Hi everyone.

Hope you’ve enjoyed your weekend. I’m in taper mode this week as I’ll be headed to the Center of the Nation Series in a week and need to start letting the legs rest a bit more. I’ve even been sleeping more! It’s been great.

Yesterday morning started out at 7am with a photoshoot. I took my camera and my doodle and tried to get some calendar worthy shots for a calendar contest that I’ve been participating in for the last 4 years. It’s a calendar of labradoodles and so far Duncan has been selected 4 years running! Here are a few of my favorites:

happy dog

Wanna go walk down this path with me?

I’m gonna hide behind this tree and then you come find me.

After the shoot, I did a quick 3 miles. Nothing special.

there’s that dog drinking water in the background again!

But then I got an invite from a friend to go to IHOP for breakfast. I’ve never turned down a pancake in my life.

I heart pancakes!

So that was that. I actually got the Simple and Fit veggie omelet and then a side of 3 pancakes. It could’ve been much worse. I have a confession. I eat my pancakes dry. I don’t like syrup. Please don’t judge. =)

The rest of the day was freelance work and cleaning and then I met an old college friend for dinner.

Today I got my long run in.

first 4 miles were faster than my normal long run pace. last 4 i slowed it down.

Then I made a stop at the grocery store. It’s getting to be my favorite time of year.

Fall Pumpkins and Mums

I grabbed a bunch of new healthy snack options.

I approve

Let’s just say the Kashi Sea Salt & Olive Oil Hummus Crisps ARE THE BOMB! I loved them. And at 120 calories, 4 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein per serving it really satisfied my salty crunch craving. The Boom Chicka Pop was delish too! Like kettle corn, salty and lightly sweet. And then of course a little hydrating watermelon. I love discovering new snack options. How about you? Any suggestions?

Hi all,

Happy Labor Day. Hope you are all enjoying the day off. Well I did it! I completed my 5 days straight of running to complete my peak training for the Center of the Nation Series. Yesterday my schedule called for 16, my running friends were scheduled for 20 and I ended up meeting in the middle at 18.3 I thought I would just do all 20 but honestly I was falling apart around mile 17 and didn’t want to die trying.

18 is Enough! Get it? (Anyone remember the TV show 8 is Enough??)

Highlights of the run:

1. Friends to share the pain fun with! We even stopped at mile 13 for iced coffee!)

2. Lots of lovely views of the Williamsburg Bridge—before running over it—and during running over it.

Graffiti galore on the Williamsburg Bridge.

3. Bumping into our friend Christi unexpectedly on the West Side Highway. She was also on a training run.

Lowlights:

1. Chafing!

2. Chafing some more!

3. More Chafing! With a dew point of 72 we were soaked with sweat that couldn’t evaporate leaving major chafing. I really did Sweat Out The Small Stuff!

Today, I procrastinated until the weatherman on the news said there was a storm 45 minutes away. I figured i’d try and log 3 relaxed recovery miles before the storm.

I actually felt pretty good. I ran with compression socks for the first time and wonder if that helped. Somehow I just always feel self conscious and chicken out before making it out the door with my dorkey socks but I figured most people were still sleeping on this holiday Monday. LOL! I want to be an official convert but how on earth can I figure out how to not look like a cheeseball with them on?!  I hate the chub that pops out at the top of the sock by my knee.

Just one more reason to look forward to the colder weather. I can hide the socks under long pants. 

Question: How do you pull off wearing compression socks? How do you prevent chafing or relieve the pain from chafing after it’s happened?

Hi all,

Happy final day of August (How does it happen that in a blink of an eye 8 months of the year have flown by?!!!) I’m in the middle of 5 straight days of training runs. It’s my last push of training before my Center of The Nation Series (5 half marathons in 5 days). You can read more about that here.

So I decided for fun I’d name each of these runs.

Thursday started off with the Bouncy 7:

sports bra fail

Apparently my sports bra has reached the end of the line. It’s lost it’s hold!

My pace was a perfect. Not too fast, not too slow. I stopped for water and to eat a few energy chews which slowed me down a bit between miles 5 and 6. I normally don’t fuel unless it’s double digits but I want to get in a groove now for my big events in a few weeks.

Friday’s run I named Run for Pi! Nope that’s not a typo. Do you remember the math symbol Pi (π) ? Pi = 3.14

MMMM Pi?

Another run with exactly the pace I was hoping to keep. I’m planning on 11 min miles with perhaps a few slower walking miles each day  so that my final half finishing times will be between 2:30 and 2:45.

Today’s run I’ve named Fight the Funk 4.4. I’m not sure why I have been feeling a bit blah lately. Oh and apparently I timed my neighborhood run perfectly after garbage pickup. Seriously, garbage juice and stinky cans for the entire 4 miles! Good job Sally!

foul and funky 4.4

Tomorrow I’m planning somewhere between 16 and 20 miles in NYC with some friends. And monday I’ll eek out another 3-5. Stay tuned for the next post to see what I end up naming those.

In other news, Duncan’s been my one true thing lately. And I’ve been making sure he knows just how much I appreciate his unconditional love.

There was a little romp time last night…

doodle cuteness

A trip to Petco for more superheros

Ironman completes the set

And then, today we went to support our local dog park where they were having a big fundraiser called the Summer Fun Dog Wash to raise money for some necessities for the park. (I designed the nifty flyer).

Duncan didn’t get a bath but I donated some money for a frisbee and 3 homemade cake pops…I ate 2 of them already luckily i remembered to take this pic of the last one!

Now it’s time for chores (phooey!). Hope you enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Question: Cake pops? Have you tried them? Do you like them? Anyone running anything special this weekend?

Hi everyone,

After a more serious post the other day I wanted to share a happy day yesterday. I met my running peeps (Jorge, Cinde, Elvia, Mike, Lisa and Shishaldin) for a long run in NYC to take advantage of the NYC Summer Streets event again. I ended up running about 14.5 while most everyone else went on to do 21.5. We got to experience this interactive light and sound exhibition in the Park Avenue tunnel which is right below Grand Central. This was the first time this tunnel has ever been open to pedestrians!

i’m usually freaked out in tunnels. but this was fun.

Running peeps! -photo courtesy of Jorge Lee

The we ran along Pershing Square and through Grand Central, heading up Park Avenue…

It’s nice to be where pedestrians are usually not allowed.

Banana Boat had an activity area and we were so excited when we saw they were giving out FREE chocolate covered frozen bananas…

get your mind outta the gutter! they are bananas! =)

That really gave me some much needed energy because I was feeling super slow and wasn’t even sure if I’d make it through our 6 mile Central Park loop. Even with Cat Hill (I walked some of it), I made it through the loop and ran straight to the subway to get back to my car and get home.

this is why they call it Cat Hill…

Ok now for the CONS explanation. CONS (Center of the Nation Series), is coming up in about a month. I think I’ve mentioned it before. It’s 5 marathons in 5 days in 5 states (ND, SD, WY, MT, NB). They offer half marathons each day too which is what I’ll be doing =) My friends are MUCH crazier. Roger, Elvia, Lisa, Mike and I will be the 5 wild ones headed out in September for this event. Roger lives in Massachusetts which makes him always feel sad that he can’t train with us on the weekends. So today Lisa brought a paper doll version and we took him with us.

Roger took the subway from Boston?

paper roger and the girls

And then I came home and used my creativity to make this awesome graphic that we’re gonna use for t-shirts.

for a good time call 555-CONS

We fly into South Dakota two days before the races start so we’re headed to Mt. Rushmore to check off a bucket list item of mine=)

I realize that I don’t usually run consecutive days, let alone 5 days straight. I think I’d better get in a few more weekly runs even if they are only 5 miles a piece….just to get my legs used to running 5 days straight. The rest of the group is actually out right now running another 20 miler!

Question: Have you ever done consecutive or back-to-back races? How do you train for it?