I will never understand my body

The last 5 days I have been going for beautiful runs along a dead flat seaside path on Mission Bay in San Diego. I was sleeping 9 hours and night and eating great food. And I felt like death on every run. My legs ached and my lungs burned.

Given that, I did not have high hopes for today's run. Due to a travel snafu, I have been up for more than 24 hours. I gorged on a huge margarita, garlic fries, and chocolate cake in the airport last night. My whole body is stiff from sitting on planes and my feet are swollen. And I have run a lot of days in a row, instead of my usual every other day, And then I went out and rocked 9 minute miles on my run and felt wonderful.

It just goes to show that you should never count yourself out before you give it a try, you just must surprise yourself. 

San Diego

 

Greetings from San Diego where I have been sitting in the airport because our flight was cancelled. So much for coming back from vacation well rested.  Oh well. We had a great long weekend. I went to some meetings, but mostly we swam, ate, lounged in the sun, and slept. 

Our hotel was AWESOME. This is looking down at one of the pools from the tower. We swam at least twice a day.

My company hooked us up with some super nice meals. It was fun to get dressed up and eat outside watching the sunset.

The boy got to wade in the Pacific for the first time ever. I also introduced him to fish tacos and self self fro-yo.

 Sunday we had completely free so we went to the zoo. It was amazing! My favorites were the elephants who alternated between throwing dirt on themselves (they use it as sunscreen) and frolicking in the water.

 If I had to pick one animal there to have as a pet it would be a koala. So cuddly!

 We spent a solid 4.5 hours at the zoo and I think we walked a good 7 miles. My feet were done! So we headed down to the Gaslamp district and settled down at an outside table for some grub. 

We got up early this morning to get in one last run. There was a great 6 miles beach-side loop we did almost every day. My stealth methods to turn R into runner are working :)  I was amazed by the number of running/bike trails and public parks in San Diego. They were everywhere! Then we rented paddleboards and got out on the water for an hour. The water was so calm that we were flying. On the way back a sea lion paddled alongside us for a good 20 minutes.

And now back to reality: cold, work, and flight delays.

San Diego Bound

I go to Southern California all the time for work, so I am usually not all that excited about getting on a plane to head West. This week though, I am psyched. This is not a normal trip.

It is work related because I am going for my annual company meeting. Because we are all consultants and work all over the country, once a year they fly us all somewhere fun for a meeting. Last year was New Orleans and it ROCKED. There is some business involved, but there is a lot more fun, eating and drinking than anything else.

This year we are headed to Paradise Point in San Diego. It looks super nice. It has been cold and rainy in Maine for like 3 weeks so I can't wait for some sunshine. Even more exciting is that the bf is coming with me! He's never been to the West Coast so I am excited to get to take him. It makes it feel more like a vacation.

California here we come!

On the Edge

This fall I made a goal to improve my fitness, not just maintain it. I feel like I'd gotten stuck in a rut with the same old workouts. So, I started added some more speed works and hills into my runs, and added 2 additional strength workouts per week. For the first few weeks, I felt great.

Then, I started my new job. It is a killer. Because I work from home, and my customers are in California and Texas, I have a really hard time turning off at night because they just keep calling and e-mailing.

Last week it caught up with me and I started to crash. At first I just tried to push through. I told myself I just wasn't being tough enough. Then, I remembered a great post I'd read on Carrots N' Cake. You can't push in every area of your life at the same time. The extra intensity and frequency of my workouts was too much combined with the stress and long hours of my new job.

So I tried to really escape this weekend by heading up to my Mom's on Southport Island. It is my go to retreat. It was as pretty as always, but unfortunately, it wasn't quite the place of respite that I was looking for.

There was a ton of end of season stuff to do- haul out the boat and clean it, haul the dingy and kayak and lug them under the boathouse, close up the boathouse for the season, harvest the rest of the garden and get it ready for winter, etc. There wasn't a whole lot of time for relaxing. Then there was some nice family drama to end the weekend that culminated in a lot of yelling and tears. Lovely.

When I got home I had a whole long list of things I wanted to do. And then I reconsidered. Instead, I left the list on the table, headed to the bf's house and we crawled in bed with a movie at 8. Just what I needed. 

Health Fall Comfort Food: Greek Yogurt Penne with Wild Mushrooms

The cool weather continues here in Maine so I finally have a chance to make some of the yummy comfort food I have been pinning on Pinterest all summer. This week I found a winner- Penne with Wild Mushrooms in Greek Yogurt Sauce. Pasta, mushrooms, and creamy sauce? Yes please. I even went crazy and made my own spinach pasta from scratch. Boo yeah.



I got the recipe from the Fage Yogurt Website, but I will admit I did not use Fage. I used the cheap store brand instead.Without further adieu, here is the recipe so that you can try it too.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 2/3 lbs fresh wild mushroom, wiped and sliced
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1.1 lb packet of pasta
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and freshly ground black
• 2 containers of 6 oz Fat Free Greek Yogurt
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped basil

Preparation Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the chopped shallots and crushed garlic for 2-3 minutes without browning. Stir in the mushrooms and vinegar and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the pack instructions and drain well.
3. Stir the pasta into the mushrooms and reheat. Season to taste. Add the  Greek Yogurt and stir well. If liked, Parmesan cheese can be sprinkled on just before serving. (Obviously I did this. You can never have enough cheese.)
4. Serve piping hot and garnish with fresh herbs

Healthy Fall Comfort Food: Pumpkin Apple Oatmeal

It really feels like fall here in Maine this week. The leaves are vibrant and the air is cool. Unfortunately, it has also been gray and rainy a lot of the time.

Stuck inside on chilly days, I have been majorly craving comfort foods. But, I am also going to San Diego next week so I am trying not to over do it, so I will still be able to rock a bathing suit. This week I whipped up a big batch of my favorite fall breakfast- pumpkin apple oatmeal. It is a great thing to whip up on Sunday and eat all week.


Pumpkin Apple Oatmeal

1 c old fashioned oats
1 c steel cut oat grouts
1/4 c flax meal
2.5-3 cups water (you can also replace half the water with apple cider for extra apple goodness)
2 medium apples diced
1 can pumpkin
spices (I like nutmeg, cinnamon,  and ginger)
1/4 maple syrup

Combine everything in a pot and cook over medium until the oatmeal is done. I liked to serve with a big dallop of  Greek yogurt mixed in for extra creamy goodness.

A long run and a new toilet

I had so many fun plans for last week- apple picking, horseback riding, and Octoberfest. Instead, it poured all weekend and everything got cancelled. Boo. Instead I did two things I didn't plan on doing, a long run and installing a toilet.

I have hated my downstairs toilet since I moved in. It was old, ugly, and didn't work that well.

and now it is in pieces in my garage. free toilet anyone??

New toilet chilling in my living room

But on the long list of everything I wanted to do in my house, the toilet was near the bottom. Until Saturday when it wouldn't stop running. When I opened the tank and tried to fix it every piece I touched broke. New toilet time! Because I am a huge nerd, I had actually written down the model of a toilet I saw in Consumer Reports a few months ago. I went right on-line and ordered in from Lowe's. Then the bf and I spent awhile watching videos of how to install a new toilet on-line. Seriously, what did people do before Youtube?

I would like to say I helped a lot, but I didn't. R did most of it and I handed him things. I did do some of the non-technical and heavy, but gross things, like the scooping the water out of the old toilet/tank and scraping up the nasty old wax ring. An hour later we were done! We crossed our fingers as turned the water back on, but it worked. We did not flood my house. Yeah! It's a little silly how happy my new toilet makes me when I see it. It's really the small things people. 

So shiny. And it works too!

The second exciting thing in my weekend was a long run. I decided not to bandit the Maine Marathon because that's just not my thing. But weirdly when I woke up Sunday to pouring rain and wind, it inspired me to go run on my own. I didn't set any speed records, but I felt better than I've felt on a long time on a long run. There was something about the fact that it was completely miserable out that liberated me. My only issue was with my new i-pod, which I unwisely exposed to the rain. The new nano does not have a lock button, so as the rain or my headphone chord hits it, it skips ahead or turns off. Then, does not recognize my freezing wet fingers. Annoying.

I was soaking wet and freezing when I finished, but satisfied. I felt so strong the whole run. It feel darn good to just be able to go out and run 13 miles when I want to and feel totally fine after. And feel like I earned the huge a$$ pumpkin whoopie pie I ate for lunch.

Cumberland County Fair

I am a total nerd when it comes to fairs and festivals. I love them. So I said yes right away when R's sister asked if we wanted to meet them at the Cumberland County Fair Thursday night. I hadn't been to the Cumberland County Fair in years.

We did it all.

It was all you ride for $15 night. So we hit up the rides first (figured it would be wise to ride before we ate). We did basically every adult ride there was. High-up, upside down, spinning around in crazy circles, even a very competitive stint on the bumper cars. I was relieved that I had a blast on the rides, because at the Yarmouth Clam Festival earlier this summer I thought I might be losing my ride mojo because I could barely walk after the Zipper.

After a solid hour and half of rides we were ready for food. However we got distracted by pig races. The pigs were supposed to race to their owners- the first pig to take a treat from its owner was the winner. It was a riot, the pigs went everywhere but to the kids holding the treats.


Between the 4 of us, we ate a ton of food. The boys had turkey legs, Erica had a burger, I had a chicken gyro, then we split giant tubs of hand cut onion rings and french fries. Somehow, we also had room for dessert. I got amazing hot apple crisp with maple pecan ice cream and everyone else got fried dough. It was getting cold fast, so we all shared some hot cider to warm up. I heart fair food.

We wandered through the midway where R won a sweet stuffed bulldog. Unfortunately, the dog started leaking it's stuffing after about 5 minutes. Then, since it was an agricultural fair, we had to check out the animals. The poor sheep had just been sheared, so they had on funny little coats and hats to stay warm.



The pigs were all snuggled up to keep warm.

We ended the night with a ride on the ferris wheel. I am not usually a fan, but it was really pretty at night with all the lights.

And of course when you have a nice warm body to cuddle up to. It was cold at the top!

On our way out we passed the giant pumpkins. They were enormous- like more than 100 pounds. They made awesome jack-o-lanterns.

Hooray for the fair. It really put me in the fall mindset.Would it be over-kill to go to the Fryeburg Fair next week?

What are your fall rituals?

Happy Anniversary to me and my house

A year ago I bought a house. 

It was definitely the biggest financial commitment I'd ever made and represented a major life change. After spending the 5 years after college renting in Boston and living with roommates, I was moving back to Maine and living alone. But, it all felt so right that I knew it was the right decision. 


I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being back in Maine. I mean, I can see this every day of my life.

And it has been wonderful to reconnect with old friends. There is something special about a friend who has known you since you were a dorky kid.

And, I have learned so much about owning a house. I have constantly amazed myself with the things I learned to do.

reupholster chairs? no biggie.

 

 

 

 

refinish my kitchen cabinets? okay it sucked, but was so worth it!

 

 

 

 

I think it was taking this huge leap and doing what I really wanted to do, and making myself happy first, that put me in a position where I was really, finally, ready for a real relationship. It's been a pretty sweet year. May the next be even better!

Running in Silence

I think I am cursed when it comes to ipods. Remember that new ipod I got just a few weeks ago? Well I went to turn it on Tuesday night and got the screen of death. Now it won't turn on at all. Booo.

pretty new pink ipod, you are dead :(

At first I had a minor freakout. Then I started to think. If the most import thing to have on my run is something to distract me from the fact that I am running, then maybe I have lost track of what is important. Maybe this was a sign that I need to reconnect with running.

I decided to try out some new trails, Robinson Woods. Good decision. I was so busy watching my feet that I didn't get bored. It was a glorious fall day- cool and sunny. There was something magic in the wood, and I would not have wanted to ruin it by blasting my music. I had just the sound of my breath and footsteps.

This is why I don't procrastinate

I do not usually procrastinate. I was that annoying person in college who had my papers written weeks ahead of time. When I am leaving for a trip I liked to pack 2 days ahead. This usually hold true for signing up for races too. Except that because of all the change at work, I had no idea what my schedule would be like this fall. So I put off signing up for the Maine Marathon (I wanted to do the half). This weekend I finally knew for sure that I'd be around to run it and went to register. Only to see this:

I am so bummed. I was so excited to run this race and get more into the Maine running community. Plus, I want to get in a 13 miler in the next week and I am so darn tired of running alone.

I have never bandit-ed a race, but I am considering it.

What do you think?

Fatigue

Someone asked me this morning how I was. Normally, I pretty much always say, "Okay thanks, how are you?" Today though I responded, "I am exhausted."

And I am. It just hit me.

It makes sense, I basically I haven't gotten a good night's sleep since last Wednesday. That's a solid week without good sleep for those of you who can't do math.

Last Thursday-Satruday night I was doing Reach the Beach. Total blast, but not a lot of sleep.

Middle of the night. And we are running..... not sleeping.

Monday morning I had a very early flight, so I was up at 2:45 to run. I landed in California at noon and powered through meetings until 7 at night. Yeah that was a long ass day.

Tuesday-Thursday I was in California. I was up at 4:45 am every morning to hit the gym and then busy with work stuff until 7 or 8 at night. Monday and Tuesday night I actually got into bed by a decent hour but sleep just wasn't happening. The hotel was loud and the time difference was messing me up.

Thursday night I was supposed to take a red eye to Newark, have a 3 hour layer at 5 am, and then take the 9:00 am shuttle to Portland, getting home at 10:00 am this morning. That would have sucked. Luckily I got to take an earlier flight home. Still, I did get to sleep until about 2 this morning. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to haul myself out of bed and go to my favorite step class.

It was there that the exhaustion hit me. Although normally I need a solid 8-9 hours of sleep, I actually felt pretty darn good all week. Today, not so much. I felt like I was wading through mud trying to get my feet up on the step. I couldn't focus on the choreography and I messed up constantly.

I shouldn't have gone. But it's a fine line. A lot of times scrimping a little on sleep to fit in exercise in the morning makes me feel so much better. It energizes me for the entire day. Today though, I clearly needed the sleep.

How much sleep do you need? How can you tell if you are better off sleeping or getting up to get in a workout?

About that travel thing……

About that travel thing……

So remember how a few weeks ago I was all sure that accepting a new position where I didn’t travel was the right thing to do? 

Yeah, I’m not so sure about that now. It is really hard to get used to having rigid, set hours, working 5 days a week, and doing a lot of redundant tasks. And I get pretty darn bored with myself being alone in my house all day. I know, wah, wah poor me. It is a job after-all. If it were my only option, I’d be fine with it. 

But, it looks like I may have options. I got a last minute request late last week to come to California this week to consult on the new regionalization project. Due to budget issues, it looks like they may end up being more flexible with remote work, so I wouldn’t have to travel every week. So now they are trying to get me back on the project. The work is so much more interesting. Plus, it is like a reunion. These are all the people I’ve been working closely with for 2 years and I have formed some great friendships. I forgot about the good parts of travel. The mushroom, spinach, and egg white omelet being delivered to my room with a giant pot of coffee in the morning. The long dinners with co-workers at amazing restaurants that I don’t have to pay for. Walking outside in the warm sunshine when you know it is pouring, freezing, and windy at home.

So now I am totally torn. I know that being home more is really important to keeping my relationship moving forward, which is really important to me. But, I also want work that I enjoy and find fulfilling. I know myself, and I have a short attention span. I get bored easily. Maybe I need the constant stimulation of travel?

The hardest part of the situation is that it is basically out of my hands. My new manager doesn’t want to let me go, but the project really wants me. So they are fighting over me and all I can do is wait and see what fate they decide for me.