CCGE

Here is the current list I have of participants! Please let me know if there are any corrections (name, blog address) that need to be made! Thanks!


Velma
Nicole
Mel - 2nd Chances
Kim (Kilax)
RunkeraRun
Morgan
Marlene
Megan
Mel (Tall Mom)
Heather
RunKathyRun
Aron
Lacey
Bethany
Jamie
Shellyrm
Alisa
Candice @ I have run
Croughwell
MCM mama
OneLittleTriGirl
Rio Runs
Christina
myfirst5k
2 Fat 2 run 13.1
Sam
5 miles to empty
Marci
Teamarcia
Lisa
SunsetRun
Felice
Luis Bueno (L.B.)
Runner Leana
RunninAround
Janice {Run Far}
Badger Girl
Lauri
RunningLaur

Monday

Today dawned rainy and miserable and I was glad I hadn't planned on a run. Instead I hit up the pool for a quick 1300 yards!

I definitely didn't want to go back to work today and thankfully I don't...yet! I do have to report for Jury Duty though. This is my first time with JD and I am interested to see how it goes. I have packed my lunch as well as my current book and my crochet project. I hope to post pictures soon since I have been on a crochet roll making a baby blanket and scarves!

Today is the last day to sign up for the CCGE (Christmas Card Gift Exchange). I will be posting a current list of all participants later this afternoon.

Happy Monday! I can't believe tomorrow is the first day of December!!

Thanksgiving!

Happy day after Thanksgiving! I woke up this morning and I wasn't even hungry for breakfast because I ate so much food yesterday!!

Yesterday morning I ran in Alisa's Virtual Turkey Trot. I set out around 7am and enjoyed a 3.25 mile run. It was supposed to be a 5k but my loop was just a little bit longer! This was the third day in a row of running for me which is something I haven't done since the early summer!

For the three days I totaled 11.5 miles and took today off but I still felt good with very little soreness! I am very thankful that I am able to run!

In HBBC news: I have been trying to eat the 7 fruits and vegetables each day and it is tough!! As I sat eating my piece of pumpkin pie, I thought to myself - I wonder if this counts as a vegetable??

I wanted to take a moment here to extend a special thank you in this time of thanksgiving to all who take the time to read my blog! I am truly grateful for all the support and comments that everyone leaves here! Thanks so much and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Problem Solved

If perhaps there are hunters out near your parents house where you happen to be staying for Thanksgiving you may need to get creative in order to get runs in and be safe.

Now it is HIGHLY unlikely that anything would happen to me if I ran in the daylight but as we all know I am a morning person and a morning runner. So this morning I got up at 5 am and drove down to the pool with my dad. He went in to swim and I ran home.

It was a little over 4 miles back to the house with some m-a-j-o-r hills but I took it slow and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.

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There's still time to sign up for the Christmas Card/Gift exchange HERE. The last day is November 30th and pairings will be announced on December 2nd!

Happy Tuesday!!

Hunting Season

Well it has been quite the weekend here. I arrived home at my parents on Friday night with Brian. Saturday morning we were both up at 6:30am as it was the FIRST day of hunting season.

Brian set out to the woods just after 7am and I settled in with my coffee. By 7:30 Brian called the house to let us (my parents and I) know that he had gotten his first deer! I didn't get to go on my run because I was helping him! It was quite exciting!


This morning I was able to head to the track. I was kind of nervous about running on the road because of all the hunters. I live in a semi suburban area but there are still woods and quite a few hunters around. I did another 3x400m repeats with 400m job recovery. I felt stronger this time and even added in a extra 200m sprint at the end!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! And congrats to all the people who ran marathons this weekend!!

Three Things Thursday

1. Have a nice little afternoon run planned for today. Going to run in the daylight for once! Should be a blast except that its now raining outside and wont stop until late tonight : (

2. One more day of work for me. We get Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving next week. So I decided to use some vacation and take off Monday and Tuesday too! This will be my first "day off" from work since I started!

3. Even though I haven't posted about it, I have been continuing to swim about 2x a week. Yesterday morning I showed up at the pool and ran into a girl I know! She went to my high school but was a few years ahead of me. Its funny how I always seem to run into people I know in the most unexpected place and at the most unexpected times!

Happy Thursday - the weekend can't come fast enough!

It's that time of year

The holiday season is right around the corner! It is the season of giving and this year I have been thinking about ways I can give gifts that mean a lot but don't cost so much. I want to spread my feelings of happiness and joy and giving this season to all in bloggy-land so I came up with an idea (with help from Tall Mom and Running with Boys).


First Annual Christmas Card/Gift exchange

Guidelines:
1. Maximum of $15 including shipping. Gift and card should be mailed in plenty of time to get to your Bloggy buddy's door by Christmas.

2. Please include a Christmas card and also one or two small gifts. Can be home-made, running related, something that is native to the area you live in. Try and get creative!!

3. (optional) Post on your blog the gift that you sent to your bloggy Christmas buddy!!

Here's how it works:
If you are interested, leave a comment. Bloggers will be partnered up by random drawing and pairings will be announced on Wednesday December 2nd!!

Everyone is welcomed to join in, so please invite your friends! The more the merrier!! The last day to enter is Monday November 30th!


Also check out these fun Christmas giveaways:
Check out Happy Runner's Holiday Card Giveaway
ilaxSTUDIO is having a Homemade Holiday Sweets giveaway

Looking for a fun Christmas Challenge??
Check out Run to the Finish for the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge!!


Running sidenote -

Ran this morning (Tuesday morning) and it was AMAZING! There was a meteor shower! This is the third or fourth time I have ran in the morning during a meteor shower and it still continues to take my breath away!

I saw about 5 shooting stars. I even turned off my headlamp and ran without it for a mile or so just so I could see the stars clearly! (plus it seems like everyone in the neighborhood to the right of me leaves all their lights on at night while the neighborhood to the left is completely dark! How odd!) It was awesome and such a great way to start my day!

Back to the Track

This weekend proved to be very enjoyable. Besides spending time with friends, I was able to go back to the track!!

I woke up early Sunday morning and headed over to the high school. It was sunny out and almost 50 degrees! I warmed up and then ran 3x400m with 400m jog recovery. The recovery jog proved to be a good idea so that my hips didn't tighten up.



It was GLORIOUS to be running on the track again. I wanted to do more than three 400s but to be on the safe side I restrained my self.


Hope everyone had a good weekend! Tomorrow I have some exciting news (hint: it has to do with the upcoming holiday season)!! Happy Monday!

TIART: Favorite Race!

This week I am hosting Runners' Lounge TIART!! The topic for this week is:

What is your favorite race? Do you live for the marathons or crave a 5k? Would you rather race in the morning, afternoon, or at night? Do you like big races with tons of people and encouraging crowds or do you prefer the smaller hometown races?

I wanted to show you all some pictures from my favorite races!

For the last 5 years I have run the Boilermaker 15k in Utica, NY and I LOVE it! This was the race that made me catch the running bug and got me hooked on running!! I love this race because there are so many people and spectators!

My favorite size race has to be the 5k - I just love the face pace and how quick the 3 miles fly by! Of course I love to race in the mornings since that is when I usually train but I have been wanting to try a night race!

Although I enjoy running in bigger races, I am not a fan of the crowded race where it takes a while to get to the start! I love being able to start right up front and run at my own pace right from the start!

Well those are the races that I love, what races do you love???

Literary Wednesday

I dragged myself out of bed this morning for my run. I had my standard 3 mile loop planned and I felt pretty good the whole way - even while running up the hill that never ends! There is this very steep hill in the housing development next to my apartment and I try to avoid it at all costs. But this morning, in my half asleep brain I thought running up that hill would be better than running up the slow incline hill for a mile. I may have a bad case of sleep running...

Anyway, on to the important stuff. This week for Literary Wednesday I have TWO books!

Over the weekend I finished Snow Angel by Jamie Carrie and I loved it. It was very well written and a quick read. It's about a young woman named Elizabeth who has gold fever in the late 1800's. She heads to Alaska in search of gold and gets caught in a snow storm. Somehow she makes it to the porch of Noah Wesley and with her last ounce of strength knocks on the door. Miraculously Noah opens the door to find Elizabeth half frozen and unconscious. Noah rescues Elizabeth and discovers a fierce yet fragile young woman who holds many secrets that not even Noah can unlock. If this quick preview sounds enticing I suggest you pick up this book!

I just started reading my second book, The Various Flavors of Coffee by Anthony Capella but I can tell that it is going to be good. Since there was such a outpouring of comments after my coffee post I feel many of my viewers will like this one as well! It is all about how one cup of coffee changed one mans life forever! And that is all I am going to say!!


Doesn't that book cover just make you want to read it! I am at work enjoying my coffee! Happy Wednesday!!

Cup of Coffee

Who drinks coffee in the morning? It really has become a staple of my life since entering the work force. I get up - workout - shower - eat breakfast and pack my travel mug with coffee and head to work.

For me its not about drinking the coffee to wake up. I think most of you know I have no trouble getting up in the morning. Now I may not be the most talkative person at 5am before I pound out the miles of my run but I am awake and alert.

I recently bought the "caffeine lite" coffee because I worried I might be getting addicted to coffee. But I don't even notice the difference - I just love the taste of coffee in the morning!

But how many ounces is a "cup of coffee" these days? I just looked at the bottom of my mug and it reads 16 oz.

How many "cups" of coffee do you have each morning? Is there a special flavor you just love?? Do you drink more coffee on a Monday than any other day of the week??


***I got up this morning for my run - 3 miles in the dark - I actually saw another person this morning walking their dog. It scared me for a minute until I realized that they weren't an ax murder who was going to come after me. Happy Monday!

Friday morning run

This is what I looked like before my Friday morning run. (see Glenn - thats my headlamp! Sorry for the bad quality - I took these with my Mac because I loaned my camera to my mom for the week)



As you can see behind me it is DARK out at 5am but none the less I had a great 4 mile run. It even started to snow a little bit mid run! The temperature before I left said 34F degrees!!

4 miles in 32:54 (8:14 pace)


Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Three Things Thursday

1. I have been slacking on my hip PT exercises! Opps.

2. Morning vs. Evening running?? I am really seeing no difference between the two right now as it is dark at both times and cold out!

3. I heard Starbucks has a Gingerbread Latte - has anyone tried it? I was thinking of getting one tomorrow!!

It has been a busy week and I am ready for the weekend!
Happy Thursday!

Why do I run? (and some books to read)

This post has been along time coming. I decided to post it because I read Amanda's post yesterday on reasons to run.

When you don't run for 3 months straight, you begin to ponder why you were even running in the first place. Strange thoughts would creep into my head while I drove home from a tough day at work, "Do I even miss running at all?"

At first the knee pain was so great that running was a horrible experience. And honestly I did not miss running. But once the pain faded and I still didn't have this urge to get out on the road, I wondered why didn't I miss running? It had been my favorite source of fitness for almost 5+ years, so what went wrong?

Slowly I began to remember why I love to run. It started when I came across this post by Amy and it really hit home with me. I hadn't had the same experience as her, but I understood.

A week or so later I came across this video with Kara Goucher on The Laminators Blog and it reminded me of why I love to run.

Then I saw this article on Runners World about staying in decent shape all year round. After reading it, I knew that is what I wanted to do. I wanted to just run - run for fun and enjoy every minute of it but be able to race if I felt like it.

And I know that many of you already do this but this whole summer and fall has been a transition for me. I always was preparing for some race or season and now my life is wide open with no deadlines.

So I think that the reason I love to run is because of the way I feel while running - its not totally about the racing or competition. Its about getting up when everyone is asleep and being out on the roads alone with my thoughts. Its about finding new routes and exploring new places.

I want to have fun when I run and so I am not sure that I will be following a training schedule anytime soon. When I trained for basketball in college I would just run each morning and decide the distance and pace depending on how my body felt. I would listen to my heart and just know what would be good for that day.

So....why do you run?

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Switching gears now - it is Wednesday and I have been slacking on my Literary Wednesday! I was able to get to the Library on Saturday for some new books! I got caught in the 'C' area of the fiction section and grabbed four books.

Snow Angel by Jamie Carrie
The Chocolate Snowman Murders by Joanna Carl
Sarah by Orson Scott Card
The Various Flavors of Coffee by Anthony Capella

I have only started the first one so far but I thought it was fun to get books all by authors with last names starting with 'C'. I totally judge books by their covers and titles so hopefully these ones will turn out to be good!

Happy Wednesday!!

Welcome November!

I need longer weekends! There is just not enough time to get everything done!

It rained Saturday so I put off my run until Sunday morning. With the daily savings I wanted to use that extra hour to my advantage. I woke up at 6:30am, got dressed and headed out the door. I ran 3.5 miles around the local neighborhoods and ended at the local grocery store. I had packed my shopping list, credit card and cell phone. I got a cart and started walking around the store. A few weird glances later I was checking out and calling Brian to pick me up!

It was barely 8am and I had groceries and my run completed! The rest of the day involved walking up and down lots of stairs helping my mom move things around the house! My knees were feeling it by the end of the day.

Monday I was still on the old time schedule and so I woke up at 4:30am (usually my alarm goes off at 5:30ish am). I couldn't fall back to sleep so I went to work. I got to work at 5:30am and I was the only one there (besides the production line people who get there at 5am). It was a long day but when I got home I still decided to go out for a short 2 mile run around 5pm. It was almost pitch dark by the time I got back and the full moon was gorgeous in the sky!

This morning I went swimming with my dad again. It was so busy and there were no lane lines in the pool which made the water very hard to swim in. I tried breathing on the opposite side I usually do and got mouthful after mouthful of water from the waves! I guess I will just have to keep practicing.

Since it is November I thought I would sum up my October!
Running: 22.6 miles
Swimming: 13,870 yards

Hope everyone is having a great week!!