November Recap/Stats

Meters Swam: 0 m - But I have an excuse; I got two moles removed and am not allowed in chlorine for like a month. Stay tuned for this number to change by the end of next month!

Miles Biked: 22 M - An improvement from last month but still need to get those numbers higher!

Miles Elliptical'd: 6 M - Still smiling every time!

Miles Walked: 22.2 M - SunRunner and I lucked out with many days of just-nice-enough weather to continue our regular lunch time walks this month... until this happened last night:


Thus creating a new activity to keep track of:

Flights of Stairs Climbed: 52 - Climbed over lunch and my legs are still quivering. We're going to have phenomenal butts by the spring!

Rest Days Planned/Taken: How ever many needed / 13

Xtraining Workouts Planned/Done: As many as possible / 17

Current Reads: (Reading) Still working on Bel Canto by Ann Patchett with Bossyants by Tina Fey queued up next.

(Finished) None. Slacker right over here. *Waves*

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Reading the different wedding website forums... It's seriously addicting, there are some crazy people getting married out there.

Current Obsession: Pinterest.

Current Drink: Water.

Current Song: It's a toss up between "Man or Muppet" and "Life's a Happy Song" (Can you tell I saw the Muppets this past weekend?) LOL!

Christmas Wish-List: The Grid foam roller (for when I'm back at it) and/or a wireless bike computer

Current Need: Besides a cure for cancer???

Current Triumph: Passing the 2 mile mark on the elliptical pain free!

Current Bane of my Existence: The usual. See also "Current Need"

Current Goal: (Repeated from March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October) To stay positive and focused on active recovery/xtraining so I can hit the ground running sooner rather than later. T-minus eight days until my next doctor appointment... *Fingers Crossed*

Current Indulgence: Pumpkin Chai Cake Balls from Cake Nouveau

Current Blessings: To be able to spend time and support those we care about during a difficult time and the continued love, encouragement, and support from my family, friends, all of you, and especially, the fiance.

Current Excitement: Very excited for my upcoming trip back to Florida for the Girl's Annual Gift Exchange!!! I'm also stoked for an early Christmas get together we're having with all of Spike's friends, then of course Christmas itself and seeing all the Spike/Redhead fam's.

How'd your November shape up?!?!

Running is what you make of it, make it an Adventure!™

Tuesday Tidbits

Sooo it seems I've gone MIA 'round here huh? A quick look at my last post reveals that it's been almost 3 weeks and then there's always this:


Whoops, sorry folks, I just haven't had much to say since I last posted. (Ok so if you follow me on Twitter you'll notice I do pop up on Sunday's and Monday's to discuss The Walking Dead with a few of my fellow zombie enthusiasts but that's about it.) I hate posting just to post, especially when I have nothing of real merit or value to say but just this once I will feed you some meaningless drivel and catch you up on what I've been up to the last few weeks:

• Working out via weights, walks, stationary bike, and the elliptical are still going strong. I even managed to get in three solid walks while in Colorado this past weekend.
  
  
• Speaking of Colorado and this weekend, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!! Spike and I sure did, we visited with the Redhead fam per usual, stayed up way too late per usual, ate way too much per usual, and took lots of ridiculous pics per usual.
  
  
  The significant other's decided to hold their own photo shoot when they were told they couldn't be in the family photo. (Yes that's the Fa-tha photo bombing in the background)
  
  
  
  Silly Sisters
  (I can't believe how old they are now!)
  
  
  
  The people who worked at JC Penney were not amused at our hijinks but we sure were!
  Self timer FTW!
  
  
  
• Wedding planning is still in full swing and I've even drafted up a whole post dedicated to some of the deets for you! Stay tuned!
  
  
• Thursday morning I'm headed in for a MRI on my leg in advance of next week's appointment. The leg is still feeling great and my fingers are crossed I will finally, once and for all, put this injury behind me.
  
  
• The weather here in the mitten has officially turned. Winter is here and the 10" of snow it's bringing tomorrow confirms it. Boo.
  

So that about sums it up for me, how about you? I've been so busy with work, traveling, and life in general that I've barely had time to keep up. Anyone have anything exciting going on?!?! Do tell!

3 Things Thursday

1. I Retract My Previous Statement... So remember when I said I loved daylight savings time on Monday? Um yeah, I kinda forgot about the whole, it's now pitch black when I get out of work thing. Boo.
   
   
   
   
2. Infatuation... Have you ever been at the gym and seen someone who actually looks happy to be there? That's currently me; big goofy grin slapped on my face, sweat dripping from my brow, loving every moment of my 1.5 elliptical miles. I've gotten a few weird looks and that's when I realized, is it just me or are there a lot of grumpy faces at the gym?
   
   
3. Red + Spike Update... Some of you have expressed an interest in hearing about wedding deets so I thought I'd share that we're touring a few venues on Saturday and will hopefully find a place we love and pick a date! For those of you that are married already or about to be wed, how'd you know you found *THE* place? Also, feel free to share any tips or advice.
   
   I hope you all are gearing up for an awesome weekend on this Friday Eve!
   

LOVE/Don't Love

{LOVE/Don't Love ala Christy}

Falling back and getting an extra hour of daylight during the day... LOVE

After I went 1.5 M on the elliptical on Saturday, I followed it up with five fast miles on the bike, my PT exercises, a bunch of lunges and squats and am feeling the best kind of sore but NO pain... LOVE

The mustache Spike was sporting when LPT and I came home from the gym on the other hand... Don't Love
(It wasn't really that terrible it's just that I could NOT take him seriously all day! LOL! It has since been shaved.)

Speaking of Spike, he voluntarily went to a bridal show with me yesterday, it was hilarious watching him ask absurd questions of the vendors and especially when he high-fived the only other guy there. He's been really in to this whole wedding planning thing and it's so fun... LOVE

I've passed the one month mark with the bone stimulator and have only missed one day, the morning after I got engaged, and happy to report my leg feels almost 100%. I'm feeling really confident about my upcoming December appointment... LOVE


Unfortunately the button keeps falling off and this morning I spent over 15 minutes tearing apart my bed looking for it only to find it stuck to my pajama pants... Don't Love.

We've been blessed with a long fall this year and I can't get enough of it. The cool mornings and sunny days, heck even the overcast days with moderate temps, have been most appreciated. Anything to delay the winter... LOVE

I love that my secret alleyway has been
dressed for winter but fall is still holding on!

So remember what a trainwreck I was that whole weekend I got engaged? Well I forgot to tell y'all I somehow managed to shave off a quarter of one eyebrow (I asked my cousin for tweezers and she only had this shaver thing) and it has since started to grow back. I've always drawn them on because they are so light but now that it's growing back it's so itchy I keep scratching it and messing up the drawn on part... Don't Love.

Last night I spent the evening with a few lovely ladies being reminded of all the blessings I have in my life to be grateful for... LOVE

And lest I forget, congrats to all those that raced NYCM!!!... LOVE

3 Things Thursday

1. Deja Vu... Guess who I get to see again this weekend?!? LPT! She just so happened to be in the mitten for work this week and is going to stay with me for a few days! Yay! We've already promised each other no repeats of last weekend though, our livers might fail.
   
   
   
2. Overwhelmed... There's a whole lot of crazy going on in my life right now with things launching at work, recovering from non-stop travel over the last two weeks, the wedding planning, concern for friends, etc... that I have to keep reminding myself to JUST BREATHE. I seriously cannot wait to sleep in this Sunday and spend the day with my love doing nothing.
   
   
3. Small Victories... I've completed another pain free mile on the elliptical!!! I know that it might seem like small fries to you but when you've been injured and in pain for what, 7-8 months now?!?!, managing a workout that doesn't end in pain is a BIG deal. I hope to go a smidge further on Saturday, maybe go 1.5-2 miles but we'll see. It's so nice to add in something other than doing flat road, no resistance on the gym bikes.
   
   Cheers to the freaking weekend!
   
   

MCM Weekend and Spectating Recap

So I know MCM weekend was a few days ago and you'd think I'd be recovered by now but I'm not. It doesn't help that I've been jetsetting all over the place the last two weeks doing loads of celebrating of birthdays, engagements, and girls weekends. So yeah, my liver... notsohappy. Moving on...

I flew in to D.C. first thing Friday morning, Katie picking both me and Amy up. After dropping off our stuff at Katie's, meeting the pups, Amy and I going for a walk while Katie wrapped up some work stuff, we headed out to grab a bite to eat before hitting the expo. We briefly met Beth while mowing down Noodles & Co. and then it was quite the adventure getting down to the expo.

I was so excited to reunite with my beloved Lazy Runner

Amy, Heather, Katie and I at the expo

The expo was kinda nuts so we didn't stay long, instead heading back to Katie's to meet up with LPT who had arrived. After a whirlwind trip to Target, where we all bought stuff we surely didn't need, we headed to dinner to celebrate The Poet's birthday. Afterwards at home we girl talked late into the night. (And by late I mean 10pm.)

Saturday after an awesome brunch where I got to meet Allison and ultrarunnergirl, we had plans to visit the mall and see some of the D.C. must see's, but mother nature put a damper in that with her sleeting, hailing, and even snow. So instead we cuddled on the couch and watched chick flicks with the pups.

The puppies loved me.
Especially Molly who tried to make me her pillow the whole time.

Saturday night was ladies night. It got a little crazy. My liver hurts to recall it. We kinda blew up Twitter. That is all I will say about that.

Possibly the only semi-sober pic of the bunch.

Sunday came fast and hard (TWSS) but we had no time to waste, it was time to put on our spectating pants. Mine were silver sequined.

Katie set us up in the thick of Crystal City as promised, and we rocked out the morning to top 40 jams while cheering on the runners that passed. LPT had left us to go pace a friend so it was just Katie and I to amuse ourselves and annoy The Poet for updates on our runners.

Hotness.

Soon enough the Lazy Runner came zooming by, he had given me some Gu and what not to pass off to him and thankfully I was able to get it to him before he smoked the field on his way to a huge PR and BQ. (Recap HERE)

After LR, we kept our eyes peeled for Heather but somehow missed her, later we learned it was because she herself had smoked her PR and earned a BQ too!!! (Recap HERE) As the 4 hour pace group came up it was now time to keep watch for Christy (Recap HERE) and Amy (Recap HERE) both of whom Katie jumped in and ran with. (Both scored PR's)

This pic of Christy cracks me up!

I love this giant smile on Amy's face!

The next runner I was able to spot was Kandi (Recap HERE) and she was well on her way to a huge ol' PR too!

Get it girl!

I had hoped to spot ultrarunnergirl (Recap HERE), Micheal (Recap HERE), Chris (Recap HERE), and especially my beloved fellow redhead Ally (Recap to come) but the crowd was really thick and then there was the whole, LPT and I had flights to catch thing. I'm sorry I missed you all!!!

It was a beautiful day for racing and as far as I could tell the course is beautiful and the crowds are great. We had a blast in Crystal City and I'd def spectate there again. Congrats to all who raced!!!