Birthday Girl

25. October 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: recreational fun, running, sweet treats, Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning!

Life is busy. Life is good. It’s my 40th birthday today!!!! I feel like an old lady in the world of blogging. Had one martini last night and I feel like I have a hangover 😉 I’m meeting friends for dinner tonight and plan on these accessories:

accessories

Yesterday I started my morning taking my dad to his mechanic to pick up his car in this really pretty town in NJ. Fall foliage is just in full effect here on the East Coast.

morningautumn

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Then I took the doodle on our favorite mystical magical walk in the woods.

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Then I attempted what I thought would be an easy thing to make….Caramel Apples. I wanted to give them as favors to the guests at my party tomorrow. I went apple picking and (discovered the best cross training ever) last weekend and picked 36 Granny Smiths for the task. Everything started off successful! They were lookin’ good.

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All the elements before the debacle

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The first batch….lookin good!

I even wrapped one to see what the final product would look like

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Short-lived success

But a few hours later, the caramel slid off the apple and I ended up with this…

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pool of caramel with an apple garnish

I managed to salvage about 2 dozen buy melting chocolate and spreading it on the apple with some toffee bits but the rest were a total bomb!

photo 1

Saved!

I’m praying that The Rescue Baker saves the day. She mentioned maybe she could make mini cakes for all! After the apple debacle I went for a run because that’s what I do right? I sweat out the small stuff 😉

Duncan sticking his nose into everything as always

Duncan sticking his nose into everything as always

All was good until I got a weird side stitch just before mile 4. It lasted for forever a few minutes and I had to walk. I freaked out! What if that happens to me during the marathon?

Then came my first of many birthday celebrations. Sushi! (and a coconut lychee martini which I drank too fast to photograph)

the heart shaped roll was called the Cupid Roll.

the heart shaped roll was called the Cupid Roll.

I arrived at work today and these lovely gifts were waiting for me…

flowers and cupcakes....works for me!

flowers and cupcakes….works for me!

And now I better get back to work. I’ve got another celebratory dinner tonight and then tomorrow my running peeps and I are running the last 10 miles of the NYC Marathon route in preparation and then in the evening I’ll be partying it up!

Catch ya later.

Question: What’s your favorite tradition on your birthday? I always like to take a walk in the park and enjoy the Autumn leaves. 

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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…

photo 1

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….

3rd 

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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Fatigue, overtraining, then signing up for another one

07. October 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: helpful tips, running, Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

Happy Monday!

As I was winding down last night and preparing myself for the work week, I made a big decision. I was feeling really tired and have been for quite some time. I’m sure it’s a combination of post Center of the Nation and just jumping right back into my NYC Marathon training when I returned home.

65.5 miles plus a whole lotta jumping = FATIGUE

65.5 miles plus a whole lotta jumping = FATIGUE

After reviewing my training log, it looks like I have been overtraining. Shocker! It’s not that I have been running that many more miles per week than I’m scheduled to. But I have had many extra long runs, and I’ve been bailing on plenty of short, recovery runs. Not to mention my cross training has been non-existent (unless you consider walking the dog cross training). In other words, don’t ever take my advice on this blog =) There was a 16 miler back in June when I didn’t even officially kick off my training until July. And then of course five 13.1s in a row doesn’t make for smart training. But I knew that going into it. So this week I’ve decided to replace my 2 weekday runs with easier 30 min cross training sessions at the gym. That will allow me to catch up a a few extra winks of sleep (I can squeeze the gym in at lunch) and give my running leg muscles a little mini-taper. I have the Rock ‘n’ Roll Brooklyn 10k on Saturday and the Staten Island half marathon (with 7 extra miles before) on Sunday, totaling 26 miles for the weekend!

This decision comes with the comfort knowing I’m not a newbie anymore.

3rdI’ve got 3 marathons under my belt and I know that I won’t sacrifice my entire training by replacing 2 workouts. Also, I’ve thought long and hard about my expectations and goals for the NYC Marathon. While I wish I could say I’m shooting for a PR, that is just totally unrealistic. The course isn’t an easy one. There are 5 bridges and lots of elevation.

allbridgesMy first NYC Marathon was 5:28. It was my first marathon and I walked A LOT of the second half. I was SOOO happy just to finish.

Thumbs up! I didn't die!

Thumbs up! I didn’t die!

My PR is a 4:48 on a very flat course (with perfect weather). That’s a HUGE finish time range. I think I will just keep my expectations set to try and come in under the 5:28 time. While I’d love to break 5 hours again, I just don’t feel confident I have it in me. So my “A” goal would be 5:15 and “B” goal would be 5:25. But regardless of my finish time I am looking forward to enjoying the afternoon with close to 50,000 others.

I hadn’t planned on participating in any other races for the year but at the last minute I  just signed up for one more half marathon just 6 days after the NYC Marathon. It’s probably not a smart idea, but i’ll chalk 2013 up to the year of running too many races and make a promise that next year I’ll scale back a bit. My wallet and my non-running friends will be happy. So, I’ll be running the Trenton Half Marathon on 11/9.

trentoncourse

I love bridges and this course has 2! photo courtesy of trentonhalf.com

I learned about this race from a girl I met while training for the NJ Marathon at the very beginning of this year. Her name is Jane and she is an ambassador for this event. We had such great training runs together I just knew I needed to run with her one more time this year (although I’ll probably only see her the first half a mile as I’m sure she’ll be blazing ahead while my tired legs will probably just chug along). And the swag/bling looks pretty awesome too:

photo courtesy of trentonhalf.com

photo courtesy of trentonhalf.com

So there you have it! My plan to fight the training fatigue and complete 2 really strong runs next weekend, my goals verbalized for the NYC Marathon, and my “lapse-in-judgement-just-for-the-bling” registration in what will be my 11th half marathon of the year and 17th event overall!

WOW: Listen to your body! You’ll know when to scale back and when to go for the gusto! You are your own best training tool. 

Question: Tell me all about your fall race calendar.

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14 misty miles—there’s still beauty to be had even when the sun doesn’t shine

06. October 2013 · 1 comment · Categories: running · Tags: , , , ,

Good morning!

My plan had a couple of snags this morning but I still managed to complete 14 miles.
Snag 1: No sunshine = no glorious sunrise. I surprised myself and only sulked for the first mile. It actually drizzled the entire time I was running but that actually ended up being a beautiful thing! Cool and misty = better running weather.
Snag 2: The entrance (and parking lot) where I usually start my run was closed because of the government shutdown. It’s a National park area:(
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But like a die-hard-happy-marathon-runner-in-training I managed to work around the snags. I decided I would just run the neighborhood streets that run parallel to the beach. But after a 2 mile detour I arrived to see that the boardwalk was open! It was just the small area by where I start that was closed. It appears that the boardwalk is state/city. So I hopped on and covered an additional 10 miles doing 2 complete out and backs of the boardwalk. Unfortunately my main goal for this run was to see a gorgeous sunrise and to see the Verrazano Bridge (a.k.a. start village for the NYC Marathon) and get jazzed since the NYC Marathon is just 4 weeks away. #Fail!

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As you can tell from this side by side visibility was in the toilet

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it really was a bummer not to see the bridge. I needed to reinforce that with another pout

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beauty without the sun. I love the horizontal “stripes” made up of the gray sky, the bluish gray water, the reddish sand, the golden sand dunes and the rusty metal railing.

I ended up seeing a beautiful color palette of “neutrals”. I’m actually thinking that I should paint the interior of my home in these colors. They feel calm and soothing, no? I also gave warning to the wild turkeys that it’s October. I don’t know if they know that Thanksgiving is next month. Just wanted to remind them to hide so they don’t end up as part of some family’s feast.

turkeys

FYI: Thanksgiving is just 6 weeks away!

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Old-school sand art

Spent a few minutes playing in the sand. Then it was the same 2 mile detour back to my car and voila, I was done. I ate an apple in the car on the way home.

apple

After a quick shower, it was time for some serious refueling. A bed of spinach, 2 scrambled eggs, 1/2 cup of whole wheat couscous, a sliced up tomato and 5 glorious slices of turkey bacon. And a tall cold beer glass of chocolate milk to wash it down. Total calories: 850. But most of all lots of protein.

refule

chocolate milk and a jealous doodle • turkey bacon, eggs etc and a jealous doodle

I love that while the rest of the world slept in on a drizzly Sunday, I didn’t. OK well maybe I don’t love that. I actually miss the days of sleeping in. But that’s what the last 6 weeks of the year are for. I take a hiatus from running usually from 11/15 until 1/1.

Question: Do you like to sleep in or do you wake up early regardless?

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