The time I cried at the mechanic and 10 miles

08. March 2014 · 2 comments · Categories: labradoodle, running · Tags: , , ,

This morning I executed my multitask plan so well. Was out the door at 6:30am. Dropped the Jeep off for service. Knowing they said it’d take a few hours, I went out for a 10 mile run. I had to actually run a lot of the same location as my 16 miler last weekend which included the boardwalk. I know! Rough to have to look at the beautiful ocean right?! But I did climb a big hill about 8 1/2 miles in to get me back to the main road where the service center is.

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About 3 miles in I got a FaceTime phone call from my nephew. I stopped running to chat with him a bit. It was such a nice surprise. I love my nephew. And my niece? Well, check out her little message she wrote me on the leftover butternut squash soup that my sister-in-law made me.

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When I arrived back at the service center they told me they were so busy and only had 4 mechanics so my Jeep wouldn’t be done until the end of the day. I burst into tears. Enough was enough. I have managed to maintain calmness through the events of Tuesday and Wednesday (wrong part was ordered not once but twice) but this had thrown me over the edge.The manager finally realized he had to do something so he arranged for a car rental for me. (at their expense).

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I stopped at a bench along the boardwalk to stretch my hamstring and may or may not have laid there for a while =)

So I’ve got me a lovely Jeep Patriot for the next couple of days. No 26.2 magnet on the back šŸ™ LOL. I came home and immediately had a nice hot cuppa coffee and some blackberries. I am OBSESSED with blackberries lately. I want to eat them all day.

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my favorite mug!

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and my latest obsessionĀ 

I also ate a cinnamon raisin bagel with whipped cream cheese. But it was inhaled before I could snap a pic.

So now I’m packing what I need for my girls weekend and spending some QT with the doodle before he heads off to his friend Biggie’s house for a sleepover.

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duncan and biggie: BFFs

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best buds

Hope you have a very nice weekend and that you get to sweat out the small stuff…

Question: Latest favorite fruit?Ā 

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Thursday Things

07. March 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: injury, labradoodle, running, Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

The doodle got a haircut:

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funny that i happened to be wearing green today and then they gave him a st. paddy’s day scarf. We’re really both ready for our Leprechaun and pots of gold!

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even the leash is green! He’s waiting for the possum to appear again.

These quotes struck my fancy:

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RunEatRepeat posted this one today! I loved it!

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take from Distant Runner’s Facebook page

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Taken from Runner’s World Facebook page

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take from I <3 to Run’s Facebook page

My Jeep is STILL not completely repaired. I won’t go in to the details but long story short there was a whole lot of not ordering the right part and lots of futile attempts but hopefully Saturday it’ll be good as new. I’ll have to wait while they repair it but since they said it’ll be 2-3 hours I figured I’d multitask and get in my 10 miler instead of picking at my fingernails in the waiting room.

Of course last night when I got home after picking up said unfixed Jeep I drowned my sorrows in this for dinner:

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always a winning combination

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yes please!

And while we’re on the subject of random dinner choices, I celebrated National Pancake Day on Tuesday with these lovely gems for dinner…

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pancakes for dinner? why of course!

Meanwhile, I think I might have mentioned that I haven’t been keeping the Jeep clean lately.

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the floor on the passenger side…a.k.a. the shotgun shit pile

It’s become a dumping ground for empty water bottles, and now add to that a few check-in tickets from the mechanic. Oh and one of the 3 broken umbrellas that I had been collecting still remains. I hate to let go thinking i can revive them. But my mom just told me she’s got a brand new Totes for me so i’m ready to finally say goodbye to this one. We’re supposed to have some great springlike weather this weekend and I’d give the Jeep a good cleaning both inside and out….but I have exciting plans! My “wolf pack” is headed out for a girl’s weekend in Atlantic City. We’re celebrating Lisa’s belated birthday, but more importantly it’s her IDBAC (I’m done being a cripple) extravaganza….you see she broke a bone in her foot last summer but by the time they realized it wasn’t healing on its own 3 months had gone by. And then they finally had to do surgery. She’s only now able to start wearing shoes other than sneakers. She spent months on crutches and/or in a boot. It was rough.

Here’s a pic of us last time we went to Atlantic City. It was the night Whitney Houston died. Let’s just say it was a memorable night =)

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Wolfffff Packkkkkk!!!!!!

My O’hammy is feeling much better today and so I made the last minute decision to run a few miles…

photoThe sun set and then I caught a glimpse of the moon. Life is good. And now it’s time to have a li’l dinner and then watch TV. I’m disappointed in American Idol this season. I watched last night’s performances today (love DVR) and fast forwarded through most of them. Oh well. Maybe Hoarders will be on or House Hunters.

Question: What TV shows do you watch during the week? Catch any lovely sunrises or sunsets lately?Ā 

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O’Hammy! And props to Miss Frankenbooty!

04. March 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: injury · Tags: , , , ,

I’ve had on and off mild nagging hamstring soreness since last November after my PR in the Trenton half marathon just 6 days after finishing the NYC Marathon. It tends to appear after runs longer than 10 miles. And it lasts a few days. Ironically my groin pain never appears at the same time. They graciously alternate flare ups =)

I worked from home today and stayed off my feet as much as possible, iced and elevated the leg and wore compression shorts under my jeans. I’m definitely skipping tomorrow’s run and i’ll see if i’m feeling ok on Thursday.

The NYC Half marathon is in less than 2 weeks, the day before St. Patrick’s day and I’m actually running an extra 5 miles to make it an 18 mile training run so I have to get the O’Hammy healed in time, or else I’ll be crying in my green beer.

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wishing on a pot-o-gold for fast healing!

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no tears in the beer!

Duncan’s excited for green beer biscuits too

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green biscuit please!

OK, now on to some big props to a girl I met last February. Her name is Leah and she’s an amazing marathoner. We both were part of a Dicks Sporting Goods photo shoot for National Runner’s Month.

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I didn’t know much about her when we first met other than she lived in Little Rock and worked at a running store. We got to talking because I was running the Little Rock half marathon a few weeks later and she was telling me all about the marathon/half marathon course and the crazy big medals they give out. A week later I received my handbook in the mail and there on page 4 was a list of previous winners. Ahem, miss Leah held the title of top female for 4 years and I saw she’d be running it again. So after finishing my half I went to the finish line to hopefully catch her finish but as time went on I knew something seemed wrong. Unfortunately she tore a hamstring and had to drop back to the half and not complete the full. She then went on to have surgery to repair the leg. I followed her recovery through Facebook. Always with the most amazing sense of humor and optimism. She posted photos of her tricked out crutches and how she managed to get around in those first few weeks via her “wheels”. Well just yesterday I’m happy to say she came back to claim her title and finished top female at the Little Rock Marathon for the 5th time. It was 30 degrees and freezing rain and she still pulled out a 2:42 (she set a course PR of of 2:37 in 2012). And today she announced she was asked to run with the elite women at the Boston Marathon. I am so grateful to have met her and will always be in awe of her great, fun personality and her amazing athletic talent. Oh, and instead of her name printed on her bib she had them put Frankenbooty (I’m guessing that’s because she’s got scars from her surgery).

Go Leah! (photo: Little Rock Marathon Facebook)

Go Leah! (photo: Little Rock Marathon Facebook)

So now I’m going to watch some mindless T.V. and ice the hamstring a bit.

Happy Monday!

Question: Any plans for St. Patricks Day? Does anyone knowĀ where I can get myself a Pot-O-Gold? Any suggestions for healing a hamstring strain?

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my sunrise 16 was a success

01. March 2014 · 2 comments · Categories: labradoodle, running, Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

Last night my stomach was feeling a bit wonky. I didn’t have much appetite but managed to eat a couple of waffles. This made me nervous since I had made the brilliant plan to do my long run super early this morning, as in before sunrise early. This was partially because lately I have been doing many of my long runs later in the afternoons as the temps warm upā€”but since my marathon is in the morning and I’ll have to be up really early to drive down to the start I figured I’m running out of long run “marathon day simulation” attempts. I packed everything I needed for today’s run last night so I could just quickly get dressed, take the dog out and then head out to the beach before sunrise.

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all the gear and none of the doodle were used for running today

Luckily this morning my stomach seemed ok. I actually scoped out a port-a-potty just in case but when i opened the door and saw what I saw I think I came to the conclusion that i’d rather poop in my pants if it came down to it =) So yes, grateful that it didn’t come to that. The boardwalk is 5 miles out and back. My first out and back i ran slightly past the end of the boardwalk to the Verrazano Bridge just to make it 6 miles so I knew i’d just have to do 2 more complete out and backs of the boardwalk to hit 16.

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just before i set out

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amazing sunrise

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the fishing pier

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VZ Bridge! 2.5 miles down and 13.5 to go =)

I didn’t take music for the first 11 miles. I stopped at my car for water and fuel at mile 6 and again at mile 11. I wasn’t that hungry or thirsty so I only ate half the bag of sport beans the first stop and finished the bag at the second stop. And I only drank about 12 oz of water! Woah! That’s nothing. Almost 3 hours of running? I should have been thirstier. It was in the low 20s for most of the run and warmed to about 30 by the time I wrapped up.

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i love the horizontal stripes of this image…the sky, the water, the sand, the snow…

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chillin’ gulls

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sunrise face

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testing out my new iphone tripod =)

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Star Wars sand dunes

So with today’s run I continued with my deep life thoughts…today’s thought: Life’s trials and tribulations will always be. You’re never just “one and done”. You have to learn how to deal with the bumps as they come. While I did see some seagulls, wild turkeys and Canadian geese, most creatures were in the form of statues or signs…

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Oh, and that’s me trying to do a Karate Kid pose shadow thing. I had just finished and felt pretty bad-ass. LOL! Feeling accomplished, I headed home to make myself a well deserved and delicious breakfast.

bacon, egg, cheese, avocado, kale, and tomato on a sandwich thin and blackberries and pineapple

bacon, egg, cheese, avocado, kale, and tomato on a sandwich thin and blackberries and pineapple

I relaxed a little, showered and then took this muppet to the park for walk and the usual squirrel scouting…

doodlewalkAnd now it’s almost 3pm! I better get cracking on my to-do list. Hope you’re relaxing a bit this weekend. Oscars are tomorrow. I’m not a big movie person but love to see the red carpet..although nobody will be wearing my favorite look…running attire. LOL!

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