Saturday, December 31, 2011

Last run of 2011..first run for my ticker!

At 11:00am on Dec 31st in New Jersey it probably should not be close to 60 degrees but today as I set out for my last run in 2011 it was. I can't imagine ending the year on a better note. The sun was shining and my injuries appear to be on the mend!!! 6 pain-free miles!!! What a wonderful thing. There is not much that is more frustrating to me (and I assume most runners) than having the will but not the health. But doing the right things, stretching, listening to the pain and stopping before it's bad, good nutrition, enough sleep, and meds when necessary...are what have helped me! There are some really helpful videos on runners world for itb stretches on a side note.

While I ran I thought about all the other times I passed those landmarks and how each run was a little different even though I had done that route so many times before. How lucky I felt and how grateful I am to have the opportunity...even on those crappy days where my legs felt like two lead refrigerators filled with scorpions.

My hope for the New Year is for people to realize the gifts they have and for those moments to be plentiful!!!

Have a happy and safe new year!!!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Working on New Items for Etsy

It's been so busy with the holidays and having kids home I haven't been creating new cards. I really love the creative process...which is a bit messy but always fun. I'm going through a simple is better phase and designed these cards with that in mind.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Ha what an overacheiver I claim to be...

Do you know that person who you invite over for a friendly game night who is super annoying because they take Scattergories way to seriously...well sadly that is me...but I am in a several step program since having cleared a chess board with my arm...sadly it wasn't an accident.  See I am on the road to recovery!  Anyway... yesterday I computed the amount of miles I thought would be good for my countdown clock challenge..!  Apparently I am competing against me and upped my miles above the maximum threshold by 100.  Stupid,stupid,stupid!  And today is my day off running..how many miles can I claim for P90 yoga...there has got to be at least .15 running in place, no?


I have also decided that my corgi will run 200 of those miles with me and I might even get the hubby to commit to a number.  He must really hate that.  I am always signing him up with stuff like that.  He's such a good sport though and I'm sure he will rise to the challenge!  Going to add those countdowns later this evening...stay tuned...

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

I need a new gadget clock thingy...how about a mileage challenge clock...wanna do it with me?

Since my marathon clock on the right hand side has run its course ( I swear that just happened, no cornyness intended)!  Now the countdown it does is kind of mean...it is basically saying" hey it's been a month since you did something great...oh and it will only get worse as the days accumulate". 



So I have been thinking about all the OCD things I could get.  Countdown til planting time, target weight clock (OMG that sounds worse than my backward marathon clock).  So I don't just throw on a Christmas countdown clock...plenty of time for that right, I decided to set a mileage goal and count backward.  It will begin now...why cause I'm an adult and adults can do anything they want (that is a line from the classic Christmas story The Ref)!

I will update the clock  and to prove I'm an honest Abe, I will hook up the garmin through The Daily Mile & upload my miles when not at the gym.  If my word isn't good enough (while at the gym) I could ask whatever person is on the treadmill next to me to sign off...but that might get weird so you'll just have to trust me on the gym days!

So now the question is...how many miles is crazy enough for the year 2012 (plus this week of course)! Ok so here comes the boring math part, feel free to take a power nap...52 weeks running a goal of 25 per week results is 1300 miles for the year...while running every other day results in 180 running days with an average run of 5 miles will get you to 900 miles...so my goal will be somewhere in between...I like moderation...

365 days a year...running every other day or approximate per week?  Stay tuned...suggestions and comments welcome!

Found this Countdown to the opening of "The Hobbit"...feel free to duplicate!

Coming out of the holidays coma.

Yesterday was the first run in 7 days. With the bulging disc, the itb and the Christmas season it was easy to skip a run, then another etc. Probably was good for my nagging injuries but the mind, the patience, & the energy was starting to deteriorate.

Hard to stare at this mug with the morning Joe and not get out there and run! A wonderful Christmas gift from a great friend!
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I told myself I would take it easy after the marathon but then I thought that was a crappy idea. Why work so hard to get to that level and then purposely lose it.

Stretch complete with Corgi coach and little stretch buddy!

I'm not physically healthy enough to run the long runs but there is no good reason I can think of to quit altogether...so I ran a quick 5k yesterday 25:14 (quick for me) after a weight session of chest and tricept.  And today seemed like a good day to keep the momentum going.

The result was a 6 mile run in the 8:40's with little pain! Shoulders and Bicepts in the weight room.

Don't know if I should go back to the every other day longer runs or the 5/6 days of smaller runs?

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Nows the time to take inventory.

It's dec 27th and in just a few days the calendar will hit the reset button. Since the marathon I have been thinking (well actually I've always been thinking, but as of yet I haven't hit my stride) of how to organize my life to be more efficient. And then I wonder of it's even possible to change my stripes?

I once tried to change myself into a morning person. I set my alarm for five am. I got up in a blissfully quiet house. Ate something before a run(usually I don't have time for fuel pre-run to digest enough to avoid stomach distress). Ran. All before the kids noticed I was gone. The run was peaceful with most folks all snug in their beds. It was a huge success!!! And then 6pm came and I was ready for bed. The two hours until the kids went to sleep were the longest in my life and I barely had the will to fulfill my store orders. I think I slept with my shoes on and needed an extra couple hours sleep to deal with the shock my body went into. I haven't been up at 5 (except on a race day) since!

How many times...I'll start on Monday, no more cookies after (fill in the blank holiday)...well jan 1 is the alt/control/delete on the year unlike all those soft resets that might not have worked.

In the New Year I'd like to:

1. Run more often and injure myself less!
2. Make a 24 min 5k comfortable.
3. Organize my schedule so that I do at least half of the daily crap ahead of time and not the night before( I'm trying not to shoot too high). Sorry children this is def going to mean more chores for them!
4. I think I want to become a better more prepared list maker (ha is that mental to include on a list).
5. Lastly I'd like to catch myself in the act of wasting time, and redirect.

Is it possible to change the things about ourselves that might be genetically determined like going from loving cookies to loving an apple?

How successful have others been at new year resolutions?

What are your hopes for the New Year?

Monday, December 26, 2011

Home for Christmas

After all of the traditions come the last tradition for us...being home all day and night on Christmas. It's a full day of family, presents, eating (my sil lasagna...the very best lasagna on the east coast if not the world).

Every year we wait for my husband to get home from the midnight to 8 shift by watching some christmas movies upstairs after a restless few hrs rest. Shae claimed she had to go potty so she could spy the tree! But daddy was home early this year so not too much waiting.

Brunch follows some present opening. Every year I make Tarragon Cherry Cheesecake muffins and Cilantro Chorizo Egg Puff. Some years I wonder if I should change it up but I never do.

People show up throughout the day, we play games, open presents, eat, open presents, eat, play games.

This year my son received a Red Ryder bebe gun in addition to legos and ds games. I must have had a momentary lapse of reason to have agreed to that but so far no eye injuries.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Something Old...

This year, the tree arrived later than usual. As the U-cut tree farms are only open on weekends and tree cutting is really not a night activity...our options are limited by my husband's schedule. So all we had was the past Saturday.    I brought this tradition with me from childhood and I couldn't imagine it any other way....


 We all Pose




We take only about 100 pictures until someone complains that it is way to cold!


 We all saw a little to make it ours...but this year nobody wants to do it more than 10 seconds so I saw through...wow I thought I just ran a marathon but I am out of breath in 2 minutes!

I am curious to know what traditions others feel they must bring into the relationship of their sig other....some things like tinsel are a deal breaker for me, but my husband keeps pushing for it...we've gone with silver tinsely garland (which I do Not like either but I concede to him).  One tradition that I am so happy to have adopted is the Christmas Eve 7 Fishes!  And the endless dessert and oh just the emphasis on awesome food and plenty of it :) Did I mention Lasagna on Christmas?  I hope there are a ton of leftovers!





Monday, December 12, 2011

A New Christmas Tradition

Luckily I was raised in a house full of holiday traditions. I've come to love them and am disappointed when as an adult one of them (such as cutting down the tree) doesn't fit into our schedules the way it had in the past.

One year my Christmas cards were so time consuming I only finished half the list...now I've got a deadline set by the hubby so as not to alienate the people who might unintentionally be the victim of such a thing.

This year we started a new tradition... touring the neighborhood for the beautiful and sometimes gaudy decorations!! While it was probably annoying to the other drivers as we drove along at a snails pace and maybe somewhat creepy to the homeowners as we pulled up in front of their house, lingered, took photos and then drove off... We thought it was the perfect way to spend an hour!

A few of the special houses... I think the first house is owned by a distant relative of the Griswolds!




Good work on the trees!!! 



My favorite...I bet there is amath whiz in this house! 


Honorable mention!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

These are a few of my favorite things!

Sometimes I get excited to go on a run just to use one of my gadgets...is that weird? When I began running I thought there was a beauty in the simplicity of it. Just get your shoes and get out there and run. While I still do believe there is a simplicity to it...I'd be fibbing if I said it was like that for me really.

First thing was finding the right shoes....the journey that never ends! I rotate through 4, yes 4, pair of Asics gel 1160. And yes it has been a journey...and the reason why I have 4 of the same shoe (in different colors of course) is because I have spent money, large money, on shoes that didn't work and thus have adopted a "if it ain't broke" attitude toward my running shoes. I have been to three running stores for assessment, performed the running world water pan trick and spent countless hours filling in feet surveys. This year Asics changed the shoe in a way that my feet didn't like...every year these manufacturers try to improve upon each shoe and tweak it just a bit....so now I'm back on the market...stay tuned for exhaustive shoe review!

(And yes my dog has been taste-testing them also)

Can Not live without my Garmin GPS watch! They make them in all several styles to match the needs of the runner or swimmer/triathlete. I use the Forerunner 205. Its an older version and I bought it on Amazon. Not only does it give me all the stats of pace and distance but a good reason why it is one of my necessary running tools is that it is a great motivator! It doesn't yell in a commando voice but it stores data allowing me to see improvement and encouraging me to work just a little bit harder to beat weekly, monthly totals or times! Some of the other awesome handy features...once I got lost on a trail run so I hit up the "back to start" feature and it told me when to turn to get back to start uh WOW! Before Garmin I tracked the distance by car for a few routes through my neighborhood and ran those routes over and over....very boring! 9 times outta 10 you will run less/slower without knowing your pace and distance...not to mention accountability! When its staring you in the face, a 7 mile run is not a 6.35 ok I feel tired run! Oh and I should mention that I have received wonderful customer service from them...kinda wish they sold dryers! My first watch was having issues charging so I called the company and after having a very patient person walk me through some possible fixes that didn't ultimately work, they sent me a new one! Holla!!!! That was over two years ago and my replacement still going strong!

(4 hrs 25mins...Evidence of having run the Marathon!)


New favorite running gadget...Auria Headphones!!! I am a kitchen sink kind of runner as I mentioned or you may have figured out. I run with tons of crap, fuel, water, band aids, some cash for a phone call(even though I'd be hard pressed to find a pay phone), chapstick, iPhone (kind of makes the cash superfluous..and yes I use that word almost every day), tissues, etc I know its a little obsessive...but mostly I need my Iphone! Music is my background to the imagery I look at while running. I sing almost the whole time! When Jay-Z and Rhianna belt out something about running this town...I'm like... no actually I'm running this town!!!! And when I'm doing sprints I put on the fast RPM playlist, and when I'm out for a long run I put on Pandora radio and float on with whatever Steve Miller Band and Lynard Skynard are playing...so I've been through my fair share of headphones....in fact very recently I lost a pair to a car bumper that ate them when I ran too close! I've dealt with every issue and a few really weird ones too (like the aforementioned bumper incident...btw if anyone got video of that it would make great TV)! Well hello my sexy Auria headphones!
1. No slippage and perfect fit that is like they aren't even there! 2. Allow for ambient noise to enter but not to overwhelm...running on well travelled roads it is super important to be able to hear a car approaching from behind or a bike rider or even someone who might want to give you their number! 3. Come in hot pink/black....no need to say more 4. Come with a clip to clip to your running clothing...no more bumper disasters. 5. Special slider that allows you to advance or repeat songs with a touch or activate voice control on iPhones!!!! No more having to take the phone out of its cozy home to switch songs or answer the phone...which gotta be 6. you do not need to stop to answer the phone...microphone in the wire allows you to answer, talk and end a call without touching your phone once!!! You can also text with Siri!...Yes I do talk and text while running...doesn't everybody! 7. Volume control slider makes music very loud and clear when you want to turn up the Rocky song...


And I'm sure they have more things that are great but I have a sudden urge to run and use them....

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Birthdays! Good or Evil?

Yesterday was my birthday, my 37th and while I did not have an epic gala, make any speeches or use a magic ring to dissapear, I thought it was rather good. So I got to thinking about what a birthday needs to be to be a success and why so many people put birthdays in the evil category.

To begin my day well I had my keurig brew ready! I know it sounds simple but that one little thing...not having to clean the filter and refill and wait...started my day in a way that I hoped would set the precedence.

Kids off to school, etsy orders and errands...blahbidy blah. A birthday is yet another day and maybe there is something to that saying about have low expectations (or realistic anyway) and never being disappointed.

It may just be me but then I went to the gym...did the hamster wheel for 9.5 miles then did the weight room for 20 mins or so...and left feeling like the most powerful birthday girl on the planet! Many people make the excuse that a gym membership is too expensive but when compared to the litany of junk we buy I think it's a great bargain! It's unlimited and you can take a hot shower there as long as you like.!

Then my favorite meal...ok maybe I have several favorite but it def top 5!



Hubby Lou


Christmas Lights Island Style

A winter walk on the beach!

Hope it's not too horrible but that is sand on my toes in December!!!



One Year Wiser! Good!


Why is it that some consider growing older...evil....? In the words of my beloved Mae West...
"You only live once, but if you do it right....once is enough!"