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Sweating out the small stuff and solitude with the ‘suckles

04. June 2016 · 2 comments · Categories: running · Tags: colonial park, DnR Canal Tow Path, friday, honeysuckles, national donut day, running

Sweating out the small stuff and solitude with the ‘suckles

Happy Saturday!

I had a week with a whole lotta ups and downs. I knew all week that I was going to run after work on Friday at that park (Colonial Park) near my office that I discovered the first week I worked. But I didn’t expect to run more than 3 miles. I ended up running 10K because I was enjoying the solitude and those honeysuckles so much.

Honeysuckles!

I wanted to run on the DnR (Delaware and Raritan) Canal Tow Path that both Mr. SOTSS and Meesh mentioned. I didn’t find the entrance right away so I ended up running along a couple of roads with absolutely no sidewalk or shoulder. It was stressful and I had to stop and literally jump into the woods to avoid getting hit by a car a few times. Then I ended up on a quiet block when all of a sudden a dog ran out to the front of his yard and then toward me. He was not on a leash. Holy F! I was scared out of my mind. I just turned in the opposite direction and ran super fast and sure enough after a few minutes I stumbled upon one of the entrances to the tow path! Thank god.

Finally found an entrance

Hi!

It was smooth sailing after that and about 3 miles in is where I saw that there was a connection to the park via a cute little bridge. SO MUCH SAFER! HA! I cannot wait to run a bunch more times along this tow path every Friday.

When self timer shots go wrong

I cannot tell you how much I needed that hour + of time alone. I’ve been struggling to be heard lately and It’s been making me feel pretty crappy. And sometimes, because I’m so super open and honest with how I feel it makes people uncomfortable and defensive. I’ll just keep it at that. 😉 I loved the tow path because other than maybe a couple of bike riders and one or two other runners it was literally all mine! I could hear the birds chirping and the sound of my feet striking the ground.

With each stride I felt more and more Zen. I saw a few chipmunks and a deer too. I think I could have run 10 or more miles but I had to get home to Duncan.

There are over 70 miles to cover

When my run was over I celebrated with my free donut that I got earlier in the day.

#NationalDonutDay

Dunkin Donuts was giving out a free donut with beverage purchase because yesterday was National Donut Day. And then I returned my beloved running car magnets to “Forest” now that he’s back from the autobody shop.

I came home to my doodles and just chilled out for the rest of the night.

Did you say it’s Friday?!

His before and after from his latest grooming. I love his versatile looks 🙂

Random doodling during a meeting at work

OK I better go be productive now. It’s already after 10am and I’ve been up since 7am doing nothing but watching TV and blogging….

Happy Weekend!

Doing anything fun this weekend?

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Global Running Day and Honeysuckles for the Save

01. June 2016 · 4 comments · Categories: running, Uncategorized · Tags: Global Running Day, honeysuckles, mini golf, point pleasant, running

Global Running Day

Hi,

Happy Wednesday, Humpday, and Global Running Day!

Before I jump to today I’ll tell you about the rest of my weekend. It was swell! (I used to love the word swell. I think it’s time to bring it back. Isn’t that swell?)

Last we left off I told you all about the Spring Lake 5 on Saturday. Sunday I joined Mr. SOTSS and his 2 girls for a fun night in Point Pleasant (the Jersey Shore) for strolling the boardwalk, playing mini-golf and other fun amusement games.

I don’t really know what my face is all about. I must have been thinking about whether to get ice cream or funnel cake afterward. Serious decisions.

Mr. SOTSS and his lil girl. Makes my heart swell to see the love they have for each other.

There’s a game where you throw darts at balloons. K, the almost 11-year old is a ringer! She won herself a smiley emoji pillow. I really wanted the poop emoji pillow so they all played again and won me the pillow. YAY!

Poop…there it is!

I love spending time with those girls. It brings me back to when life was simple. No worries about work or life stresses.

I was on a date with Mr. SOTSS the first summer we dated and saw this bench and loved the saying. So on Sunday I took another pic to have the side by side memory.

This was before I got a hole-in-one! Oh and while I was the only one with a true hole-in-one, Mr. SOTSS’ oldest had an epic hole-in-three. After 2 attempts where the ball went off the putting green she finally swung a third time and the ball hit about 30 different objects before landing right in the hole.

Smiley face out of mini-golf equipment

Another weird face on me.

They are a breath of fresh air to be around. Just being silly and laughing…pretty much my favorite way to live. I really needed it because this morning I woke up with finger nail marks in my hands. I was so tense I must have slept with my hands clenched in fists.

stress isn’t swell. I need to run more! (and cut my long nails i suppose)

I’m working remotely for the morning and will drive into work after lunch because Duncan had a grooming appointment. It worked out well because I worked late last night, came home in a bad mood and pretty much just went to bed. So I made up for it, starting my day at the park for a walk with Duncan.

He was so happy to jump in the car this morning

The honeysuckles are in full bloom and smell so delicious.

Walking with the dood and caffeinating

they smell swell!

They really lift my spirits. Most flowers don’t smell fragrant to me but honeysuckles are like freshly ground coffee beans….I could inhale that aroma ALL DAY! After the walk in the park I went running for 3 miles to celebrate #GlobalRunningDay. I was FAST! I think I really had a lot of frustrations to sweat out from last night. Plus I knew I had to get back in time to get Duncan to the groomer.

Global Running Day

And now Duncan is at the groomer and I’m working.

Hope you’re having a swell day 😉

Did you run any miles (or do you plan to?) for Global Running Day?

Do you have a word that you love to use?

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2016 Spring Lake 5 recap

29. May 2016 · Write a comment · Categories: running, Uncategorized · Tags: brunch, memorial day weekend, running, spring lake 5 recap

2016 Spring Lake 5 recap

Hi.

Happy Sunday. I ran the Spring Lake 5 yesterday. It was the 40th anniversary of the race. That’s a lot of years! The race is held in Spring Lake, New Jersey which is on the Jersey Shore.

While the race doesn’t start until 8:30am you have to arrive fairly early to park, usually around 7am. Normally that would mean me heading out at about 6:20 (from Mr. SOTSS’s house) but yesterday started out even earlier. I left about 45 minutes earlier because Lisa’s Jeep was having some technical difficulties the night before so we made a last minute plan that involved her trekking via subway from Brooklyn to Penn Station and then another train to New Jersey near Mr. SOTSS’ house where I scooped her up and then we traveled down to the race together. While I’m sorry about the Jeep it was actually awesome that we had the 45 minute ride in each direction to chat. We haven’t been able to do much running together and had lots to catch up on. (like 5 months worth!) (P.S. her Jeep issue is most likely a short in the ignition which isn’t too hard or expensive to fix. Fingers crossed!).

We were super early arriving at 6:45am. But by the time we walked to the start area tent to get our shirts and other swag and then walked back to drop it all to the car we then met up with her cousin Bill who is actually the UPS driver for the area of Spring Lake (which is such a hoot because he’s like the mayor! Everyone knows him) and then we met up with my friend Jane and said a quick hello to Elvia too.

Jane and me on the beach before the start

Ultimately we were all hanging out by the corrals about 40 minutes before race time and just casually chit chatted. I like not being rushed on race morning and I really like when the social aspect of the race is almost more important than the race itself 🙂

corral group selfie

A sea of runners

Jane was dressed for Memorial Day weekend with her all-american shorts 🙂

Getting ready to start

There were over 10,000 runners and while they had pace signs up to help the runners (and walkers) line up appropriately they didn’t do a wave start which meant it was super crowded for the first mile or 2. Interestingly my fastest two splits were miles 1 and 2. I was keeping a 9:30 pace. But I knew at the halfway point that the heat was getting to me already and I slowed down a little more with each mile.

It was HOT yesterday. Even at the start it was already 75 degrees and probably 80 when we finished. There was very little shade on the course which meant the sun really beat down on us. The local fire dept trucks were spraying their hoses out on the course which was awesome.

Rutgers represent!

And there is so much crowd support at this race. I love it! Lots of bands playing and neighbors out cheering us on.

I am proud of myself for running the entire time with the exception of walking through 2 water stops because if this wasn’t a race (with a medal waiting for me at the finish) I would have probably quit running and just walked back to my car.

I finished in 51:12 with an average pace of 10:15. (Overall: 3646 of 10290 • F40-44: 170 of 714) Not too shabby for me. I’m guessing if it were a 55-60 degree day I’d have come in closer to 49-50 minutes but really, my finish time wasn’t important in the least.

Loved the medal. It was pretty and Springy

These orange slices were the bomb!

After the race Lisa her cousin and I had brunch and then I took Lisa back to the train station for her trek home. I spent the rest of the day mostly indoors.

We all like air conditioning over 95 degrees

This morning I met my other friend Lisa for brunch and now I’m relaxing on the sofa before I tackle some freelance work and some chores.

Say hello to my blueberry belgian waffle with lemon curd and best iced coffee i've had in a while.

Say hello to my blueberry waffle with lemon curd and best iced coffee i’ve had in a while.

Tonight I’m headed down to the “Jersey Shore” to play some mini-golf and enjoy some other amusements on the boardwalk with Mr. SOTSS and his girls. Still hard to believe it’s not 4th of July weekend because it feels so darn summery.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

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Let the weekend begin

27. May 2016 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: coffee, memorial day weekend, Nathan's fries, running, spring lake 5, tgif, walking

TGIF! Let the weekend begin!

Seriously….I feel like my eyes need to be propped open with toothpicks. It’s been a long week back after my Adirondacks vacation last weekend. I’m only in week 3 of this new full-time job‑and with the car accident, complete routine shift, and not yet really feeling like my role is defined yet at the job, I’ve been on edge, unsure, more tired than usual and just feeling a little out of sorts.

I did manage to get in my 2 weekday runs. The first was a 3-miler on Tuesday night after work.

Post work 5k

It was what felt like a lovely Summer night even though we’re still a month away from Summer. The temps in New York have been reaching 88-92 each day. Yikes #NotReadyfortheSweat

I have to say that running in the evening for a short 3 miles is perfect. Enough to get out some of the anxiety but it takes up only 30ish minutes which leaves me time for hanging with the doodle and doing some freelance work or chores.

This morning I was up and out the door at 6am for another 3 miler. It was hot and humid and I was drenched in just 34 minutes.

Why does the color gray show sweat so much

Drenched!

Other than running, walking the dog and drinking too much coffee the rest of my week was spent on the sofa trying to relax and regroup for the next day.

more coffee

Strolling the neighborhood for a few miles each night.

I’ve been dvr-ing Ellen and watching it at night and I’ve been loving that.

On Wednesday, after work I drove straight to the mall to get a birthday gift for Mr. SOTSS’ daughter. She’s going to be 13! While I was there I saw there was a Nathan’s in the food court and just couldn’t resist. Those fries are my absolute favorite.

I heart Nathan’s fries!

I’ve got a super busy Memorial Day weekend starting with the Spring Lake 5 tomorrow morning. I can’t believe I’m actually going to be running. Two years ago I registered but got injured and ended up taking Duncan down with me to spectate which was so much fun.

I also met Mr. SOTSS for our second date later that day. We wanted the dogs to meet and walked around a park by my house. It started to rain and Duncan was annoyed because he hates walking in the rain. I remember turning around and whispering to him “C’mon Duncan, we’re on a date!”

My loyal “wingman”

I had so much fun spectating that I went again last year to do the same.

he would rather spectate me on the sidelines. LOL.

The race is 5 miles and I don’t run a ton of races that distance. My current PR is 49:10 (9:50 per mile pace) which is from 2011. The weather will be warm and as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I’m just feeling the effects of the transition to working full time in an office again so I really have no expectations or goals for the race other than to see and hug my running peeps. I miss them!

The rest of the weekend will be a back and forth between hanging with Mr. SOTSS and his daughters for fun stuff and home to get some freelance work done and get some chores out of the way. I’m also planning on meeting up with another friend for brunch and of course cuddling as much as I can with my furr kid.

This was the face that said goodbye to me this morning

I hope you all enjoy your weekend as well.

What’s the weather by you today?

Any exciting weekend plans?

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Sweating out the small stuff and solitude with the ‘suckles

Sweating out the small stuff and solitude with the ‘suckles