Mother, Run, Hike

Earlier today, I was heading to a meeting outside of the office. I was driving myself and my co-worker to the meeting, and he is the type of person who has to make comments about everything, so as soon as he got in the car, he asked who was singing on the CD I was playing. I said it was Enrique Bunbury, whom we are going to go see in Concert in NYC this weekend.  Then he asked me a question that people don't ask me often, "What do you like about him?" Normally people joke "I thought you were going to say Enrique Iglesias" or "Does he sing Salsa music?" but I was not ready for the "Why?" question.  But I surprised myself and said exactly why I listen to Enrique Bunbury.  I like Enrique Bunbury because of his voice, it's magical with healing powers. It's not soft and smooth, it's rough and scratchy, just like life can be. I like Enrique Bunbury because his musical style has not stopped evolving from his Heroes del Silence star...

Last week was the beginning of a very cold week, we started out with a very frosty day on MLK Day and just lazied it up from there. Running  When I figured out I had Monday off, I figured I would run outside and do all of this outside things. Then reality set it and I realized it was going to be freezing cold outside. We stayed in all day and watched Food Network for most of the day, it's a little embarrassing, but it's really not. After my haircut on Thursday, I met Roger at the YMCA for a quick treadmill run. He said I had to run 3 miles under 29 minutes, which I can do, but not on the treadmill. I challenged myself and ran as fast as I could. I was panting, sweating and suffering, and finished 3 miles in 30 minutes. I was all proud of myself and turned to Roger and asked how far he had gotten, and he said " I did 3 miles in 28 minutes". I was very confused... how did he do that? I was on 7.2 for most of the run, and he didn't go over 5.3 on his treadmil...

I have missed doing my weeks in review! Whenever I can't remember what I did, I went back and looked at my blog, since I haven't done a week in review in a while, I have little recollection of my life in the last 2 months. New Year,  and new things to check up on my progress each week. Running  Tuesday : 3 very cold miles after work. I was so cold, after the run I went home and hid under three blankets, it took a while to warm up again. Wednesday : 4 miles. Still cold, but didn't feel like I was dying after the run. In fat, after my run I went to Simply Turkey to pick up a wrap for dinner. Friday : 3 quick miles on the treadmill and Weights. We didn't have time to do more, because of the school delay. Sunday : 6 treadmill miles. It was freezing cold outside, and I'm allergic to the cold. We also did weights. Total miles : 16. I fell behind by 4 miles, because I can't deal with how cold it is and I have no motivation to deal with the treadmill...

Last week I finally went to the store and got myself a new planner, I know that we are 19 days into the new year, but I didn't feel that my year had started until I bought a planner. That's when my brain finally started to wrap up 2018, and to finish it, I needed a list of my 2018 favorites.... Yes, I realize this is a month late, life was too busy during the holidays. Favorite Songs Sin Pijama by Natti Natasha and Becky G -  - This is a very naughty song, but it was one of my favorites for 2018. It made it to 5 running playlist and occasionally, I still throw it in randomly just to dance. Medicina AND Veneno both by Anitta- This was the year I discovered Anitta and fell in love with her voice, her dance moves and her entire life attitude. Ponle by J Balvin, Rvssian and Farruko Favorite Books Hunger by Roxanne Gay- A good book changes the way you think and see the world, this book did that for me this year. I highly recommend it to anybody interested in changin...

For years, maybe about 12, I have been lying to myself and saying that the holidays are blissful and full of joy, when every year, I was just finding ways to cope to barely get by.  One year, I made 12 different types of Christmas cookies, having an extra layer of chaos made me feel like there was a reason for me to feel like I was going crazy.  Another year, I made 2 handcrafted ornaments for presents for my family. I knew that was a disaster when I got glitter glue on a pair of work pants, while cookies burned in the over.  Last year, my soul finally gave in and broke down. As I was driving to Target after my run one cold evening, I started having a mild panic attack, followed by uncontrollable sobbing, hiccups and ugly face included. I turned off the Christmas music, drove home and buried myself under my blankets while listening to Brazilian Samba.  I have asked myself why does Christmas stress me out. And so many different answers came to mind.....

Most days I go around being ungrateful, and some days even daring to complain of all my fortunes. This year, I want to make it a point to know and acknowledge the things that I take for granted in my life, and recognize how grateful I am for having them.  1. The health of my son, my family and Roger - Growing up, my mom used to constantly remind us to be grateful for our health, my immature brain couldn't' understand why I should be grateful for something I couldn't see, or play with. But now I get it, each day that goes by and I know my loved ones are healthy, is a wonderful day.  2. My job - Yes, some days I do not act thankful to have a job that pays me fairly, because after all, it is called work . But I am ever so thankful for the amazing people I work with, and the friends that I share so much of my life with.  3. Music - It sounds so silly, but music makes my life more amazing. I am currently loving Anitta, J Balvin, Bunbury and Maluma... strange mix, I know,...

In most countries, the legal age for Voting is 18. I have been 18 for 18 years, and have not in my life participated in an elections. You cannot imagine how sad that statement makes me. But so is the life of an immigrant woman. I couldn't vote in my countries elections, because I don't live there. And I couldn't vote here until this year, because just this year I became a citizen. When people asked me what was I most excited about with being a new citizen, I said 1. Voting, and 2. Committing crimes without the threat of being deported ( I have no intention of committing a crime, but if I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, an immigration court could make it their job to get me deported, despite it being a first offense. But again, no intention of committing a crime) Have I done my research on the candidates? For the most part. I know that my support is 100% behind Tom Wolf , our sitting Governor. He has moved the state forward in many issues, including...

Happy Halloween!! I really like Halloween and dressing up, the other day when I was discussing ideas for costumes, my sister told me that the thought it was weird that I put to much effort into dressing up. I laughed! because it is true, I put a lot of effort into it and I LOVE doing it! I started to think of why I dress up, and although I am not a train psychoanalyst, I can trace my need to dress up to an unfulfilled need from my childhood. Short story - While in Kindergarten I was not allowed to participate in the Spring parade and dress up with my classmates. The teacher designed the float and assigned costumes to all the kids. I had really long black hair ( Like the other 10 girls in my class), but my teacher wanted ME to be the witch. My mom said "No WAY, my daughter will not be the witch and will not be participating." The rest of my sisters got to participate when their time came, and I secretly envied them. And Now, I make up for that one time I wasn't allo...

Dear blogosphere, forgive me, for I have been a bad blogger. So, what is going on? A while ago, our office had 3 employees resign within the period of 3 weeks, leaving me to scramble to do a lot of extra work.  How did that affect the blog? In a few ways... I write my posts in the afternoons, when I get home; but for the last 4 months, I have had to bring work home, and have been so exhausted from work that I my body wants to do is Run the stress away, and when it's not possible to run, I want to sit in a dark room just recovering from all the extra human interaction. I'm an introvert, adding social interaction to my work makes my entire body tired.  I also used downtime to read and comment on blogs, but with all the extra work, I barely had time to stay on top of my work, and the extra work.  While I still have lots of catching up to do, with most of my fall races past, I hope to have more time to catch up with blogging; both reading and writing. I really do enjoy ...

Happy Sunday! Tomorrow I have off from work for Indigenous People Day... Ok, that's a lie... I have off for that other holiday that I don't acknowledge. Running This week, I slowly got back to higher mileage, and even did a race. I wanted to run 5 miles on Thursday, but the humidity was back and it was a hot and challenging run, my legs gave up at 4 miles. After work on Friday, I went for a tempo 5 miles at Wildwood. The sun as about to set when I finished, so I rushed to finish and got in my car and left... the park closes at dusk and I didn't want to be there in the dark. At the last minute, I signed up to run HARRC in the park 10 mile trail race. I had wanted to do this race in the past, but timing didn't quite work out, until this year. It was a very nice race, and I managed to place on my age group! Total miles for the week : 19 Mothering, and Wiving  As I mentioned last week, my son and I got into a little argument last week, by the time I pi...

Hello there, how are you? I'm a little late with my post today, I had a rough day on Sunday and it carried over into Monday. Everything is fine, I was just emotionally not well. Running I tried to pick up on my miles this week, because I signed up for the Hershey Half Marathon... I have been a race repeater this year, and couldn't miss out on running Hershey again. However, a few Maternal obligations kept me from fully committing to my running. However, I did get around doing 2 days of weights!! Go me! Mothering On Tuesday I attended my first ever PTO meeting. I have volunteered with my son's school for many years, but never once attended a PTO meeting... it answered so many questions! My son's school had their annual Race for Education, where the kids run around the school for sections of the day. After their running, they had a silly string battle. It really did look like a lot of fun! On Saturday we traveled to Lititz, PA. We were hoping to ...

Happy Monday! I hope you had a fun weekend fun of rest and relaxation. Running  Right after I got home from the Philadelphia RnR half marathon, I started to feel really tired and worn out, more than normal post half marathon tiredness. By the time went to bed, I was all stuffy and tired. I spend Monday to Thursday recovering from a light cold, all stiffly and tired. By Friday, I was ready for a short out of breath run. I felt tired, but a lot better by the next day. My longest run this week was a 6 miler on Sunday, and by then my lungs were almost done being mad at me.     Mothering and Relaxing After a few weeks of being really busy, this week finally slowed down and we had a chance to rest and catch up with sleep.   Last Sunday when we got back from the Half Marathon, I was setting up the Blu-Ray Player, and I bumped my toe on of Roger's weights. It hurt a lot, but it didn't feel broken. I was sore from running, and my toe was in so much pai...

Happy Sunday! how are you today? I hope you are having an awesome day! We had another busy week, lots of moving around and lots of adventures. Running  Between completing the half marathon at Bird in Hand and being behind on sleep, we took it easy this week. I did three days of 3 miles,  two of those were super easy. Roger having a conversation with the geese in Hershey And Sunday was the Philly Rock and Roll Half. I said last year that I wasn't going to run this race this year, but my sister asked me to run with her. My sister ended up getting sick the week before, and couldn't run. But they came with me to cheer me on, they are amazing! I love their support! Des Linden was running this race, and as we were running, I got to see her run by, more like flying by!! She looked so amazing! She won the race, of course. Mothering and Other Fun  On Friday my son and I went to target to explore Halloween Costumes. We are leaning towards being a Har...