Yesterday was day two of working a full day and then taking files home to continue working until the wee hours for this big push to complete a job by tomorrow’s deadline. Needless to say exercise and decent eating habits have become a distant weekend memory…but i took back control of the ship last night (well maybe I took back control of the blow up raft…hey ya gotta start somewhere). The dog and i both needed some forward motion. I leashed him up and we started gingerly walking up the slicy (slushy and icy) road for about a half hour.

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I love when the snow gets to be the same consistency as coffee cake crumble….ya know…like butter and sugar mixed together?! MMMM who knew dirty snow could make my mouth water =)

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my walking buddy

Some areas were unplowed and the powdery cover gave better traction than the slicy spots letting us pick up the pace to a jog which was nice. I was wearing boots and a coat on so I don’t know that I would consider this a true workout but i warmed up enough to get sweaty and mentally i felt a whole lot better.
The dog was in his glory peeing on every telephone pole and digging in snow drifts. he also decided it was a perfect time for a snow facial. Exfoliation anyone?

Our destination was to my car that i had driven to the bus stop in the morning on my way to work. Once we arrived I let the dog jump in the car to warm up while I scraped the windshield (4 minute upper body workout!?)

take your time ma.

take your time ma.

I continued the upper body workout when I got home as I spent 20 minutes in the garage breaking up cardboard boxes and bundling it all up to be recycled. I know the technical term for functional fitness is activities that prepare you for your every day life, but i like to think of it as the reverse…doing everyday life tasks to fulfill a part of your fitness. And the run a million and a half miles to fulfill the remaining fitness quota =) Oh and there were a couple more packages at the door tonight.

First , Duncan’s birthday gift delivery from Petsmart. I opened the box and let him sniff around.

birthday loot

birthday loot

So one of the gifts is a laser light. I thought it’d give him a good indoor workout option for days when we really can’t get outside.

The other cool package was a surprise gift from my sister-in-law. She must read my blog because she got me a running ornament for my tree!!!!!

Running Chick

Running Chick

Tomorrow ill finally get a run in. I’ve been running basically twice a week-Thursdays and one weekend day. It’s quite a different world for me. But in about 3 weeks that will change and ill be back to 4 days a week when I start my NJ Marathon training. Speaking of….on the NJ Marathon Facebook page, they posted a photo and bio of Brian, the pacer for the 4:40 group. That’s my guy! He has quite the marathon resume with 100+ marathons under his belt. I can’t wait to meet him and hope I can hang on to finish in 4:40. (I tried to stay with the 4:45 pacer at the NYC marathon but at mile 16 couldn’t keep up. It was a harder course though, so I still feel confident I can do this.)

Question: Do you have certain everyday tasks that you consider exercise? When I go grocery shopping I don’t use a shopping cart. I take 2 handheld baskets and as they fill up I do bicep curls in the aisles. And then I carry all the bags to my car as well with no shopping cart. It’s one of my favorite ways of sneaking in some upper body strength training.

Work was the pits yesterday. I think I just assume that our clients will ALSO be busy with their personal stuff like I am and that we’d be slow during the holidays. That never happens. Like clockwork, December tends to be a busy month. I wrapped up a kick-off conference call with a new client and just needed air. I had to go uptown to pick up my race bib for today’s race anyway so I started out on foot walking from Herald Square to Grand Central (about 10 blocks) where I planned on catching the subway uptown to New York Road Runners. But something happened to me in those minutes and I just felt that with every step I walked I felt less stressed. So instead of getting on the subway I continued walking uptown and additional 20 blocks. (20 blocks is approximately 1 mile).

Passed Bliss Spa on my way. Thought about asking if they took "walk-ins". But then I remembered I don't "pamper out the small stuff"....I sweat out the small stuff =)

Passed Bliss Spa on my way. Thought about asking if they took “walk-ins”. But then I remembered I don’t “pamper out the small stuff”….I sweat out the small stuff =)

I popped in to get my race number and then thought i’d continue the walking “therapy” so I headed up a block and entered Central Park at Engineer’s Gate which is where I entered the Park on 11/3 during the NYC Marathon at my very emotional mile 22-23. I felt such a sense of peace and contentment. Being reminded of that awesome marathon day allowed my mind to stop focusing on my current workload woes and instead reflect on my accomplishments and how amazing 2013 has been.

Engineers Gate! Hi Fred Lebow! Consecutive numbers bib!

Engineers Gate! Hi Fred Lebow! Consecutive numbers bib!

This little squirrel scare the bejeezus outta me while I was deep in my reflecting zone

This little squirrel scare the bejeezus outta me while I was deep in my reflecting zone

I walked an additional 20 blocks and then jumped on the subway back to work since at this point my lunch “hour” was well beyond an hour. So 2.5 miles of walking and almost 2 hours out of the office and I was good as new. Sometimes that’s all you need. I returned to my desk and saw the most beautiful gift that was left for me by one of our vendors. Score!

Godiva chocolate...the perfect gift!

Godiva chocolate…the perfect gift!

I completed my work for the day and then headed home.

This morning my alarm woke me at 5:00am. Good thing I set 2 alarms because I did the SAME  thing I did the morning!  Last time I checked, Saturday is NOT a weekday.

I bundled up in my running gear layers and headed to meet my running peeps for our 15K in Central Park. 7am flurries turned into a steady snowfall just as the 8:30am race began. It was magical. I was so happy….smiling from ear-to-ear. I love snow. I love running. I love friends. WIN-WIN-WIN!

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9.3 miles done!

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aid stops were serving water Slushies and Gatorade snow cones. LOL!

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It’s a masked runner peep sandwich. Photo: L. McGarry

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in the corrals walking briskly to the starting line

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Pretty as a picture. Photo: E. Negron-Perez

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We had to conquer the infamous Cat Hill TWICE on this course. Photo E. Negron-Perez

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Running Peeps!

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It’s a PR but only because I haven’t run a 15K in 3 yeas.

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Gatorade slushie and an apple post-race

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one more running peep!

I ran a good race, a PR by 14 minutes actually. But last time I ran a 15K distance was this race in 2010 when I was a lot slower overall). My Garmin said 9.5 miles (instead of 9.3) so average pace 9:48. My official time was only 4 seconds different but because the distance is 9.3 My official average pace was 10:00 on the button.  I definitely hit a wall today around mile 7. It was tough getting up Cat Hill the second time. I didn’t eat much this morning before the race and didn’t eat anything at all during the race. At one point I could hear my stomach growl.

1214splitsI’m now home and thawed out and refueled (The box of Godiva is almost gone!) and watching the snow come down.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Question: Have you ever run in the snow? Do you ever just feel so overwhelmed at work that you need to walk 50 blocks to clear your head? LOL!