Weekly Wrap...Atlantic City

 We spent this weekend in Atlantic City. My mom, sister and I were all running the April Fools race on the Boardwalk.

We decided to try a different resort this year so we opted for the Showboat (which is pet friendly by the way).  We are not gamblers so this fact didn't bother us but I feel the need to mention that there is no longer a casino there. This fact made it very quiet as we walked to and from our room all weekend.

                            Showboat is right on the boardwalk. This was our fabulous view!

Friday afternoon we did a LOT of walking. We walked up and down the boardwalk and in town to the Outlets to do some shopping.  We were both shopping for dress shoes but ended up buying clothes and jewelry instead!

Afterwards we walked back to the boardwalk  to pick up our race packet at Margaritaville.

We were suppose to have a cart waiting for us to take us back to the other end of the boardwalk but it never came so we walked all the way to the other end again to get to Rain Forest Cafe for Dinner.  I could tell with all the walking we had been doing that I was starting to get blisters on my toes. This would not be good for race day.

Funny Story about the Rain Forest.  After we sat down, a young couple was seated across from us.  While we were there, several random people would come up to this young couple. A lady even came up to them and asked to take their picture. Of course my mom and sister and I thought they must be famous, but who were they? We didn't know. At first I thought the girl may have been Gabby Douglas, although maybe she was a little younger.  Finally a young boy came up to the couple with a piece of paper and it looked like he was going to ask the couple for their autograph. Finally we couldn't take it anymore and we had to know who they were, so my mom was bold enough to ask. Turns out, this young couple was just an ordinary couple (probably in high school) and they were on their first date. The boy that came up to them was his little brother and the lady that asked for their photo was his mom. Turns out his family was seated around the corner.  An older couple seated behind us said they were also wondering who they were and were glad we asked..haha.

After dinner we stopped at a massage parlor on the Boardwalk (one that we have been to before) and my mom got a foot massage. I could have used one too but I thought I would just wait till I got home because I had a gift certificate to a local place.

These were the BEST race shirts ever. SO SOFT.

Saturday was race day and it went better than expected. The weather was great for running (although a bit windy on the way up the boardwalk and a little too warm on the way back).  My Garmin did not start properly at the beginning so I just waited till I got to mile one to start it over.  I was happy to see there was a clock at mile one and it said 9:15.  I thought the wind was holding me back a bit but I was pleased to see I was keeping a 9:15 pace for the first mile and remembered I had to add that on to my Garmin's final finish time.   I was hoping for a better finish time, but in the end I realized that out of the last 5 years I have been doing this race, I PR-ed by 15 seconds. Whoop dee  doo. I think I can do even better next time.    This is a really fun race and I think Lacey will have a complete recap coming up later. Stay tuned! -M

                             We are linking up with Wendy and Hoho (and Teresa) for their Weekly Wrap!

Too Much Rest?

How long is too long for rest days? I feel like I have taken too many rest days lately, from running at least. Last Friday I took a Body Pump class then ran 8 miles. It was a nice day so I wanted to make sure I got a run in before the weather was about to change. The next few days it was cold, windy, and rainy. I could have been a Bad A$$ and run outside but I am more of a fair weather runner and that did not appeal to me at all. Sure I could have gone to the gym to run on the treadmill but I just wasn’t feeling it. Instead I went to the gym and took group fitness classes. I was still being active, just not running.  

Four days later and still no run, what is wrong with me? Did I lose the running bug or did I just need a break? I couldn’t tell you the last time I took 4 days off from running unless I was coming off a marathon, and even that was rare. And to tell you the truth, I wasn’t even missing it. Usually if I go that long without a run I go a little stir crazy. Maybe it was because the weather wasn’t very nice. So I didn’t feel like I was missing out, plus my schedule was keeping me pretty busy recently.  

Fast forward 4 days later and the sun finally came out and it was a little warmer than it has been days prior. I got up super early to take Body Pump then came home and went back to bed.  #sleep deprived. When I woke back up it was much nicer than it has been. I didn’t have anything on my schedule finally so I thought today I am going to run. I have no excuses now.  

I was hoping to do a decent run since I haven’t run lately. I didn’t know how this was going to go. I thought I would feel very sluggish and slow not having gone, but it was completely the opposite. I don’t know if it was the podcasts I was listening to or maybe my legs just felt fresh.  But my pace was much faster than it usually is during my runs and I felt great during the whole time. Is that just what I needed, a break from running in order to come back refreshed? I know recovery is so important and taking rest day but I guess it wasn’t until I actually did that that I felt the benefits from it. I finished my run with what felt like 10 effortless miles. Maybe I need to take more rest days.    Now I feel refreshed and ready to race this weekend! 

Do you ever take a break from running and come back feeling stronger?  L

Have something you want to share? Join us for 5 Minute Friday!

An InLinkz Link-up

Spring Race Weekend at the Beach

This coming weekend is one of my favorite Spring weekends.  We'll be headed to the beach to run the April Fools Race!

I've been running this race for the past 5 years with the exception of last year (since I chose to do the Hershey 10K instead).  As you may remember, I thought the Hershey race was just meh, so I'm excited to be going back to the April Fools Race again this year.

Here are some things I'm looking forward to...

Have a long girls' weekend. It's been since last Summer when we all went to Mexico that my mom, sister and I got to get away together.

The resorts and boardwalk. I love the old fashion boardwalk of Atlantic city and I love the resorts. It always makes me think of that movie "Beaches".  We always stay ocean front on the boardwalk but try to stay at a new resort each time we go, although we have stayed at the Tropicana more than once.

Also, on the boardwalk I can not resist visiting the Rain Forest cafe. It may be cheesy but I love that place (I love themed restaurants)!

I'm also looking forward to shopping at the outlets near by.

I'll be running the shorter distance race this weekend, which I am thankful for because I did not put a lot of effort into training.

As of right now this is really the only Spring race each of us have on the schedule and quite honestly I think it might be it for us and that's okay. We have other things we need to do this spring.  If anything else comes up, it might be an impromptu race.   Can't wait to hear what everyone else has on tap for Spring! -M

We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap...April 8

This week there were points where I felt very motivated and days when I did not. Last Monday I did two classes at the gym before going straight to work for the day. I was exhausted all day not to mention hungry because I didn’t get to eat much before heading into work. So this Monday I decided to just sleep in and only made it out for two miles before work and I was just fine with that. 

Tuesday was another full day at work. On my break I splurged on this Oreo cupcake.

 And yes it was delicious as it looks. This cupcake was from Twisted Sisters Cupcake. They were on cake wars but unfortunately did not win. I think they should have with this cupcake alone! After work I thought I better do something after eating that cupcake so I did a short 2 mile run before going to the gym and doing Body Pump. 

Wednesday I felt motivated . I woke up to beautiful weather so I couldn’t pass up a long run. I downloaded some new podcasts and ran 12 miles before going into work. I knew this was going to be a short day at work so I didn’t mind running long beforehand. 

Thursday I overslept for work so the whole morning just threw me off. I was so rushed getting ready  that I didn’t have much time for anything before running out the door.  Of course this was another long day at work. Since I didn’t bring lunch, I splurged again and went to Cici’s Pizza. For those of you that do not know what that is, it is an all you can eat pizza restaurant. I never do good at buffets and always seems to leave them with a belly ache because I eat all I can. I gotta get my money’s worth right? Well in my defense I was starving from not eating breakfast and I did make it to the gym to do Body Step and then still managed a three and half mile run afterwards.   

Friday-  I woke up still not hungry from the day before because of my pizza splurge so I decided to do a Body Pump class that morning. After the gym I stopped at Dunkin Donuts because I got an email for a free cold brew…….score! I had just run out of coffee that morning so this was perfect, so I thought.

 Well I didn’t read the fine print and it was just a sample. Oh well, it was on the way home and it gave me a little boost to run 8 miles after I got home from the gym.   It was not until 12:30 that afternoon that I actually ate something since my lunch the day prior.  After work that evening I tried out a new wine bar with a friend and had a salmon BLT for dinner.  

Saturday- I could not sleep and was up by 3:30 am. Sex and the City was on television so I watched a few episodes before heading to the gym. After the gym I met some friends for brunch for a friend’s birthday. When I arrived home I found this on my door step. 

My teamiblend. I am excited to try the 30 day detox I have been hearing such great things about.  The rest of the day I spent just relaxing since it was a cold and rainy day.  -L

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

The Conclusion of the Saga

Since the beginning of the year I have been complaining  giving updates about how my iFit Program on my treadmill has been working.  In some previous comments some of you have referred to this situation as a Saga!  A Saga it is indeed.   But here is an update on how it ended up.

Keep in mind, this all started on January 1, 2018.  I've gone through 3 new modules. I've gone through the module timing out several times, and have experienced my treadmill just shutting off only after .25 miles of a run! THAT IS WHAT MADE ME FURIOUS. I was convinced that the modules put a bug (or virus) in my treadmill causing it not to work. iFit customer support admitted to me that people have not had the best results with these modules so therefore they don't make them any more. WHAT???  Now all the treadmills have the ifit program already built inside of them. 

 My treadmill is not that old and it is still in good condition so I don't feel the need to buy the new treadmill with the program already built in...... Or do I?

Before I went to to the extreme of order a new treadmill (and I was this close)... we tried these other  solutions.

Like I said, we first tried other modules. That didn't seem to work.

Next, I had iFit delete all my workouts and start fresh (because too many workouts can jam up your machine).  That didn't work either.

Finally we called our internet provider and had our house re-wired. (Yes, I know that is a little extreme but I was on a mission to figure out why this wasn't working). Even though all of our other wireless devices work in the workout room, there must be a reason that the treadmill was not connecting properly (and staying connected). We increased our internet speed (and bandwidth).  Guess what, that worked for like a moment, and then it didn't.  I was completely crushed.

 This week I decided to reposition the treadmill. Low and behold I think that worked. I don't know if it was the repositioning or a combination of all the other things I've tried but I got several solid runs of  over 3 miles without it shutting off.

I've been doing the workouts of the day and I was surprised to see the first one for the week be Playa Del Carmen! I actually visited here last summer so it was pretty cool to run virtual on the beach here.

The workout of the day yesterday was the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

I am excited that I finally got the iFit working but too bad that it took me all winter and now it's Spring and a good time to get outside. O well.  I'm looking forward to seeing what the workout for the day will be next time I log on!   -M

An InLinkz Link-up

iFly Experience

This past weekend I went to Ifly. It is a simulation of a sky diving experience. I have never done this and neither had my friend so we decided to give it a try.

                                                                       Source

Now my friend has actually been sky diving before, I have not.  I was thinking it was going to be like actual sky diving but just inside and not so scary. So I was telling my friend about what I thought it was going to be in my mind and he could not stop laughing. So this is how it went in my mind: We would be in this huge gymnasium and jump off a really high platform. In reality- not even close! We go up the stairs and see the simulation. It just looks like a giant wind tunnel.  

Now for the experience: 

Our reservations were at 7pm. So if you have a reservation, clearly you need to be there shortly before your time. We arrive by at least 6:50, signed the waivers, and headed up the stairs to where we were going to fly. While we were waiting we got to see several people fly and it looked like it would going to be fun. Shortly after this an instructor ushered us into the classroom to watch a short video. But apparently we weren’t in the 7 pm group, because our wristbands said 7:30. We asked why they told us to get there earlier and they said well usually signing the waiver takes more time and people are usually always late. So here we are waiting around again for our reservation. Finally it was our turn to go into the classroom and watch the video and learn some hand signals we needed to know, because once we got in the simulator it was too loud to talk.  

After the video we received a jumpsuit, goggles, and a helmet to put on. I told the instructor that I thought I looked like an inmate in this jumpsuit and someone that should be on Orange is the New Black show. He says well I had to give you the youth one because you are so petite.  

Finally we made in in the area where the flying was going to take place. We all lined up and sat on a bench and one by one we got to go in with the instructor for a minute. A whole minute! Really? We were told that we had two chances in the simulator. The first time was to just get a feel for it, and the second time I thought is when we were able to go up higher. But no, that was additional money. 

So basically we got to go in a wind tunnel twice, a minute each time. Something that took only 2 minutes to complete took over a 2 hour process.  It was fun and we were happy that we did it for the experience but we will not be rushing back to that place. Even with the discounts we had it was still pretty pricy.  We went during what was considered the off season, I can’t imagine what it costs during the on season.  Overall, I don’t think it was worth the price for what you get. I really think that the extra height you have the option to go should be included and not additional, it is already pricey enough.  

We were not allowed to take phones in with us but some of these pictures I took of the people that we watched while we were waiting. You can see by the pictures of how high you got to go if you paid extra compared to ones who did not pay. Sorry for the blurriness but they were moving. 

IFly are located in several places across the Unites States. Have you ever been to one? -L

We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.