First let’s just look at some adorable Duncan photos…

He literally got woo’d away from chewing on the bone when I started giving him a belly rub….with my foot!

Nap on the bone

Tug it Thursday

Tongue out Thursday

OK now to my ramblings….so I’ve been skipping out on at least one mid-week run each week. I’m always finding excuses. Injury, weather, being tired, not wanting to leave the dog. Well some of them are valid to a point but I really am just not trying hard enough here and i know it. I’ve been so frustrated with my injuries and I’m having yet a hard time AGAIN trying to remind myself that it’s never one and done. Let me explain…

When the hubby died, I sort of decided in my head that I was exempt from any further tragedy.  Obviously I know that’s ridiculous. Well, for some reason my ridiculous notion of being exempt tends to stick in my head with running injuries too. Last July I had to drop back to the half at the San Francisco Marathon because of injury so I thought I had my “one and done” and I’d be exempt from having any other injuries or compromised marathons/marathon training. Nope. Then came the NJ Marathon this past April. I barely got enough training in because of more injuries. I assumed I’d take a couple of months off and start my NYC Marathon training strong and healthy and that this would be my chance to finally have a full marathon training cycle injury free. And here I am injured and frustrated (especially because it’s due to a cartwheel and not from running!) with little energy or enjoyment from my runs. I’m just shuffling through them (although I was super happy to see my friends this past Saturday and that helped make up for the fact I was shuffling and hurting).

So today I finally got a run in.

5 with the isn-factor

Since I skipped my Tuesday 4-miler and today I was supposed to do 5, I decided to go with the ish-factor and stopped at 4.75 and just walked it in for the last 1/4 mile.

Next up is supposed to be a 12 mile long run this weekend. Hmmm…I guess I’ll play that one by ear.

Switching gears. I received a great piece of equipment in the mail a few weeks ago from TKO—a soft grip jump rope. (While this was given to me at no-cost my opinions are my own.)

TKO soft grip jump rope

First let me just say I LOVE the color combo (Glacier+Lemon). There are so many great reasons to have a jump rope…

1. It’s portable! You can shove it in your suitcase and travel with it. (Perfect timing….i’ll be traveling next week!)

2. You can burn 170 calories in just 15 minutes! That’s insane.

3. It’s great for at-home cardio. Whether working from home, being snowed-in, or maybe you’re waiting for the cable guy and can’t leave the house you can get in a quick sweat-sesh.

4. You can take it outside in the yard while the dogs or children are running around.

5. A jump rope is great to incorporate into a high-interval training program. And this is something I really want to do. I now want to buy some yellow and blue free weights and resistance bands to match. 🙂

6. Most of all, it’s a super inexpensive piece of exercise equipment. (Amazon seems to have the best price. You can get it here for less than $15.)

This particular model has metal ball-bearings so the rope doesn’t tangle or twist. It’s 9 feet in length. The soft grip handles make it easier to keep a firm grasp on them.

What is your favorite inexpensive piece of gym equipment?

Do you skip workouts? 

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