Today I’m going to recap my Mt. Snow ski weekend in Vermont and tell you about my healthy car snack options. I’m recapping everything but races lately and I’m quite ok with that. =)
I’ve got races coming up in March, April and May so indulge me for the next few weeks with these recreational winter fun posts =)
Friday morning Mr SOTSS and I headed up to Vermont with a quick stop to drop off Duncan at my friend Nicole’s house.
doesn’t matter if it’s 1 hour or 6 hours. He just lays on my lap the entire time
napping in the car
Waiting for us to pack up the truck
This ski weekend was a gift from Mr SOTSS for Christmas. He gave the same gift last year only we chose a different bed and breakfast this year. I love traveling, especially road trips. There’s something so enjoyable about spending the long hours in the car listening to tunes and talking about so many things we never seem to get to talk about normally. Road trips aren’t complete without snacks because, let’s face it, I can get really cranky if I don’t have access to food. Usually I make poor choices for snacking when traveling but I had just been online reading about healthy snacks at nuts.com and then saw this cool “snack hack”:
I was so inspired that I packed up some healthy stuff like apples, almonds and cranberries, a granola bar and some pretzels.
unsweetened applesauce, apples, raw almonds and dried cranberries, pretzels, and fruit and nut bar
As we approached Vermont it started to snow. It was exactly the way it should be when you’re driving up for a ski weekend. So picturesque!
Welcome to Vermont
We checked in to the bed and breakfast just before sunset and I forced Mr. SOTSS to take some pictures of me for the blog. He is so tolerant.
Breaking news. My sinus infection is G.O.N.E! I’m finally feeling better and so relieved.
Mr. SOTSS and I spent a few days in Chicago to celebrate my birthday.
It was so much fun and jam-packed with activities! Plus, aside from some rain on Saturday morning, the weather was perfectly crisp and Autumn-like with temps in the high 50s and 60s. Have I mentioned how much I love the fall? Have I mentioned how my I love my boyfriend?!!!
We stayed at the Hotel Chicago which is right in the center of the city and so accessible to everything.
There was a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers in the room to welcome us thanks to Mr. SOTSS. He’s so sweet. He did the same thing when we went to Cape Cod last year for my birthday weekend. Hmmm, setting a precedent. Boyfriend, if you’re reading I hope you’re taking note ;).
I ran on my actual birthday (Sunday) along the Chicago Riverwalk and the lakefront trail (along Lake Michigan) and covered about 7 slow miles but boy was it nice to have some new scenery. Newsflash: Chicago and Garmin = no bueno. I had to transfer my data to Runkeeper and adjust the map. All the tall buildings in the city made the Garmin struggle to locate the satelite and it basically showed that I went berserk in the river. LOL! Actually to be fair, Mr. SOTSS used Runkeeper and it was also just as berserk. But the map is editable so that’s how we got our routes and mileage correct finally.
Happy Birthday to me!
I tried to take a panoramic shot with my phone.
And I also ran about 3.5 miles yesterday before we headed to the airport to catch our flight home.
Hotel room selfie before I set out.
The foliage!
Mr SOTSS ran twice too. I love that we both enjoy going for solo runs while vacationing together.
We ate so much! From stuffed pizza at Giordano’s to filet mignon at Chicago Cut Steakhouse to BBQ Ribs at Weber Grill restaurant. And then there was my birthday hot fudge sundae.
No candles but Mr. SOTSS sang Happy Birthday to me and then I made a wish!
The cook all the food on Weber grills right in the restaurant!
That is pizza perfection right there.
two crusts with the cheese melted in between like a real PIE and then the sauce goes on top of the upper crust.
If you go to Chicago GO HERE!
We walked along the Magnificent Mile and boy was I excited to see they had a Garmin store.
I asked when the Garmin 235 that was announced would be available and they said probably another 2-4 weeks. So now I’m trying to decide if I should just get the 220 before the NYC Marathon on Sunday. I only have the Garmin 10 at the moment and it has a 5 hour battery life and I’m pretty much 100% sure I won’t be crossing that finish line sub 5 this year.
Some other fun things we did in ChiTown…
Took in a Chicago Blackhawks game
The time it takes me in photoshop to protect Mr. SOTSS’ identity with these smiley faces…..he’s worth it.
Went on an architectural river cruise to see and learn about some of the well known, and not so well known buildings in the city. It poured on us for the first 10 minutes of the cruise but we stayed mostly dry thanks to our well spent $2 for ponchos.
my favorite building just for the reflection
As we were going down the river they had to open this particular bridge for a larger boat. I just loved the compositing. So angular and really cool.
They call these the Corn Cob Condos. People live on the top half and their cars (and public parking) are on the lower half. So crazy.
We took the train out to the suburbs of Oak Park where we took a tour of some Frank Lloyd Wright homes including the first home he ever designed and lived in.
Different than the NYC subway in that most of their trains travel above ground
An odd detail on the roof of one of the homes Frank Lloyd Wright designed
Another Frank Lloyd Wright house behind us
Frank Lloyd Wright was known for his lead glass designs.
I scored while we were in Oak Park because we found a Fleet Feet store and I bought a new pouch to put my phone in while running the marathon. I needed sommething big enough to fit the iPhone 5 in the Mophie battery case so I’ll be sure to have enough juice for all those hours.
We also went to Millenium Park and saw the famous Bean sculpture.
Bean selfie!
My feet are so sore because we’ve walked more in the last 3 days than I have in my life a while. About 25,000 steps daily. And that’s not counting the running! We’re both exhausted and will have to rally for sure to get through the rest of the week.
taking a power nap at gate B8
Another trip in the books with my favorite travel life companion.
happiness is…
I’m hoping to get one or two super short and easy runs in this week. And then it’s Expo time…And then it’s GO time…AHHHHH! Starting to panic.
Hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend. I have looming deadlines for some freelance work that I must get to but I wanted to at least give you a little recap of my weekend, including my slowest training run ever!
I spent Saturday and Sunday on Long Island, NY with Mr. SOTSS visiting with some of his family. Saturday morning we walked with his mom and of course the pooches in a beautiful park by her home. After that Mr. SOTSS and I drove out to Shelter Island which is an island in between the north and south forks of Long Island to spend time with his dad and his dad’s wife on their sailboat.
Waiting for Mr. SOTSS’ dad to come out to get us with the dingy and take us to the sailboat.
sand, water, boardwalks, blue skies, and my honey
We left the pooches at Mr. SOTSS’ mom’s when we drove out to Shelter Island. This is how they spent the day
It was so peaceful to just sit out on the boat in the marina. We caught up a bit, walked all around the island and then had dinner at a restaurant nearby.
Enjoying the day
Of course a glorious sunset on the water.
At night we drove back to Mr. SOTSS’ mom’s house. Sunday was spent with his mom and her husband. First Mr. SOTSS and I walked the dogs for an hour and then his mom and her husband joined the fun. We took a ride out to Robert Moses State Park where you can walk to the Fire Island Lighthouse and then continue to the National Park section which connects to a small town called Kismet.
I swear I didn’t use any filters. The sky was that blue
There are no cars in Kismet, only walking/bike paths to get around and they have 2 restaurants. The Kismet Inn and Surf’s Out. We chose Surf’s Out.
The weather was phenominal both days. I enjoy being by the water/beach so much. I’ve always lived on the East Coast and it’s just part of my life. Mr. SOTSS not only has the same love of the water but he also was quite the sailor. He got his Captain’s license and piloted a ferry from the main part of Long Island out to Fire Island. We took a fun drive through his old neighborhood and he showed me his childhood home, schools and where the ferry that he worked on was. Pretty cool!
a little map for context…
We covered about 10 miles of walking each day. Good food, good company, great views. It was a superb weekend. Mr. SOTSS dropped me off about 11 pm last night and I took a shower and jumped right into bed.
This morning I was up and out the door at 7:20am and somehow covered 15 miles but it wasn’t pretty.
15 miles DONE!
I walked a lot and just tried to keep it together. I had a side stitch that lasted the entire time. I can’t remember the last time that happened. I stopped at a playground for a few minutes hoping this rainbow might give me some positive vibes…
I think I was delerious!
But 3 hours and 15 minutes on my feet is what I really need to take away from this run. It’s priming me for race day. And it’s ok to have a crappy long run. I’d rather have this happen now than on race day right? While I was in nostalgia mode I decided I’d run past my old elementary school. I also ran through my favorite park.
my favorite spot in my favorite park
My elementary school
Oh and how sweet is this note? It was at the register at the Dunkin Donuts by my house.
OK better get cracking on those deadlines….I’ll pop in toward the end of the week. Have a great one!
Have you ever just just stalled out while running? Hit the wall? Felt like your legs just couldn’t go one more step?
What a great trip. Magical in every way. I even saw a shooting star the first night we were there.
Hard to believe I didn’t melt completely though—it was hot and sultry every single day.
We were sitting in those chairs at night when we saw the shooting star
this view really isn’t too hard on the eyes
Local lizard
There were some wonderful breezes here and there and when there wasn’t a breeze there was always a dip in the pool or the ocean/bay to cool off (although both were like bath water!)
And a trip to Jamaica wouldn’t be complete with out some rum punch right?
I was so inspired that I packed up some healthy stuff like apples, almonds and cranberries, a granola bar and some pretzels.
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