MGR's Weekend Wrap Up

 

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a great weekend.

Here's what we were up to...

My day started with a lifting session, then off to work. I took the 3rd graders to see the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. The concert was awesome, but the bus ride... We got stuck in congestion so it took 45 minutes to get there! It was terrible. On the way home, the trip was short and the kids were quiet. They were so hungry that they didn't have any energy left.

But, we made it...

After work, I ran some errands, including picking up two new puzzles at Good Will and a new top. It's Ann Taylor and only $3.97. You can't beat that!

I DID NOT BUY ANYTHING CHRISTMAS RELATED BUT I DID TEMPT MYSELF!

WHY DID I TEMPT MYSELF????

Wysocki and Heremin puzzles are my FAVORITE!

The one on the left is 1000 pieces and I am tackling it this weekend.

This top looks long and loose, but it is actually very form fitting and I love it! 

For dinner, Paul made us fish and I warmed up corn. We ate and watched Colbert. I went to bed quite soon after that!

Do I have enough corn?

My morning was perfect. I got up at 4:30, drank tons of coffee, then met Anne and Kristen at the top of Peter's Mountain for a 10 miler on the AT. It was cold and rocky but GORGEOUS. Running + good friends + good convo = the perfect fall morning!

It was dark for the first 20 minutes. Anne used her flashlight and Kristen and I used our cell phone flashlights!

Paul and I went to the movies that afternoon. We went to see Happy Death Day! We both liked it a lot. It is sort of like Groundhog Day. A girl wakes up on her birthday and at the end of each day, she is murdered. But when she dies, she wakes up again on her birthday and relives the day over and over again. So she tries to find out who her killer is.

I hate gore, but this movie was NOT gory at all. The movie was really funny too! If you see it, let me know what you think.

After the movie, we reluctantly went to Aldi for some grocery shopping. It seemed like most people in there hadn't taken a shower in quite a long time because I walked by so many people that smelled. Even though I ate lunch, I was getting really hungry, to the point where I thought I was going to throw up. I NEEDED FOOD REALLY BAD.

You would not mess with this face, would you?

Luckily, when I got home, Ana had dropped off Mexican bread! OMG IT WAS SO GOOD! Honestly, it tasted more like cookies than bread! These are the remnants we had left the next morning. I assure you, the rest will be gone by tomorrow...

Ana, is the top one supposed to be shaped like a pig?

Paul was a hero and made us chili for dinner. Since I was still high horsey about running ten miles, I put the chili on top of tortilla chips with melted cheese.

Then I worked on a puzzle and went to bed super early!

It was a dreary, rainy day, but that didn't stop me from getting SO. MUCH. STUFF. DONE.

Here's what I did...

1. Cleaned out every closet, drawer, cupboard, you name it, in the entire house.

2. Laid out all of my clothes for the week.

I'm going to wear these shoes to work today.

Do you think I'm crazy?

This week is going to be the debut of the FLORAL LEGGINGS!

3. Went to Michael's, then came home and made a bunch of Christmas ornaments. I'm getting crafty!

Oh, this happened...

I promise I laughed. I did not swear!

4. Did my final organization of my closet for fall/winter and finally lugged up all my winter running gear.

Shoe box = gloves

Big tub = EVERYTHING ELSE

One thing I should have done was cook. I will do that tomorrow after work. If I feel like it. BWHAHAHA!

Look at my lazy boys!

Yes, they have beds right on the dining room table. That pink towel was Chrissy's, but Jelly stole it, so I got Chrissy the maroon one. We know who runs this house...

Where is the most inappropriate place your pets sleep?

Are you crafty?

What choice swear word would you have used if you dropped all of those beads?

See any good movies lately?

Tell me something fun you did this weekend!

New plan for the cats.

Several years ago, our cats were pretty fat. The vet suggested they slim down, so we put them on a diet. I figured out how many calories they would need a day to sustain a certain weight, and that's what we fed them.

Normally they eat 5 times a day...

Breakfast (whenever they wake us up in the morning)
11:00, 4:00, 9:00
Night-Night (whenever Paul goes to bed.)

As you know, waking up in the middle of the night to feed the cats succccccccccks. And it's not like they wake me up one time. They will beg for their breakfast two hours after their night night but I can't give it to them or else they will be so hungry by the time it's their next feeding.

I have a new plan. When I go to bed (which I am going to try to do at 9:00 every night so I am on a schedule), I'm going to give the cats 2 tbsp of dry food each. Then, when Paul goes to bed, he's going to give them 4 tbsp. That's it for the night! No matter how much they beg, they will NOT get fed until 11am the next day!

So far, Jelly has been waking me up just about every night for more food. When he does that, I immediately kick him out of the bedroom and shut the door. I hate kicking him out because I like when he sleeps with me, but I want to try to train him not to wake me up. This isn't going to be a quick fix, but I am steadfast in my determination!

Surprisingly, Christmas hasn't been waking us up for food. He's more of a beggar during the day while Jelly is the beggar at night. Ya gotta love those boys.

I would love to get to the point where we leave out food for the cats all day and they just eat when they are hungry. I feel like I should talk to the vet or research more how to best ease them into that. I know cats are such routine creatures and maybe changing their food up like this would rock their world in a negative way. We'll see.

How often do you feed your pets?

Did you ever make a major change to their feeding schedule?

Weekly Workouts!

I have been having TONS of fun with my new Garmin this week! Today, I'm doing a long trail run with friends so I'm excited to play with my Garmin after! (The novelty may wear off eventually, so I'm having fun with the data for now!)

Saturday- 8 miles on the trail with my Daddio. We ran the trails around the Ned Smith Center in Millersburg. It was the perfect fall day!

Sunday- Lifting at home. It was a good day to stay inside and lift. Paul was gone, so I had the whole day to myself. Plus, it was rainy and dreary outside.

Monday- Light upper body at home. I had plans to run, but when I checked the weather, I saw there was a wind advisory- gusts up to 50mph! 

No way, I don't run in that stuff. So I lifted again but went with lighter weights and higher reps.

Tuesday- 6 neighborhood miles. This was my first run with my new Garmin! It vibrates after I complete each mile, which alarms me. I will have to turn off that feature. I had fun checking out my heart rate during my run. I was in zone 3.5. I guess I have to look up what that means.

(5 minutes later...)

Okay, I just read one article that said Zone 3 is good, that is the aerobic zone. Then I read another one that says it's the "No Benefit Zone". Geez. Which is it?

Wednesday- Tempo workout- 6 miles total. This tempo run was inspired by the fact that I have been feeling like I have been in a running rut and I need to change things up. I alternated one mile at an easy pace and then one mile pushing the pace. It wasn't a sprint, just a little bit of a kick. Here were my splits: 8:40, 8:08, 8:48, 7:59, 8:57, 7:43. I felt accomplished.

Pigeon pose is one of my favorite post run stretches.

Thursday- 6 miles. I was so tired because I woke up at 1:41 and never fell back asleep. Of course I didn't feel like running, but I knew my day was going to suck, but maybe it would be a little bit better if I got to run.

I am quite the running fashionista!

Friday- Lifting at home. I basically did Monday's workout.

Would you run in that wind advisory?
Tell me about your workouts this week!

Friday 5 (Random)

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 things about this week!

1. On Monday, I had zero patience... and I didn't realize I was lacking patience until my first music class arrived for the day. All day long, the students were not following directions, they were talking over top of me, and at some points, they were just straight up ignoring me! It was a bad day.

2. Jelly has feline herpes! We noticed on Sunday that his eye was watery and there was some brown gunk forming at the crease The next day, the bottom of his eye was swollen! Paul made a vet appointment for Tuesday morning and he was diagnosed with feline herpes. It is apparently very common, and since Jelly has been an indoor cat his whole life, he was most likely born with it and the virus was dormant. The vet thinks the stress of going to the groomer last week is what caused the virus to give him symptoms. Jelly gets cream on his eye twice a day for a week and that should clear it up. It already looks almost completely back to normal. Hopefully he doesn't have any more outbreaks or if he does, they don't happen very often! (Yes I am feeling super guilty about making him go to the groomer but he had to get his mats shaved off!)

3. I had some weird dreams this week. I dreamed I was on a plane that was crashing because passengers were running up and down the aisles. It was terrifying! We didn't end up crashing but the pilot did scold the passengers for being rowdy. I told the pilot there were some passengers in the bathroom and could he please scold them as well when they come out?

4. On Wednesday nights, I can't sleep. Last week I woke up at 1:30am and never fell back asleep. This week, it was 1:41. I tried to fall back asleep but it just didn't happen. FML.

5. Today is orchestra day!  Every year, I take either the third or fourth graders on a field trip to see the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra perform. It's a very special day! I even wear my (fake) pearls. The only bad thing about this day is I have to ride in a school bus full of children. We can file that under "things that suck".

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

What was your favorite school field trip?

New Garmin is HERE!

My new Garmin (the 35) came on Monday! I was very excited to open it. 

But as soon as I got it out of the box and starting reading the manual, I got very frustrated. I'll be honest, I absolutely hate learning new technology.

I asked Paul very nicely if he would figure it out for me. He said yes! He said within the next week, he would figure out the following things for me... (I listed them in order of importance, it doesn't all need to be figured out in one day.)

But for some reason the next morning, I suddenly felt like trying to set up #1 on my list so I could use it on my run. Annnnd... drum roll please... I figured it out without even reading the manual! This must be a Garmin for Dummies.

I discovered that during a run I can have two display screens. On the first screen, I set it up so I can see distance, current pace, and average pace. On the second screen, I have current heart rate, average heart rate, and cadence. These three items are all new numbers for me and I am sure I will have fun analyzing them, at least at first!

It is soooooo much easier to switch between screens on this Garmin. My old Garmin had a bezel that was so hard to use while running. This one, you just push a freaking button. How easy is that!?

When my run was over, the device celebrated some PRs for me! Since this was my one and only run, I had a PR for distance, 5k, and pace. It will be fun once a rack up hundreds of runs on this puppy and only get PRs once in awhile. It will seem like more of a big deal.

Not only that, but it told me how many steps I took, my heart rate, heart rate zone, cadence, and mile splits. AND IT'S ALL SO EASY TO SEE!

I just can't believe how much easier to use this Garmin is compared to my old one.

I feel like I'm going to have a lot to say about my new gadget and no one is really going to care about because if you're like me, I think reading about Garmins is boring! And also, all of these new features are probably not new to you at all, but they are new to me!

PS: I have since figured out numbers two and three on my list as well. I reached over 17,000 steps on Wednesday! My freaking Garmin kept buzzing to tell me to get up and move. Like, I literally just got home from work and flopped down on the couch to tell Paul about my day and my freaking watch buzzed and said MOVE! "I JUST SAT DOWN!" I yelled. Then I walked across the room and sat back down on the couch.

Do you like learning new technology?
Does reading about Garmins bore you?
How long do you think it will be before I disable the "MOVE!" feature?

Do you run in this!?

This post is inspired by what happened to me Monday morning. I suited up for my run and then realized there was a weather alert on my phone...

Hell no, not gonna run in that!

Most people I work with know I run in the  mornings. Some days, when the weather is pretty terrible, at least one or two of my co-workers ask, "Do you run in this!?"

The answer varies!

Let me fill you in on what sorts of weather I will/will not run in.

I will NOT run in:

Lightening. I don't even like being INSIDE when there is lightening, let alone outside!

Ice/sleet/freezing rain/slippy snow. In short, I don't want to fall and I will not risk it!

Wind advisories with gusts over 20mph. This includes tornado warnings. I know, that sound obvious, but runners are crazy so I feel the need to clarify!

I WILL run in:

Freezing bitter cold temps. I have really warm clothes.

Rain. I can suck it up for a 45 minute run.

Extremely hot conditions. I take precautions, but I'll do it.


Note: Just because I WILL run in less than favorable conditions doesn't mean I ALWAYS do. There are some days I just don't feel like braving the cold or weathering the rain. If I don't feel like it, I don't do it. I'll stay inside and lift that day!

Natalie Dee!

A note on winter planning: I look at the weather for the week ahead and plan my lifting days for the two coldest mornings of the week.

Did I miss something? 
What will you/won't you run in?