I really do have so much I want to share and while I will do a more in-depth recap of the San Francisco Marathon/Half Marathon itself I thought I’d share these top 10 memorable moments (and they are in no specific order).

1. Staying with Valerie and her family on their houseboat in Sausalito.

First of all Valerie and her hubby, son and cats couldn’t have been more fun and gracious to stay with. Hotels are overrated (and overpriced). Valerie spent much of the weekend being the “ferry princess” shuttling us to and from the dock to catch our boat. She baked up a batch of yummy chocolate chip-banana-almond muffins and gluten free chocolate chip cookies that were OUT OF THIS WORLD! I looked forward to a cookie and the Nespresso machine each morning. The deck of the houseboat was so peaceful and relaxing to sit out on. I enjoyed the perks of the guest quarters including her foam roller #runners. The “front yards” along the block dock were so colorful with blooms of all kinds and there was an amazing deli that I returned to for the same sandwich 2 days in a row.

Some of the neighbor's colorful "front yards"

Some of the neighbor’s colorful “front yards”

Gus the cool cat

Gus the cool cat

Gus

Gus

high tide made the entrance another HILL!

high tide made the entrance to the house another HILL!

sausalito

deck view

The Surfin Bird....my new favorite sandwich

The Surfin Bird….my new favorite sandwich

Valerie reading my blog

Valerie reading my blog one morning at breakfast

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2. Meeting Shane, The Silent Assasin!

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Happy Friday! And happy National Donut Day!! Not gonna lie this might even be better than National Running Day. It’s also Flashback Friday which made me think back to May of 2011, when my running peeps and I did Ragnar (Relay) New England from Connecticut to Boston mainly because of this pic.

Hello Massachussets

Hello Massachussets

I needed a donut after literally running across the state border from Connecticut to Massachussets. And you know there are only a few million Dunkin Donuts in Massachusetts right?!

about to step into Massachussets

about to step into Massachussets

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Last night my running friend Elvia came to sleep over. She had a two-day seminar that’s right near my house so after the first day was complete she arrived at my house and her first order of business was to take a selfie with Duncan.

cheese!

Cheese! Thanks Elvia for the photo.

Then we went to the park and she ran 5 miles while I biked along side. I did an extra mile as I would go ahead and then back track here and there. I didn’t get much of a cardio workout in but I kept it in high gear and toughed it up the hills for a nice burn on those thighs. After, we hit up Panera Bread for some dinner and then after chit chatting a bit hit the sack. We got up at 5:15 this morning and went back to the same park. But I swapped the bike for Duncan so Duncan and I walked and ELVIA ran another 3.

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Duncan would get so excited to see Elvia every time she lapped us.

It’s always so much easier to get up early when you have a partner in crime. It was nice to have some mid-week fun with Elvia and she was grateful to have a place to crash so she wouldn’t have to sit in so much traffic traveling to and from her seminar.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you….yesterday I coaxed a pal into going to IHOP with me as I wanted to try their blueberry cannoli pancakes.

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They weren’t that good 🙁 The “cannoli cream” was just a dollop of ricotta cheese on top. Eh. I’ve had better. Next time I’ll try the Jelly Donut ones…

I’m excited for another super-chill weekend with a superb forecast for the next 2 days too. Although I can’t believe how this 40 year old is getting so many aches and pains lately. I’m assuming that biking is just awakening muscles that have been dormant for awhile. First it was the front of my quad up toward the groin, then today i started to feel a pinched nerve in the back of my neck/shoulder blade area. Right at this very moment I’m sort of stuck only able to look straight ahead. I think I lean forward too much on the handlebars of the bike….and I know I’m still tense so that’s probably where that came from. I’ve been trying to steer clear of any and all pain maskers (like advil or tylenol) just to be in tune with how the tendonitis is doing (which I have to say is really WAY better!!!!) but I’ll try and have a glass or two 3 of wine tonight and maybe use a heating pad or something. If I remain so creeky we’re going to have to change this blog to Decrepit Runner or Dilapidated Runner or maybe Ache Out the small stuff.

So what’s going on this weekend?

Anyone doing anything fun?

Who’s stressed?

Who’s got weird aches and pains? Tell me…

HIGH

Friday I wore one of my new shirts to work:

Free People shirt

Free People shirt

HIGH

And since my commute home from work Friday evening was quick, I took the doodle to the park for a nice walk to wind down after a busy week.

photo 3-1 photo 4-1

LOW

Saturday morning I woke up depressed. Just didn’t feel like leaving the couch. Not sure why. Apparently post-marathon blues are real.

lazy doodle

Duncan was depressed too

HIGH

I finally got myself together to go for my first post-marathon run but…

LOW

…when I started the car my check engine light came on!

annoying engine light

annoying engine light

HIGH

I drove to the beach and had a really nice run anyway. I ran about 1 of the 4 miles in the sand. I listened to some music (loving that Sara Bareilles song Brave!) and cried a little and felt so much better.

beach run

first run after marathon

LOW

Just as I was nearing the end of my run I could feel the same soreness on the outside of my foot that I felt right after finishing the marathon last weekend. I had assumed that the soreness was just from the sneaker being tied to tight perhaps and after almost 5 hours straight of running that it got a bit sore. But when the same soreness returned for this run I had a big epiphany that this was tendonitis of the Peroneal Tendon (the Peroneus Brevis to be exact). Yes, I’m self-diagnosing. I had an ankle sprain in the summer of 2011 (during the Warrior Dash) and had a rough time giving it time to heal and still train for my first marathon (NYC Marathon in November of 2011). Needless to say I made it through the marathon but didn’t go seek treatment for the injury until 2012. Eventually after physical therapy and acupuncture I recovered. The ankle sprain caused the Peroneal Tendons to be inflamed. Well, since then, this has been a chronic issue when my mileage gets high. But usually I feel the discomfort at the top of the tendon (behind ankle bone). So it didn’t connect right away that this was the same tendon until I went online and looked at this diagram.

I highlighted the area that hurts (photo source: anklecenter.com)

I highlighted the area that hurts (photo source: anklecenter.com)

The peroneus brevis attaches to the 5th metatarsal which is exactly where my foot hurts. So I have been icing it and taking Ibuprofen and hopefully another week of no running will be enough to let it heal. I’ve got a 5K next weekend and then a half marathon the week after, not to mention lots of long runs between now and July as well so I really want to make sure I’m healed and healthy!!!!.

Peroneus Brevis

Irritated my peroneus brevis – icing like a champ

HIGH

I stopped for this yummy iced caramel latte after the run.

Dunkin Donuts Caramel Swirl Latte

my favorite

HIGH

While I was resting the ankle I decided to color my hair. I always go for red but today I chose a new shade called Garnet Red and I LOVE IT!

garnet hair don't care

garnet hair don’t care-and yes those are rain drops on the shirt to the left. luckily it was just a quick passing sprinkle

LOW

Apparently the backs of my legs (from where my capris end and my socks begin) got a little sun during the marathon last weekend. It looks like dirt! LOL!

marathoner's tan

note to self: put sunscreen on the backs of your legs too!

HIGH

Tomorrow my niece turns 14 and tonight we went out to celebrate at her favorite sushi restaurant.

She was so excited for the Polaroid camera she asked for. So retro! =)

The birthday girl’s dessert…Raspberry and Chocolate sauce was used to make the cherry blossom design on the plate. She was so excited for the Polaroid camera she asked for. So retro! =)

Curls

Happy Birthday Niece!!!!!

Last year the NJ Marathon fell on her birthday and she was the trooper and came to support me on the course anyway. While she likes running she doesn’t like to go farther than a mile. She’s more of a basketball girl….but I still haven’t given up on getting her to run a 5K with me someday. Oh yeah, we had dessert back at the house. I tried a chocolate chip ice cream cone. Hello! It was awesome.

ice cream!!!!!

ice cream!!!!!

HIGH

My friend picked me up this bottle of wine just because he thought i’d like the bottle. Thanks! I love Riesling!

riesling

riesling

LOW

Tomorrow is Monday 🙁

Question: What were some of your highs and lows this weekend. 

honey bunches of oats

my honey bunches of oats on our wedding day

Today marks 15 years since the love of my life took his last breath after succumbing to Melanoma. He was 29 and I was 25. It was a forever changing moment in my life. While I knew I’d “be ok”, I had no idea how ok I’d really be. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d end up falling in love with another guy running and conquering the marathon distance, not once, but (after next week) 5 times.

If you’ve watched this video then you know how I put the life back in my life after being inspired by my friend Lisa who ran marathons. This morning actually, I met up with Lisa and our friend Mike for a run in Brooklyn. I just ran with Lisa last week although we still had plenty to catch up on and since Mike had to work last weekend I got to catch up with him too. Actually come to think of it he didn’t say anything about what’s going on with him? He let Lisa and I take over the conversation =) Such a gentleman. They did a loop before I arrived but I got in 5 solid miles. Then we had breakfast at the new Whole Foods that opened up near them.

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This Whole Foods was a mecca….the most ginormous of all the Whole Foods I’ve ever been to. It has a rooftop deck where you can even get a glass of wine or just eat your salad bar goodies. I tried not to overdo it with breakfast since I only ran 5 miles which meant getting one biscuit and no pancakes.. I know! Self control at it’s finest =) (and the pancakes had blueberries in them too!)

Brooklyn Whole Foods

Outside they had this adorable dog area with fresh water a place to pee and if you donate $1 you can get a small bag of dog treats. How cute?!

We did some grocery shopping and then I gave them a ride back to their apartments and headed home. My training plan called for 7 miles today and 4 tomorrow so I thought I’d just swap and run the 7 tomorrow but when I got home it was only 11am and so nice out that I figured I’d just bang out a few more miles.

photo 1

In total I actually got 8 miles in. And then I walked the dog for 2 more miles! And then I realized I needed to take care of a situation that has been weighing heavily on my mind.

Fro-Yo

Fro-Yo: The 6th food group.

It had been 6 months since my last trip for fro-yo! Say what???? So now all is right with the world.

Tomorrow the doodle and I are headed up to my friend Susan’s for Easter. I’m making a fruit salad. I cheated a little and bought lots of pre-cut fruit for a million dollars while I was at Whole Foods! =)

You may or may not see a photo of Duncan wearing rabbit ears tomorrow. I guess I’ll see how much I can get away with if I have some treats in my hands. (He hates things on his head).

Hope you’re all enjoying your Spring weekend wherever you are! And if you’re on your way to or already in Boston for the marathon good luck!

Question: When was the last time you had fro-yo? When was the last time you had your skin checked out at the dermatologist? May is Melanoma Awareness month so I will make sure to remind you all again to get those moles checked out and wear sunscreen too!