I didn’t want to leave you all with radio silence. I’m skipping town for a long ski weekend and most likely won’t be blogging… I’ll be busy shredding the slopes! OK maybe I’m exaggerating just a little. I’ll be busy trying to make it down the mountain in one piece.

But I’ll resume next week. Have a great weekend!

He thinks because his tennis ball matches my ski jacket that I'll take him with me.

He thinks because his tennis ball matches my ski jacket that I’ll take him with me. And yes…these are the same skis I was given 24 years ago for my high school graduation present. They’re “retro”. 

 

 

Hi!

It’s after midnight which means it’s Wednesday! On Monday my office closed early due to the snow forecast. We were supposed to get somewhere between 1 to 2 feet of snow overnight. I grabbed some computer files and a spinach calzone at the pizzeria on my way to the bus about 1pm. The calzone was because I was anticipating the worst. I thought it’d be a long commute home with the snow steadily falling and I hate being hungry when I’m stuck on that bus. =) But amazingly it was one of my fastest commutes ever and I was home before 2pm! I don’t regret the calzone though—better safe than hungry.

I have spent the last 15 years riding out most blizzards, hurricanes, blackouts, etc alone but since our office was going to be closed today I had this crazy idea that instead of working from my home maybe I could ride out the storm over at Mr. SOTSS’s house. He liked my crazy idea so I packed up my laptop and the doodle and headed over. I brought over some goodies including a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and we watched a movie and caught up what’s been going on in each other’s lives the last few days.

Yesterday morning I had a conference call early in the morning and then worked most of the day, but we snuck out go for a walk in the woods about a mile away to let the dogs play in the snow.

happy feet!

happy feet!

Brown dogs look good in white

Brown dogs look good in white

This just might be one of my favorite shots of Chester

This just might be one of my favorite shots of Chester

Always with the phone in my hand. Busted!

Always with the phone in my hand. Busted!

The only makeup I have is the rosy cheeks provided by Mother Nature :)

The only makeup I have is the rosy cheeks provided by Mother Nature 🙂

Houston: We have a problem.

Houston: We have a problem.

lick

Someone loves his dad so much he’s not afraid to show some PDA.

running-duncan

Snow legs!

serenity

I never grow weary of nature’s beautiful scenery

sleepy-dogs

two tired pups!

winter-wonderland

I love how the snow covered branches frame this shot

It was exhausting to trudge through the snow. I’m guessing there was somewhere between 8 and 10 inches of fresh fallen snow. We didn’t get the full on blizzard that they said we would get but apparently just 40 miles north east of us in parts of Long Island and up in Massachusetts they got hammered.

So you know that my knee gave out on me on Sunday while trying to get in my long run. And it bothered me walking in the snow as well as tonight when I came home and shoveled my driveway.

It’s actually hurting right now and I’m just sitting. Somewhere during that walk in the snow this afternoon and writing this post I made a decision. I am taking another running hiatus. I’m thinking of taking another 3 weeks off. And I might even try and see a doctor. I know. Crazy! I’m actually relatively calm about this. I’m grateful that my life is filled with so much these days. Between my regular job, my freelance jobs, spending time with all my friends and family and Mr. SOTSS I’ve got lots of life in my life and I’m in great spirits. So taking this running hiatus is really fine. I just had this conversation with Mr. SOTSS today about how I met him just a couple of weeks after the last full marathon that I’ve run and then i was injured so he hasn’t known me as marathoner. He hasn’t seen me on days I’ve put in 20 mile training runs. He hasn’t seen me over-the-moon from running a marathon without hitting the wall. This made me realize that I can’t imagine not being able to run more than 3-5 miles without having knee pain and I must fix this so I can have a long future of distance running.

Tell me something about your week so far. I want to hear it….the good, the bad, the ugly. 

Have you ever gotten “hangry” (angry from not eating) before?

 

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend. I had a nice balance of lazy and busy as well as some highs and lows when it comes to running. I’ll fill you in…

Friday it was sunny and relatively warm (for winter in New York City)—about 40 degrees. So I decided to just go for a short run. I was so thrilled that I felt no knee pain at all. I’m continuing to enjoy the Garmin Forerunner 10.

Short and sweet and pain free!

Short and sweet and pain free!

It was the first time since last September that I ran on 2 consecutive days (I had run 5 miles the day before). HIGH! Then I took the doodle for a walk to enjoy the sunshine too.

another doodle pic

doodle sunshine

Does this angle make my butt look big?

In the evening I met my childhood friend Tara for dinner. We try and see each other about once a year. We caught up on life and while she isn’t on Facebook yet she FINALLY got an Instagram account and we took our first selfie!

Saturday was quite the lazy day. We had snow and rain overnight leaving the roads slick so I took advantage and just stayed put and did stuff around the house like cleaning, freelance design work and knee rehabbing. I did manage to get the doodle some run time on this soccer field by my house to enjoy the few inches of snow that we had received.

Running it out

Running it out

Of course with all the lounging around, I found myself going in to the kitchen a little to frequently and kept dipping into this bag of chips:

My name is Sally and I'm addicted to potato chips

My name is Sally and I’m addicted to these chips

I ate so many I felt a bit sick so I finally got in the car and just drove to the mall to walk around, but more importantly, to get away from the chips and just get out of the house.

Today I took advantage of another sunny day and went to the beach to get in my 8 miler…well, I tried anyway. LOW! My knee gave out an hour into the run and I just immediately stopped running and walked back to the car.

beach view

Serenity!

Gateway National Park

Beautiful scenery for the consolation prize

It wasn’t worth it to push it any more. I have already said that I’m prepared to take more time off and not run the New Jersey Marathon in April if this knee isn’t healed and I’m sticking to what I said. For the most part I’m ok with this but we all know I’ll cry like a baby if I truly can’t run it. (I swear I feel like a broken record…although most days are like Groundhog’s day here at Sweat Out The Small Stuff….you know….walking the doodle, running, bitchin’ about injuries, binging on carbs…)

sad snowmen

These are some dirty, sad snowmen

I’ve come to the conclusion that 3-5 miles is my comfortable distance for now and I think the knee will need some more strengthening and rest before I can realistically do distances more than that. Le Sigh!

I did a repeat of Friday and took Duncan for a walk to enjoy the sunshine too (you see! just like Groundhog’s day!)

FullSizeRender 4

Leading the way

FullSizeRender

Paw prints in the snow make me happy

Good thing because I hear we’re getting a big storm of a foot or more of snow starting tomorrow afternoon!

Do you like potato chips? Do you have a favorite kind? What’s the snack you tend to binge on?
I love kettle chips!

H all!

It’s Friday! Can I get a WOOT WOOT??!!! I have all that I need to get this blog post complete: Coffee, my laptop and the doodle resting his little head on me. I love that furry boy.

blog essentials

bloggin’!

I’ll catch you up on my last few days. Wednesday I had to take some more head shots but this time I had to go to a building downtown in the Meatpacking District. The building was super secure and you could only get access to the floor you needed to go to. Except I was having such a hard time getting to my floor that a messenger going to a different floor told me to follow him. Next thing you know I’m in Alexander McQueen space.

Alexander McQueenIf you’ve ever watched the red carpet at the Oscars or the Golden Globes you know Alexander McQueen is a fashion designer. Ooh-la-la! Of course not my thing. I’d rather land at Asics or Brooks. LOL! Eventually I got to where I had to go. I was on my lunch break so I needed to hop on the subway to get back to work fast. I noticed this cool public artwork set of sculptures by a sculptor named Tom Otterness.

Tom Otterness

2 of many bronze sculptures in the subway at 14th street (The C train)

14th street C

Down Under

How cool? How did I not see this ever before? This is why I love living in New York City. There’s always cool creativity, art, fashion, music, food….you name it!

Yesterday I did some freelance work and then I went for a run.

winter running

First run with the Garmin 10

I wore my new Garmin Forerunner 10. I like it. I really like that the main screen only shows distance and elapsed time. I never toggled to the secondary screen to see my pace and I think for the bulk of my training I’m going to do the same.

So the knee seems to have made some minor progress. I wanted to share what I’ve been doing because I think it’s helping. (I’m not a doctor folks!)

  1. I’ve been foam rolling both legs in all areas focusing on rolling the quads, hamstrings and calves and making sure to get the outside of those areas like the IT band and peroneal tendon. I’m doing this daily and try to roll a little before my run as well as after.
  2. I’ve been taking Ibuprofen for the last 2 days in the morning and evening hoping to help reduce some inflammation.
  3. I’ve been doing lots of strengthening and balancing exercises for my hips, quads, glutes and core. Step ups, bridges, planks, front leg raises, clam shells, side stepping with resistance band etc.
  4. I’ve slowed my pace, shortened my stride and i’m keeping my knees bent a little more than usual while running, especially on the downhills.

I made it through all 5 miles yesterday without the knee ever “slipping”. It felt a little tentative but didn’t cause any acute pain or discomfort. And by the time I got home, showered and stretched I didn’t even feel any discomfort around the knee area. And this morning I feel great! Apparently, so does Duncan…

labradoodle

Feelin’ good!

I’m going to just keep doing what I’m doing. Let’s see how the next few weeks go. I’m going to shoot for 8 miles on Sunday.

Tonight I’m meeting my grade school friend Tara. We try and catch up over dinner once a year. We met in the 3rd grade! Crazy.

Have a great weekend!

What’s your favorite part of where you live? Do you love where you live? What’s your least favorite part?

I hate traffic/commuting.