Weekly Wrap...August 13

I've been trying to pack my days with activities since I'm coming down to the last weeks of my Summer Vacation. It makes me look back at the past few months and think  What all did I do? What did I accomplish?  But I suppose I'll save those questions for a later post.

Every week I say I'm going to start writing things down so I don't forget, but I never do. I haven't even been recording my runs. Therefore here are just a few highlights from my week that I DO remember.

Monday I finally bought the remaining fabric to make my curtains and my only goal this day was to sew them up. I don't remember what happened but I didn't do it (and the fabric is currently still sitting on my dinning room table).

Tuesday I had the Chiropractor appointment for that shoulder pain that gave me pain in my chest every time I breathed, yawned or coughed.  It still hasn't gone away.

               After that I did some shopping and then met my sister to do some boating.

  Isn't this a gorgeous view?  It was the perfect backdrop for just relaxing and chatting, which we did.


Wednesday I spent a lot of time in the pool with Miss Baylee. I floated on the raft for a while and took in the sun but I felt guilty because I wasn't playing with her. I would see her throw her duck in the pool and then jumps in after in. I know she wanted me to throw it in for her cus lets face it, she can't throw it very far. she just kind of drops it in the pool and then jumps in after it.  

Afterwards I did swim a couple laps in an effort to loosen up my shoulder. I did (my version) of the back stroke and it seemed to help (for a few hours).  Have you ever swam in a pool with a dog?  Every time I swim, Baylee thinks it's a race. She's got to be right up beside me giving me very little personal space!

                    Afterwards I had a "date" with my sister to watch our show, Younger!

                                We made these fun Cantaloupe drinks.

Thursday  we did a few miles on the rail trail and then ended at Starbucks for these "new " drinks.  Lacey got the Horchata Almond Milk Frappe which tasted like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and I got the Lemon Bar creme which was okay but was a little disappointed that they didn't have the lemon bar crunchy topping for on top of it. They should have told me that they didn't have all the ingredients to make the drink if they couldn't make it properly.

Later that night we had another "date" to watch Nashville. I'm sad that the show won't be returning till January! It's not fair that they just tease us with a few episodes over the summer!

Friday I got some morning miles in at the island with my sister. During the first few loops I did not have my camera but it's always so busy down there. We saw an entire team of canoers (is that even a word?) putting their boats in, a guy training a Yellow Labrador puppy for leadership something or other (which of course we had to stop and talk to), and this guy walking on the trail with a fishing pole carrying a pretty large fish. I had to do a double take and ask my sister "Is that guy carrying a fish"?

After that I went to our local beach for a while. I wanted to catch up on some of my Women's Running magazines and do a few passes in the sand.  The sand was extra thick this day and there weren't a lot of people on it so it wasn't packed down. Anyone that has ever ran on the beach knows this makes it extra hard to run.  I ran barefoot and considered it cross training!




We are linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin  and the guest host for their Weekly Wrap series!

5 Marathon & Half Marathon Relay Races

This week's theme for the Friday 5 is Friends and Family.   Races are fun, but sharing the experience with friends and family makes it even better. Sometimes they come and support us which is great, but it's even better when they want to run with us.

Lately I haven't been very excited about running long distances so I've been researching races where I can share the distance with friends and family.

I've found  a few Marathon or Half marathon relays that I would be interested in doing and thought I would share.

 I've only focused on ones that are on the East Coast.


1. Hershey Half Marathon  - 2 person team.


2. Baltimore Marathon - 4 person team.


3.  Rock n Roll Savannah Half Marathon - 2 person team


4.  Pittsburgh Marathon - 2 to 5 person team.


5. Run A Palooza - This is a marathon that runs from Seaside Heights NJ to Asbury Park.  2-5 person team.


Tell me which relay race you've  run or one I should add to the list. -M

An InLinkz Link-up

Does your back pain effect your chest?

Yesterday I went to my chiropractor for an issue I've been struggling with going on 3 weeks now (maybe even more).

I first noticed it on a run a while back but thought it was an isolated incident and I really didn't think that it came from running or working out. Even so,  I haven't really done much running since then so I don't know why the pain continued.

I often have a pain in my neck (literally) and it feels like I have a very tight muscle and I can't turn my head all they way to the right side. This comes and goes and I'm not really sure what it comes from. It's always on the same side.

But this time the neck was the least of my worries.  I've been having this pain in my upper back (on the right side) below my shoulder. Any time I yawn, cough, or take a deep breath I can feel the pain in my chest.   I feel so cramped up and have been having Scott crack my back and shoulders every night and believe me, it all cracks!

After feeling this way all week at Disney, I finally made a Chiro appointment which was yesterday.

I told the Dr. what was wrong and as he sized me up, he could tell right away my neck was out of alignment and with one quick whip of the neck he cracked it into place! Wow, I did not see that coming.

Next, I was hooked up to the muscle stimulation machine which I've used before when I would come in for my hip and ITband. I can't say I exactly like this feeling.  If you've never used this machine before, it's electro pads they put on your skin and then its like a million spiders crawling around on your skin in order to stimulated your muscles. It doesn't hurt but sometimes the intensity can be too much and it is uncomfortable.

He then worked on my back and it did feel like every muscle in my body was cracking. It felt refreshing.  When I left there I felt okay but he said if I still feel problems to come back again on Friday.

Not more than an hour later, I felt the same thing. My neck doesn't hurt. but I have the same exact pain below my shoulder and I can feel pain in my chest when I breath, yawn, sneeze or cough.  I told one of my friends about this and she knew exactly what I was talking about and even explained the exact feeling to me before I even told her everything I was feeling. She has felt like this before.

I really don't want to go back to the Chiro on Friday because I'm not sure what more he will do for me other than what he already did. I'm hoping that he at least loosened something up maybe and it will work itself out over the next few days.  -M

Have you ever had this feeling? If so, what does it come from?

Summer Beauty and Pro Box

It's no secret that I like getting the subscription boxes in the mail.  Right now I only get the Beauty Box because I feel like it is a good price for the surprises that you get. Actually it's Free, and you only have to pay $5 shipping. I do believe this is only seasonal, so it's not even every month, which I like.

This is what I got in my Summer edition Beauty box.

If my memory serves me well, I do believe that I will get another one in late summer as well.

The other day I got a new surprised in the mail.  It was a box from GNC and it was addressed to Scott.  Of course I was curious as to what it was so he said I could go ahead and open it.

It was another subscription box with GNC goodies in it. So my husband now does subscription boxes, who knew?

We looked through it together and of course Scott said that I could have it.

Nothing in here really excited me except for this huge protein cookie. And to be honest, the cookie wasn't even that good. Anything that has the term "Birthday cake" on it should be sweet, and that wasn't.  Scott said this box comes every couple months, so I assume it is also a seasonal subscription. He said it was like $30  for the subscription, which I think is a bit too much, but you get coupons in it so I guess it's worth it to him since he buys a lot of stuff at GNC.

The GNC box is a "new to me" box. What boxes are new to you? Would you recommend them? -M


                                             We are linking up with the gals from TOTR.

A Week at Animal Kingdom Lodge

Last week Scott and I vacationed at Disney World and spent a week at Animal Kingdom Lodge.  We had a room in the main building, Jambo House, and sprung for a Savannah view room. Having a Savannah view room means that you have a balcony that overlooks one of the Savannahs where the animals roam. Not all rooms have that view.  I apologize in advance that this post is longer than what I usually write.  I will be including details that may help someone who might be planning their own trip to AKL.

Races that make my top 5

Thank you to Kim for suggesting this week's topic for the Friday Five.

I'm sure at some point over the years we've wrote a similar post about favorite races. However, I know that my list would not have been exactly the same as it is now because my #1 race is one I just ran this year for the first time.

I'll do it Tomorrow

How many times have you said “I’ll do it tomorrow” or “I’ll do it later”?  Or maybe it was “Next week, I’m starting fresh”.

I’ve sure said it a time or two (or five or ten).  You can relate it to anything really, eating healthier, making a dr. appointment, doing laundry, calling an old friend. Why do we put off doing things that we know we should be doing?

I once read an article on procrastination. I don’t really consider myself a procrastinator but I guess it depends on the situation. The article mentioned that we procrastinate because we are afraid of failure. I’ve actually heard this saying several times and I’m not sure I agree with it.  I don’t do my laundry because I just don’t feel like it, not because I’m afraid of failing at it (although, I’m not very good at doing laundry so maybe there IS something too that).

I mentioned previously that I have a home gym (bike, treadmill, bowflex, weights, etc) but I don’t use it. I pay to go to a gym. I know it sounds silly but going to the gym was the only way I knew I would get my strength training it. I was paying for it, so I felt like I was being held accountable.  

The New York City Half Marathon was the last long distance race I ran and that was back in March. After that race, I took the rest of the month off from the gym and I never went back. My excuse was that I didn’t have any long distance races coming up and I thought that I could just “get by” doing some training on my own since I only planned to run “short distances” in the coming months.

So this is where I am now, I’ve run several shorter distance races and I have still not done any strength training since March.  I keep saying “I’ll do it tomorrow” or “I’ll make a new plan on Monday and actually stick with it”. I haven’t . I need to thank my lucky stars that I haven’t ended up injured yet.  

What’s the hardest thing for you to stick with?  Perhaps we need to start a little group to help hold each other accountable. Who’s with me? -M