Running in CNY/Foothills of the Adirondacks

I know I have not posted in awhile. I have been writing, but after I write my posts I reread them to make sure they reflect what I am trying to portray. If they don't and sound like a whinny runner who is tying to force a blog, i don't post them. Let be honest, no one wants to read that crap.

Anyways I have been slowly working up a list of things that people who run in this area could relate to, that are comical while also being borderline annoying. Its just for fun so here it goes.

Potholes.
I know what your thinking, they are everywhere. But in the past couple months I have notice that our potholes in this area could be useful training for agility. Seriously, I spend more time jumping over or moving sideways than I do running forward. I wish running apps had a more accurate reflection of a runner trajectory when running,  I bet it adds a solid .5mi to my runs.

Weather. 
This is mostly for this past spring/early summer. There is something freaky happening up in the clouds. One minute its blue skies and the sun on my face, then next I'm sprinting home because I just got a severe tornado warning on my phone and being blasted with hail! And I'm 2mi from home. Go home weather, your drunk!

Winter shoes vs. Summer Shoes.
Does anyone else do this? I find that my shoes I bought in the winter are too tight during the summer, and vis versa. Can feet expand? this is a issue for me, i may be the only one on this one. Hmmm...maybe the 10 lb. I gained the past year went all to my feet...wishful thinking. Also, I know you are not supposed to buy your running shoes because of color, but when given the option, does everyone buy the shoes that make their legs look tanner!?!

Lack of GPS/ Service for Running Apps.
If you do not know me, I live where there is little cell service. This makes it difficult to use such apps like, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio ( pshhhttt they are just a bunch a data suckers anyway, right?), But my lack of...civilization really puts a damper on tracking with running apps, which i love using because they are great motivation ( nothing is better than Lance, or some other athlete speaking sweet congrats in your ear when you run a fast mile...thanks Nike!). This has been my biggest issue this year. I used to be a Nike run app lover, but since I changed to my LG G2 the GPS on it was a little off. So then I tried RunKeeper, lets just say the GPS was ok, but it said my first mile was 3hrs 8min 40sec long. I know I'm not the fastest runner out there, but I could have crabbed walked faster than that. That app had the right distance but the time was...a bit...off. Then I tried to MapMyRun and it did the same crap RunKeeper did. Endomondo was cool, but while I was running it would switch me to another sport, and I couldn't switch it back. For example, it said I played 1.6mi of Badminton. I am now using Strava, which as of right now has been great. Time will tell...

Shoulder-less roads.
This is a positive and a negative. Not having a shoulder makes it nerve wracking when a logging trucks, tractor trailors, or texting high school students drive by. I have had a couple close calls where I have had to jump in the woods, or on the ditch because someone likes to be a little selfish with the road. They are lines people not bumpers. And if you hit me, it will be like hitting a moose. you have been warned -_-. On a positive note, roads with no shoulder are often the prettiest roads to run on. So I'm willing to take the risk.

Horse Poop.
Between poop and potholes I feel like I'm training for Football.

Deer, Turkeys, and Peasants, OH MY!
Nothing scares the crap out of me more. Its not because I'm scared of them. By why do they have to wait until Im 10 feet away to freakout? They stand stock still so i can't see them, then when I'm just close enough they freak out! Going to give me a bloody heart attack!

Mosquitoes & and Black Flies.
I have my fastest times when these little buggers are out.  If i go to slow they eat me alive. Then i have to start running while waving my hands ( onlookers probably think I'm listening to the YMCA). They definitely give you motivation to run faster.

Boilermaker.
Everyone who runs feels like they need to be part of this event. And we will defend our beloved Boilermaker from non boilermaker runners/ lovers. If anyone says it awful ( even tho we are thinking it through the entire race and about 10 min after) we disagree state that its the best race everrrrr!

Manure season. 
Farmers of my area have perfected this recipe making it the best produce growing, gag inducing, running reducing formula. The smell can make 1 mile of road seem like 100 miles. Touché farmers, you win this round every time.

Hope you enjoyed. Now i really need to do tackle Laundry Mt. (its getting out of hand)

Biking

I have always had a love/hate relationship with biking. I use biking to switch up my work outs. I have never been the person who after a stressful day thinks "man, I could really use a nice long bike ride". I am more of a instant gratification person, and the intensity of running gives me the instant kick in the behind I need after a hard day. I like to use biking as my "rest day". Biking is leisure activity for me. I am by no means a Cyclist.

What i love about biking is ones ability to take in a lot of scenery all at once.  For example, of someone goes out of a 30min run they may only get 3.2miles of scenery during that run to enjoy. With biking one is able to cover almost double, if not triple the mileage in the same amount of time. Also, i have always felt so GREEN when riding a bike. No emissions! (well unless I have had dairy that day, then i would advise riding upwind from me!). I love the feeling of being able to travel long distances by my own physical means.
Also, the breeze you feel on your face is so refreshing ( Does anyone else pretend they have an entourage following them around with fans when they feel that breeze? No? You Sure? Well now you will).

My issues with biking stems from my lack of...butt. I am convinced that if i just had a little more cushion back there things would be wonderful. Unfortunately, the past 5 or so years i have been using my father's old Devinci bike. I was happy using it becuase i didn't want to spend the money on a new bike because biking was not one of my top ten activities (see girls can be practical sometimes! or I'm just a cheap-o, take your pick). So for the past 5 years I have been riding a bike with the smallest seat in the world. Im not joking, I have had slices of pie bigger than this thing. After every ride i went on (sometimes only to the store and back which was only about 3 miles) i was be so sore i would have to waddle for a good three days after. Now i know what you thinking, just got on more bike rides and it would get better. It didn't. It never did. It was awful, i was convinced i was bruising my pelvis and butt.

Last year was my 25th birthday, and my dad got me a "like new" Specialized hybrid bike. I love it. The handle bars are nice and high so I'm not hunch over like Golem. But the best part is the seat! Oh MY LORD it is amazing. My behind has never been happier. I went on a 15mi ride today and my butt didn't hurt at all!

I think me and my bike might be seeing each other little more often. I am willing to work on our relationship as long as we keep it simple and just enjoy the ride.

oh- and the wine I am drinking tonight is one of my favorites:
Middle Sister Sweet&Sassy Moscato
its light and sweet, and goes great with frozen strawberries if you forget to chill it!

Treadmills.

Treadmills.

In reality, the idea of treadmill is promising, but I can’t help but think they could have been designed to better canter to the runners experience. Does anyone else feel like a hamster running on its wheel? I can’t be the only person who has thought about this but, treadmills be could use to power a gym.

 

Imagine you’re running on a treadmill at the gym. (seriously picture it- I have already thought about this around mile two on the treadmill countless times!). Your legs are cramping up, you have a stitch in your side, you shorts are riding up, and your dying of thirst (isn’t running glamorous?). You want to quit, but then you realize… THE GYM NEEDS YOU. Without your final mile the gym will power down and you will single handedly ruin everyone else’s workout, which would be a butterfly effect of problems. People would we grumpy, getting fat, and most likely hate you (Lifters would probably still have pre-workout pulsing through their veins and jump you in the parkinglot). Talk about motivation. I would definitely push out that last mile.

Just saying.

Also, can we talk about how treadmills make runners sound like a barreling elephant. When I run outside, I feel like a sprite gazelle who is lighter than air. I feel delicate and poise while I run. But on a treadmill, I feel as though I am slowly pounding the treadmill deeper and deeper into the ground. I am convinced this is why I dislike treadmills. It’s all a mind game. I can easily run 6 miles outside, but on a treadmill its torture to run 2 miles.

I’m not even going to get into the topic of ellipticals. For us long leg’d folks, nothing is worse.

Zumba, Yoga, PiYo, and P.D.F

I wouldn't consider myself a person who is a "hardcore" fitness junky, but more of a well-rounded fun fitness fan (see what i did there-alliteration at its best!). I am a runner and love it, but there are times where you need to spice things up! Make your workouts more exciting and above all, more challenging. Wasn't' it Albert Einstein who defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

So in the past I have tried Zumba, where I thought it was a blast, but it just didn't have the right fitness level for me.  I have tried Yoga or as they called it "yoga smoga" and i failed at it. Now many of you might say " you can't fail at yoga, you just have to work up to it and listen to your body". Trust me, I listened to my body and it said " WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!". My body is pretty resilient and I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but during my session of yoga, my body hit a level of pain that I have never felt before (and i have hand 1st & 2nd degree burns, blown out my knee and still ran on it-- at the same time!). I honestly think the only thing that could be at the same level of pain I felt would be child labor, at least in child labor you get a baby out of it, all you get with yoga a sweaty yoga mat and maybe piece of mind of the rest of the day (I might add that after yoga i was not at all calm or felt serene- I was frustrated, sore, and grumpy). Clearly my body is not into yoga and i do not plan on forcing it to do it ever again. It has spoken.

PiYo was my next class I tried. and i have to say, I love it!. its a mix of Yoga, Pilates, Cardio, Plyometrics, and Free weight training. It the perfect class for me! Its an intense workout where you do mulituple workouts during high energy songs. Some may say the PiYo class I attend isn't real PiYo and honestly I dont care. It could be called " Super Girl class" and I still would go. People are too focused on labels at times and dont appreciate the important thing, which is the experience. All i know is that i love this class, I have been going for months, and it is packed every time I go!

As far and expanding my running I have registered for different "themed" races. The Color Run was great, I attended the one in NYC. I would definitely do that again in a different area ( im a country girl and cities just dont do it for me). I also did many local races and did my 10th Boilermaker this last year! This year is lucky number 11! ( my favorite number!- and my friends from college are running it with me- woohooo!). I recently signed Robbie and I up for the Mighty Run, which is a adventure 5K where you have to work in partners to complete obstacles. Of course there is fire and mud involved. I cant wait!

Tonight however, I will be trying out a new fitness class...call Pole Dance Fitness. I am a little wary of it because all I can think about is the idea of pole dancing. But I have been told this class is an intense workout and have been assured that everyone keeps their cloths on and it just there to work out!  I will let everyone know how it goes. Wish me luck and no judging!

Update**  I went to the class and it was good. The fitness was a little lacking in my taste to be considered a workout, but it was a lot of fun learning the different moves. Even thought it wasn't a workout for me I do think I would enjoy going to a couple classes on a raining day!**

First run this Spring!

Today was my first real session of spring running. Kuya and I both had big bowls of wishing thinking for breakfast and decided to tackle our 4.8 mi loop today. I like this loop because it has just enough hills for you to feel the burn but doesn't give the impression that your scaling Mount Everest (come-on fellow runners you know what im talking about--when you feel like your going backgrounds down the hill during those milliseconds where both feet are off the ground in your stride--is it just me?).

After tackling the huge amount of clean laundry i had piled ( yes- it was all clean but was sitting there for a week because i absolutely HATE putting away laundry)  I got all my running gear together and put on my layers ( lets be serious people, its spring, you still need layers in upstate new york till about July). laced up my Nikes, zipped my reflective vest and was ready to go! My running partner Kuya, got up from her dog bed and was ready......if it was only that easy for the rest of us, ha-ha.

It was a great run, we passed another runner earlier in the run which was a pleasant surprise as I dont see other runners very often in my parts of the boonies. I normal see a lot of cyclists. We did the typical running head node with the "beautiful day" comment. There were a lot of people outside doing lawn work which was nice to see. I found myself looking up through the trees frequently because the sky was such a nice color blue today. Kuya made a new friend who was a sweetest little black lab. So we stood and chatted with her owner for about 5 minutes, turns out i went to school with their daughter. It was a nice little break and the 3 mi mark so i dont feel too bad about stopping during the run-- it was our first run after all--its allowed--right?

Below are some photos from the run!

at the 2.5 mi marker

Kuya waiting to start the run!

Kuya at the 2.5 mi mark- she wasn't breaking
a sweat!

Last stretch till home (1 mi long straightaway)
LOOK AT THE SKY! NO FILTER!

Kuya at the end of the run! ( right after this
photo she ran and grab a stick to play
fetch- she never runs of batteries!!

Tonight i wil be enjoying a new sweet wine i had to buy: LAB moscato

Saturn Saga

For those who know me, you understand my troubles with vehicles. But for those who don't, lets just say I am Murphy's law when it comes to owning a car. Now do not mistake bad luck with bad driving. I am a good driver (my boyfriend agrees when I'm not driving his manual 2012 focus-- I have traffic light anxiety--totally normal). 

I have never owed a "new car" because I cannot seem to part with the money to purchase such a luxury. I apparently would rather spend many days and nights stranded, or battling some sort of mechanical malfunction than spend the money needed to live (and drive) like a normal person.  So I am going to tell you about my last two months with my 2000 Saturn wagon.

The 2013 year started with a bang! Well not literally but I picked up a piece of glass from a accident down the road from work. It was a slow leak and I didn't notice the flat tire till leaving for work the next morning from my boyfriend Robbie's house. So I whip out my AAA plus membership card and call where a "air guy" will give me roadside assistance. (Huh? I live in the boonies, we barely have pizza delivery let alone air delivery). Anyways, the air guy comes and fills my tire nice and quick and I'm ready to go ( at this point I did not realize I had pick up a piece of glass). A mere four hours later I am left stranded again. Luckily my friend had a air compresser and helped me out. I got the tire plugged it and was all fix (did I mention those were brand new studded tires I bought a week before for $400+).

Three days later I bring the car to be inspected....doesn't pass. Evap system is setting the check engine light off. So the mechanic resets it and gives me strick instructions to keep it no lower than 3/4 a tank and drive the car 70miles. So I drive the car about 65mi and I am pulling into the shop to get inspected...and the light turns on as soon as I put the car in park! No joke. He resets it again I drive it and I am finally able to get to pass the following day.

No joke, 20min after passing inspection I am driving to my PiYo fitness class and I loose brakes. Luckily we live in a rural area so I could coast to my PiYo class. I get the car towed to the mechanic where we states I broke a brake line and he will replace it.  After getting the car back I go to babysitting were Robbie (having a "man moment" as he calls it-- i call it a tantrum) jams my car keys into the ignition in a ridiculous angle were it wouldn't turn or give the keys back....luckily I was babysitting for a mechanic and he helped is out. (talk about roadside assistance!)

A week after I loose my brakes again and almost crash into a Escalade at a stop light. I merge into the turning lane and coast to the nearest parking lot were I am left stranded and have to wait for a ride from my sister.

(at this point of this story I am just laughing a shaking my head because honestly, what more can you do. You can't let stuff like this get you down. It makes awesome story material! You really can't make this stuff up)

So the car gets "fixed" and new brake pads were put on my car. When I get in my car to drive the brakes sounded like I was trying to grind nails to make into glitter. Either they are brand new at this "fixing brakes routine" or someone forgot to put the brake pads on my car. No joke I told them the issue and they insisted the car the was fine and they put on new brake pads. Three days later I walk up the the mechanic and shove the keys in his hand and told him to drive it....5min later he said to bring it in the next day and he will fix them.

So the brakes are fixed (last Tuesday March 25th) and the car is working fine. Today (April 2nd) I am driving down the road in the city and of course I loose brakes again....I pull the e-brake and coast into the nearest Walgreens. Park the car and walk the three blocks to my doctors apt. That was around 3:45pm today-- it is now 11pm and i am home and that car is still there.

Ladies and gentleman. I have thrown in the towel. I am buying a new car! ( how many signs does one person need!!?!?! Most be the blonde hair)

No wine tonight. This girl needs to save her pennies for some new wheels!

Eggbert & Peter Cotton tail

Spring is here! And it's time to coloring eggs, sing some of our favorite Easter songs! It is a known fact that my family has a tendency to break out in song at any given time! At the work place, at the grocery store, the doctors office,you name it.  I once was working at a bagel shop  4 hours away from any family member. It was 6am in the morning and I was in the back making cream cheese and I hear " here come Peter cotton tail...".Now my family members have very distinct voices so I immediately knew it was my uncle. Out of all the bagel shops in New York and my uncle happens to find the one where I worked (without any idea that I did work there I might add). That is just the magic of my family. We love to spread the cheer...alot. For example, for St. Patrick's day alone we walked in 3 different parades singing our family song and other Irish tones while my grandpa ( the well known leprechaun of Utica) threw out his "Irish happiness". Our Christmas schedule would add to anyone holiday stress level. But for my family--it's the importance of spreading happiness and cheer!!

Easter 2013 was no different! Full of surprises, family, and of course food! This Easter the weather was not too cold (unless you were hunting for baskets and eggs like the Corrigans). Our Easter bunny is a little stinker. It took no less than two hours for four of us ( ages 18-27) to find our baskets. my brothers was underneath our porch outside, my sisters was in her gutted house that she is building, brother -in-laws was in a canoe suspended about 8 feet in the air. Last but not least, my basket up in the rafters of our pull barn approximatly 20ft in the air. Yes, I had to climb to get it. Baskets were not our only hunt! The Bunny Bucks hunt was intense this year. We had to army crawl through mud and snow to collect our winnings! And the rain that joined just made the hunting more memorable! In addition to great memories , and even better food, I was able to add a large some of money to my vacation fund!

Can't wait to see what we do next year!

Tonights wine choice is: RELAX pink with frozen berries to keep it chilled.