The Blizzard of 2016 recap. Nope it isn’t a race.

Warning: a ton of pictures of snow and dogs. 🙂

I am doing my best to type this as the hours of shoveling on Sunday have rendered my body sore beyond belief.

Mother nature dumped over 2 feet of snow on us over the weekend. It was awesome! Well, except for the shoveling.

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I drove over to Mr. SOTSS’ house Friday night when there was only a few inches on the ground. I figured if I was going to be housebound for a bit it would be more fun spending the time with him and his girls. We completed a jigsaw puzzle…

we counted....1008 pieces....that's 8 more than the box said!

we counted….1008 pieces….that’s 8 more than the box said!

And made Shrinky Dinks…

I made the rainbow, pencil and shooting stars....The other beauties were done by Mr. SOTSS' 10 year old. She's quite the budding artist. Love her evenly spaced sprinkles and watermelon seeds

I made the rainbow, pencil and shooting stars….The other beauties were done by Mr. SOTSS’ 10 year old. She’s quite the budding artist. Love her evenly spaced sprinkles and watermelon seeds

And during the peak of the storm when they had a travel ban we just took the dogs and the sleds around the neighborhood streets. Chester actually pulls the sled. He’s pretty talented.

blizzard-neighborhoodBoth Mr. SOTSS and I tried out our snow shoes too.

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Just snow shoeing around the hood in the middle of a blizzard

Just snow shoeing around the hood in the middle of a blizzard

my new snow shoes!

my new snow shoes!

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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!

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

 

photo courtesy of Jorge Lee

Running peeps! -photo courtesy of Jorge Lee

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

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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…

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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...

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?

Roger took the subway from Boston?

paper roger and the girls

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

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?

Happy Friday Y’all!

I had a pretty uneventful Wednesday. Yesterday however was EPIC! OK let’s start with my run.

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How can 3 miles be EPIC? It was only 66 degrees out for a mid July summer day. A total score! And I actually came home with a t-shirt that was mostly still dry!!!! (that’s as EPIC as it gets =)

Dry in July!

Dry in July!

The EPIC-ness continued with a long awaited trip to Six Flags Great Adventure! My Niece S.  turned 13 in May and also had a Bat Mitzvah. In addition to a standard gift card I wanted to do something special. At first we talked about skiing. But while she was at camp, I was spending time at my brother and sister-in-law’s and we were watching a tv special about rollercoasters around the country. That’s when we realized that my niece would love if I took her to an amusement park. Usually when work anxiety builds I go for a run. Yesterday was no different. But I discovered that I need to give props to the makers of the Kingda Ka (tallest roller coaster in the world and fastest in North America). I have no voice today. Yes ladies and gentlemen….I sweat screamed out the small stuff like a champ.

AHHHHHH!!!!

AHHHHHH!!!!

I also got to ride a classic that I was introduced to when I was just a teenager. Rolling Thunder…

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After 9 hours of walking, waiting, riding and stuffing our faces (cheese fries and waffle cones) we were exhausted. I thought about how many miles I had walked and of course the calorie burn. Today I googled “calories burned while walking around an amusement park” and I was amazed to see how many people thought about it too. Some people even tracked their calorie burn to 600+ based on Fitbits, Bodybuggs, Nike Fuelbands etc.

Question: Anyone use a Bodybugg, Fitbit Nike Fuelband or pedometer to track daily calorie burn?

W.O.W.: Don’t forget how easy it is to make exercise fun. Dance around your living room or walk around an amusement park all day. And don’t forget how powerful and theraputic a special girls day can be. In this case my 13 year old niece and her friend were just the therapy I needed. Now I’m thinking I need to get her to run a 5k with me. Maybe one of those fun color runs