Hi there.

Well, 4 days since my snowmobile “incident” and I am seeing some small signs of improvement with my shoulder. The pain is mostly gone unless I try and lift my arm up or out past my current range of motion limitations. That’s the part that’s taking the longest to return to normal…my range of motion. I can’t raise my arm forward past the 90 degree point yet. So basically i can shake someone’s hand but I can’t wash my hair (well I wash it with only one arm). The same goes for out to the side. But I’m not popping ibuprofen anymore. I stopped yesterday. I needed to give my stomach a break. It was feeling a bit irritated from the pills. With all the commotion of the weekend in Vermont and coming back to a really busy week at work, combined with winter storms leaving my free minutes consumed with trying to shovel (laughable with one arm), salting, warming up the car a little longer, walking slower with the dog because of the ice etc, I haven’t been keeping up with my knee rehab. Shame on me!!! And I haven’t been exercising at all!

Today I finally had a breather with a little flexibility in my schedule. It was really cold and windy but I knew both Duncan and I needed some exercise. I bundled up and we went to one of my favorite quiet spots. Warning: This is where my blog becomes consumed with labradoodle cuteness.

happy to be moving!

happy to be moving!

the snow had a layer of ice so he sort of glided.

the snow had a layer of ice over it so he sort of glided.

We trudged through what looked like the tundra and eventually when that got exhausting we walked along the paved paths.

labradoodle snow

My paws are cold ma. Just gonna stand here for a minute

doodle-poser

such a poser!

my footsteps to the left

my footsteps to the left

trail-tundra

No filter

wetlands

wetlands are more frozen than wet

I figured that with my shoulder still out of commission for a bit and my knee still resting I am limited to what types of exercise I can accomplish. So for now, outdoors will only be walks when I can.

still sitting with a stick

sitting with a stick

walking with a stick...

walking with a stick…

sitting with a stick

sitting with a stick again

at least one of us can run

at least one of us can run

After walking for an hour or so we came home, I showered and got ready to head into the city to meet some friends for dinner and drinks and catch up on life. I made sure to put some nice red lipstick on. I’ve been eating a little more than I should and exercising a little less lately which has made me feel a little extra “fluffy” lately….so the lipstick kinda helped me feel a little better about myself.

IMG_3099

Accentuate the positive

I caught the most beautiful sunset…

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Dinner was fun. And of course ended in dessert. This was an almond pear cake/ice cream combo.

IMG_3100Looks like I’ll be wearing red lipstick a little longer. =)

How do you clean up your act when you find you’ve been eating too much and not moving enough? Do you beat yourself up or do you know it’ll work itself out?

 

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!

Hi!

Before Duncan and I get too involved watching the Golden Globes I thought I would just share a li’l recap of my weekend.

labradoodle

Golden Globes? Snooze!

It was the first weekend I had no commitment to anyone. No family get togethers. No friend get togethers. No dates with the boyfriend. Just me and the doodle. We enjoyed some time just before sunset on Friday just running around in the snow. We he ran around and I just took too many pictures watched.

labradoodle-snow run-free winter-walkAnd then for dinner I opted for a healthy combo of cheese, chips, chocolate and some wine.

My version of a healthy dinner

My version of a healthy dinner

Yesterday I did some cleaning and some finally finished my 2014 running highlights post in the morning and early afternoon and then I made the last minute decision to do my first long run.

looking all fresh BEFORE my run...

looking all fresh BEFORE my run…

7mile-long-run

I was originally planning on doing the run this morning. But after looking at my weather app although the temps looked to be a few degrees warmer today, there was only partial sun in the forecast. And at 3pm yesterday afternoon the sun was so strong I decided I’d rather have the solar power to warm me so I drove out to the flat path that runs adjacent to the beach. I was 100% right that flat terrain is exactly what I need to keep the knee happy. I covered exactly 7 miles and it didn’t really give me an issue. I also took a few minutes during mile 6 to test out my new iPhone tripod and timer camera app. Enter exhibit A: jumping shots…
up

up

jumping

jumping

All in all I call it a success!

I started off today with laundry, grocery shopping and a little more freelance work and then spent about 20 minutes doing strengthening and stretching exercises for the knee, hips, glutes and hamstrings. Later in the afternoon I met my friend and her dogs for a walk. It’s amazing how fast a day can go when you have no real plans.

Here’s to a great week ahead!