I was just going over my flight itinerary with my sister in law so she could make sure she was available to get me to and from the airport and watch the doodlebug while I’m in San Francisco for marathon weekend and while I had my calendar out I counted the days….36 left!

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’ll be running either a half marathon or a full having practically no training. (I’ll basically have 3 weeks of training and 1 week of taper!) Here’s the plan I pulled out of my ass head that will start on 7/1 (plus i’ll be biking for the rest of June and “running” the Queens 10k tomorrow):

Week 1:     Tues – 3 miles easy • Thursday-5 miles tempo • Saturday-8 miles easy • Sunday – bike
Week 2:     Tues – 4 miles easy • Thursday – 6 miles tempo • Saturday 10 miles easy • Sunday -bike
Week 3:     Tues – 3 miles easy • Thursday 7 miles tempo • Saturday 12 miles easy • Sunday – bike
Week 4:     Tues – 3 miles easy • Thursday 3 miles easy • Friday – shakeout run • Sunday –  MARATHON!

This should be plenty to get me through an easy paced half…..and if i’m crazy enough to stick with the full I’ll let you know how that goes. =)

Yesterday I attended the International Franchise Expo here in New York City at the Javits Center (where the NYC Marathon expo is held) The ad agency I work for does their print advertising and on-site materials, so our team decided to take a field trip there and check it out.

getting ready to check it out

I’m holding the show directory—I designed the cover. Yeah I’m a total nerd!

I often dream about just opening a Dunkin Donuts somewhere. There were hundreds of franchises exhibiting but we were on a mission to check out all the food franchise exhibitors first! We started with llaollao the BEST frozen yogurt I’ve ever had.

seriously delicious

I approve!

I had the mango sauce and my life is changed forever!

llaollao — the fastest growing european franchise in the fro yo market

Then we checked out House of Cupcakes. The couple that started this franchise were the season 2 winners of the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars.

sampled the merchandise

There were beverage franchises too…

This definitely gave me food for thought. (ha! get it?!) Do I want to be my own boss? Do I want to buy a franchise? Hmmmm!

my wonderful coworkers!

This morning Duncan and I went down to participate in the Walk to Defeat ALS. The team I joined to help support is a family very dear to me.

#defeatALS #findacure

The team raised a total of $1,700, more than double their goal. It’s quite the reality-check when your friend tells you his mom was just diagnosed with ALS. It makes me really think twice about crying a river over some tendonitis. Life is so unpredictable and our days are not guaranteed. Someone once told me (or maybe I read it somewhere) that we are all terminal…..we are all going to die some day but we don’t know when. That’s why it’s so important to make the most of each day we have. I take these moments to remind myself of that.

After the walk I headed straight to my brother’s house for a family get together to celebrate a bunch of stuff. The only important thing you need to know is that I had 2 of these cupcakes made by a friend of my sister-in-laws

Irish Car Bombs!

In addition to some booze in the batter there was a hidden nugget of chocolate ganáche in the center….to die for!

Well it’s getting late and i’ve got my alarm set for half past the cows ass (or 4:30am) since I’m running that 10K in Queens tomorrow. There will be some pickup of running peeps in Brooklyn at 6:30am and then we’ll head to the start. Race starts at 8am. But again, I’m just so excited to run with my peeps and allow my legs to enjoy a few more “preview” running miles!

Hope you’re having a super Saturday night (or Sunday if you’re in a different hemisphere =)

share this