Weekend at the Lake

For what I believe is the fourth year in a row a group of our friends rented a house in the fingerlakes for the weekend. We do it during the off season, 'cause let's face it, it's a hell of a lot cheaper.

Our weekend house on Honeoye Lake

Frozen Honeoye Lake

It's an exhausting weekend of fun & horseplay. On Saturday afternoon while some ventured off sledding & others napped, a few of us headed out to Canandaigua wine country! Not the biggest wine trail, but it wasn't too far away & we discovered some really good wines.

Our first stop was Imagine Moore Winery. None of us had heard of this place, but we were pleasantly surprised... especially when we were offered some of the bootlegged secret stash that isn't even available for purchase. Let's just say alcohol made from raspberries & wild yeast is pretty delicious.

Next, we hit up Arbor Hill Winery. This sounded familiar, but we couldn't remember actually ever drinking any of these wines. Following our tasting, I would highly recommend their Noir, and their sparkling grape juice. We also bought a grape pie from there. We never had one of those before either, but it was enjoyed by all. I definitely recommend stopping by there if you're ever in the neighborhood. They have all sorts of dips, jams, spread, etc. It was pretty exciting.

Finally, we stopped by the New York Wine & Culinary Center. Lucky for us there was an ice wine festival, complete with free wine, cheese, beer & fudge. They even had ice carving demonstrations. By the time we were through we were all on a sugar high from all the ice wine.

That little wine tour was our only excursion this weekend. The rest of the time was spent at the house. Every year fun & chaos ensue, but we still find time to ponder, and sometimes answer the important questions in life...

Like, how many consecutive cartwheels can one do barefoot in the snow...

How long can one jump rope using a microphone...

Can a normal sized person fit through a cat door...

How long does it take one to recover from hypothermia after running barefoot around the outside of the house, in knee deep snow...

How did Mike's sweater get there...

What will Heidi do to KJ after he sticks his cold, wet foot in her face...

and what alcohol makes a snowball easiest to consume...


Oh, and our friends' children taught me about the ever changing Super Mario Brothers' Star Song. I found this on youtube & I think it just about sums it up.

This Week in Review

Because we went away for the weekend I needed to tweak this past week's workout schedule. I ran Monday & Tuesday, and did Yoga on Wednesday. I was supposed to run again Thursday & then do my long run on Friday, but my body wasn't too excited about that idea. My legs were pretty beat from strength training and my right calf & hamstring were bothering me for most of the week. In light of all of these factors I decided to walk my 3 miles on Thursday so that my long run of 6 miles on Friday would be a good one.... and I'm so glad I did. I felt great running the 6! It took me 64 minutes, which is not my best, but I am improving.

Still no outside runs due to my schedule & the weather, but I'm hoping this week will change that.... well, actually, I KNOW this week will, since I have a race I'm doing in Buffalo. Saturday is the 5 mile Shamrock Run that I somehow agreed to..... hopefully I'll get outside before then, but only time will tell.

This weeks stats:
Total miles: 17 (14 run, 3 walked)

Spinning: 0 classes
Yoga: 1 class
Weight training: 2x

New songs added to my running playlist:
None. I'm open to suggestions.

The Little Engine That Could

O Happy Day!

The long awaited day has arrived..... I have finally been united with my Garmin Forerunner! I deviated from my routine & didn't go straight to the gym after work. I headed home & was hoping to find my package on the front porch. The USPS site said my package was in transit! It was only 7 degrees when I headed to work this morning, but upon leaving work it was about 36 degrees & crazy sunny so it felt much warmer! I thought for sure I would run outside & finally experience the Garmin.... alas, it was not meant to be. My mailman decided to wait until the sun went down to deliver the package. I don't know what that was all about, since my mail it always on my porch before 4 pm (conspiracy, perhaps?)! I was not a happy camper. It's okay though, 'cause it needed to be charged & I had to learn how to work it.

The sacred Garmin on my freakishly small wrist!

Now I must wait for the next day I have enough courage to brave the cold. My poor little body will not be happy, but that's okay, 'cause I'm sure the endorphins & pure joy of having an accurate workout recording device will keep me going.

Do endorphins help Reynaud's?

For now I'll just stare at the pretty tulips I bought at Wegmans, dreaming of warmer days when running outside won't seem impossible or life threatening...

Distracting Myself from that Pesky Earthquake

I was really getting excited about my upcoming vacation to....... NEW ZEALAND

All the articles I read make New Zealand seem like the most beautiful place on earth.

Unfortunately, tragedy has struck.

Of course, this tragic disaster should not place focus on me & my vacation, but the poor people who have to deal with the repercussions.... so, I will digress....

I ran 4 miles in 41 minutes today. I'm still capable of better, but I'm content with that distance & time today! Following my runs the last 2 days I have had ZERO desire to lift weights at the gym- ZERO. This is partially because I just want to go home & partially because all those gym dwellers that joined back on January 1st have still not given up & are occupying all my machines! Damn them! I really hoped that they would be gone by now, but alas *sigh* they are not. Fear not! I decided it was time to invest in some more free weights for my home gym (ie spare bedroom). I have some free weights already, but they're pretty wimpy. They're from when I was all about my FIRM workouts. The FIRM is pretty much aerobic strength training, and these weights (see below) weren't gonna cut it for the kind of exercises I'm looking to do.

Yes, I own 3 lb dumbells.... it's kinda sad actually. In my defense I also own 8 lbs weights (See yesterday's post for visual. They are next to Hallie!) Regardless, I decided it was time to venture out to Target & add on to my free weight collection.... and so it was done.

Yep, 10 & 15 lbs weights.... I'm so powerful! They only had one 15 lb left, so I'll have to return at some point to get a mate to that weight. I'm so excited about this! Think of the possiblities- chest press, shoulder press, biceps, triceps, dead lifts- all in the comfort of my own home! I could go on forever, but instead I think I will go test out my new purchase!

Mean Kitty Mommy

My youngest daughter & I had a bit of a troublesome weekend. On & off for the past 3 years Hallie has made it a habit to pee in boxes, baskets, and anything else she can get her rotund body in. She didn't develop this habit until I moved to Rochester, so I often wonder if it was her way of dealing with the move.... not really, but I'm trying to find some reasonable explanation for this behavior.

The first time I realized she peed outside of her litterbox I just about kicked her out of the house. The first incident was when she used a J.Crew box as a bathroom. Shortly after I took her to the vet to investigate & they told me she had a minor UTI & that should explain the change in behavior.... it did not. She continued to find random places, such as a cat bed, a basket filled with toys, pop-up cat cubes & another random box to pee in. So, the only reasonable solution seemed to be to get rid of anything she could go inside.... problem solved!

Unfortunately, my husband & I like to test her & see how far she's actually come. We never do this intentionally, but when we do she always seems to fail. Case in point-

Thursday night I left my empty laundry basket next to the dryer waiting for my clothes to dry. At some point in the night I found Hallie sitting in there. I was only temporarily worried since she has NEVER peed in a laundry basket.... well, there was that one time that I left an empty laundry basket next to her litterbox, but I take full responsibility for that one. Regardless, I was not concerned. Friday, after work, I decided I had one more load of laundry to do, so before putting my clean clothes in the basket, I grabbed it and brought it upstairs to put dirty clothes in. Apparently my mind was somewhere else 'cause I didn't notice that cat pee spilled all over my kitchen floor as I haphazardly picked up the laundry basket. When I did notice that this had happened I lost all self control. I screamed so loud that my neighbors surely thought I was being attacked. I continued to yell as I went to find Hallie, pick her up, carry her to the site of the incident & continue to yell at her. I tried my best to make her know that this was not acceptable. At the very least she realized that mommy had gone crazy & spent the remainder of the night hiding upstairs under our dresser.

She's lucky she's too cute to send back to the SPCA!

Hallie & I spent the majority of the weekend in separate rooms and we continue to work on our relationship.... only time will tell.

Capable of Much More

Today I ran 5 miles at the gym on a treadmill in just under 52 minutes. According to my training schedule I was only supposed to run 4 miles, but due to upcoming events which include the Shamrock Run, as well as my impending vacation, I figured it was appropriate to up my milage & I knew 5 miles would never kill me. My pace ranged from 5.5 to 7.0 mph. I definitely stayed far too long at the lower end of that range. I think that the treadmill plays a mind game with me. 6.0 mph on a treadmill feels so much faster than 6.0 mph outside. I'm constantly trying to push myself to run faster on the treadmill, because I know I'm capable of so much more than I'm doing. (Reason #157 why I can't wait for the weather to cooperate so that I can run outside!) I consistently run significantly faster outdoors.

Regardless, I felt really good running that 5 miles! I found a treadmill in front of E! News & finally escaped the Saturday morning shows that I'm normally stuck with during my long runs! Seriously, why would a gym tune all of their channels to cartoons, Hannah Montana, & infomercials on a Saturday morning?! This should not be acceptable, but this is what I've been dealing with! Luckily, I was out later than usual last night, so my run was delayed this morning & I was rewarded with mindless gossip to occupy my run! Yeah!

Since I've decided that I'm not pushing myself hard enough, I'm going to make an effort to really increase my speed for my short runs during the week. I know I'm capable, so I'm just gonna have to suck it up & do it.... and pray this snow goes away sooner than expected so that I can hit the pavement!

This weeks stats:

Total miles run: 14

Spinning: 1 class

Yoga: 0 classes

Weight training: 1x (definitely need to get back to 2-3x)

New songs added to my running playlist:

Yeah 3x (Chris Brown)

What the Hell (Avril Lavigne)

Also happy news is that I felt with my first 5 mile run in months under my belt I could reward myself with some Sports Beans. I don't make a habit of having them, and I only eat them after/durning LONG runs, but I decided to have my first of the season today... and they made me happy!

Can't Wait for my New Toy!

A few weeks ago I decided that I really, REALLY wanted a GPS to run with. I've been trying to justify spending the money. Finally, yesterday, I justified it to myself & bought it before I could change my mind. It should be arriving from Amazon in 5-10 days!

Last year in the beginning stages of my half-marathon training I decided to invest in the Nike + system. It wasn't that much of an investment. For the Nike Sports Kit it only cost $29.99 at Best Buy. Sadly, it is not compatible with my iPod classic or my Shuffle, but luckily my husband has a second generation iPod Nano lying around that he no longer uses since he upgraded to the iPhone way back when. Thankfully, the ancient Nano is compatible! So, I was super excited about my Nike + system.... for a couple weeks. The system is basically a glorified pedometer. Sure, it keeps track of your time, distance & pace, and will even read it back to you over your iPod, BUT it is horribly inaccurate. Try, try as I might, I could not calibrate the thing to accurately report my distance. My 3 mile runs were always around 2.5 miles according to my iPod, and the longer I ran the greater the discrepency. Regardless, I continued to use it through my half-marathon in April, and on into the summer.

Eventually I felt it was time to upgrade! So, as I said earlier, I started looking into GPS for my runs. Finally, I settled on the Garmin Forerunner 110!

I really wanted the 410, but it was hard enough to justify spending the money on the 110. The 410 can do a lot more things, but the one thing that I really liked about it is that it can give you your instant pace, as opposed to the 110 that can only give you the average pace per mile. I decided that I was okay without the instant pace feature.... especially since that would've cost me an extra $150.... couldn't really justify that one!

Now I wait. As if I wasn't excited about the impending warm weather & outdoor runs already!

Kitty Showdown

I don't intend on my blog to be taken over by cat lady entries, but allow me to post this without passing judgement.

Peter & I caught a little kitty showdown on our back porch yesterday. Muffin's arch nemesis (ie some neighborhood cat) was soaking up the sun on our hot tub when Muffin decided to do the same on the windowsill..... Nemesis was not happy about this.

(FYI: The video is longer than necessary due to my inability to edit.)

Kitten picture of the day!

Muffin & some laundry.... fresh out of the dryer

Valentines Day a la Food Network & Woman's Day

7 years ago I met my now husband on Valentines Day..... of course we didn't really talk or hang out together that day & didn't officially start dating until months later, but regardless it is the day we met! Since today was my day off I decided to cook a nice V-day dinner for him.

There was an entire surf & turf dinner that had been described in my Food Network magazine, so I decided to conquer it. I had to make some minor substitutions, but it was pretty close.
I couldn't find jumbo shrimp, pancetta or truffled peccorino (for the mashed potatoes), so I substituted regular shrimp, prosciutto, and plain peccorino cheese respectively. Peter didn't even know the difference. It was a decent dinner- good, but sadly, not wonderful.


Now, the desert is what I'm most proud of. There was a recipe for Molten Chocolate Cake in Woman's Day magazine. It seemed easy enough & I figured I'd give it a shot.... I'm so glad I did!
It turned out fabulous! Even my picky husband commented on how good it was!
Finally, we had a drink for dessert as well. I read the recipe wrong, but didn't realize that until it was too late. The drink we made was equal parts Chambord & sparkling rose. It was ridiculously sweet, but we drank it anyway.... then finished off the rest of the sparkling wine without any chambord (much better).

All, in all, not to shabby!

On the Run.... again

So, last week I found myself bored. Since I really couldn't go anywhere there wasn't much I could find to occupy my time.... I won't tell you exactly where I was during this boredom, but it's very likely I was being paid to do not much of anything...... anyway.....

I found myself surfing the internet & came across some fun to read blogs. It once again inspired me to come back to my blog that I keep leaving behind. So, here I am.

Most of the blogs I read were about fitness, running, food, and motherhood. I can really only relate to the first three, but find the fourth to be educational at times. Since I'm prepping for my second half marathon I got to thinking that maybe I could blog about it to keep motivated. Not that I could ever strictly blog only about one thing, but it seemed like a good jumping off point to get back to writing. So, in keeping with my new favorite blog topic, I have added a mile counter via dailymile.com. I always keep track of my runs/workouts on a special calendar, but I thought this could hold me more accountable... maybe... or maybe I just thought it'd be kinda cool. The number will be the total miles I've run this year so far