10 Trail Miles with my Daddio!

On Saturday morning, I drove up to my hometown of Millersburg to do some trail running with my Daddio! Our plan was to do at least 8 miles, but we were feeling good, so we did 10 miles.

We warmed up by running across the swinging bridge to Myo Park and then over to Lenkerville. Then it was time to climb.... 1.25 miles up Berry Mountain! We ran at a comfortable pace where we could talk just a little bit in between taking big gulps of air!

Then instead of going straight across the mountain, we took a trail at the top of the mountain that backtracked us to the head of the mountain. I was never on this trail before but the view over the river has me wanting to take Paul back!

Then we ran back the way we came and continued father along the top of the mountain. Instead of running all the way to Woodside Station like we normally do, we took some steep (to me) and technical (to me) trails down to the railroad bed at the Ned Smith Center. I did not have trail shoes on and since it was rocky with lots of leaves, I "ran" slowly and veryyyyy carefully. I almost twisted my ankle at one point but adverted injuries!

We ran back into town via the railroad bed and we felt like we were flying, even though we were only running 8:30s! I always feel like I'm flying when I go from trail to flat!

After showers, we went down to Max's for lunch. The portions were huge!

I took home leftovers... which were still too much so I shared them with Paul!

It was a brisk, sunny day that I was lucky to spend with my dad doing something we love- trail running! For the past two weeks, I have felt like I have been going through the motions of running. But today, I felt strong, happy, and invigorated! I needed this run!

Where are the best trail views in your neck of the woods?

Weekend Wrap Up!

Happy Monday!

Before I do my wrap up, I want to give a HUGE SHOUT OUT to my little brother, Tyler, who rode his bicycle 201 miles UNASSISTED from his house in Central PA to his in-law's house in Southern DE. HE IS A BEAST!!!!

HE MADE IT!!!!!

When my alarm went off Friday morning, I was so relieved it was the weekend. I just had to make it through the work day... It seemed like a daunting task!

I ran 6 miles in the morning and unfortunately had to wear pants for the first time in about two weeks!

Work wasn't too bad. I was out of chicken so I had a strange lunch...

Paul went to a comedy show that night. He went to see Randy and Lahey from Trailer Park Boys. I normally get home from work at 4pm, but he was going to be gone by then, so I decided I may as well run some errands.

My first stop was Jiffy Lube on the Carlisle Pike. I FREAKING LOVE JIFFY LUBE and go there every time I need my oil changed. They are very nice, respectful and always greet me with a smile. I can't say enough about the excellent customer service they provide.

Rockin the short hair at the 'Lube.

Then I headed to TJ Maxx to find the perfect romper... More on that in my Friday 5 post coming up at the end of the week! Spoilet Alert: I did not find the perfect romper.

It was a quiet night- just me and the cats. It seemed like the only food we had in our house was veggies, so I made myself a veggie bowl. Then ruined the healthfulness of it by chasing it with buffalo pretzels and chunks of cheese!

It was a beautiful, brisk, sunny morning, so I headed up to Millersburg to do some trail running with my daddio!

Then we ate lunch at Max's, which was DELISH.

That evening, we went to Paul's parent's house because his brother's family was visiting from Delaware. We had a great time hanging out with our nieces and nephews.

Me, Paul, his momma, and our SIL escaped the craziness of the house and went out for dinner at the Tomato Pie Cafe. We tried an actual tomato pie and it was SOOOO GOOD! Paul and I will be back to this place.

Source

Tomato pie tastes like... very flavorful pizza with a buttery crust!

My morning was spent doing my normal thing- blogging and watching the Sunday news shows. 80% of my blogging for the week is done on Sundays! It is a relief since my weeks are so busy and it's hard to concentrate on writing after working all day.

I dropped Paul off at Empire Asian Bistro to get sushi with his male friends. While he spent time with them, I putzed around Burlington Coat Factory. I tried on at least 20 items but didn't buy any of them! 

This is my "shopping dress". I wear it because it's easy to take off and put back on!

I did buy some cute stud earrings and my FAVORITE fragrance... Can Can by Paris Hilton.

About 8 years ago, I bought the fragrance Paris Hilton by Paris Hilton which I really liked. It came with some smaller bottle of three other fragrances- Can Can, Heiress, and Siren. Can Can was my favorite! Those Paris Hilton fragrances were the only eau de perfumes I ever had other than CK One when I was in high school! All my other good smelly stuff was lotions or body sprays. Well at Burlington, I found the perfume Can Can and I GOT IT! I freaking love it!!!

I also finally got some running sunglasses at the Dollar Tree. They were $1! You can't tell, can you!?

After I was done shopping, I picked Paul up from his sushi man date and we headed over the the Appalachian Trail at Sherwood Drive. We hiked 6 miles round trip up to the top of the mountain to see the overlook.

I wondered if I looked like a soccer mom with my visor, short hair, and fanny pack. (Fanny pack is blending in with my black shirt.)

 There were lots of people with dogs out on the trails. One of them jumped up on Paul and he got the perfect paw prints on his shorts!

 The overlook!

Actually, we hiked 5 miles and I ran 1 mile... Once we hiked down from the overlook, Paul realized he forgot his water bottle up there. BWAHAHAHA! Paul leaves his water bottle everywhere. I ran back up to get it and ran back down.

That night was MEXICAN NIGHT!!!! We had margaritas with our dinner. That constitutes Mexican night, right!?

I had a great weekend. I am so glad it's warm out! It was almost 80 degrees today! It felt great to be OUTSIDE.

Have you ever had tomato pie?
What fragrances do you wear?
Do you have a "shopping dress?"
Where is your favorite spot on the AT to hike?

Tap Dance Lessons

A couple weeks ago, Paul and I were in the car and he pulled up the song Good Morning from Singing in the Rain. He liked the song but never saw the movie, so I made him watch the clip on Youtube.

"I wish I could tap dance," I said.

"Me too," he replied.

And then I said, "Well why don't we!?"

At age 34, it had just dawned on me that if I wanted to take tap dance lessons, I could!

I wasn't sure if there would be any adult classes in the area but I found several different places to choose from. I ended up going with Vicki's Tap Pups in Lemoyne. One day I called, and 3 hours later, I found myself in a New Beginner class, trying to quickly catch up on what the students had learned the past couple weeks.

I was very nervous to go to my first class. What do I wear? Do I have the right shoes? Will the other students be nice to me? Will the instructor be annoyed that I am new and don't know the routine?

When class began, I parked myself in the back row. The first thing we did was a little warm up song, which reminded me of warming up before Zumba... a little bit of movement and a little bit of stretching. I realized I am definitely set in my ways because I was annoyed we were stretching BEFORE dancing. I like to stretch AFTER I work out. It's moments like these when I realize how I really like doing things my own way. However, I know it's good to be okay with "letting go". So I tried to let go during the 3 minute warm up!

Then we did some warm up tap exercises, which I don't know how to describe to you because I don't know all the lingo. There were lots of shuffles, ball changes, and slaps.

Then it was time to rehearse the recital dance. All of the students learned the routine already so my only option was to just try to catch on. I was really nervous...

Some parts of the routine were easier than others. I wasn't completely lost because it did follow some patterns. For example, if there was an 8 count combination starting to the right, I could kind of flub through, but when we would turn and do it to the left, I could sometimes do it. When the routine was over, I didn't feel like an idiot, and I could tell that I would eventually be able to do the routine if I practiced it on my own. Luckily, a woman in the class emailed me the steps so I was able to practice and do the routine by memory by the time I went to my next class.

Since my first class, I have been back two more times. We started working on a new routine. Both routines are going to be done at the annual recital on June 4th. I watched some videos on Youtube from past recitals and I REALLY WANT TO BE IN THE ADVANCED CLASS!!! I'm not ready for the advanced class yet, but I really want to get into that class someday. I guess I have to keep practicing. Maybe if I find some practice videos I can teach myself some stuff and learn more quickly...

I really like the instructors at this studio and I also really like Vicki. Sometimes her little doggy is at the studio and she runs around in between classes. She is black but her back paws are white so it looks like she is wearing tap shoes!

This is a funny video from almost two years ago. I decided to record myself doing a time step. It's not perfect and missed some sounds, but I tried!

Have you ever taken dance lessons?
What kind of dancing are you best at?

Weekly Workouts

I ran 32 miles this week, but mostly just felt like I was going through the motions...

Saturday- 8 miles. I had zero energy for this hilly run and it was my own fault as the last time I ate was 18 hours before. I know, I'm an idiot. My knee hurt and things just weren't great.

Sunday- 6 miles. This run was awesome! My knee felt strong and I ran sub 8 minute miles effortlessly! I know why. I had Chinese the night before. I always run well after Chinese, I'm serious!

Monday- Lifting upper body (back and chest) at home. I realized if I'm only lifting twice a week, I should do back and chest each day. I come to this realization every couple months, and then end up going to back and chest on different days anyway! I really wanted to run this morning but since I did the speedy miles on Sunday and I had run 4 days in a row, I thought it would be best to take a running rest day.

Tuesday- 6 neighborhood miles. So my knee felt great on this run but I woke up with a random PIMA! What the heck!?

Wednesday- 6 miles. PIMA gone. Lately I have felt like I've just been going through the motions of my runs... I had tap class after but from some reason it wasn't as intense as last week and I barely broke a sweat.

Thursday- Lifting upper body at home. It was rainy out and just felt like a good day to stay inside!

Friday- 6 miles. My legs felt all wonky during this run. But they started wonky and didn't get worse, so that is good.

Do you ever just feel like you're going through the motions with a run?

Friday 7!

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

Today I'm going to share 5 7 television shows Paul and I love watching together. 

I know I'm supposed to talk about beverages today, so how about I mention that I normally drink lime seltzer water or diet root beer while we are watching these shows? 

There, I have the beverages out of the way. Let's talk television!

For the most part, Paul and I have way different tastes when it comes to TV shows. He loves a lot of shows I either can't stand, or I have never watched because they don't interest me.

For instance, Paul loves It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Trailer Park Boys, Workaholics, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Sons of Anarchy.

But this is what we watch together...

1. Survivor. This one is obvious. We get quite into Survivor. We've seen all 34 seasons (some more than once), listen to podcasts, and even traveled to NYC twice for Survivor events. Now, I could never be on Survivor, for many reasons that I listed here.

2. Bates Motel. This show has been hit or miss with us for awhile, but we always stuck with it. Like any show, there have been some annoying characters and stupid plot lines. But this season (which I believe is the last) is just SO GOOD! I can't say anything more as I don't want to spoil it!

3. Big Brother. It's very easy to immerse yourself into Big Brother, which is probably why it only airs in the summer! There are 3 network shows a week, Big Brother After Dark 7 nights a week, podcasts, and of course, the live feeds which I do admit I subscribe to but only because they are part of CBS All Access!

4. Full Frontal - Samantha Bee. Samantha Bee is so smart and funny. However, with the state of our nation right now, sometimes it's hard to actually laugh at the situation we're in.

5. Hardball with Chris Matthews. So this is the only news show we watch. For awhile I was watching Anderson Cooper on CNN because we didn't get MSNBC. Well, it turns out we were paying for MSNBC but the channel wasn't working. It's working now. I started DVRing Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes, and Rachel Maddow. Chris Matthews is my favorite by far. I love his dry sense of humor, I love that he spits when he talks, and I love that his lower lip is always cracked. He's the only news show I DVR every night.

6. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. We fondly call this show "Colby". Stephen Colbert is KEEPING US SANE. He is absolutely hilarious and he makes me feel like I am not so crazy myself. Colbert is on 5 nights a week, which is a lot of programming, but we don't watch the whole show. We always watch his monologues and comedy segments, but we only watch interviews we are interested in. 

7. Seinfeld! We just love watching reruns of Seinfeld. Even though most of the episodes are over 20 years old, they are still funny! I want to say Seinfeld is the greatest TV comedy of all time! 

And since I am sure you want to know my favorite episodes, they are...

The Movie

The Parking Garage

The Hamptons

The Chinese Restaurant

The Bubble Boy

The Subway

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What TV shows do you watch with your partner?

What are your favorite Seinfeld episodes?

Seinfeld: Best comedy of all time? Yay or nay?
Who is your favorite late night host?
Do you have a news show you like?

My first foray into Domestic Forensics

Paul and I have this inside joke about something called "Domestic Forensics". It's when you figure out something that happened in your house via clues... So it's pretty much what it sounds like!

These are the best examples of Domestic Forensics I can give you...

... When Paul sees indentations from my weights on the couch, he knows I didn't run that morning, I lifted.

... Sometimes I drop a piece of my cereal on the floor on my way out the door in the morning and Paul texts me a picture of it later in the day and says something like, "You had Cheerios for breakfast."

... I'm sure there are other examples, I just can't think of them right now!

Note: Domestic Forensics is NOT snooping. It's when you discover clues naturally and then put two and two together to figure out what happened.

When I was brainstorming for last week's Friday 5 post, I remembered something that happened that really shows that I have always had an attention and appreciation for Domestic Forensics...

As a child, I was a very picky eater. I remember my mom being really good about not making me eat things I didn't like. Sometimes she'd make me have a bite (which of course I hated), but was fine with me fixing myself a bologna sandwich for dinner as long as I tasted what she made. (I actually liked bologna sandwiches a lot.)

But one time, when I was in middle or high school, for some reason my mom decided she was going to MAKE me eat pot pie. I have never liked pot pie, so I didn't understand why my mom was suddenly forcing me to eat it. Who knows, maybe I was being an ungrateful brat that day!? 

Well, I was not going to eat the pot pie and the situation turned into one of those standoffs at the table. My mom told me I couldn't leave the table until I had eaten. As you know, I'm very stubborn, especially when I'm angry, so I sat there for a pretty long time. I sat there for so long that my parent's had to leave for my brother's soccer game. They left and I continued to sit there, staring at the pot pie.

What could I do? Eating it was out of the question. I couldn't throw it away because my mom would see it in the trash. I thought about flushing it down the toilet but what if the toilet got clogged or remnants got stuck in the bowl? There had to be some way to get rid of the pot pie without my mom figuring it out...

Then I had the greatest idea! I grabbed a plastic baggie out of a kitchen drawer and put the pot pie in that. Then I ran across the street to the park and threw it in one of the trash cans!

I'M A DOMESTIC FORENSICS GENIUS!!!!!

I put the bowl that had the pot pie in it in the sink. When my mom got home, she never asked me if I actually ate the pot pie and we never talked about the situation again. To this day, I'm not sure if I ever told her the story!

Are you "good" at domestic forensics?

Did you ever have an "I'm not eating that" standoff with your parents or with your kids?

Do you make your kids eat things they don't like?