lifestyle – FueledByLOLZ

Goodbye Summer

Summer came roaring through and now in the blink of the eye it’s gone.

When people asked how my summer went, I can’t say it was my favorite summer.

Thinking out loud, I didn’t necessarily have a bad summer, but being injured as well as my husband’s deployment didn’t make it “the best summer ever”.

And you know what? That’s fine, I made the best of it and I’m looking forward to a great fall.

Technically summer spans from June 20-now but we have had plenty of 90+ degree days out of that time frame too.

By June 20, I was already over a month of injury recovery. The month of June was relatively boring. I worked a lot, volunteered and hiked a ton.

What did I do in June?

Night out at Zahav

Products I Love over the Summer

Four Reasons Runners Should Get in the Pool <- I swam😉

How can I forget that I met Jon and Jenna?

How about July?

I turned 26

A Day in the (Boring) Life…

I got my Blood Drawn with InsideTracker

Ran my First Race Back

My husband and I flew

Finally August and September:

This summer, I hiked more than ever. I found it to be relaxing. I felt like I could conquer distance when I couldn’t run. It was a reminder my body could do other things besides running.

My ankle never hurt to hike, and it was a great way to spend time with my husband and go to several new diners.

Here is some hiking I did this summer:
Hiking Hemlock Falls
Getting Lost in Bear Mountain
Bear Mountain Part 2
Hiking around Sunfish Pond
That Time I Saw a Bear While Hiking

I had a few struggles both physically (thanks, injury) to mentally (thanks anxiety), but honestly, I’m coming through as a stronger person. A stronger woman, wife, sister and daughter.

Something I learned this summer, is it’s okay to ask for help. I’ve always given myself the title of being “independent.” During my mid-20s, and this summer more than ever, I’ve learned it’s okay to ask for help and not do it all.

In summary, it was my favorite summer but it wasn’t bad either. I learned a lot about myself and grew as a person.

Questions for you:

Can you believe summer is over?

What was your best memory this summer?

Weekly Recap

I’ve thought about doing a personal life weekly recap. I have a lot of friends and family that read LOLZ blog, but I barely ever talk about my “real life.” While this blog is heavily running focused, it isn’t everything I do.

Sometimes I think I’m living a double life: Blogging and the outside world. I’m not hiding anything from blogging, but I tend to microblog on Instagram or Facebook.

I thought I would start adding more personal life updates as well.

This week was a great week. My sister in law Lindsay graduated with her master’s degree. I made the quick trip down to the DC area to watch her graduation. It was a very good time seeing my family, and I definitely miss them.

Yesterday I got my blood drawn for Inside Tracker. I was given a discount to talk about my experience. To be honest, I was nervous about the entire thing. I scheduled the appointment just over two weeks ago, and I wanted it to be over sooner than later. I’ve never dealt well with needles. I can’t relax enough for them to get into the vein. I also pass out the majority of the time giving blood or getting shots. Needless to say, needles are a big deal for me. I paid the extra fee to have a certified nurse come to my house and take my blood at 7 am. Since we had to fast 12 hours beforehand and I wake up hungry in the morning, this was the best option for me. The Nurse was kind and helpful, and I watched Netflix, which kept my mind off it. Everything went smoothly, and I was shocked at how easy it was.

I decided to try Inside Tracker for a number of reasons. Since we are in the military, I don’t have a Primary Care doctor. It would take a lot of hoops for me to get a “routine blood test” after just getting one from my fracture (only with a few minerals such as calcium and Vitamin D) and the results being normal. The miliary has great insurance, but I have no life-threatening conditions and in fact, I am healthy. My quality of life is fine and I wanted a blood test “just to know” and to make sure that my nutrients are appropriate for running. InsideTracker, while expensive, was the best route for me to take. I have also seen several bloggers and others use and have great success with it. Plus, Insider Tracker gives out fun bandaids.

Since my fracture still doesn’t have an exact cause I’m hoping my blood work might reveal something. Either way knowing that information will be good knowledge to have, and I’m looking forward to the results. Once I have the results, I’ll be sure to talk more about it.

Last night for work we also hosted our first “Paint Your Own Race Medal Holder” event. It was a lot of fun, and we sold out the event. They have painting parties, so we thought, why not a race medal painting party?

Recent Posts:
26 Things I learned before Age 26
Training Last Week (Summary: not so great)
Hiking at Bear Mountain (New York State)
A Day in the Life

Question for you:

How was your week? Have you been busy? Quiet?

Flying to North Jersey

Last week my husband and I took a flight up to Northern New Jersey. As I mentioned last time, if you have a pilot’s license and are qualified on the plane, you can rent an airplane. So that’s exactly what we did. It’s like renting a car except you rent a plane.

Throughout the years, LOLZ blog has taken many different turns about life and other random topics. Most recently, flying has seen its way into my life. Like going to diners, it’s a fun hobby that both my husband and I enjoy doing so it makes sense to blog about it. Since I’m not running much, I need something to talk about right?

This time, we decided to fly up to Pompton Plains, New Jersey. Neither of us had been to that general area of New Jersey, so we thought why not? We also wanted to check out the Pompton Queen Diner. It was recently ranked as one of the top diners in New Jersey, and I can see why! That deserves it’s own post for another day…

We flew out of Southern New Jersey and headed north along the Delaware Riverfront overlooking Philadelphia. We saw a prison from above which I thought the design was neat. Not neat enough that I would want to be behind bars though…

We flew over Princeton. It was so neat to see it from an aerial view. I thought I might even see some of my friends doing a track workout or something.

Next, we saw New York from afar. As you can see, there is a layer of smog there. For our next flight, we want to fly to either Long Island or somewhere out that direction. For security reasons, you aren’t able to fly too close to New York.

Where we landed, in Pompton Plains, is a hilly and wooded area. The runway sort of appeared out of nowhere.

Once we landed in Pompton Plains, we headed to the Pompton Queen Diner, which was only a few miles away. In fact, we ended up walking back from the diner to the airport. It was a fun little adventure.

It was a beautiful walk back to the airport, and I’m glad we did.

I enjoy flying and checking out various places. Both my husband and I enjoy flying around and exploring new areas of the tristate area. I’m not sure where we will go next!

Incase you missed the Flight to Cape May.

Questions for you:

Have you ever flown in a private plane?

Do you have any recommendations of places to fly?

Random Thoughts…

I had a different post for today and then I got sick and didn’t write it. Oh well, I guess…

So it’s a completely random, thinking out loud post.

On Monday around 6:30 pm, I felt extremely fatigued and tired. The fatigue came on within 30 minutes and by 7:30, I found myself laying in bed. I slept through the night until 5:30 am on Tuesday. I thought I would sleep away my migraine. However, that wasn’t the case, and I felt worse on Tuesday.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I slept for a total of 30 hours. Today, Thursday, I am feeling better but not great. No I haven’t run, and I’m okay with that…I’ve pretty much sat on my bed or slept for the last two days.

For obvious reasons, this week I haven’t been running at all, and I’m okay with it. I planned to take a short break this summer, and it happened to be sooner versus later. There is no shame in that.

Speaking of running, what are my plans this Summer and Fall?

I’m currently tossing around different ideas of half marathons in the Fall. I had thought about committing to a full marathon this fall, but I’m not entirely sure I want too. I’m happy where I currently am and don’t have any complaints. Half marathons seem to be my “sweet spot” right now. I have plenty of years to try a marathon again…if I even want too…

This summer, I’ll be running local races. The only major race I’ll be doing is the Boilermaker 15k in Utica on July 10th. Knock on wood of course, because everytime I sign up for the Boilermaker I get injured. There are a lot of local 5-10ks around here this summer so I’ll be running those. Do I think the hot and humid summer will bring PRs? No, probably not but I’ll enjoy getting out there and racing.

So what else have I been up too in the last two weeks?

As most people have figured out, my Instagram and Twitter have been more of my daily life updates. Blogging about life is pretty boring for the most part…go for a run…go to work…go to a diner…something along the lines. One line social media posts are a bit easier for that.

I went to a wedding last weekend down in Maryland. Despite the rain, the Bride and Groom had a beautiful day. I didn’t let the rain affect my attitude either.

Finally here are A Few Recent Posts incase you missed them:

Quick Core Ideas for Runners

Track Meet Mile (5:40)

A Little Bit of This…and That

This post is typical of how I feel by Friday, all over the place. I feel like I blink and days, weeks and months go by…This week has been a doozy, and I’m not sure why it went by so slowly. The weather was finally nice!

This weekend is the base air show. If anyone local is looking for something to do, it’s open to the public. There are going to be several flight demonstrations with both fighter planes as well as tanker aircraft. It should be a lot of fun. It’s open to anyone military or not.

While we will be attending part of the Air Show, my husband and I are making the trek up tomorrow morning to Jersey City to run the Newport 10k. To be honest, my legs don’t feel that great to race but what can you do. We are going to have a great time seeing friendly faces like Danielle, Amelia, Ashley and Erica Sara. The field is fast, and if I can make the top 10 in my age group, I’ll be ecstatic. Is there anyone else going?

I’ve also been cooking a lot more. LOLZ blog will probably never be a foodie blog, but I’ve been learning to cook more easy and quick recipes. We are both out of the house a lot, so the last thing either my husband and I want to do is cook when we get home.

Bacon egg quiche — My first attempt at the Mini Bacon Quiche

I recently ordered The Athletes Fix on Velopress and tried my hand at some of the recipes. My favorite recipe so far has been the bacon tart. It’s quick, healthy and easy. My husband was also shocked at how good they are.

The Athlete's Fix by Pip Taylor — The Athlete’s Fix by Pip Taylor

The book itself is great for any athlete. It dissects different diets and food intolerances. I’m fortunate not to have any food intolerances, but my husband recently discovered he might be lactose intolerant. It’s an easy read, and there are a lot of runner-friendly recipes.

Posts:

Training Log

4 Surprises I learned from FitBit

Gear to Stay drier in the Rain

4 Ways to Make Running More Fun

My apologies because this post is all over the place. If you know me in real life, then you know that is how I operate. Speaking of random, Happy Friday the 13th. Hope it’s uneventful for you.

Questions for you:
What are your thoughts with all of the drug allegations?
What are you up to this weekend?

Mother’s Day

As most readers know, I’m extremely close to my mother. I’m not a mom myself, but I can truly say my mom has always been there for me every situation.

When I was younger, my mom took care of my brothers and I while my dad was away on travel and deployments.

When we moved back to the US from overseas, my mom moved three children under the age of 6, 2 dogs and two cats across the world by herself.

During the “rough” middle school and teenage years, I wasn’t a pleasant child, and my mom was still always there for me. Even during the yelling and screaming.

She was there for me through childhood turmoils of high schools and helped me keep on when I didn’t think I would.

When I went away to college, she was always just a phone call away.

She was there for me when I switched majors, ended a relationship and quit swimming all within a month of each other.

Matt, mom and I — My brother Matt’s graduation

My mom has always been supportive and I could never ask for anyone better.

Now that I’ve flown the coop she is still here for me. She was there for during wedding planning and helping have the most memorable day of my life.

She even made the gorgeous Flower Girl dress.

My mom has truly always there for me. Every year when I reflect upon everything she has done for me, it makes me more grateful. She is supportive, and I could never imagine it any other way.

Now I’m incredibly lucky to be so close with my mother in law as well. She has been there for both my husband and I throughout our life together.

So thank you, moms.

Broad Street 10 Miler (1:01.59)

My training for April was erratic at best. Originally, I had hoped the Broad Street 10 miler would be my Spring goal race. Then my training for April altered my plans, and Broad Street simply became a “make it through race”.

As the race drew closer, the weather forecast became progressively worse. By the evening before, the race was predicted to be in the 40s and pouring rain. It’s weather I know too well, and as most people know, Shamrock broke me.

I kept my head up high, and my goal became to finish and do well. My PR from Broad Street was a 1:05.20 in 2014. In 2015, I ran it in 1:05.39. Despite the rain and erratic training, I was determined to set a course PR.I knew my fitness was much better than previous years.

Both Tim’s parents, as well as mine, made the drive to run so we had a full house. On Sunday morning, we woke up and drove to the start. My husband dropped us off, we went to the bathroom and headed to the start.

As a last minute decision, I opted to use my Gortex jacket to stay dry. I had no plans to drop the jacket and pinned the bib on the outside.

We stood around, and I was drenched at the start. I didn’t want a repeat of Shamrock, and I was nervous the race might be. We started the race and as usual, the first mile was elbow to elbow. In a 40,000 person ten milers there is no such thing as personal space.

Broad Street 10 miler — Via Broad Street Flickr

I saw several friends, and we hit the first mile in 6:05. I thought: Woah nelly that’s probably too fast.

The second mile went without too much, excitement and I ran it in 6:17. I doubt myself a lot, and I panicked I was going to positive split like Shamrock.

My goal of the third mile was just to make it through. I wanted to see where I was time wise for the 5k. I hit the 3rd mile in 18:30 and the 5k in 19:10. I was pleased and began to focus on everything else.

Nothing of note happened during the 3rd and 4th mile. The pack I was running with dropped me, and I found myself alone. I grabbed Gatorade and hit the 4th mile in 25:45.

When I got the 5th mile, the owner of the running store I work at cheered for me. I gave a meek wave which was a cross between: will he judge me if I wave and my hands are too cold.

The fifth mile of Broad Street always goes by the fastest because it’s cut up by the turn around city hall. By the time you’re around city hall, you are at the 6th mile. I ran the 5th mile in 6:07 and was surprised and pleased.

Both the 6-7th mile went by with nothing eventful. I ran mile 6 in 6:12 and 7 in 6:11.

During the 8th mile, I noticed many men beginning to pass me. Was I fading? Was I dying? No…they just had more energy I guess. I was running two of my faster miles.

I nicknamed miles 8-10 the rush of dudes.

The rush of dudes was a strange occurrence because not one woman passed me but at least 30 men did.

During the last mile, I saw it would be an extremely close push to a 1:02. I decided I might have it in me and went for it. Keep in mind; I have zero kick. In fact, I might go slower when I try to kick.

I finished the last mile in 6:07 and crossed the finish line in 1:02.01.

I was 34th female overall and 14th in my age group. Since I didn’t age group place, my gun time was 1:01.59 so I guess that counts.

Thoughts:

I’m pleased with this race and have no complaints. The weather was awful for everyone, and as I said yesterday, you can’t control the weather. I’ve been 3/3 of bad weathered major Spring Races. It was a course PR of 3.5, and if I had run an extra 5k, I do believe I would have Pred.

Questions for you:

What is the biggest race you’ve run?

Do you have a good kick?

What did I do in June?

How about July?

Finally August and September:

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Speaking of running, what are my plans this Summer and Fall?

So what else have I been up too in the last two weeks?

Finally here are A Few Recent Posts incase you missed them:

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So thank you, moms.

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I nicknamed miles 8-10 the rush of dudes.

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