I'm A Guest

I've been a fan of Amanda's blog, Run To The Finish for a while now.  Amanda writes about healthy eating, having a positive outlook on life, and running.  In fact, she just ran the Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon  this past weekend! 

I'm excited to be a guest on her blog today, so check it out here!

I need input....and I'll tell you how to get free Toe Juice

I had a great 14 mile run today.  A lousy night sleep, but a great run.  I've been flirting with insomnia again, I was tired when we went to bed last night, but 10 seconds after Mike's head hit the pillow, he was snoring so loud it shook the bed.  After about an hour of that I went into the guest room, but didn't sleep there either.  I was excited/anxious for today and I was up for good at 4:30 a.m. 

I ran with my sis in law Jeannine and friend Norine.  We did a route around town that was different from last week, and I can't get over the difference in the two runs.  Today there was zero humidity and it was cooler, the first four miles flew by, we threw in some decent hills for Boilermaker prep and for the second week in a row my ipod stayed off.

After I got home I downed some chocolate milk and a banana, and doused my feet with some Toe Juice.  Then I had a surprise in my mailbox, a package from MCM Mama, fuel I won in her giveaway.  I'm looking forward to trying the Heed and Honey Stinger chews.  Thanks Mama!

I've been testing out Hogs Wash and Toe Juice, which was actually featured in the last issue of Runners World.  It's a liquid that you can use it on all sorts of skin issues that plague runners, like Athlete's Foot or cracked skin, it feels especially nice on my hot feet after a run.  We have really bad mosquito's, one of these days one of the kids are going to be carried off by them, and at dusk we get chowed.  I doused some Juice on the bites, and the itch was instantly gone, and it didn't come back.  Mike used it too, and he concurred.  You can put it on with a cotton ball, or just squirt it on.  The Hogs Wash is hand sanitizer that is primarily for "working hands" that tend to be dry or split.  I used it last weekend after planting my flowers, and it cleaned them well, other than what was left in my nails, so I think that's going to be useful around the house this summer.

If you'd like to try a one ounce bottle of Toe Juice (a $7.99 value) for free, you can order it on their website, (but you do need to pay shipping) enter this code: bakerbargain at checkout.

I'm not sure what to do about my long run the weekend of the Boilermaker, which is 9 miles and can be challenging because of the hills, and if the temps are high, watch out.  I'm supposed to run 16 that weekend, and then it goes back down to a 12 mile long run the following weekend. So should I:

a. run the 9.3, then another 6 later in the day (keep in mind that beer is a big feature of this race)

b. run 9.3 and that's it.

c. run 9.3, and do more than 12 miles the following week.

d. run 9.3, then follow the plan as usual, with 12 the following week.

Ya got that?  Any ideas?  

Please note, I received samples of Toe Juice and Hogs Wash for the purpose of this review.  My opinions are my own...blah blah....and you know the rest.

This is the best day of the week

I like Thursdays the most, just because of the promise of the weekend to come.  I'm all about the build up.

Anyone else in the NY area feel that earthquake yesterday?  That was very odd.

I had a lousy run today.  I guess I was due for one.  I had no spring in my step, and a cramp in my side.  I have to run 14 miles on Saturday, so I guess it was better that it happened today then Saturday.

I decided a few weeks ago I'm going ahead with getting a tatoo of a Celtic Cross, along with the initials of Mike and the kids.  I was going to wait until after the marathon, but my friend Dawn wants one too, and she convinced me to get it sooner than later.  I have a feeling I'm going to chicken out.

Every time I clean I shove things into my china cabinet.  It's starting to look like an episode of Hoarders in there.

How old is Miley Cyrus? 17??  After seeing her video for "Tamed," I give her two years until she shaves her head a la Britney Spears.

I am dying to weigh myself, but I'm going to resist.  Clothes are getting looser, but I don't want to get discouraged if the numbers aren't to my liking.

How psyched am I that we're switching cable providers tomorrow?  We'll have a DVR that records on one TV, but we can watch recorded shows on up to SEVEN other TV's.....I may never leave the house again.

I'm in the middle of reading Marian Keyes' new book The Brightest Star in the Sky.  LOVE HER.  Met her at a book signing and she is simply lovely in person. For those who asked, Heart of the Matter didn't disappoint, it's a perfect beach read.

I also just started the Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.  Between this and Skinny Bitch, I'm running out of excuses to eat meat.

I had a kitchen disaster the other night.  After stir frying some asian slaw, and mixing it with noodles, I ruined in by adding just a bit too much Huy Fong Garlic Chili Sauce.  It was lethal, and there was no fixing it. Bummer.

Miss Zippy has a new GU giveaway on her blog.

I hate it when you put laundry in and forget to turn on the machine.  That sets me back more than you know.

I'm hosting my book club tonight.  You know what that means.

Time for a glass of wine.

Let's Review

Seems like I'm always cooking something, eating something, or doing dishes.  This past week was particularly fun because I had a chance to try out two new things, one from Amazing Grass, and the other from CSN Stores.

I've already professed my love for Amazing Grass Superfood, it's an organic wheat grass powder that is high in antioxidants, and helps you reach your daily quota of fruits and veggies.  I've been using for a year now and add it to my smoothies.  I truly think it gives my immune system a boost.  There were times this past winter when I felt a cold coming on, I would slam an extra serving for a day or two, and I'd be back to normal.  Well, they have a new product called Green Energy SuperFood, which has the addition of Yerba Mate from Guayaki and organic Matcha green tea, and provides 85 mg of caffeine.  I first heard of Yerba Mate on an episode of Getting Fresh With Sara Snow, it's a plant based form of caffeine found in South America.  The Green Energy also contains probiotics.

The first time I tried the Green Energy was on an afternoon that I was feeling sluggish, so I shook some up with water in a sippy cup (I've kept some around because they do a decent job of mixing things when I don't feel like using then cleaning the blender).  The lemon lime flavor was nice, and it did perk me up.  The powder might have worked better with juice, but I didn't have any on hand.  I stuck with my practice of adding it to smoothies, although the lemon flavor didn't work well with bananas!  I used it first thing in the morning in place of my coffee, and what worked best for me was to blend it with milk, frozen blueberries and a peach, the flavor was light and refreshing.   I wasn't sure if it would do the job of coffee, but surprisingly enough, it did.  And I didn't have a jittery caffeine feeling like I sometimes do with java. 

You've probably seen CSN popping up on various blogs, their website has stores that cover anything you could possibly need, from exercise equipment to housewares and furniture.  I use saute pans and skillets almost daily, so I was thrilled to test out a set of porcelain nonstick skillets from Rachel Ray's cookware line, one 8", one 10" and one 12".  I don't usually read packaging, but I noted that since these are porcelain, you need to be careful with them on a glass cook top, which I have.  If the pan overheats it can stick to the glass and then you have a bit of a problem.

I make grilled cheese for Luke pretty often, and I hate having to wash a huge pan just for a sandwich, in this case I used the 10 inch.  I use a cover on a pan to make sure the cheese gets melted, these didn't come with one so I used one of my own, the sandwich came out great, it was browned evenly on both sides.

I loved the nonstick surface, I used the 12" pan several times to wilt spinach, brown onions, and sweat mushrooms, in each case I used much less olive oil than what I would in a regular pan, and other times I just used cooking spray.  The sides of the pan go up just enough to give you room to stir without the food flying out. 

I thought the ultimate test would be to make an omelet.  I used 3 eggs, with a splash of milk, ground pepper and a dash of salt, and beat them well, then used cooking spray on the 10 inch pan.  The eggs cooked quickly, and didn't stick, which eggs tend to do.  Once the eggs were almost cooked through, I sprinkled 2 tablespoons of feta on one side, and a handful of cooked spinach on the other, and topped that with a quarter cup of cooked baby portabella mushrooms.  After a minute I folded the omelet up, and slid it easily onto the plate.  I was very happy with the end result, the eggs were browned on the outside, but soft on the inside.

Another thing I liked about the skillets, was the grippy handle, it never got hot and made it that much easier to hold. 

As I said,  this was a fun week in the the kitchen.  But please note, I received a container of the Green Superfood, and the Rachel Ray Skillets for the purpose of this review.   The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the products provided.

I'm Going Places

This weekend was another busy couple of days, including our first BBQ of the season, a celebratory lunch, and a 13 mile run.  Headed out around seven a.m. Saturday with my sis in law Jeannine, and friend Norine.  Wanted to get out before the heat and humidity hit hard, it was 75 degrees when we took off from my house.  We settled right into a ten minute pace, and ran the 10k Turkey Trot loop, then headed into town.  At the seven mile mark, our friend Heather came running along towards us, she was doing a 9 mile loop in the opposite direction, and we convinced her to join us. 

Heather had lent me a spare fuel belt, and I tested it out on this run, I should have used all four bottles, but I had one of water, and one of nuun.  At mile 8 I sucked down a GU, then we were off again, charging up a hill and back into my neighborhood.  I started to get tired at about 11.5 miles.  It was after nine o'clock at that point, and although it was getting warm, I got goosebumps, so I slowed down a bit.  I thought for a split second about stopping.  I realize I have some work to do regarding my mental toughness, when a run starts to get difficult.  Instead of giving in to it, I shook the thought out of my head and kept going, and didn't stop until G-Unit read 13 miles.  Overall, it was a good run, the photo above is from the route.

MCM Mama passed the "I'm Going Places" award to me, I'm supposed to tell you where I'll be in ten years, then pass it along to ten bloggers.  In ten years I will be the mother of two teenagers, one of them will probably have his learners permit so I'll finally have someone else to send to the store if I need to.  I will have celebrated over 20 years of marriage.  I'll be a marathon finisher, taken a stab at trail running, and will be back to playing tennis on a regular basis.  I hope to be happily employed, with 8 years left on my mortgage, and have shown my kids some of the world around us.

I pass this along to:
Katie at Legally Fit
AJH at Age Groups Rock
Suzy at Running On My Time
Julie at Julie's Running Blog
Blue Violet at Nut in a Nutshell
J at Morning Runner
Nicki at Thoughts, Art and Friends
Alyssa at Bloggin 2 Noggin
Susan at Susan's Family Formula
Amo at Where a Woman Shakes Her Tablecloth

My Health and Fitness Inspiration

On this lovely Sunday, I wanted to re-post something I wrote last year.  It's about my Dad, my health and fitness inspiration:

This is my Dad. He's 64. A former Tri-Athlete and Marathon Runner, he was also a swimmer and diver for Chapel Hill. He still runs on a daily basis, and started eating meat again a few years ago. So as his 37 year old daughter, I feel a bit lame if I don't run because I'm "tired."


He started bringing me and my brother and sister to the health food store back in the late '70's, it was a tiny store with creaky wooden floors, and we picked out carob chip candy bars and cookies at the end of each excursion. He stir fried our veggies, tossed tofu into milk shakes, and made salads large enough to serve six as a snack. I learned that eating healthy was just a way of life.

We took hikes in the nature preserve year round (my brother fell through some ice in a creek one winter, that was scary), swam in the lake in Maine and the beach in North Carolina, played tennis and rode our bikes everywhere we could. We never sat around, there was always something to do to burn off energy.

My parents have been divorced for over 30 years, and my Dad has had some ups and downs in his life. He always asks about my races, and sends me running or food articles that he thinks I'd like. He knows the newest gadgets, on his last visit he brought this stick that he uses to massage his calf muscles.

Now that I'm the parent, I love how my kids like to share my smoothies, pop edamame in their mouths, and ask me how my exercise was. I'm already leading by example, because I myself have a wonderful teacher.

Five For Friday

I did something to my back/neck this week.  I woke up Wednesday and it hurt to move, I had to do the old roll out of bed move that I used back in my pregnancy days.  Luckily Wednesday was a rest day, so I popped some advil and took a few hot showers.  Managed to run six miles yesterday, but today it's still a bit stiff.  I think it's because I've been sleeping in so many different beds these past few weekends and it's catching up with me. 

I finally ordered a running skirt! They had a great sale going on, and I bit the bullet and bought one in camo/purple. My sis in law had ordered the same one, so now we'll match for the Boilermaker. We did the matching thing a couple of years ago, and wore pink tech shirts, but I think the skirts are more fun.  We're planning on a 13 mile run tomorrow, just in time for the 90 degree heat and humidity due to arrive this weekend.

I love my Jeep.  I bought it alone, negotiated the deal myself (although it did help that the dealership advertised in the newspaper I worked for, and my boss called ahead and let them know I was coming).  Love love love it.  We've had it forever and it has 137,000 miles on it. I hope it lasts a bit longer, but things keep needing to be fixed on it, and Mike has told me to prepare myself for when it finally bites the dust.  I really hope that doesn't happen for a looong time.

I decided that my favorite time of day is when we go to bed and we check on the kids slumbering away. Last night Luke looked like a teenager, and he's only six.

If you've read my blog for a while, you know that my mother in law went through treatment this past year for breast cancer.  Things are looking good now, so my father in law is hosting a lunch on Father's Day to celebrate the news.  Most of D's family and friends who did the fundraising walk for breast cancer last fall will be there.  So Sunday should be an extra good day. 

Chowhound.

I'm in a curiosity mood again.  As in, food.  What you eat, when you eat it, etcetera and so on.  Yesterday I took a picture of everything I ate, at least I think I did.  Yesterday was an odd day, I ran in the morning and had a ton of errands to do so I didn't eat lunch until late.  Then I was gone for a few hours getting my hair cut and my roots done.  But since it's Wednesday, and some bloggers do the Wordless Wednesday thing, here is my semi wordless food post.

I've been starting my day with this for the past week:

Have to follow it with coffee.

Late lunch was this on a roll with a bit of cheddar cheese and salsa.  I also had some leftover pasta salad that my sister in law made, along with two salt potatoes.

I forgot we had this in the freezer downstairs, it's from Luke's birthday over a month ago.  I only had a couple of bites.

Had to celebrate my hair being one color again with some of this:

Late dinner with Mike, corn on the grill, blackened salmon with salsa, rice with carrots mixed in, field greens with balsamic and avocado.

So, what did you eat?

Name that tune.

My mind keeps going back to two things about my weekend away, the car ride, and Bourbon Balls. 

My cousin's fiance is from Kentucky, and his mom came up to NY for the bridal shower, armed with Bourbon Balls as party favors.  Holy cow, how have I not had these before?  Chocolate and booze topped with a pecan and wrapped in shiny paper?? I swiped an extra box when no one was looking.

For the trip down and back, I spent a total of nine hours in the car, alone.  And I thoroughly enjoyed it, just me and the open road, music blaring, stopping whenever I wanted to.   No Kid's Bop, Raffi, or Disney movies on the DVD player, just me and my thoughts.  It was heaven.  But it was really weird to look in the rear view mirror and not see car seats.

Which brings me to music.  I've had Kings of Leon on repeat, and even though I have three ipods currently on rotation, I need some new tunes.  So help me out, tell me your favorite songs to work out to, I'm not picky, I go from rock to country to rap to disco to grunge, I just need to keep my groove on.

What I'll Run for.....and the winners....

I've always had running a marathon on my To Do List.  The seed was planted in my brain when I was a kid and my Dad would take us to watch the NYC Marathon in his Brooklyn neighborhood.  He ran NYC, and was also a Triathlete, so I just assumed I would do one or the other when I was older.  My kids are the age now where training is more doable, and since I have this feeling that I'm going to be going to back to work sooner than later, this year is the year to do it.

Once I decided to run, I then thought about what I would run for.  I want to run for myself, but I also want to put some kind of meaning to my first marathon.  I checked out a bunch of races, but I kept getting pulled back to the MVP Marathon in Rochester, NY.  I ran the half marathon last year, and loved the course, and I lived there for 5 years so it was nice to have that sense of being in my old 'hood.  When I saw the date of it, September 12, I knew I found it, and what I would run for.
I was living in NYC on September 11, I wrote a post about it last year around the anniversary of it.  It has affected me to this day.  I'm going to run as a reminder of all that what was lost that day, and it will be a big F#*% You to those who tried to break us all down.  I have been thinking of what kind of shirt I'll wear for it, and Zoe made one up the other day that I think I'm going to have to buy! 

Okay, onto the winners of the Drymax socks give away.....thanks to everyone who entered!  I had three drawings, one for each sock size, and used random.org to pick the winners:

Size Small: Tam at Borrachas Sin Fronteras
Size Medium: Tricia at Endurace Isn't Only Physical
Size Large: Tim from 26.2 Quest

Email me your deets and I'll get your socks right out to you!!

Nature outside my door

I'm starting to feel a bit like Doctor Doolittle, with all the wildlife that keeps showing up around my house. Aside from the raccoon and owl that live out back, we had a bird stuck in the garage overnight, and a chipmunk has taken up residence under our front bushes. The thing is not scared of us at all, when we're outside playing with the kids, it weaves back and forth, in and out of the garage. He's quite obnoxious. Now I'm seeing animals while I'm on the treadmill. On my last run, I felt like someone was staring at me, so I looked up at the sliding glass door, and there was a big ass deer just standing there staring at me. He didn't move for fifteen minutes, until I was done running. This morning I was on the treadmill again, and saw a huge cat waltzing by the door, he was kind of creepy looking, but way too fat to be a stray. What the heck is going to show up next??

I'm going away again this weekend, down to Westchester for my cousin's bridal shower. I'm going solo, and I'm excited because I get to see my sister's new house, and my nieces who are 11 months and two. But going away meant figuring out how to get my long run in, which I was lucky enough to do today. Mike took the day off so we could go to Luke's spring concert at school, and he said he would watch the kids this morning so I could run. I wanted to go outside, but the weather was iffy, so I treadmilled it. I ran 12 miles, in what I think was a little over two hours. At some point the time clock on the treadmill reached its max and turned over, and I'm not sure when that happened exactly. It was a good run though, made easier by a Real Housewives of NYC marathon (can't WAIT for the reunion special tonight).

I forgot to put a link to Amazing Grass in my energy bar post. For those of you who asked, it's powdered wheat grass, with all sorts of good stuff added, which helps you get your daily quota of veggies. I've been using it for a year now, and put it in my smoothies, I really think it gives my immune system a boost. Today I was psyched to receive a jar of their new High Energy Drink powder, which has Matcha and Yerba Mate in it, so I'll do a review of that soon.

In the meantime, don't forget the Drymax socks giveaway.....you can enter here.

My Version of an Energy Bar

This post is long overdue. I don't often buy energy bars, I am more of a smoothie person, but they're good to have around when you're starving and need something quick, or if you're traveling. I decided to take a stab at making my own, mostly for Mike to take to work, he drives hundreds of miles every week, and I thought it would be a healthy, portable snack for him to have in the car.

So here it is, a bar full of all my favorite things: oats, dried cherries, almonds, mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, and Amazing Grass. They're easy to make, I've been keeping them in the fridge, but I'm sure they would freeze well individually wrapped.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of organic, natural, crunchy peanut butter
2/3 cup of honey
1 1/4 cup oats
1 cup krispy rice cereal
1 cup dried cherries (I put them in whole, but you can chop them up)
1/2 cup raw almonds (again, I put them in whole)
2 scoops of Amazing Grass Superfood, Berry Flavor
1/3 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
non-stick spray
8 x 8 brownie pan

1. mix the peanut butter and honey together in a medium size pot, on medium heat. Stir until melted, about five minutes. Make sure the peanuts don't brown too much, or burn. Then mix in the Amazing Grass until well blended.
2. take off heat, and stir in oats and rice cereal. Then mix in the cherries, almonds, and chips.
3. spray the brownie pan with non-stick spray, pour the mix in, and press down hard with either your fingers or a spatula, so that it's well packed, and even on top.
4. Put into the fridge for at least three hours to set. Cut with a serrated knife and enjoy!

ADK Run

I was happy to have a new route to run this past Saturday, for the second weekend in a row. I went from the beach to the mountains, as we were visiting Mike's Mom for the weekend at their home in the Adirondacks. Usually when I run up there, it's in a state campground along the lake next to the house. I like it because it's woodsy, hilly, and beautiful. Although sometimes I get spooked that a bear is going to come charging out of the woods to eat me, and campfire smoke isn't the greatest when you're sucking in air, but if I get the chance to run, I go.

I planned a ten mile run on Saturday, it looked like it was going to rain for a while, so I tested my favorite theory, if you want the sun to come out, leave the sunglasses at home. And it worked. This was the first time I was bringing water on a long run, as well as a Clif Shot Gel in raspberry. Usually after six miles I'm ready for water, and this was only the second time I brought gel on a run, I'm testing out how they work on my stomach, and so far so good. I think it's funny how all the times I've done long runs, (Boilermaker, my half marathon) I've made due with Powerade and water. So this is a new ballgame for me.

Mike drove me to the bottom of their street, which is a steep hill, I would have blown out my legs before I had even started if I ran down to the main road. I've walked down, as well as up (one night I walked home with Jeannine from the bar....but that's another story) but running is different. Off I went, right away I saw I was running an 8:50 pace, so I slowed down to a 10 minute mile. Went through town, and onto a bike path, it was hot when the sun came out, but the breeze did a great job of keeping me cool.

I got to the point where I planned to turn around, at a Donut shop that has THE BEST sugar and plain donuts. Kept sipping my water, and when I had hills, I ran them around an 11:30 minute pace. I planned on taking the energy gel at mile six, and the next time I checked G-Unit, it was 6.3 miles in. So I sucked it down, the flavor was decent, but I wasn't thrilled with how warm it was. At the eight mile mark I saw Mike coming down the road in the Jeep, I told him I had two miles left, so I ran up to the golf course and back to finish it off. Ended with a 1:45 for 10 miles. Averaged a 10:16 pace, which I was happy with, because even after the hills, I had energy left, and my stomach didn't explode from the gel.

My next race is the Boilermaker, it's a month away and I'm planning on being better about my diet until then. I've been "splurging" a bit too much lately, especially since Mike came home with pretzel M&M's. As if I needed a new chocolate candy to covet. I'm also going to start taking Isotonix this week, the multi-vitamin and opc-3. Mike's co-worker gave me a bottle of each to try out, he swears by it so we'll see how that goes.

Note my pathetic attempt at including an elevation chart of my run from Garmin. Mike did something with my laptop security settings last weekend, so I resorted to putting it in as a photo. Along with a photo of the two of us last night after dinner, right before I fell asleep with Eliza in her bed at 9:30. Yup, it was a wild Saturday night in the Adirondacks.

Drymax Socks Giveaway....3 winners for this one....

I cringe when I think of how I used to work out in cotton socks. I even ran in cotton socks. But after I bought my first pair of running socks, I found out what I was missing. That led to a search for the perfect sock, which I finally found last fall. I love Drymax socks, known for keeping your feet super dry, which helps prevent blisters. Because of the way the socks are woven, it's best not to use lubricants or have tape on your feet when wearing them.

Those benefits aside, I also like how well they fit my feet. They don't have that annoying thick seam across the toes, and I feel like they hug my arch, which feels really nice when you're dealing with PF. I wear the hiking socks with my Birkenstocks in the fall, and I have a pair that go up almost to my knees, which I wear to bed when it's freezing outside.

So the lovely folks at Drymax gave a chance for three people to win a pair of their running socks. I have one pair in Small (women size 5 -7, men's 3.5 - 5.5), one in Medium (women size 7.5 - 9.5, men's 6-8), and one in Large (women 10-12, men's 8.5 - 10.5).


To enter, please visit the Drymax website, and leave me a comment. Make sure you include your sock size.


For extra entries (please leave a separate comment for each):


1. be a follower of my blog or become one.
2. spread the word via blog, twitter, yadda yadda yadda.


Giveaway ends at midnight on Sunday June 13.


Note: I was not compensated in any way for my thoughts on Drymax, it's entirely my own opinion.

I definitely celebrated this Holiday

I'm happy I get to celebrate National Running Day, by actually running! I was hoping to run four miles last night after our ride home from Long Island, but traffic, a thunderstorm, and two kids needing dinner and baths kind of got in the way.

I was not in the mood to do anything today, like put the house back in order, grocery shop, visit the dry cleaners, Monday type stuff, not Hump Day stuff. But Mike called and said he was going to be home by four which meant I could get outside for a run! So after two iced coffees I threw on my Domestic Goddess hat and got to it, along with catching up on a bunch of blogs and a few other things. I have some giveaways and reviews coming up, and I need to post some recipes I've been tinkering with. I'm partnering up with CSN Stores again to do a review, if you haven't heard of them they have everything under the sun, from a sleeper sofa, to exercise equipment to cookware.

I felt like challenging myself today, and decided to do my four miles in under 40 minutes. So off I went in the heat (once again we skipped spring), with my ipod kickin' and G-Unit on my wrist and settled into a quick pace. I haven't been pushing myself as much as I should be, and there were moments when I felt it. After two miles I got one of those annoying cramps under my right shoulder blade, but I rotated my arm for a bit and it went away.

I had about 3/4 of a mile left when a car came along, and it was my friend Kelly! She yelled some words of encouragement, and I dug in for the rest of the run......ended with four miles in 37:30, with a 9:22 pace.....goal attained! For the heck of it, I looked at my time from the Shamrock Race, a four mile race I did in March. That time was 39:19, in 32 degree weather, today it's 80 degrees. I'd call that a PR!

Happy Running Day!

Those Who Run Seem To Have All The Fun

I have so much to yap about, that I thought it would be appropriate to quote Madonna, as Hung Up showed up on my ipod while I was out running on Saturday. I'm a bit drained from a weekend full of emotions from our last hurrah at my Mom's house, I took the time to fully appreciate each moment, but now it's one of those times that I need a vacation from my vacation.

We spent as much time as possible outside and down by the beach, I made it to the Tiki Bar on Friday night with my BFF's, brought the kids for ice cream, for lunch, and two afternoons of swimming and playing in the sand. Correction, playing in the rocks and shells. This beach is on the North Shore of Long Island, and can be rocky, and if you're not used to it, downright painful. We talked about Bayville Beach Feet, which is what you acquire growing up on those beaches, and Mike and the kids definitely do not have it.

The one thing I did not do was run to the beach, as I had planned. There was construction on the road that leads to the water, and I wasn't too keen on dealing with a mess, plus cars that might not be paying attention. As Mike said, it would really put a damper on the weekend if I got hit by a car. So I stuck to roads closer to my Mom's house for both runs, an eight miler on Saturday, and three on Monday. Both days I ran in the cemetery, which sounds a little creepy, but it's not. It's a beautiful, leafy, hilly, quiet space, and we used to go for walks there when I was younger. There are people I know laid to rest there, and if you've seen the movie Grey Gardens, Little Edie Beale is there too. For my longer run I made it to my old high school, and did a few laps around the track. Which reminded me of a conversation I had with my girlfriends on Friday night, we all played field hockey together, and used to cheat on our runs during practice. Half of the course we ran was on the field, and the other half in the woods. We used to walk when we got into the woods, chatting away thinking we were so slick, until one time one of the coaches jumped out from behind a tree and yelled "GOTCHA!" We had to do many a make up lap for that one.

Of course, no holiday weekend would be complete without food. Pizza by the water, bacon and cheese on an Everything Flagel for breakfast from the deli paired with iced coffee, steamed clams, crab cakes, watermelon and sweet corn all made an appearance. I saw so many people who live in the area who are important to me, and at a BBQ on Sunday, I felt like it was a scene from 30 Something (which is finally out on DVD) having a beer with my friends in a backyard where the kids ran around, the husbands were yapping away, and the sky was blue.

Good thing I ran huh?