A sport that is fulfilling all on its own

I would like to start off by saying how wonderful it has been to be a part of the running/blogging community. I've met some wonderful people who each have their own outlook on training and running in general. 

It has been awesome to follow these folks over the years and be a part of their journey. The fun thing about this is that everyone has their own agenda and is doing what works for them. Over the years, I've followed runners who have become more involved in running and racing and have set some lofty goals for themselves. I've also followed along as some of my favorite running bloggers have slowed down a bit (not to say their running pace has slowed, but they aren't doing as many races and/or they are finding more balance with other things they enjoy in their lives.     

I of course fall into the latter category.  There were a few years were I was running as many races as I could. I loved traveling for Race-cations, I loved the excitement of race day, and most of all I loved the triumphant feeling of crossing the finish line.  I was setting goals for myself not because I really cared to achieve a certain goal but because socially I thought that's what I was suppose to do. I mean come on, you can't read a running blog or Instagram post these days without hearing about setting a PR or how to train so you can be "better". What kind of runner am I if I don't want to be better?

Earning an Age Group award at my favorite hometown race!

Truth be told, at this point I feel I have reached every running goal I have made for myself. Now granted, these goals were made in the very beginning of my running journey. This means that my time goals may not seem that ambitious and that's okay!   I've hit my  time goals for 5k, 10k, and half marathon, and have completed my goal of just completing a marathon!  Other goals were to do certain destination races and to win an age group award.

(to date I've actually won 3 AG award, one I actually worked hard for, the other two were surprises (and small races)

So you may ask, why not update your goals? Why not challenge yourself? And to that, I will respond with the best running quote I have ever heard. Credit for this saying goes to my friend Kim from Running on the Fly.  

O gosh this just sums it up.  I don't want to look back on my life and think I didn't accomplish anything else I wanted to do because I spent three days a week after work and Saturday mornings on the trail running.  Yes, the IG post afterwards will of course remind me that each run was a an accomplishment, but month after month what is it really that I've accomplished compared to all the time it took me to do it?  I will admit that unlike my sister, running is not my natural talent. I have to work for it. However, I am talented in other areas and I think I need to take some time for those as well.

I am in no way quitting running, I'm just saying that Kim has totally captured the essence of how I feel about it and I bet a lot of you may feel that way too.

Continue to run, but go experience something else as well. What other talents or interest do you have? -M

                                         We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap...Jan 27

The last week of January was certainly quite different than the first week. I think the entire East coast (and other places) were experiencing a cold snap the first week. Now here we are the last week of the month and we are back to mild temps and I'm able to run outside again with only a short sleeve shirt. Will it last?

Actually I can not complain at all. That cold snap appeared just as I was taking my little hiatus from running so really, those cold temps didn't effect me at all. I hardly noticed them..haha!

Last week I mentioned that I started running again and I've been pretty consistent too. My plan is Tuesdays and Thursday are short runs on the Treadmill and Saturdays are runs outside.

This past Tuesday it was so nice out that I want to trade in my TM run for a run outside, but I got sidetracked. I went to my neighborhood Dollar General store to get some air freshener for work and I noticed that all their left over Christmas merchandise was only 10 cents!

I Seriously do NOT need anymore Christmas stuff but I'd be crazy NOT to buy it!  I bought 6 bags of bows and 4 packages of boxes. Regular cost $26. My cost $1.  I immediately told my friend Megan who loves Christmas stuff and loves the Dollar General! 

Okay, so back to running. Here are my thoughts on this weeks runs!

                       

Since I ended up running a few errands in the afternoon, so I just ended up running on the TM on Tuesday evening.  I tell ya, my TM runs will never be at the same pace my outdoor runs are. It will always take me much longer on the treadmill. 

During Thursday's Treadmill run, I figured out what some of my problem with the treadmill has been all these years.  I always keep my treadmill set to a moderate pace (on purpose).  But even at these moderate paces, I feel like it is such an effort. I guess I was always afraid of turning it up because I thought "Wow, that belt moves fast, there is no way I can keep up with that" .  Turns out, I CAN keep up with a faster pace on the TM and it actually feels a bit easier for me.  I guess I need to be more confident on my treadmill runs.  

Saturday I took my run outside.  Since I only did 3 miles last Saturday, I decided I would only bump up to 4 this Saturday (I'm a cautious runner).  For the first half of this run my legs were really shaky.  I don't know if this was because I did not properly warm up or because I've been use to running on the treadmill.  Also, I often have problems with my neck and right shoulder. I know that this is mostly a concentration issue and if I was better at focusing my self straight ahead when I run, this may not be as aggravated . However, I was also carrying a (very small) hand held water bottle. I usually carry it in my right hand, but since I was feeling that pull in my shoulder I decided to switch it to my left hand. The same "pain" was still there.  I decided that I didn't really need the water anyway so I just slipped it inside my flip belt. It's amazing how quickly that pain went away.  The water bottle was very small and was not heavy. I am surprised that even holding it at all caused such discomfort.  

And that's a wrap!  I'm looking forward to ticking off the last few days and heading into February! That means Spring is on it's way. -M

Do you ever find that holding a water bottle (or perhaps even holding your hands a certain way) effects your run? 

We will be linking up with Holly and Wendy for their Weekly Wrap!

When Fitness Technology Fails

How often does technology effect how, when, where, or how long we workout?  Running and working out in general should be the simplest thing in the world to do, but I think we as a society have made it more complicated by adding all these gadgets.

This was precisely what I was thinking about the other day.

I'll be honest here, there were times where I stopped a run because my Garmin died and I felt that I didn't want to continue if I couldn't record accurate data. 

Before I learned to love running sans music, I would stop a run if my ipod died. Or worse yet, there were times I got to my trail and realized I didn't have my earbuds so I scratched that run.

The first week of the new year I wanted to start wearing my fitbit again to keep my self accountable (since I was on hiatus from running) but I forgot to charge it and missed the first day. Since I missed the first day, I decided I wasn't even going to wear it for the remainder of the week.

And most recently, I wanted to ride my Nordick Track bike but my ifit and google maps was not connecting to it properly, so I got off the bike.

I look at all these examples and realize how motivated I am by the technology that goes along with fitness. I also realize that it should not be this way. I should run whether or not I have music or whether or not I can track my miles or pace. I should try to stay active weather or not I can track those steps and I should want to ride my indoor bike whether or not I can connect to virtual maps.

How has failed technology effected your workouts? -M

An InLinkz Link-up

Choose Your Path

We haven't been posting on Wednesdays due to the fact that there hasn't been a lot of running activity going on, but now that I'm getting back into it I hope to get back to telling stories from my runs!

On Saturday I did my first outdoor run of the year.  It was a perfect day to chose for my first run outside. It appears that our deep freeze has passed and we were blessed with a sunny day with blue skies and temps in the 50's. Perfect for running!

The plan was that I was going to drive my parents to a basketball game at our local university and then drive myself to the rail trail which which was near by. My plan was to run only the part of the path that was near the fitness center because that part was paved and it's highly used so I thought for sure it would be clear of snow.

I dropped my parents of at the game and then headed to my trail.

Turns out, this is what it looked like. I was shocked.  I thought for sure the snow would have been removed or at least melted by now.

I turned around and decided that I would go back to the university (since their paths were clear) and do my run there.

A little blurry, but this sign on the university campus says "Choose Your Path", I thought that was appropriate for today's run!

Don't let the snow fool you. It was a beautiful run. I felt a little silly because I was quite over dressed. Every runner I passed was wearing shorts.  I did not need this head warmer either, but since I was running among the "public"  (not on my trail), I would have been embarrassed to take it off because I know my hair was ALL over the place.

I wanted to get in 4 miles but my Garmin was giving me the Low Battery warning so I managed to get in three miles of complete running. I stopped it at 3 miles and then just walked the rest of the way back to my car.  I was A-Okay with this since it was my first non treadmill run of the year.

By the time I got back to my car, it was already half time at the basketball game. I was gonna grab a quick drink and then head home to shower before picking my parents back up but I decided I did not want to rush.

I ended up hanging out at one of my favorite places, Barnes and Nobel.  I seriously could waste a ton of time in a book store. Our Barnes and Nobel here is actually three stories (haha, no pun intended)!

I had just enough time to browse the sale books they had out, make a purchase, and grab a drink.  I wasn't sitting in the cafe too long leafing through my new book, before I got word that the game was soon over and I had to go pick my parents up. 

What a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon! -M

Ready to Launch...or not

I have been running in Brooks Launch for over three years now. I don’t know why companies always feel the need to keep changing the make of shoes when the prior model works well. However I have been fortunate to be able to wear each new model that they come out with. I currently have three pairs of Launches, two pairs of the Launch 4s and one pair of the Launch 3s.  

It was just recently that I noticed that I have holes in my newest Brooks. I just bought these shoes in the beginning of Fall and I have not even been wearing them during every run since I have two other pair. I did not know these holes were even there until I didn’t wear black socks with them one day and saw the color of my sock poking out. 

I noticed that my other Brooks Launch 4s have major holes in them as well. Is it the shoe or maybe I need a wide width? I do not remember getting holes in the first few pairs that I had (Launch 1 and 2).  

I then looked at my Brooks 3 which are older than the 4s of course, and the hole is just starting. Could it be the company making a cheaper version of the shoe? I thought the shoe companies are supposed to change the shoes for the better when the newer models come out.   

I was not even thinking about posting about this but I was telling my friend about my problem and he said I should mention this and see if anyone else has had this problem with this particular shoe.  I know I put a lot of miles on my shoes but I still feel like they should be lasting longer than what they do. Is it time to try another brand?  I remember the days when I would run in the same shoe for 8 months straight without swapping out shoes between runs and never had holes in them. Now I am barely making it a few months and I am getting holes on both sides.  Maybe I need to go up a half a size? But I do not feel like these shoes feel tight on me.  Any suggestions?   

Has anyone else been running in Brooks Launch and have had this problem or is it just me? -L

We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap...Jan 21

                                                           What a great week!

There was no school on Monday but I had to go in and prepare things for the new semester and the new students I would be meeting! It's like the first day of school all over again!

Tuesday we ended up getting out of school early due to snow. Wednesday we had a delayed start and Thursday and Friday were our only full days of school for the week.

I decided that this was the week I was going to get back to my Tuesday and Thursday runs. When I came home on Tuesday I decided I was going to try to connect my iFit again to my treadmill and bike. I had been having trouble with it lately.

I was unsuccessful with using the ifit for the treadmill so I did my run sans map. I was able to do part of a Central Park run that I had downloaded on there last year.  The pace was a little slower than I would have liked but that's okay since I hadn't run in a while. However, the incline started out at 0 and I was told to NEVER run on the treadmill with an incline at 0.  I was about to manually adjust it when it automatically increased.  The pace did increase a little bit and then the incline was all overt he place going from 0 to 4.5.  Yup, that is exactly how I remembered my REAL run in Central Park!


After the run I actually used the Bowflex and did several sets of leg lifts.  I was determined to get this ifit module working, so after much fussing with it, I got it working on the bike.  I chose to do one of the "Snowy" rides.  The ride said it was in Park City Utah.  The first thing I noticed is that it was NOT snowing.

The route actually started at a trailhead near a log cabin.  It was clearly a summer day, not a wintery snowy one like the description said.  I thought maybe that would change so I gave it a try. This route was DIFFICULT. The incline was at 20% the entire time. I kept turning the resistance down but the stinkin bike/computer kept turning it back up. It took all I had to keep pedaling. I did one mile before calling it quits on that route.

The thing with the iFit workout is that you don't get just one route. I chose to do the Snowy route but there are several routes included in that workout. They are all different scenes and different distances.  There were about 12 different routes in this one workout. You are suppose to be able to do them over the course of several days. I wanted to skip the Park City, Utah route since it was tough and clearly not a winter route.  I tried the Breckenridge, CO route (also on this same snowy workout) and although the title came up "Breckenridge, CO, it was the same route I had from Utah! I tried several other workouts and again, they were all the same exact route as the Utah one. Dang, I wanted the snowy route!

 I decided that if I wanted a snowy ride, I was going to have to ditch the ifit and turn my bike to face the window!

Thursday I did the same treadmill and Bowflex workout. I wanted to ride the bike too but I could not get the ifit to work at all so I just said forget it.

Saturday I did my first outside run of the year and it was just glorious!

I think this schedule of three runs a week will work for me through the spring!

And as far as running, that's a wrap! -M

We are linking up with Holly and Wendy for their Weekly Wrap!

Why I don't hate winter

Winter officially started on December 21, but to me from December 1 to January 2 is really just Christmas season.  After January 2 is when Winter really begins!  It's easier mentally if you think of it that way.

For the last several years our winters have been pretty mild. There is some cold weather in January, by February it warms up, and then BAM out of no where we usually get that one snow storm in March!

Wouldn't we all love to be in the sunny Caribbean during this time, but why not embrace what we have instead of hating it.  I Love Summer the most, but I've taken a new outlook on winter over the past few years and I've begun not to hate it!  Here's why...

1. When it does snow, it's so pretty and snowy runs make for a memorable run.  I love how my park looks like a winter wonderland after a freshly fallen snow and it's not every day that I get to experience that.  I have not had the pleasure of doing a snowy run in my park yet this year.

Runs that I remember doing in beautiful weather last February! Will we be so lucky to have that weather again this year?

2. As winter goes on, it's like a surprise. You never know what you are going to get. It could be 32 degrees one day and close to 60 the next.

3. I work at a school, so I still sit with anticipation when it snows or ices to see if we will have a delay, cancellation, or early dismissal. Our school is very good at keeping us safe. The slightest chance that there might be snow and we will delay.  You never grow too old to be excited about a delay!

4. I have to admit that winter days are the best days to accomplish very little and not feel guilty. Cuddling with pets, reading books, and browsing aimlessly on Pintrest are all perfectly fine to do during the winter.

5. And of course Winter is kind of like Christmas where you are anticipating the first signs of Spring. You know it's coming and you are very eager!

An InLinkz Link-up

My Workout Space

I pretty much have a full functioning home gym at my house, yet for the past few years I have paid to go to a gym. Why?

I guess I needed that motivation and because I've been injured for so long I liked the fact that there was always a physical therapist on hand to check in with me or answer questions.

Then I just stopped going because I wasn't running longer distances and figured I could do whatever strength training I needed to do at home. Except I didn't do any.

I'm hoping that for 2018 I can be more dedicated to using my home gym.  I actually thought that "Showing where you work out" was a topic for TOTR so I prepared this little tour, but then when I went back to look at the topics, I guess I missed it. 

In our gym we have a Bow Flex Revolution that I can probably convert to do more workouts than I even know how to do. We've had this machine for many years but have definitely not taken advantage of it.

My favorite pieces of equipment are the Nordic Track treadmill and bike.  I like these because they are ifit compatible and every workout can potentially be an adventure!

As you can see, my screen on the treadmill is rather small (and the one on the bike is a little bigger but still small), So when I use the iFit maps, I link it to my ipad.  Also, behind this wall is a large screen TV I can also link it up to. Sometimes I will pull the bike out into the other room.

I have smaller pieces of equipment like hand weights, resistance bands, foam rollers, stability ball, etc but they seem to make their way to other rooms in the house.

You may notice that my walls are bare. Most home gyms I've seen are decorated with race medals, bibs, and other running paraphernalia. Mine is not. Scott said I should hang all my medals up to show them off but I already have them all hung up in my dressing room (where really nobody but me can see them, but that's okay). I go in my dressing room every single day and I like seeing them there. Honestly, I do not go into this workout room every day. -M

Do you go to a gym or do you have a workout space at home? If so, how is it decorated?

We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap Jan 15.....While My Sister Sleeps

I'm excited to share something about my week this week. I finally did my first run of the year, but it was only a Saturday morning run on the treadmill so there was nothing too exciting about that.

However, I did start on something I wanted to do this year.  Previously in the post What Really Happened, I talked about things I wanted to do in 2017 and never did, and one of those things was for my sister and I to read the same books and discuss them. We did one last year but wanted to actually do more than that this year.  Well Monday I went to the library to get a book and by Friday I was finished with it.

The book I chose was While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky.  Actually, I ended up picking this book by random. I was looking for another book (by a different author) but it was not there. However, this book was on the same shelf and the title caught my eye. I rarely read the inside of the book to see what it is about, so I usually do judge a book my it's cover (and title).

Turns out, this book was about a RUNNER! Perfect I thought.

I don't want to give too much away about the book in case you might want to read it, but here is the short version of it and my own thoughts.

Of course the book is about two sisters, Robin and Molly. Robin is training for the NYC Marathon and hoping to come in the top 3 female. She is actually hoping to make it to the Olympics.  At only age 32, Robin has a heart attack during a run and collapses. A fellow runner finds her laying on the road and calls for an ambulance to the hospital.

I did not like the mother's attitude in this story. She of course blames the sister, Molly for not being with her sister during the run ( I guess she usually tags along and holds her water), and then the mother starts to blame the fellow runner (a complete stranger) for not running faster and helping Robin sooner.

The sister, Molly, is sort of a head case herself. While her sister is in the hospital, she has to pack up both their belongings (they live together) because the landlord is having construction done on their rental because he is selling it. He gives her a date that she has to be out by (she knew this even before her sister's accident). Yet when the accident happens, she thinks her landlord is being unreasonable for not extending his deadline once again (this is a small part of the story but it really bothered me that Molly would act that way).

Anyone who is seriously into running could probably relate to some of Robins thoughts and secret feelings. I am certainly not into running as much as Robin is but I could relate to some of the running references.  However, I was a little disappointed the author did not let the reader have a stronger connection with Robin. Besides some thoughts on her running, we didn't really get to know Robin as a person (It would have been nice to have some flashbacks of her life up until that point).  I have been known to get very emotional while reading some of my favorite books, but during this one I felt like I was not as invested in Robin and whether she recovered from her accident or not.

If you decided to read this book (which is not a bad read for a runner), I would warn that it kind of drags on in the beginning but does become more interesting at the half way point.

Do you think you will read this book? What other fiction books have you read about runners? -M


We will be linking up with Wendy and Holly for their weekly wrap!

What I sometimes do.....

I can't believe it's Friday already! I love how fast this week went. Did it go by fast for you too?

I am also glad that this cold snap, polar vortex, or whatever you want to call it has passed. Two weeks of that stuff and I will officially call that our winter! I'm glad it's gone and we are back to our normal temps.

However, I will say that I am glad my downtime was during the cold weather. I have taken a month off from running and basically all workouts and I don't even feel guilty about it and this is why...

Sometimes you just want to sleep in instead of run long on the weekends. 

Sometimes you want to come home from work and watch Judge Judy instead of lace up and go run before it gets dark. 

Sometimes you want to curl up with a good book (I'm certainly intrigued with one now. I picked it at random and it ended up being about a runner).

Sometimes you just want to spend your free moments with family, and that's alright! 

And of course after doing All This ^ for a month sometimes you can't wait to get back outside and run your favorite routes! 

I think I needed a month of comfort and downtime because now I'm ready to be motivated again. The weather here was beautiful this week and I'm hoping we see some more if it for next week when I head to the trails again! -M

An InLinkz Link-up

A Frosty decision

Every February our community hosts an Ice Festival. During this weekend the downtown is filled with ice sculptures and artists, there is a chocolate tour, there are games at the park, and there is a polar plunge, and frosty 5K.

                                                                           Source

I have seen the ice sculptures before and they are pretty cool (literally) and some of them even light up. I wanted to buy tickets for the chocolate tour last year, but then honestly just got too lazy to go. I did go to the polar plunge a few years back (not to participate but to take photos for the newspaper) and quite frankly I don't understand why anyone would want to do that. I'm sure it probably benefits some cause, but I'd rather just donate a check than take the plunge!  This year I thought I would take part in the Frosty 5K.


I've never done this race before because quite honestly, the name never appealed to me. I mean come on, who wants to run a FROSTY 5K?  But as I looked through my training logs from the past few February's I noticed that the weather has not been that bad. I did many of runs in just a short sleeve shirt.  So why not sign up? 

Now here is what is irritating me.  I first decided I would consider running this back in December. I saw all the details (so I thought) on the Official race web page.   Donuts and hot chocolate at the start, a nice course, turkey subs at the finish, and discounts to all the runners for the other festival activities that day. Sounded like a great race!

However, I noticed that all the race info was still from 2017 and there was no place to register for the 2018 race. I did a little investigating on my own and still could not find an update page to register for the race. Seeing that it is a local race, I thought perhaps registration for 2018 has not yet opened. Maybe they would open it after the new year? Yes, I know that is unlikely that race registration would only be open for one month, but that was the only logical explanation I could come up with as to why I could not find it.

I went back to the website on January 1st and 2nd and it still had not been updated.  I found a contact email for someone in the Rotary club who was sponsoring the race and asked where I could find an updated registration form.  He promptly sent me a link the next day.  The 2017 registration form was linked through RunSignUp.com  (which most of our local races are) and this new one for 2018 was linked through a different site I had never heard of and quite frankly would have never been able to find had he not sent me the link.  When I opened the link to register I noticed that I not only missed the first price increase, but the second price increase as well.  This frustrates me because I hate paying more than I have to for a local 5K.  What angers me is not the fact that I forgot to sign or or that I missed it, its that the information/registration was not on the proper page.  If they were going to change the registration page, then they should have put that new registration link on the old race web page so people would know where to find it.  Even if you just do a random google search for this race, the 2017 page still comes up.

I guess no use in complaining about this now. I still haven't decided if I want to pay that much for a local 5K or not but I guess I don't have to be in an hurry to decide since the price is the highest it is going to be now (besides on race day).  I'll see how many runs I get to do between now and February!

Any cool runs or festivals near you in Febraury? -M

We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.

First Week of 2018

                                          Welcome to another edition of the weekly wrap.

This seemed to be a short week, so I actually remembered something from each day (which rarely happens). My friend Rebecca does an end of the month post called "A Sentence a day" which I like, but it would be challenging for me to only use one sentence so I am going to try this format for the week and see how it goes!

Sunday (New Years Eve) - We had plans for over a month to go to a dinner party with some friends but then an hour before we had to cancel. I kind of felt like a jerk for doing so but Scott had been sick all week and did not feel like he could handle being at a fancy restaurant all evening. I completely understood. We did go to a party later that night at my cousins house and it was so nice to see all my family again and play games. We taught my pappy a new card game and he caught on real well! Check out that cool champagne cake my cousin made. It was fabulous!

Monday (New Years Day) - Happy to have another day off work! My sister made us a traditional New Years day dinner of pork, saurkraut, and potatoes. My dad, however slipped and fell out at his pond and had to go to the ER. He came home with three staples in his head. Ouch! 

Tuesday - Back at work but after work we were still busy. I had to finally go for groceries since we've been eating snacks and holiday leftovers for the last week. Then we went to an 85th Birthday party for my Pappy!

Wednesday- I tried to get my iFit for the treadmill and bike up and running again but iFit customer service is less than ideal. I still don't have it running correctly and my subscription is soon going to expire! #Wasteofmoney

Thursday- I stopped at the store to pick up some more fleece lined tights since we are in the middle of this cold snap. I ended up picking up some pumpkin spice popcorn and french vanilla hot chocolate.

Friday - No School. I always have these big ideas of how much stuff  I'm going to get accomplished when I don't have to go to work. The only thing I did was sew a cover for my bench and it literally took me 5 hours and the bench wasn't even that big!  I didn't have a pattern so it was a lot of trial and error! The corners are what gave me the most trouble.

Saturday- We spent the day shopping. When we got home we ended up getting into the tv series "The Good Doctor". Anyone else watch it? We watched the first 3 episodes and are hooked.

And that's a wrap!  I hear we are suppose to get a heat wave this week so perhaps I will try to get outside to run. Depending on how that goes, I may sign up for a race for next month. We'll see. More on that later. -M

We will be linking up with Hohoruns and MissSippiPiddlin for their weekly wrap.

What REALLY happened!

On New Years Eve I was browsing some old blog posts from last January to see what I was writing about at that time.  I wrote a post about what I was looking forward to doing/intended to do in 2017.  I thought it would be fun to recap those intentions and let you all know what REALLY happened!

1. Intention- Have a better relationship with my treadmill.
What Really Happened- I bought a subscription to the ifit program on my treadmill. It really is the neatest thing but I only ended up using it a handful of times and didn't use it all after March. I really do prefer running outside. It is a bit of an expense and I certainly didn't get my monies worth out of it in 2017 but I'm thinking of giving it another go round in 2018.

2. Intention- Start a book club with my sister.
What Really Happened - We read one book the entire year and to tell you the truth, it was a book I already read so I actually cheated and listened to it on audio book on my way to and from work. We'll try this again in 2018!

3. Intention- Paint the den.
What Really Happened-  This room is very large with vaulted ceilings. I've painted it twice myself since we lived here so this time I paid a professional to do it. I really wanted it painted blue but couldn't find the right shade so at literally the last minute I panicked and chose a neutral color.  The room turned out to be a success.

4.Intention- Get a Puppy
What Really Happened- Well this was more Scott's intention than it was mine. I just can't bear to bring another dog into the house right now because although it could be a good thing for Baylee, it could also stress her out too. Not to mention things are so easy with Baylee. She listens well, she travels well, and I can take her shopping and stuff. What will happen when I have two dogs? The puppy will always have to stay home because I can not take TWO dogs into Starbucks. That will get us kicked out for sure! But really, I like having all my attention on Baylee. I would feel bad having to divide my time among her and another.

5. Fitness Related

Intention-Run some new to me races.
What Really Happened- I did run 3 new local races ( The Monumental Mile, The Color Run, and the Monster Mash) and several out of town races as well.

Intention- Run some Big City Races.
What Really Happened- Well, I did cross two cities off my list, NYC and Baltimore. I would call this a success!

Intention- I wanted to try doing a bike race. Not to race it, but just to finish.
What Really Happened- Not a darn thing. I rode my bike on the trail a few times and that was it.

What were some things you didn't end up doing?  -M

An InLinkz Link-up

My Miles

Starting off the year I didn’t have any specific goals for running. I just wanted to maintain my fitness and love for running and if a PR happens, that’s great. I like to at least get a 100 miles each month, but if it doesn’t happen I don’t beat myself up over it.

I don't keep a running journal so I at least wanted to get these miles down in print (at least for myself anyway). 

January- 107 started off very cold but still managed to get over 100 miles.

February- 156 miles. This was the most mileage I ever ran in one month. I was training for Shamrock marathon this month and remember logging over 60 miles one week. After I did that, I took almost a week off relaxing in Jamaica. I couldn’t believe that I logged that many miles in one month, even with taking almost a week off.

March 103 miles.  With my taper before the marathon and recovering well after the race I was happy to still log just over 100 miles.

April- 148 miles. Honestly I can’t remember what I even did this month so I am surprised I got that many miles in. It must have been just enjoying the Spring temps after the colder months prior.

May- 119 Got some good runs in at the beach as well as the trails before the summer temps started to become a challenge.

June-65 miles. I went to Cancun for almost a week so didn’t do too much running that week. In addition, I received a new position at work during the summer that forced me to work very long hours (10-12) at a time so needless to say running took a back burner.  

July-93 miles. Still crazy at work, and super-hot out, but beat June mileage, so I was happy about that.

August-101 It surely did not get any cooler, but got more into a rhythm with my work and running routines.

September- 119 miles. Can you tell that work slowed down? In addition to that, the temps cooled down as well and I placed first at a 5k race.

October -140 miles. Some nice fall weather temps and two races; a Halloween 10k and the Baltimore Marathon.

November- 127 miles. This was probably one of the best months. Not only was it my Birthday month. I got to do something I really enjoyed on my special day. Run a marathon. I got the best birthday gift ever. A huge PR that will take me to Boston in 2019! In addition, I also started my running streak on Thanksgiving. 

December-141 miles. My Running streak continued. It was a good thing I had a treadmill, because if I didn’t, I do not think my Run Streak would have lasted. There were some very cold days this month and I hate running in the cold so I was very thankful for my treadmill.  The streak wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. I only had a few days that were a struggle. Two days I wasn’t feeling well. Good thing I had a 5k on of those days (I placed 1^st in my Age Group) and the other day I went shopping out of town for the day. I made it home by 11:15 pm. I was going to just call it a night, but there were only three days left of the streak. I thought to myself I made it this far, I need to finish it. So I hopped on the treadmill to get my mile in.

I finished the year off with 1,419 mies. Why didn’t I just do one more mile? I don’t really know.  Regardless, I am very happy with my mileage for the year for not having an actual goal.  I do not have any running related goals for 2018. I just want to run for fun and remain injury free.

What are you goals for 2018? -L

We'll be linking up with the gals from Tuesdays on the Run!