I meant to get this post up yesterday but started to watch that movie One Fine Day (George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer) and that was that. Anyhoo, hope everyone had an enjoyable Father’s Day or just Sunday or whatever you chose to celebrate yesterday. I didn’t do the Father’s Day thing today. My parents are out of town so we’re going to celebrate next weekend. It’s going to be a hodge podge celebration as we’ll also be celebrating my nephew’s 16th birthday and my niece’s graduation from middle school!

I had originally been planning a 30ish mile bike ride in NJ yesterday morning at a new (to me) route in Sandy Hook, New Jersey which is about a half hour-ish away from me, but after such a busy day on Saturday with the race and the picnic and some big brown puppy dog eyes staring at me longingly at 6am when my alarm went off, I scratched that plan opted to stay in bed a bit longer with the pooch. The guilt of going to Central Park (A.K.A. “Dog Mecca”) not once, but twice on Saturday without him continued, so I decided to start the day taking the pooch on a li’l outting to relieve myself of some of that guilt. (He’s got me wrapped around his little paw).

Where ya gonna take me?

So where ya gonna take me this morning?

I started our Sunday Funday at one of my favorite hiking/walking spots by ocean. I love the open meadows and how they catch the early morning sunlight. And the honeysuckles are just everywhere meaning every single inhale is filled with the most fragrant perfection!

sundayfunday

 

Doodlebug

Doodlebug

In case you were curious...

In case you were curious…

morning selfie

morning selfie…sunglasses to hide the puffy morning eyes.

 

The doodle was pooped when we got back. So while I did some paper work in my office he passed out.

pooped

And then I did some blogging while he supervised (although he kept falling asleep on the job)

blogging

 

I tried to change my cell phone data plan online but was only partially successful. I could feel myself getting irritated as the prompts on their website took me for a loop and kept bringing back to the wrong page. GRRR!

That was it! I needed to go get a good sweaty workout….and so at 5pm I loaded the bike and drove to the beach.

eveningbike

I sat for a few minutes by the marina and just enjoyed the sun glistening on the water and the smell of those honeysuckles again!

It’s fairly flat so I kept it in high gear and pedaled the entire time. No coasting! My legs are definitely feeling the burn.

So how was your weekend? Did you do anything for Father’s Day? Run any races? BBQ? Anyone have a planned vacation coming up? My trip to San Francisco is in 6 weeks!!!!

 

 

Yesterday marks exactly 1 year since my first ever blog post. So Happy Blogaversary to me!

blogaversary

 

My 2nd ever post was my recap of last year’s Oakley Mini 10k.

This year was quite a different story to tell. The night before I laid out my gear…

gear setup

gear setup

It’s felt like forever since I did that! I was giddy! Alarm went off at 4:50am and I got ready and had a little breakfast. Duncan’s lucky streak ran out and he finally had to endure an early morning rise due to my running habit.

5:30am unhappy doodle

5:30am unhappy doodle

I got my ankle secure with some KT tape and my slip on ankle brace.

kttape

locked and loaded

locked-and-loaded

broke out the new kicks too!

I was on the road before 6am

vz bridge

my favorite bridge

 

I headed to Lisa’s house in Brooklyn, parked the car and then we hopped on the subway and met up with Karen along the way. We got to the start at the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park about 40 minutes before the start and eventually connected with a few more gals…

Lisa and Cindy

Lisa and Cindy

Lisa and Karen

Lisa and Karen

Lisa and me

Lisa and me

I didn’t really have a plan. Really I wanted to follow doctors orders of not running for 2 more weeks so when I crossed the starting line I was having a little anxiety….

The thought bubble above my head with my inner thoughts went something like this “What if i set myself back? What if i make it worse? What if I don’t finish before the cutoff? Crap I forgot to start my watch! I’m hungry. I can’t possibly walk the entire thing. I wish I brought music. Am I getting a blister already?”

I initially started out running SLOW. It was just as crowded as last year but I wasn’t pushing to weave in and out. So there’s a silver lining =). I finally locked in satellite and got my watch going about 1/4 mile in. My pace was right about 12:00. I shuffled along and stopped to walk every now and then just to check in and feel how the foot was doing.

mile 4 ish

mile 4 ish

This was my slowest 10K time ever…..but I crossed the finish line with only the discomfort of a blister! (Wearing new sneakers on a humid day) My tendonitis did not present a problem.

time-basno

last year I was about 15 minutes faster and my current 10K PR is about 21 minutes faster =)

 

completed-miniI cried a little and just felt very emotional at so many points from driving to Lisa’s in the morning to different points during the race. The entire “high” of running, races, running friends, etc had returned and I was reminded of how much it all means to me. With each mile, each medal, each starting line and each finish line, I fill my “happiness tank” I come home knowing I’ve done my body good, I’ve done my soul good and I’ve created memories to stay with me forever. Injuries are humbling. And climbing back up makes those lows of limping for days worth it.

Injuries need to be treated with the utmost care so you can heal and ensure that you wall always be able to run for life!

Injuries need to be treated with the utmost care so you can heal and ensure that you wall always be able to run for life!

Too much sappiness for you? Sorry! =) After heading home, I showered, ate and took the dog to the park for a bit. I knew I had plans to return back to Central Park for my friend Gary’s birthday picnic and only had a couple of hours from the time I got home from the race until the time i’d have to head back into the city. Duncan was happy to strut his favorite route doing the usual sniffin’ and squirrel hunting.

afternoonwalk

Before I knew it the time had come for me to get back on the road for the picnic. I made a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for a box of munchkins and this time took the bus to Manhattan.

munchkinsLiving in Staten Island is great but the commuting times to and from Manhattan really suck. I spent over 7 hours yesterday either in a car, on a subway or on a bus.

But it was all worth it! The picnic was fun! Gary got some gifts that I was really jealous of.

Larger than life size Mike n Ikes and Twizzlers

Larger than life size Mike n Ikes and Twizzlers

We all dined on cheese, crackers, fruit, wine and sweets. Perfection!

beverages

my classy wine glass and cup holder

my classy wine glass and cup holder

fruitcheese

birthdayboy

timer camera countdown selfie 3-2-1…

cpark-picnic-selfie

hi

runnin-peeps-picnic

Mike, Lisa and Elizabeth (running peeps).

One last goofy pic before we packed it up and headed home.

photo

 

 

 

 

 

Hello there.

This morning I took Duncan to the vet. He had a few routine shots that he was due for but the real reason was that I felt a growth on his cheek and upon inspection I thought it looked serious. Well how embarrased was I when I expressed my deepest concern to the vet thinking he’d tell me he thought it might be cancerous and he says: “Sally, it’s a wart! Your boy has a wart. He’s 5 1/2 which is basically like a 40 something year old middle aged man. He’s fine. Leave it be.” I felt like an idiot! But a very happy idiot.

It's just a wart ma!

It’s just a wart ma!

We made a quick pitstop at the pet store and stocked up on the necessities….food, cookies, bones and poop bags…and then when we cam home I fought the jungle in my garage to get the bike out for a ride.

Welcome to the Jungle. We've got fun and games.

Welcome to the Jungle. We’ve got fun and games. (and boxes and shovels and broken vacuums)

Kinda sad. I remember exactly one year ago cleaning out the garage and making it workout-friendly.

pre-jungle

pre-jungle!

I was a little pressed for time today so I only got 6.2 miles in.

10kride

 

 

Then it was time for a little bulk shopping at Sam’s Club. I focused on all my favorite P’s.

photo 1Popcorn, Peppermint Patties and Produce!

And while we’re talking about the letter P….this was my Perfect Park…

photo 3I have no idea why I parked like that. For a minute I thought maybe the car wasn’t in park and rolled forward. But no, I just misjudged a bit. =)

Well, I’m off to go strength train a bit. Catch ya later!

So what are your favorite arm moves? Weights? Resistance bands? Kettle bells? I’m going to do some tricep dips on my stairs and some planks and push-ups and then who knows.

 

 

Hey there. Happy Humpday!

It’s raining yet again here in NYC. Duncan is still less than thrilled.

photo 2

Yesterday I was able to squeeze in a 30 minute cross-training sweat sesh at the gym on my lunch break.

sweatsessh

I hit the rowing machine for 10 minutes and the bike for 20. I pushed myself on the bike with random intervals of intense resistance at slower speeds and less resistance but more speed. I had compression socks and my ankle brace on but paired with capris meaning i was a far cry from a fashion plate. It’s ok though because I was actually feeling mismatched and un-pretty on the inside too. 🙁 Running really has helped my self-esteem in leaps and bounds….without it I’m starting to feel that esteem dissipating.

Saw the foot doc this morning.

Appointment started out great. She pushed in a bunch of spots and asked if I felt pain. Nope. No pain there. None there either. Then she went on to say how lucky I was. And so I thought I was going to get good news….but then she dropped the bomb…

“I recommend no running for the rest of the month. Keep biking. You don’t want a setback. Then come July you can try a mile or two. See how you feel the next day. If you have no discomfort then keep increasing your mileage.”

That sounds reasonable to most I’m sure. I took it better than expected but was already plotting ideas in my head. I then asked her if I had any limits on walking and she said no. I also inquired about going back to PT which helped me so much last time and she agreed. So I’ve got a script and now just waiting on a referral for insurance purposes, but by next week I will at least start getting some massage, ultrasound, strengthening and balance work and hopefully acupuncture too.

So here’s my plan (and this is a decision I’ve made for myself and don’t ever take my advice because i’m nothing but a blogger). I AM going to participate in the two 10ks that I have signed up for, The Oakley Mini 10k this Saturday and The Queens 10k next Sunday). Based on course time limits i’ll need to keep a 14 minute per mile pace so that means I can walk most of the race and just pick up the pace here and there to get me across the finish in time. And I won’t do any other running for the month of June. I’ll continue to build mileage on the bike and shoot for 30-40 miles over the next few weeks (I’m at 21 so far).

That’s as good of a compromise as I am willing to make. =)

As for July. I will ease into a running schedule that will get me back into the swing of things but with only 4 weeks before the San Francisco marathon it looks like I have no choice but to drop back to the half which I am really bummed about. But seriously. My friend’s mom was just diagnosed with ALS. (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). I have no right to complain. Speaking of….Duncan and I will be participating in the Walk to Defeat ALS in support of the ALS foundation on June 21st and have started a little fundraising effort. If you would like to donate here is the link. I have had cancer hit my close circle of friends so much that I never even imagined a second horrible illness would invade. A month or so after my husband passed away I joined a support group for young widows. There was a woman whose husband died from ALS. Her stories were some of the most heart wrenching stories I’ve ever heard. There’s also that amazing husband wife duo of Chris Benyo and Denise DiMarzo who ran the NJ Marathon just 6 days after the Boston Marathon.

10258763_10203669557921172_4673023187501863523_o

That’s them right behind me. So inspiring. Please ignore the heel strike. #fail

I’ve been holding back tears much of the day today. It’s so embarrasing that I get this emotional about not being cleared to run. I am smart enough to know this is only a minor blip in life but I wear my heart on my sleeve and can’t seem to suppress those emotions. I miss it. I really really miss running! My eyes get really green when I cry.

green eyes and ham

green eyes and ham

I remember the day my hubby came to my office to surprise me with the “good news” that he was officially on disability. To him, that meant a vacation of sorts but when I looked at the paperwork it said “REASON: Stage IV Melanoma. I knew stage IV was the last stage and it hit me in that moment that he might die. I started to cry and he just said “wow, your eyes are so green right now”. He couldn’t “go there”. His denial was probably the coping mechanism that kept him going. I’m rambling now. But hey, why not. It’s my blog and I’ll ramble if I want.

OK, on to funner things….They opened a new Urban Outfitters right across from my office. I took a peek and ended up leaving with this cute iPhone case.

photo 3

And how great is this?

photo 1

I just use a timer camera app called Timer Camera (genius name right?) but this would be a cool alternative.

And then I used a gift card that still had money on it from my birthday to get a caramel latte at Dunkin Donuts. MUCH BETTER!

photo 2

This is officially the longest I’ve been sidelined with an injury. What’s the longest you’ve been sidelined?