Finally, a post about running. (AND A 30 SECOND SURVEY FOR YOU TO TAKE!)

I realized I barely talk about running on my blog anymore. So far this year, besides my Weekly Workouts, I only posted 11 blogs related to running. That's not a lot considering I post every day. Only 17%, to be exact.  But I guess you all don't care too much as you keep coming back each day to see what's going on up in here!

Would you like me to talk about running more or are you okay with me just talking about whatever I feel like, whether running related or not? I really like that my blog covers a bunch of topics and is not ALL about running. I have a lot to say, and much of it is not running related!

Take this survey to let me know what you like the most about Meg Go Run and what you like the least. The survey takes 30 seconds!

I intend to keep on blogging in my own personal style, but I am curious to see what people dig and don't dig. I suppose since I blog every day it's okay if there's topics some don't enjoy...

Okay, so what is my relationship like with running right now? I am just running for fun. I truly love running. I don't race a lot and right now I have no desire to race. I'm just enjoying the weather, my podcasts, and plodding along, collecting endorphins.

I haven't done speed work in months. My workouts are for the pure enjoyment of running and the confidence and strength it gives me. I do want to run trail more often and I intend to make more of an effort to do so.

So that's what's going on with me and running right now! Sorry that it's not more exciting...

Please take this 30 second survey to let me know about what topics you like/dislike on Meg Go Run!

What's your relationship with running right now?

Is there a certain topic you would like to hear more about or something I have never covered on Meg Go Run? Let me know in the comments!

Weekend Wrap Up!

Hey readers! If you have 30 seconds to spare, take this survey to let me know what you want to hear more about and less about. The survey takes 30 seconds! I'll explain my reason for the survey in tomorrow's post. I just figured I'd advertise the survey every day this week so hopefully a lot of people take it! It's only two questions. :)

Happy Monday! I am looking forward to a hopefully awesome, healthy week. We had a really fun weekend!  Here's what we were up to...

Unfortunately I started feeling really crappy on Thursday afternoon and I woke up on Friday feeling just as crappy. But of course I went for a run. If I was going to be sick, I may as well at least collect some endorphins before the day began...

I spent nearly $5 on the way to work to get a large coffee and a Quest Bar. I had already eaten my Cheerios but I was still really hungry. There's not much I'm willing to eat from this particular gas station, so a $2.99 Quest Bar it was. 

Here is my review... It was quite filling considering it was only 190 calories. It was REALLY sweet, which is saying a lot coming from me! It tasted fine, just like you would expect a cookie dough flavored protein bar to taste like. My mouth got really tired from trying to chew it! Overall, it was good, but $2.99!?

Work was really busy. I had three double classes because we are rehearsing for our show in April and four "normal" classes. Around lunch time there were some crazy snow showers!

Indoor recess. :( Teachers hate it too...

On the way home from work, I spent $6.65 on two vanilla milkshakes and two apple pies from McDonald's! I was excited to surprise Paul with the treat!

Chrissy wished I had brought him dessert too...

Look what Paul did. He folded my pjs and put a little note on them! How sweet is that?

That night, we caught up on Bates Motel. What a great series! If you have not seen it yet, it's on Netflix and the 5th and final season is airing right now!

I slept for 12 hours! It felt great. When I woke up, I didn't feel 100%, but I felt about 90%, so that's pretty good. The kitties slept with me all morning. Ready to get up, Jelly?

I went for a 9 miler that wasn't as cold or as windy as I was anticipating. I felt awesome the entire time. My paces have been getting slower and slower lately, so I was surprised to see an 8:17 pace for this one!

Then Paul and I drove up to Sunbury and ate at Penn's Tavern. It's a historic building with amazing ambiance and food. I'm going to write more about our adventure on Saturday in an upcoming post. But we had a great time at dinner and even swung by the mall afterwards for some doo-dads!

I went for an 8 miler that was thoroughly enjoyable. It was brisk, but sunny with no wind. I had an awesome True Crime Garage podcast to listen to, and I felt pretty strong. I ended up the same pace as the day before. Score!

Yup, same outfit as the day before!

Then Paul and I went to see East Pennsboro High School's musical Little Shop of Horrors. Four of my former piano students performed in the show as well as many of my former elementary music students. It is so cool to see the kids all grown up and performing confidently onstage. I always feel weird going up to them after the show because I feel like they won't remember me! Which I realize is silly, because even though I may look a little older than when they were in elementary school, I still look basically the same. They're the ones that changed! Luckily, they all seemed happy to see me.

On our way to the show, we stopped at Cornerstone Coffeehouse in Camp Hill to sign some petitions to help some Cumberland County Democratic Candidates get on the ballot! It felt good to do something.

I had a lot of blogging to do when I got home. I have some good posts coming up for you in the next two weeks!

Omg... I DIDN'T POST ANY CAT PICS YET!!!

SO MANY QUESTIONS FOR YOU TODAY!!!

Do you like Quest bars?
Do you watch Bates Motel?
Does your partner ever leave you sweet little notes?
Locals, have you been to Penn's Tavern?

Our Toilet Broke & My Dad is MacGyver

On Thursday night, our toilet broke. It stopped filling with water and we couldn't flush it.

Paul said there was probably one flush left and that he'd let me have that flush so I wouldn't have to use the basement bathroom in the middle of the night when I would inevitably wake up to pee. (I was scared if I got up and walked all the way to the basement that I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep.) 

Well, of course when I went to the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning (get it, wee!!??) the toilet wouldn't flush. 

THAT JUST GROSSES ME OUT SO BAD!!!! All I did was pee, but I just could not relax and almost couldn't fall back asleep knowing there was an un-flushed toilet in the house.

The next morning, I felt very uncomfortable putting my make up on in the bathroom. Just knowing what was in the toilet gave me the heebeejeebees!

Luckily, Paul asked my dad, aka MacGyver, to come over and fix it.

I wanted the toilet flushed before my dad got there, so I Googled how to do it (I knew there was a way to do it by dumping water into it!) and let Paul know that it could be done.

This is a picture of our texts.

I do not know how to take screen shots!!!

It takes a gallon of water. Damn. I use so many gallons of water every day just going to the bathroom. It's crazy.

In case you wondered what was wrong with the toilet, it was the fill valve. We also needed a new flapper. Don't ask me what the heck those things do...

Well, our toilet flushes and all is right on Cumberland Road again. Thanks, Daddio!

Did you ever blow up a toilet and then it wouldn't flush?
Have you ever fixed a toilet?
Does your dad still help you even though you are a grown ass adult?

Weekly Workouts

Let me start by saying I am soooo confused. I don't check my blog stats a lot, but yesterday I did. I noticed that 190 people read my Weekly Workout post from February 11th. What the heck!? No one ever reads my workout recaps! (I don't blame them. I fail to make them interesting.) Why did so many people read that one!? Just to put things into perspective, my Saturday workout posts normally get like 40-50 views... It's a MYSTERY!

I had a hard time writing this week's recap because I normally fill in my workouts as the week goes on. But for some reason, I forgot to do that this week and didn't start writing it until Thursday night! I hope I can remember what the heck I did!

Saturday- Lifting back @ Planet Fitness. It had been a long time since I actually lifted at the gym. I was pleased to see I had gotten stronger. Unfortunately, I was sore ALL WEEK from this workout! I think that just goes to show I need to get my ass back to the gym so I can use the things I can't use at home... TRX, cables, etc...

Sunday- 7 miles. It was quite cold!

Monday- 6 miles. I do not remember this run, but I know I ran.

Tuesday- Lifting chest @ home. I added 5x1 minute forearm plants at the end of my chest workout. It's so hard to do them after all the shoulder presses I do!

Wednesday- 6 miles. This run was awesome until a little prick at the bus stop tried to scared me. Don't worry, I confronted him.

Thursday- Lifting back/chest @ home. There was a wind advisory with 30+ mph gusts. I wanted to run, but I also didn't want to die. I lifted in my warm house while watching Morning Joe. We get MSNBC now! Apparently, we had it all along (and some other channels) but they just never worked... so we didn't think we got those channels. I'm all kinds of pissed at Verizon right now.

Friday- 6 miles. I was scared I'd see the bus stop kid again, but I didn't see him.

How were your workouts this week?

Friday 5 - Running Hacks!

Hey all! I am linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for Friday 5 2.0!

Today I am actually going to follow the assigned theme! The theme is "Running Hacks". I have been running for over a decade. Surely I have hacked it by now? 

Oh man... 

Okay, here are my running hacks.

 I feel like this is going to be lame.

1. I hacked how to save time! On Sundays, I lay out all of my workout clothes for the week. It is nice to not have to "think" in the morning. Yes, this requires checking the weather, etc, but that is okay!

Oh wow, it's going to be a good week if I get to wear shorts every day!

2. I hacked how to avoid (sometimes) single digit temps!) During the winter, I schedule my lifting days on the three coldest/windiest days of the week. Since I'm not training for anything in particular, the days I run and the days I lift don't really matter. I can schedule them around the weather.

3. I definitely hacked how to save money. In January, I bought 7 pairs of Mizuno Wave Riders when I found them on sale for $55. The funny thing is that when I was storing them in my closet, I found another new pair I forgot about! I don't have to buy shoes for like 2 years now!

4. I hacked how to pee without pulling down my shorts. Just squat and pull the crotch to the side. So easy! I haven't hacked how to do it with pants yet.

5. Okay, let's be honest, it's Thursday night, I just taught school all day and then I taught 6 piano lessons... I have a headache, sore throat, I'm starving, and I just want to go to bed! If there is anything else I hacked about running, I am surely not going to think of it right now. All I know is that Paul is about to serve me homemade chili with Red Lobster biscuits (from a box) and I'm about to cry from happiness.

Tell me one of your running hacks!
What's the most amount of shoes you ever ordered? 
Can you pee without pulling down your shorts?

I Hate Little Pricks

Full Disclosure: I asked Suzy to come up with a title for this blog post and she suggested "Bus Slop". Unfortunately, I wanted something MEANER!!!!!!! I came up with something really mean, but it would probably make my mom uncomfortable, so I compromised with the title I have now. But I feel bad because now I can probably never ask Suzy for help with a blog post title again because I didn't use her wonderful suggestion. Sorry, Suzy! :( I am not worthy.

My run on Wednesday morning was nearly perfect! It was 54 degrees, so I wore shorts and a short sleeve. The fact that I wasn’t wearing three layers of clothing made me feel lithe and fast, but overall I just had more pep in my step than I have had in a couple weeks.

Lately I have been venturing over to a large business park for my morning runs. After 8+ years, I am finally bored running loop dee doops around my neighborhood! I normally only go over to the business park for longer weekend runs, so running there on a weekday morning magically puts me in a better mood because I associate that route with the WEEKEND. Isn’t that weird?

I’ve been dealing with a little bit of a PIMA for a couple days that hasn’t been getting worse but hasn’t really been getting better either. On this run, it was relatively quiet so that put me in a good mood too! (PIMAs always confuse me… part of me doesn’t want to stretch/roll it and “mess” with it but then part of me thinks I should. I still can’t figure out what works for my body yet in regards to PIMAs because when I get them, they pop up totally out of the blue and seem to disappear out of the blue too. I have not been able to decipher the rhyme or reason yet, but I’m working on it!)

All this blabbering is basically just setting up for you the fact that I had a very enjoyable run…

… until mile 5.94. I was just about to complete my 6 miles and walk the last block or so back to my house when I ran past a bus stop. It was still early, so there were only two teenagers waiting there- a couple of boys. Just as I passed by them, one of the boys screamed “AH!!!!” at me, as loud as he possibly could.

It startled me but I wasn’t scared. I turned around and stared down the boy who screamed. “Why would you do that?” I demanded in what was surely my teacher voice.

The shitty little teenager looked dumbstruck. “Do what?” he asked. He had the same look on his face my first graders have when they are lying so they don’t get in trouble.

It took me about three seconds to decide what to say. I could just turn and run away. I could go up to him and introduce myself so he could begin to understand that he is yelling at a PERSON and not an OBJECT. But then I decided, no, he doesn’t get to meet me. He doesn’t deserve to meet me. So I said exactly what  I really, really wanted to say.

“Grow the FUCK UP!” I shouted at him. Then I turned around and finished my run.

I was so angry that I wanted to keep running, but I made myself stop.

I truly want to know why *some* men/boys think it’s okay to harass women?

What would have you done?
Do men/boys ever harass you when you run? 

I ALMOST caused a car accident on the way home from work...

... and it was probably my fault.

Let's cut to the chase: I am FINE. Everyone is FINE. I did not hit anyone or wreck my car. But Monday wasn't a very good day of driving for me.

First of all, I left for work at my normal time on Monday morning. Usually I get to work at 7:45 and sit in the car until 7:53. I try to be in the parking lot with plenty of time to spare. But for some reason, even though I left for work at my normal time, I found myself about 5 minutes away from work and it was 7:50! I didn't understand how I was running so much later than normal. I really needed to be at work on time, so I picked up my speed. I drove faster than normal... faster than I probably should have been driving. Luckily I got to work with about 20 seconds to spare. Whew!

It was on the way HOME when things got hairy. I take a back road home, so I am not on any highways or anything. But like most people who drive the same route day in and day out, I zone out. Do you ever do that? You drrive home from work and not remember anything? How is it that we are able to drive on autopilot like that?

On Monday afternoon, as I was driving home, I suddenly saw that the car in front of me had braked. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this until I was much too close to the car. I SLAMMED, I mean, SLAMMED on my brakes. All my bags and stuff flew off the passenger seat onto the floor. My tires squealed LOUDLY and my car slid forward and fishtailed. I don't know how I didn't end up hitting the car in front of me, but somehow I didn't.

I was literally shaking after this happened and I was embarrassed. I do not ride people's asses, so one would think that even if the car in front of me had stopped abruptly, if I had been paying attention, I should have been able to stop in time without literally slamming on my breaks. I guess I was zoned out... I am so ashamed.

This is a reminder to me that I have to focus more when I am driving. I guess it is kind of hard after work.. After teaching all day, my mind is just a pile of junk and I have a hard time concentrating. Well I need to hold my shit together for 20 more minutes so I can get home in one piece!

Did you ever rear end anyone? 
Have you ever gotten rear ended?