Mother, Run, Hike

Last year I ran my first 10K and that broke the seal for long distance running,  that was the Hershey 10K. It was a great race, and it made me feel very accomplished! I had planned to run the Hershey 10K again this year, I really enjoyed the experience! But there were a few scheduling conflicts that came up. The Hershey 10K is scheduled for April 2, 2016.   Because we are committed to do the Gettysburg Marathon, it came to mind that a longer race would be better for my training, so I thought about checking out the Capital Area 10 Miler . I saw signs for this race all over Harrisburg last year, but it seems impossible at the time. This year, I knew it was a race I definitely wanted to do, and was sad to find out that it's scheduled for the same date as the Hershey 10K.   Also last year, I had seen advertisements for the Philadelphia Hot Chocolate 15K , and again, last year this race seemed impossible, and I w...

I am a huge Bunbury Fan, have been for many years. But I've never been into Pepe Aguilar, he is an ok singer, but not the type of music I enjoy. His dad Antonio Aguilar I love, but not Pepe. But This song! #omg his voice fits this song! I am hypnotized by his melodic voice in the song. It really surprised me. What song are you totally digging this week? Any new discoveries?

This last weekend My son, my fiancé and I were stuck inside all day Saturday while waiting for Snow Storm Jonas to pass through. I have a strong dislike for staying home all day and watching Television, and most weekend we go and do things around the area, even if that only includes going to Barnes and Nobles and reading their books, while enjoying some coffee. So knowing we would be staying in Saturday, we made a few plans to pass time. Harry Potter movies - At first I had planned to watch All Harry Potter Movies together, but everybody was bored with this after the first movie. My son took the Kindle and went to his room to watch something else on Netflix, Roger went and did a work out in our room.   The You Tube music video game - Roger and I came up with this game last year, and I have shared it with my sister and with my son. Here are the rules... Everybody  picks a song to play for the group, each person gets a turn. Anybody can play anything, except when...

 I ordered The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing  ( 5) after seeing it in an NPR list of books. Although I had just finished moving, and there are still boxes scattered all over my new place, this was not the reason I got the book. After moving in with my fiancé, I had to again donate lots of things to fit all three of us (my son, fiancé and I)  in the 2 bedroom apartment that we agreed to share, to save money. But even after 5 trips to Goodwill, and many, many trips to the dumpster, I still have boxes in the dining room that need sorted out. I moved 3 months ago, and those boxes haven't moved. Everything feels like something I have to save, because "I'll never know when I'll need it". This book has made me realize that I need to tidy them up and either put them to use, or say goodbye to them. So, I am planning to get busy de-cluttering my dining room and son's bedroom, along with my closet later this mo...

Marathon training is kicking my butt! my legs hurt right now, and I barely ran yesterday. Sunday January 17th 14 Miles, Half Marathon pace. I begrudgingly skipped Sunday Zumba for our super long run. This Is MY LONGEST RUN EVER! Monday January 18th Rest Day- Martin Luther King day, my son had off school, we donated a few bags of stuff to Goodwill. Tuesday January 19th Zumba with Susan Hip Hop with Denise 1 mile of sprints, with walks in between Wednesday January 20th Body Weights with Roger- 3 sets of each, Pull ups, push ups, shoulder press machine, pistol squats, Russian twist and V ups. - I know I complain, but without Roger's training, I would have never gotten better at running. 1 hour of Zumba with Denise Thursday January 21st Rest day Friday, January 22nd We skipped Weights to get groceries for the impending Blizzard. 8 mile easy run- I knew that with the incoming storm, there was a high possibility that we will 1. be staying home a...

The other day I found this song on YouTube, while looking for something else. Ah! how it brought memories back! The song is Mirame  Los Ojos, by OV7. This came out in 1997, when I was living in Mexico. It has the heavy keyboard disco beat that was popular at the time by most of the pop artist that were popular at the time. And the video is full of synchronized dancing with lots of unnatural arm waving. But I loved this song back in 1997! Do you have a cheesy song you love when you were a teen?

I keep getting a feeling that it's almost the end of January, yet, it's only January 19th. It has been a terribly busy and crazy month, but I'm on my 4th book for the year. The first week back at work I read Olive Kittridge by Elizabeth Strout (2)- It was an interesting read. I stared out thinking that the main Character Olive Kittridge was a mean old lady, but the more I listen, the more I realized that she was not, she just had certain expectations of people. And I'm honestly tired of people making women out to be mean and cold, just because we have certain expectations and know what we want. The short stories in between kept me confused, but the book was good. I'm considering watching the TV series. Why I read this book- this was a book I didn't finish for bookclub, and since it has been 4 years and I was still thinking about it, thought it would be a good idea to go back and finish it. Dept of Speculation by Jenny Offill (3)- This book was a li...

After celebrating my son's birthday on Saturday and consuming some bigger amounts of sweets than planned, training week was off to a bit of a rocky start. Sunday 1.10.16 Long run that was cut short. Ran 8 miles , of the 13 we were scheduled for. Few complications were the strong wind, hunger and knee pain. Monday 1.11.16 1 hour of Zumba with Susan. 25 minutes of strength training with Roger Tuesday 1.12.16 Rest Day Wednesday 1.13.16 Rest Day Thursday 1.14.16 Tempo Run 3.67- We did a group run with Fleet Feet Mechanicsburg . They do group runs every Thursday night, and I've been asking Roger to come with me to one for a long time, he finally agreed to go. It was nice to run with a group, even though we felt we were super slow, because the first 10 runners were super fast. Friday 1.15.16 Treadmill 3.10 miles and 30 minutes of weights Oh, Friday! Friday was a stressful day. I was busy non stop at the office all day. Then got stuck i...

I got to work at exactly 8:02am. I was quietly celebrating making it to work almost on time. My co-worker asked me something, my memory doesn't recall what anymore. I walked to get water for my oatmeal, and went to start my audiobook, when I saw there was a message from Roger. Roger: Alan Rickman has died. 69, Cancer. I froze and my heart stopped. Me: No !! No. Just no! I checked the News... I don't believe things until I see them on NRP. Went to the App. Nothing. Checked Yahoo! Nothing. Last, because least reliable to me, CNN. There it was. Alan Rickman dead at 69. I went to Twitter, and nothing, but rubbish on Oscar nominations. Then it appeared Katie Couric posted the News Article saying Alan Rickman had died. My heart felt like it broke in a million pieces. Then all of the sudden, everybody started posting it. As I sat panicking at my computer screen wishing for it to be a dream, a terrible dream. I was at work, in my computer, with tears in my eyes for a man I ...

I am new at blogging, and since I'm still learning, I want to document what works for me, so I can keep myself from making mistakes. I see a lot of bloggers doing "Training week" reviews, so I'm going to give it a try. Sunday, January 3rd After a delicious Taco party with a chocolate fountain, it was time to get back to reality and burn off those Tacos. 1 hour of Zumba at Art In Motion Fitness- This always sounds crazy to Roger, but doing 1 hour of zumba gets my legs ready for long runs like nothing else. 11 miles long Run- This was a slow and easy 11 miles. The only problem I had was that most of my devices died on me. MP3 player died at mile 8, switched to my phone and it died at mile 9.5 and the Fitbit was not holding on well at mile 10. Monday January 4, 2016- Rest day, but did my 10,000 steps! Tuesday January 5, 2016 Art in Motion Fitness moved my favorite Zumba class from 7:30 to 6:30. I went to it, thinking it would be Denise teac...

First, I'm going to say that I was very sad to hear about David Bowie's passing. May he rest in peace. A little music to remember him by. Yesterday, after lots of birthday celebrations for my son, we headed out for what was to be our 13 mile long run, only it wasn't. Birthday Cake for Love Nugget Rosca De Reyes The day's weather was all completely unexpected. The morning was cloudy and dark, with some scarce showers through the morning. We went to lunch and it was warm (for January) and sunny, then all of the sudden it was cloudy, dark and windy. We dressed for light rain, windy and cold and headed out. We started running a bit later than we wanted. My son goes back with his Dad at 4:00 on the Sundays he is with me, so I have to run after dropping him off. I was dressed and ready, and arrived at our starting point at 4:10 pm, we were to start running immediately, but got delayed with waiting for a coffee, to leave in the car and sip in stops ...

Races I have done since 2012 I started doing more serious running in 2013. Most of my races have been in South Central Pa / Harrisburg Area. 2012 Kennett Run 5K- 30:04   2013 Kennett Run 5K - 29:00 Drenched 5K- not timed 2014 Kennett Run- 32:04 Glow Run 5K-29:22 Color Run 5K -not timed Library Loop 5K- 27:46 Run to the Flag 5K- 29.30 Oxford Downtown 5K- 28:24 Hero Run 5K- 28:36 SMT Turkey Trot 5K- 28:42 Girls On the Run Frozen 5K- 30:59 2015 Irish Jig Jog 5K- 27:33 (1st AG) Bunny Palooza 5K- 26:55 Hershey 10K- 56:19 Kat's Angels 5K- 27:25 Kennett Run 5K- 26:48 Color Run Hershey- not timed (28.30) Glow Run 5K- 26:41 5K on the 4th -25:18 Library Loop 5K- 24:53 (3r AG) Ninja 10K- 53:45 (1st Female overall) Color Run Penn State- not timed Bird In Hand 5K- 27:37 Oxford Oktoberfest 5K- 24:05 * (3rd AG) Hershey Half Marathon-2:06:37 Bark In the Park- 24:20 Hero Run 5K- 25:31 Girls on the run High 5 (5K)- 25:47 2016 Chambersburg Ice Fest 5K 24.3...

I have been keeping two list of books I'm reading/ listening to, one on Good Reads and one on sticky notes at my desk, it helps me to double check the books and stay on track. I read a lot of books last year, and re-read a few favorites ( I will always make time to re-read Harry Potter). But looking at my list, I remember loving some at the time I was reading them, but now they are really blurry in my brain. So, I'm going to try something different, I'm going to write my thoughts on them. Last year I read and listened to "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson. It was very funny, I enjoyed it very much! And recommend it for anybody who needs a laugh! While looking for another book to read, I found Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (1) . I didn't make the connection until I started the book, because I like to order a bunch of things from the library and wait to see what comes first. I really enjoyed listening to this book! Her quick wit ...

Last Year I didn't make resolutions, and didn't set goals. I knew I wanted to run more, read more, spend more time with my son and fiancé, and spend quality time with my family. All of which I did, and was happy with achieving. But this year I'm giving myself more goals, and plans... Goals with numbers and dates, plans with a purpose! I want to run 600 miles this year- I did 400 last year, and wasn't fully committed to all my long runs. But this year I want to take it more seriously. I will read/listen to 85 books. I have two audiobooks ready to go and 3 books I got for Christmas. My library card will be my most awesome friend! I will be more present with my son. The iphone will be put away when he is home with me. We will work on his homework and go to bed. No Instagram for me until my son is sleeping and his lunch is packed. Zumba 2 times a week! Art in Motion Fitness in Lemoyne makes this an easy goal to complete. Art in Motion Fitness Halloween ...

Happy 2016! The closing of 2015 was a little bitter sweet for me. While I had no specific goal on number or races at the end of 2015, it wasn't until the end of November that I realized I wanted to double the number of races from the year before. I was at 17 races, and wanted to do 18. But due to many scheduling and monetary conflicts, there was not 18th race. But that doesn't mean I was not happy with my 17 races. Anyway, thinking of races to do in 2016 this are my race plans and other Goals Running for sure Kennett Run- I have done the 5K with my sisters for 5 years now, but I think this year I will be doing the 10K. Hershey 10K- My son is with me that weekend, so I will have to schedule my sisters to spend time with him early in the morning. Hershey Half marathon- how can I not do it? I want to see if I can run it again, and still have a lot of fun! Swatara Township Hero Run- This year I will have my Selena outfit! No excuses! Bird In Hand Half Marathon- Whil...