Love (Friday Five Edition)

With Valentine's week this week I thought I'd count the ways I love my kitties.

1. How they don't want me to leave the house to go to work.

Aiden

2.  How they plot against me.

Aiden, Brianna, & Riley

3.  How they make friends.

Riley, Aiden, & Bree looking out at Duibhe

Bree telling Duibhe that she is not allowed in

4.  The funny things they do.

Just hanging around

We love Star Wars!

Sneaking a bite or two

King of the Throne

5.  Snuggles!!

She doesn't care if I have to work as long as she gets my lap

Nap time!

Snuggle down under the covers

All hanging out watching BBT

They may fight, but they snuggle together

My sweet old lady snoozing on my belly

How do you love your furry friends?

I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0

What I Love About Running (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

A few years ago I got this shirt.



At that point it was really true.

I love to plan.  So getting a training schedule together and putting it on a calendar is something I live for.

I love knowing I accomplished something great.  Weather it was a three mile training run or finishing a marathon.

But the actual running part?  BLECK!

And now?

For the most part all of that is still true.  After not running much for 9 months and enjoying some needed time off from running.  Not getting up super early to get the miles in before work was bliss.  But there was something missing.

Now that I'm back into the swing of things I still love the planning.  Looking at my week and see what days I have to run and how many miles.

The getting up early is hard, but I still love the accomplished feeling I get after finishing a run.  To know that I accomplish something very few people do.

Over the last year or so I have come to enjoy the running part.  Well at least when I get in the zone.  Thoughts of the day come and go.  My checklist goes through my head.  Blog ideas come to me.  While nothing gets solved in my head, it helps to just let it flow.

And I really do love my wall.

What do you love about running?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

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.

Weekly Wrap (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

I keep thinking that each week will be a little less crazy then the one before and I am just wrong about it.  It's fine, I just don't seem to be getting things done like I need to, like getting blog posts written.  One day I'll get ahead of it and not behind. :)

I had 4 miles planned on Monday, but I swapped it out for my rest day on Wednesday because it was very cold out and raining all morning.  I don't mind running in the rain, but not when it's cold out as well.  It was fine as I felt bad all day long.  I had a sore throat and just felt like crap all day long.  I thought I was getting something that a co-worker brought into the office.  I took NyQuil and went to bed early.

Tuesday I woke up feeling much better, though not 100%.  I still didn't have a fever, so I headed off to the gym.  The week before we were told that the gym class that I have been going to for over 5 years was being cancelled at the end of February.  We had plans to have the manager of the gym come talk to us on Thursday.  Everyone was very upset by this news.

Wednesday I went out for a 4 mile run.  It was another run that was below 20 degrees.  I wore my new fleece face mask and it kept my face warm the whole time.  It was a bit warm towards the end, but I didn't mind.  I'd rather be too warm then too cold. The Super Blue Blood Moon was out for the start of my run.  I tried to get pictures of it, but there was a lot of clouds out.



I also saw a very beautiful sunrise through the last couple miles of my run.



We had a lunch planned for the team at work.  This was the first time we did anything social as a group since I started.  It was nice to get to know some of my co-workers some outside of work.

Thursday I headed to the gym, knowing that we were going to have to really make them understand how important the class was to everyone.  The class has been happening at this same gym for almost 18 years.  There are people in the class that have been taking it for over 10 years.  One person had been taking it for 15.  That tells you how much of a family this class is.  Half way through the class the gym manager as well as the class coordinator came up for a few minutes.  They insisted that this was not the right place to discuss the details, but our class would move down to the Strive area (where they have machine weights and aerobic equipment in a circle and you do them as stations, rotating aerobic and weights to get the high interval training in).  We were not happy about that idea so after class a few of us stopped by their office to discuss further.  Basically they consider this class to be a "personal training" class.  None of us were sure what was meant by that, but I have always seen it more like a boot camp type of class.  They said that because sometimes we use stations, where we don't do the same movements at the same time, it's not to their standards.  Basically we are not a per-choreographed class that they pay money for.  They are trying to offer different classes for us to try on Monday and Wednesday, but currently we have been banished to the Strive area.  They are fine for the room to be empty and no one use it on Tuesday and Thursday.

I did another 4 mile run on Friday morning.  I waited a little later to start my run to have the rain finish and I seemed to time it perfectly.  It actually was a bit warmer out and I didn't have to wear the layers I have been wearing.  It's gotten to the point that it feels odd not having several layers on for a run.

Friday night I went to see Finding Neverland.  I knew I had seen the movie before, but the movie was so unremarkable to me that I actually mixed it up with Hook in my head.  When the play started I realized that it wasn't Hook, but I do vaguely remember seeing the movie.   I have to say, the play was amazing.  Something I won't remember if I've seen before or not.  The music and choreograph were a lot of fun.  And there were some amazing voices.  I highly recommend that one.

Saturday was another cold morning.  I had 10 miles on the schedule and a lot to do that day so I couldn't wait till later in the morning when it warmed up a little to get it done.  At the start of the run it was only 14 degrees.  I knew that it would be above 20 the second half of the run, so I didn't wear my fleece face mask as I wanted some flexibility.  I wore just my buff which is just a thin cloth that I can put over my nose and mouth.  I haven't done 10 miles since my last half marathon in April, so it was interesting to see how I felt.  By the end of the run I didn't feel fatigued, but really I was just tired of being cold.  I ran for a little over 2 hours and it didn't get warmer then 26 degrees.  I actually saw someone out running that didn't even have a hat on.  That I didn't understand at all.  All I could think about on the way home was taking a hot shower.

That afternoon I was invited over to a neighbor's house for lunch.  I got cleaned up and stretched and rolled and headed over there.  They are an older Indian couple have lived there about 4 years longer then I have.  And in all of this time, we have never really done anything together.  She invited one of her friends and while her husband went to pray, us girls had a great lunch.  She cooked up all this delicious Indian food and I can't remember what anything was called, but it was all amazing.

I then went out to dinner with a friend of mine (glad I ran 10 miles with all this food).  He isn't sure if he is being laid off or not as there were two meetings, one for those being let go and one for those who weren't - and he was not invited to either.  And two days later no one can give him an answer.  But he was actually in a good mood so we had fun catching up.

Sunday was a very lazy day for me.  It worked out as it rained all day long.  I got a few things done around the house, but not as much as I wish I had.  But it was nice to relax.

How was your week?  Have you seen Finding Neverland (either the play or movie)? Did you see the Super Blue Blood Moon?

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

Frostbite 15k Race Recap (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

On Sunday I ran the Frostbite 15k.  This was a last minute decision to do.  The mileage fit pretty well within my training schedule so I had thought about it.  And when I found out that the weather was going to be really nice, I pulled the trigger on Thursday.

The night before I kept asking why I had signed up for it.  I didn't want to get up early.  I knew I would be one of the last runners to come in.  I didn't know anyone else that was running it.  The normal butterflies the night before races.

I decided to do packet pickup the morning of the race.  I got up early and ready and headed out nice and early.  I still wasn't sure why I had signed up for the race, but at least the weather was going to be nice.  I got to the race around 7:30 and found parking very easy and very close.  Packet pickup was in the school and there were absolutely no lines.  I then realized I forgot my race belt so that I wouldn't have to pin the bib to my shirt.  Oh well, there were plenty of safety pins.  I asked if I could use the bathrooms inside and the answer was no.  Oh well, there is always the fun port-a-potties.

There was over an hour till the start of the race, so I went back to my car and played games on my phone.  Around 8:30 I ate my Honey Stinger cookie and put on my running shoes and headed toward the start to find the port-a-potties.  When I got up to them I could not believe the line.  It was huge!  I still had 30 minutes to the start and I had to go so I headed toward the back of the line.  I ended up passing one of my friends who was half way through the line.  I stopped to talk to her and catch up.  We talked so long I ended up cutting in line.  I hope no one cared.

We were getting closer to the front of the line as it was nearing 9 AM - race start time.  It didn't matter to me, I wasn't going to be able to run the race without going to the bathroom.  The race was chipped, not that my time mattered either, I wasn't going to win the race.  So I stayed in line.  I finished just in time to get to the start and have the gun go off.  It was nice to just start the race.

The temperature at start time was about 45 degrees.  Great running temperatures.  I wore tights, a short sleeve shirt, and a jacket.  I knew it would be somewhere in the 50s by the time I finished, so I wanted to be able to take some layers off as it got warmer.

The course started through the local neighborhoods.  We passed by Hollywood Cemetery.  I love that place.  I know it sounds creepy, but in college my friend and I would take our lunch and hang out there.  It is so beautiful and peaceful there.  Our favorite part was to visit the Iron Dog.  It's a cast-iron Newfoundland dog that stands guard over the grave of a little girl that died in 1862.  It is the second most visited cemetery behind Arlington.  The views of the river are amazing.  There are two US Presidents buried there and it has a 90 foot pyramid that is a monument to the 18,000 Confederate soldiers buried there.  Passing by just brought up memories from that time in college.

When we passed mile 3, the lead runners were heading back and were almost at mile 8.  For me, seeing the front runners so close to the finish when I'm just starting defeats me a little.  I pushed that out of my mind as we were now heading towards Byrd Park.  Byrd Park is an area that has 3 different parks clustered together with 3 different lakes.  It's a popular place to run, bike, and have time outdoors with the family.  Our Saturday runs tend to take us through or pass these parks.  To get 9 miles out of the neighborhood and park, we circled the lakes what felt like a few times.  Thankfully the signs, rope, and volunteers did a good job to make sure that we didn't follow the wrong person and go the wrong way.

The weather was warming up to the mid-50's and was so nice.  The sun was bright and it was nice to be out after all the cold we have had the last month.  As I look around I realized I was really glad that I signed up for the race.  It got me out to enjoy the weather.

I was defiantly at the back of the pack, I still saw a handful of people behind me, so I knew I wouldn't be last.  Once we had gotten into the parks no one passed me and I was able to pass a handful of people.  It wasn't a very fast race for me, about normal, but I felt strong.

I notice that my balls of my left foot really started hurting me.  I noticed the same pain the week before.  Both times it started the last few miles and stopped when I was done.  I think it is my Morton's Neuroma acting up.  I haven't had that problem in years.  I'll have to bring it up to my PT tomorrow.

Once we were done circling the lakes we headed back to the school.  All the sudden we had so many hills to go up.  I didn't remember all the down hills at the start, but now all we had were up hills.  I still felt strong and ran all my run segments, even on the up hills.  We zigged and zagged through every street.  There were about 3 points where I could see the school just to be turned back around.  I guess it was the only way to get the mileage in and still stay in the neighborhood that didn't have any traffic.  We finally got back to the school and we hit the last hill.  It sort of reminded me of the end of MCM marathon having a huge uphill right at the end of the race.

I crossed the finish line and got my medal.  There weren't many people left out as I was at the very end of the pack.  I looked around and ended up seeing my friends that I ran into in the port-a-potty line.  It turns out that one of their mom's was running the race.  We hung out about 10 more minutes to see her cross the finish.  She is 72 and kicked ass running this race.  What an inspiration!

We headed into the school to get our finish line doughnuts.  I also wanted to see if I could get a shirt.  I signed up too late to get one ordered, but they said that if there was extras after the race we could have one.  I went up to the front of the room and asked the first person I saw.  One of the ladies at the side of the table told me to come see her.  Apparently they had been telling people that they didn't have anymore left as there were some very rude and disrespectful people demanding a shirt.  They were saving them for nice people, like me. :)

I did realize that I got a PR for this race.  Nothing special, but this was the first 15k that I have done, so it's an automatic PR.

I would probably do this race again, but I think I would wait like I did and see how the weather would be before I signed up.  But it was good to see some of my running friends.  They talked about doing the Sweetheart 8k next month.  I'll have to see if it works with my training cycle to hang with them some more.

After I got home I realized I was a little sore.  Not just muscle sore, but I chafed myself.  I haven't gotten back into the habit of using Glide.  I have to remember to put it on for my long runs.  Especially as the weather starts to warm up on a regular basis.

Have you ever run a 15k?  How late have you ever signed up for a race?  Do you get the race butterflies before a race and wonder why you signed up?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

Weekly Update (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

It was another busy week.  The kind where you can't believe it's Friday already.  I haven't had many of those in the last year, so to have two back to back has been odd.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  I haven't had that day off since I was in school, so it was a happy surprise to have it off.  It was another chilly day and I was glad that I was able to wait till mid-morning to get my run in.  I did get a new face mask for running and was excited to try it out.  It was soft and comfortable, but I found that by the last half of my 3 miles, I was getting hot.  It is fleece lined and really too hot to use, even in 25 degree weather.  But since it was a shorter run, I was fine with it.  I really did like the face mask part of it as it was more of a shape and unlike the others that I have warn, the material didn't feel like it was getting sucked into my mouth.  A good purchase, but will only be able to use in the really really cold weather.

Tuesday was back to the work week.  Nothing special, but I did get to the class for my FT class.

We got snow again on Wednesday.  Unlike two weeks ago, this one wasn't as bad.  Though it seemed to have a little more ice to it then snow.  Thankfully my run schedule called for a rest day, so I didn't have to worry about the roads or getting to the gym.  Even though I could have worked from home, I made it into the office with a handful of people.  It was nice to be in a quiet office to get work done.  Though I did have to scrape all the ice/snow off my car when I went home.

Thursday morning I looked out my window and my road didn't have that much snow or ice on it, so I knew I'd be heading out.  The gym said that it wasn't going to open till 7 that morning.  My normal class starts at 7, so I thought I would head there.  I brought my running shoes and iPad just in case we didn't have class.  I stuck to my normal morning schedule and got to the gym about 5 minutes before 7.  There already was a handful of cars waiting for them to open up the doors.  The instructor was there as well as other regulars for the class I take.  So we started a little late, but still had our class.

During the day on Thursday I had made the decision to run the Frostbite 15k that Sunday.  My long run for the weekend was slated to be 10 miles and since the race was 9.3 I thought that would make due.  The weather for the weekend, and especially for Sunday morning looked amazing.  Without much thought I signed up.  This is the latest I have ever signed up for a race.  The site said that I wouldn't get a shirt, but that's OK, I have plenty of race shirts.  The site also said that we could check after the race to see if there were any left, so I planned on doing that.

Driving home Thursday night I made a special effort to look at the side of the roads to determine if I was going to run outside or if I had to head to the gym on Friday morning.  They looked fine enough to run on, so I ran outside Friday morning.  Since I was running the 15k on Sunday, I decided to up my 3 miles to 4 to compensate.  The run was interesting as the first 3 miles were in the dark.  So I was judging if the dark areas were shadows or ice and if the white areas were salt or snow.  Most everything was shadows and salt.  There was only one area where the whole width of the road was ice which I carefully walked slowly over.

Since the race was on Sunday, I decided to get out early and run my errands as the stores opened.  I hate crowds, so this is when I like to get out and get things done.  One of my stops was Michael's as I have decided to try and give Bullet Journaling a try.  I've needed a better way to organize my many Post-its and scraps of paper worth of lists.  While I love my lists, I hate that they are all over the place.  I have tried to keep a notebook with everything there, but found that it was hard to organize what still needed to be done, especially if it needed to be done by a specific date.  I ran across someone's post mentioning it a few weeks back and liked the idea.  I wasn't sure if it was for me until I saw the disc notebook at an office supply store.  It is a morph between a spiral notebook and a three ring binder.  It acts and feels like a spiral notebook, but the system allows you to remove and add pages through out the notebook.

With the Bullet Journal the ideas are endless so I spent some time looking through my scrap booking items as well as at Michael's to get inspiration on what I could do with it.  By the end of the day on Saturday I had a basic layout that I cannot wait to put to use.  My main use for it will be organizing items that I need and want to get done, as well as having one place for my training schedule.  Also a place to make notes on my day or events that I go to.  I also want to try and organize my blog thoughts.  I have so many ideas that roll through my brain that I want to blog about but I never remember them when I sit down to type.  If I find that I'm still using it in a couple of months, I'll go into more detail of how I've been using it.

Sunday I was up bright and early to run the Frostbite 15k.  I'll have a full post about it, but here is a sneak peak.  I kinda dreaded this race.  I dread most races the night before and morning of, but I think I am a little out of practice, which is good that I did this race.  I did packet pickup the morning of and it was very simple.  The weather was wonderful and running around the lakes was beautiful.  Couldn't have had a better morning.  I ran into running friends and it was good to catch up with them.  I did end up getting a race shirt after the race.  There were a handful left and I was able to get one in my size.  I got a PR!  Well not as exciting as it might sound, because I have never raced this distance.  I was glad I did it.

How was your week?  Have you tried Bullet Journaling before?  Did you get snow?  What was the latest that you have ever signed up for a race?  Have you ever done race day sign up?

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