As it seems every year Spring is the wildest month temperature-wise here in the North East. I was running with practically full winter gear last weekend when temps were in the mid 30s and yesterday it reached 84 degrees! The good news is it was perfect for me to try my last new clothing purchase from my running gear splurge, the Under Armour Fly By Running T-Shirt.
business in the front and party in the back
And let me tell you, this shirt IS fly! I’m a fan! I set out for a nice easy 4 miles. I had to stop at my folks’ house to bring in their mail and newspapers (they were away for the weekend), so I ran. Of course they live at the top of a very BIG hill. Not a problem…I just took it nice and easy.
4 easy miles
And although it felt like Summer, the trees are just budding…
baby buds almost ready to bust open
Meanwhile the dog was at the groomer getting a bath and haircut. Talk about multitasking!
When I picked him up he looked like this:
i’m too sexy for this grass
I’m off today. Got up early to run a few errands. Even went to the bank to inquire about refinancing my mortgage. Yep that’s been on the “to-do” list for quite some time. And of course the person I need to see was unavailable. They said he’ll call me within the hour. I gave my cell number because I want to head out for another short easy run soon. I’ll just take the phone with me.
Hope your week is off to a good start.
Question: Do you keep lists? Do you keep up with your tasks? What always falls to the bottom of the priority list. For me it’s doing my nails. They are currently ragged and naked but I just bought a new color polish this morning to incentivize me to get them pretty asap! =)
Yesterday morning I got up super early to travel to the city to run with friends.
my beloved bridge
We ran two 4-mile loops in Central Park.
a real Spring day to run in Central Park
We had some fun post run activities planned too. First, we set foot on an Easter egg hunt…This sure wasn’t your typical egg hunt though. We participated in the Big Egg Hunt to search for Fabergé eggs. It’s a really cool interactive hunt where you download an app on your phone and then, as you find the eggs you take pics of them (well, technically you scan the QR code below them) to confirm the discovery of that egg. Each egg is designed by a unique artist. You can also share your finds on Twitter and Instagram too.
there’s lisa snapping an egg
A handful of the eggs we discovered
These eggs were fairly large. Here’s a pic of me next to my new friend…
My new friend
After our egg hunt we went to Whole Foods for some breakfast and then parted ways. Always a memorable and enjoyable time when I’m with my running peeps.
Please excuse my gut! LOL! No washboard abs were used in the creation of this post. =) Seriously though these were SO comfortable. Much better than the Endurance Capris I wore the other day. These stayed put! There’s an internal draw cord but I didn’t even use it. Oh and 2 pockets! A small key pocket in the front waistband and a zipper one on the back of the waistband. While we’re speaking of waistbands, this wide one was very comfortable. The same for behind the knee. Thumb’s up!
When I got home, I showered and then pondered over where to take the dog for his walk. It was such a perfect Spring day and I wanted to get in a decent walk since technically I was supposed to run 12 miles and not 8 according to my marathon training plan. That’s when I decided on the beach. It’s just over 4 miles out and back.
Boxer chose the harder surface and Doodle chose the softer surface
After all the time on my feet and out in the sun I was tired. I was flipping through Facebook while relaxing on the sofa when I noticed my friend Doreen was looking to do something.
That’s one way to find something to do on a Saturday night
Doreen has 2 dogs. They are French Mastiffs (also called Dogue de Bordeauxs). We walk with the dogs frequently like this time and this time but I thought it would be nice to get a chance to be humans “unleashed” so I suggested going to a local German Bar/Restaurant. =) And so I picked her up and off we went. I was having one of those moments where I was feeling a bit funky about my appearance so I put on extra lip gloss because that always helps =)
slimming and beautifying lip gloss
Killmeyer’s was crowded. Eventually we got seated. They bring you a big warm soft pretzel with mustard to start. That’s my favorite part of this restaurant. If you read #7 on this list you’ll see that soft pretzels are my secret pre-marathon fuel. For the main course I had German meatloaf. Anything with bacon on it is going to be good right?
German fare with my secret pre-race fuel
Before dropping Doreen home she gave me this lovely homemade cake pop!
home made cake pop
(actually she gave me 3 but I ate 2 before I took a pic). Now you see why we’re friends. She is a great cook AND baker!
This morning I’m starting off slowly. Eventually I’ll go for a nice short and easy run and then drop the dog off to the groomer before doing some major cleaning of my house. Saw this posted yesterday and had to share!
taper time
Question: How’s your weekend going? What’s your favorite pre-race fuel? Have you ever been to a German restaurant?
Let’s just start off with this over-the-top cuteness…
Honestly, I think he poses on purpose just because he knows how cute he is. Notice Lambchop has a hole? As soon as Duncan realizes that the stuffing is exposed that destruction of Lambchop will be imminent. lol!
I had a 6 miler on the schedule today…The weather here is so lovely. Mid 60s and sunny.
OK today’s big revelation. I need to stop saying “I was happy with my pace today” because that ultimately implies I’m not happy with my pace when I don’t say it.
I hope that makes sense. The reason this all came to me this morning was because during my run I noticed my splits were in the high 10s…I expected that I’d be running low 10s like I did on Tuesday and found myself annoyed that I couldn’t pick up the pace. Really? Annoyed? Why do I run again? It sure isn’t to win a race. It’s because it feels good and helps me to release my anxiety and stress. So what’s the point of running if I’m going to give myself anxiety and stress over trying to maintain some stupid pace. Granted I do have goals and I do strive to get better. But I don’t EVER want to lose the love of running along the way.
And so I am making a conscious effort moving forward to ALWAYS be happy with my pace. If it’s slower than I had expected there’s a reason for it. My body is telling me go slower. And I’m sure I can learn so much from those runs that feel harder just as much if not more than from easy runs where I feel speedy.
I wore new gear again today (part of my online shopping free-for-all from last week).
pointing to my favorite detail!
OK let’s start with the good. The top is this Brooks Pure Project SS. It’s not cheap at $60 but I LOVE it! The versatile drawstring detail (there’s one on both sides) is my favorite. I drew one side up and left the other down. The material is really soft and the sleeves are sort of 3/4 which I have to say is a great length.
Although you can’t see (because this is a G rated blog), I’m wearing a new sports bra too. It’s this one from Moving Comfort called Maia. I bought the purple because it was on sale for $33. Otherise It’ll cost you $56! Yikes! If you’re as well-endowed as me I highly recommend it. Keeps my Ds in check. I’ve been wearing this style for years. Warning though: you must use anti chafe balm/cream for longer distances or this bra will chafe. I learned this the hard way but have it down to a science now =)
And lastly, the capris. They’re these Endurance capris from Moving Comfort. They ran me $58. I have to say I didn’t love them. They are REALLY tight behind the knees and there is a seam that runs behind the knee too and the whole run I was annoyed by it. I also felt like I was running in panty hose. I won’t order these again. But I’m keeping them because I think they’ll make great post-run compression gear =)
After running a few errands this afternoon I got to meet up with my friend and her dogs for an evening walk. Nothing better than an hour+ of chit chat. We both vented about life’s BS and also talked about all the good stuff too. It was a gorgeous evening! Perfect way to end the day. And the dogs loved it too!
I’m now having a glass of wine and getting ready to see who gets voted off on American Idol.
Question: What’s the weather like where you live? Did you get some fresh air today?
2. De-clutter and beautify my office space. While I don’t normally buy flowers to keep on my desk at work, we spruced up the office to make a good impression on a new client who was coming in to the office earlier in the week. My co-worker saw that I was in a crapola mood and “re-arranged” the flowers so that one magically appeared in my cubicle. Thanks Joel! That of course sparked me to clean up my space. It’s just feels better now =) This can also be applied to the home environment!
pretty stress-relieving tulips
3. Change of scenery. All too often I sit at my desk and work until it’s time to go home and my shoulders creep up higher and higher as I get tenser and tenser. It’s rare that I step away from my desk at lunch. I work in New York City. There is just SO MUCH to see in this city. Little nuggets of inspiration in random places. So today, I opted to take advantage of this gorgeous Spring day to run an errand at lunch. I walked up 6th Avenue and randomly turned right on 41st Street right by the big New York Public Library. They named the block Library Way and had these metal plaques placed in the concrete along the sidewalk to form “Library Walk”. Great quotes from books. I stopped to read each one (and snap pics of some).
My 2 favorite…
I stopped into the famous cigar shop on 42nd Street, Nat Sherman, and bought a birthday gift for my friend.
unfortunately scaffolding didn’t allow me to take a photo from the front
I bought him a pipe lighter. They gift wrapped it for me for stress free. =)
I couldn’t help but leave my work stress behind for the hour I stepped away. I’m really going to make it a point to take a break each day at lunch. Yes, Tuesdays will probably continue to be a run at the gym but the rest of the days I want to take advantage of all the history that is within NYC’s architecture and neighborhoods. And hello, I am just a mile from Central Park. Boom!
4. Eat something new! OK maybe this isn’t the recommended way to de-stress per-se, but changing up the same old same old lunch routine can bring something to the table I suppose. I stumbled upon a new (to me) turkish place and got the turkish version of a Greek gyro. It’s chicken, with lettuce, tomato, onion and some special sauces on warm turkish bread. I sat and ate it at my desk without multitasking. Correct, I did nothing but eat. For the first time in a long time I actually TASTED my meal. It’s too common for me to inhale meals when I’m working.
5. Listen to music and stretch. Well this hasn’t happened yet but it’s my plan for tonight. Instead of turning the TV on I’m going to stretch and listen to some tunes first.
And tomorrow I’ll run!!!!! =)
OK, little secret. Looks like I might be running the San Francisco Marathon on July 27th. I’m just figuring a plan to afford travel and registration expenses without robbing a bank. I won’t have any major goals for this one other than to have fun and finish in the allotted 6 1/2 hour time limit =) It’s more of a “I don’t want to miss out” type situation because some of my running peeps are signed up including Valerie (sister of a peep) who will be running her first ever full marathon and Roger who is doing their special 52.4 ultra marathon! So I need to be there to document it and blog about it for prosperity. =)
Question: Have you ever joined a trip with friends because you didn’t want to miss out even though you knew it would be a strain on the budget? Please say yes. =) Have you ever robbed a bank? Please say no. =)
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