Yes I am still around...

Hello Bloggy Land !!

I apologize for going MIA for sooooo long. I guess life got in the way as some would say. Yeah that isn't exactly why, but it sounds like a good excuse. The reality is, I just got tired of writing and there is a limit on how many times I you can write about a bike ride. So let me give you a brief timeline update of what's been happening in my world since my last post. 

October

For Halloween, my crafty hubby made this awesome cardboard mailbox costume for my son. It was too cute and I couldn't just toss it out. I noticed that it was a perfect fit over the trash basket in his room. So now it is disguised as a mailbox trashcan. 

November

The month of November went by so fast it seemed. That was the month that started my exercise & diet "vacation". For the month I ran one time with a grand total of 1.12 miles. It was quite a pathetic run that involved a lot more walking than running. I think after that run I gave up and said "F*ck it".

We had our running clubs 2nd birthday at the local running store. Our group has grown so much over the past 2 years & it was nice to see everyone in non-running clothes.

Thanksgiving was a nice time spent with family. My brother and his girlfriend drove up from Florida & we talked about staying at their place over Christmas. The plan was to surprise the kids with a visit to Orlando for Christmas.

December

I did pretty much ALL of my Christmas shopping online which was so nice. Amazon was my best friend and I think I will have to do that again next year.

On Saturday the 20th, we set out for our long drive to Orlando. Luckily we were able to stop and spend the night with my parents in Charleston, SC.  They head south every year in their RV for the winter and just so happen to be staying in SC which made for the perfect "pit stop" for us. Thank goodness their RV is nice and big.

We left the next morning and got to Orlando a few hours later. The weather was great & we took the kids to Wonderworks & Univeral Studios. I really enjoyed seeing the Hogwarts Castle, riding the roller coasters and drinking the oh so yummy Butterbeer!

January 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Another New Year has come & time to make some new resolutions  GOALS!! I quit calling them resolutions because I cannot seem to "resolve" to get rid of this spare tire each year. So I am calling it a goal. I know that sounds silly. I guess it's something about the word resolution, it just doesn't work for me. 

I re-started Couch to 5K and am on week 2. So far it has been ok. My knee is still giving me issues so instead of running every other day I have been running every 2 days, I'm hoping by starting out slow & as the milage increases each week it doesn't get any worse. I cannot have this knee issue screw up my race in April. I am on a relay team and we are running the North Face Endurance Challenge Marathon. I am really more annoyed with my pace. I know I shouldn't be worried about pace but it really sucks to see especially knowing where it once was. It's going to take some time to get back to where I was so I am just taking it one day at a time. 

Night Rider Lumina 380

My bike riding has gone from 3-4 days a week to 1-2 days due to the loss of daylight hours. My brother and I were talking about this last week & he recommended getting a light. Yesterday I was online & saw that the LBS (local bike shop) had their headlights on sale. I went over during my lunch hour and checked out what they had in stock. I didn't want to spend more than $50 but ended up buying this one for $66. It was orignially priced at $89.99 & was on sale for $69.99 but I got an additional $7.00 off for their lunchtime shop and save promo. SCORE !!

The rest of the day went so slooooooow, 4pm couldn't get here fast enough. Don't you hate it when that happens? I felt like a kid at Christmas wanting to test out my new toy but was forced to wait. 

Installation was very easy. No tools required because it came with it's own built in mount & all I had to do was screw it down tight. 

I took off riding just as the sun was setting & the first 5+ miles seemed very easy which was not normal on this path because it's a very subtle uphill grade. I got to the halfway point without issue & turned around to head back. Holy cow it was HARD! The last 5 + miles were met with nothing but wind. My legs were certainly feeling the burn & it was as if I was barely even moving. By this time of course, it was pitch black with exception of the occasional light from the cars going by. 

Just to get an idea of how bright this light is here's a picture. The light comes with 3 settings (low/medium/high) & this was taken on the low setting. Pardon the blurry picture, it's not the greatest but I have to pat myself on the back because trying to take a picture while traveling by bike on a pitch black path takes some skill- LOL. 

I got back to the car, loaded the bike & uploaded my ride data to Garmin Connect. I was pleasantly surprised to have averaged a 16 mph ride. I guess one of the benefits of riding in the dark is that I am not constantly looking at my watch.

Army Ten-Miler water station 8

I was really, really bummed mad that I had to sell my bib but I knew there was no way I would be able to complete the race without causing further pain or damage to my already crappy leg and since I couldn't run, I went ahead and signed up to volunteer.

The running group I belong to was manning a water station & needed volunteers. I wanted to see my friends at the race & figured this was a way I could do that plus help out. I volunteered at this race in 2012 and it was a lot of fun. I know your thinking that is crazy I mean, who would want to wake up at 4:45am on their day off & go drive 20 minutes to the Pentagon to set up & hand out water for 35,000 runners and then stay after to clean it all up? Yep that would be me.  

The morning started off crazy. I got up on time and was out the door when I realized the parking pass I needed was sitting on the kitchen counter - doh! I had to turn around and drive back to the house which wasted 15 minutes. I ended up getting to the location a little late & they were already in the process of setting up the tables. The morning was chilly but it was not as bad as the last time I volunteered. 

Our group was paired up with the guys stationed at Ft. Myer's Delta Company. We decided to wear colorful wigs so that anyone running with our club (Moms Run This Town) would be able to spot us easily among the other volunteers.

The way it was set up is each table had a couple of large plastic blue Rubbermaid trash cans that were lined with plastic bags. The water truck would come and fill each one up. We used plastic pitchers to dip & fill all the cups that were lined up & stacked on the tables. Some of the trash cans were water filled and others were a gatorade mixture. This was the first time I've seen the water truck come.  In 2012 when I showed up to volunteer they had everything ready so all we had to do was hand out the water. When J & and I volunteered at the Marine Corps 17.75 race, we had a truck stacked with boxes of 1 gallon water cartons and that is how we filled up the cups.

We had a brief meeting with the officer in charge just prior to the race start to go over what our plan of action was. Love this picture with all our colorful wigs standing in front of a bunch of Army guys.

I got one of the guys to take a group picture of us after the meeting.

Loved this Captain America man running with his sheild & how could I not miss Santa Claus running!

And perhaps the most inspiring photo of the day were these ladies. Despite being last, they were determined to finish. We were almost done cleaning up our area when they rounded the corner. All of us stopped and applauded & cheered for them. I think the overwhelming support must have gotten to her. It was quite inspiring to see & truly gives meaning to the phrase "Never Give Up"

EDIT: I forgot about the other SD card in my camera with pictures on it. So here are a few more inspiring photos from the race

A day at the animal shelter

Yesterday, little guy and I visited the local animal shelter. We hadn't visited in awhile & we had nothing else to do. I packed up my camera and we drove over there to visit and capture all the cute furry friends waiting to be adopted. You can tell they loved the attention. It's sad to see them all behind cages & I wish I could find homes for all of them.

This little guy was laying next to the door purring and loving all the attention but when I got the camera closer to him he got up and immediately retreated to the back of the cage. I think when he saw the lens eye moving from me zooming in, it freaked him out a little. I guess he thought it was a huge eyeball looking at him.

This little one was a sweetie. He kept meowing and rubbing his body back and forth.

This one was a bit CRAZY. His paws were out trying to grab at anyone and anything who walked past his cage. 

cute little kitten

After visiting the cats we moseyed on over to where the dogs were. I think they were in the middle of feeding because there were only a couple kennels with dogs.

A group of the smaller dogs howling and yapping at us.

He was the calmest of them all. I am sure he will be adopted quick. Such a cutie with the sweetest look on his face.

Donuts & a catch up post

Hello to crickets everyone who reads my crap. Goodbye September and welcome October. I cannot believe it's been over a week since I last posted something. I really love this time of year with the cooler weather and beautiful fall colors but I hate that we are losing daylight.

So here is my catch up post. 

1. I restarted food logging on MyFitness Pal and things have been going well. It always amazes me how you think that you are doing good with monitoring your calorie intake without logging only to realize how much you are REALLY eating after you actually have to log everything. Umm... reality check ! 

2. I have missed the last two group bike rides & there are only a couple left until the season ends. They also moved the starting time to 5:30 pm which makes even more of a crunch for me to make it on time but I am going to try to make next weeks ride for sure.

3. I deferred my Richmond Half Marathon to 2015. It sucks but it was something I had to do,

sad that I'm unable to run it this year

4. I made these Pumpkin Glazed baked donuts. I got the recipe here & they turned out pretty well for being baked. 

5. My little one is oblivious to anything while eating his ice cream drumstick & viewing his Gameboy

6. I was Facebook free for 6 days and I actually enjoyed it. I went on it and viewed some posts but that was about it.

7. I signed a year contract at Anytime Fitness again. Now I have 24 hour access to the gym and it's 5 minutes away from my house. 

Ok that's about it. 

This weekend is the Army 10-Miler. A race that I registered for a few months ago & cannot run because of my knee. I had to sell my registration but I did sign up to volunteer to help with a water station. I may bring my camera along to snap some pictures of the runners. 

Breakfast meal prep

I finally made these delicious breakfast muffins last night.

I've seen various recipes for them on cooking blogs and on Pinterest but never made the time to actually cook my own. So last night I made some & I must say they turned out really good. I mixed up 7 eggs with a little milk & poured a little bit of the mixture in the bottom of each muffin cup & set the rest of the mixture to the side for later. I placed a few pieces of fresh spinach on top of the egg mixture & then proceeded to chop up some onion, green bell pepper and a tomato.

I took out some breakfast turkey sausage & fried up about half of the tube. I also fried up the onions,peppers & tomato. Once all that was cooked I put a couple spoonfuls of it on top of the spinach. Then I poured the rest of the egg mixture over top of everything & baked it for 25 minutes at 350°.

I brought an extra one into the office. My coworker seemed to approve too. I will definitely be making & packing these little yummy creations for my weekly breakfasts.

Lego's, meal prep & a Facebook free weekend

Well I survived a Facebook free weekend & overall it was nice. The only bad part of my weekend was having to stay at home on both days. The Hubs was supposed to work on my car Saturday & by 3pm he said it was too late in the day to start. That was kind of annoying because most of the day was wasted indoors when I could have actually done something else.

Well it wasn't a total waste because while inside the house I was able to spy on my little guy who was busy at work creating a Lego battlefield. I love watching him use his imagination and create things. It's funny because I stood behind the door just listening to him talking to himself, pretending that he was in the middle of this epic battle. Before opening the door, I ran down stairs & grabbed my camera to take some pictures of what he made.

He said it was a war with the boat guys verses the Storm Troopers.

the boat guys

Sunday Hubs woke up early and spent the entire day fixing my car. I offered to help but he said no thanks & that I would only be in the way- LOL. I love that man! 

random picture of this Toad outside that I almost stepped on

I spent the morning watching some cooking show which gave me the idea to make it a food prep day. I pulled out some boneless chicken and a couple pieces of frozen salmon. I seasoned the salmon with blackened old bay & the chicken with Mrs. Dash. I wrapped each of them up in individual aluminum foil packs & baked them. I also roasted a pan full of some bell peppers, potatoes, carrots & mushrooms. I just sprinkled them with minced garlic, salt & pepper & cooked them with some coconut oil. I was definitely in a cooking mood because I also made a casserole of macaroni & cheese and a casserole of spinach quiche. I finished with cooking and clean up after 4pm. I was so ready to sit down but I was so happy to have most of my lunches packed and ready for the week. I think I am going to try and make this a regular thing. Notice the word "try"