While I’m waiting for the calf/ankle stuff to settle a bit and since it’s taper week I skipped my run today. I’ve been substituting some Starbucks to “sip out the small stuff” for now. I admit, a nice hot Caramel Macchiato eases my mind. And a little shopping never made anyone’s tendonitis any worse =)

Sip and shop: it's the easiest form of cross training

Sip and shop: it’s the easiest form of cross training

I keep thinking about my last convo with the physical therapist 2 weeks ago. I said I felt so good I didn’t need further treatment. He advised to come at least once more time since my referral would expire at the end of the month anyway. And so I made the appointment with the expectation that I’d cancel. Well now I’m so desperate I can’t wait to go there tomorrow. I’m going to have to put my tail between my legs and beg for his help and hope he can work some miracles on the calf now in addition to the ankle. Lesson learned.

This morning, since I had some extra time, and it was fairly cool, I took the doodle to the park for a walk. He loves those unexpected morning trips in the car. (I know this because I understand non-verbal dog language of course =)

My pre-caffeinated, bedhead and puffy eyes joined

My pre-coffee look: bedhead and puffy eyes

I’ve only got 2 more nights with the furrkid before I’m off to San Francisco. I miss him already.

And it takes a lot to pack for a running vacation. Lord knows i’ll be unpacking and repacking and swapping in and swapping out stuff until the last minute.

Meanwhile, I’m getting a little nostalgic about my trip to Cali last year.

How are you at packing for running vacations? Do you need to match your race outfits?

Well, I  survived but it was no fun. Yep. 4 hours to go about 25 miles. The snow started about 8:00am. I kept trying to leave early but work kept pouring in. By the time I left the office it was 3:40pm.

Started out waiting for my usual bus right in front of the Macy’s in Herald Square…

Macys

I wish the snowflakes weren’t blurry.

katie holmes

Is this katie holmes? I think I need to buy some of that makeup =)

This was going nowhere. The woman at the front of the bus line had been waiting well over an hour. So I decided to hop down into the subway and take it downtown hoping i’d have a better chance at getting on a bus.

waiting for the bus, waiting for the subway, taking pictures of the snow and the traffic

waiting for the bus, waiting for the subway and taking pictures of the snow and the traffic

Eventually I made it onto a bus. An hour had passed by this point but I was sitting and warm and hoping that was the worst of it. Well, 3 hours later I made it to my car (parked at the bus stop). I did the best I could to remove the snow from the windshield, warmed it up a few minutes and then slowly drove home.

Almost home. Just gotta dust off the jeep.

Almost home. Just gotta dust off the jeep.

I came home and ripped into this:

Edy's Chocolate Chip

Yes please!

Today I couldn’t bear the thought of commuting with my Gilligan’s Island trek still so fresh in my head so I finagled working from home. It worked out well as I started at 9am and finished at 4:56pm. Perfect!

Then I hit up the gym to log in the 4 mile tempo run I was supposed to do yesterday.

Real Feel: -2? I'll take indoors for 200 Alec.

Real Feel: -2? I’ll take indoors for 200 Alec.

I am not a fan of the “dreadmill” but I have to say that for a tempo run it’s great. Set it and forget it! My tempo is supposed to be 9:57 pace but I usually find mills to be a little easier than running outside so I kept my pace at 9:33. It felt GREAT! The run itself plus just getting myself to drive there on such a cold (did i mention it was 15 degrees with a real feel temp of -2?) day.

So I took a lil’ video in the parking lot because I was just so proud of myself!

I came home pumped! Perfect because I needed to shovel the driveway (which i didn’t do last night…thank god for jeeps), then pack up and put out a lot of garbage. And if that wasn’t enough physical activity, one of the cabinets I ordered for my bathroom arrived from Target, so I started assembly—but 2 hours later I realized this is a 2-day job.

build-a-cabinet

Gotta start somewhere.

assembly in progress

Main frame done….tomorrow doors and drawer and the flimsy plywood back with 6,000,423 screws. #prayforme

Tomorrow I’m supposed to run 5. It’s probably going to be a treadmill run again and it might even get cut back to 3 miles. I am really sore and tired. Heck it might just get scrapped all together. Winter is tiring. I love the snow but just bundling up, warming the car, shoveling etc…it’s tiring. Sunday I’m running the Fred LeBow Manhattan Half Marathon. It’s supposed to be pretty frigid again.

Good thing they reminded us to dress warmly.

Good thing they reminded us to dress warmly.

I am not racing it. It’s just going to be an easy training run that I paid a lot of money for =) I’ll take 2 apples AND a bottle of water at the finish for sure 😉

Question: Do you buy “assemble it yourself” furniture? Do you use the instruction book or wing it? What’s the worst commute you’ve ever had? I bet nothing as bad as mine.

It’s Tuesday!

How are all 5 of my loyal readers doing today? I slept 10 hours last night! The extra shuteye is FINALLY kicking in. I feel human today and no longer zombielike. As I mentioned yesterday I replaced my 5 mile run today with a 30 minute cardio session at the gym. I spent 20 minutes on the rower and 10 minutes on the elliptical. Just enough to break a sweat and feel like my arms and legs worked. My heart rate was in the 115-130 range which is on the lower end but just what I set out to do. Unfortunately I have to say I don’t think I’ll ever have a “rower’s high”. Its running that I love and my highs will most likely come in the form of a “runner’s high”.

That brings me to the wild afternoon break I had at work. I went outside to get some air when I realized something was happening in front of Macy’s (Herald Square on the corner of 34th and Broadway….for the non NYC people the spot that all the marching bands and floats appear during the TV footage of the Thanksgiving Day Parade) In honor of the impending 1 year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Diana Nyad, of “I swam from Cuba to Florida” fame is swimming for 48 hours straight and raising money for AmeriCares. You can view a live stream of her swimming and donate if you want here.

nyad photo 3

They had a big banner in which you could write a message to Diana and since I love Sharpies I left her a message…

do what you love and make a difference

do what you love and make a difference

Well who knew I would AMAZE myself at my own words. That just makes so much sense. And this is why running has so many meanings in my life. I’ve made a difference in myself through my love of running as far as self esteem goes. I’ve also made a difference by fundraising for organizations that are close to my heart like the Melanoma Research Foundation and Stupid Cancer. And I’m trying to make a difference here somehow on this blog. I know some of my friends have been inspired by my running just as I was inspired by Lisa. Oh and if you don’t know that story you can always just watch this video.

So there you have it….my WOW (words of wisdom) is the title of this post: Do what you love and make a difference.