5 Shades of Lazy

I haven’t been running this week (hence why I haven’t written a post in a week), and although I would love to say I have a really good reason as to why I haven’t gone for a run, I would say that the biggest reason why I because I’ve just been pretty darn lazy. It’s pretty sad that Managed to get my butt up and out of bed in South Carolina, while attending a conference, and now that I’m back home I haven’t been able to make the time for myself to go running.

Here are a few of the excuses I’ve used this past week…

Continue reading

Goodbye, Charleston!

As I sit and write this post, I’m sad about the thought of leaving an absolutely beautiful city (that I unfortunately did NOT get to tour too much of), but am so excited to be returning home to JP and the hounds…beyond belief excited! I miss my family so much! Continue reading

Playing Catch Up

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Greetings from sunny South Carolina! This week I’m away at a conference in Charleston, SC, so I’ve been under the gun trying to make my workouts happen despite having to plan and pack for travel, travel, and then attend a three-day conference.

I arrived in sunny SC this afternoon, but unfortunately getting a run in just wasn’t in the cards for me today. Between a 3-hour trip to the airport (should have been 1.5 hours!), being terrified that I might miss my flight, and then arriving in Charleston with a dead phone, it’s been quite the day.

My plan is to get up early and get tomorrow’s 5-mile run in before the 8 a.m. Conference start tomorrow. Wish me luck!

When I get back home, there will be another review and a giveaway in store for you, so don’t forget to check back in!

If you’ve ever been to Charleston, leave me some tips on how to make my stay in the city even better!

Do you ever have to travel for work? If so, how often?

Weekend Recap and More

Yesterday’s (Sunday’s) Workout: 8+ miles

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I’m not the only one worn out from the weekend!

Whew! What a weekend! It ended up being an unexpected three-day weekend when I got little to no sleep after hearing something (Bogie heard it too and started howling) and creeping around the house at 12 a.m. To make sure it was burglar free. I absolutely HATE it when JP is away for work! I ended up getting only an hour’s sleep because I was too busy making mental notes to keep the baseball bat within close range the next time JP goes away. At 3 a.m., when it became obvious that I wouldn’t be getting any sleep, I made the decision to call in sick on Friday. I’m sorry, if I know I’m going to be completely useless at work, I won’t even bother going!

Saturday was my cousin’s wedding. I managed to get in a 3-mile run beforehand. JP and I also had the best of intentions to do some weight lifting and an ab workout, but we had to rush to get to the wedding (which was 2 miles away in the Berkshires), and unfortunately never got to complete abs and arms.

That’s OK, though, because on Sunday, I had an 8-mile run scheduled. This weeks long run went much better than last week’s; I did much better at pacing myself, and the longest mile was mile 6, when I walked up the same hill that I had run the umpteenth time and was too mentally exhausted to convince myself it was a good idea to run up it. I had just about made it to mile 7 when JP called me and told me that if I didn’t make it back home, we were going to be extremely late for Father’s Day lunch with my family. So I decided to split my mileage up and finish the last mile later on in the day (which I did by trotting each dog up and down our street, so my final mileage was probably more like 8.5!). I’m not a huge advocate of splitting up long run mileage, but sometimes, it just has to be done, unless you want everyone in your family to consider you as a selfish person who puts running above everything else, including family. Just wait until I get up to 20 miles! I’ll have to get up at 3 a.m. to fit everything in!

After my long run, we went to Cracker Barrel for Father’s Day, where I pigged out on enjoyed some buttermilk pancakes topped with pie filling cherries. In my family, Father’s Day isn’t complete without Strawberry Shortcake, so after lunch, we went to my parents’ where my mom made homemade strawberry shortcake, and my dad opened his gifts. JP and I had been searching for a hot dog toaster (yes they make toasters for hot dogs and buns) to buy for my dad, but couldn’t find one in time (we literally had been searching for weeks!), and ended up having to draw a picture of one on the card and made him guess what it was, because our order hadn’t come in time.

Why did we order him a hot dog toaster oven you ask? The obvious reason would be that he absolutely loves hot dogs, but that’s not the case (he barely ever eats them). It was more of a joke gift for him because when he was younger (like a kid), he and his brothers had this brilliant idea to cook hot dogs in the toaster, and nearly set their parents’ house on fire. Now they actually make hot dog toasters! Go figure.

Sorry for the lack of pictures from the weekend! It was literally so fast-paced that we forgot to take photos. So here’s a dump of the few that I managed to take:

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Me wearing JP’s work boots to go to the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru, because I was too lazy to tie my own shoes.

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My view while stretching out, post-run. If I let the dogs out, they try to climb all over me!

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Our Game of Thrones themed dinner to celebrate the season finale. If you watch, can you guess who this is supposed to be?

How did you celebrate Father’s Day?

Do you ever split your mileage?

My History with Mizuno and a Possible Break-up

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Yesterday’s Run: 4.95 miles and I can’t remember my time (it was somewhere around 47 minutes on the treadmill)

Ahh, insomnia! I haven’t had a bout of this in a while, but today, it’s hit me hard. I went to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour (for me), only to wake up to one of the dog’s howling (was afraid there was a break-in), only to find out that there was nobody here, or lurking in my basement. Note to self: bring the baseball bat upstairs and hide it so that if someone does break in through the basement, they don’t hit ME with it!

Of course, when you’re wide awake, worried that you might have an intruder in your house, you find yourself pondering other things, too. Like what your next pair of running shoes will be. Continue reading

Wicked Random Wednesday 6.11.14

Yesterday’s Workout: 3.07 miles @ 30:00 (treadmill run)

It’s been a while since I last posted, and I apologize! It started with me deciding to take a break from blogging over the weekend and actually relaxing, and ended with a craptastic beginning to my work week (I’ve been putting in 12-hour work days!). All I have to say is: Thank God for running to keep me sane! I really wanted to do a weekend wrap-up post but now it is Wednesday, so I thought I’d incorporate a few things from my weekend into this week’s Wicked Random Wednesday. Continue reading

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

I’ve always wanted to say that! I’m excited to announce the winner of the My Soxy Feet Giveaway. To find out if you won, click here!

And I just have to say that it’s ironic that the person who helped me promote this contest a ton ended up being the winner! That is karma in it’s finest! Smitha, be sure to check your inbox for an email from me, and thank you again for all of your help!

~Lis

Short Term Goals vs Long Term Goals

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Today’s Workout: 4.04 miles @ 41:35
30-Day Ab Challenge: 25 sit-ups,15 crunches, 10 leg raises, 15 second plank

Wow! What a great workout I had today! It wasn’t my fastest time, but I felt full of energy and I felt great!

This past week, as I’ve been completing my mileage, I’ve been thinking about short term goals vs long term goals. As runners, I think we often get caught up in the numbers: we want to break a pr, complete a half-marathon, a marathon, an ultra (the list goes on and on). But while we’re trying to attain those goals, it’s important for us to set some others in the meantime to help us get to that “big picture” goal that we’ve been looking for. Whether it’s run for 5 minutes straight in your second week of training towards completing your first 5-k or for two hours straight while training for your first full, we all have those short-term goals that will help us complete our long-term goals. Here are a few of mine:

Short Term Goals
• Be able to complete this beast of a hill without walking before the end of the month (I’ve named him Grendall, from Beowulf)

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• Be able to do a 2-minute plank by the end of June/beginning of July
• Be able to bench press twice my weight in a week (haha just kidding on that one!)
• Complete the Twin Reservoir Half-Marathon at the end of July (this will be my halfway mark for marathon training! Woot, woot!)

Long Term Goals
• Be able to finish a full marathon by the end of September/beginning of October (that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll run it then, but I want to be capable of it at that point.

That’s it for my short term and long term goals this month. They might not seem like a lot, but each one (minus the bench pressing, haha) is totally attainable! The point is to create attainable goals to make you continue to feel positive about your running and/or workout experience, vs negative about it. I’ll be reporting back in at the end of the month as to whether I’ve reached my goals!

What are your short term goals?
And what are your long term goals?

P.S. Today is the last day to enter the My Soxy Feet contest, so if you haven’t gotten your entry in, hurry up!

My First Running Confessions

Today’s Workout: 1 mile run @ 9:28 (didn’t even feel winded); 30 minutes yoga; Day 2 of 30-Day Ab Challenge

Today, I had a post lined up about Short-Term Goals vs Long-Term Goals, but I had this brilliant idea later in the day about all of these juicy facts about me that I just can’t hold in anymore. You should feel special – I’ve never told anyone about some of these things…not even JP!

Let’s see…where should I start?

CONFESSION: On Sunday, when I went out for my morning run, I was trying out a new pair of Nike Dry-Fit shorts that I bought. They seemed shorter than the ones I usually wear, and I was feeling pretty self-conscious, so I decided to put another pair of shorts on over them until I got to the part of the trail behind myself that is really private. When I got to the mouth of the trail, I ran behind a big, fallen down log, pulled one of my pairs of shorts off, and then resumed on my run. Well, when I got back to that spot to throw my shorts back on, a couple of teenage boys were coming up to the trail right behind me and saw me pulling my shorts up! My “private spot” doesn’t seem too private now – they probably thought I was copping a squat! I was so embarrassed (it did make me run faster up that horrible hill, though)!

CONFESSION: I haven’t cooked a real meal in over a week. Unless you count these delicious strawberry-lemon “ricotta” pancakes.

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CONFESSION: There isn’t even really any ricotta in those pancakes. I substituted it with cottage cheese.

CONFESSION: I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but for a blogger, I’m not the most tech-savvy person. I posted an image that I was supposed to fill in yesterday without writing in it because I couldn’t figure out how to do it on my iPhone.

CONFESSION: I ate an entire, huge bag of these while at work today. Oops!

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Confession: In yesterday’s post, I wrote that I got up early and ran 4 miles on National running day. I didn’t run 4 miles (I was off my schedule by a day and Wednesday was supposed to be a cross-training day), and I certainly didn’t get up early!

CONFESSION: I cancelled my hair appointment that I had scheduled for Wednesday so I could get my run in for National Running Day. And I didn’t even feel bad about it.

Your turn: Do you have any confessions you’d like to share?

Time is running out to enter the My Soxy Feet contest. Don’t forget to send in your submission!

Wicked Random Wednesday 6.4.14

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Yesterday’s Workout: 3.07 miles @ 30:23

Happy National Running Day! It’s ironic, even though I am a runner, National Running Day tends to be my day off…but today, I made sure that I got up early enough to get my 4-mile run in (confession: I’m actually writing this post on Tuesday night. Now that I’ve totally committed to it online, I have to do it). I’ve actually been getting up early for my runs every morning (even on the weekends!) and am really enjoying it!

And now, here is this week’s dose of Wicked Random Wednesday 6.4.14:

1. My ladies over at SwirlGear provided me with the graphic shown above, and asked me to share why I run. My answer: I run for my health and well-being, for myself, my me-time and my sanity. I run because it brings me peace.

2. Someone in my house got a new pair of sneakers, and it wasn’t me! And he LOVES them! I’ve had to yell at him because he’s been wearing them everywhere, not just for running. I think we’re gonna have to buy him another pair so he can wear one pair for running and one pair for everything else. They are the Nike FS Lites; these shoes are minimalist and have a flexible, mesh backing that don’t bother his Achilles’ tendons too much.

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3. My sister challenged me to do a 30-day ab challenge with her for the month of June, to help get my fit and fab self get even fitter for her wedding (my words, not hers). Here’s the schedule for the challenge:

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Anyone care to join me?

4. Running With SD Mom shared my contest on her blog. Thanks, Smitha! If you haven’t entered my contest yet, be sure to enter, time is running out. And be sure to check out Smitha’s cool blog for a round-up of other awesome contests taking place this week (post goes live at 3:00 a.m. Eastern time/12:00 a.m. Pacific time on Wednesday).

5. I can never resist posting puppy pics. JP and I gave the dogs a bath last night, and they were wet and wild afterwards! But they soon wore themselves out, and ended up snoring and looking like this:

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Why do you run? And did you go out and complete your run for National Running Day? If so, how many miles?

Have you ever won something in a contest? If so, what was it?