Generally speaking, I prefer cooler weather over hot weather. I'd rather put on more layers than be wearing as little as I can in public and still being hot. And after a rather elusive fall, winter apparently arrived yesterday in the form of snow, sleet, and freezing rain, so I guess I need to get mentally ready for winter now. Berres Brothers coffee - Most of the year I drink Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts coffee - whichever is on sale in the grocery store. But once a year, Berres Brothers, a Wisconsin based coffee company, has a big sale and I stock up. I love that they have a ridiculous number of flavor options and that the coffee is smoother than Starbucks. I also love that I'm supporting a small local company (not my local, but … [Read more...]
Shaking things up: Faster Way to Fat Loss
For the last few years, I've been in a bit of a rut. Or maybe it's more of a repetitive pattern. Build my mileage, run a series of half marathons or a marathon, drop my mileage for a while. Repeat over and over. This has worked really well to get in new states and a few series, but the results haven't been great for my overall fitness. Sure, I can run long and slow for a really long time, but I have zero upper body strength and I've become "chubby fit". This summer I had a really awful stomach bug with symptoms that lasted for nearly a month. The only good thing about that was that I dropped 5 pounds. (Not a weight loss method I'd recommend.) I feel much more comfortable in my clothes now, but not necessarily comfortable in my skin. I … [Read more...]
Don’t let winter freeze your motivation
Confession: I love cold weather and I'd much rather run when I need a jacket, hat, and gloves than when it's crazy hot and humid. But I still lose motivation to get out there and run when it's cold out. I mean, I love it as soon as I get going, but taking that step from the warm house into the cold outside it so hard. Add in the fact that winter has seemed very grey here the last few years and you find me wanting to sit in a warm spot with a bright light on reading a book. But we all know that getting moving goes a long ways towards fighting the "blahs" that come with less sunlight during the winter. Remember your "why" - It doesn't necessarily have to be your "why" for running, just your "why" for this particular run. Perhaps … [Read more...]
Tips and Tricks for a Fit Winter
Winter is coming! Or at least that's the rumor I've heard LOL. Our weather has been all over the place this fall. MCM was borderline hot. The other day it was cold and rainy. Sunday it's supposed to be in the mid 70s again. I can't keep up! But I know that it's inevitable and the cold days will come. Buy the appropriate gear - While not all of my workouts are going to be outside, I try to run outside as often as I can. I only stay inside if it's icy or it's super cold AND windy. One of the most important things for me is a decent wind breaking running jacket. If you have that, you can layer as many layers as you need under it to stay warm. That kid from the Christmas Story? Yeah, that's me on the run in the winter. Find some … [Read more...]
Scenes from my so-called winter running
It's February. It's the deepest darkest coldest part of winter. Or not. This year, Virginia has been a little confused. Honestly, I think she's having hot flashes. I mean, we've had a few cold days, but we've had just as many warm days. In fact, I've worn my Skirt Sports Lotta Breeze Capri (affiliate link) more this year than any other year since I bought my first pair. My winter should look like this at least occasionally... But this is the closest we've gotten this year... Beautiful? Yes. But not even our wimpy school system called a delay for this one. Don't get me wrong. I don't need 23 inches like we received in one weekend last year. In fact, I still have a bit of PTSD about that. But I would like one real snow … [Read more...]
Prepping for Christmas with cardsdirect.com
Disclaimer: cardsdirect.com provided me with free holiday cards in exchange for this post. We have been crazy busy (like everyone else) the last week. In fact, today was the first day in a week where we did not have an event (and several days we had multiple.) To add to the fun, I have my first cold of the season. It's not awful (my immune system is pretty strong), but it is annoying. The end result of the crazy, though, is that I'm super behind on Christmas. The tree finally went up today, but does not have any actual ornaments on it yet. Tomorrow I have to mail out Christmas gifts to the grandparents as well as the gift for a secret exchange I'm doing. And I won't tell you how many gifts were sent with Prime this year. On the … [Read more...]
Things that suck about winter running
Confession time: I like cold weather, even really cold weather, but I'm kind of over winter running for this year. I think it's because not only have we had snow, but we've also had a lot of cold and windy days. My inner Wisconsin girl is ready for spring (even if it does bring the awful allergies with it.) Since today's category for Friday Five is "Favorites" and I'm feeling contrary, here are the five things that are not my favorite about winter running... How long it takes to get put on all.the.layers - I swear, if I'm going for a short run (3-4 miles), it might take me longer to put on my clothes than it does to actually run the miles. And I can guarantee you that I'm going to need to pee as soon I get them all on. When … [Read more...]
Predicting Virginia’s fickle weather with SnowCast
This post brought to you by SnowCast. The content and opinions expressed below are that of MCM Mama Runs. Remember Snowzilla? More than 23 inches in one weekend. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. But you know what was even worse? That one inch of snow that brought DC to a standstill. It took us 2 hours to drive 5 miles home from running. Unfortunately, that kind of snow traffic jam is not unusual around here. And I don't think that winter is done with us yet. In past years, we've had some big snows in February and even early March. And let's not talk about how often we get just an inch or two and everything slows down. In years past, this has not been a problem for me as I rarely drove more than a couple of miles from home in … [Read more...]
Snowzilla hit DC this weekend
As I mentioned on Thursday when I was "thinking out loud about winter", there was a big storm AKA Snowzilla slated to hit the Washington DC area this past weekend. I have to admit that I had a fair amount of skepticism about exactly how bad the storm would be. We do get the occasional HUGE snowfall, but more often than not, the weathermen are way off around here. (Unless you were completely off any sort of media or social media outlet this weekend, you know the weathermen nailed it this time.) But let's backtrack a bit... Our weekend started early when the kids did not have school on Thursday. Roads were still slippery around here and some of our county is super hilly. I dragged the boys out to a doctor's appointment with me - the … [Read more...]
Thinking out loud about winter
Winter. The season most Virginians love to hate. It's been an interesting one this year, so I'm joining up with Amanda from Running with Spoons for the Thinking Out Loud link up... This last week, Virginia has really gotten into the concept of winter. After a December filled with warm days and runs in skirts, January has included some wicked cold days and is now gearing up for what the "experts" are calling an historic storm. Estimates are all over the place (seriously, one guy said 5"-20" - way to cover your bases), but the general consensus is that we are going to get walloped. The only question is when. As a prelude to the SNOW, we got a little bit of snow on Wednesday evening. Beer Geek and I were already out for a run, so we got … [Read more...]
Marine Corps 17.75 Race Recap
Marine Corps 17.75 March 28, 2015 1:58:59 Temp: 32*, sunny, and super windy What I wore: hat, long sleeve shirt, jacket, Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt, tights PROCompression socks, and my new Altra Intuitions 3.0. … [Read more...]
Yaktrax Review
Virginia is a Southern state. We don't get a huge amount of snow each year, but most years we get *some* snow. (Some years we get walloped, but that's a topic for another post...) I have an older pair of Yaktrax Run that I think was sent to me to review. Maybe. Probably. Who knows... Anyways, I've had them for a couple of years and every time I need them, I'm so happy to have them. 'Cause, even with a treadmill in the basement, sometimes I just need to run outside. (Yes, I realize it wasn't that long ago when I stated I wasn't bada$$ enough to run outside in the cold weather. Sometimes you just have to.) According to the company: The Yaktrax Run is an ice traction device anatomically designed for use with running shoes. … [Read more...]
