Randomy Randomness Part 2

Here you go... some random things I would like to share! This is Part 2. Don't miss Part 1, which I posted yesterday!

I am now a smug person who makes soup.

A couple days ago, I posted on Facebook about how I want to be the type of person who makes soup.

Well, it turns out that so many wonderful people in my life make soup! And they all commented on my post with very encouraging words about how I TOO COULD MAKE SOUP. Boy did I feel empowered... so empowered that the very next day I went to Aldi and got everything I needed to make a yummy chicken noodle soup! It took one call to my friend Andrea and a few more encouraging words from Facebook, and I made that soup!!!!

Chrissy helped.

I am now a smug person who makes soup. I also do puzzles. My real age is 33 but apparently I act about 74!!!!

Sweet Valley Twins

I am rereading a book I read in middle school. It is from the Sweet Valley Twins series. I like rereading books from my childhood, and since they are all packed in boxes in my basement, they are easily available to me! This particular book creeped me out as a kid and it is still creeping me out now! One thing I think is interesting (I noticed this while rereading several books from my childhood) is that the way I envision the stories in my mind now are the same as when I was a kid! The scenes in the books look exactly the same in my head now as they did years ago. I am sure there is some scientific reason for this. Do you guys know what I am talking about?

Want to see the first pic I ever put on FB?

Paul and I circa 2006. Damn we look young. Also, isn't Paul hot!?

"Stuff"

I try not to buy a lot of "stuff". Sure, you have to buy SOME stuff. Running shoes is STUFF. The outdoor lighting I'm going to talk about later in my post is STUFF. But I tend to feel guilty when I buy new shoes, jewelry, or clothes. I don't know why. I work hard and teach piano lessons, and one of the perks of that is to be able to buy myself things I "want" and don't ultimately NEED. In general, we like to spend out money on experiences rather than STUFF. But we went to the mall two days after Christmas and...

Paul used my upgrade to get himself a Samsung S6 smartphone. 

While he spent an our at the Verizon kiosk, I putzed around the mall and spent some money...

I got a beautiful dress at Express. It was 50% off, so it was $39.50. I don't need this dress but it fit so perfectly that I could not pass it up! Can someone please get married or throw a fancy New Years Eve party so I can wear this? Also, the picture doesn't do it justice!

Holiday scents at Bath and Bodyworks were on sale for $3.50! I got this fun scent called Jingle All the Way. It will last me years!

Remember how I wanted to be the Girl With The Gold Watch? I AM NOW THE GIRL WITH THE GOLD WATCH!

AND THE GIRL WITH THE BIG SUNGLASSES!

AND THE GIRL WITH THE RUBBER WATCH THAT IS WHITE WITH GOLD FLECKS!!

It's like sporty/dressy. I love it.

Watch out, Cumberland Road!

Two days after Christmas, I hit up every store I could think of in efforts to purchase some outdoor holiday lighting at 50% off. Remember those beautiful icicle lights I hung? They lasted for two days and went out!

The inside of our home is decorated to the hilt during the holidays, but the outside gets ignored! This year, I took some Christmas cash my parents gave me and spent it on items that will make our home look like the Griswald's next year! Watch out Cumberland Road, look what we have....

Net lighting for the bushes.

Candy canes to line the carport.

Icicle lights to replace the ones that don't work.

A 3.5 foot blow up Santa and a 5 foot blow up PENGUIN WITH A FUCKING CANDY CANE!!!!!

LED solar powered lights to run across the front of the house. I got eight.

I also stocked up on outdoor extension cords because I truly don't know how the hell all this is going to work...

Tell me something RANDOM!
Do you decorate the outside of your house?
What books from your childhood SCARED you?
Do you make soup? Share a recipe with me please! Something easy...

2015 Highlights!

Goodbye, 2015! In some ways, this wasn't a productive year for me, but in other ways it was. Here are some of the highlights. 

I'm not saying that everything listed is EARTH SHATTERING (It wasn't a very Earth shattering year!) but these are the things that happened that stick out to me.

In February, Paul had his second brain surgery at Johns Hopkins to remove a portion of a brain tumor and get new pathology results. We felt like we had a new lease on life when the results came back to find that he still had a low grade tumor. If you have to a have a brain tumor, you want to it to be low grade!

April provided me with a pull up PR- 6 unassisted pull ups!!!



In June, I got a second opinion on my knee, and was told I have the "knees of a 20 year old". I was glad to have a definitive answer once and for all, but just thinking about the horrible advice/surgery I got from my first doctor at OIP makes me SO ANGRY!

About a week after school let out for the summer, we embarked on a twelve day road trip that took us all over the Southwest and California. It was QUITE the adventure, and it gave us memories that will last a lifetime.

One of the best running related memories from the trip was running up and down the Manitou Incline. It was one of the hardest things I ever did in my life!







Also during the summer, I discovered I have a love of puzzles...



... and fishing/reading dates with Paul! It just shows you're never too old to find a new hobby!





In July, I attended my first Pride festival! Seriously, it's about time!



In August, we spent a weekend in Cape May with friends. We had never been there but we loved it!



Then I started teaching Paul to play the piano.



At the end of October, Paul started an intense 6 weeks of radiation and chemo. He finished during the second week of December. He is tough as SHIT!



Paul and I saw Jerry Seinfeld perform at the Hershey Theater in November. He was HILARIOUS! Also in November, we saw The Book of Mormon. Paul hates musicals, but I knew he would love TBOM. I was right! 

My mom and I saw Joy Behar perform at The Whitaker Center!



In December, I traveled to Florida ALONE and met two of my blogging idols- Ali and Kristina. We all ran Best Damn Race. I didn't have my "best race" but I still got 1st in my age group!

I know a lot of these year in review posts end with a yearly mileage for 2015. I have not tracked my mileage for several years now. I suppose I could go back and add up all my runs from my Weekly Workout Recap posts, but I really don't feel like it!!! Too bad Meg Go Run doesn't have an intern to do it!

Tell me something BIG (or small!) that happened for you in 2015!
Did you discover any new hobbies?
Visit anywhere new?

Running Lately

**I know I was supposed to do my Randomy Randomness Part 2 today but I am saving it for Thursday since I had some running stuff I wanted to get off my chest!** 

Also, this post is really honest, and I am admitting things I think/feel that I am not proud of.

I haven't felt like running much over the past two weeks. I have felt slow, sore, and lazy. I want to want to run. Most days, my body says otherwise.

People keep saying "you have to recover". But BDR was over two weeks ago. Shouldn't I be recovered by now? Part of me is also like, "Recover from what!? I sucked at BDR. It was a race, but I have had faster training runs. I didn't need two weeks to recover from those." (Don't you love how I have to keep telling you how I have had faster training runs? It's because I don't want you to think BDR was the BEST I can do. Ugh, I hate that about me.)

It is hard for me to accept that my body is just not feeling RUNNING right now. I know why this is hard for me to accept. It's because I didn't reach my goal at BDR. If I had reached my goal... If I had simply run 15 seconds per mile faster, it would be so much easier to say, "Okay Megan, you deserve some recovery. And not days. Weeks."

Isn't that silly? I know it is silly. 

My paces have been all over the place lately. While I have hit sub 8 paces and some 9+ paces, most of my runs have been about 20 seconds slower per mile than normal. BUT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. I'M SUPPOSED TO CHILLAX. SO WHY DO I CARE!?

Because I'm a runner, that's why! I guess?

FYI: I usually look at my paces after my run, not during. If I look at my average pace during a run, it is not until I have one mile left to go.

Yesterday, after two days of rest, I decided I was going to run and I was going to LIKE IT. I got dressed, washed my face, brushed my teeth, picked out my clothes, and loaded up my MP3 player. I was hydrated on coffee only and my fuel was the miniature chocolates I ate right before bed... 13 hours beforehand. (This sounds weird but sometimes I run better on an empty stomach! Not always.)

"I'm going to have a good run," I told myself. But it didn't mean I would. After two days of rest, my legs didn't feel good or bad. Like most of my runs lately, I wasn't going to know how I felt until I was actually out there running.

"Just relax baby," Paul told me. "Go for a jog."

"Ew, don't call it a jog!!!" I'm a runner, damn it!

Dressed in shorts, a long sleeve, fleece vest, gloves, and a buff that covered my ears, I hit the streets. The thermometer had read 40 degrees but the wind was biting. It must have been below freezing because less than 30 seconds into my run, little tiny balls of freezing rain started coming down. They bounced off the road, my nose, and my lips. I stuck my tongue out and caught one. It felt like little electrical shocks as they hit my face. Thankfully it stopped after about five minutes!

As my legs warmed up, I thought about how I shouldn't be worried about how far or how fast I was running. My plan after the half marathon was to CHILLAX. Having no goals or expectations was the whole point of chillaxing. But what I was not prepared for was the fact that for most of the past two weeks, I didn't even feel like running. What I wasn't prepared for was that I may not want to run.

However, yesterday was one of those magical days. Maybe it was the weather. Maybe it was the fact that I had rested for two days. Maybe it was the fact that I had an excellent podcast to listen to (Terry Gross interviewing Gloria Steinem). Whatever it was, things were clicking. I felt strong and fast. Running wasn't an effort, and I enjoyed every step. Five miles turned into six miles. I didn't look down at my average pace until I was on my last mile. I admit I purposefully sped up at that point! Judging by my ambitious pace, a cool down mile was in order.

Splits: 8:13, 8:06, 7:47, 7:41, 7:36, 7:22
Cool Down: 8:05

(I know my cool down mile is faster than my first two workout miles but that's what happens when my legs get moving- it is hard to slow them down too much!)

I stretched for 20 minutes after my workout. I knew my IT band would hurt for the rest of the day (it had ached for the past couple days for some odd reason... even though I have barely been running.) But despite the anticipated soreness, by spirits were high!

I had the yummiest post run meal... a spicy turkey dog!

I know I had a good run yesterday, but that didn't mean my next run would be good. I am just going to have to take running as it comes right now. Yesterday was my day. Today might not be, and that's okay.

Can you relate to any of this?

Randomy Randomness!

I love these posts! It's where I can just spew out all kinds of random things I would like to tell you, yet I don't have enough substance to warrant each item to get their own blog post. So here you go... some random things I would like to share! This is only Part 1... For some reason I have a lot to say! Check out Part 2 tomorrow!

Who is Mrs. Paul Cooney?

I do not enjoy getting mail addressed to "Megan Cooney" let alone to "Mr. and Mrs. Paul Cooney". With it being the holiday season, we have gotten a lot of Christmas cards, and while many people know how to address our cards correctly, there is just as many that do it incorrectly! These individuals are actual friends and family members, so it surprises me that they don't know what my name is. I am very thankful to be getting holiday greetings, but I find it off putting that people take the time to send a card but don't take the time to address it correctly.

How should our mail be labeled? If it is only for me, "Megan Michael". If it is for both of us, "Paul Cooney and Megan Michael". Simple. Thank you to those who take the time to address our mail correctly!

Some of these senders are on the naughty list...
Actually, if you do see your card here, it doesn't mean you didn't address it correctly. I didn't keep track of the people who called me Mrs. Paul Cooney because I threw the envelop away as fast as possible!

"NO, I need BOWS!"

I love wrapping presents, and I love purchasing gift wrap, tissue paper, bows, etc. I generally stock up on wrapping supplies during the after Christmas sales when it is 80% discounted. I may have stocked up too well, because I have not needed to buy any wrapping supplies for the past couple years now! However, while wrapping presents this year, I noticed I was running low on bows. But that was it. The only thing I really needed was bows.

A couple nights before Christmas, Paul and I were in his Man Cave and somehow, we started talking about gift wrapping. He flippantly said, "You have a ton of wrapping stuff, you probably don't need to get any during the after Christmas sales this year."

"NO, I need BOWS!" I said. No, I SHOUTED, (apparently) because Paul started laughing hysterically and did his famous Megan Michael impression. "NO, I need BOWS!" he screamed, mocking me. We both lost it and laughed for like five minutes straight. First, I had no idea how loud and steadfast I was with my bow comment, and second, I love when Paul makes fun of me and does a Megan Michael impression.

(Paul's Megan Michael impression includes sitting up very straight, bugging his eyes out, and leaning forward just a little bit.)

I got my bows!

Christmas Cards

Many friends and relatives send us Christmas cards (although maybe I won't get any next year due to my rant about addressing the cards wrong!), but I also get ones from students. I love when they write something nice inside. For instance, one of my piano students wrote:

It is just so touching!

I would like to show you Paul's favorite card that I got from a student this year:

I am not sure who it is from because... well look inside...

Blank! Kids are funny!

 Puzz-Puzz!

When I do a puzzle Paul asks me if I'm doing a "Puzz Puzz". That's our code name for a puzzle. I swear, we have our very own language at this point! I got several puzzles for Christmas and I have already spent a lot of time on my Puzz Puzz!

This one was FUN! It was a gift from Paul. My MIL has dibs on it next,

but who would like to try it after her? Seriously, you are welcome to borrow it!

I Hate the Elf on the Shelf.

There is nothing more annoying to me on Facebook (besides dead deer pictures during hunting season) than Elf on the Shelf posts. HE IS NOT CUTE. Your little pictures and notes you set up with your elf are NOT CLEVER. GET A LIFE!!!

I think I just offended a lot of people right now. I am so sorry. I am sure you feel the same about my cat pictures! Except the difference is, Christmas and Jelly are cute and your dumb elf isn't.

Forrest Gump

When I have long breaks off work, I go through the guide and DVR movies. I DVR'ed Forrest Gump because I hadn't seen it in a long time. Wow. I forgot how good that movie was. I pretty much bawled my eyes out the whole way through. It reminded me that Tom Hanks had a GENIUS performance in that movie. I almost want to watch it again, it was that good.

Tell me something RANDOM!
Does the Elf on the Shelf annoy you?
Do you love Forrest Gump?
Local friends, who wants to try the circle puzzle?