I really do love October

31. October 2016 · 4 comments · Categories: holiday decorations, running · Tags: , , , , ,

Hi there and Happy Halloween!

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I ran the Trenton Half Marathon on Saturday! The abbreviated recap can be summed up into 4 sentences. No rain—yay! Seeing running friends—yay! img_9144Running a strong race—yay! Refueling with hard cider and salty/greasy food—yay!img_7015

I’ll have the full recap up later this week.

After getting home from the race I hung out with Mr. SOTSS and his kids for the rest of the day/night. We went out to dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack (I’d never been before).img_7025

Then we went to a Jack-O-Lantern “experience” nearby where we got to watch a very talented pumpkin carver and then see some cool Jack-O-Lanterns.

Say hello to my little pumpkin friends. They are all named Jack. LOL

Say hello to my little pumpkin friends. They are all named Jack. LOL

Cool right?

Cool right?

I was turning into a pumpkin myself by 9pm since I had been up at 4:45 to get to the race, so I headed back home to get a good night’s sleep.

Yesterday afternoon I met back up with them and we took the dogs for a walk and then went Trick-or-Treating where Mr. SOTSS’ mom lives. We had double the usual amount of pooches. The girls’ dogs Panda and Quincy came with.

Quincy borrowed Duncan's Pirate costume and I must say he looked awesome.

Quincy borrowed Duncan’s Pirate costume and I must say he looked awesome.

Panda borrowing Duncan's Sherif costume....but she looks like she's in jail so maybe the wrong costume?

Panda borrowing Duncan’s Sherif costume….but she looks like she’s in jail so maybe the wrong costume?

Chester looking "smashing" in his Pumpkin getup (anyone remember the band Smashing Pumpkins or am I showing my age?)

Chester looking “smashing” in his Pumpkin getup (anyone remember the band Smashing Pumpkins or am I showing my age?)

And Duncan got off the hook since it was so hot out (yes, unseasonably warm 80 degrees yesterday!) So I only put on the tie around his neck.

Keepin' it simple

Keepin’ it simple

I really do love October and I must say I’ve enjoyed it down to the bitter end. I’ve got lots of exciting stuff happening in November beginning with next weekend’s NYC Marathon. I’ll be spectating again like I did in 2014. I can’t wait! I’ve got friends coming from all over the country as well as a slew of local friends running and I just hope I get to see everyone! Crossing my fingers they’ll have perfect weather.

Hope your week is off to a good start.

BOO!

How was your weekend? Do anything fun?

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Down to just nerves and how to track me

31. October 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: labradoodle, recreational fun, Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

I woke up this morning and all those wacky aches and pains were gone! It’s a Chanukah Halloween miracle!

I still opted not to even bother running the 3 miles I was scheduled to do. Took the dog for a walk in the woods as my only exercise. It’s so peaceful and serene. My aches and pains might be gone but the nerves are lingering!!! BIG TIME!!

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I’m wearing nature for Halloween!

I’m heading out shortly for some halloween festivities at a friends house. Duncan is going as a pirate.

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Pirate-doodle

I’m going as a nervous runner who forgot to buy herself a costume. 🙂

Speaking of nervous….I better go tackle my long prep list for Sunday. I’ve got watches to charge, playlists to sync, gear bags to pack, and finalization of a few other things I’ll talk to you guys about at some point over the weekend.

Skinnyrunner made a nice list of tips and a packing list for theNYC Marathon in this post. But I noticed she forgot something very important. Toilet paper! Yep! 48,000 runners hanging around for 2-4 hours a piece means TP might very well not be around for that last trip before corral entry. BYOTP!!! Trust me!

If you happen to be spectating or just home watching TV but want to track me, here are the details:

This is what I’ll be wearing:

outfit

I had this shirt made last year. I was part of Team Stupid Cancer. They are an amazing organization providing resources to young adults who have been diagnosed, are undergoing treatment or who have had cancer so they can get busy living. Go check them out here.  Monika from Monikaruns has attended some of their events. She has also completed 20 marathons, 2 while “powered by chemo”. Go check her blog out too. She’s quite an inspiration.

Based on my corral and estimated paces, here’s a chart that shows approximately when I will get to each mile.

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This link will give you a list of ways to track me.

And lastly, my bib # and start info for tracking is:

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Enjoy your halloween and I hope everyone gets treats and no tricks unless of course you’re a magician.

Question: Favorite Halloween candy? Mine is Peanut M&M’s. Anyone running the NYC Marathon too?

No related posts.

NYC Marathon Madness on my mind

16. October 2013 · 3 comments · Categories: labradoodle, running · Tags: , , , , ,

Hello.

I’m starting to think my posts don’t require a salutation anymore. Thoughts?

Before I start to unleash my NYC Marathon madness, I have a whole bunch of randomness to throw at you. Your welcome.

BOTTLE CAPS! We decorated the office for Halloween and my job was to fill this plastic cauldron with lots of candy including my favorite Willy Wonka Bottle Caps!

Crazy for cocoa puffs candy

Crazy for cocoa puffs candy

Willy Wonka = WINNING!

Willy Wonka = WINNING!

Of course I needed to keep the well-being of my coworkers top of mind and so I sampled each type of candy (actually if I’m being honest, 2 of each type. Or maybe it was 3. Don’t judge.) to make sure nothing had been tainted. In the process I made myself sick. Hey! I took one for the team. It’s my mothers fault. She never warned me you could eat too much candy.

BONE: Duncan couldn’t find a safe place to bury his bone this morning. This was what I said goodbye to when I left for work…

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BOOK: I am not a big book reader but saw Born to Run sitting on the table at my sister in laws house. I asked why she had it. Apparently my niece was required to read it for school. How cool is that? Anyway she said I could take it and so I did. Maybe I’ll dive into this after my races are over.

book

booksmart

OK, now onto my marathon madness mind dump…Today was an exciting day for us NYC Marathon runners…Our race wave, corral and color info was made available to us.

 

REGCARD

This ended up being both good and bad. I was excited to learn I will be running on the upper level of the Verrazano bridge! (When I ran in 2011 I was on the lower level and my Garmin lost satellite.) But I was disappointed to learn I will be in the last wave that doesn’t start until 10:55am! With daylight savings the night before the marathon that means the sun should be setting at about 4:45pm. If I aim to finish in 5ish hours that’s cutting it close to crossing the finish line in the dark.

Now that the peak of my training has passed and I’m easing up the mileage, the madness in my mind has begun to emerge…What shirt will I wear? The one I wore for my first NYC Marathon?

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Or the one I wore for the Philly Marathon?

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What if it’s too warm for long sleeves? What will the weather be like? What time do I really need to get to the start village if I don’t start running until almost 11am? And speaking of that, how on earth will my body feel starting to run a marathon so late? I’ve trained for the last 4 months running super early in the morning. Maybe pinning my sport beans will work better than squishing them in my SpiBelt that I can’t ever unzip easily? AHHH!!!! This is not normal! It’s just a silly little 26.2 mile run with 50,000 other runners. Wait! Yes, this IS normal. It’s totally normal to get a little nuts worrying about it. I should know this by now. Remember, back in this post I discussed my status going from newbie to amateur-plus….

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Question: Please tell me I’m not alone. Who else starts to get a bit crazed in the weeks leading up to their big race? Any Willy Wonka candy fans? 

 

 

 

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