I’ve Moved

I’ve moved!!

Adventures of a Mother-Daughter Running Duo is now… 2 Generations Running!!

Visit me at my new home by clicking here.

Run To Kick Cancer 5K

Happy Sunday everyone!

I wanted to take the time to check in on the blog this weekend for 2 reasons – first to share a recap of the Resolution Run To Kick Cancer 5K, and second, to let you all know that I’ll be launching the new blog on Monday!! Are you excited?! ‘Cause I am. So check in to AdventuresMotherDaughterDuo.com as usual on Monday, and I’ll direct you to the new blog. 🙂

So as I mentioned in a previous post, the Resolution Run is one of my favorite 5Ks to do. It was one of the first races my mom and I signed up for in the early stages of training for our first half marathon about 3 years ago. All the proceeds go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, and the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology department at the Floating Hospital for Children. A lot of cancer survivors will run the race, and there are prizes for the top 3 male/female cancer survivors. You can also register to join the registry of bone marrow donors at the race, something my mom and I did last year when we ran.

Not only does this race support a wonderful and important cause, it also has the BEST FOOD of any race I have ever run. And I do not say that lightly. 😉 So, I was looking forward to running, despite my strained hamstring.

It was pretty darn cold (about 15 degrees), so my mom and I were happy to hang out in Lexington’s indoor track/gymnasium area after picking up our packets.

We walked around, stretched a bit, and paused to take a picture in front of the fun backdrop they had-

I love their slogan – “Think Winter Running is Hard? Try Battling Cancer”.

After a little more stretching, we lined up outside – and were off! The first 5-10 minutes felt the worst for my hamstring. My steps felt short and choppy because swinging my right leg too far forward made the muscle ache.  Not great, but I knew I could make it for 3.2 miles. My mom and I ran together at a nice, comfortable pace. We ended up running negative splits – 10:10 for the first mile, 9:28 for the second, and 9:02 for the third. Not too bad for not feeling my best! I would have liked to have been able to race it more competitively, but I know for now it’s best that I take it easy and work on healing before the half marathon in Florida next weekend.

Before I knew it, we were crossing the finish line and making our way back inside to finally sample the delicious spread! My final results-

They had Larabar granola, pastries and bagels from Panera, sandwiches and wraps from local delis, pizza, cookies, Greek yogurt, hummus and pita chips, and thankfully– coffee!

We loaded up our plates with  some wraps and a couple pastries and happily dug in as we warmed up. 🙂 It was another wonderful race.

The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent by the fire, rooting for the Patriots! It was such an exciting game! Go Pats!

Hope you’re having a GREAT weekend! Don’t forget to check back here Monday to be redirected to the new blog! 

A Wednesday Night Workout!

Happy almost-weekend!!

Are you guys experiencing this arctic chill?

“Feels like -8“. Ugh. Only 8 days till sunny Florida!

Last night, my mom, brother, and I went to an indoor track workout put on by our running club! Every Wednesday night during the winter, they put on a group workout – last night’s was focused around hard running (80 to 90% effort).

We started with a mile warm-up before partnering up for a relay-style workout. One partner ran 2 laps hard before tagging their partner, so you got to recover a bit while your partner was running before going again. Each partner did that 5 times, so you were running a mile total at a fast pace.

I was absolutely loving it, and having flashbacks to high school indoor track! I finished the first 5 sets with my partner, no problem.

We then had a little rest before moving onto the second set, which was similar – except each partner was only running 1 lap before tagging off, and we were supposed to do 10 sets of that. I was on my 3rd or 4th sprint, when I felt a sudden tightening in the back of my leg, on my hamstring. I tried to ignore it at first, thinking that it was nothing, but nope – suddenly, I could barely pull my leg forward in a normal step, much less sprint. Much to my disappointment, I stopped doing the workout and tried to gently stretch and roll the muscle.

Because you don’t stretch. That’s why.

It still feels pretty darn tender and painful this morning, so it seems pretty clear that my hamstring has been pulled or strained. 😦 Looking back, that workout might have been a little intense for me, not having done a sprint workout in who knows how long! And I definitely didn’t stretch enough before.

On Saturday, we’re running the Resolution to Kick Cancer 5K (one of my favorites!). I had originally been hoping to run it relatively fast, but now I’m just hoping my leg will feel better and I’ll be able to do it at a nice, slow pace. And of course, there’s the Clearwater Distance Classic Half Marathon in 10 days! So I’ll be foam-rolling, icing, and taking plenty of anti-inflammatories and hoping for the best.

Another quick update- I’m hard at work at rebranding!! I’m so excited to eventually reveal the new blog Adventures of a Mother-Daughter Running Duo will be transforming into! I still have a lot to do so it will be a while, but I just can’t wait to show you all. 🙂

Have a great day and enjoy your weekend!

2015

Happy belated New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful time ringing in the New Year! My New Years Eve was low-key, but it was spent with family and loved ones, and that made it pretty special. 🙂

I have a quick correction to make from my last post – in it, I said my mom and I had crossed off 3 states… BUT I FORGOT ABOUT THE SHAMROCK HALF IN VA!! So make that 4 states, for a total of 7 states down. Only 43 to go! 😉

But given that my last post was looking back on 2014, I figured now would be a good time to talk about 2015- goals, resolutions, the typical New Year drill. 🙂

• Incorporate a weekly hill workout into my running routine. I know hills are good for me. I know that, but I still hate them with a passion. Well, I want to try to change that in 2015. There are plenty of hills in the surrounding neighborhoods, so I’m going to suck it up, and start running them.

Hopefully this doesn’t happen to me.

• Get a little speedier. To be specific, I’m hoping to start running half marathons averaging around 8:20-8:40 minutes/mile more regularly. And I wouldn’t mind a PR in a 5k either. This goal is a bit long-term, but I’m excited to start working on it.
• Keep crossing off states. Florida is next and we leave in 9 days! I’M SO EXCITED!!!!
• Keep using online workout videos for cross-training. In 2014, I discovered Fitnessblender, and finally started doing some different types of workouts (for example, I discovered I actually enjoy their 10 minute Tank Top Arms workout!) Through my ambassadorship with Sweat Pink, I’m currently getting to test out workouts from Gigabody.com right now! Like Fitnessblender, Gigabody offers users access to tons of different types of workouts of varying difficulty (though you need to join for $8.99/month in order to view the workouts). I’m still checking it out, but a full review is on the way!

And in terms of blogging goals…

• I’m looking to rebrand Adventures of a Mother-Daughter Running Duo in 2015! At the blogging conference I attended at the Heartbreak Hill Half, several successful bloggers stressed the importance of not being afraid of change.

Or in this case, the blog matures with us. 😉 The blog will still be about running with my mom and our plan to run a half in every state (OBVIOUSLY), but I’m looking to shorten the name, and give it a slightly different look. So, I will be starting to work on that very soon, but I will try to keep posting regularly in the mean time.

So that’s a quick look at some of my plans for 2015! I’m very excited for the New Year and all the new things it will bring. 🙂

Do you have any resolutions for the New Year?

Reflecting on 2014

Happy New Year’s Eve!

Can you believe 2015 is already here?! 2014 seems like it just flew by for me. 🙂 It was a great year overall, and before making some New Years Resolutions, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at what happened this year.

• My mom and I crossed off 3 more states in our mission to run 13.1 miles (or more) in every state – Vermont (with the Mad Half Marathon), Connecticut (with the Amica Iron Horse Half), and New York (with the Rochester Marathon)

 

• We also experienced running up Heartbreak Hill with the Runners’ World Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon and Festival. That hill was tough even as a half marathon, and I have a new respect for the Boston marathoners who have to run it after having already completed 18 miles!

• We also got to hear Shalane Flanagan speak at the event, which was so incredible! She was so down-to-earth and funny, and I’ll definitely be rooting for her in 2015.
• In September, my mom and I finished our first marathon – the Rochester Marathon!! After playing with the idea of a marathon for so long (and even mentioning it in my 2014 Non-Resolutions post), it feels incredible to think I actually did it. And I know for sure that there will be more. Even though my toenail still hasn’t completely grown back. 😉

• I began my senior year of college at SUNY Geneseo… and then I graduated. I absolutely loved my undergrad experience, and I am very excited to go back and see my friends in May and walk at my graduation.
• I continued to grow this blog! When I first started blogging, I didn’t really know what I was doing (at all). But I’ve learned so much since then, and I’m so happy to see my little corner of the internet improving! Now that I’m home, I’m really excited to devote some time to making it even better (but I’ll talk more about that later!)

I want to come up with some goals for the new year. But for now, I’m pretty happy to just celebrate 2014.

I hope you enjoyed 2014 too and have a wonderful New Year’s Eve!

A Christmas Recap

Hello again!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I certainly did!

Before Christmas Eve dinner!

With no small children in the house, we slept in pretty late and didn’t end up opening presents until around 9-ish. We had a leisurely morning, sipping coffee and listening to Christmas music while we opened all the presents. As expected, Brady hid upstairs, only making appearances for the occasional dog biscuit. 😉 Once all the presents had been opened, he did return, and I rewarded him by turning him into Rudolph and then featuring him in a SnapChat photoshoot.

He loves me.

After opening gifts, we put our French toast casserole in the oven to bake (we had prepped it the night before, so there was no cooking to be done that morning). We followed this recipe, and it was incredible. Everyone loved it, and we’ve decided that this might have to be a regular Christmas tradition. 🙂

Around noon, my mom and I headed out for a Christmas run. The weather was unseasonably mild, and we both ran in only mid-length tights and t-shirts! I would have loved a white Christmas, but it was a nice change to be able to run in such good weather. We got in a good six miles before heading home to shower and clean up.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and making a Bûche de Noël with my dad. Despite some issues (discovering we didn’t have any parchment paper for one!), it still turned out pretty well and tasted delicious!

Worrying about the state of our dessert.

 

And now being goofy.

And the finished product-

My mom and I both had to work the Friday and Saturday after Christmas, but on Sunday, we were both free and went to our running club’s weekly run – my first time back since coming home from school! It was so fun seeing everyone, and we got in a great 4 mile run, despite the rainy morning. Now that I’m home, I’m really looking forward to being able to go to more of our running club’s events!

Afterwards, I dressed cozily for the rainy day, wearing my new mint Nike hoodie. 🙂

It’s so soft and comfortable, and I know it’ll be great for runs, once our weather cools down again!

In the afternoon, my mom and I went to see Into the Woods. The theater was packed, and the movie definitely did not disappoint! It was just as good as I remember (from when I played violin in the pit orchestra for my high school’s production of it), and just as funny! Chris Pine as Prince Charming was hilarious.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and in advance – HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Home For the Holidays

Hello hello!

I’m finally home and back to the blog! 🙂 It feels so wonderful to be back for the holidays, with my family and of course, Brady and Keeper!

I think they missed me. 🙂

It’s been a crazy last few days – just to recap, my mom and I went into Boston on Thursday, and walked around Quincy Market a bit, window-shopping and keeping our eyes out for Christmas presents! We obviously had to take a picture of the beautiful tree.

We didn’t end up buying much, but my mom and I did share an oreo cannoli and cappucinos from one of the bakeries in Quincy Market, which was pretty fantastic!

I spent most of Friday and Saturday trying to unpack all the things I’ve accumulated since starting college – not an easy task!

But Sunday, my mom and I got our first run in together since my coming home! We decided to make it a long one, and ended up going just over 7 miles – my longest run in a while!

It was flurrying a little, but we bundled up and it wasn’t so bad. I guess we can’t really let the winter weather stop us, given that we’ll be running our Florida half marathon in less than a month! 🙂 When we got home, we had coconut pancakes (it was a mix from Trader Joe’s) – these were SO. GOOD. I forgot to take a picture because I was so hungry and happy to be eating pancakes. I’m a bad blogger. 😉

This morning, I’ve been doing a little wrapping, and took Brady on a brisk, 3-mile walk. He loves his exercise and was happy as a clam to go.

While we walked, I listened to the last episode of Serial. I learned about this podcast after reading about it on Natalie’s blog, and have been listening to it regularly. I’ve really enjoyed it, but I have to say I was a little disappointed by the ending. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, so I’ll just say it left me with some unanswered questions.

I’m looking forward to a relaxing and merry Christmas later this week – I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the time with your family and loved ones (including your pets!)!

If you listen to Serial, what did you think of the ending? 

 

 

How to Give Back By Running

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend! If you’re struggling with the back-to-work grind that is Monday, just remember, in exactly ten days, IT WILL BE CHRISTMAS!! 🙂 I have my last final and will be traveling home this week, so I apologize in advance – there will probably not be many posts this week! Check in next week and you’ll be rewarded with lots of cute pictures of my dogs. 🙂

Today I have a nice holiday post from my mom to share! So, without further ado…

With the holidays coming fast upon us,  it seems like a good time to take a moment to talk about giving back, whether the recipient is a family member, friend or your community.

There are so many ways to do this (and to even have some fun with it)!

Obviously, the most common way to give back is  straight up donations to your favorite charity, which is always great, especially if you work for a company that has a matching program, something worth asking about, or checking out on your company’s website.

Then there are those companies whose products give back through your purchase. Toms are one example (Nora has a pair, which she absolutely loves), and of course, there’s Janji, whose goal is “to help people in undeveloped countries get access to clean water through the sale of its clothing.”

Nora has reviewed Janji’s great apparel for us in a couple of posts, so we know their stuff is cool and comfy – and you get to support a great cause. (My  Janji shirt is so comfy and pretty that I prefer not to wear it out running, but to keep it as part of my stylish “athleisure” wardrobe. ) 😉

There are even special apps that help you put your running to charitable use! Runner’s World Magazine did a little piece about these apps in their March, 2014 issue, so check them out! FitCause, Run4Good, and CharityMiles are a few examples. Charity Miles works by donating 25 cents per mile run or walked and 10 cents per mile for biking. If one of these works for you, you can make your morning workouts benefit someone else, too!

I really liked this idea and checked these out myself, but as I am rather technologically-challenged (something my husband could definitely confirm)   I decided to make up my own charity running project. I made a simple spreadsheet, (which comes out different every time because I keep forgetting how to use Excel!) to log my miles, both running and walking.

At the end of the month, I add up the total and donate 50 cents for every mile to my favorite charity, Homes for Our Troops.  (This is a great organization that works to build especially adapted homes for disabled veterans ) Though I hadn’t intended this as a “motivational” tool for me, I found that I was really proud of the donations I made when the monthly totals were high – from training for the marathon – and so now, even though I’m not running quite as much, I’m still more motivated to get out there to keep those totals up.

I’m obviously not the first person to have this idea, but it’s become something I really enjoy doing. It’s simple and fun and that’s what’s made it so easy to incorporate into my routine for almost a year. And I figure when I’m too old to run  (haha), I will go on logging those walking miles, so this is one habit I won’t need to give up any time soon.

If you’re interested in checking out even more creative and inspiring ways to give back, you should take a look at the December issue of Runner’s World: there are some wonderful and inspiring stories of runners who have found some really cool ways to spread a little generosity.

So I hope that gives you a few ideas for your holiday running!

Have a great week! 🙂

Anticipating the Holidays

Hi again!

Again… Sorry it’s been a while since my last post. I had my first final yesterday and was studying diligently for it. 🙂 It’s crazy to think in exactly 5 days I’ll be done with my undergrad. AHHHHH! Lucky for me, my dad was nice enough to pick out a few things for a care package to help me get through all the studying. 🙂 I’ve been loving the Starbucks peppermint mocha via packets he sent! I only use a little bit of each packet, and mix it with regular coffee, otherwise it’s a little too sweet, but I love how festive it tastes!

I have to say I am very excited to go home and celebrate graduating and the holidays. I keep getting cute pictures of Brady and Keeper from my mom and I miss them!

Other things I’m excited about:

• Being able to run with my running buddy once again – and running 2 of our favorite holiday races: The Lowell First Run on New Years’ Day and the 5k Resolution Run to Kick Cancer. These were the first races my mom and I signed up for after deciding that we wanted to run a half marathon in the upcoming spring! They’re usually pretty brisk, but we always have a good time.

• 

  Here we are running the 10k on New Years Day!

• Getting to see our Christmas tree! Here’s a sneak peak of it:
• Enjoying some of my mom’s stellar home-cooked meals (and helping her out in the kitchen while listening to some good music!)
• Being able to read books for fun!! Haha, this is always something I miss during semesters, and I’m very excited to finally dig into my copy of Gone Girl.
• Going to see the movie Into the Woods with my mom. I was in the pit orchestra when my high school put on this play, and I fell in love with the music. With Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, and Johnny Depp all in Disney’s version, it’s sure to be good!
• 
• Obviously Christmas. The only individual in my house not looking forward to Christmas is our dog Brady – Christmas is basically his least favorite day of the year because he hates boxes and the tearing sound of wrapping paper. He usually ends up hiding away from all of us until the present opening is all finished.

What are you looking forward to around the holidays? Any special winter traditions?

Have a great end of the week/weekend!

 

Dear Running Sneakers…

Hello again!

Sorry I’ve been MIA this week – finals are here, and things are starting to get crazy! But I did manage to go for a great 6 mile run on Tuesday (averaged 8:57/mile!! Woo!). 🙂 That was the inspiration for today’s post.

Dear Running Sneakers,

Thank you for always being there for me. Even if I haven’t visited with you in weeks, I know you won’t hold it against me.

Thank you for protecting me from all the hard and painful things that might hurt my feet on a run. Sharp rocks, pointy sticks – they’re nothing now that I have you. No matter the season, I know you’ll be there to protect me from snow, mud, dirt – whatever I encounter.

Thank you for providing just the right amount of support and flexibility in our relationship. You allow my feet to flex and bend in just the right way to keep my toes happy and uninjured. But you also cushion my high arches and keep them comfortable no matter how many miles I’m running.

Thank you for helping me reach my dreams. I could never have run a marathon without you. And I certainly couldn’t run a half marathon in every state without you! Thanks for making these accomplishments and goals possible.

Thank you for boosting my confidence with your great style. I love your flashy blue color, and I love taking photographs with you. We look so good together.

Here’s to many more miles, races, and runs together!

Love,

Nora

 

Have a great weekend!