Hi there!

How goes it? My weekend included back to back runs on Saturday and Sunday and let me say so many of my emotions were running along with me.

Saturday I woke up at 4am.

The 4am look

The 4am look

I haven’t had the chance to actually run with my friends in so long (I did get to spectate and see them at the Brooklyn half) that I made it my business to partake when I saw Lisa post on our running group page that they planned to do a long run from Brooklyn to Manhattan. So I set out from Staten Island to Brooklyn and met them at 5:30am (we were trying to beat the heat)

Can't wait to run over this bridge in a few months

Can’t wait to run over this bridge in a few months

We ran over the Manhattan bridge and up the east side and then cut across 34th Street.

Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges

Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges

Mike and Lisa

Mike and Lisa

I only covered 7.75 miles with them but it was plenty of time to catch up. I had some work stuff to share. Mike was excited about his new cushioned running shoes. Lisa’s been dealing with eliminating different foods to see if they can pinpoint some sensitivity issues. She’s also already planning out NYC Marathon long runs. I love that she is so good at mapping out routes for us. We chatted about our friends who will be running an ultra this coming weekend. Just a little 100 miler. You know NBD!

all done by 7am!

all done by 7am!

Iced tea lemonade combo was my reward after those sticky hot miles.

Iced tea lemonade combo was my reward after those sticky hot miles.

It felt SO good to spend time with Mike and Lisa and get in the longest run I’ve had since completing the NJ Marathon on April 26th. My ankle and knee are both really doing well and I’m ready to start increasing my mileage slowly again while foam rolling and stretching DAILY to prevent future issues hopefully.

I hopped on the subway back to Brooklyn and then got in my car and drove back to Staten Island. Quite a trek but since we started out so early I was home before 9am and had a huge smile on my face. Total runner’s high!

Sunday morning Mr. SOTSS and I each went for a run. He passed me in the first 1/2 mile and then took a left while I took a right. I was only planning on running 3 miles but I had a lot on my mind. I was feeling a lot of angst and super emotional and got lost with my head movies. I ended up running 4.69 miles and really wanted to run longer but i was worried Mr. SOTSS would be worried that I was gone so long.

I sweat out the small stuff and the big stuff

I sweat out the small stuff and the big stuff

Did I mention Mr. SOTSS has some running overuse injuries too? He’s been doing his PT exercises and strength too. Very proud of him.

Duncan supervising while Mr. SOTSS strengthens his glutes

Duncan supervising while Mr. SOTSS strengthens his glutes

I took yesterday off although I did do some hip and glute strengthening and Duncan did too.

floor work!

floor work!

Today I’m just going to get a few quick easy miles in and tomorrow I’m going to meet up with a friend of mine for a morning run at the boardwalk.

So grateful that I have running to help me deal with all my highs and lows. And so grateful that I have running friends to share some of those highs and lows with. 

I’m also grateful for chocolate chip ice cream.

2 scoops!

2 scoops!

And of course Mr. SOTSS =)

What are you grateful for?

What’s your mood like these days? Are you feeling great or not so great?

TGIF!

Sorry for the crickets over here this past week. I’m alive and well just going through some life stuff. Duncan was attacked by another dog but thankfully he is ok. Miraculously not a bite or scratch on him. It was scary and I had to work hard to get that dog to let go of Duncan and then restrain it until the owners came.

My sweet pup without a single wound. Whew!

My sweet pup without a single wound. Whew!

He's a lover not a fighter

He’s a lover not a fighter

I saw this over at Amanda’s Instagram and it’s absolutely perfect for me right now!

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I love black!

I didn’t run all week until yesterday and by the time I hit the (HOT) pavement in the late afternoon it was over 90 degrees. D to the UMB!

I needed to document mile 2 because I was afraid I wasn't making it any further

I needed to document mile 2 because I was afraid I wasn’t making it any further

I managed to run the first mile fairly comfortably at my normal pace but then I stopped for some water and then I didn’t want to start up again. So I ran and walked in intervals the remaining 4 miles. I have to admit that many times I’ve had the voice in my head that begs me to walk but I always think about my blog post and I don’t want to post a string of posts about how I let the voice win. But yesterday the voice in my head was saying “F the blog—it’s TOO HOT!”  I tried to run every downhill and walk the uphills but truth be told I walked on some downhills too.

I ran the last 1/2 mile on a trail by my house mainly for the shade. Smiling but secretly freaking out that my water bottle is empty.

I ran the last 1/2 mile on a trail by my house mainly for the shade. Smiling but secretly freaking out that my water bottle is empty.

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I ran, I walked but I didn’t quit. And I didn’t need to crawl so that’s a plus!

Yesterday was my last day at my job. I still have my freelance business but I’ll be exploring different full time gigs in the coming weeks. I took the Staten Island Ferry home and enjoy some beautiful postcard worthy views.

Miss Liberty

Miss Liberty

Postcard worthy!

Postcard worthy!

standing on the outside deck.

standing on the outside deck.

I typed up the typical goodbye email and ended it with this sentence:

“Life is a lot like running marathons. It’s not about winning or proving to others that you can run 26.2 miles. Sometimes it’s just about appreciating the journey and proving to yourself that you can go the distance while pushing through challenges along the way.”

I’m hoping to join my running peeps for a few miles tomorrow morning. I miss them! Then I have a photography gig for the afternoon and I’ll be headed to Mr. SOTSS’s for the evening.

Have a great weekend.

What are you up to?

Is it HOT where you live?

Are you good with heat or do you die in it like me?

 

 

Happy Monday!

Hope you had a lovely weekend. I celebrated my friend Lenny’s birthday and enjoyed his doggie duo. Belinda, the brindle boxer is still a puppy (about a year and a half) and so goofy! Look how she sits on her big brother Lu…

Belinda sitting on her big brother

Belinda sitting on her big brother

I melt

I melt

Happy Birthday Lenny.

Happy Birthday Lenny.

I also got in another 4 miler. It’s fairly hilly so I just worked on keeping my effort even while my pace slowed a bit. The best part about an out-and-back hilly route is you get to go DOWN those hills too!

what goes up must come down

what goes up must come down

another easy 4 miles

another easy 4 miles

we are both "stretching"

we are both “stretching”

Before I continue with this post I just wanted to share a post by my friend Roger.

such an inspiration!

such an inspiration!

He’s quite an amazing guy. He went from being morbidly obese and barely able to walk 3 miles to running the Boston Marathon and 7 years later he just decided to go run 32 miles. Read all about it here!

OK, now on to tell you about the Emjoi Micro-Pedi…

With summer on the way and sandals waiting to be worn I decided it was time to smooth out my heels. Usually I go the pumice stone route but the nice people at Emjoi gifted me a Micro-Pedi to try out. I figured I’d give it a whirl. (The Micro-Pedi was gifted to me but this post contains my own opinions and I was not paid to write it)

Emjoi-micro-pedi

Well hello?! That was fun! Seriously within a minute my heels were soft and all the dead calloused skin gone.

micro-pedi-beforeNow let me just mention I’m not training for anything right now so it’s the perfect time to get rid of my tough skin. I wouldn’t ever attempt this when logging high mileage during marathon training =)

micro-pedi-after

that’s my dead skin. Eeeeewwww!!! Make sure you do this over a towel! They give a little cleaning brush too and you can rinse the cartridge as well. (just don’t submerge the entire unit).

I used it mainly on my heels. I was shocked that it didn’t hurt or tickle. It was pretty painless and SO QUICK! The micro mineral roller is made from naturally processed stone that spins 30 times per second to break up, buff and remove callused skin from the feet.

micro-pedi-benefits

I absolutely agree with bullet #2.

I’ll definitely be using this again. The pamphlet that came with it said that you can use the same cartridge for a few sessions before replacing (for sanitary reasons do not share so buy one for your mom or your friend as a gift). If you want to buy a Micro-Pedi or replacement cartridges you can get them at emjoi.com but they’re cheaper on Amazon.

The Micro-Pedi works well with other attachments so you can take care of your fingernails and even your elbows!

The simply packaged version with one roller is $29.95 and there’s a spa-themed gift boxed version with 2 rollers for $39.95.

So now you’re in the know if you happen to be thinking about upgrading from manual foot smoothing tools.

 Tell me about your weekend!

Dear body: Thank you for showing up

Dear spirit: Thank you for showing up

Dear Spring: Thank you for showing up

Yesterday afternoon I had the perfect run. 4.1 miles of happy!

Happy run!

Happy!

Let’s rewind. So I mentioned that Duncan seems to have strained a muscle in his front leg and the doc has prescribed lots of R&R for him to heal.

I posted this video to Instagram yesterday.

Well we took it very seriously most of the day…

resting the paw again

resting the paw

resting the paw even more

resting the paw even more

resting the paw some more

resting the paw some more

resting the paw

resting the paw again!

I had to run out to do a quick freelance photography job and made a pitstop at Dunkin Donuts on my way home to grab a cup of coffee and my free donut thanks to National Donut Day.

NationalDonutDay

At 3pm, the sun came out and I decided to head to the beach to run the 4 mile route I wanted to run this past Sunday (but couldn’t due to the thunder/lightening storm). From the first step I just knew it would be a great run. I felt bounce in my step for the first time in months. And the weather was perfect. 65 and sunny with a lovely cool ocean breeze.

Finally feeling the run more than the injuries

Finally feeling the run more than the injuries

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More fragrant honeysuckles!

More fragrant honeysuckles!

Picture perfect view

Picture perfect view

Yep, this is my home.

Yep, this is my home.

My body felt strong. My overuse injuries didn’t bother me. I was just plain happy and that has given me some much needed hope that by mid-July I’ll be ready to tackle a full marathon training cycle starting at healthy too =)

In the evening I had dinner at my parents house and then while watching TV last night I had the craving for something a little sweet. That’s when I remembered I was given some goodies from Luna/Cliff Bar recently so I poked around and found this yummy dark chocolate almond and sea salt trail mix bar.

Cliff Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt Trail Mix Bar

Cliff Dark Chocolate Almond Sea Salt Trail Mix Bar

It was perfection. They’ve offering more and more gluten free products as more and more people have sensitivities to gluten.

Happy weekend! Hope it’s going to be a good one.
What are your weekend plans?
Do you eat a gluten free diet?
Do you ever thank your body when it feels strong? You should!