Weekly Recap - 12/26/2016 - 1/1/2017 - And Yearly Stats

Well another year seems to be speeding by.  Why is it when I was a kid it was FOREVER till another year passed and here I sit, in the same chair, on the same laptop, different beer (so that's good right) thinking similar thoughts.  Well not really.  Last year I was thinking how I never managed to run more than 13.1 miles at a time.  I think that's right...

Hold please and let me check...

Yeah, close enough for hand-grenades and lawn darts (I can't see anything more than 13.4 miles in my 2015 spreadsheet)

No 20 mile runs this year either.  I topped out at 14 in one shot before my hip finally said enough is enough stupid head.  Hmmm so is this a weekly recap or a year end post?

I'm still tinkering with the format for these, my narcissistic ramblings, because yeah, I really think I'm THAT important.  No, hardly, but it is nice to have something to look back on and remember where I was at a particular point in time. I tried the diary thing as a kid, my handwriting is atrocious and it physically hurts to write things so that never worked out so well.  This, well, this works.  Happy to have you along for whatever you care to partake in.

The last week of the year popped off with a bang on Monday, exhausted from the first of several late nights, I took Gus out to Barn Island to attempt to get it right.  I should have reviewed the detailed and copious notes Gazelle made on where I went wrong and what to look for.  I didn't, all I remembered was "Matthew and I tied A ribbon to a tree to signal the not obvious left you missed."

At one point Gus decided on a right that didn't seem correct, it wasn't, it led us along a trail littered with horse poops, he was looking for a snack?  So we back tracked and got back to the trail we were on.  I was fairly certain about this, I remembered the rock.  Because, yeah in the woods all rocks look a little different. I'm really not sure if I'm serious or this is sarcasm.

And then we stumbled upon something that sort of looked familiar and then a lot of ribbons tied on trees.  Well actually all over the woods were ribbons tied on trees.  At one point I saw a bunch of ribbons tied on a tree and thought, well maybe that's the way but that isn't near the trail we are on.  Are we on the wrong trail?   I know the purpose of these ribbons, so that one, well off the trail Gus and I were on was probably just marking the spot of a deer?

Well marked, even I couldn't miss it...
Truth, I did venture ahead a bit and realized, yep, that was it!!
Many Thanks!

And the left was just up ahead!!!

Gus found it, he was waiting, impatiently, for me.
Truth, he found it the last time too...

We followed the trail and when I hit the Jimmy Smith Single Track (see where the green and red diverge) sign we went left not right/straight, so that right should have taken us out to Greenhaven and then back.

I'm not disappointed in what we did, after a mile of hiking Gus was ready for some speed so I kept up with him best I could!!

Blue - my and Gus' first attempt
Green - Gazelle and Fawn
Red - my and Gus' second attempt

I was happy to get home and see that yes, we actually were supposed to end up out on the hard top (the point where the green and blue hit and go straight together and then the green /red diverge) and then back to single track!

I'll call it mostly a success.

Dave and I took Jax out on Sammy C's, Outenback, and the Vin Gormley for a hike to wear him out a bit.  His right leg has been bothering him, probably knee/ACL, at least it isn't the leg that was crushed when he was a puppy.  That's how he ended up with us, his owner ran him over and decided it was easier to dispose of him rather than fix him....  to each his own, thankfully there are rescues out there willing to fit the bill and do the rehab.  Jax is a pretty great dog!

They share the orange vest!

Quite the full day for a Monday with a full evening ahead of us....  The holidays are exhausting.

After getting home at an unreasonable hour, again, the boyz had us up on Tuesday at a time we weren't agreeable to, however they were up so we were up, the sun was up, so we were up.

I took the opportunity to misread the clock and go for a run figuring I had to be home by 12 to make it to a lunch that started at 12;30, um no.  You didn't factor in shower time... fortunately that chore along with this "getting ready" thing that women do takes me 15 minutes so I was only 15 minutes late.  Dave actually was grateful because this gave us the opportunity to take two cars.  Him grateful?  ME GRATEFUL!!  It gave me a few hours at home alone to work on my year end project for a couple hours and snuggle with the puppies for 20 minutes.  He asked I bring some interesting beers so I did, happily enjoying that 'chore'.  I was able to introduce his cousin-in-law to some Edmund Fitzgerald Porter and he was very impressed when his beer app gave this a 96 out of 100.  What that beer app is?  dunno...  Although it was much easier to see the rating of the beer quickly on it than on Untapped (the one I use)...  oh well...

I made it to the evening's festivities, Dave's cousin's daughters 12th birthday and her great-grandmother's 101st birthday.  You'd never know Sally was 101, I'd peg her for 70, but really she'd be 75, but I'd never say that because she keeps up with the fashions and has perfect posture, I mean ram rod straight can carry a book across a room on her head and it won't fall off!!  Absolutely amazing.  I should find a photo.

An interesting story to close out the day.  The cousin-in-law works in Manhattan and gave us the list of beers he had for us, Narragansett was one, well we were IN Narragansett so there is that.  Then he went on to tell us how this is now the HOT beer in NYC.  Replacing PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) Narraganestt Beer brilliantly hired an attractive female sales rep, who managed to replace the PBR taps with 'Gansett.  Super kudos!!  So this is the hot beer, and if you are going to have more than one, have a 'Gansett!!  Well played, well played!!

I'll follow on with my own story.....

I remember way back in my days at Ford, I purchased internally and externally threaded fasteners (screws, nuts, and bolts - but saying you are a screw buyer, is well, eyebrow raising to say the least).  I joined a group of 8 men, 5 approaching retirement, 3 close to my age, and me, late 20's me.  The 20 something female sales reps were completely lost on me.  I mean really....  seriously....  Until one of my suppliers had a new sales rep, Jim, holy mother of God what could I buy from THAT company?  Sure I can go golfing.  Um  yeah, my calendar just opened up for lunch! Then appeared Steve and everyone else followed suit with their own young male sales rep once they discovered this was no longer the commodity purchased solely by men across the Big Three!

And another late night, but we knew it wouldn't be another late night the next day but the day after was going to be crappy weather so we better make the most of Wednesday.

Took Gus out to the beach, contemplated riding my mountain bike and testing out my new knee pads.  That didn't happen.  Oh the Imaginary Husband gave me some super duper cool and light weight knee pads for mountain biking.  Once fall where my knee hits a rock and BOOM it's all over for biking and running, so yeah, good idea.  After chores and laundry I cracked open the growler from my favorite Brother-In-Law (I have two so I can have a favorite.... unlike my father who tells me I am his favorite daughter, and well he only has one... so yeah)

Pretty crappy pour, my poor cow is drowning in all the foam!!  Dave helped with a whole pint of this 1/2 gallon...  Um no... there is still 1/3 of his pint.  Sheesh...  see what I have to deal with here people?  Pull your weight!!!

Ro texted early in the a.m. that she didn't want to walk in the rain could we touch base about 10 a.m. on Thursday to see what the weather was doing.  Well certainly, I'm not going to make someone do something they don't want to!  I had a meeting with our financial adviser.  Per usual, he had one plan and I had another.  His plan was super simple to review the one account and mine was well not so simple.  He asked, "What did you want to talk about?"  I replied "Retirement."  He wasn't expecting that.  I was ready to see how close Dave (the Imaginary Husband) and I were to this event.  After a shuffling of papers and a peek in to my current IRA with my current company, and pie sized eyes, Garrett said following my father's advice when I started my first real joby job in 1992 was a good idea.  The advice:  super simple: minimally invest to the match of the company and aim to invest to your maximum contribution by upping your investment by your raise each year. Thanks Dad!

Knowing that I don't have to work until I die makes me happy.  Will I be able to cut the cord at 55, probably not comfortably, BUT knowing it's possible makes the biggest difference to me.  It's nice to see something going better than expected.

Ro and I had a quick hill walk, well it seemed like those 4 miles went super fast as we jabbered the whole time and the rain did start and was getting more strong so we cut out the 5th mile and went back to her house.  I felt really guilty for her walking in the rain and she was sure I was freezing, I let her win, I could tell she was really ready to be done, so we were.  One of these days we need to run our hill loop, but a 14 walking pace is nothing to sneeze at considering the hills we walk!

Friday was scheduled to rain all day, and that's what it did.  Otherwise I'm at a loss what I actually accomplished other than having nothing I had to do.  Got Gus out for a short hike at Champlain at dusk.  I think he has gotten more miles this week than I have, and that was the plan.  Get him and Jax out as much as possible.  They do well with the exercise and they crave it.  Helps keep both Dave and I on our toes.

I'm perplexed at exactly what I did on Friday... Oh well...

Oh crap I remember!

Dave and I went out for a bike ride.  It didn't rain ALL day!  I needed 6 miles to get to my Strava goal.  We got them!


Jax came with us, which means we don't have to go fast.  He is struggling with an injury, we aren't exactly sure what but it is clearly overuse and is not slowing him down.  He hobbles a bit when he gets off the couch.  He will get a couple week break from running in the woods, and we shall see.  Poor guy.

OK finally lets get moving!!

We started with a 300 foot climb.  Ugh.  I really need a warm up before I can really get moving.  I should have taken a half mile run to get my lungs started.  Gak they are so slow getting up to speed!!

So the climb was a little frustrating, however the top was totally worth it.  This was the least technical of the trails we have been on.  It still had parts I had to Hike a Bike, just not as many.  I didn't want a 'gravel grinder' to ride only on fire roads or cinder paths.  It's getting better I can see lines and it is not feeling so foreign to me.  I do miss the road bike and wonder how much different it is going to feel once I can get back out on Ruby.

Jax was seriously not interested in posing for a photo

Dave gave me knee pads for Christmas and I had them on so they gave me license to be a bit more aggressive with my riding.  Less fear of popping off a knee cap on a rock or a log.  They worked.  I went down pretty hard over some logs and the sideways fall tangled me in my bike with my right knee wedged between the top tube and a log.  It all worked beautifully.  Awesomeness!!

The next fall found me on the side of a hill and nearly somersaulting backwards down it, thankfully I again got tangled up in the bike and that held me in place! I kind of had a feeling what I was trying to do, go over and through a fairly well spaced out rock garden, wasn't going to go so well.

All in all it was a fun ride and I need to get out for more than two hours a week on Barney.

Jax totally ready to crash!  Mission accomplished!

Gus woke up with a gurgling tummy on Saturday, I had planned on taking him to Barn Island to do more exploring.  He didn't want to eat but seemed fine to go out and adventure, so we did.  I think he's had too many nibbles of people food.  Seriously, nibbles, like a few pieces of caramel corn and licking clean a couple plates that Jax had already licked clean.  He's back on the strict kibble and pumpkin diet to get him straightened out.  The gas is pretty amazing on top of all the tummy gurgling. 

I tried to stay to the perimeter trail and succeeded at the new part I wanted to conquer, and found a new part and now I think I need to go RIGHT at the green rock and not left!

#1 - where I need to go right - follow the red path  (red path is the goal)
#2 - I consciously went this way, no really!  I wanted to see where it went

All in all there are a lot of trails and they are all unmarked.  At least I'm not too far from civilization and have the option to call for help when I find a hard top road.

I know it is bad form to mark trails, so I won't but wow I'd like to...  I do notice a few marks here and there, some blue ribbon along what looks to be a path people take with horses, based on the amount of horse poop!

Gus finally ate when we got back but only half his breakfast, I think Jax got the most of the rest of it.  Whoops!

Dave and I met up with some friends at Ninigret for a bonfire.  That was fun, not a big time commitment and we could get home and be off the roads early and away from the ripping wind outside.

I barely made it awake until midnight.  A particularly tough WWF move had me a little perplexed, once that was made I was out.  Sunday started bright and sunny and warm. Definitely not going to be an issue running the Buttonwoods 5K this a.m. and it wasn't.  Surprisingly speedy.  A friendly Turtle contacted me to find out what my intended pace was.  I said 11, but could be pushed to a 10:30, she is injured however that is too slow for her!  Not a problem.  I managed a 10:18 overall still with the niggly pain in my right hip and my lack of any sort of speed work or desire to run faster.  I'll take it for what it is, a reasonable 5K to start the year.  My benchmark.  This is my 5K B goal?

Took Jax out for a hike at Barn Island, Faith met me out there and we had a lovely walk and chat for 4 miles.  Mostly on the carriage roads, which is easier so we can see what's coming up ahead to know what to expect from crazy Jax.  Jax was good with Faith, which was nice. She'd only met him once and he took a minute to warm up, pretty typical for him with new people.  After that he was fine she was one of the pack and he was happy to be entertaining and mostly mind and partially lose his mind.  Goofy dog.  

Weekly Mileage:

Feet:  31.5, for a yearly total of 1,666.5  (this doesn't include the 1st) against a B goal of 1,702 and C goal of 1,660   BOOM!  Done! No where close to my original goal of 2,016 but that was REALLY a stretch goal for me.

Saddle: 6 for a yearly total of 1,566.7 against a B goal of 1,644 and C goal of 1,590.  I skipped spin this week otherwise I would have made this one.  I'll call it good.

Yearly Stats:  because this is already obnoxiously long

2016 I ran / walked / rode 3,234 miles!

 How this year compares to the last two:

I think we can see from Jan - May why I was out for 2 months and the 4 months after that were pretty low....  Not sure what I'll aim for in 2017 or if I'll aim for anything other than 25 - 30 miles a week on my feet and it will be seasonally dependent in the saddle.

All in all it was a good year, I started it with a smile and ended it with a smile. 

Sincerely,
Beth, another year in the books and next week I'll write about the Lumo Run, my new gadget!

Happy New Year!

Weekly Update: 12/19/2016 - 12/25/2016

Holy cow, we are at my Mother's birthday again!  She's 72 on the 25th!  Happy Birthday Mom!

Back to work on Monday, the weekend was exhausting, more emotionally than anything, the holidays take a lot out of me for a variety of reasons.  Mostly the fear of this being the last one.  There I said it, what's been plaguing me for the last 9 years.

My parents bought a fake tree and some ornaments, so they are planning on sticking around for a while, or at least a year so there's that.

Spin with Addy was good, she is so quiet in class and the class is so much more enjoyable.  I'm really going to have to change my attitude about Kim's class, but crap... guess if I stop bitching and thinking about things they will go away or seem less and slide into the soundtrack to my life.

My middle brother used to live with my now (imaginary) husband.  This was back in Dave's (the imaginary husband) learning to play the banjo left handed days John (my middle brother) just used to say "It's the soundtrack to my life."  Banjo is interesting enough, but a right hander learning to play left handed.  Well that's something....  at least the bass is more of a boom boom boom numbing, not a shrill plinking like a solo banjo.

Finished up my Christmas shopping that gets shipped out.  One of the breweries wasn't open so that will end up as a birthday present...

A friend gave me a box full of industrial strength ear plugs on Tuesday.  It was the perfect Christmas gift!

Met up with Faith for a peppy run, 10:34 pace for 5.2 miles and we walked 0.2 of those miles.  Holy crap.  Of course my suffer score was in the unbelievable range and Faith's was a walk in the park.  I really have to realize that some people like Faith and my Imaginary Husband have resting heart rates in the 40s and people like me have them in the 60's it's not an indication of fitness for everyone.

The gadget worked!  It recorded my run but not the GPS (because I didn't carry the phone).  I'll have to dig into that data, eventually.  But basically it tells me I over stride, have too low of a cadence, bounce too much, rotate my pelvis to much, and don't have enough side to side motion with my pelvis.  Thing it is gives you correct form and exercises to help improve form.  Can't say as I already didn't know all this stuff...

Possibly, just possibly the poor form also causes the elevated heart rate?  I imagine it is all connected in this wonderful machine of the human body!

Took the Boyz for a walk, they were incredibly well behaved, well Jax was, Gus is an angel, but can be led astray by Jax.  I'm not sure what happened or how it happened but it did.  Rarely can I give Jax an A+ for a walk.  He got this because we met up with a person and he was quite unconcerned about him.  Odd....  There is a disturbance in the force.

Happy Solstice! The day light hours are longer and the cold is stronger.  Tomato tomatoe more day light is a good thing.  I fortunately didn't completely melt down, another year down and no homicide on my record, so we will call that good and move on.

Wednesdays are my double days, a power walk and spin count as a double.  Hills were good, and spin was spin....  Dave (the Imaginary Husband) decided to ask what I wanted for dinner.  I wanted good beer and pretzel sammiches, The Malted Barley.  I said, I'm taking a shower so you can tell me what we are having for dinner when I get done.  He actually agreed on The Malted Barley!  Unfortunately none of his preferred seats were available, they were surprisingly busy for a Wednesday night.  To say I was bummed would be putting it mildly, eventually we ended up at a place with ok food and meh beer.  Westerly was hopping for a Wednesday night.  Must be the holidays?

Only one Christmas Lunch this year, so that took up running time on Thursday.  I didn't really need a break, I wanted one.  Tried explaining to Gus we were going to have a week of adventures and he could miss two walks.  He wasn't very understanding.

Won a year free Strava Premium membership, sweet!  And mine was just expiring!

Last day of work on Friday and the office was vacant, I had a couple things to do and and appointment at 4 p.m. Took two classes at the gym!  Addy's Strength and Stability classes leave me in pain, Chris' didn't...  hmmmm  maybe I didn't work as hard?  Then Yoga.  I actually was nearly late for my appointment my project took a bit longer than anticipated, they always do don't they?

Christmas Eve, Saturday, was uneventful, I got out for a run and then Dave and I spent the rainy mid day doing his Christmas shopping.   Gus and I got out once the rain stopped and had a lovely day light to night walk, they are so rare.  We met up with another boxer, Ford, and the two boys eyed each other suspiciously for a bit, it doesn't help when one is on a leash and the other (Gus) on a harness.  That is restrictive to them and puts them on their back foot in case the other isn't friendly.  He did well.  He is less and less unpredictable as he gets older and mellower.

We weren't expected at the in-laws until 3, on Sunday, I thought it was 2 so I only got out for my run and nothing for the dogs.  After realizing, too late, I had an extra hour I could have taken the both of them out.  It happens.   They managed to entertain themselves while we were gone and unwrap the Yankee Swap gifts for the 26th.  I'm pretty sure this was Jax, he has a history of unwrapping things and eating paper.

Mileage:
Feet - 25.2 for a yearly total of 1,642.8 against a B goal of 1,702 and C goal of 1,660
Saddle - 30 for a yearly total of 1,560.7 against a B goal of 1,644 and C goal of 1,590

Sincerely,
Beth, Seasons Greetings!

Weekly Update: 12/12/2016 - 12/18/2016

Zooming in on the longest night of the year....  and it will start getting lighter later, until, June then this all repeats itself.  But let us not dwell on that.

Monday started rainy, luckily that is now spin day!  I parked in the garage at work.  The rain was sideways and really I had no desire to fight the wind an umbrella, my purse, briefcase, and gym bag the 1/4 of a mile to my desk.  Of note: I also got a funky new running gadget, what was that Mikey's running friends were talking about, you know the REAL runners, the ones that break 8 minute miles.  Oh yeah, they were talking about posers, guess you could say that's me, but really I love gadgets and data. (I've been assured they weren't talking about me, of course, I know!  I'm not self absorbed enough to think any one gives two extra thoughts about me. Despite my imaginary husband calling this blog narcissistic.)  I  know my place and my pace and I'm mostly content with where I am and when I'm ready I'll start working on getting better, I will. I'll do it for me, not anyone else.  In all the bags and walking the even longer way to my desk my funky new gadget got lost!!  Oh shit.

Spin class was good.  Addy is an excellent instructor. I record my HR and not sure how to sync the cadence meter with the new watch so there are two entries in Strava which have confused both the imaginary husband and at least one follower who is always one to ask clarifying questions.  Love that someone actually wants to clarify what they are looking at rather than blindly Kudoing something! Anyhow I probably should keep that private, it really is for my information.  I'm a curious data whore.

Gus and I had a great time ohhing and ahhing at lights on our walk.

Olaf, on the other hand was overwhelmed!

Fortunately Tuesday I woke up to no rain after Gus' tough night because of his over indulgence of water.  Poor guy had to go out wicked bad at 3 a.m. and while I'll let him out and go back to bed the imaginary husband had to make a production out of making sure Gus was back upstairs and in his hut and then turning on and off every light in the house.  Seriously, is this necessary?  I can manage to get up and out by 5:30 a.m. when I need to go to NY and barely notice a movement from man nor beast in the house.  So more it wasn't Gus' issue it was me being annoyed by my imaginary husband and not being able to get back to sleep immediately.  Wouldn't it be lovely if spouses could live in duplexes?  One having one side and the other having the other side?  You could keep it as neat or as messy as you would like, you could decorate to your own taste, think of the possibilities....

All that aside, I had a great run around the usual course.  Not a lot of effort and I got a nice comfortable pace and enjoyed myself, that really is what it is all about.

Both the Boyz got a walk.  We made it about 2 miles before Jax was completely not interested in walking.  So we went home.  Read:  Jax became an asshole I couldn't bear.

What the hell happened Wednesday?  Hmmm why didn't I run at lunch?  Better go check my work calendar, odd....  I did Spin at the Arcadia Y.  Finally got the right digits for Jennifer so she met me there!!!  Kim was her usual un-understandable to my mid-western ear.  We did Tabbata, I LOVE this, 20 seconds high intensity 10 second rest.  It is awesome.  Fortunately the music cues the starts and stops and I just had to translate what we were doing.  

Oh I didn't run at lunch because I had training.  I also made the mistake, glad Mikey doesn't read this any more, of talking to one of the super runners at the site.  Ah well, I KNEW you guys weren't talking about me but the "poser runner" came up just as I passed through your group and started my watch for the GPS and HR search.  It was classically funny.  Well at least I thought so....  my humor was lost on him, oh well...  silly mid-westerner...

Ok so not retracing at the beach...

I decided to retrace my steps from the parking garage on Monday and see if my new gadget would be detected by my phone.  It was!  Holy cow. Someone found it and put it on the window ledge.  Some people are are really awesome.

Off to NYC on frigid Thursday, the wind was blowing and when I got off the train, out of Grand Central Terminal, and on to Lexington and 43rd the snow was blowing.  Honestly, it was frigging awesome.  There really is something about stepping outside of Grand Central in to a snowy NYC street that is so cool in that 1950's classic movie sort of way.  My mind was playing Frank Sinatra and my feet were marching me across Lex towards my office in mid-town, hoping there would be an awesome secretary there to hand me my coffee and then pour me a scotch at 4 p.m.  Oh wait, I'm a girl... I'm supposed to be pouring the coffee and Scotch ala Joan Holloway.  Ha! HARDLY!  Roger can pour me my scotch and I'll fling my pumps across the room for him to shine.  ha ha ha

Someone once said they'd like to take a whirl around whatever goes on in my mind....  enjoy.

We had a great meeting and a productive work session and I was on the 5:22 home armed with some new beers from The Beer Table.

Ugh, are you serious, I have to get up and shower and go to work today?  Friday, yep a work day.  I managed to wiggle out of a 2 p.m. meeting, so no prep for that and a fairly easy day of cleaning up the previous week and setting up for the final week of the year.  Did Addy's Stability and Core class.  Lisa and I agreed running was far easier, however these things are necessary and would I like to go to a Shred class with her on Monday?  Ummm I don't think we are taking about cheese over taco sort of shred, are we?  Friggggg.... I am so out of shape it isn't even funny.  Running is so. much. easier.

Met up with Faith when the weather was a balmy 24F and no wind, to take a lap around Bluff Point.  Nice run, I need the push and then the tolerance to let Ms. Asthmatic catch her breath and relieve a side cramp.  Friggg I forgot to dose with my Albuterol.  We jibber jabbered the whole time, Faith more at ease as this was an easy run for her, me, not so much, a push like that for 3.6 miles is good for me.  I'm not exactly sure what I want to do with my running.   Maybe nothing maybe something, for now I'm back to enjoying it and taking it for a nice way to spend time with friends, be outside, or be completely alone and have a quiet mind.

Gus likes his hat, Jax, not so much!

Saturday was all it was cracked up to be.  Lots of projects completed around the house, so there is that.  OMG DOMS from Addy's class set in strong.  Kinda feels like a wasted day but not really things that have needed to be done were done.  Nice to cross some things off the 'when we have crappy weather' project list.

Let the Christmas decorating begin!

It's that time of year to over eat and sit around with the in-laws.  Sunday Christmas Brunch in Worcester, MA was the main activity of the day.  The food was better this year than last, at least they had the mussels and clams back, no oysters, WTF.  On the drive out Dave spied a runner in a bright orange shirt, commented that should make me happy.  I'm forever complaining about people out at night and low visibility weather not wearing bright and reflective clothing, so they can be seen.   Nothing scares me more than the runner or walker on the side of the road in low light dressed in dark clothes. Seriously?  do you have a death wish?  Anyhow, many of you have heard this...  I'll stop.... I wondered if I knew this person, running on Rte 3.  It didn't look like Muddy's form, and as we got closer, too tall, hmmm, it was Eric in a Li'l Rhody bright orange shirt.  Super Kudos for being dressed brightly to be seen on a road that isn't so great to run on in low visibility conditions.  Made my day!

The tree went up, first time in years, I don't think I've been home for Christmas in a few years, while the tree was very dusty it was nice to put it up and decorate.  This is the year I finally donate the Frank's Nursery and Crafts tree I bought for my second Christmas in my Ann Arbor house, that would be 1995.  I remember because I got an ornament with my first tree, a live tree I cut down with friends, that was 1994 and I was sick as a dog for a year after that, probably from the fresh cut tree in my wee tiny house!  So that tree is 21 years old, holy crap, it's old enough to drink!

From my first tree!This started the tradition for me to do this each year. Most are labeled and all have some significance to me (or me and Dave) for that year.

Tried my funky new gadget on my run with Gus.  I think that may have skewed it a bit, but all in all interesting information.  I run next on Tuesday, with Faith, so I'll try it out again and see what I see.

Mileage:

Feet:  22.1 for a yearly total of 1,617.3 against my B goal of 1,702 and C goal of 1,660  
Saddle: 30 for a yearly total of 1,530.7 against my B goal of 1,644 and C goal of 1,590

Sincerely,
Beth, wondering why there is such a discrepancy with Strava on my mileage, it is more than I would expect...  

Weekly Recap: 12/5/2016 - 12/11/2016

And another week of trying to get it correct...  This is about it for my humor at the moment...

After a brief text with Mikey about spin and a true assessment of my stupid hip and what I am reasonably good at with little effort.  I decided to put the Monday spin class (the gym at work) on my schedule and blocked the time on my calendar to ensure this happens.  It was really a good class.  Addy is so much better than listening to Kim scream at the Arcadia Y.  I'll still keep the class at the Y when it works for both Jennifer and I, but damn that woman's voice works my last nerve, and those who know me know I have a plethora of nerves to work.

The class was good and Addy said she was glad to see me taking some classes for the cross training, it will help, at least the injury, not the aging process.

Gus got me out for a nice long 4 mile walk so I could look at the Christmas lights.  So fun!  I really enjoy looking at them however the thought of doing all that work, no.

After managing to get out of going to NYC on Tuesday I knew I needed to take advantage of not having to go to the city.  I did the 3 Point run, hitting the three points: Jupiter, Avery, and Eastern.  Nice run, I'm slow as molasses but I feel good so there's that.  Iced after the run and the hip felt better.  Took the two knuckle heads for a walk, I really don't enjoy walking them together, they seem to enjoy it, so there's that.

Ro is finally back from her month in St. Lucia so we were back to our usual Wednesday hill walk.  Oh how lovely it is when it isn't balls hot outside!  We caught up and I had to laugh when she said they went on vacation from their vacation so she could watch the Cowboys play over Thanksgiving! There was no TV in their villa on the beach.  Sounds like they had a lovely time hiking the Pitons each week they were there and relaxing and enjoying the tropical temperatures.

Spin class was good, lots of heavy gears.  I got there early because I had some errands to run and for some reason thought the class started at 5 not 5:15.  I had a good 10 miles on the bike by the time class started...  still only logged the 15 I usually ride in the 45 minute class.

Gus and Jax were pretty ticked I didn't walk them so they paid me back by being nudges during the night, I woke up Thursday not so rested.  Oh well.  Work was boring, I had a nice 5 mile run for lunch, and then the track club Christmas Party in the evening.  Fun getting to know people better.  Gus got me out for a short walk.  Dave took Jax to do the 8 mile Vin Gormley.  They were both pretty wiped out.

Up and out at stupid early on Friday.  Frigggg NYC on a Friday, you have to be kidding me with this crap....  It's time to prep for the next corporate move so I have a job shadow opportunity, I take this with trepidation.  I'm 10 years from retirement.  I don't know what I want to be my farewell tour, possibly a few years with this new opportunity would be good, it plays to my strengths (and this is something people who know me well know I rarely, if ever, say)  but it also grinds a few raw nerves I have.    And seriously I have things I want to fill retirement with thanks to my (imaginary) husband Dave, he insisted I have a rough plan.  I've started working on that  recently and will put more pieces in play as I have time for between work and play.

I totally blew any of my step or stair goals for the day.  I did need the rest, my legs are still tired and they didn't even need to deal with heels today, the joy of cooler weather is flat boots...

Dave was up and out Saturday morning and my best thought plans to take Gus to Barn Island to not get lost went to the way side with the siren song of a quiet house.

The annual Newport Christmas 10K was Sunday.  It was good.  I wasn't out for a stellar time, figuring 65 minutes would be great, 70 minutes would be what I could expect.  I finished in 66:19, I'm pleased.  Looking at my past results I've added 6 minutes on to my time.  Guess considering where I am physically I'm doing ok.  Probably not going to write this up.  It is a lovely run and I have enjoyed it every year I run it!  One of these years I'll wear my jingle bell hat!!

Mileage:

Feet  - 31.5 for a yearly total of 1,595.2 against my B goal of 1,702 and C goal of 1,660
Saddle - 30 for a yearly total of 1,500.7 against my B goal of 1,644 and C goal of 1,590

Sad I didn't get out on the bike with Dave and Jax. Looking at his Strava from Sunday he did 8 miles with Jax in 80 minutes, versus our 120 minutes.  I have to think he gets bored with the slow pace but he swears he doesn't.

I also adjusted my Strava goals to the B goals, they are arbitrary numbers, none the less it 'feels' better seeing less of a gap between where I should be and where I am in order to meet the goal.

Sincerely,
Beth, I wasn't feeling really creative last week...

Weekly Recap: 11/18 - 12/4

Beautiful day on tap for Monday, and after a discussion with Dave on Sunday about when exactly would we be raking the yard I was totally ok with keeping Monday as a vacation day so we could rake leaves and take them to the dump, it think it's called a transfer station out here, in any event they have a place we can dump the leaves for no charge.  Reviewing the weather it seemed Tuesday was supposed to be a rainy mess with no relief in sight.   Considering the neighbors to the NE and SE have the big trees and don't rake.  They wait for the leaves to congregate on our yard, rather, our front walk.  I swear there is a leaf magnet under our front walk. Anyhoodles, this MAY ensure the leaves still on the ground and not in our yard could maybe perhaps remain in their yard and that was a bet we were willing to take.

Three trailer loads to the dump, and a good close mowing, and the yard looked pretty darn good for a yard of crappy grass neither of us have much desire to do much about.  The crab grass blooms in late June and the yard is a shade of green and I'm good with that.  I am disappointed I didn't get around to edging.  I like to do it the old fashioned way with the manual edger.  My hip was my excuse and based on how it has felt lately, I think that was actually a valid excuse!

I got Gus out to the woods, marked trails, to avoid an unintended adventure, and to get him some exercise before the rain and my evening commitments for Tue and Wed night keeping me away from home till late.

The rain happened, as predicted, on Tuesday.  I got out for a lunch run in the warm temperatures and rain.  It felt really good.  I haven't had much alone time lately, and really enjoyed the hour of no people to pay attention to, no dogs to mind, no traffic to monitor.  I listened to my On shoes squeak, they are fun and comfy shoes, just noisy in the rain.  I haven't run with music in months, I'm enjoying not running with music.

Dave decided it would be fun to discuss the Monty Hall problem this evening.  Quite fascinating actually.  If there are three doors and behind two doors are goats and one door is a car.  Choose a door, say #2.  Then door #3 is open, do you switch your choice to door #1. What is the probability the car is behind door #2 versus door #1?  I spend time alone so I'm able to tolerate being around people, he spends time alone and he has to find topics to discuss once he's not alone.  Introverts versus Extroverts. No wonder I'm more exhausted being home than running or biking.

Another cloudy day, not so much rainy, although I honestly can't remember Wednesday's weather as I type this.  But I'm pretty sure there wasn't much sun to speak of.  This was the last day of Lung Cancer Awareness month and I do remember driving to Boston in the pouring rain, it was horrible. The event was very good.  In the Prudential Center in Boston.  A woman, Kimberly Hall, I met years ago at a Lung Cancer conference put it on under the guidance of Diane Legg.  Diane, an 11 year Lung Cancer survivor, and living with Stage IV for the last 6 years, started the first Shine A Light on Lung Cancer vigil in the US, there were 200 vigils on Wednesday night, in 10 years that is pretty darn impressive.  It is a very misunderstood disease.  Bottom line:  If you have lungs you can get lung cancer.  There are things that exacerbate it:  smoking (and that goes for ALL cancers, each has smoking as a trigger - imagine the horror asking the breast cancer patient if they smoked, oh the horror), radon (we have it in our home, do you know if you have it in yours?), asbestos, environmental factors such as pollution,  and others, those are the biggies, and these things can be avoided or  have ways for remediation in many situations.  

A woman spoke about her lung cancer diagnosis and journey.  It started with her slowly losing her stamina, then her breath, and then a cough that wouldn't go away.  She was (and still is) an active woman, weight training, spin, zoomba, walking the dog, leading up to her 50th birthday everything became more and more difficult and she was losing more and more energy.  Finally a friend suggested she get the cough checked out, get an x-ray.  Of course a healthy active 49 year old woman asking for an x-ray labels her as crazy, it's bronchitis, here are some antibiotics see me in a month if it doesn't go away.  A month later, she demanded the x-ray.  It showed shadows, oh you have pneumonia, here are some more antibiotics and go see this pulmonologist.  The pulmonologist ordered a CT, and when the results came back, ordered a bronchoscopy.  She went into the appointment, not understanding why this had been ordered and tried to leave.  The nurse questioned if she knew why she was getting this test.  She said she had no idea.  Then and there the nurse was honest with her and said they were testing for lung cancer.  This was the week before her 50th birthday.

After 4 rounds of chemo and 33 rounds of radiation she was declared No Evidence of Disease (NED).  A few months after that she had returned from a trip seeing her parents and was sore her shoulder hurt her back hurt, nothing felt right.  She went to her doctor.  A PET was immediately ordered and the lung cancer had metastasized to her bones, her shoulder blade, her L7 vertebrae and her hip.  More radiation, and at this point she called Diane who said "Get genetic testing".  She did have a genetic marker ROS1 and was put on Xalkori, a drug targeted for the ROS1 and ALK mutations and NSLC that has metastasized.   It is a maintenance chemo, and it took a year and it worked!  During that year she had a 10 hour surgery to replace her L7 vertebrae as the cancer had nearly disintegrated it.

It was an emotional talk, her husband came up on stage for support and she shooed him away, she was going to get to the end of this talk through her tears!  

It is an insidious disease no one deserves.  

I had a good cry and got home really late and tumbled into bed telling Dave I'd tell him about it later.

The sun came out!  Felt like I hadn't seen it in a month, It had been since Monday, and it was Thursday, I needed to to my PT.  My hip has been bugging me for the past few weeks and I have been ignoring it.  We all know how well THAT went last time.  So I did a short run got some sun and did my PT.  It all kinda sucked.  There was sun and I'll focus on that plus to the day.

Took both Jax and Gus for a walk, not my favorite.  They were really good and really seemed to miss walking with each other, so that made it fun, until mile 2 when Jax tends to lose all of his composure.  Per usual it happened, he lost it.  Black dogs have a bad rap as it is, then to have one barking and jumping at the end of a leash doesn't help.  Mostly this is when a man approaches me, he loses it.  Gus doesn't care, Jeff W can attest to this, Gus was happy to meet a new person, and then it was time to move on.  Same with Mikey, who stuck his hands inside the car window,  we even ran across Seth a while back and Gus was all whaev's man.  Gus is curious, then he somewhat patiently waiting for us to move forward!  I would like to test this man thing out with a guy I know, see if Jax settles down.  It's mostly embarrassing, and a little unnerving because what if it is not just a big stupid show?  

Jax is excellent when Dave and I take him for mountain bike rides, and I can only imagine he is the same when Dave takes him out mountain biking, and he goes solo or with a friend or two.  Jax is curious about people but really just keeps on moving forward.  Dogs on leashes, well he is a little more than curious especially if that dog is losing its shit on the end of a leash.  Jax sits there and looks at us like "WTF is this guys problem?"  as if he's NEVER lost his shit at the end of a leash.  Dogs are really curious creatures...

The PT and the short run and the walk were good.  a nice way to enjoy a sunny day and a mild December evening.

I was exhausted when I got up and knew I really didn't want to and really shouldn't run on Friday.  Decided I'd follow Mikey's lead and take one of the lunch time classes, Stability and Strength.  It was a torture session with 5 different stations with two exercises each a pair of people did for 5 minutes breaking up between the two exercises based on number of reps on one.    I felt it and really did get a good work out.  I need the stability for this on-going hip thing.  It was better it's not, it's frigging annoying.   I got out of work early and came home with the intention of taking Gus on a hike before it got dark.  I took a nap instead.  

Amy with the sharp elbows came over to break up more of the matted mangled fascia and muscles in my hips on Saturday morning.  Holy hell that hurt.  At one point she busts out laughing and comments my toes are so straightened out and separated they looked like fingers.  Well that IT band and something in my quad is a mess.  I need to make really good friends with a foam roller, and make up with my ice pack.  Ugh...    

After that I went to NYC to catch up with a friend I hadn't seen in at least 20 years.  Her husband planned a surprise trip to NYC for her 50th birthday and she messaged me to find out if we could meet up while they were somewhat local.  I jumped at the chance and am so glad I did.  I have admired this woman since we were young girls and she continues to amaze me.  I noticed she was doing a lot of centuries over the summer, she did 7.  Then I saw it, October 9th, her first IRONMAN finish.  Well that explains all the century rides!  Then I had to ask how learning how to swim was for her.  I remember one summer sitting on the dock my father had just put in the pond and the whole thing toppling over and neither of us were swimmers, we were non-drowners.  She said it took about a year, and several injuries to get the hang of it for sprints and Olympic distance tris then she jumped in for Ironman KY (they live in Alabama).   I'm still not progressing from the non-drowning stage to the swimming stage.  I think I can say I lived a full life without ever having done a tri.

That made for a very long day and Dave was up and out early on Sunday to ride in Big River and we were going to ride Arcadia with Jax in the afternoon.  To say I was dreading getting on the bike would not be a lie.  He got home from his 20ish miles in BR rousting me off the couch, loading up my bike and kicking my lazy ass into gear.  I can take about 2 hours, this weekend that ended up being just shy of 7 miles.  My skills and confidence are improving for doing something two hours a week I've progressed pretty well and have my moments of reckless abandon and my moments of oh shit.  Only one crash today.  A few topple overs because I was going to slow down hill.  I don't seem to have that problem on the road bike, I wonder if riding down trails is going to impact how I go down  hill on the roads?  I definitely am more timid on the trails.  It really hurts to fall on rocks.  I am immensely enjoying being on the bike and being in the woods, two favorite things!

He's threatening to work on speed for next week.  Ugh...

Oh and the neighbors leaves are on our yard.  Damn it.

Mileage:

Feet:  20.5, for a yearly total of 1,563.7 against an adjusted target of  A) 1,702 B) 1,660
Saddle:  6.8 for a yearly total of 1,470.7 against an adjusted target of A) 1,644 B) 1,590

Sincerely,
Beth, do I really have to go back to work tomorrow??  Whine..................

Weekly Recap: 11/21/16 - 11/27/16

This was going to be another travel week, but I'd have more opportunity to run, so that was good.

After Sunday and all the cold my hip ached, I knew that feeling and tried to ignore it because well that worked so well before.  Monday was back to work for a day, I know it seems silly but it was jut the right amount of time to tidy up a few things and catch up with co-workers before everyone was off to their different Thanksgiving activities.  I couldn't run at lunch time so it was a bit after, it was fine.  Mikey stopped by to see my award and advise that I needed two shirts and gloves.  I guessed on the hat and I guessed right, I needed it.  The wind was whipping and cold ears are never fun!  I trotted around my usual route and felt fine, my knees were screaming cold.  Probably time to consider knickers to keep my knees warm!

Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal in the non-running world, wait
I am big deal in the running world, I have A LOT of DFL to my name, '
race directors quake when they see my name on the entrants list!  It's gonna be a long day...
HA HA HA!!

Up and at 'em to pack on Tuesday, driving out to MI to spend Thanksgiving with my parents, my youngest brother and his wife.  The roads were crowded but not crazy crowded, other than in Connecticut where the drivers are crazy, period.

As expected woke up to rain on Wednesday, its raw and miserable, I'm not amenable to running in that so I didn't; perfect day for knitting, chatting, reading, and napping.  The napping where you wake up and have no idea where you are napping.  It was awesome!

http://www.kaspareks.biz/postcards.htm 

Thanksgiving started with the Turkey Trot, write up here.  Mark and Judy arrived at noon as expected, we took a walk around the property before dinner.  I took the opportunity to climb up in the tree stands and see what I could see.  My mom wouldn't like it if I did it when I walked with her and I really didn't want to do it on my own for fear they weren't really well secured, because that could end badly.  At least Mark or Judy could go for help!  Nothing went sideways so that was good.

To the right are Roger's grain elevators, I could see at least 1/2 mile, maybe a bit more.

Dinner was excellent and I know I ate far to much.  Even eating far to much at my parents isn't as disastrous as it is at my in-laws.  The amount of butter and salt in her food is obscene and I don't think my father cooks with much, if any, and his cooking doesn't require salt and butter to taste good.

Decided it would be a good idea to run around the block on Friday morning, this is 5 miles any way you slice it.  I knew it was going to be a cold wind going "North" so I didn't do the out and back to the hard top road and just went for the usual block.  Saw a couple people who must have recognized me; I got some hearty waves.  Always nice to see someone on the straight flat muddy roads.  My mom thought I might have gone into town to run.  I may do that next time.  The mind numbing sameness of it all makes me crazy.  At least the loop I run at work I see people and I think that keeps me more engaged?  Got to the Wagner's and their dogs have been dealing with hunters so they came woofing and barking and running full out to see who I was.  I think they recognized me?  I stopped and walked, never smart to run by dogs.  Once they got me to their barn driveway they went back to whatever it was they were doing and I resumed my run.

Up and out on Saturday for the drive back to RI.  I thought I was being sneaky waiting until I got to the Meijer's in Oregon, OH to get some more Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald porter.  Well they were out, jokes on me.  Crap...   Dave did comment we need a better beer storage system and he hasn't drunk a local beer in a long time, I guess we have enough?  Naw....  The drive was uneventful, I took the long way with the intent at stopping at Southern Tier Brewery, well I overshot it by 50 miles. DAMN IT.  I thought it was further in to NY than it was.  Poor planning on my part.  The drive along the Southern Tier was interesting, it was dark before I got to Binghamton NY and that is one of the more prettier parts of that way.  Poor planning all the way around.  It happens, not like that was my last trip.

I was happy to be home and sleep in my own bed although sleeping in on Sunday was only till 7:30, Dave was up and out for a ride and the dogs required attention and feeding.  I decided I'd take Gus out to Barn Island for a run/hike.  See what he was in the mood for.  Running was good by him and we did that.  We also got very very very lost.  I really should pay attention to him, he is smarter than I am in the woods.  After we finally plowed through a bazillion thorns and trespassed on someone's yard we got to a main road I recognized from running and we trekked two miles back to the car on asphalt.   Definitely not Gus' idea of fun.  Never a dull moment?



This is mostly what I was trying to do.  Thanks to Jeff W for sending this to me, the blue circle is where it went pear shaped. The perimeter was what I was hoping I was on.  While I was jogging back down the hard top with Gus and my bloody legs, I wondered if I went down by the RR tracks at Greenhaven if I'd get back on the trail, looks like that was the case.  I might try parking down there and seeing if I can find my way back to where I lost the trail.  Shoot!!!

Mileage:
Feet:  24.6 for a yearly total of 1,543.2 against a straight line target of 1,829.3 (full goal 2,016) and an adjusted full year target of 1,702 or 1,660.  Can (Will) I close the gap on either of the adjusted targets with 5 weeks of running? Probably, my life doesn't depend on it, so either way I'm good.
Saddle: 0 for a yearly total of 1,463.9 against a straight line target of 1,829.3 (full goal 2,016) and an adjusted full year target of 1,644 or 1,590.  Can (Will) I close the gap on either of the adjusted targets with 5 weeks of cycling?  Probably, my life doesn't depend on it, so either way I'm good.

Sincerely,
Beth, surprisingly didn't catch a cold with a month of travel, whoop!