After a lengthy conversation with my friend Lottie yesterday she advised some speed intervals for me.  I’ll admit, I’m just the girl who goes out and runs.  I don’t “warm-up” or “cool-down” (yes, some may be gasping at that thought.) I’m getting better at stretching afterwards (one positive).  But being completely truthful… I just run.  I always have a distance range in mind and will always fall within that mileage range but other than that – I go with the flow.  Even races that I do, I rarely have time goals.  I’ll have an idea of where I want to finish but I don’t beat myself down over it.  The reason is simple, if you run you  know that each and every day your run fluctuates.  It can be a very dramatic pendulum swing at that!  Some days you feel like you’re gliding on air (yeah, those days are rare) and some days (like many) I feel like my legs are sinking in cement.  Each race is the same way… you may feel like a rockstar or you don’t.  It’s all good.  The way I look at it – you’re doing it so who the hell cares!  I’m competing with myself no one else.

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— Knead to Cook

First things first, Happy Valentine’s Day to my awesome husband, best friend and supporter of my insane life.  Without him,  I would truly be nothing!  He cheers me on, he encourages me to be my best and he is the shoulder that I collapse into when I need support.  I’m blessed beyond words with this guy.

Now today is Valentine’s Day and post NorEaster snow storm that proved to be a two-punch whack to much of the East Coast.  For the past two days I’ve surpassed 31k steps on my Jawbone Up band and quite frankly… I’ve done half marathons and not hit this amount of steps.  I’ve only hit this marker three times in the past year and two times have been in the past two days.  I’m on target to do it again today… post shorter training run (because my legs have just been abused this week) and from chopping at ice that was plowed across my driveway making it impossible to get out this morning.  Thank you hubby again for the help!

But I wanted to start blogging more about my training (I already share a ton of Instagram if you follow me) but this was my shorter run of the week.  I have one more to go this weekend sometime.  For the week I’m at 23 miles.  Want to break that 30 mile mark by Sunday.  Monthly I’m at 41.18 miles.  I’m doing all of my running on the treadmill at my gym because its either too cold out, too icy or too snowy.  Can’t wait for spring or even just a mild warm-up at this point.

— Knead to Cook

This weekend we traveled to Alexandria Virginia so that I could run in the delayed, thanks to the government shutdown, Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon.  I’ll admit, as I’m getting older, post 3 knee surgeries, one major qualification for me selecting a race is that the course is mainly flat.  I know and accept my downfalls and my knees for sure are my preverbal Achilles’ heel.  I read the race description which noted basically a flat, just above sea-level course.  I was sold.  The date worked and I had trained so off we went.

Saturday we spent the day touring Old Town Alexandria. Shopping, eating and having fun.  It was a beautiful weekend.  It was the quintessential fall weekend.

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— Knead to Cook

I’m very delinquent in posting my race weekend recap but my family took our vacation (has to be after swim season) and we just got back home on Sunday.  We hit the ground running as one child starts school next week and it’s taken me a bit of time to download all of the pics from the weekend and our trip. Okay so without further adieu…

We headed up to Maine from Pennsylvania on Wednesday the 31st of July.  We drove as far and as long as we could before we all hit the proverbial wall around Bridgeport, CT.  A quick stay and then we headed up to Maine bright and early on the 1st.  I haven’t been to Maine since I was a child and it was absolutely breathtaking.  We stayed at the Higgins Inn at Scarborough.  My oldest and I headed off to our room and my husband and youngest off to theirs.  We were greeted with a lovely Cabot goodie cooler filled with yummy treats.  We quickly changed and took off to meet everyone and attend the kick-off party hosted by my friend Candace Karu at her incredibly gorgeous home on the rocky coast.  It was breathtaking.  Most of the bloggers (minus two who were still traveling) got to meet up, chat and meet Joan Benoit Samuelson – yes the Olympian!  She is the founder of the Beach to Beacon 10k.  It was a picture perfect night with great memories, laughs and lots of pictures taken.

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— Knead to Cook