Weekly Update (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

It's been a long week.  Very long.

I haven't run in a few weeks as I'm rehabbing my knee.  It's been bothering me since early this year and I kept running on it due to races.  Now that I do not have any races on the calendar, I am taking this time to rest and make it fully better.  So that means I've been trying to swim and bike more.

I was up too late on Sunday night to get up successfully on Monday morning to do anything before work.  In fact I was lucky to get to work on time.  That evening I had my first photography class.  It's a two month class that will take us to the river most weeks to take pictures.  I'm very excited about it.

Tuesday I want to the gym for my class.  By lunch time I headed home to work from home and that probably was a good thing.  I opened up my garage and water was all over the ground.  My water heater decided it was done and started leaking everywhere.  I called a plumber and had it replaced.  If I had gotten home at the regular time I would have had to deal with that after hours. 

Wednesday I made it to the gym again to swim.  I've been enjoying it but not much more then half an hour at a time.  I went to sit in the hot tub after but the jets were barely working.  It was kinda like sitting in a warm bath.  Later that morning the tree guys called saying they had time to get my trees cut down.

Thursday was a gym class day and the rest of the day really wasn't that exciting.  Work kinda sucked but that's how it goes some days.

Friday I got up and almost talked myself out of going for a swim 3 times.  I'm glad I eventually got there as it does make me feel better.  The jets were fixed in the hot tub and it was so nice to relax after the workout.

Saturday I decided to take my bike out.  I haven't ridden since last fall and I didn't know how my knee would feel.  I only rode 3 miles as my knee didn't hurt but it was talking to me.  I didn't want to push it so I kept it short.  The good thing was it didn't hurt the rest of the day.  That evening a friend and I went to dinner to celebrate my birthday that was last month.  We finally had a chance to get together.

Here's to a less crazy week.

I am linking up with Holly and Wendy for their Weekly Wrap!

Animal Kingdom 2018 (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

This week we had quarterly planning at work.  Suffice it to say, I was a wee bit busy with it.   I had this mostly written so I will be posting this instead of a weekly update.

After the Princess 5k we showered, changed, and headed to Animal Kingdom.

In case you missed previous posts from the Princess Half Marathon Weekend:

• Expo
• 5k

We got to the park close to 8:30 AM and we headed strait to the Avatar Flight of Passage.  We couldn't get a FastPass for that one so we wanted to see how long the Stand-by line was.  The line was way back to the front of the Avatar area and we were told the wait was 3 hours.  No way were we going to stand in that line, especially since we had other FastPasses.


We decided to head to Everest and ride that Stand-by.  I love this ride!  There was a little boy behind us that was so scared to ride.  Once it was over he was so excited and loved it.  Couldn't wait to go again.  Me too!


We went back to Pandora for our FastPass on Na'vi River Journey.  That is such a pretty ride.  Reminds me a little of Pirates of the Caribbean except this had no Pirates.


We headed to Dinoland and road the Primeval Whirl.  I had never ridden it, but it reminds me of the Mouse Trap ride that would come to the State Fair.  It was OK, a bit jerky.  It's one of Candace's favorite rides, though.

Candace's family had just finished breakfast and was heading to Animal Kingdom, so we headed to the front gates to meet them.  She has 3 boys and a girl all teenagers.  All very nice and well behaved.  One of her sons is on the Autism spectrum and so we all got our bands linked so that we could use the disability FastPasses.  This meant we could have as many FastPasses as we wanted, but we could only use one at a time.  We had to go to a ride and have them link our bands to the ride.  We were given a time to come back at, which was the length of the Stand-by line.  So basically it was a virtual line place holder. We went strait to Avatar Flight of Passage.  Since the stand-by line was 3 hours, we could come back at 1:45 PM to close.

We had a reservation for the 7 of us at Rainforest Cafe at 11:45.  Since her family had just finished breakfast, they didn't want lunch.  I called to try and cancel the reservation and they said that since it was less than 24 hours that we would have to pay $10 per person.  No way was I going to pay $70 for a cancellation.  I asked to talk to a manager.  I would have even gone by myself and had a drink not to pay that fee.  We ended up changing it to 2 people instead of 7 and were not charged for the ones not going.

Candace and I dropped the family off at the Festival of the Lion King show and went to our Kilmanjaro Safari FastPass.  I love the Safari and all the beautiful animals.

Tree only has leaves months of the year.


We had to now book it down to the Rainforest Cafe.  I swear I felt like we walked from one side of the park to the other all day long.  Lunch was good.  I ended up with a Cobb Salad and we split an order of fries.  And I needed a drink, so I had Moscow Mule, yum!


After lunch we headed back to Pandora to meet up with her family.  It was getting close to our FastPass time for Avatar Flight of Passage.  When it was time, we headed to the FastPass line.  It moved very quickly.  It was one of those that had you move from room to room to entertain you as you waited.  The first room had an movie type clip about what Avatar is for those who have never seen the movie.  The second room explained how we sit.  Yes, the seats are not normal looking seats and do need explaining.


Once it was our turn to head into the room, the guys went into the far sectioned off area and the girls were in the last section.  The seats kinda looked like motorcycle seats.  Once you sat down, there were pads that came around your lower legs and one behind us pushed our backs forward so that it really felt like you were on a motorcycle.  We put on our 3-D glasses and were ready for this ride.


OMG, this was the best ride ever!!

It's a 3-D ride where your seat doesn't move but a little left right up and down.  You are flying through the air and it really feels like it.  When there was a steep drop down, I felt my stomach drop, like I was really flying down that fast.  I looked over to Candace and her daughter and noticed that the guys in the next room were right there viewing the same screen we were.  And then I looked down and there were 2 rows below us that I could barely see.  The setup reminded me of Soarin' but there were floors and walls separating each section.

I have to say that was probably the most fun ride in Disney, ever.  Even better then my favorite, Soarin'.  It was so beautiful and so much fun.  Even though in the morning I said no way to a 3 hour wait, I think after experiencing it, I probably would wait.  It's just that good.

We went over to Na'vi River Journey so that the family could get their FastPass for it.  They had 2 hours till that one started.  We then headed over to our other FastPasses.  Candace and I had one for Kali River Rapids and the family had one for Everest.   Candace's daughter didn't want to ride either so she waited for us at Kali River Rapids.

I had been on the Rapids ride once before, but it really is like any rapids ride in any amusement park.  A fun slow drift where you will get wet.  It's a lot of fun to watch everyone try to avoid the splashes.  It was so hot out that it felt so good to get a little wet.


Us girls went and road Primeval Whirl.  Candace kept saying how this was one of her favorite rides.  After the second time I decided that I really wasn't a fan of it.  It really was too jerky for my liking.  The boys were just getting on the ride when we were getting off, so we waited for them.

The family had other FastPasses and rides to go on, but by this time Candace and I were ready to call it a day.  I was beyond exhausted and my quad was really hurting from the 5k and my feet hurt from being on them all day long.  I also got sunburned as while I brought suntan lotion with me on the trip, I forgot to put someone before I left the hotel and of course forgot to bring with me to the park.



It was an early night as we had a second day of early morning races that comes way too soon.

Continue reading about the weekend with the 10k.


You can also catch up on my vlogs from the Princess Half Marathon Weekend.

•  Hotel and Expo
• 5k and Animal Kingdom  
• 10k, Half Marathon, and Celebration Dinner

Have you road either of the two new Pandora rides?  Do you like Primeval Whirl?

I am linking up with Holly and Wendy for their Weekly Wrap!

Another Busy Week (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Two weeks ago I had a crazy busy week.  Last week I was out of town.  And then another crazy busy week.

Monday I got back from Florida in the afternoon.  I had to work a few hours, but thankfully I was able to work from home.  I was able to unpack a little, but enough to empty the suit case and put into piles of dirty laundry, items reused for travel that needed to be reorganized and put away, and items that just needed to be put away somewhere.  I was so tired from the week away that I just went to be really early.

Tuesday I got up and went to the gym.  Nothing really exciting there.  After work I went to another User Group.  As I explained in another post, in IT there are user groups which focus on different aspects of IT.  There are ones for .Net, Database, Networking, and of course Agile.  There are two different groups for Agile in Richmond and this second one I have never attended.  They decided to do drinks, networking, and a Q&A.  So basically it was like a happy hour where you could submit a question and those questions were discussed in smaller groups or the group as a large.  It was a nice night were I met some people, had some good beer, and talked Agile (not everyone would enjoy that last part.

Wednesday I didn't get up and go for a run.  My knee was still bothering me a little and really, I need at least a week of rest before I start running again.  I really hope I do enjoy getting back out there when I don't have to do longer runs.  After work I went to physical therapy.  While my knee had been feeling better, I knew I needed some straitening done.  He ended up needling my IT band and it just kept jumping.  If you have had needling you know what you mean.  Knowing most haven't, it's like someone shocked you.  It usually means that things are very tight and it's getting loosened with the needle.  It doesn't hurt much, just a weir sensation.  And I know that things will feel a lot better in a day or so.

Thursday I went to my FT class at the gym.  Again, nothing special.  Than after work I went out to a happy hour with a couple of ladies from my contracting company and someone that I used to work with that also got a job through them.  As I walked in I saw a running friend of mine.  I said hello and went over to my group.  The three of them are in their twenties and there was more then once that I felt old.  It was a good time, but more then once I had to date myself and had to remind myself more then once that they really needed a few more years to really understand things. :)

Friday I didn't run again.  It was nice to sleep in a little.  After work I met my parents for dinner and then we had tickets to see Rent.  I walked into the restaurant and who did I see?  My running friend that I randomly bumped into the night before at my happy hour.  It was Restaurant Week, so a lot of restaurants have special three course meals that you get for a set price.  A few dollars of each meal goes to the Food Bank.  It's win win.

We headed to the theater to see the play.  I went to get some water and who do I see again?  Yes, my running friend.  Granted, I knew they were going by at this point, but it is a big theater.  I know I saw Rent when it first opened on Broadway.  I remember that I didn't like it, but for the life of me I couldn't remember why.  I did enjoy it this time around.  A couple of songs reminded me of TV shows that have used them, namely Big Bang Theory and The Office.


On the way home from the play I got a text from a coworker.  His wife had their baby earlier that day.  He is such a sweet guy, I know he will make a good dad.

Saturday morning I woke up early to one cat in my face, one on my leg, and the other kneading my back.  I wanted another hour of sleep and they just wanted snuggles.  I guess I really haven't been home much in the last few weeks.

I got up and knew I had to clean.  I still had my piles of stuff from unpacking and my house was a mess.  So what did I decide to do?  Let's make a bigger mess by rearranging furniture.  I rearranged my CD and DVD shelving, which meant I had to pull everything out, which meant that I needed to wipe everything down individually cause everything was so dusty, which meant I just made a bigger mess.

I got most of that done by early afternoon, and really I am happy with the change.  But before I could finish I headed out to the movies to see the new Avenger movie.  I really enjoyed it.  The first part, I was unsure as it was a lot of characters and they quite hadn't fit all the pieces together.  But by the time they got to the Guardian of the Galaxy guys I was rolling.  They really stole the whole movie.  And yes, there will be a squeal to finish up the story line.  We only have to wait till May of 2019 to see it.  Very excited to see the conclusion.  Oh and I got the best shirt to wear to the movie.

Sunday I did all of that laundry from my trip and cleaned more with the rearranging of the furniture.  I still have to put back all the DVDs and clean the kitchen (and a few other odds and ends), it is still better then it was.  I would have loved to take Monday off and finish what I started.

How was your week?  Ever randomly bump into the same person more then once in the same week?  Have you seen Rent?  Did you see Avengers this past weekend? 

I am linking up with Holly and Wendy for their Weekly Wrap!

Weekly Update (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

It's been a crazy week for me!

Monday I was supposed to run before work but it rained.  I even saw snow flakes in the air as I drove to work.  I don't run when it rains and it's below 50 degrees.  Too miserable.

Someone at my work has gotten a standing desk.  I was going to wait till I was full time to ask about it, but she said that she could get one, but the company wouldn't pay for it.  I had a standing desk for years and loved it, so I checked Amazon just to see what they had.  I wasn't planning on buying one right away, but I found one that had a 25% coupon.  That deal was too good to pass up.  It arrived Monday and got it all set up.  Love it!

Tuesday I went to my FT class at the gym.  Just a normal class.

I got a call the day before from my eye doctor who said that I was going to have to reschedule my May appointment I made last year.  Either I could go Tuesday to the office across town or wait till the end of June.  Since my contacts have been crazy dry, I opted to go on Tuesday.  I schlepped across town in the middle of the day for my appointment.  He has me trying new daily contacts (my last ones were monthlies).  These are of the latest technology and a lot more expensive then the ones I've had for years.  We will see how they work for me.

That evening I went to a meetup for those that do the same thing I do.  I don't know if they have it for other industries, but in IT there are monthly meetups for everything from .Net to SQL to Networking.  Mine is about the Agile community.  Each month there is a different speaker to discuss different aspects of the community.  The topic interested me, and while I didn't feel like I learned anything new, it made me feel better that I was on the right track.  I also saw someone there from my last job.  It was interesting to catch up and hear what's happening over there now.

Wednesday I got out and did my 5 mile run.  It was around freezing again and I wore my new fleece tights I had gotten a couple weeks ago and it hasn't been cold enough when I ran to wear.  I was worried that the waist was a little loose and I'd just spend the run pulling them up, but it never did that.  They also had a draw string that helped as well.  These are definitely a keeper.

While my knees started feeling better on my runs last week, Wednesday it felt tight again.  No sharp pain to make me stop running, but it nagged at me the whole run.  I probably shouldn't have done the full 5, but I haven't been running much lately and felt like I needed to get them in.  I had a PT appointment that evening and he worked a bit on the same area as last week and found some interesting spots around the same place, but on the outside of the leg.

Wednesday night I had another bad night's sleep.  I hadn't been able to sleep through the night and am up for 2-4 hours in the middle of the night.  My mind is just racing so much that it wakes me up and I can't get it to stop to be able to fall back asleep, even with all my little tricks.  I still dragged myself to the gym for my class.

With the Ukrop's 10k on Saturday the Expo is held Thursday and Friday with no packet pickup the day of the race.  I headed there after work on Thursday.  They had changed venues and I had to go across town to get there.  I understand why they changed venues as the race has grown and where they normally have it, there isn't enough parking.


Of course I got there after work with most people, and I knew it would be a pain to get in and park.  I have done several events there and knew that there was plenty of parking.  What I didn't understand was, with several entrances, why they had the cars come in where people had to cross the traffic to get into the building.  So there was a lot of stopping to wait for pedestrians as well as when you were walking to the building a lot of waiting for cars to pass.  That could have been done a lot better.

The expo itself looked identical from the last venue.  I got my bib, shirt, and shuttle ticket.  I ran into a running friend and said hello.  I didn't see anything interesting at the official merchandise section.  And all the other booths were the same.  I dropped off a pair of used sneakers.  Looked to see if anyone had my shoes with a good discount (they didn't).  And then I couldn't find my way out!  This was not a very big Expo, just everything was high enough not to see any doors.  And there were no signs for exits.  I asked a volunteer and he pointed me in a direction.  I still couldn't find it and eventually after looking around a corner I saw a door.  I was free!

Thursday night was another horrible nights sleep.  It even got to the point where I just got up and started getting things ready for the race on Saturday.  Awake for another 3 hours in the middle of the night and falling back asleep just in time for the alarm to go off.

Friday I did get up for my run.  It was now in the mid 50's which meant shorts and a shirt.  So different from Monday and Wednesday.  I wanted to get another 5 miles in, but I told myself that if my knee hurt I would stop.  And if it was tight I would only do 3 miles.  Within the first 100 feet it was tight, just like it was on Wednesday.  So 3 miles it was.  As I was heading round to finish the second mile I kept thinking of the fact I had a 10k the next day and a weekend of running next weekend.  I looped around the block and called it quits at 2 miles.  This close to races I'd rather rest then get the miles in that I need and hurt myself further.

That afternoon I had to take my old lady cat to the vet for more blood work.  While a month ago we found her kidneys are doing wonderful, her liver numbers were very low.  She doesn't act like a cat that has something wrong, as she has just been her normal self.  The vet has her on a daily pill and wanted to see how the numbers were as well as check her thyroids.  Well the pill was helping and the issues is definitely her thyroid.  So she doesn't have to take the daily pill anymore, but has a daily liquid now.  We will be back in a month to see how that is doing.


After the vet I dropped her off and headed downtown to meet my parents for dinner.  We have a yearly subscription to local plays around the city.  This play was Romeo & Juliet and it was at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which also has a really good restaurant in it.  We had a good dinner and a wonderful bottle of wine.  We were taking our time as we thought the play started at 8 and by the time we made our way down a little after 7:30 we found that it did start at 7:30.  Thankfully the people there know us and there were no assigned seats so we made our way down the side to some vacant seats.  I've seen this play many times, but I have to say the lead actors were very good.  And looked very young.

Saturday morning I got up and headed down to the Ukrop's 10k.  I met up with friends before the race.  I ran it on my own and while it was very hot, I felt very strong for the whole race.  My knee was a little tight the whole time, but nothing like it was Wednesday or Friday on my training runs.  There might be hope for the knee next weekend.  We all met up after the race for brunch and to catch up with everyone. 


I went home and showered and took a nice nap.  After a long week, a hot race, and a few mimosas at brunch I really needed it.  Then I went out to dinner with a friend.

Sunday I did nothing!  Well I did get my laundry done, but really that was about it.

See what a busy week I had?  I get to turn around and do it all over again, but this time heading down to Florida for a runDisney race weekend.  I'm going to need some time off when I get home just to rest from these last couple of weeks.

How was your week?  Did you run the Ukrop's 10k?  Was it hot or what?  Have you seen Romeo and Juliet before?

I am linking up with Holly and Wendy for their Weekly Wrap!

Weekly Update (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

The last couple of weeks have been fairly uneventful.  Especially since I haven't had the motivation to run.  And then I had knee issues.  This past week seems to have picked up a little.

For the last week or so my left knee has been acting up.  It was more of a sharp pain then the normal soreness of things.  And it was the same knee pain that I had way back when I started running.  It really started hurting after not stepping right and hyper-extending my knee.  Hyper-extending my knees are something that is really easy for me to do.  So I have been doing a bit of resting.

After a weekend of rest, on Monday I decided to get out there and test out the knee.  I had 5 miles on my schedule and if at any point my knee started to hurt then I was going to stop and walk back.  I do have to say that it was a good run and I watched my every step to make sure I didn't hyper-extend.  No pain in my knee till the last few blocks.  I was happy to get through a longer run.

And then I went through my day.  And as I did the pain got worse and worse.  Not good.

Tuesday I went to the gym for my FT class.  The knee hurt a little, but it wasn't bad like it was Monday.  I missed Thursday because of it and knew that I would take it easy.  The rest of the day it didn't hurt as bad as Monday, but it wasn't great.

Wednesday I skipped my run as I knew better.  I had a PT appointment that afternoon and had a lot of little things worked on.  While it made my knee feel better, I wasn't sure if he found the actual issue.

Thursday I went to the gym again.  Things were better then they were at the gym on Tuesday but I still felt like my knee was talking to me.  I kept it easy again.  During the day I found a knot in my lower quad, toward the inside.  The more I massaged it and rolled my stick over it the better my knee felt.  I actually found the trigger to my pain.  I did see this beautiful sunrise on the way to the gym.


On Friday I decided to take a short run to see how the knee felt.  I took off on my 3 mile route.  It was actually warm out, like in the 60's at 6 AM.  It did sprinkle and rain a little, but it felt so good to be out there in shorts and a tank and not 5 layers.  While my knee didn't hurt, it could feel like it was talking to me or maybe tight.  But not actual pain.  It's hard to describe, but I think most people understand it.  The real test would be how I felt the rest of the day.  And I had no pain the rest of the day.  I did continue to work out the knot.

Friday night I went to see the play version of Dirty Dancing.  I have to say that I loved the movie growing up and have seen it several times.  A lot of the play was strait from the movie, dialog, movements, songs.  Then there were parts where it just seemed like they were trying to stretch the play out.  Random dances and songs that were not in the movie and really didn't seem like it was part of the story at all.  Don't get me wrong, the dancing and singing were great to watch, it just seemed out of place.  And then there was the audience.  Woot-ing and hollering when the lead actor had his shirt off made it feel a bit like a bachelorette party.  Over all it was fun and made me want to watch the movie again.

Saturday morning I wanted to try 5 miles again.  And like Friday, while there was a little tightness, no actual pain.  The knot I was working on was much smaller at this point.  And it felt fine the rest of the day.  I knew I was on the right path.

Saturday afternoon I went to see Ready Player One.  My friend and I have read this book and enjoyed it immensely.  A very geeky book with a lot of references to the '80's.  We were both worried about if the movie would be any good since movies are never as good as the book.  Overall I enjoyed the movie.  A lot of things that I pictured in my head came out on the screen.  The only thing I think it missed was a bit of character development on how the friends met and how they became the team they were at the end.  I'm afraid if you never read the book that would be a confusing part of the movie.  But the movie overall was good.  I still highly recommend the book to any self-proclaimed geek out there.

Sunday was Easter.  Beyond church, our family never really had any Easter traditions.  Well except when I was in high school.  We would do all the church things having to do with Ash Wednesday and Lent and then on Easter we would head to Kings Dominion.  The weather was usually nice and the crowds were low, especially in the morning.  My mom hated going to church on Easter cause it was full of people that only went twice a year.  So because we never had any true Easter traditions or dinners I feel like others are judging me when I say we don't have plans.  I know they aren't but it's like I'm saying I don't have any plans for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

I hope everyone had a good Easter!

Is there a movie you have seen that was almost or just as good as the book?  If you haven't read Ready Player One and have seen the movie, what did you think?  What are your Easter traditions?

I am linking up with Holly and Wendy for their Weekly Wrap!

Weekly Wrap (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

With the time change yesterday, I felt like the whole day got away from me.  It didn't help that while I knew the time changed, I didn't bother changing my clocks till the evening.

Last weekend I took off running so that I could rest my legs after Princess.  I ran a couple of times but just felt blah and my legs were heavy.  It was a good decision just to skip my long run on Saturday.  Monday rolled around and I had 4 miles on the schedule.  Well I didn't realize that I also had a conference to go to for work and I had to be there at 7.  That meant that I would have had to get up a couple hours early just to get my run in and that was not going to happen, especially on a Monday.  I deserved another rest day, didn't I? :)

Tuesday I want to the gym for my FT class.  We are still in that area out in the open and no one is using the classroom.  We still don't understand why we were kicked out.

Wednesday I got out for a run.  It felt good and I enjoyed being out there in the morning when it wasn't dark.  I knew this was the last week for that.  When I got back I realized that I had 4 miles planned and I only did 3.  Oh well.  I did get to see this very pretty sunrise.


Wednesday evening I went to PT and while nothing really was hurting for him to work on, my quads were still really tight from the Princess Half Marathon.  He worked my right glut, which really needed it and then my left hip area.  Right at the joint on the side.  And OMG, I haven't felt that kind of pain from the PT in quite awhile.  That one area radiated down to my quads, IT band, and glut.  I knew that the pain would make everything feel better once it was worked out.  It just needed to be worked out.

Thursday was another gym day.  Nothing too exciting there.  It was a good opportunity to work out my hip from PT the day before.

Friday I was feeling good, so I added a couple extra miles.  I was already up a little early and had 3 planned.  I got out and decided that I would start my 4 mile loop and see how I felt.  I could always cut that to 3 miles if needed.  My IT band bothered me a little from PT two days before but it wasn't a pain I felt like I needed to worry about.  I ended up doing an extra mile for a total of 5.  By the end my IT band was feeling better.  It really was a good run.

Saturday I planned on doing at least 9 miles.  After a good run the day before, I thought I would be motivated for another really good run.  Well I talked myself out of it.  And it really wasn't that hard.  It wasn't the weather or any pain I was having.  I was just tired and didn't feel like going out.  Maybe on Sunday.  I did get my benefits for my job done, as well as my taxes filed.  So I was productive somewhat.  A friend came over and we went to Fuddruckers.  They had closed the one near my house years ago and they opened one a little north of the city awhile ago.  We wanted to check it out and see if it was as good as we remembered.  He said the burger was good but the turnkey burger was not.  We probably won't be back any time soon.  We did end up watching Office Space after dinner.  We haven't seen that movie in ages and it still makes me laugh.

Sunday I thought I'd try to get my missed run in from Saturday.  Even if I didn't get the whole 9 miles done, I thought I would get some.  I got up and got dressed and went downstairs and just couldn't get further then that.  The thought of running was just something I didn't feel like going out to do.  I'm not sure if I'm getting back into my running rut or not.  I hope not as I had such a great couple months of getting back in the swings and really enjoying it again.

I thought maybe if I had a treadmill I might have run.  It just seemed to take so much energy to get outside.  I really don't have the room as is, and would have to move a lot of furniture around, including a huge desk in my office.  I did do some research and did find a couple that I liked, but I'm not sure if I really should spend the money on it.  Do I buy one used?  And is it really safe to have something like that upstairs?  I might be able to put it in the front room, but that's where all my knickknacks are.  Would they be safe or would they rattle with the running?  A lot to think about.

How much time do you take off after a race?  Have you seen Office Space?  Do you have a treadmill?  How did you change your living area for it?

I am linking up with Holly and Wendy for their Weekly Wrap!

Princess Weekly Wrap (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Just a quick update of my week.

Monday we had off for President’s Day. I haven’t had that day off since I was in school. I ended up going to the movies to see Black Panther. It was good. Very beautiful and a couple cool fight scenes. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were very boring and nothing to report except i was getting ready for my trip. 

Thursday I flew down to Florida. For once I actually had a late morning flight instead of one of the first to leave the airport. 

Once in Florida I headed to the room. Candace had beat me there and checked in. She headed to the expo and then meet her family. Her husband drove the kids down last weekend since it was their spring break. 

There were some changes to the expo which were welcome. I felt less closterphobic with the official merchandise moving to its only building. I then headed to Disney Springs for dinner. 

Friday was the 5k. We basically walked the whole thing. 

We then cleaned up and headed to Animal Kingdom. We rode lots of rides and hung out with her family. 

Saturday was the 10k. We were in separate corrals and I didn’t want to hold her back as I knew she was going to meet up with her family. She started in the corral behind me and we still finished at the same time. She headed to breakfast and Epcot with her family and I had some much needed rest at the resort. 

Sunday was the half. I assumed that Candace would run ahead of me as she is a lot faster. But it turned out that she was having a lot of pain in her shin so she ended ended up walking a lot. I just stuck by her as it was more fun to have someone to be with then to do it alone. Though my legs were not prepared to walk that much and kept cramping. They needed to run more. I never thought that I would ever need to run more then walk. That’s just crazy. 

Candace has started her long car trip home and I’m headed to a celebration dinner with other Princesses that I haven’t seen yet on this trip. 

How was your week? Any other Princess runners out there?

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Weekly Wrap (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Before I get started I wanted to see if there was anyone out there that has an Apple Watch and participate in the Activity Sharing, I'm looking for Activity Friends.  You can find my email in my profile or leave a comment.  

Another busy week.  This was my high mileage week before Princess.  I am officially on taper.

Monday I got up to run 3 miles.  As I was watching the local news for the current weather they were talking about all the ice on the roads from the rain that came through overnight.  They were talking about all of the accidents, naming at least 5 accidents on major highways.  I thought it best not to go out, slip on some ice, and bust my behind.  I mentioned the ice and not running at work and a coworker said that she went out for a run and it was very slick.  But apparently she has special shoes to help with the ice.  I felt like I made the right decision.  I had also found out that my friend that wasn't sure if he was being laid off, is being laid off.  He is there till the summer and has severance, so he has awhile to find another job.  I know he will find something quickly.

Tuesday was my FT class.  Well sort of.  Instead of letting us have our class till the end of February like they said we would, they forced us into the Strive area.  This area is small and out in the middle of the place.  It's made for 5-7 people and when we normally have over 10 we were in other member's way.  On top of that the classroom was empty.  Yup, they'd rather have us out in the middle of the gym then in a room.  I didn't feel like I got the workout I normally do.  It's very disappointing and no one but the manager of the gym was happy.  That afternoon I heard from a different friend of mine that worked with me at my last job.  She said that she found a new one.  I was so happy for her because where we used to work is so dysfunctional.  She is going to be so much happier.

Wednesday morning I absolutely couldn't sleep.  I kept waking up and finally at 4 I decided to go find a book to read.  I read for about an hour and was starting to get sleepy.  My alarm was to go off at 5:30.  I fell asleep for 15 minutes and awoke before my alarm.  I was actually refreshed so I just got up to start my run.  With missing my Monday run, I had to up my mileage for Wednesday to 5, so getting an earlier start was a good thing. 

I woke up with a sore throat, but didn't think much about it.  Throughout the winter I tend to have a lot of sore throats, especially in the morning.  But they never turn into anything.  During my run it didn't hurt at all and that usually is all there is.  After my run I noticed it again.  Throughout the day it just got worse.  When I got home I checked my temp, and no temp, which was good.  I took some NyQuil and went to bed early.

Thursday I headed to the new gym class.  We did the same thing we did on Tuesday.  It was boring and it was so motivating that I barely got my 30 minutes in of activity by the end of the day.  Yes, it only tracked 10 minutes of activity for the 45 minute class.  My throat was still hurting, so that didn't help.  In fact most of the day my throat hurt, again with no fever.  Bleck, this was too busy of a week to get sick.  I ended up emailing the director of the gym (cc'ing those that take the class as well) asking several questions that we all have been wondering.  She replied that she wouldn't answer the questions via email and will only see us individually.  This is very frustrating!!!

Friday I had another 5 mile run on the docket.  My sore throat was going away, but my head was very stuffy.  Like how your ears are stuffy when you are on a plane.  I was glad that I got out for a run.  I took it slow, but getting the heart pumping.  I kept thinking that the faster my heart pumped the quicker this bug would make it out of me. I did see another beautiful sunrise.



Saturday I was supposed to do 10 miles.  While it would be in the 40's throughout the morning, there was rain predicted to start at some point in the morning.  I decided to start earlier then the running group.  I knew it would take me awhile to get the miles in and I wanted to try and beat the rain.  I ended up really liking the 10 mile route that the group had planned.  It took us over the river and back then up through part of the city and back.  While my throat felt fine and my head wasn't very stuffy, I had mucus - ick!  So it was good that I could bail the run half way through if I needed.

While I love going over the river, I hate this particular bridge.  You can see all the way down and with my fear of heights I HATE it.



But seeing the river, even with the cloudy skies, can be very beautiful.



And I do like this bridge because it has a good hill down and a good hill up.



I got through the neighborhood and I saw this in someone’s yard. It reminded me of my grandmother who loved dead trees.

Then back over the bridge.



After crossing the bridge I saw the big group of runners I would be behind if I started with them.  I headed back through the city and felt good enough to continue on.  About mile 6 1/2 I felt a few drops.  Before I knew it, it had started raining.  Not a sprinkle, but not quite a rain.  I decided to push on.  While it was somewhere in the 40's the rain didn't make it colder.

After the turn around I had a couple miles to go and the rain became a true rain.  At this point I was just really tired of the rain and the run.  About a mile to go and the rain started to really come down.  Man that sucked.  It did make my last mile quick.  I was soaked by the time I got back to my car.  A hot shower was on the docket when I got home.  And then a nap.  I couldn't sleep, but a couple hours laying down helped.

That afternoon I had an appointment to get my hair cut.  I'm growing it out so that I can give it away to someone that needs it.  I finally felt like my hair was starting to grow, finally.  She trimmed and thinned it.  It's good for another 12 weeks.

That evening I went to see "Brave New World", a local play.  We usually get dinner before, but I wanted the extra time to just relax.  While I wasn't feeling bad, I was tired.  The play was good, it was 1984-ish.  While it was written back in the early 1900's it was about a future world where the "proper society" was perfect, well at least their Alphas and Betas were perfect, and everyone belonged to everyone.  And the "savages" believed in God and had families.  The word "Mother" and "Father" were profane words.  It was interesting, but I think I liked 1984 better.

Sunday is usually my day to stay home and get things done around the house.  I was finally starting to feel better.  Still some flem and mucus, but nothing annoying like Saturday.  But Sunday was my big fun of the weekend.  I met a friend for lunch and then we went to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with the music played by the symphony.  They played the movie on a screen without the music track and the symphony played live.



The symphony was great.  They didn't miss a beat throughout the whole movie.  They were so good that half the time I forgot there was a symphony there to play and got sucked into the movie.  I had to keep reminding myself that I payed a lot more then a regular movie ticket to see this and I should really appreciate the live music.  During the last scene people started leaving.  I know that almost everyone there probably has seen the movie, but why miss the credits where the symphony plays and you can really appreciate it?  Oh well, their loss.

Monday is right around the corner and there is another busy work week.  Last full week till Princess.

How sick do you have to be to not get out and run?  Do you like to go to the symphony?

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.