This is what I'm figuring out.


School is over this week so I'll now be able to spend more time on the trail. To prepare I thought I would finally update my playlist on my iPod. I realize I'm probably one of the few that still use an iPod, but as long as mine's still ticking, I'll never give it up!  Besides, why would I want to waste so much space on my phone for music?

Using iTunes has always been kind of a challenge to me. I eventually get the music where I want it, but it ends up usually being a happy accident because I don't always remember what I am suppose to do (You would think it would occur to me to write it down one of these days).

Anyway, I got a new laptop for Christmas and I never really transferred anything from my old computer to my new computer yet.  Silly me thought iTunes was something I could log into from any computer, but I guess it's not so I had to watch a tutorial on how to transfer my iTunes and all my music to my new laptop. I was actually successful at it and I can see all my music just as it was but there is still a little glitch in the iTunes so I couldn't use it.  At this point I had been on the computer for many hours and didn't even know where to start to fix the glitch so I just gave up and went back to my old lap top to download my new music.

In the process, I decided that I wanted to organize my songs by album and artist. Since a lot of my older songs were from MP3 files, they didn't have this information.  I watched a tutorial that said in order to organize my music like this I had to download something called Music Brainz.  So I did.  Needless to say, I couldn't even get the app to open up.  Finally I deleted the app and figured out how to re-label my music on my own. I have to say I was pretty proud of my non-techy self for figuring this out.  I love that my music is all labeled now and it makes it easier to listen to an entire album if I want.

Speaking of entire album. Here is a little side story.  Many years ago, I use to listen to my favorite CD while falling asleep. Fast Forward a few years, and I no longer even had a CD player in the house to listen to it on so I just got on YouTube on my phone and played the songs from the CD on there. The songs played non- stop one after another so it was just like I was listening to the CD.

 When I got my new phone, I tried doing the same thing. HOWEVER, this time there was an ad that played after EVERY song! This was quite annoying. When I listen to Youtube on my laptop I don't get ads after every video.  I did notice that there is a paid version of Youtube that is ad free. I considered that (when I thought perhaps it was a one time fee), but knowing that it is a monthly fee I quickly changed my mind and just decided to make a playlist with the albums I like on my ipod and that has been working out great since.  I'm liking my new phone but I realized that every app I use, there are ads on them now. When I used the same apps on my Blackberry, I never got ads (but I guess what companies really want to advertise on the Blackberry platform since there was probably only 8 of us still using it...haha).  Make fun all you want, but see, that was one thing I loved about that little Blackberry phone, no ads!

Oh, and one last thing. Remember that horrible podcast I downloaded last year? How do I delete it off my iPod. I've been trying to watch tutorials on how to do that as well, but I haven't found anything that works.

So tell me, do you get ads? How do I delete that podcast? -M

Weekly Wrap...May 27

Welcome to the last Weekly Wrap of May! How is that even possible?


I'm feeling quite refreshed as we head into June. I'm going to be embarking on something new this month which fills me with both trepidation and excitement at the same time. I'm not ready to share quite yet because I haven't got all the details nailed down.  School is done this week so that will give me more time to prepare!

I thought this past week would be a relaxing one. Scott was away for the week so I thought it would be just me and Baylee Chillin, but it ended up being busier than expected. (Hence no pictures for the week).

I had off School on Monday morning and I wanted to sleep in. I purposely did not even set my alarm but it ended up that I got up at 6:30 am anyway.  After taking care of Baylee, I putzed around deciding what I should do ( I don't normally have a weekday morning off so this was a treat).  I decided to go down to the Island and go for a run.

On weekdays I can't run until the afternoons, so I usually need to rush down to the island so I can get my run in before the soccer kids get there. On this morning (since it was a school day) I figured I'd have the place to myself.  That was not the case. There was a bunch of people there walking.  I didn't go into the woods since I figured the path would be damp since it was still early. I stayed on the path around the soccer field and surprised myself with three miles! 

Afterwards I went home, cleaned the pool, did some house work, and then showered and got ready to go to work.   When I got home from work, I changed clothes and met my sister at the island again for another three miles.  I guess this day was the extent of my workouts this week.  The following day I found out my dad was having surgery so every day after work was spent with him.  Oh, except I did mow grass on Friday (because Scott was away).  I thought the riding mower had stalled on me (turns out it was a user error), so I ended up push mowing the entire yard! My yard is not flat and it was so stinking hot out. It took me over two hours and when I finished I thought that process was harder than my last half marathon!  So that definitely was a workout and I'm quite surprised I wasn't sore afterwards!

I'm looking forward to having another day off tomorrow (Memorial Day Monday), and spending time with friends and family picnic-ing.   With Monday off and just a 2 full days of school left I know this week is going to fly by!  Summer here we come!   -M

Thank you to Wendy and Holly for hosting the Weekly Wrap!

May Runfessions

May is ending up being a fabulous month! The weather was gorgeous and I had the Wag a Thon for Guiding Eyes for the Blind to work towards which kept me quite motivated (and for a great cause)!

But unfortunately after I got all my miles in for the Wag aThon, I kind of lost my "purpose".



So I guess that's where I will start my first Runfessions.

At last year's 4th of July 5k.

I Runfess that I finally signed up for some summer races. I am once again going to run the Monumental Mile race in support of the Veterans and I'm also signed up to run the dread 4th of July race that is hotter than Hades. Why do I do that to myself?

Speaking of Monumental Mile, I Runfess that I am a bit irritated with this race organization (just a bit).  When I signed up for the inaugural race last year the cost was only $12.  I believe I signed up in May or maybe April at the earliest but not before that because I didn't even know about the race. I think I may have even had a discount code so it may have ended up being less than the original $12. It was a good deal!  Well, When I went to sign up for the race this year, I missed the $12 registration.  You had to register back in February to get in for $12. By the time I thought to sign up, it was already up to $17.50 and it will keep going up till race day when it is $20.

Last year with my Pap and Dad at the Veteran's Monumental Mile.

I also Runfess that I have lost my race buddy for the summer.  My dad had shoulder surgery this week so unfortunately he won't be running the Monumental Mile with me like he did last year.

My dad likes to bike as well as run so I Runfess that I have my eye on a bike race for us to do later in the summer.

And Finally I Runfess that we finally got our 2018 race recaps posted to the blog!  You can find them under the Race tab.  (It's about time since half the year is almost over). Oh my gosh, did I just say half the year is almost over? Where did time go?  It seems like it was just 3 months since New Years!  -M



I'm back at it!

Back to the Blog.

Some of you may have remembered me posting a few weeks ago that I was attending training for work for several weeks. During this time I was a little inactive on commenting on blogs so I apologize. It is times like this that I am grateful for my sister to keep up with the blog posts and comments. I won’t go into detail where I was, but I will say it was pretty intense and I was basically working 8-6 every day. Needless to say my workout regimen was on a little hiatus during this time.

I would try to get up every day at 5:30am to head to the gym. The first couple days were rough getting up this early, but then it got better. Since my schedule was so busy, it was a good feeling getting it out of the way early. I can’t imagine getting up like this daily that  (like some of you do).

This was my view so I guess it wasn't all that bad.

Though it was warm enough where I was to run outside at this time, not being familiar with the area, I was scared to go outside the perimeter of the hotel. I would get at least a half hour in almost every morning. Some times in the evening if we would happen to get done before 6 I would run a route around the hotel. I don’t think I lifted up a weight in over 3 weeks.  Going from running outside almost an hour every day, teaching body pump, and spin class, to barely doing anything but sitting in a classroom watching power point presentations non-stop, I was going a little stir crazy towards the end.


Finally it was all over. I was so excited to come home to see my family and sleep in my own bed. All I wanted to do when I came home was to get a good workout in. Of course the next day it was raining all day, so no outside run for me. I didn’t go to the gym but I did my own body pump workout because I have all the equipment in my basement. The following day I was itching to go for a run. I downloaded some podcasts I wanted to catch up on and wanted to get out the door while it wasn’t raining. It was so humid and felt like it was going to rain again, so I put my hat on just in case and hoped for the best.


I thought this run was going to be a little rough after so long of not doing my routine running that I was used to, but it was completely opposite. It felt so good to just get out there and run my usually route. I wasn’t even worried about my pace, but it ended up that I was keeping up with my usual pace. I felt like I had lost so much fitness ability after taking a break for so long, but I think it was just all in my head. I really wanted to get a full hour in since I haven’t in weeks (which would be about 7 miles for me) but it started to rain so I thought I better head back before it gets worse. Luckily I had my hat on so it wasn’t too bad. Actually it was kind of nice, because it was so humid so the rain didn’t even bother me. Usually it would have because I hate running in the rain, but since I haven’t had a good run in for so long, I just embraced it and thought to myself I am just happy I am able to be out running regardless the conditions. I finished with 5.5 miles before it really started to come down hard. Afterwards I did body pump again and felt like I was beginning to get back into the swing of things.

Have you ever taken a hiatus from your usual workouts? How long? -L

We are linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap...May 20

My runs were pretty interesting this week.   I had to be pretty selective on when I scheduled my runs due to the weather.

We had a rather rainy day last Sunday so of course my running route on Monday was more effected than I thought. About a half mile in I was detoured due to some flooding.


I guess this is what you get when you run on an island. I still ended up getting 3 miles in.

On Tuesday I think it pretty much rained all day. At one point we had a severe weather call at work and I over heard the secretary in the office saying dismissal for the students may be delayed. There was also a tornado warning for just north of us. Thank goodness it did not effect our area and we dismissed on time but as I was making the drive home I heard that several other schools were indeed holding their students from dismissing on time. 

By the time I got to my house the sun had come out and it was quite warm and I thought about going for a run but those severe weather warnings kept coming across the TV so I thought it best to just stay home.

Ironic little side story. I was suppose to take a little trip this week and my flight was suppose to leave on Tuesday afternoon.  I had a weird feeling about this so a few days ago I changed my mind and decided not to go.  Turns out with all those severe weather warnings a LOT of flights were delayed and had I taken the flight I was suppose to I would have been delayed and probably missed my connection anyway.  So the way I see it, I saved myself a whole lot of stress right there.  Oh and by the way, that weird feeling I had, had nothing to do with the flight, it had something to do with Baylee.


I made it back to the island on Thursday for another 3 miles. This is where I ran into these two Goldens that are actually brothers.

I've never seen a black Golden before so this was so precious.  I got to talking to the dog's owner and I found out she was Felicity's mom.  Do you remember my Felicity Story?  A few year's back (about 7 or 8) a Golden Retriever dressed as Sponge Bob came to our house for Trick or Treat. That dog's name was Felicity.  About 2 years ago, I met a Golden Retriever at the Island and her name was Felicity. I asked the owner if she was the one who dressed up as Sponge Bob for Halloween and she said "Yes"!  Well anyway, the owner remembered me talking to Felicity 2 years ago and left me know that she had passed this past November. I was so sad to hear that but happy to know that she lived to be 13. That's pretty good for Goldens.


Anyway, after my doggy fix I finished up my run through the wooded trail.  Can I tell you just how much I love this portion of the trail! The last several times I've run it, I've purposely run sans music! I just love all the nature sounds. On this day it was warm, kind of humid, but had that misty feeling in the air (if that even makes sense), I heard sounds from all different types of birds and the sun was shinning down through the canopy of the trees. I literally felt like I was running in the rain forest. Some people would think this run sounds horrible, but I liked it.


Friday morning I input my miles for the week for the Wag-a-thon, and saw that I was only 1 mile away from 26.2. So Friday evening I laced up my shoes and went back down to the island to get that last mile done.  The island was empty so it was like I had the whole park to myself.  This place is usually a flurry of activity so it was a nice feeling to feel secluded on my island!

I ended the week with 26.2 miles run and $250 raised for Guideing Eyes for the Blind. That really gave me a purpose to run this month!  -M

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

Let's Sell some clothes

This past week I started doing inventory on my running clothes. I had come to a realization that I did NOT need all the running clothes that I had.


There were race shirts that I have not worn in a very long time. Most of them because they are not comfortable (because they are a little too snug), but mostly because I rarely run in shirts because I prefer tank tops. So I started making piles, one to keep and one to toss. I admit it literally pained me to toss some of my Disney race shirts. But really, what am I going to do with shirts that are too small? I've been tossing around perhaps finally making a quilt or trying to turn those shirts in to tank tops. Any suggestions?


I also realized that I have grown out of my running skirts (both figuratively and literally).  I use to run ALL my Disney races (and a few other races too) in running skirts.  I thought they were stylish and I LOVED the two pockets they offered.  The pockets were the perfect size to keep my phone on race day. I've since got a new phone that does not fit in the pockets so the skirts have sort of loss some of the appeal for me. Also, they too have become a bit snug.

As I get older I am more conscientious about what I wear to run in. I'm falling into the Middle Aged Runner category and some things I use to run in, I just don't feel comfortable in anymore. I do want to keep some of my running skirts but something I've been worried about is the length. Now understand that these running skirts have the shorts built in underneath and I am comfortable with the length of the shorts. However, The skirt part is a little short. But does that matter? I guess it's not like the skirt is any shorter than the shorts.  I guess I just don't want to be running and have someone say Who does that middle aged lady think she is in that short skirt?


Brand New Prana dress with tags. Never worn. I think it's time to pass it on. 

In addition to some running skirts, I also have other fitness clothes and gear that have never been worn or used and I think I'd like to try and sell some of it off but I'm not sure how to do that. I guess I could try ebay. But how do people sell things in those online running groups? How does payment happen? I know I could use that Facebook Market Place thing but then  I'm really only limited to selling to people who are willing to come get the item, right? -M

Lots of questions for today.

What is the best way to sell running items? What is your running outfit of choice these days?  Has what your wear running changed over the years?



If you didn't run...

The other day I came home from a run and threw my sweaty running clothes into the clothes basket. I looked at that basket as it was almost overflowing with just running clothes from the past week and I thought to myself Geeze if I didn't run, I wouldn't have so much laundry. Amen, right?

So of course it got me thinking, what else?



If I didn't run... I'd be saving a lot of money on running gear and race registration.

If I didn't run... I'd have a lot less aches and pains.

If I didn't run... my feet might look a little better, maybe.

If I didn't run... I'd have a lot more time to work on other life goals.

If I didn't run...I would have saved a boat load of money on physical therapy.

If I didn't run...I'd have a lot more room in my closet.


All that sounds pretty good, right? 

But.........

If I didn't run ...I would miss out on meeting so many great runner friends.

If I didn't run... I wouldn't have such an appreciation for the outdoors.

If I didn't run... I may not have ever had the desire to visit some of the places I have.

If I didn't run... I would have missed out on a lot of fun family moments.

If I didn't run... I would miss out on the feeling of accomplishment through doing hard things.

If I didn't run... My world would be a whole lot smaller. 


Finish this statement with one of your own.

If I didn't run........

-M



We are linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap...May 13

Can you believe we are half way through the month of may?  With only 11 days of school left and this beautiful weather, it already feels like summer!

I don't remember a lot of what I did this week but I do know I had a few strong runs ( Thanks to the Wag-a -thon for keeping me motivated) but I had not kept up with my at home workouts...womp womp!


Tuesday's run was the one that was a struggle from the beginning. The heat, the humidity, and the trees that are in bloom dispersing pollen in the air gave me that tickle in my nose/throat while I ran.  This is the one where I thought I needed to take a walk break to even make it through, but I didn't.  I was kind of proud that I pushed through.


On Thursday it appeared that I only had a short window after work to get a run in before the rain started (hence running in a hat).  I got my two miles in and no rain. I thought I would see if I could get another mile in, and then another. I ended up running 4 miles straight and no rain! 


A funny thing, When I started the run I saw the local TV Station was at the park. They were sitting in their news cruiser and of course the Nancy Drew in me was just dying to know what they were there for. There was nothing spectacular going on there. Just the typical, people running, walking their dogs, fishing, etc.  I never did find out what was going on.


I headed out on Saturday morning thinking it was going to be a cooler run since it was sort of overcast (it had rained earlier that morning), but boy was I wrong. As soon as I got to the park the sun came out in all its glory and the humidity was up! I was planning on keeping this run quick, but see that headband there on my head?  You know how I love my running headbands!  Well anyway, by mile 2 I realized that it was not on my head anymore!  SOooo, I ran another two miles looking for it. I have to say those last two miles were the easiest miles I've run so far. I think it really makes a difference when you are running for a purpose and my purpose was to find my headband before someone else did (but then again who would want someone else's sweaty headband that was laying on the ground?)

I was surveying the trail as I ran and didn't see it. It was a sparkly headband so I thought for sure it would stick out among the dirt and grass and more than likely it would be muddy when I found it.  I made it through the wooded trail with no luck.  I thought perhaps It fell off when I was running up and down the boat ramp by the water earlier. Yes, for sure it would be there because that was a pretty steep incline I ran down (and back up) and that would make sense that it fell off my head there.  I got back to the boat ramp and it wasn't there either. 

Okay, now I was already planning to go home and re-order another band.  I decided I would continue backtracking my run, so I took the path around the soccer field. As I looked ahead, I did see something sparkly and hoped it was my headband.

Yes! There it was. I find it ironic how the majority of my run was done on the trails where there is a lot of greenery and yet the one place where my headband fell off was on this little bit of grey path where it blended right in!  I picked it up and saw that my Garmin was well over 4 miles by now and for a moment considered rounding it it up to 5 miles, so I ran past my car to run another loop through the woods but then I just said I'd had enough and decided to call it a day. 4 miles was good enough for me.  Besides the fact that I lost the headband for a while, I really enjoyed this run. So much that I didn't even listen to my music at all during the run! 


So far that gives us 19.2 miles for the Wag-a-thon! I admit, I'm the one pulling all the weight lately with this running thing while Baylee rests! I think we'll be able to finish up the miles this coming week!

When was the last time you felt you were running (a training run) purposely? (sometimes I feel like this when I am trying to finish a run before the rain comes)  Have you ever lost something on a run?  -M

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

Why should I be proud of this?


     It's Five Minute Friday once again and I have a quick little thought for you today. 

 I can’t believe I’m saying this already, but this heat has been making running hard!


I was out on the trail the other day and I just wasn’t feeling it after I started running. I ran about a half mile and thought to myself, I should just do a run/walk.

When I ran my first half marathon, I used the Galloway Run/Walk Method, not by choice, but that was the only way that I was going to get through it with the horrible IT band pain I was experiencing.

 I continued to use the Run/Walk method while rehabbing (when I probably shouldn’t have been running at all) and continued to use it even after I healed because I was afraid to push myself for fear the pain would return. 

Fast Forward to a few years later...
I haven’t used the Run/Walk method in a very long time. In fact, my last half marathon (NYC Half), I ran the whole way through. Of course that’s not a big deal for most runners. But I was proud of that.


That brings me to back to the trail. I ended my hot and humid 3 mile run with no walk breaks and was proud that I pushed through. But it made me think ... Why am I proud of something (no walk breaks) when the alternative (walk breaks) is nothing to be ashamed of?   -M








Just a little melody...

This post may be a little less about running and more about getting to know me. but hey, we can have those posts once in a while, right? Anyway, since the theme for the TOTR topic is about Moms, this one sort of fits.

My Grandmother has been gone for 10 years now (but it hardly seems that long). One of the things I remember about her is that she always had music playing. In the kitchen she had one of those under the cabinet radios with a tape deck. That little radio played Country music day and night. She had it set to the local country radio station WILQ. She won quite a few radio contests from that station too.

When I got married and got my own house, one of the first things we did was put up an under the cabinet radio in our kitchen. Ours had a CD player instead of a tape deck.  We don't have it set to country music, but I do have it on day and night. Over the years I've come to say that I leave it on for Baylee so she doesn't get lonely, but the truth is, I keep it on even if I'm home too.

Last year for Christmas we got a new (more compact) radio for under the cabinet. No CD player in this one but is has a USB port (funny how things evolve).   The other day some strong winds must have effected our local radio station because our usual channel would not come in.  When I came home from work, the radio was set to a country music station (Scott had set  it earlier). That just made me smile cus I hadn't heard country music in years!  When I say country music I mean Tim McGraw, George Strait, and Reba, and people from back in the day. I have no idea who the popular country artists are today.

So anyway, this music was putting me in such a good mood, that when I got in my car to drive to the trail, I put on that same station so I could continue listening. When I got to the trail I tuned my ipod to that same country station. As I ran, my mind was instantly flooded with memories of good times from this era of my life. Not only did my grandma listen to country music but a few close friends from high school did as well.  Wow, this really took me back and made me smile. What a great way to switch up my run from my normal running play list.


So I guess it really is true when Clint Black says Ain't it funny how a melody can bring back a memory, take you to a different place and time, completely change your state of mind!

Do you know this song ^ ?  Did you sing the lyrics?   Is there a certain type of music that you associate with a certain part of your life?

We are linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap...May 6

It's May and I couldn't be happier!  It appears we had Spring for like only 3 weeks and now head right into Summer! That's okay with me though because summer is my favorite.


I don't know if it was the sweltering heat this week or what but I felt exhausted.  I am continuing to keep up with my at home workout routine (in which I did swap out jumping rope for mountain climbers) and this week started the Wag a thon (which I'm sure you know because I've been mentioning it frequently). 

Baylee and I are running and walking 26.2 miles  during the month of May for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. 

This is the sweet swag they sent us. A t-shirt for me and a bandanna for Baylee. I have not been able to wear the t-shirt yet because it has been SO hot. 


The beginning of the week started out okay with walking Baylee but then she started acting a little "off". She seemed lethargic and her back legs were very wobbly when she walked. I was very concerned. Even when she was at home just walking around the house she wasn't doing well. We kept an eye on her and then the next day had a "sample" tested.

I ended up doing the rest of the miles on my own for the week. When I got home from work on Friday afternoon she was back to her happy giddy self. She was running and playing (without any wobbles) and I was SO happy!  Perhaps she was feeling a little overwhelmed with the walks in the beginning of the week and it did not help that the temperature was much higher than we have been use to  lately! 
We ended the week with 8.1 miles and considering I ran in temps that were between 85-90 degrees I am not disappointed. 

My goal for the wag a thon was to do 13.1 miles walking with Baylee over the course of the month (because I wanted her to earn her portion of the medal!) and then I would do the other 13.1 miles on my own. But seeing her react to just a few miles has me reconsidering this plan. I don't want to put her at risk.  She may get in some walks but it won't be as many as I hoped and that's okay. 

I hope to double my miles next week. And that's a wrap! -M

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

These Dogs are Helping Runners in a HUGE Way


This week started the Wag a thon with Guiding Eyes For The Blind.  I shared why I was participating in this event last week and I was overwhelmed with joy when I saw that some of you made donations to our page. THANK YOU!

Photo from Guiding Eyes Instagram

I wanted to share a fun piece of information with you today.  I’ve been donating to Guiding Eyes for several years now, and for the past few I would get Thank You letters and cards in the mail from the President and CEO Tom Panek.  What I did NOT know until I started the Wag a thon is that Tom is actually blind himself AND he is a runner.

Photo from Guiding Eyes Instagram

He ran the Boston marathon and the BAA 5K this year!  He ran the 5K with his Yellow Labrador guide dog Gus and the marathon of course with a human guide.  I thought that was just AMAZING and enjoyed hearing his story.  His first race with Gus was a 5 miler a week before the NYC Marathon



PLEASE watch this video. I promise it will take less than 5 minutes out of your day and if you are a runner, it will tug at your heart! 

What was your favorite part of the video? -M