Hi! Happy Thursday…

My morning started so peacefully. I took Duncan to the park and it was so quiet. The air was still. All I could hear were a few birds and the water trickling down the stream in the woods. The freezing temps of the last few months disappeared and it reached nearly 50 degrees.

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Hello Sunshine!

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Snow covered bridge

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Hey Ma! Put the phone away please so we can walk a little faster

I enjoyed listening to my feet in the soft snow…

We walked for about 40 minutes. Then I came home to drop the dog off and headed out for a 5 mile run…

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matching my flowers!

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This is a step back week for me. I’m enjoying that. =) I’ll be getting in one more 5 miler and a 10 miler over the weekend to complete the week at 20.5 miles.

While the snow is melting thanks to the warm temps the garbage is accumulating like crazy!

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garbage pile

Hoping this stuff will get collected soon…It’s nowhere near as pretty as snow.

Today was a good day for me. I hope it was for you too.

Question: Tell me one good thing that happened to you today.

In memory of sweet Angus, my friend’s dog and one of Duncan’s pals. May we all be touched by the unconditional love a dog can bring.

How many of you have dogs? Breed? Name?

Tell me something silly your dog does?

Do you run with your dog?

Do you enjoy walks with your dog?

Do you find your stress level decreases when you are with your dog?

If you don’t have a dog do you want a dog?

 

Rest in Peace Angus “Papa Bear”….

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Hi all! It’s been a while….hope you’ve enjoyed your weekend (holiday weekend for all the US peeps)

This winter has been one wild ride! We’ve been hit with storm after storm. Somehow I’ve managed to maintain just about every workout. I’ve been very crafty 😉

Saturday morning some of my glorious running peeps came to Staten Island to run the Cold Feat 10K, a local trail race. We ran it together last year and had so much fun that it was a definite to have a repeat performance. In the world of overpriced races this is a breath of fresh air. $30 and you get lots of great swag and hot chocolate too….great volunteers and a really tight knit community of runners. If you’re local and interested you can learn more here.

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swag! instead of a t-shirt we got nice fleece ear warmer/headbands

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Lisa, Mike and me at the start

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Me and Elvia along the course

Mind you, last year it was warmer and MUDDY! This year, snow….LOTS OF SNOW! Fresh fallen snow on top of older snow. Probably at least a foot on the ground (although the trail we ran on had been packed down some from the runners in front of us) and just as we began the run it started to snow even more! My Garmin said we actually only completed 5.66 miles but it felt like forever. As a matter of fact it took me an hour and 27 minutes to complete but I felt like I had been sprinting. Effort level was through the roof. The race director said we’d feel as if we ran a marathon in the sand when we were done. He wasn’t kidding.

Both Mike and Elvia placed in their age group (50-59)

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Winning! (3rd place)

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Winning! First place

And Lisa gave new meaning the to event title. Cold Feat became Cold FEET. She had some major foot carnage. Multiple blisters led her to make the dramatic finish by removing her sneaker and sock. I think she was trying to one-up Mike from his blister situation last fall when we were running in Nebraska on day 5 of the Center of The Nation Series.

ouchie!

ouchie!

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the start/finish area…this is actually a golf course. so pretty.

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there were some fallen tree limbs. Lisa opted to climb over. I crawled under =)

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after the race. snowflakes still stuck to my hair.

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A great shot of Mike almost at the finish. Photo by Neil Flip (King of the Mountain Events)

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Stepping gingerly…Photo by Neil Flip (King of the Mountain Events)

After the race we came back to my place for lunch. Eggs, Bagels, chips, nuts, fruit and coffee.

Yesterday morning I started the day off with a walk with the dog in the woods… I let him streak naked (no winter coat) out in the snow. He doesn’t complain about wearing a coat but when I leave it off he’s definitely happier!

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i stepped in something cold ma!

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mmm it tastes delicious too!

Then, around 11am when the temps warmed up to the mid 20s I finally set out for my 14 mile training run. I have to admit, it wasn’t anywhere near as hard as I was expecting it to be. Thank god! It’s nice and flat there (a national park/beach area). The running paths weren’t cleared so I just ran on the street like I did previously. I had to do 4 round trips of the same route to get to 13.75 and then ran a quarter mile past my car to hit 14.

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i was still trying to decide which sneakers to wear.

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This boat name describes my run perfectly.

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hello happy!

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looks like about a foot of snow. LOL!

photo 3 photo 4 photo 5I averaged a 10:51 pace. And that’s even with walking through some slushy areas that were a bit slippery. Flat makes things so much easier. And since I’m training for a marathon that’s pretty flat I don’t have to feel bad.

With all the running, navigating uneven snowy and icy terrain, and shoveling I spent since being on vacation I’m actually exhausted and sore and can’t believe I go back to work tomorrow!!!! I plan on getting to bed super early and I’m skipping my run tomorrow. I’ll try and just take a walk instead. Must recharge.

So that’s my long weekend recap. How was your weekend? What exciting things happened?

Happy Friday everyone. It’s Valentine’s Day.

I have a beautiful treasure.

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A Valentine’s card that my Grandpa gave my Grandma back in 1954. They were high school sweethearts and spent close to 70 years together before my grandpa passed in 1992.

And just literally a minute ago I received a delivery…

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My brother and sister-in-law do so much for me. I’m so lucky to have them. And today I was surpised with some chocolate covered strawberries and a reminder that I am loved. AWWW!

So not only did I weather the storm that dropped over a foot of snow and lots of rain and sleet as well but I MADE IT TO THE GYM last night in between bands of snow. Girls gotta make it work when training for a spring marathon right?!

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gym parking lot selfie

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5 miles done!

It was supposed to be an easier run as I just did a tempo on Tuesday but I felt good. So after a warmup mile at 11:30pace I kept my pace about 9:30 for the last 4 netting an average overall pace of a 10 minute mile.

There is just so much snow everywhere…

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not my car. these folks never bothered digging out from the last couple of storms. They’re probably not gonna drive until spring.

Tomorrow my peeps are trekking here to Staten Island to run a 10K trail run called the Cold Feat 10K! We ran it last year too. I’m really excited because we’re supposed to be getting a few more inches in the morning so it should feel like we’re running in a winter wonderland. And then I’ll be serving everyone brunch before they trek home to Brooklyn and the Bronx. And Sunday I’ve got a 14 miler to complete. I am already planning to scale back my running next week because i think all these treadmill runs are putting some stress on my shins and also I seem to be speeding up too much on the treadmill runs. I don’t want to burn out.

I’ll leave you with this video of the doodle in the snow. Have a great weekend y’all!