Hello and happy Thursday!

Let’s start with a little #tbt

Who knits at 7? And am I really wearing a satin blouse and white stockings?

I took Duncan to the park for a nice walk and we enjoyed the cool 70s temperatures at 7am! Much better than the 81 that it was yesterday.

We snuck into the kids playground area. Shh!

wanna play tic-tac-toe?

wanna play tic-tac-toe?

Duncan was so chill in the car on the way back.

thanks for taking me for an adventure today ma!

thanks for taking me for an adventure today ma!

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I meant to get this post up yesterday but started to watch that movie One Fine Day (George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer) and that was that. Anyhoo, hope everyone had an enjoyable Father’s Day or just Sunday or whatever you chose to celebrate yesterday. I didn’t do the Father’s Day thing today. My parents are out of town so we’re going to celebrate next weekend. It’s going to be a hodge podge celebration as we’ll also be celebrating my nephew’s 16th birthday and my niece’s graduation from middle school!

I had originally been planning a 30ish mile bike ride in NJ yesterday morning at a new (to me) route in Sandy Hook, New Jersey which is about a half hour-ish away from me, but after such a busy day on Saturday with the race and the picnic and some big brown puppy dog eyes staring at me longingly at 6am when my alarm went off, I scratched that plan opted to stay in bed a bit longer with the pooch. The guilt of going to Central Park (A.K.A. “Dog Mecca”) not once, but twice on Saturday without him continued, so I decided to start the day taking the pooch on a li’l outting to relieve myself of some of that guilt. (He’s got me wrapped around his little paw).

Where ya gonna take me?

So where ya gonna take me this morning?

I started our Sunday Funday at one of my favorite hiking/walking spots by ocean. I love the open meadows and how they catch the early morning sunlight. And the honeysuckles are just everywhere meaning every single inhale is filled with the most fragrant perfection!

sundayfunday

 

Doodlebug

Doodlebug

In case you were curious...

In case you were curious…

morning selfie

morning selfie…sunglasses to hide the puffy morning eyes.

 

The doodle was pooped when we got back. So while I did some paper work in my office he passed out.

pooped

And then I did some blogging while he supervised (although he kept falling asleep on the job)

blogging

 

I tried to change my cell phone data plan online but was only partially successful. I could feel myself getting irritated as the prompts on their website took me for a loop and kept bringing back to the wrong page. GRRR!

That was it! I needed to go get a good sweaty workout….and so at 5pm I loaded the bike and drove to the beach.

eveningbike

I sat for a few minutes by the marina and just enjoyed the sun glistening on the water and the smell of those honeysuckles again!

It’s fairly flat so I kept it in high gear and pedaled the entire time. No coasting! My legs are definitely feeling the burn.

So how was your weekend? Did you do anything for Father’s Day? Run any races? BBQ? Anyone have a planned vacation coming up? My trip to San Francisco is in 6 weeks!!!!

 

 

Hello there.

This morning I took Duncan to the vet. He had a few routine shots that he was due for but the real reason was that I felt a growth on his cheek and upon inspection I thought it looked serious. Well how embarrased was I when I expressed my deepest concern to the vet thinking he’d tell me he thought it might be cancerous and he says: “Sally, it’s a wart! Your boy has a wart. He’s 5 1/2 which is basically like a 40 something year old middle aged man. He’s fine. Leave it be.” I felt like an idiot! But a very happy idiot.

It's just a wart ma!

It’s just a wart ma!

We made a quick pitstop at the pet store and stocked up on the necessities….food, cookies, bones and poop bags…and then when we cam home I fought the jungle in my garage to get the bike out for a ride.

Welcome to the Jungle. We've got fun and games.

Welcome to the Jungle. We’ve got fun and games. (and boxes and shovels and broken vacuums)

Kinda sad. I remember exactly one year ago cleaning out the garage and making it workout-friendly.

pre-jungle

pre-jungle!

I was a little pressed for time today so I only got 6.2 miles in.

10kride

 

 

Then it was time for a little bulk shopping at Sam’s Club. I focused on all my favorite P’s.

photo 1Popcorn, Peppermint Patties and Produce!

And while we’re talking about the letter P….this was my Perfect Park…

photo 3I have no idea why I parked like that. For a minute I thought maybe the car wasn’t in park and rolled forward. But no, I just misjudged a bit. =)

Well, I’m off to go strength train a bit. Catch ya later!

So what are your favorite arm moves? Weights? Resistance bands? Kettle bells? I’m going to do some tricep dips on my stairs and some planks and push-ups and then who knows.

 

 

Hey there. Happy Humpday!

It’s raining yet again here in NYC. Duncan is still less than thrilled.

photo 2

Yesterday I was able to squeeze in a 30 minute cross-training sweat sesh at the gym on my lunch break.

sweatsessh

I hit the rowing machine for 10 minutes and the bike for 20. I pushed myself on the bike with random intervals of intense resistance at slower speeds and less resistance but more speed. I had compression socks and my ankle brace on but paired with capris meaning i was a far cry from a fashion plate. It’s ok though because I was actually feeling mismatched and un-pretty on the inside too. 🙁 Running really has helped my self-esteem in leaps and bounds….without it I’m starting to feel that esteem dissipating.

Saw the foot doc this morning.

Appointment started out great. She pushed in a bunch of spots and asked if I felt pain. Nope. No pain there. None there either. Then she went on to say how lucky I was. And so I thought I was going to get good news….but then she dropped the bomb…

“I recommend no running for the rest of the month. Keep biking. You don’t want a setback. Then come July you can try a mile or two. See how you feel the next day. If you have no discomfort then keep increasing your mileage.”

That sounds reasonable to most I’m sure. I took it better than expected but was already plotting ideas in my head. I then asked her if I had any limits on walking and she said no. I also inquired about going back to PT which helped me so much last time and she agreed. So I’ve got a script and now just waiting on a referral for insurance purposes, but by next week I will at least start getting some massage, ultrasound, strengthening and balance work and hopefully acupuncture too.

So here’s my plan (and this is a decision I’ve made for myself and don’t ever take my advice because i’m nothing but a blogger). I AM going to participate in the two 10ks that I have signed up for, The Oakley Mini 10k this Saturday and The Queens 10k next Sunday). Based on course time limits i’ll need to keep a 14 minute per mile pace so that means I can walk most of the race and just pick up the pace here and there to get me across the finish in time. And I won’t do any other running for the month of June. I’ll continue to build mileage on the bike and shoot for 30-40 miles over the next few weeks (I’m at 21 so far).

That’s as good of a compromise as I am willing to make. =)

As for July. I will ease into a running schedule that will get me back into the swing of things but with only 4 weeks before the San Francisco marathon it looks like I have no choice but to drop back to the half which I am really bummed about. But seriously. My friend’s mom was just diagnosed with ALS. (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). I have no right to complain. Speaking of….Duncan and I will be participating in the Walk to Defeat ALS in support of the ALS foundation on June 21st and have started a little fundraising effort. If you would like to donate here is the link. I have had cancer hit my close circle of friends so much that I never even imagined a second horrible illness would invade. A month or so after my husband passed away I joined a support group for young widows. There was a woman whose husband died from ALS. Her stories were some of the most heart wrenching stories I’ve ever heard. There’s also that amazing husband wife duo of Chris Benyo and Denise DiMarzo who ran the NJ Marathon just 6 days after the Boston Marathon.

10258763_10203669557921172_4673023187501863523_o

That’s them right behind me. So inspiring. Please ignore the heel strike. #fail

I’ve been holding back tears much of the day today. It’s so embarrasing that I get this emotional about not being cleared to run. I am smart enough to know this is only a minor blip in life but I wear my heart on my sleeve and can’t seem to suppress those emotions. I miss it. I really really miss running! My eyes get really green when I cry.

green eyes and ham

green eyes and ham

I remember the day my hubby came to my office to surprise me with the “good news” that he was officially on disability. To him, that meant a vacation of sorts but when I looked at the paperwork it said “REASON: Stage IV Melanoma. I knew stage IV was the last stage and it hit me in that moment that he might die. I started to cry and he just said “wow, your eyes are so green right now”. He couldn’t “go there”. His denial was probably the coping mechanism that kept him going. I’m rambling now. But hey, why not. It’s my blog and I’ll ramble if I want.

OK, on to funner things….They opened a new Urban Outfitters right across from my office. I took a peek and ended up leaving with this cute iPhone case.

photo 3

And how great is this?

photo 1

I just use a timer camera app called Timer Camera (genius name right?) but this would be a cool alternative.

And then I used a gift card that still had money on it from my birthday to get a caramel latte at Dunkin Donuts. MUCH BETTER!

photo 2

This is officially the longest I’ve been sidelined with an injury. What’s the longest you’ve been sidelined?