, I decided a vanilla latte from Garf's Deli was in order. So I got my normal double in a single and a grilled chicken wrap with spinach, onions, cukes, tomatoes and hummus. SOOO GOOD!

The rest of the day was spent seeing more friends and Dennis's family, and dinner with Keri's parents. I will be driving back to Boston in the morning.

Highway drivers SUCK!
Monday, April 27

I had another crappy night on the couch. I could barely sleep and every time I woke up I could hear Roseanne's voice on Nick At Night. Do they have some kind of Roseanne marathon at night or something? (I used to love that show)

I woke up feeling kind of crappy at 8:30. I was able to have breakfast (surprise!! oatmeal!!) with Keri and Ella before she left for work, and I got ready to make my trip back to Boston. I stopped into Garf's to get another dose of my favorite double vanilla latte in a single cup and the famous Chicken Bennington salad sandwich at the Sunrise Cafe for my drive home. I filled up the car and was on the road at 11:15.

Now I don't know about you but I love cruise control. I use it often when I'm on the highway. The problem is, no one else seems to use it because I can't tell you how many times I had to step on my breaks to either pass or get passed by the same four cars on my way back home. I set it at 75. I figure the speed limit is 65 and everyone else usually goes about 75-80 so I'm safe right? Well apparently the people on the road today were either doing 60 or 90. So I'd have to move over to pass the slow person, move back over to let the fast person fly by me, and then five minutes later, hit my break to kick off my cruise control because the person that just flew by me is now in the left hand lane driving 60. WHAT? I think I yelled at the same four cars about 10 times the entire trip home. Welcome back to Boston!

It's nice to be back ... home?? When does where you currently live become home and where you grew up stop being "home?" Either way I'm glad to be back.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Back to the Hole

As much as I hate driving, I really enjoyed my drive back home to Norwich today. I got up at 7 to Marley whining that he was hungry (as usual) and decided to go straight to the gym to get my run out of the way. I ran 3 miles, lifted, and some walking push-ups.
I got home, had some yummy oats for breakfast, showered, and packed up the car to leave by noon. The drive is about 4 1/2 hours and I usually get antsy and agitated but the drive just flew by. I did a lot of thinking.

I haven't been home since October. That's 6 months. Where does the time go?

I was happy to spend some time at my favorite bar (The Blarney Stone Pub) with my good friend Shylo. I had 2 Guinnesses (wow, I haven't done that in a long time!) Nothing like coming home and having a few beers bought for you!

I can't believe how friggin cold it is outside right now (39*??) it's supposed to be amazing this weekend--sunny and in the 80s which is very abnormal for upstate NY in April. Tomorrow will be (hopefully) sunny and 71.

Sidenote--the Celtics just rocked the Bulls...in Chicago...very strange after the first two games.

Ok it's cold in here and I need to find a blanket.
Here's to a great night and a wonderful warm day tomorrow!!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Marathon Mondy and Strawberry Scones

Ok, so watching the marathon made me want to run one badly. They showed a 72 year old woman at the starting line. I don't know if she finished though...
Anyway watching the marathon was fun...especially this year's! The women's race was so close!

I was feeling kind of tired from the 5K and the hour and half walk I took on Sunday so I decided to stay away from the gym Monday, but yesterday (Tuesday) made sure to get up and run my 5 miles. After my race on Saturday I realized that I start out running way too fast and then burn out at the end, so I decided to start out my 5 mile run much slower. This actually worked against me. I paced myself at a 9:45 pace but couldn't get myself to push it as fast as I normally can. I was really disappointed because I felt as if I was running much slower than normal...but whatever, I finished the run in 47:30. Oh and I forgot to refresh my deodorant! How embarrassing!
My goal is to run about 3 miles tomorrow and then a nice long 6 miler on Saturday. I'm going home this weekend and have already found a run buddy (wow having someone to run with will be nice!)

And yes, I will definitely be home this weekend. I'm taking off tomorrow at staying at (my good friend) Keri's. It's supposed to be really freakin nice this weekend! In the 70s! And you better be SURE I'll be excited to be back in NY for a Yankees/Red Sox series. It's been a while since I've had people on my side.

Today I'll be making an appearance at the gym around lunchtime...hopefully it won't be as packed as it was yesterday!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Welcome!

Last week I decided I needed to try something different as far as running was concerned. I tend to shy away from running races only because I hate losing, and let's be honest-I'm not winning any races. But after running a 5K last October and beating my time by nearly three minutes, I realized it's not about winning the race--it's about running the race as best you can. The problem is that now I feel like I have to beat myself every time I run one. Ugh, it's a constant game I play with myself...I always have do better than the last time.
Whatever. I decided to run a trail race after reading a blog posting on Healthy Tipping Point. The author of this post ran a 15 mile trail race through a state park in Florida and man, her pictures made me so jealous! So I found a much smaller, more tolerable trail race to run in Nashua, N.H. It was called the Otter Run 5K and it was actually a really nice course. It turned out to be more like a road race than a trail race since the course was paved, but it was pretty to run through the woods. And I beat my time again by 20 seconds. So now my most recent 5K time stands at 26:18.

Me after the race. Obviously thrilled to have beat my time.



To prepare myself for this race I decided to go for a run at the Middlesex Fellsway Medford. The trail I ran was 5.2 miles long, but I really thought it was only 3.7. I was a little nervous when I realized how far it was but I surprisingly made it through with no issues. It was really pretty, and even though I fell within the first 10 minutes of the run (and I have the bruises to show it!) I really enjoyed the challenge. It's really hard to run trail runs because you have to watch your every step. It's physically impossible to run the entire trail because there are big tree roots and rocks to climb over and hills to climb up and down, so you have to be extra cautious. I will definitley do make this a weekly addition to my workouts!

Below, Marley and Dylan at their finest.




Today I went for a really long walk to loosen up my legs from the race yesterday. Hopefully the weather will continue to warm up, since we had a tease on Friday with 70 degree weather and today it's 50 and really windy. Tomorrow is Marathon Monday (Boston Marathon) so I might go downtown and cheer on some of the runners...depends on the weather and if I can find someone to go with.

Enjoy your Sunday!