The Past Week

Since this is a supposed blog about running (when lately it seems more like a weenie and corgi blog) I'll share with you my running news first before I post doggie pictures.

I started physical therapy this week, along with doing the other knee/hip exercises the sports doctor recommended.

I ran a mile and a half Thursday and 3 miles yesterday with no knee pain!

I am pretty excited because I think my strengthening exercises have been paying off!

I also feel that I have been keeping myself in good shape - biking at least an hour every day and lifting three times a week, so I am hoping to still run the Marine Corps Marathon Oct. 30th!!!

The past week has been a busy one with the new puppy.  He is whining for a cuddle so I will post some pictures to fill you in on the last week!

Love to Run t-shirt, size XXS

He is now my son

Jordan and Maura's B-day celebration Saturday at BRGR

The Happy Couple

It took way too many times to take a normal picture.  Haha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Penny and I getting ready for our Girl's Day Out while the men worked on our bathroom.

Indulging in free doggie ice cream, from Dog Days 2011 at Hartwood Acres

So tired.

I ordered an egg sandwich at sheetz with hotsauce.... instead of putting it on they gave me the mini-est little bottle ever!  A highlight of my week for sure.

Why I love my life!

End of Pre-K

Being the last week of school and all, a lot has happened the past few days.....

First thing first: running.

Monday I ran an easy 5

Tuesday I lifted (skipped PM run - see why next)

Wednesday 4.5 mile run that was supposed to be 5 miles

I am  taking the next four days completly off from runing.  I can do yoga, lift, and possibly bike but I need to recover.  Two Thursdays ago, I ran way too fast down a hill and my knee/IT band became irritated.  Now after a couple miles in a run, I feel a tightness on the outside of my right knee.  I am pretty certain it is part of the IT band problem (correct me if you think I'm wrong!)  I am pretty bummed, but I feel like I have 2 options.

1) Continue to run the next week or so, on runs that really aren't important, while making my knee worse so that when marathon training starts June 27th I'm already done for 

OR

2) Rest like crazy and nip the start of an injury in the bud so I am ready to dominate marathon training.

Injuries are annoying, but I have to choose #2.

Now, onto more life changing events.

Yesterday was my last day of Pre-K and our graduation ceremony.  It was a crazy day.  The kids were nuts, of course, an we spent the entire afternoon cleaning and putting away materials.  We hosted a HUGE picnic outdoors to celebrate (about 150 people!) and we had the children sing songs and gave them awards.  My favorite part was giving the kids awards based on something special about them, for example, one child got the mathematically gifted award because he is in preschool and knows 4x4, 10x10, etc.  They were very proud.

I was ready to be done and be a nanny for the summer, but it was sad to see the kids and many of their parents go.  It was so nice all the parents who were so supportive of me and told me how great of a teacher I was - it felt awesome!

It was also sad because I made the decision (for a variety of reasons, mainly the pain in the butt commute) to not return for another school year.  I LOVE teaching Pre-K, but after a year and a half of driving about an hour every morning to work, I am ready for a change.

So, onto a job search.  The public school district jobs are pretty far and few in Western PA right now.  I am thinking about a variety of jobs that would utilize my elementary/early childhood teaching certificate.  I have a nice nanny position lined up for this summer, so in September, I need to have something else lined up.  

If anyone wants to pay me to run/lift weights/play with puppies/cook in my crockpot/blog/hang out with elementary students/make pretty bulletin boards I am ready to interview!

Hire me!  Note Penny trying to eat my underwear on my bed.  Bad Corg!

Heading into work in a bit to clean my classroom and leave Arnold, PA forever.  Tomorrow, I have off!

2.5 more days

Our days of school chain only has 2.5 links left on it (the last chain link is super small).

I can't believe summer is almost here!  I am really looking forward to it, but I know tears will be shed at graduation night this Wednesday.

This week just flew by.  There is a lot to finish up at school and I have been getting back into the running routine.

Tuesday, I met my friend Trish who I haven't ran with in FOREVER to run at Schenley Park right after school.  I was so excited to run with her because we trained for our fall marathons together constantly and she had to pull out of Pittsburgh due to an injury :(.

It was 94 degrees when we ran!!  It was tough running in such warm weather and up and down all the hills.  We stopped a couple of times for water and I have to say that NOTHING tastes as good as cold water does when you are in the middle of a hot run.  I honestly think I might start bringing my hydration pack with me on those above 90 degree days.  I usually only reserve it for my super long runs, but races have water stops anyways so I guess it wouldn't make me more of a wimp, only better hydrated.  We ran 5 miles in 39:58 (7:59 pace).  I did some weight lifting when I got home, and it was heavenly doing it in the air conditioned basement.

Schenley Park felt like this

Wednesday, I ran an early morning run before work because I had some work to do after school as well as some parent-teacher conferences.  I ran 5 miles easy in 43:31 (8:42 pace) and remembered how much I LOVE early morning running and how it puts me in a great mood the rest of the day.

Thursday, I was back at the gym in the morning lifting.  After school, I had limited time to get in a run before I headed to Shadyside to meet my Lady Hound friends at Mad Mex.  I debated on skipping the run due to lack of time, but felt so much better after a five mile run in the sun around home.  It was warm and sunny, but not too hot or humid.  Perfect start to a great dinner at Mad Mex with some of my favorite runners!  I am hoping that after dining with some sub 3hour marathon runners their fastness will eventually rub off on me.

Friday, (today) was multi-tasking at it's finest.  I dropped the car off for an oil inspection and went on a five miler (my favorite distance apparently) while the car was being worked on.  It was pretty hilly and my knee felt a little less then perfect after all the steep downhills.  I was happy that I got a run in (41:53 at 8:22 pace) and my oil was changed AGAIN.  Commuting 55 miles each day really impacts how often you get your oil changed.

An easy, yummy recipe to share: Creamy Tortellini from Taste of Home magazine

Cook frozen cheese tortellini according to directions.
While cooking, saute 2 cloves of garlic in 4 tbsp of butter
Gradually add 4.5 teaspoons of flour
Add 1 cup of milk and bring to a boil
Add 15 oz of marinara sauce, 4 oz of cubed cream cheese, and 2 sliced green onions.
Add salt and pepper, cook until cream cheese melts.
Serve over tortellini.
So yummy and didn't take very long at all!

Yummy with Caesar salad and baguette

Tomorrow will be our favorite date : Drive-In movies!  We will be seeing Bridesmaids and The Hangover 2.  The real dilemma is how I will manage to stay up for both movies - the second usually doesn't start until 10 or so. 

Anger Management Advice

When you are feeling furious and outraged, here is some advice to follow.  It is cheaper then therapy and medication, and helps you keep off the lbs.

1) Grab the nearest corgi and cuddle.  Let him/her lick your face.

Pup knows how to relax

2) Put on your running clothes.  Make sure to grab your Ipod.  Leave the house with no workout goal or set distance.

3) Put the following songs on top volume:
         In Da Club - 50 Cent
         My Hood - Young Jeezy
         Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
         P.I.M.P. - 50 Cent
         Survivor - Destiny's Child
         'Till I Collapse - Eminem and Nate Dogg
         Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
          Fighter - Christina Aguilera
         Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay-Z

4) Begin pounding the pavement, thinking of everything that is upsetting you with each footstrike.  Pretend that you are outrunning your problems.  Imagine them going away with each hill you charge up.  'Race' the person/thing/situation that is bugging you and pretend you are kicking their/its ass and setting a world record in the process.  Finish your run much faster then you really should be going on a recovery day.

5) Turn on the hose (It was in the 80's today!) and spray yourself in the face while the 8 year-olds playing street hockey think you are the wierdest person on earth and that you shouldn't be allowed to own a home, especially since after the sweat filled run you don't look much different then their 12 year-old brother.

6) Flop yourself down on the floor in front of a fan and let your Corgi (from step 1) lick your sweaty face.


It worked for me!!!

Dreary Day - Grandpa Dexter

Today was a yucky day in Pittsburgh.

They day started out with lots of flooding on my way to work.  The Yaris does NOT like snow, rain, or even wind.  He is a little baby car and had a rough time today.

Teeny-Tiny car for a Teeny-Tiny woman

School was fine, but the weather was just awful!  It is amazing how much weather impacts your mood.  We took a walk after lunch, and temperature dropped tremendously and the sky was a gross color.  Running an easy 6-miler helped me break out of the yucky mood, but I though these pictures could help you feel better if your Monday was not so wonderful...

Introducing: Penny's Grandfather, Dexter

Dexter is a handsome 12-year old Corgi.  He is much larger than Penny and she likes to terrorize poor Grandpa when we bring her over my in-law's house.  Dexter is Jordan's childhood dog, and he is credited with naming him.

Two Corgs are better than one

hanging out in captivity aka our kitchen

Dexter was a little alarmed by her at first

Happy boy

Having a great time at the dog park

Hope you enjoyed the pictures of our other favorite Corgi! :)

Happy President's Day

Corgi in the snow!
I had no idea we were supposed to get a snow storm today. Usually I stalk the weather on my Iphone constantly, but somehow I did not notice the Winter Storm Warning today. Needless to say, I was not able to do my mile repeats on the track this afternoon :(.

I was a little bummed we had school today, but it was a nice, relaxing day. I started the day at Club Julian to lift and it was a great workout. What is equally impressive is how quickly I can lift, shower, put on makeup, fix my hair, and get dressed in the morning. If I get there by 6:30, I can do my lifting routine, take a very short shower, make my hair look presentable, change, and leave by 7:25. Then, of course, it's off for the usual bf at Panera.

Our attendance was much lower at school , since many of the kiddos have parents or older siblings off work and school. We talked about presidents and began working on our Honest Abe hats. The funniest thing was explaining to them that the first presidents actually wore white, fluffy wigs because they thought it made them look handsome. They thought that was great!

During dismissal, all the parents/grandparents/siblings informed me that it was starting to get icy out, and knowing that I have a fairly long commute (50 minutes), they told me I should leave sooner than later. I took their advice, taking my gym bag with me and knowing that the track workout was out of the questions. The roads weren't too covered during my drive home, but the roads were definitly a bit icy in spots. I was relieved to get home just fine, and layed down with Penny on the bed for a while to think what I should run instead of the mile repeats. I just may have fallen asleep for 20 minutes.

Penny advised me to go for a 5 or so mile easy run, and do my hard workout for the week in the morning on the treadmill, especially since there would be a good chance of a two hour delay - which means I don't have to leave the house until almost nine o'clock. I bundeled up, face mask and all, and stepped out into the winter wonderland. The roads were covered in at least two inches of snow, which fell in just the last hour!

The first four miles were just fine and I was really enjoying running in the snow, which was coming down in soft, thick flakes. With two miles left, the wind picked up and the snow turned into hard, round, icy balls. It hurt so bad to even keep my eyes open, so I tried to stare down at the ground completely hunched over - I looked stupid and it didn't even work. I honestly think the next time that happens I might wear ski goggles.

Here is a picture of the road after I finished running - look for my feet prints!
One of the nicest things about running in the snow is being DONE running in the snow - for example, coming inside and making french toast and drinking chocolate milk for dinner with your husband.

Any good french toast recipes? I just put together four eggs, vanilla and almond extract, cinnamon, and milk and dipped 8 pieces of bread into it. We loved our breakfast for dinner!

PS Two hour delay tomorrow! Yes!