Happy Monday!

Anniversaries:

November 6th marked 4 years to the day that I ran my first full marathon. I can’t ever forget the date mainly because it’s printed on the sleeve of the finisher’s jacket I bought at the expo =)

I still remember everything about that day. The good, the bad and the ugly =)

I still remember everything about that day. The good, the bad and the ugly =)

And November 7th marked 17 years to the day that I was married.

The words are part of the "Indian Prayer" that was given by the officiant.

The words are part of the “Indian Prayer” that was given by the officiant. Ironically his days on this earth were not long. But he’s always with me.

While we didn’t make it to anniversay #1 thanks to cancer taking him just 5 months after we got married I still treasure the date and have it etched in my heart forever. I am who I am today because of him and because of my experience and I wouldn’t change it for the world. 

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Weekend Fun:

So this weekend was my weekend with Mr. SOTSS. I had tons of work to do so I stayed home Friday night and all day Saturday to get it done and he enjoyed the time to clean out his gutters and work on his bathroom renovation. I did get Duncan to the park for a bit and then he went to the groomer. 

foliage

My glorious local favorite park

park-pic-doodle

just before going to the groomer. I love his shag and would keep it long if it were easier to maintain.

I headed over to Mr. SOTSS’ house for dinner Saturday night and then we went to see the movie Burnt with Bradley Cooper. Do yourself a favor and don’t waste your money or your time. It wasn’t good 🙁 but the Reese’s Pieces, reclining seats and company were all perfect. 

Date night!

Date night!

Yesterday morning we met the dog hiking group for a nice 2 hour hike in a beautiful park in nj. After the organized hike ended we walked around for another 40 minutes to take in more of the beautiful leaves and fresh air. It was just about 50 degrees and sunny. 

hot-flashes

I was struggling on some rock scrambles and worked up a good sweat trying not to fall. Leaves can disguise a lot.

gandc

My guy and his boy

happy-doodle-hike

Seriously! The cutest doodle in the world…..that’s his pal Chester behind him

horsing-around

Just horsing around =)

Duncan and Boone

Duncan and Boone

#whennaturecalls

#whennaturecalls

I have been a little overwhelmed lately with all of my work commitments and getting away from my laptop and spending some quality time with my guy and the pups was just what I needed. We hit up the local apple farms cider mill for a fresh baked cider donut and then met some of the hiking group for lunch.

cider-donuts

they were so fresh that they were still warm!

After some more work on my end and house cleaning/football game watching for mr S we went grocery shopping together and then cooked meals for ourselves for the week.

This is how I work. And this is how the dogs relax after a good hike.

This is how I work. And this is how the dogs relax after a good hike.

And then it was late and I had to go home and I pouted and sulked knowing I had a busy week of work ahead of me and that I wouldn’t see him again until Sunday. It’s hard to leave the one you love even for just a few days. I guess if we lived together I might be saying the opposite though. Lol.

Thank god for the hike because I have been fairly lazy since the marathon a week ago. I need to get through some more busy weeks at work but will slowly figure out a new exercise regimen by thanksgiving. I’m not happy about being a sloth buy it is what it is and I need to just be gentle with myself until I feel more adjusted to all these work commitments.

Runkeeper reminding me i've done nothing since the marathon

Runkeeper reminding me i’ve done nothing since the marathon

Well at least I know I’ll be slowly running two 5ks right after thanksgiving. Both are charity fundraisers. And definitely more hikes. This guy says more hikes. 

more hikes!

more hikes!

Have a great week! 

What’s new with you?

Who is already planning for Thanksgiving? Christmas? 2016?

Hi there.

Happy March! 3 weeks until Spring! So much to tell you guys…

First, I get my MRI results on my shoulder tomorrow. Then on Tuesday morning I have my appointment made to see the sports injury chiro about the knee. Now let’s backtrack…

Last Wednesday, I hit the gym during my lunch break and tested out the stationary bike to see if my knee would be bothered by it or not. I’m happy to report that it went well.

bike ride at gym

pedaling

boring stationary bike ride

boring stationary bike ride

Covert locker room gym selfie so people don't think I'm weird

Covert locker room gym selfie so people don’t think I’m weird

Honestly though, for me, biking and not going anywhere is very boring. More boring than running on a treadmill. So I needed to occupy my mind. Before you knew it I had my iPhone in hand and was Googling a bunch of stuff that I wanted to know.

I wanted to see what the finish time limits are for the 2 half marathons I have this month. The NYC Half on March 15th is a 3 hour limit (or a 13:45 pace) and the Love Run on March 29th is a 3 1/2 hour limit (or a 15 minute pace). So basically I can walk/run both of these with an emphasis on the walk and probably complete them without my knee going crazy. Of course I’ll wait for professional advisement when I see doc on Tuesday before I say this will definitely be my plan. But honestly the knee isn’t phased at all by walking.

Thursday I made a delicious dinner.

Chicken and Steak Shish Kabob

Chicken and Steak Shish Kabob

I hardly ever cook so this is very blog-post-worthy. I also made some amazing discoveries. Party cake Peeps…

party cake peeps

party cake peeps….for keeps!

And, the best discovery of my life…

Nutella and Girl Scout Shortbread cookie combo

Nutella and Girl Scout Shortbread cookie combo

Nutella sandwiched between two Girl Scout Shortbread cookies. Oh my it was so good.

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Dear Boyfriend: Thank you for a perfect Valentine’s Day
Dear Wolf Pack Girls: Thank you for a fun Atlantic City weekend 
Dear slot machine: I’m breaking up with you. sometimes you should try giving instead of taking. 
Dear shoulder: I think you need to try harder to heal. I am repeating my mantra “time and rest heal everything” but damn you hurt 🙁

OK so despite dropping some $$ in the slots and dealing with this ongoing shoulder pain I sure did have a fun weekend. Probably because it was filled with an abundance of delicious food…so let’s discuss: 
First, was the Valentine’s dinner that my sweetie cooked. He made stuffed artichokes, crab stuffed, bacon wrapped filet mignon, roasted potatoes and sautéed asparagus and mushrooms. I watched him cook everything so I know he didn’t sneak in the gourmet meal from somewhere. Oh and he even hand dipped chocolate strawberries for me. I guess he likes me just a smidge. Tee Hee. And then of course I made my famous apple crisp which we had with ice cream. Heavenly. Haven’t mentioned it lately, or maybe I have….I’M.JUST.SO.LUCKY!

valentine's dinner

I am loved!

We’ve been getting lots of snow. It snowed a few inches on Saturday. Duncan isn’t sure if he loves it as much as he did a few weeks ago.

More snow!

More snow!

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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?