Hi!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend! I’m currently recovering from 3 days straight of photography work. Thursday morning I went to take head shots for a company I used to work at a bazillion almost 20 years ago. I spent 3 hours there and shot about 50 or so people and was exhausted when I left. I gave my legs quite the workout with the step stool I used to help get me at the right height for my subjects. Next time I’ll tell them to come in size order! HA!. I’m guessing that this is why my legs didn’t want to work when I went for my run later two hours later.

Adobe Lightroom

processing the head shots

I had a 5 mile tempo on the schedule. I knew from the first block I wasn’t going to be able to run at tempo pace. My legs were SO HEAVY they just didn’t want to move at all. I finally bailed and returned home only covering off on 4 miles. C’est la vie.

craptastic run and don't I look like Medusa here? =)

craptastic run and don’t I look like Medusa here? =)

Yesterday afternoon I took the doodle for a walk. With him being sick and then me returning to work since the holiday break, we haven’t had a good outing in a while. He loved it! I loved it too until we spotted 3 deer. Well they spotted us first and started running away. Duncan started to chase them but he’s too chicken so he eventually returned back to me.

labradoodle

beer deer chaser

labradoodle nose

selfie!

labradoodle

Happy Dog!

frozen stream

frozen stream

Last night I was on my feet for 5 hours straight while taking pictures at an engagement party.

Nikon D300

This camera/lens is HEAVY!

the room looked beautiful

the room looked beautiful

forget us nots

This was very sweet

They were fun and polite people but very demanding as far as how many posed shots they wanted. I wasn’t prepared with a wide angle lens but they insisted on having a group shot of the entire side of the family. We’re talking 50+ people. I stood on a balcony and they all stood on a spiral staircase below and I did the best I could. I was standing on an armchair and freaking out because my balance is terrible. But they tipped me well so I’m over it =) Oh, and of course the best part about shooting events is scoring some sweets at the dessert table. That chocolate covered cream puff was so DELISH I should have taken a few more.

Sweets!

Sweets!

This morning I took photos for some real estate properties and then came home to finally RELAX! I’m just trying to do some foam rolling but I’m so exhausted and the dog doesn’t give me much motivation…

eventually i'll actually use the foam roller. Just 5 more minutes...

eventually i’ll actually use the foam roller. Just 5 more minutes…

I’ve already had some ibuprofen to ease my aching back. And last night when I got home from the engagement party I had a glass of wine to unwind.

my nightcap a.k.a. muscle relaxer

my nightcap a.k.a. muscle relaxer

Meanwhile my Garmin (I have the Forerunner 210 that I bought in 2011) just won’t seem to work. I’ve tried hard re-sets, soft resets, software re-installs. It just won’t track the activity distance and pace or save the activity.

Garmin 210 not working

Running for 43 minutes and I covered ZERO miles? Yeah…not exactly accurate.

The time will elapse though. So basically it’s just a watch now. I’ve spent a little time Googling the issue and on the Forerunner 220 it was a corrupt thingy and the solve was to power off and on. Well, no bueno on my model. I’m going to reach out to Garmin to see if there’s a way to resurrect my poor watch before giving it a proper funeral. But if it’s really done then I’m thinking about just going with the cheapest and simplest Garmin 10. Any advice, thoughts, suggestions?

I’m not big on football but I know tomorrow there’s a conference championship game on. We’re getting close to the Superbowl! Duncan’s ready! I’m ready for the snacks and commercials!

Superbowl ready!

Superbowl ready!

Well, I’m off to tend to some mundane stuff now. Laundry and dishes await. Have a great weekend!

Are you a big football fan? Favorite team? Do you do anything exciting for the Superbowl?

And if you have any Garmin advice please let me know.

 

First I must share this video with you.

I have had some really isolated soreness in my upper calf (same leg that the ankle tendonitis is) Every time I go to physical therapy they massage the area but apparently running and biking cause the knot to return no sooner than it was unkinked. I found this video and have been doing this mayofascial release technique and it’s helping a lot. I spent more time viewing videos on this chick’s channel and found this video to be amazingly helpful as well for hip flexors, glutes and core stability.

OK, now on to this morning’s run. I had originally planned a 4 miler on the dreadmill at the gym during my lunch break but as I was packing my gym bag I kept thinking about how difficult it would be to slip out of work for more than an hour. (p.s. I never even took a lunch today because we were so busy and just ate at my desk so my intuition was on the money #winning). I’m slower these days so I would have needed close to 50 minutes for the workout, plus 5 minutes walking to and from the gym and another 15-20 minutes to shower and change.

Bottom line: I grabbed the bull by it’s ass and just decided to bang out my run outside by my house at 6:30am. I went to grab my Garmin and it was D.E.A.D.

dead Garmin

dead Garmin

Not sure why but since I was pressed for time I just grabbed my iPhone and started my RunKeeper app. 4 miles became 3 miles mainly because I am not feeling well.

78run

I’ve been super fatigued lately and I think I’m fighting something. Anyhoo, I kept a slow and steady pace and was happy to know my “good faith” run was done. The ankle was literally feeling 100 percent Friday and Saturday. Then I ran 8 miles Saturday and walked on the sand at the beach and by Sunday my ankle was feeling achy. I need to not freak out as this is just a sign I might have done a little too much too soon.

A different kind of sweat band

A different kind of sweat band

So while I was running I thought about all the rituals and superstitions we, as runners have. You see I opted to wear my Brooks Ghosts today.

Brooks Ghost

Brooks Ghost

The last time I wore them was on 4/27 when I ran the NJ Marathon and crossed the finish line with what eventually got diagnosed as ankle tendonitis. So in my mind, I’m working on forgiving those kicks. I’m pretty darn sure it was the 4 hours and 38 minutes of continual running that caused the injury and not the sneakers themselves. Especially because they never gave me any issues during training. And the dead Garmin….yeah, i made a plan B really quick but for a few minutes after stepping out the front door i just felt that OCD feeling of “my watch? where’s my watch? oh right it’s dead. I’m using RunKeeper. All is good. cCarry on now and run girl.

I have rituals with the way the wire of my ear buds have to be. I have rituals with my pre-run routine including coffee and potty (as i’m sure most of us do). I have superstitions with running gear….I have my favorite running capris only for marathon distances but I’ll wear just about any type of workout gear for shorter distance. I run the same routes for my midweek runs. Hmmm…maybe these aren’t rituals, maybe it’s just a case of Runner’s Rut. Or Runner’s Routine.

So what type of rituals and/or superstitions do you have when it comes to running (training and races)?

I woke up on New Year’s Day and decided I’d have Harry & David’s Moose Munch for breakfast. It just somehow felt like the right choice. I’ve got 364 more days to choose something healthier right?!

moose munch

breakfast of champions…starting the year off right  on my own terms.

After breakfast I waited for this guy to get up…

photo 2

We stayed out late on New Year’s Eve. He and his two pals Angus and Lu went a little overboard with the champagne treats.

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please give us more!

photo 2

hey! it’s midnight…give us those treats!

This New Years Eve celebration is for the dogs

This New Years Eve celebration is for the dogs

It was a fun night. Humans had a good time too! We put champagne in shot glasses for some reason. #champagneflutesareoverrated

photo 5

So finally when the dog woke up, we went for a walk. We saw Bambi!

photo 4

Then I left Duncan at home and headed to my aunt’s house for her annual New Year’s Day party. She’s 86 years old now and I didn’t want to skip out on this as I’ve done in the past (it’s mainly her friends). I got to drive a different way than usual so I took a pic of the Verrazano Bridge from a different angle than I usually do. (I have a weird affinity for the Verrazano Bridge if you didn’t know).

photo 1-1

My aunt had lots of fresh daisies in vases on the table.

photo 2-1

Her mom, my grandmother, Dorothy had been given the nickname “Dashing Daisy” from my grandpa. She always had a ton of energy and zipped around. I love the nickname and since I always felt closest to her as far as grandparents went I like to think I carry on her legacy….”Dashing” is nicely covered by my running, and “Daisy”….well, this is my Jeep spare tire cover…

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The sweetest things that my aunt had at the party were the dessert table…

photo 5

homemade italian cheesecake, homemade rum cake and a few other pastries that were delish

And this cardboard “resolutions” sign-in board…

photo 3

As I said, my aunt is 86 and many of the guests were seniors. Really? One man wrote that he wanted his wife to regain her sight! I hope everyone’s wishes and dreams do come true.

This morning as I was getting ready to go for a run I realized that I couldn’t find my favorite black running hat that I wore just a few days ago…

favorite black hat

favorite black hat

So I grabbed a substitute that I didn’t love but figured I needed to get out the door and didn’t have all day to continue the search.

black hat substitute

black hat substitute but the same vest lol!

There’s just something about favorites—hats, capris, socks, scarves, jeans….Next time I’ll just buy 7 of each of my favorites! (PS: I found my hat….it was in the dog’s toybox and it wasn’t his fault. I was straightening up before my friend was coming over and scooped up all his toys scattered on the floor and the hat must have been on the floor too and they all ended up getting dumped in the toybox. It was funny because initially I blamed the poor dog. Then I remembered.)

I covered 4.35 miles according to my Garmin….but lately mr. watch has been locking its satellite in the wrong spot. I start at my house and finish at my house yet at looking at the maps of my last few runs, clearly it thinks i’m starting a few blocks from my house.

mystery

I have lots of benchmarks along the route. I know it’s .3 miles to get to the main road and it’s exactly 1 mile when I get to the overpass that crosses the highway. Everytime I looked at my watch at these spots they were .06 off. It’s not the end of the world. I mean what’s the difference between 4.35 or 4.41? But I do wish I can fix it. #OCDwithnumbersrunner.

As for my new Brooks Ghost sneakers…..I still am unsure how I feel. It’s only the 2nd time wearing them. They definitely don’t suck, I just was hoping to feel like I had more spring in my step. I kept a 10 min mile pace which after using this training pace calculator, seems to be what my tempo pace should be as I begin marathon training…

pacesSpeaking of marathon training, mine begins next week!!! AHHHH!! I’m so excited and nervous. I hope my goals aren’t to out there. Meanwhile I found out that I won a special VIP package so I’ll get reserved parking and “upscale fare” in the VIP tent before and after the race. Hey, that’ll be my consolation if I don’t reach my PR goal of 4:40.

OK, off to batten down the hatches….we’re expecting a blizzard here in NYC. Hope your year is off to a great start.

Question: How was your New Year’s Eve? What did you do? Anyone eat something crazier than Moose Munch for their first breakfast of 2014?

Hello.

So it’s August 27th. My blog back end has been a mess and i’ve been unable to post until today. So I’m going to be posting a bunch to catch y’all up.

Here goes….starting with August 20th

8/20

How is your week going? I’ve been so very busy. Sunday I did a nice shake out recovery 3 miler. I really wanted to go by how I felt and not by what the watch said so I taped the face of the watch.

you are going at the right pace for how you feel

you are going at the right pace for how you feel

I focused on keeping an easier steady relaxed pace. I’m getting closer to the 5 consecutive half marathons and my plan is to go slow and steady so this was a great way to really tune in to my body. I’m happy to report I predicted my pace would hover around 11:30 min per mile and guess what? It was exactly that! I really do know my pace. Woot woot!

and the tape reveals...

After the run I headed to another birthday party and then went straight to my brothers house for a family get together. And that’s where this happened:

fro yo

Calm down, they both weren’t for me….my niece joined in on the action. It was delish!

Needless to say my house went uncleaned and I didn’t prepare at all for the week. But never fear. My sister in law gave me leftover Chinese to take to work for lunch and homemade waffles that we secretly call crack waffles because they are so addictive. They make the best pre and post run fuel 🙂

As a matter of fact today after I managed to run another 3 somehow although I swear I felt like I was still asleep I had one.

crack waffle

crack waffle after sleep walking running

Oh and speaking of addictive sweets, yesterday my boss and I tried out a new place called Pie Face. I fit right in 🙂

do i blend in?

do i blend in?

Question: Do you tend to crave sweeter foods in the morning or savory? I’m a sweets girl through and through. All day—every day!