Hello!
So this is the last of my blog posts at this site! I moved my blog over to Wordpress and the new website is
www.runningforcupcakesblog.com
I am still trying to get everything all set up and going, but I hope you will come visit over there :-)
Happy Monday!
Monday, July 9, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
What have I been doing?
I have been the lamest blogger ever. I wish I could say it is because I have been doing some crazy awesome things that have kept me super busy. But I would be lying. I have not really been doing much of anything! Which leaves me not much to write about. But when I condense all of these activities into one post, well it is not quite as boring :-)
Golf: I have been learning how to golf! My dad has taken me to the driving range a few times in the past, but nothing official. And he is always hesitant to "coach" me because he is worried about sharing bad habits or not giving me good information. So I finally managed to sign up for some classes. This was a 5 class clinic called "Get Golf Ready". It has been offered so many times at the golf course close to me, but for one reason or another I always manage to have something else going on on the day of the first class. This time I was free and ready to go! We worked on the basics - putting, chipping, pitching, and then half and full swings. The last day we went on the course and actually played the 18th hole. Just the 18th...it would have taken days to get through all of them! I am still not ready for 18 holes. A few more trips to the driving range and I may be brave enough to try 9, but not quite yet. Sadly I do not believe the LPGA will be calling me to join the tour anytime in the near future, but I have not embarrassed myself too badly!
Books: I am kicking right along on my 100 books challenge! I finished Wuthering Heights (loved it) and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I am working on Pride and Prejudice right now. I also have thrown in a few books not on the list - Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (don't judge, not my best choice, but it was surprisingly entertaining), Killing Lincoln (this is the new one by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard. The Vampire Hunter version goes into his assassination and such, and I wanted to read a more historically legit version. Not saying that this was the best choice, but it was written in novel format and not history book format, so it was easy to fly through. Pretty interesting stuff.)
Netflix: This has been my new favorite entertainment. Somehow I came across that BBC show Doctor Who. It is now officially my new favorite show. Its a science fiction show about time travel and aliens and the such. Yes I am a dork :-) Seriously though, its awesome. I am only at the beginning of season 2, so I have a ways to go to get caught up. I was in Barnes & Noble on Thursday and there was an entire table set up with Doctor Who books and stuff, so I guess I am not the only nerd out there!
A lost computer: Technically, it is not lost. Someone broke into my apartment and stole it. Who does that? What is wrong with people? I used to be a Kindergarten teacher, and I know I taught the lesson about "if it is not yours, keep your hands off of it", but apparently that lesson does not carry much weight in the real world. I am grateful for the fact that all they took was my computer (with the charger), but still. I know for sure at least one other apartment was broken into and their computer was also taken, but I am not sure how many others there were. Its annoying because this is actually a nice place. Not the kind of place I worry about leaving my things around at. I mean, I know idiots are everywhere, but still. Plus, it happened in the middle of the day! Thankfully I take my dog Ollie with me when I go to work during the day, so he was not here either. Poor guy would have been traumatized for sure!
So now that you are all caught up...I will try to be much more exciting :-)
Golf: I have been learning how to golf! My dad has taken me to the driving range a few times in the past, but nothing official. And he is always hesitant to "coach" me because he is worried about sharing bad habits or not giving me good information. So I finally managed to sign up for some classes. This was a 5 class clinic called "Get Golf Ready". It has been offered so many times at the golf course close to me, but for one reason or another I always manage to have something else going on on the day of the first class. This time I was free and ready to go! We worked on the basics - putting, chipping, pitching, and then half and full swings. The last day we went on the course and actually played the 18th hole. Just the 18th...it would have taken days to get through all of them! I am still not ready for 18 holes. A few more trips to the driving range and I may be brave enough to try 9, but not quite yet. Sadly I do not believe the LPGA will be calling me to join the tour anytime in the near future, but I have not embarrassed myself too badly!
Books: I am kicking right along on my 100 books challenge! I finished Wuthering Heights (loved it) and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I am working on Pride and Prejudice right now. I also have thrown in a few books not on the list - Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (don't judge, not my best choice, but it was surprisingly entertaining), Killing Lincoln (this is the new one by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard. The Vampire Hunter version goes into his assassination and such, and I wanted to read a more historically legit version. Not saying that this was the best choice, but it was written in novel format and not history book format, so it was easy to fly through. Pretty interesting stuff.)
Netflix: This has been my new favorite entertainment. Somehow I came across that BBC show Doctor Who. It is now officially my new favorite show. Its a science fiction show about time travel and aliens and the such. Yes I am a dork :-) Seriously though, its awesome. I am only at the beginning of season 2, so I have a ways to go to get caught up. I was in Barnes & Noble on Thursday and there was an entire table set up with Doctor Who books and stuff, so I guess I am not the only nerd out there!
A lost computer: Technically, it is not lost. Someone broke into my apartment and stole it. Who does that? What is wrong with people? I used to be a Kindergarten teacher, and I know I taught the lesson about "if it is not yours, keep your hands off of it", but apparently that lesson does not carry much weight in the real world. I am grateful for the fact that all they took was my computer (with the charger), but still. I know for sure at least one other apartment was broken into and their computer was also taken, but I am not sure how many others there were. Its annoying because this is actually a nice place. Not the kind of place I worry about leaving my things around at. I mean, I know idiots are everywhere, but still. Plus, it happened in the middle of the day! Thankfully I take my dog Ollie with me when I go to work during the day, so he was not here either. Poor guy would have been traumatized for sure!
So now that you are all caught up...I will try to be much more exciting :-)
Motivational Monday!
Happy Monday!
My Monday has been wet thanks to Donna. I loved having a rainy Sunday. I just laid around the house and did not have to feel guily one bit. Every now and then those days are nice. If it is sunny outside, there is no way I can lay on the couch without feeling so horrible. When the sun is shining I feel obligated to be outside enjoying it. But when its gross out, I feel like its the universe's way of telling me to stay in my pjs :-)
Legit or not, its my rule and I am sticking to it!
So here is today's motivational Monday picture.
Something tells me I am going to be learning how to run in the rain before the week is over. I have thus far managed to avoide it, but I think this may be the week I have to lace up my shoes and put on my raincoat! It definitely beats the treadmill :-)
Have a good Monday!!
My Monday has been wet thanks to Donna. I loved having a rainy Sunday. I just laid around the house and did not have to feel guily one bit. Every now and then those days are nice. If it is sunny outside, there is no way I can lay on the couch without feeling so horrible. When the sun is shining I feel obligated to be outside enjoying it. But when its gross out, I feel like its the universe's way of telling me to stay in my pjs :-)
Legit or not, its my rule and I am sticking to it!
So here is today's motivational Monday picture.
Something tells me I am going to be learning how to run in the rain before the week is over. I have thus far managed to avoide it, but I think this may be the week I have to lace up my shoes and put on my raincoat! It definitely beats the treadmill :-)
Have a good Monday!!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Weekly Recap June 17 - 23
Its so hard to believe another week has flown by! Its kind of starting to freak me out to be perfectly honest with you. January will be here in the blink of an eye.
Let me just say, holy canoli it is dang humid outside! This is Florida, so heat and humidity are something of a regular occurrence, but it does not make running any easier. I started running at 6:30 instead of 7:00 in the morning, which has helped a tiny bit. At least the sun does not start beating down quite so intently until I am almost finished.
Here is the week:
Monday:
3.93 miles
53:07 minutes
13:31 min/mile average
This was a somewhat randomly speedyish morning! I like it :-)
Wednesday:
3.90 miles
54:36 minutes
14:00 min/mile average
And just like that, no more speedy tendencies. Boo.
Saturday:
2.98 miles
42:20 minutes
14:14 min/mile average
It was out of control humid! It was really overcast and soon to be rainy, which did not help matters. You know that dream when you are trying to run away from something, only you cannot actually move? That is how I felt this morning. I was running and running and barely moving anywhere at all! It was awful. I swear you could see the humidity just sitting there. I needed something to slice through it to be able to run. So I cut the 5 miles to a 3 miler. Next Saturday I have a 2.5 miler planned, so I will just make that the 5 mile weekend. I am not too worried about it. My weekly 30 minute runs have been 4 miles, and almost an hour, so it should be fine. As long as it is not rainy next weekend as well. I am pretty certain that by the time January rolls around I am going to fly through the course! Cool temperatures and minimal humidity. It will be like Christmas :-)
I really really need to get back into yoga!! It just seems like every night I would be going, something comes up at the last minute! Granted...sometimes that "something" is simply the fact that I would rather be in bed...but still. I really need to go.
Have a good week!
Let me just say, holy canoli it is dang humid outside! This is Florida, so heat and humidity are something of a regular occurrence, but it does not make running any easier. I started running at 6:30 instead of 7:00 in the morning, which has helped a tiny bit. At least the sun does not start beating down quite so intently until I am almost finished.
Here is the week:
Monday:
3.93 miles
53:07 minutes
13:31 min/mile average
This was a somewhat randomly speedyish morning! I like it :-)
Wednesday:
3.90 miles
54:36 minutes
14:00 min/mile average
And just like that, no more speedy tendencies. Boo.
Saturday:
2.98 miles
42:20 minutes
14:14 min/mile average
It was out of control humid! It was really overcast and soon to be rainy, which did not help matters. You know that dream when you are trying to run away from something, only you cannot actually move? That is how I felt this morning. I was running and running and barely moving anywhere at all! It was awful. I swear you could see the humidity just sitting there. I needed something to slice through it to be able to run. So I cut the 5 miles to a 3 miler. Next Saturday I have a 2.5 miler planned, so I will just make that the 5 mile weekend. I am not too worried about it. My weekly 30 minute runs have been 4 miles, and almost an hour, so it should be fine. As long as it is not rainy next weekend as well. I am pretty certain that by the time January rolls around I am going to fly through the course! Cool temperatures and minimal humidity. It will be like Christmas :-)
I really really need to get back into yoga!! It just seems like every night I would be going, something comes up at the last minute! Granted...sometimes that "something" is simply the fact that I would rather be in bed...but still. I really need to go.
Have a good week!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Happy National Running Day!!
Happy Running Day to everyone!! I have totally dropped off of the planet, but figure today is as good a day as any to rejoin the world :-) So here is my oh so very deep reason why I run!!
I mean, you have to have your priorities! Don't get me wrong, I totally run for all of the healthy reasons as well...but this is the big one :-)
Hope everyone has an awesome day of running!!
I mean, you have to have your priorities! Don't get me wrong, I totally run for all of the healthy reasons as well...but this is the big one :-)
Hope everyone has an awesome day of running!!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
What happened to the libray?
I went to my local library yesterday to renew my library card. I used to have one in this county about a million years ago, but thankfully they no longer have me in the system. I fear I would have had some 15 year overdue book fine! I decided to use the library for as many as my 100 books as possible. I thought for sure I would at least be able to grab the classics off the list. Wrong! How does a library not have a single copy of Pride & Prejudice? They did have 4 copies of Pride & Prejudice and Zombies! Say what now!! Utter insanity. So from there I moved on to Les Miserables. Nope. I managed to find one copy of Wuthering Heights, so that will be my next read. I know I can get a lot of these for free on my Kindle, but I just feel really weird about reading a book that was written in like 1846 on my ereader. Seems disrespectful or something. Now, any of these that I fall in love with, I will more than likely add to my kindle for rereading purposes. But as a first go round, I am sticking with paper. I had no idea it was going to be such a tricky task though!
So far I have checked 3 books off of my 100 Books to Read Before You Die list:
1. The Stand by Stephen King. This was good! I tend to read a little faster through the parts that are scary, so I never find books as freaky as movies. In a movie the scary scenes last forever, with background music and slow walking and such. I could immediately tell which scenes would have scary music behind them, but I just kept reading. If you don't know, this book is about what happens after a killer virus is released into the world, and spreads. It was so fascinating because it really took the time to start from the first person who was infected, and how it spread from there, and eventually killed I think like 98% of the population. I have been using much more hand sanitizer, and I get a little jumpy when people around me start to cough or sneeze! From there, it becomes about survival and rebuilding "society", and eventually a battle between good and evil. It definitely made me think a lot!
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I read this at some point in school, so I remembered the story, but not necessarily a good chunk of the smaller parts. I forgot how amazing this book is.
3. Blubber by Judy Blume. I am sure I read this one growing up. But I do not really remember much of it. Its basically about bullying. Its sad how relevant it still is after all of this time. Is there ever going to be a time when we aren't being mean to other people? I wish I remember reading this one when I was younger to see if my immediate feelings about the characters were the same. Did I pick up right away that the "popular" girls were picking on someone else for no good reason? Or did it take until the end of the book when the tables really turn around for me to see it?
Wuthering Heights and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe are next up!
So far I have checked 3 books off of my 100 Books to Read Before You Die list:
1. The Stand by Stephen King. This was good! I tend to read a little faster through the parts that are scary, so I never find books as freaky as movies. In a movie the scary scenes last forever, with background music and slow walking and such. I could immediately tell which scenes would have scary music behind them, but I just kept reading. If you don't know, this book is about what happens after a killer virus is released into the world, and spreads. It was so fascinating because it really took the time to start from the first person who was infected, and how it spread from there, and eventually killed I think like 98% of the population. I have been using much more hand sanitizer, and I get a little jumpy when people around me start to cough or sneeze! From there, it becomes about survival and rebuilding "society", and eventually a battle between good and evil. It definitely made me think a lot!
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I read this at some point in school, so I remembered the story, but not necessarily a good chunk of the smaller parts. I forgot how amazing this book is.
3. Blubber by Judy Blume. I am sure I read this one growing up. But I do not really remember much of it. Its basically about bullying. Its sad how relevant it still is after all of this time. Is there ever going to be a time when we aren't being mean to other people? I wish I remember reading this one when I was younger to see if my immediate feelings about the characters were the same. Did I pick up right away that the "popular" girls were picking on someone else for no good reason? Or did it take until the end of the book when the tables really turn around for me to see it?
Wuthering Heights and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe are next up!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Weekly Recap: April 15 - 28
Ahh yes, another 2 week recap :-) Its alright this time, because there is one pretty good week, and one insanely lame week, so they balance out into two decent weeks. At least that is the math I am going to use in this instance!
Monday:
Yoga
Wednesday:
3.03 miles
43:22 minutes
14:18 pace
This was a run with mom - so it was a 30/40
Thursday:
3 miles
41:05 minutes
13:41 pace
Yay for faster! Today I went back to 40/40
Yoga
Saturday:
6.12 miles
1:24:00
13:47 pace
This is the first "longer than 3 mile" run that I have managed to keep under a 14 min mile pace. I am not anywhere near as fast as I hope to be by Tower of Terror, but I am excited that I can actually see progress! Hooray!
Now for last week:
I did nothing. Nada. Not one single mile. My sinuses were bothering me on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were all clogged up and pressure-y. I was so clogged up that it was throwing my equilibrium off! I tripped going up the stairs to my apartment every time during those two days. While I am not exactly a picture of grace, I am also not that clumsy, so I figured running may not be the greatest idea. Plus in addition to being clogged my head was nice and poundy, so all in all I just was not feeling the whole run thing. And then on Thursday I went out of town for the weekend, so there was no running for me all week.
The good news is that my yoga studio started a "Yoga for Runners" class and I went to the first one on Sunday. At 7am! It was packed. And we did a lot of leg stretching which will definitely be helpful. And I ran this morning. So I am already back on track. This morning was a tough run, so there will be no more skipping weeks for me (at least I am going to try my best to make sure of it anyway).
In other related news. I am like 50% of the way through The Stand. At this rate it is going to take me forty forevers to get through those 100 books. I need to speed things up. Its pretty good so far though. I am not sure what I am going to make my second choice. I need to renew my library card and see what I can find!
:-)
Monday:
Yoga
Wednesday:
3.03 miles
43:22 minutes
14:18 pace
This was a run with mom - so it was a 30/40
Thursday:
3 miles
41:05 minutes
13:41 pace
Yay for faster! Today I went back to 40/40
Yoga
Saturday:
6.12 miles
1:24:00
13:47 pace
This is the first "longer than 3 mile" run that I have managed to keep under a 14 min mile pace. I am not anywhere near as fast as I hope to be by Tower of Terror, but I am excited that I can actually see progress! Hooray!
Now for last week:
I did nothing. Nada. Not one single mile. My sinuses were bothering me on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were all clogged up and pressure-y. I was so clogged up that it was throwing my equilibrium off! I tripped going up the stairs to my apartment every time during those two days. While I am not exactly a picture of grace, I am also not that clumsy, so I figured running may not be the greatest idea. Plus in addition to being clogged my head was nice and poundy, so all in all I just was not feeling the whole run thing. And then on Thursday I went out of town for the weekend, so there was no running for me all week.
The good news is that my yoga studio started a "Yoga for Runners" class and I went to the first one on Sunday. At 7am! It was packed. And we did a lot of leg stretching which will definitely be helpful. And I ran this morning. So I am already back on track. This morning was a tough run, so there will be no more skipping weeks for me (at least I am going to try my best to make sure of it anyway).
In other related news. I am like 50% of the way through The Stand. At this rate it is going to take me forty forevers to get through those 100 books. I need to speed things up. Its pretty good so far though. I am not sure what I am going to make my second choice. I need to renew my library card and see what I can find!
:-)
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