Virginia currently has a pretty weak "shelter in place" going on. It's definitely not as strict as I've seen in some states and cities and yet, people are still breaking the rules. We've been doing our best to stay home. I can't control your choices, but I can mine. Last week that meant leaving the house twice for curbside pickup of things we needed. It feels weird to have not gone in any place other than my house in almost two weeks. I am joining Marcia for some Runfessions this week, but I runfess that I don't have much running related. So instead, I am sharing my random thoughts that I have been sharing on my personal Facebook page. My personal rule for Facebook is to share stupid and amusing things for the most part. (And … [Read more...]
Free Resources to Stay Fit during Coronavirus Isolation
Life is a little different these days. People are being asked to socially distance themselves at the minimum to shelter in place at the maximum. Some people are making the personal choice to self isolate due to either exposure or being in the vulnerable categories. We as a family are doing our best to self isolate. In the last few days, I've run two errands that HAD to be done (can't let the animals starve...), but mostly my outside time has been running or walking the quiet streets of my neighborhood. In fact, I have a daily checklist that includes both getting in a workout and getting 20 minutes of outdoor time. (Yes, I'm that person who has to have checklists and to do lists or I'll spend this whole time doing nothing.) I'm a firm … [Read more...]
Running in the age of Coronavirus / COVID 19
I'm gonna just put this out there: I am 100% in favor of social distancing. 100.Percent. I am far from panicked, but I do believe it's a necessary step based on everything I've read and some personal friends who are in the trenches. I may not be a doctor, but I am a research librarian. Long before this blog became a thing, I was trained in how to evaluate sources and how to synthesize information. So, now that we've got that out there. Let's chat. Today (yesterday?) alone, we saw the cancellation of 100s of races. I saw a lot of sadness, and anger, and disappointment. All of these are absolutely valid emotional responses. I get it. I don't currently have any races coming up on the calendar (I know, what?) and we managed to put on … [Read more...]
Celebrate International Women’s Day with ZOOMA!
International Women's Day is March 8, 2020. It is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality. It has been celebrated for over a century and I hope that in my lifetime it becomes truly just a celebration of women, rather than a call to action. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. ZOOMA Women's Races supports and honors women every day, but for International Women's Day, we are hosting a virtual race to specifically support Women for Women International. Women for Women not only supports women in conflict areas directly by giving them support and tools that they need to overcome, but they also work to educate and … [Read more...]
Runfessions from the winter that wasn’t
Here we are at the end of February and I'm whining about being cold, but it's currently 33* and the high is supposed to be in the high 40s. While that's right around the "average" high and low for February in this area, it feels like we've had a lot more of the average and a lot less of the cold days than usual. And we've had zero snow. ZERO! It really feels like winter never arrived this year. So, my first runfession as I enter the runfessional at Marcia's Healthy Slice is that I'd really like at least one snow before the warm weather hits us! I must also runfess that there's been precious little running around here. The worst part is I can't find my "give a damn." I know I have some half marathons coming up (eh, they aren't until … [Read more...]
Hiking in St. George’s Bermuda
I wrote this post when we got to Bermuda and then got too busy to finish it. I'll post about the race weekend next, but suffice it to say that the trip was amazing! Bermuda is gorgeous! Our trip here was a little rough - 3 airplane changes in Miami, 5 gate changes (from one end of the terminal and back several times), and an overnight in a hotel (if by overnight you mean from 11pm-3:00 am). If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that you should probably never travel internationally with me. Anyways, we finally made it here on Wednesday morning and spent the day walking around the town of St. George's and the forts near the town. It was about 4 miles of hilly walking, so I didn't feel any guilt about not getting in a … [Read more...]
Coffee and Runfessions from the Longest Month of the Year
There have been a ton of memes going around about January being several thousand days long. I generally think time flies, but wowza, this month was a long one. At one point I was actually begging for snow, just to add something new to break up the month. Ah well, only one more day! I'm joining Marcia, Deb, and Coco for a little coffee and runfessions this morning. If we were having coffee this morning, we'd be sitting in a hotel room together. I am yet again on a college visit, this time to a school that was barely on the radar and is now a front runner. It's a flight (or long ass drive) away from home, so I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I guess all that matters is how Jones feels about it after this weekend. If we were … [Read more...]
Reasons to Lift Weights after 50
OK, I'm not *quite* to 50 yet, but that big round number is looming in my near future. 2020 is a big year around here - Beer Geek and I will have been married 25 years, Jones goes off to college, and I hit 50. And I've really been struggling with my fitness since the 50K training messed with my hamstring. I'm finding that my body does not recover as well as it used to and all those things I skipped in my younger years are coming back to haunt me. I'm currently back on the FWTFL program, which has 3 weight workouts each week, plus HIIT which can range from a kettlebell workout to bodyweight tabatas to sprints. Since life is a lot busier than the days when I had time to run for more than an hour every day of the week, I find the super … [Read more...]
Kicking off 2020 with some new goals
Yes, I realize we are already more than a week into 2020. But mentally, with the way the holiday fell this year, it feels like 2020 started last Monday. So, I'm only a week behind in figuring life out. It's going to be an interesting year, with some things still very up in the air. Things like what schools my kids will be going to and what job my husband will be doing, but hey, my work is fairly stable and my injury is a minor soreness here and there, so I can plan MY life LOL. Running Add some races to my half marathon count. Last year I stalled out after managing 4 half marathons in the early part of the year. Between work and deciding to cheer as a unicorn, I had nothing in the fall. So far this year, I've signed up for 2 in May and … [Read more...]
Talking about 2019 over coffee
Here we are approaching the first weekend of 2020. The Wednesday start to the year has me all kinds of confused and my kids have been home for two weeks and need to go back. (Not sure that they would agree...) So I'm sitting here with my 2nd cup of coffee, thinking back on 2019 since I'm not quite ready to figure out 2020. Thanks to Deb and Courtenay for hosting! If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that it feels like the new year does not start until this coming Monday. I have several things I'm waiting on that I won't hear until then and a few calls I need to make but the offices aren't open until then... It's like that weird space between Christmas and New Year got extended a few extra days this year. If we were having … [Read more...]
Final Runfession and 2019 in Pictures
This year flew by! I still can't believe we are only days away from a new year and decade. I've been blogging for just over 10 years and this year was nearly the end. I don't know what 2020 will bring for blogging, but I'll do my best to pop in when anything interesting comes up. So, here we go with one last Runfession with Marcia! I runfess that instead of running my favorite half marathon this year, I decided to cheer. A lot of thought went into the decision, but what it really came down to was that my butt still hurt and I had zero interest in walking the last half. Instead, I dressed as a unicorn and cheered on the course. People loved giving me high fives at mile 1 and they were fans of my sign at mile 5! Even better, I got to … [Read more...]
Sport Suds Laundry Detergent Review
Laundry is one of my least favorite chores. And with 4 adult sized people in our house, it's a chore I get to do way too often. I took a couple of days off recently and suddenly I was 6 loads behind. What??? So when my clothes don't always come out smelling clean (or maybe it's an absence of smelling dirty?), I get kind of cranky. Between Beer Geek and I and our workouts and two, umm, teen boys, there are some smelly loads heading into laundry. For an added bonus, I have an old front loader. You know, one of those that always has to be kept open so it doesn't mildew. Enter Sport Suds. When I got the chance to try it, I was a bit hesitant. I fully confess that I do not separate our technical fabrics from our regular casual … [Read more...]
