The scale vs. me

Hello Scale –

Will we be friends after the holidays?  Hmmm…Let’s see I’ve haven’t been running, walking or even wearing my pedometer.  I’ve been eating whatever I want ~ whenever I want including cookies and coffee for breakfast.   I’ve been drinking many delicious things including my new favorite Angry Orchard Hard Cider – Crisp Apple.  I did make some lovely homemade Chicken noodle soup and veggie quesadillas yesterday but somehow I don’t think that will counteract all the goodies I have enjoyed over the last couple of weeks.  So scale – you and I will meet on the January 2^nd.  Be ready!

Hot Buttered Rum

Hot Buttered Rum Recipe

One of the reasons I run.  This is an ridiculously easy and a delicious winter treat that my husband and I love.

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter

2 cups vanilla ice cream

rum

water

nutmeg

1. Combine sugar, brown sugar and butter in a 2-quart saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted (6-8 min).

2. Combine cooked mixture with ice cream in a large mixing bowl, and beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until smooth (1-2 min).  (I just add the ice cream to the warm mixture and stir.)  Store refrigerated up to 2 weeks or frozen up to one month.

3. For each serving, fill one-quarter of a mug with mixture, add one-ounce rum and three-quarters of a cup of boiling water. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Read more: Old Fashioned Hot Buttered Rum recipe http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink5667.html#ixzz2EhZXQc3K

Happy Day

                          A walk with my daughter is better than any run.

Daylight Savings Time aka I loathe the treadmill

The forty-minute mile – okay not really but it seems like it on the treadmill

Eating, not running, gained 3 pounds.  Darn!  Hit it.  Along with an abundance of children’s activities than came daylight saving time.  By the time I get home it’s almost dark.   I don’t run in the dark.  Scary.  So, I hit the treadmill.  I dislike the treadmill greatly.  Our treadmill is in the basement facing an old TV that doesn’t work.  There are old toys and what appears to be trash from my son skateboarding down there.  I listen to my iPod so that helps.  Favorite songs of the night – Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree and Leader of the Pack. (I know but it made me happy).  There is no breeze in the basement and no view except a stapled up sign to the drywall of  “It’s A Boy!” from when our son was born.  I have looked at the damn sailboat for many miles.   I totally don’t get it but I go slower on the treadmill even though it seems like a run faster and it takes a lot longer to get to three miles.  I mean I know it doesn’t but holy heck it sure seems like it.  This weekend – it’s going to be beautiful.  I can’t wait to get outside for a run or two and enjoy the weather.  

Back on "track"

Over the last few weeks with kids’ sports, teaching, classes, family obligations, colds…you know…life, there’s been little time for me much less me and running.  So, today, I got back to the track and got my normal three miles on but there was a lot of walk in my run.  It’s funny how quickly your body loses its memory for the run.  My head buzzed (that could be from my passing cold), my heart was beating fast, and my legs didn’t hurt but probably will tomorrow.  With all my minor discomforts, it felt good to be outside and running again.  As I’ve gotten older, exercise has been crucial in being able to eat the occasional Reese’s Peanut Butter Sundae (hypnotically, of course).  It’s easy to watch the pounds creep back on  - they’re sneaky like that.  On this beautiful fall day, I was glad to get back on track!

Hills

Hills are hard. That is all.

My biggest fan - The Groundhog

My family is a big fan, too. They want run especially when I’m stressed or grumpy. It’s better for all of us. But that groundhog…. He (they) is always there. There are two places I run a lot ~ a park and school. At the park, there is a family of groundhogs; one or all of them are always there to greet me. These groundhogs are not afraid of people. They seem to enjoy the traffic around the trail. I often stop running to get a picture of my friends. I always slow down as I come down this giant hill. They are at the bottom and usually right on the paved trail. The school groundhog is a bit shyer. He runs at the sight of me. The other day, he was peeking around the corner at me as I came around the school. Then he ran in his burrow as fast as he could. Being an elementary school teacher, I am well acquainted with the groundhog. I look forward to February 2 every year. Did or didn’t he see his shadow? Will there be an early spring or 6 more weeks of winter? I even have a cute paper cup groundhog pop-up puppet we make. These groundhogs are different they are my running groundhogs, my fans, my friends. And for some strange reason I feel encouraged by them. I’d liked to have a t-shirt made. Runs with the Groundhogs! They are pretty darn cute, aren't they?

Music to run by

When I went out for my run the other night, I got a ½ mile in and my ipod died and I was going fast! Nothing slows me down like no music. When I got home I had to restore the ipod to factory setting ~ all my songs gone. Bummer! On the other hand, fresh start – new music. My husband has a huge music library so fresh pickins’. Sometimes when I run, I skip and skip and skip till I get to a “good” song. When I was going through all the songs I knew there were some that I could not live without. • Takin’ Care of Business - Bachman–Turner Overdrive • Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen • The Time Warp – Movie Cast • Paradise on the Dashboard - Meatloaf • Happy Hour - Housemartins • Bad Reputation - Joan Jett • Fergalicious - Fergie • Viva Las Vegas – Bruce Springsteen or Elvis Presley • Burning Love – Elvis Presley • Candyman – Christine Aguilera Almost anything by Elvis or Johnny Cash These songs keep me going. I make deals with myself that I will run through certain songs when I’m having trouble. I googled “running songs” and apparently lots of people have make there own list of song favorite songs or favorite 100 songs, many songs more current than mine. These songs motivated me, they make me happy, they make me run!

Chasing the storm

I may not have gone as far as I usually do but I gave it my best effort. I drove my daughter to cheer practice. The sky was getting a little dark towards the west but looked okay. I set off down through the park to the the track. The minute I got to the track - phone call from my friend - practice canceled. Lighting had been spotted. We drove back home and I felt extremely unsatisfied yet I did run enough to get hot, sweaty and stinky. So, I jumped back into the car and drove to the next high school over (further away from the coming storm). I got another mile in and the clouds keep rolling in and the lighting started. Hmmm...time to go. I didn't get my usually three miles in but I certainly worked hard for the two that I did get in. Almost as hard as I worked on those chips and salsa with dinner. There is now a light show outside and the rain in pounding down. Hoping the electricity stays on so we can watch the Orioles AND the Ravens!

Wonderful weekend=getting running girl

My husband and I snuck off to DC this weekend. We ate at Bobby’s Burger Palace. This place has amazing burgers with equally amazing fries (sweet potato and regular) and beyond yummy shakes. I had the Mocha Kahlua Vodka shake and my husband had the Vanilla Caramel Bourbon. We love this place and want one in Baltimore. That night we went to our favorite DC bar, The Gin Joint. Nicole, the bartender, knows more about gin then anyone. It’s such a fun place. Each time we go there we make new friends. The next morning we had brunch. This is something 20’s and 30’s do - so I hear. We met people from the night before at Cashion’s Eat Place. We had Challah French toast. It was delicious. I wish I could recreate it but I know it wouldn’t be that good. So after all that, not mention, cupcakes we took home from Sprinkles (for the kids, wink), it’s time to run! Cheerleading practice started tonight for my daughter. This is a good thing for my running. I run from the park where they practice to a local high school. It’s about a ½ a mile there. It always seems easier to run to some place. Then I run around the track, this is not as motivating to me. Tonight, I ran from the park and two times around for my first mile with a time of 9:48. This is good for me. I know there are lots of people with the 8-minute mile thing going on but I’m always happy to finish a mile in less then 10 minutes. The other 2 miles where nothing to brag about except that 3 miles is always something to brag about. Good running night and the O’s won!

First run at the blog

So, here I am. Runner. Sort of. I started running again. I don't really like running but I like it when I'm done. My favorite place to run is a park where my son skateboards. It's a 1.1 miles around. It's hilly. I use Map My Walk to get me to go faster around. I'm just beating my own time but it's great motivation. Today, I did two miles (I don't run the whole thing but I try). It started to rain so I couldn't do my third mile but...it wasn't raining at the track at the high school so we (my skateboarder and me) stopped there and I got my third mile in. I try to run a couple of times a week. I lost like 15 pounds over the last couple of months (some days 16) through reducing my food and running. I want to stay with it. I thought it would help to write my ups and downs of my runs. We'll see. A blog is a little strange - it's my first go at it - to whom are you writing? Yourself, others and what others want read about my ridiculous runs?