1.5 days.

Last night, Paul and I were sitting on the back porch playing cards. I told him I didn't have a blog post written for the next day. I asked him if it would be weird if I wrote a post about bird poop.

"I guess if you're desperate..." he said. 

I guess I am desperate! All the stuff I want to write about... I can't write about! I mean, I have at least four really good, deep blog post topics but they're not things I can post on here!

"Remember that time a seagull pooped on you while we were on the Atlantic City boardwalk?" I asked him.

"Oh yeah, I totally got shat on," Paul nodded.

I went back in my blog archives to find the post about our Atlantic City trip, and when I read it, I learned that we both got pooped on while we were on the boardwalk!

Wow, we were BABIES in 2013!

Look, I'm holding my flip phone!

Okay... changing topics. Counting today, I have 1.5 more days with students. I am really at the end of my rope. I am still teaching but the students are acting like none of the rules matter anymore. I keep saying, "School is over on Friday. It is NOT Friday!" Sometimes when I am correcting the students, I sound EXACTLY like my mother!

I'm really ready for summer. I need to REBOOT myself. I am just falling into a rut and I am not happy. I wake up in the morning and I dread the day. I get home from work and I'm too tired to do anything I enjoy. I'm in a funk, and honestly, I've been in a funk for like two months now.

Sorry this is a random post!

Have you ever been to Atlantic City?
Did a bird ever poop on you?
Is there anything you say where you sound exactly like your mom?

"Bless you" & Seinfeld

This past weekend I spent a lot of time with my family. While Paul and I were chatting with our cousin Eden, she sneezed about 5 times in the span of two minutes. Neither Paul or I said "Bless you." 

It felt so awkward not to say "Bless you!" Finally, my dad walked past us, heard Eden sneeze, and said "Bless you." "Thank you!" she said. I was relieved. Someone finally said it! 

It was time to explain to Eden that Paul decided to try not to say "Bless you" for a little while. The reason? It seems like a very old tradition that doesn't make sense. 

During the plague, people said "Bless you" because it was a surefire way to know that someone was very sick. But nowadays, people sneeze for lots of benign reasons... allergies, common cold, smells, seeing sunlight... Another reason people said the phrase because they felt like if someone sneezed and had their mouths open, demons could fly in. Now, I don't believe in demons, and even if I did, I don't think they're going to fly into someone's mouth while they sneeze.

Eden laughed and thought it was funny that we decided not to say the phrase. "The real test is if I'm in an elevator with a little old lady and she sneezes," Paul said. "I don't think I'll be able to not say it if that happens!"

The more I think about it, the more I think it is silly to phase out "Bless you." I mean, it's a nice thing to say, so why not say it? Just like "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays". We say nice things to people because we want to be nice and spread cheer! 

It sounds like a Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm episode, doesn't it? I can picture Larry David deciding he no longer is going to say "Bless you". People get offended. Things are awkward. Comedy ensues.

It turns out it sort of was a Seinfeld episode. Jerry suggested there should be an alternative to saying "Bless you" after someone sneezes, and instead he starts saying, "You're so good looking."

Then we found out that Eden and her boyfriend never saw Seinfeld! But they have seen Curb and they like that show. I told them they have to watch Seinfeld and it doesn't matter that the how is old. The humor in it is timeless! I'm so jealous they never saw Seinfeld. Now they have like nine seasons of an awesome television show they can watch!

Try not saying "Bless you" the next time someone sneezes... it will feel REALLY weird. It's hard not to say it!

Is there any outdated tradition we still do that you think should be phased out? (I'm NOT saying "Bless you" should be phased out.)

Would you be mad if someone didn't say "Bless you" when you sneezed?

Do you think young adults would think Seinfeld is funny even though it is now and older show?

Just some things...

1. Somehow, I got poison ivy all over the tops of my feet and up the front of my legs. I have no clue how I could have gotten it. The first couple dots on my legs popped up on Friday night. I did yard work on Sunday, but I didn't see poison. But I was barefoot, which makes me think at least what I got on my feet was on that day. . But here we go, I'll have it for like two weeks now.

2. Last week, my SIL, Debby, took me shopping for flowers for the front of my house. I know nothing about flowers so I told her she was in charge and I'd get whatever she told me to. I got some cone flowers, zinnias, lavender, and two packets of just some random wild flower seeds. Some of the flowers are popping up already and they are very colorful. It's going to look really nice!

3. Remember how last week I was having lots of random aches and pains and even thought I was getting plantar fasciitis? Well, I definitely am not getting PF (but I will now because I just put out in the universe that I'm not) but I am still a little creaky in the hip areas. I'm stretching, foam rolling, and only doing about 3 miles but not every day.

4. Most of my garden looks good. I even have a pepper already! But my mint is droopy, one cucumber looked dead just the day after I planted it, and one of my pepper plants looks dead. Do you think I should buy knew ones or just keep watering these and see what happens?

Sad cucumber.

Sad pepper.

HAPPY PEPPER!

5. I binged Season 2 of 13 Reasons Why. Paul and I watched one episode on Thursday and I didn't know if I wanted to continue. I am so over Hannah Baker drama. But on Sunday night, I stayed up until 5:00am Monday morning watching the next 9 episodes. Then I watched the rest on Monday. A couple non spoiler comments... Clay's face still looks yellow, Tony still annoys the crap out of me to the point he makes me want to vomit, and if I had even 5% of the drama these kids had in high school I wouldn't have made it out alive...

What's going on with you?

I don't feel like writing a Weekend Wrap Up.

During my run yesterday, I kept wondering how I was possibly going to write a Weekend Wrap Up this week. I didn't feel like writing about what I actually had to do this weekend. 

My Grandma passed away on Wednesday. This weekend was spent with family. We said goodbye to Grandma and celebrated her life.

I don't want to dive into how wonderful my Grandma was on my blog because I feel like my Grandma is much too special to be memorialized on a silly running blog.

The last thing I'll say is that I don't know if I'll ever write anything else on this subject on my blog. But that's not because it's not important. Sometimes it's the things that are MOST important that are too painful to write about.

I have issues.

The third grade classrooms at my school hatch chicks. On Friday, the chicks were in their boxes in the office, waiting to get picked up to go who knows where. When I went into the office that morning to do my laminating, I could hear the cheeping from the chicks. I looked in the boxes. They were so cute!

But one chick was in a box all by itself. It was huddled in the corner. I could see it was breathing but it's head was down and it wasn't moving. Someone explained to me that the chick had a hurt leg so it had to be away from the other chicks. I noticed it's food wasn't near him. I asked if I should move the food closer to the chick so it could eat, but apparently the chick wasn't eating food anyway so it didn't matter. If the chick was hurt and refusing to eat, it was probably going to die.

This made me very sad. Like, I was almost going to cry, that's how sad I was.

It has been an emotional week for several reasons, so on a normal day, I'm not sure seeing the injured chick would make me want to cry, but I am sure it would at least make me sad.

But this isn't why I think I have issues. I have issues because I eat chicken ALMOST EVERY DAY. My love of animals and my desire to eat meat is in huge contradiction of each other. I try not to think about it, but lately, I have been thinking about it more than usual.

I can't see myself ever becoming vegan, but I wouldn't rule out at some point in my life deciding to be vegetarian or pescetarian.

Has your love of animals ever been in contradiction with what you eat?

Weekly Workouts

It was a weird week of aches and pains that came on suddenly and disappeared just as suddenly...

Thanks for everyone's advice yesterday on my aches and pains! I'm going to be taking it easy next week. I think my body is saying, "hold up girl!"

Saturday- 6 rainy miles. I would have loved for it to be sunny and hot for this run. Instead, it was chilly and cold. But a run is a run.

Sunday- 6 neighborhood miles. La la la.

Monday- 2 deck of cards workouts. My left leg felt jacked up. Kind of hammy/hip area. I can't explain it other than it felt "jacked". Do you know that feeling? Later on I did a lot of yard work including chopping down a bush. That's hard work!

Tuesday- Lifting upper body at home. Paul and I are going to start going to the gym again though. Isn't that exciting?

Wednesday- 6 miles. My leg felt that jacked up feeling again and then later on it HURT! Kind of my groin and my upper ITB. What the heck? I guess I will be taking some days off running.

Thursday- Lifting upper body at home. Leg felt fine. But my left FOOT felt like I was going to get plantar fasciitis! I was terrified all day. I stretched my feet, foam rolled, and hoped for the best...

Friday- Lifting upper body at home. My foot felt a little weird in the morning at first but walking around barefoot made it feel normal. It felt normal throughout the day. WHAT IS GOING ON!!!???

How were your workouts this week?

Friday 5: What is going on with my body!?

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

Today, I just have a short one for ya!

I have no clue what is going on with my body this week... 

On Saturday and Sunday, I ran 6 easy miles. Nothing notable. I felt fine. 

Then on Monday, my left leg felt a "jacked up" in my upper leg/hip area. I couldn't really pinpoint a spot, it just felt "jacked". Does that make sense? I did two deck of cards workouts. Jumping rope, burpees, bicycle crunches, and mountain climbers were fine... it was when I did donkey kicks that it got instigated.

On Tuesday I lifted upper body. Legs felt good.

On Wednesday, my legs felt fine again, so I ran 6 miles. Right away my leg felt a jacked but not near as bad as the day before. It did not get worse as the run progressed, so I finished my run, foam rolled, and stretched. Later on the day... ooh boy! I was finally able to pinpoint the pain. It was my left groin and left upper ITB. (Weird... it's usually my lower ITB that hurts.) My leg felt pretty bad and I had no idea why! I decided to take at least three days off running, maybe even a week.

Here comes Thursday... I woke up and my legs felt absolutely fine. I lifted upper body. But now it was my LEFT FOOT that felt weird. It felt like I was about to get plantar fasciitis! My heel didn't hurt, it was more like toward the ball of my foot that felt weird. I stretched my feet and calves in the morning and afternoon. When I got home from work, my foot started to feel normal. Was it a fluke!?

Guys, I am really hoping I don't wake up Friday morning (today!) with a rip roaring case of PF! Or who knows, maybe my foot will feel fine but another part of my body will hurt!? I am so freaking confused right now as to why I am getting aches and pains that come on suddenly and go away suddenly...

Has something like this ever happened to you?

Mountain Lions, Rattlesnakes, and Bear Spray - Oh my!

Hi. My name is Megan, and I jump to the worst case scenario... especially when we travel! What if the plane crashes? What if the hotel doesn't have our reservation? What if we are hiking and encounter dangerous wildlife?

I tend to Google all the dangerous animals I might encounter.

When we went to New Mexico, I was Googling rattlesnake bites. Did you know that while as long as you get treatment, you are unlikely to die from a rattlesnake bite, BUT IT HURTS SO BAD YOU WISH YOU WERE DEAD?

When we went to Northern California and Colorado, I Googled mountain lions. Did you know that mountain lions will stealthily stalk you and you're unlikely to know you're about to be attacked?

When we went to Shenandoah National Park, I Googled bear attacks. Did you know that while there are thousands of human-bear interactions every year, bear attacks are rare?

Before we went to Shenandoah, I bought bear spray. it's freaking expensive... $39.99!!!

And of course we both needed one.

It turns out that we never even took the bear spray out of our trunk. All of the places we hiked were well traveled paths and we weren't worried about seeing a bear.

In fact, the only time we saw a bear in the wild was while we were driving through Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw a bear cub frolicking in a field. It was pretty far away, but every car pulled off the side of the road to look at it.

I never saw a rattlesnake in the wild, but I'm very afraid that I will someday. There's lots of rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania.

As far as mountain lions, I have never seen one of those either. But when we hike in California and Colorado, I carry a mountain lion stick just in case. And Paul has strict orders that if one attacks me, he's supposed to fight it to the death. And vice versa of course.

Do you have bear spray, dog spray, or pepper spray?

Have you ever seen a bear, mountain lion, or rattlesnake while you were running or hiking?

Springtime Run!

Last week, I had one of the most enjoyable runs in a long time. After several days off, I finally emerged for a neighborhood 6 miler. My little neighborhood looked like spring and smelled like spring. I can't accurately describe how good it felt to be out there, but at least I can show you some pretty pictures!

I even saw one of the many white squirrels that live in our hood!

I felt so accomplished and happy after this run. I am a creature of habit and don't mind running in my hood every morning. It's comforting to have a routine.

Is it spring where you are?

From Stomach Bug to 17 miles

Today, I wanted to show you what I ate in the three days leading up to my 25k. (It was actually 17 miles and I knew this going into it.) I had a stomach bug and my stomach was just weird for several days after. So what you're seeing isn't my "normal" food, just what I was able to stomach. The goal was to eat carbs and calories so I could go into the race feeling strong.

I'll be showing you absolutely everything I ate and drank MINUS water. I did not include how much water I drank because there's no way I would remember to track all of that!

I'm not sure this will be interesting but I took all the pictures so I'm writing the post!

**Note: Normally I would eat A LOT more food in a day than what is pictured.**

Wednesday

I didn't workout today, so I got to "sleep in" until 7!

This was the first day since being sick that I felt like I could drink some coffee. Woohoo!

I am a huge fan of these Greek yogurts now and am going to continue eating them.

Wendy's! After a stomach bug, the first think I crave when I finally get hungry is fast food.

Yeah, a little addicted to yogurt. This was my dinner. 

That Wendy's really held me over.

Thursday

I ran 5 miles this morning! See, that Wendy's was good for something!

I didn't drink this whole thing, it merely represents that I had iced coffee in the morning.

Same breakfast as the day before.

Italian wedding soup and crackers from Giant for lunch.

I am also loving these cottage cheese/fruit cups! I will be enjoying these from now on as well.

Paul made me a turkey burger and roasted  cauliflower for dinner. Yum!

Friday

No workouts in the morning, but we did hike about six miles total throughout the day.

Applesauce!? Who am I?

Pre hike food. Wendy's.

Pre-hike caffeine.

After hiking, we got stuck in traffic and I needed a snack before dinner.

Cream of crab soup. It was divine.

Fish tacos and rice. I only had one taco, about half the rice, and none of the chips.

Just for fun, here's what I had before the race and after the race on Saturday!

Race Morning!

Make your own waffle at our hotel, orange juice, coffee.

Post Race!

7oz Cheeseburger and fries from Blue Mountain Brewery. I ate most of the fries.

After looking at all of these pictures, I realized I ate a lot of burgers! I do love burgers and french fries. Why are they so good together?

What's your favorite fast food?