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? 

 

 

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!

 

4 Things Friday, Edition #2!

Happy Friday, we made it through this snowy week!

So earlier this week, I asked my mom to tackle a Four Things Friday post for today! After much thought, here is what she came up with 🙂

Four of my favorite BOOKS:

1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: You might remember my mentioning this novel in a previous blog post and remarking that I’d wished it had a sequel.

2. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall : This one’s non- fiction but the author writes with such humor about his adventures and the runners he meets that I think it would make a great movie! In addition to being thoroughly entertained, I’m learning tons of things about running and what it means to different people.  (I’m working on doing a review of it in more detail for later!)

3. Running with the Mind of Meditation  by Sakyong Mipham: This is another running book that has taught me a lot and connects the interest/skills I’ve learned in my meditation practice with my desire to run well – or at least to enjoy it! (This is another book I’d like to review for you all at some point!)

4. Anything by the historical fiction writer Mary Renault! (Sorry, it’s not possible to choose between them! That’s how good she is.)

Four of my favorite TV Shows:

1.  Downton Abbey: Ok, is there anyone who can resist this classy British soap opera?   The costumes and décor alone make it worth watching – and I have a soft spot for the cute Irish chauffeur – now son-in-law of the Crawleys. 🙂

2. Dancing with the Stars: Go ahead and laugh… In truth, at the beginning of each new season, I tell myself that I’m not going to watch this time around, and then I get sucked in after the first night!   Even though the concept is the same, the producers come up with enough variation to keep it interesting. As for the dancers, they keep coming up with bigger and more amazing routines – so I have to keep watching!

3. How to Get Away with Murder:   Though I found the first episode confusing, I now love this show! I think Viola Davis is amazing and though I am not sure how the writers are going to get more than one season out of this story-line /format, I love the twists and turns and hope the series can continue even after we know who killed Sam.

4.Parks and Recreation: Always funny!! And it’s impossible not to love Amy Poehler.

Four of my Favorite Races:

1. Amica Iron Horse Half, CN: This race had the best course, (beautiful fields and a pasture with horses and the cutest donkey), best shirt, and best grilled cheese. Also got my PR or 2h 1m here!

2. Support the Troops 5k, Andover MA: This race is, hands down, my favorite charity, and they had the cutest German shepherd puppy, and the best bagpipe players.

Who doesn’t love playing with puppies at races?

3. Mad Marathon, Waitsfield VT:  While it presented a challenge, this race had the most impressive hills, and we enjoyed the most memorable accommodations (The White Horse Inn).  But if someday you read that Nora and I plan to run the marathon at this race, you will know we have really and truly lost our minds.

You don’t run the World’s Most Beautiful Marathon without stopping to take a few pictures!

4. And last but not least, it has to be the Rochester Marathon: After months of preparation, it was epic and I still smile and shake my head when I remember running all those miles – and the great celebration we had afterwards with our family!

Four of my Favorite Things about Winter: (This one is a stretch but I am trying to psych myself up for what I am afraid is going to be a long, cold one! )

1. Without the yard work to do, there’s more time to look at recipes and make hearty soups and delicious desserts, like this chocolate cake from my goat cheese cookbook.

Winter means more time for chocolate cake.

2. When it’s too icy to run, I don’t feel guilty about just going for a long walk with Brady, my new running partner. (In Nora’s absence, of course.)

Nora’s dad joins us too sometimes!

3. In the winter, no one will know if I’ve gained a few pounds, not applied self-tanner for weeks, and skipped shaving my legs. And that, is pretty darn awesome I think.

4. And finally those long winter days afford me more time to sit in a cozy chair and read books about running, or to plan our next racing destination! 🙂

Stay warm and have a great weekend!

Fall Fitness Friday #4

Happy Friday!

Thank goodness we’ve finally reached the end of the week!

So, I have to admit the Fall Fitness Challenge was more of a Fall Fitness Fail this week. Oops. Halloween really threw me off my gameplan and I ended up hanging out with friends, eating candy, and sleeping late. And then not working out. So, let’s just forget about Saturday and Sunday.

Monday – got up early and managed to squeeze in 5 miles, woo! And I was excited to actually begin my run in the daylight, as my last several 7 am runs began in complete darkness. Thank goodness for Daylight Savings!

Tuesday – 40 minute pure Barre workout. I really like this workout, it makes my legs feel all jello-y after!

Wednesday – Exercise was walking around campus. It was a crazy day and I was still sore from Tuesday’s workout. (I know… excuses, excuses.)

Thursday – 10 minute arms. I still love this video! Some of the exercises are a little hard for me since I only have a set of 8-pound dumbbells, but I generally try to just do as many reps as I can.

My mom took Brady for a short run this week, and I received this funny picture when they had finished-

Apparently, Brady prefers sprints. Especially when there’s a tennis ball at the finish. 🙂

So here’s to hoping this next week goes somewhat better. This weekend, I’m looking forward to a visit to Letchworth State Park, where the foliage should be beautiful this time of year!

It should be fun to walk around and explore. 🙂

Hopefully, my fellow SPA’s did better on the challenge this week then I did! Hop on over to their blogs to find out 🙂

• Diane at Runnin Rocker
• Kristen K at Runaway with Me
• Kristen at Exploring Domesticity
• Ariana at Happy Life Healthy Life
• Brandi at Noteworthy Running
• Michelle at Fearless Beauty Fitness
• Kathy at Mama Marathoner

Have a great weekend!

Running Goals

Hello again!

Hope you all had a festive Halloween! Can you believe we’re moving on to Thanksgiving and then… *gasp… CHRISTMAS!

 

Going back to Saturday’s post, I wanted to let you all know the Janji project reached 100% funding, yay! If you purchased a shirt for yourself or someone else, thank you!

It’s crazy how fast this year is flying by. I’m happy to say, looking back, I’ve done really well with my Non-New Years Resolutions though! I remember cautiously voicing the idea of running a marathon in 2014, not being sure if I could actually do it!

Check that off the list! 🙂

However, I am getting awfully antsy to do another race. There may be one in the works, but stay tuned for more on that! For the next half marathon I do, I would love to maybe try for a personal record. I ran my best time for the half this past summer at the Amica Iron Horse Half in Connecticut in 1 hour 55 minutes, which is around 8:40/mile.

I would love to squeeze this down to 1:50 (am I jinxing myself by putting this in writing? Please tell me I’m not.)

Maybe it’s the competitive streak in me, but I love how running races gives you the chance to compete against yourself. I can’t really think of any other sport where that’s the case. Obviously, there are other runners there to race against, but I don’t think I’m ever going to be the first female finisher in a half or full. So, I can just focus on improving my performance and forget about the other racers. I’ve never been very good about fitting speedwork into my running – I generally prefer to go out and run at a comfortable pace for however many miles I am planning on doing that day. But I wonder how much stronger I would feel as a runner if I got better about doing this? So, I’m starting to browse around for 1:50 half marathon training plans. If you have a plan that’s worked well for you, I’d love to hear about it!

That’s about all I have time for (got an exam this week), but stay tuned for Friday’s Fall Fitness Challenge update. 🙂

Do you enjoy speedwork? Do you like to “compete” against yourself in running?

Life Lessons From Brady & Keeper

Hey there!

This week I’ve been continuing to get ready to go back to school. I’m definitely going to miss my family… and that includes Brady (our chocolate lab) and Keeper (the black lab)! 🙂 I’ve learned a lot from these two dogs over the years, so I thought I would share some of these important life lessons (and treat you all to some really cute photos). So without further ado…

Go ahead, plant a big, ol’ kiss on someone’s cheek. The sloppier the better.

But make sure you slather on some sunscreen unless you have a thick, fur coat to protect you.

Long day? Pour yourself a glass of wine and grab a good book. Also – nap.

 

Present someone in your family with one of their shoes. Even if they don’t ask for it. Bonus points if you carry it in your mouth. 🙂

It doesn’t matter if you have two left feet. Or paws.

Run. Swim. Chase tennis balls. Whatever you love doing.

 What life lessons have you learned from your pet? 🙂

The Iron Horse Half and Other News…

Hey there!

My mom and I are starting to get very excited. We are only three short days away from crossing off the state of Connecticut! We will have to depart our house at the lovely hour of 4 AM, but hey, that means no traffic, RIGHT?! It’s going to be one for the books, that’s for sure. 

To keep our legs active (but not tired), my mom and I took Brady on a 4 mile walk today around a nearby lake. The past two days were downright cold, in the low sixties and rainy, so the sunshine today was a nice change! I think Brady appreciated it too. 

In other news, we had a new kitchen tool arrive in the mail today! We got a spiralizer, and I am beyond excited to start spiralizing every vegetable/fruit in sight! I learned about spiralizers after coming across the blog, Inspiralized. Basically, it’s a tool that allows you to make noodles and curly shavings out of pretty much any vegetable you want! Zucchini, sweet potato, cucumber, carrot, apple – you can spiralize them all! I find that it’s way too simple for me to overeat when it comes to pasta, so I’m really looking forward to exploring some quasi-pasta in the form of zucchini noodles!

While we’re on the subject of cooking, if you’ve been poking around the links for my recipes lately, you might have noticed a few changes – I’ve been going through, and slowly trying to update my food pics. I’ll admit when I first started this blog, I knew nothing about taking pictures of the food I cooked. I didn’t understand lighting, I didn’t know all the handy tools there are online for editing them (I am obsessed with Picmonkey now), and I just didn’t know how to make them look like they actually tasted good. I still don’t have a fancy camera to take my food photos – I just use my iPhone – but I am starting to understand all the careful thought and preparation that has to go into taking a good photo. Just what you wanna do when you’re starving and the food is right there in front of you… 

(A couple of recipes where I improved my photos already!)

It’s definitely been a learning process, and I’m still learning. But one of my missions for this summer is to go back through these old recipes, make them again, and really try to take some stunning photos this time around. I want to make these recipes look as delicious as they taste! So stay tuned for those!

Wish us luck for our race on Sunday! And look out for the Race Recap coming after! 🙂

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Home For the Summer

Well hello again! 

Yikes, it’s official. I’m done with my junior year. I seriously feel like it was just yesterday that I was a freshman, and so nervous and excited for college. Where does the time go (and how do I make it slow down?)?

Anyway, after some long road-tripping for my mom, I am finally home for the summer. After being in the car for almost 6 hours on Monday, we stretched our legs by going for a quick 3 mile run together when we got home. It’s nice to have a running partner again!  Especially since we have some half marathons rapidly approaching, and it’s time for some serious long runs. It can be a little lonely to run ten miles by yourself, so I’m glad to have company again.

Old photo, same Duo!

While we’re on the subject of long runs, I have officially decided that I am going to train this summer for the Rochester Marathon on September 21^st (the FULL marathon – not the half!). Eek!!!  This would be my first time making the leap from 13.1 to 26.2 miles. I know there is a huge difference in training for a full versus half marathon in terms of time commitment and mileage, and I’m definitely nervous. I think about how my legs feel at the end of a half (like they’ve magically transformed into blocks of concrete), and then I imagine running another 13.1 miles and it seems… painful. But, I don’t like to back down from a challenge!

Trying to remember to stay optimistic.

It also seems like good timing. I would be able to do the bulk of my training over the summer, and won’t have to worry about my school workload interfering with running. And also, what a way to kick off my senior year and last semester of school (I’m graduating a semester early, so I’ll be done in December.) I’ve already found a couple of beginner marathon training plans that I intend to use, and I’ve begun scouring old issues of Runner’s World for any bit of marathon-related advice I can find. Somehow, I feel like if I do enough research, I’ll be able to guarantee that it all works out (which I know is really not true – any number of injuries/hurdles could pop up.)

So, that’s where my head is at running-wise. I’m also very much looking forward to experimenting with some fun recipes, as well as making some improvements to this blog! I know my food photography skills are somewhat lacking, so I’m hoping to brush up on those this summer and really post some mouth-watering food pics and recipes. 

The final item on the agenda? Enjoying the warm weather this summer (I think Brady is liking it better too!)

Challenges

Hey there! 

Happy belated Valentines Day! I hope everyone had a good day with their loved ones.

I realize it’s been a while since I last posted. Truthfully, I’ve been struggling with my training a bit, and it’s been frustrating. The weather has really just not been cooperating.

Another snowstorm…

Brady doesn’t mind the snow!

As the view from my porch shows, we had yet another snowstorm last week, and the roads were AGAIN coated with snow.  This has proved to be a real problem in terms of getting my long runs in. I’ve been trying to follow the training plan that my mom and I have always used for our previous half marathons, but I think I’m just going to have to sort of improvise my training on this one. While I am lucky that I have access to my school’s indoor track, it’s really just not practical to try to run 8-10 miles on a 200 meter track. So earlier in the week I was getting pretty upset with myself, the weather, etc…

After talking to my mom on the phone about my struggles, I felt much better. I’m hoping to get in a couple of 10 mile runs closer to the race date, when the weather will hopefully be a little warmer, and the sidewalks won’t be slippery messes! But really, the Shamrock Half Marathon is going to be about having fun.  I’ll be on spring break and the race will be an early birthday present for me! Will it be my fastest half marathon? Probably not. But I have plenty of other races to PR in, when I won’t be fighting the weather.

I have been trying to keep up with my resolution to cross-train more.

Time for planks!

I’ve been doing my pilates tapes more. It’s great to be able to get in a solid workout from my own room, without having to trek to the gym! Maybe some of this cross-training will make up for me missing some runs? I hope anyway.

I’ve also been experimenting with smoothies again. This was a tasty one that I had for breakfast the other day –

Delicious! So my plan going forward is to do my best to keep positive, cross-train, get in runs as weather permits, and trust in myself that it will all work out.