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Kennebunkport, Maine Vacation Recap

Posted on September 1, 2011 | 3 comments

I can’t believe it’s already September. I feel like Hubby and I just got back from our Maine vacation, but in reality, we got back on August 22. We stayed in Kennebunkport, ME from August 18 – 22 in this adorable Bed and Breakfast called Bufflehead Cove. Our room was really cute and had a balcony, a Queen bed (ahh the luxury!), a full bathroom and a Jacuzzi tub. The B&B was situated right on the river and we got to enjoy our breakfast each morning on the front porch watching people kayak and paddleboard on by.


And let me just say that the breakfast each morning was AMAZING!! Seriously delicious, homemade and usually most ingredients were all-natural. I missed taking a picture of the first morning’s spread, but here are the other days:

Mmm yummy. I am getting hungry just thinking about our breakfasts there. But enough about the B&B food, we did get out and explore the area quite a bit. Our first day there, we arrived in the late afternoon, checked in and then headed into the town of Kennebunkport. Our B&B was just outside. We walked around the cute little town exploring and relaxing and then we headed to dinner at Arundel Wharf. It was a gorgeous night, right on the water, so it was just perfect. We enjoyed our meal on the deck and sipped on some white wine and beer. We called it an early night because we had plans to head to a few nearby towns the next day.

On Friday, we devoured our delicious breakfast, which was served everyday between 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. and hung out with our buddy Loqui the cat while we ate. He reminded me of our Murphy, only not quite as large and in charge.

After breakfast, we drove to the town of Ogunquit and took a nice long walk on the Marginal Way (a long walkway above and along the beach)


and then we drove to York and saw the Nubble Lighthouse.

After our long day excursion, we headed back to the B&B, showered and then had dinner in town at Bandaloop. It was a little bit of a different place, but totally delicious. On Saturday morning it was another busy day after breakfast. We took a schooner ride from Kennebunkport out for about two hours on the water and got to see the Bush estate (it is gigantic). The weather was amazing, sunny with a slight breeze, and our trip was fabulous.

After we got back from our boat ride, we headed to Cape Porpoise for a nice relaxing lunch on the dock outside the Chowder House. There was a pretty decent view of a nearby lighthouse from the Pier. And again, we had such a gorgeous day.

So after exploring Cape Porpoise, we headed to Goose Rocks Beach and chilled there for a little while. The water was a little bit colder than I like, but it was nice to spend some time walking around and hanging out.

After hitting up the beach, it was getting close to dinner so we showered back at the B&B and then headed back into Kennebunkport. We had reservations at Mabel’s, which is supposedly a Bush favorite. I don’t know what I was expecting, but a tiny little shack wasn’t what I envisioned. Mabel’s is completely unassuming and small. We made reservations for outdoor seats and we were almost sitting in the road!

But I completely loved the place. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. My only hang-up was having to drink my beer from a Patriot’s glass. But other than that, Mabel’s gets an A in my book. Here is my dinner from Mabel’s…

The next day (Sunday) was our last day in Maine. We decided to head to Portland for the day and stopped at Orchard Beach to visit one of Hubby’s friend’s along the way. After our morning get-together, we made it to Portland and explored a bit, had some lunch and hung out.

As the afternoon turned into evening, we drove to Kittery to have dinner with one of Hubby’s co-workers. And I got to watch Hubby learn how to properly eat a full lobster, with the bib and all. These instructions helped, as did his friend’s coaching.

Hubby did a pretty decent job. We finished off our night with some ice-cream and headed back to Bufflehead Cove for our final night of our mini vacation.

We thoroughly enjoyed our last breakfast on Monday before we loaded our stuff into the car and headed home.

So what was my overall Maine experience? It was fabulous! We had such a good time, explored some really beautiful areas, ate a ton of great seafood and managed to run into a bunch of people we knew. Seriously, Maine is some sort of hot spot. On top of the people that we actually planned to get together with, we also ran into a neighbor from Hubby’s parent’s neighborhood in upstate NY, another co-workers at Hubby’s company, and a girl I went to college with. It really felt like such a small world in Kennebunkport, ME. And I loved it!!

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Posted in Holidays, Restaurants, Reviews, Travel, Uncategorized, Vacation

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Book Review: Room

Posted on August 31, 2011 | 4 comments

I have been delinquent in blogging. We got back from Maine (awesome trip) and I have yet to post any of my gorgeous pictures or share what we did. It’s coming, I promise. Plus, then there was a hurricane, so things have been a little crazy lately.

But in the meantime, I figured I would share with you another book review. I seem to be on quite the roll this summer – just devouring books left and right. Ok – in all fairness, they aren’t long or difficult books, but still, I secretly smiled last night when Hubby called me a big nerd. 🙂 Now for my review of Room…

——-

Room

By: Emma Donoghue

I had heard about “Room” a looong time ago from a few different people. It was always on my list of books to read, but I never got around to buying it. And then thankfully one day my mom lent it to me. As I finished “The Hunger Games”, I decided to try to take a break before diving into the next book in the series “Girl on Fire.” So I picked up “Room” and started to read it.

Now I know I said I had heard about the book before, but I was not at all prepared for the story really. I don’t want to give too much away for people who have not read it, so I will sum it up by saying that a young woman (no name ever given) is trapped an 11×11 room and ends up having a baby while there. The baby (Jack) then grows up knowing nothing but his life in that room. The story develops and grows from there – that’s all I can really say.

Yes, it sounds weird. And it is. When I first started the book, I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue reading. But I stuck it out and I’m very glad I did. The story and the characters drew me in and pretty soon I couldn’t put it down. I began hoping the story would move in the direction I wanted – almost willing it to go that way. And although I found several things strange in the book, overall I really enjoyed it.

Again, it’s weird to say I enjoyed this book. And you won’t understand what I mean until you read it. It’s a book that is hard to enjoy in many ways. I guess I will say that I’m glad I read it – that seems more appropriate. And although the fact that it is narrated by a child initially put me off a bit, I quickly adapted to the style and then began to really like it.

Overall, “Room” is an emotionally charged, intense and unique book. I whole-heartedly recommend it, with the caveat that the reader must be prepared to be jolted a bit. But it is certainly a story you will never forget.

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Posted in Books, Reviews, Uncategorized

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Book Review: The Hunger Games

Posted on August 23, 2011 | 4 comments

I waited what felt like FOREVER to read this book. One of the girls in our book club mentioned early on that she was choosing it as her book, but I totally forgot she was sooo late in the year. The waiting was horrendous.

But when I finally did pick up the first book in this series by Suzanne Collins, it was all over. As I expected, I could NOT put it down. And although some people may consider this a teen or tween read, I’m not 100% sold. First of all, I’m not entirely sure about young kids reading a book that focuses solely on the annihilation of other human beings. And before you get all up in arms, I completely understand the underlying political and humanitarian theme of the book–I realize that it is not being condoned. Just saying that if I had a kid, I’d think twice before letting him/her read a book all about killing other kids for sport.

But I digress. Back to my point – this book is thrilling. I am a huge John Irving fan. And what, might you ask, does he have to do with this book? After hearing Irving speak in person twice, he extolled the long-lost virtues of PLOT in a book. To many reader’s today, plot is seen as a negative word – one that diminishes the poignancy and message of the novel, making it simply an easy, mindless read.

Not so! I completely agree with Irving’s point of view that plot is essential in a story, maybe even more so today than ever before. A good plot can help get across your message in many ways. And in today’s world where attention spans are miniscule, a gripping plot is a savvy device to use.

The Hunger Games is ALL plot. And that’s probably why it’s such a page-turner, has been so successful, and completely wraps you into the book. The plot is highly developed and strategic. You know what is going on almost from the first few pages and continue to expect the worst. This plot-induced dread and, yes even fear, force you to tear through the pages at light speed to find out what will happen next.

I started this book on a Tuesday and finished it late on Thursday night. I skipped running, turned off the T.V., sped through meals and stayed up all hours of the night to finish this book.

So maybe you think these are kid books, or just easy reading, but I really enjoyed this book and think it deserves appropriate props. It was really good, well-written, and so utterly engaging. And at the end of the day, scrap all my concerns about it being inappropriate because of the violence. If it can tear kids away from their video games and DS’s for a while, then that is a win in my eyes.

All in all – I suggest you run, don’t walk, to buy these books and “devour” them.

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Posted in Books, Reviews, Uncategorized

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To Do Tuesday

Posted on August 16, 2011 | 3 comments

I like “To Do” lists in a really sick way. I finish every night at work by making a list for the next day. And the few times that I don’t do this, I find myself hopelessly lost the next morning. It’s probably a little OCD and weird, but it’s one of those quirks I just don’t want to fight.

So my Tuesday To Do list at work was kind of out of control because Wednesday is my last day of work before a few days off for vacation. Then my at home To Do list includes packing, making dinner, cleaning up, blogging, etc.

Then there is the creation of the Maine sightseeing and suggestions list I’ve been compiling slowly. I plan to dedicate some serious time to that tomorrow.

All in all, my list making has gotten a little out of control.

I did get back some sanity yesterday when I managed to squeeze in a quick 5 mile run in between the bouts of rain. There is nothing like a solid 45 minutes of just you and your thoughts to help get everything straightened out.

After my run, I made us a pretty decent dinner of pork chops, brown rice and a green bean and mushroom mixture. It was what I like to think of as a “man’s meal.” Well more so if I replaced the rice with potatoes. It would be a meat and potatoes meal by anyone’s standards.

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I headed to bed fairly early Monday night after our manly dinner and watching The Bachelor Pad (so bad I know, totally negates the dinner manliness).

Then Tuesday (today) was a frenzied dash to the almost finish as I get closer to vacation time. It feels like I was trying to scramble to get everything done today when I technically have tomorrow as well. As usual, I did not make it out for an early morning run, but I have high (delusional) hopes to squeeze in a run on Wednesday morning. I just finished up making dinner for hubby and me…

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Spaghetti with mushroom sauce with grape tomatoes.

And now it’s time to try to finish packing. I am going to soak up this short vacation to Maine like nothing else. It’s almost here…are you sick of me saying that yet?!

I am going to attempt to post my book review of “The Hunger Games” before we leave tomorrow night though. Add another “to do” to the list! Have you read it?!

Tell me where you’ve traveled to this summer. Anywhere fabulous you would recommend?

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Posted in Holidays, Running, Uncategorized

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Just My Kind of Weekend

Posted on August 15, 2011 | 12 comments

Welcome to Monday. Admittedly, there is nothing welcoming about it. My only saving grace this week is that it’s a short one for me. We will be heading to Maine on Thursday morning and I could not be more excited!! I am in need of a vacay and this past weekend was so great that I really did not want it to end.

Friday wasn’t at all exciting – we were cleaning and generally wrapping up some business. We called it quits pretty early in preparation for the busy weekend ahead.

On Saturday I managed to squeeze in a 9-mile run in the morning in Central Park.

Look there’s me! The park was super crowded. I was going for an easy run, so I didn’t mind it being a little hard to maneuver. My splits weren’t bad overall…

After my run, I snacked some and then got ready to head to NJ for the Kenny Chesney concert!! Hubby is a huge country fan and I will admit that the music has grown on me. Our first dance song  at our wedding was actually a song by Kenny Chesney called “Me and You.” I was hoping he would play it (sadness he didn’t).

We arrived at the  new Meadowlands Stadium pretty early so we could spend some time relaxing and tailgating beforehand.

There’s us tailgating . Car = proof. The concert actually began around 4:15 and I had no clue how many people were on the lineup.  It was like we got to see four concerts in one! It started with Uncle Kracker at 4:15, then Billy Currington came on and finally Zac Brown Band hit the stage right before Kenny.

The photo above shows where we were sitting. We were pretty close – it was pretty cool. And actually, when Kenny came on later that night, he came out of the big gray thing to the left. A seat came out from the middle of the roof of the gray tent and he flew right above our heads. Apparently, he does some crazy entrance at all his concerts.

There we are cheesing it up! Right after Zac Brown Band finished playing it started raining.  At first, we were worried that it was going to start pouring, but it really only sprinkled for the rest of the night. And right around that time, Kenny started playing!

This is one of our last photos from the night. They seriously played forever. I think Kenny came on at about 8:20 and played until almost 11! The whole concert was really good – I’m glad I’ve given country music a chance. (I know my husband is saying “I told you so” right about now.)

We headed home looking like drowned rats after the concert ended – we were exhausted and crashed almost as soon as we got in the door.

But there’s no rest for the weary when you have a jam-packed weekend in NYC planned. We slept in as much as possible on Sunday, but then headed out for a day of fun at the American Natural History Museum on the Upper West Side. It was a rainy and dreary day – so a museum trip was a no-brainer for us… and about a gazillion other tourists and New Yorkers.

So five years after moving to NYC, I finally made it to this museum. It took a long time, but I think it was worth it. I really enjoyed the hours we spent there…despite the herds of people we had to contend with. And of course, I couldn’t help comparing it to the movie “Night at the Museum.” I felt like a kid doing it, but I couldn’t help it.

I kept waiting for the little miniature model people to come to life and attack me.  Or for a zebra to jump out of the glass box enclosure. Didn’t happen, but it was fun to imagine.

We stayed until they started kicking people out and then headed back out into the rain. The weekend ended with a some laundry, a pathetic dinner (too tired to cook) and True Blood of course.

And now it’s Monday and I’m kind of exhausted. I have a lot to get done before our mini-vacation and it feels like I have hardly any time to do it. Not to mention that I need everyone to do a “no rain dance” for us because I really don’t want my first trip to Maine to be completely dreary and cold. 😦 So dance if you can!!

How was your weekend!? If you live in NYC, what are some of the best “touristy” things you’ve done during your time here? What would you say is a MUST?! 

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Posted in Reviews, Running, Travel, UES, Uncategorized

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Midweek with a Movie Review

Posted on August 11, 2011 | 4 comments

How is it Thursday? This week is FLYING by. I last posted on Tuesday and really wanted to get back into the swing of any everyday post, but not happening. The good news is that we’ve made it over the mid-week hump and I’ve actually managed to get some running in.

Tuesday – no running to speak of. I’m pretty sure that was the day I attempted to run in the morning before work (a plan my husband laughs at whenever he hears it), but of course I just hit snooze instead. Seriously people – how do you do it? Unless I am meeting someone, I just can NOT seem to get up and run. It could have to do with the fact that a morning run for me means running at 5:45 a.m., which to my mind is CRAZY early. If I could run at 6:30, things might look a little different. But because of my work schedule, it has to be that early. ARGH!

So seriously – tell me your early morning running tricks. I think next time I may try sleeping in my running clothes. I believe this might instill a more pronounced sense of guilt if I’ve worn the clothes and done all the prep, only to hit the snooze five times. We’ll see how that works out for me. Other tips?

So because  I did not get my lazy arse up on Tuesday morning (or Wednesday), I decided to squeeze my run in before our book club meeting Wednesday evening. I fueled up with a decent lunch and then ate an early dinner of leftovers from Tuesday night.

Brown rice, chicken, grape tomatoes, mushrooms and carrots with low sodium soy sauce. It made for decent pre-run fuel on Wednesday afternoon as well.

After work I begrudgingly hit the gym treadmill for four quick miles before book club. An outside run would have been ideal, but not realistic given my time constraints.

Run done – feeling better, I headed to our book club meeting which happened to at a movie theater this time around (we usually meet at a restaurant that coincides with our book theme) to see The Help. I actually read The Help awhile ago and you can check out my book review here.

I will say upfront that I RARELY like a movie even half as much as the book. So I was a little surprised when halfway through the movie, I found myself enjoying it. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked the book better. But the movie did not make me want to scream insults or get up and leave. And before you say it sounds like I really didn’t like it. I truly did. I just won’t ever give a movie as much credit as a book, no matter how well-scripted and acted it is. The movie reel in my mind that goes along with the book is always 10 times better.   

Anyway…it was good. I love Emma Stone (like in a serious girl crush kind of way) and I think I’ve seen just about every move she’s been in. I do need to see the other new one she is in with Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling though – it’s on my list.

To summarize this travesty of a movie review, I will finish by saying it’s a good movie, I thoroughly enjoyed it, thought the acting was great and I recommend it.

So now it’s Thursday evening and it’s time for what I hope will be a delightful run in exceptionally tolerable weather, a delicious dinner (there may be corn-on-the-cob on the menu), perhaps reading a bit of The Hunger Games (just started it, sooooo good), and then if I’m being completely honest…probably some Jersey Shore. 🙂 Have a great night all!

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Posted in Books, Reviews, Running, Uncategorized

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A Weekend of Fun…And Not a Photo to Show

Posted on August 9, 2011 | 1 comment

Happy Tuesday – hope you all had a nice weekend. I had a fabulous time seeing some great college friends, but not a second of it was caught on camera. We either didn’t have a camera or didn’t think to snap a shot. So now I will artfully describe for you what my weekend entailed and hopefully my wordy description will cut it.

Saturday morning I woke up a little late and was only able to squeeze in a 5-mile run before I had to head out. I had hoped for more, but took what I could get done.

On Saturday afternoon, I headed to Connecticut to my friend’s father’s house for a delightful little BBQ. At said BBQ, we had: chicken, burgers, veggies, burger, corn on the cob, and fruit salad. If that doesn’t scream good-0ld fashioned BBQ, I don’t know what does. It was perfection.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out and catching up, watching an adorable baby gurgle and laugh – you know, all the important stuff.

Alas, the day ended and it was time to think about dinner. Anyone who knows me well knows that this is pretty much how my day is split up: When is the next meal, where will it be, what will I eat and so on. Food rules my life. We headed to my other friend Kim’s house to pick her and determine where to go for dinner.

We hit up Butterfield 8 (yes, there is one in NYC) for a casual dinner  and spent the rest of the evening chatting and catching up.

Sunday I headed home and did laundry, cleaned, etc. for the rest of the day. I finished the evening by baking some delicious Banana Bread. I only remembered to take a “before” photo though.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 eggs (beaten)
  • 1 c. mashed ripe bananas (3 medium or 2 large)
  • 1/2 c. agave nectar
  • 1/4 c. canola oil
  • A pinch of sea salt (1/16 tsp.)

Directions:

  1. Coat an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Mash bananas and set aside. In a medium bowl combine whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and sea salt. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl combine egg whites, banana, agave nectar, and oil. Once mixed well, add flour mixture all at one time to banana mixture. Stir until moistened. The batter should be lumpy. Spoon mixture into pan.
  3. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 to 50 minutes. Test doneness by inserting a wooden toothpick near the center of the bread. The toothpick should come out clean.
  4. Cool in pan on a wire rack for approximately 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and cool completely on the wire rack.

My weekend ended with Trueblood of course! I thought this week’s episode was REALLY good. And now all of  a sudden its Tuesday evening already!

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Posted in Recipes, Restaurants, Running, Travel, Uncategorized

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Guest Post: First Marathon with a Sub 3 Hour Goal

Posted on August 8, 2011 | 1 comment

Since I’m not running a fall marathon this year (sadness), I decided to check in with my friend’s husband to see how his training for his very first marathon is going. He is running it in October in my hometown and he has a BIG goal – sub 3 hours! Just between you, me (and the blog world) – I’m pretty sure he’s got this goal in the bag. He is super speedy and I can’t wait to see him crush his goal. Anyway, here is a fun guest blog from Bob on training for his very first marathon. Welcome Bob!

———

Thanks, Lindsey, for encouraging me to make my first foray into the world of blogging.  Hopefully this will be a bit more interesting than the usual stuff I write for work (I’m an engineer, so most of my writing material could be used as insomnia treatment).

The Mohawk-Hudson marathon in October will be my first marathon, but I’m no stranger to running.  I ran cross-country and track in high school and college and have trained moderately since then, mixing in the occasional summer road race. 

When I was younger, I figured that I would run a marathon within a couple seasons of finishing my eligibility (I finished my eligibility in ’96).  Unfortunately, the competitive side of me has been a hindrance to getting that first marathon under my belt (ironic sounding, since most people who know me outside of running would not use the word “competitive“ to describe me unless it was prefaced by the word “not“).  I’d always said to myself and others that if I was going to run a marathon, that I would do it “right” and put in some serious training.  Now that my definition of serious training has changed (I no longer feel the need to train like I’m 22), I’m finally ready.  Nonetheless, because I know that competing keeps my motivation to train higher, I’ve decided I want to not only finish my first marathon but shoot for a personally challenging time.  I want to break 3 hours.

Right now I’m a few weeks into my serious training for the marathon.  I’m actually following a workout schedule for the first time since college (I got the schedule off of the Runner’s World website).  I‘m not traditionally a huge fan of schedules and to-do lists (ask my wife), but I view it as a necessary evil.  Every week has a couple of easy runs and three tougher runs.  The tougher runs are: an interval workout on the track at paces well ahead of goal race pace, a 6-9 mile tempo run at about 20-40 seconds ahead of goal race pace depending on the distance, and a long run (14-22 miles) at a pace that is a little slower than goal race pace.    

The workouts are going okay for the most part, but there have been a couple of hiccups.  It’s been pretty easy to meet my time goals on the track workouts.  I’m usually well ahead of my goals, and I always feel pretty good at the end of the workout.  The tempo runs haven’t been too bad either.  I’m generally either at or a little better than my time goals for those.  The long runs have been the biggest challenge to date.  I’ve done five of them so far; three went well, and two went poorly.  On the two that went poorly, I finished the last few miles way slower than I had planned.  Both runs were on hot days where I didn’t pace myself very well early in the run, so mostly I chalk up the poor results to stupidity on my part for running too fast, too early in hot weather.  There is some doubt that creeps in though…maybe my 3 hour time goal will be too challenging?  Maybe I’m better at middle distances than I am at long distances (1500 meters was my best event in college)?

So far my body is holding up okay, but I do have one major annoyance.  I’ve had chronic Achilles tendon problems on my left leg for several years now.  It makes the first mile or so of every run a bit painful and gimpy (the first hundred yards, I run more like someone who’s 67 rather than 37).  Fortunately, it always loosens up. 

To make sure that my tendon doesn’t get too stiff overnight, I’ve been wearing a night-splint to bed.  The sight of me sleeping in my monstrous night-splint really makes Jess (my wife) think that I’m a lunatic for even putting myself through all of this.  Our cat, Desmond, is not a big fan of it either, since it has been the direct cause of his involuntary ejection from the foot of our bed a couple of times when I rolled over. (Similar splint/boot below in photo)

I guess there’s not too much else…I haven’t changed my diet at all really, except that I eat a little more.  It hasn’t been too tough to find time for the runs so far (Jess has been very accommodating on this front).  Running with a water belt for long runs felt a little weird at first, but I’m getting used to it now.  I like my Garmin Forerunner 405 watch.  Plus, I am definitely looking forward to the weather cooling down (especially for those after-work runs during the week).

I plan to send Lindsey a follow-up after the race with my thoughts on how it all went.  It’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out.  I’m sure it won’t go exactly like I expect, but that’s part of what makes this exciting.

 ———

Thanks for your guest post Bob!! Best of luck to you on your first marathon. I can’t wait for your race recap and Jess’s pictures of you running! 🙂 I’ll be running the half marathon that goes along with Bob’s marathon, so I should hopefully get to see him finish – although at his pace, he might pass me and finish first!

What about you (readers) – what was your biggest running goal? Did you accomplish it? How did you feel? And if you’ve run a marathon before, how was your first one? Did it go as planned?

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Posted in Bloggers, Marathon, Races, Running, Uncategorized

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Quick Trip to Florida

Posted on August 6, 2011 | 6 comments

Hello all. How is everyone? I got back late Thursday night from traveling for work for a few days, hence the blog has been a little quiet. The company I work for has an office down near Orlando and we had a big meeting onsite. Those who know me well, know that I like traveling for personal vacations, but am not a huge fan of traveling for work.

Why you ask? Well, traveling stresses me out. Even when vacationing, I don’t fully relax until I’ve arrived where I’m supposed to and have checked in to my hotel. I have developed a little OCD when it comes to traveling over the years. I am constantly worried about being late, missing flights, etc. So the end result is that I tend to make people I’m traveling with leave extremely early and then sit with me in airports and train stations for obscene amounts of time. Boring at times, yes. But it’s worth it for them not to have to travel with a stressed out and crazed Lindsey.

What about you? Are you a laid-back travel or a worry-wart like me?

So my travel went well. I was going to post from the hotel, but then things got hectic and I ran out of time. I was pretty pleased to have my very own suite for this trip – not that I spent any time in the hotel really. But the room wasn’t bad.

All this space for little old me!? Yup, I had a full suite to myself. I barely used any of it.

Plus, this crazy hotel served a complimentary breakfast (normal) and dinner (what?). We didn’t partake in the dinner, but I could not get over the fact that they provide their guests with two free meals a day! I saw a ton of families staying there and it seems like a pretty smart plan in my book to make a trip to Orlando a bit more affordable.

Today is Saturday and I’m headed to Connecticut in a bit for a little reunion with my college girls. I am also going to try to squeeze a short run in before that. I slept until 8:00 a.m. today – I think I really needed the rest. So I’ll only run maybe 4-5 miles this morning. It hasn’t been a great running week for me, but a few miles is better than nothing.

Also – I’m very jealous of everyone who went to BlogHer and will be going to the Healthy Living Summit. For some reason, my schedule never coincides with those events, but I love reading the recaps!

Anyway – it’s a gorgeous day for a quick run, maybe some pool time at my friend’s house and then some quality friend time! Hope you all have a great weekend!

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Posted in Running, Travel, Uncategorized

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Finally, Here Are My 7 Links

Posted on July 31, 2011 | 4 comments

So this was kind of a time-consuming post–hence it took me a while to get it all together and up. It involved going back through the past almost two years of posts to select the ones I thought fit best into the 7 categories. I’m just going to jump right in…

Most Beautiful
I don’t know that I would really call any of my posts “beautiful.” I don’t really get very sentimental or poetic on my blog. It’s all pretty cut and dry, with maybe a dash of cynicism and humor. That being said, there is a tie for this category. My Relfections on 2009 post was surprisingly touching to re-read over a year later. It was really nice to look back on 2009 and see all the amazing times we had. You forget about all the events, anniversaries and family moments that were very special.

The second one would be my “Back from Ireland” recap post because the pictures were absolutely gorgeous and we had a beautiful time. I kind of skimped on the recap because I was too exhausted to go through each and every day. But the overall photo recap was amazing.

Most Popular
So this one was immediately evident to me. It was my Poconos Marathon Race Recap. I started my blog just after finishing my first marathon and I quickly decided to run another one and announced it to the blog world. I also announced my HUGE goal that I wanted to try to qualify for Boston. EEK! But once I put it out there, I was more determined than ever. Over the course of the next 6 months, I received so much advice and encouragement from a ton of people online that I kind of knew that my race recap would be my “grand finale” and culmination of all my hard work. The thought of all these people who tried to help me and inspired me really made me push to my limit during the race. And thankfully, I did it. My Poconos Marathon Race Recap was by far my most popular post on my blog to-date. And I still look back to read all the wonderful and supportive comments.

Most Controversial
This one was tough for me. It was a toss-up between my “To Eat Meat of Not to Eat Meat” post and my “Yucky Yogurt” post where I said that I was not a fun of the Yoplait Greek Yogurt–neither the taste or ingredients. In the end, I guess I’ll go with the yogurt post because Yoplait actually contacted me with a coupon to try their new redeveloped and relaunched yogurt a few months later. And if a blog post can get the attention of a company, then I’ll go ahead and dub that controversial.

Most Helpful
Easy one to pick. My “How I Got My BQ” post is without a doubt my most helpful post. People consistently find my blog through this post and have contacted me to thank me for my advice and candid words on the topic of qualifying. I talk about working on speed, tracking your pace, increasing your mileage and paying attention to your food, among other things. I still look back at this post when I find my endurance and speed decreasing and need to pick things up a notch.

Surprise Success
There have been a few posts that received a lot of comments and feedback that have surprised me. I guess the one with the most comments was the “Where Did All The Food Go?” post, where I talked about how shocked I am by the amount of food my husband and I consume in a short timeframe and how much it costs! A lot of people could relate. This post also included a recap of “Angela’s Ashes” so there were a lot of comments for that as well. Overall, it seemed to be a post that many people could relate to and were interested enough to comment.

Not Enough Attention
I don’t know about this one. Who am I to say that I think any of my posts really deserve more (or any) attention? I’m not going to get all serious with this one. Instead, I am going to say that my post “You Know You’re a Winter Runner When…” deserves more attention because I thought it was kind of funny and I really wanted to hear other people’s “you know you’re a winter runner” stories and commentary. I love these kind of posts that point out the hysterical but oh-so-true and ridiculous things about ourselves. I should write more of them… 🙂 Do I see a new blog post forming?! 🙂

Most Proud
I’ll say it yet, again, easy – my “2011 Boston Marathon Race Recap” is the post I am most proud of. I started this blog basically because I had this goal in my head and didn’t know how to get there. I think writing this blog really helped me get there and kept me on track and accountable. It helped me achieve one of my life goals and I am forever grateful. This post also marked my “return” to the blog world after a long hiatus, so I’m doubly proud and thankful I wrote it.


In conclusion – thank you again for tagging me Katie. It was a very nice trip down memory lane. Now I know the rules state that I have to tag other bloggers to post their 7 links, but let’s cut me a little break – ok? I am just returning to blogging, hardly anyone is reading my blog, and the chances that anyone will see this and then post their 7 links is slim to none. So instead, I will say – if you are a blogger and you have NOT been tagged to do this yet, then consider yourself tagged – courtesy of me. But don’t blame me when you lose half your day working on this post. 🙂

Question of the Day: If you’ve done your 7 links, how much time did you spend on it? And did you enjoy your trip down memory lane? Can’t imagine those bloggers with years and years of posts – how did you choose?!!

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