Happy Thanksgiving and updates!

Hello! It’s been a little while I blogged so here is a quick update from my end —

img_6248I ran the Race to Deliver 4 Miler in Central Park with my friend, Toni last weekend. It was nice to run in Central Park again and the fall trees looked amazing. I really miss running in Central Park. I also really miss running in races.

I have also been experimenting with different running and cross training schedules as I have been building my Los Angeles marathon training plan. Training starts tomorrow – 16 weeks to go! Ahh! More to come on my training strategy as I finalize the details. I enjoyed an early morning 5:45AM spin class at Prime Cycle last week. I miss spin classes and how bad I am at them! But it’s definitely a great workout. I also attended a couple of Wet Barre (Cardio!) classes. Planks, burpees, and mountain climbers, how I love to hate you. And in attempting to break into the routine of running in the morning, I ran on the treadmill a couple of mornings and did a hill workout with the Elysianettes running group one day. I am hoping to attend a couple of runs a week with the group. This coming week will certainly be an experiment with getting up early consistently to get the workouts in and I will be sure to update you on how it all goes.

img_6271This year I started Black Friday shopping even earlier. I love going to the stores on Black Friday but didn’t make it out. However, I did start shopping since the Monday before the holiday – I love me a good sale. My favorites this year include Gap’s 50% off, Athleta’s 20%, J. Crew’s 40%, Madewell’s 25%, Nordstrom’s 20% off sale, Brooks free socks and sale on the Launch 3 and Amazon’s select sale items. Many of these sales end tonight, so hurry and take advantage!

img_6281And finally, we had a great Thanksgiving. We enjoyed an amazing holiday weekend with family and friends and a lot of yummy food. For Thanksgiving dinner, my contribution was stuffing (Josh’s family recipe), cranberry sauce, and apple dumpling cake. And if you wanted to try the recipes, I half the amount of sugar used in both. There is a lot to be thankful for this year and it was fun celebrating Charlotte’s first Thanksgiving. I know there will be even more fun to come in future years.

Hope everyone had a great holiday and weekend! 

Friday Favorites #15 – randomness on a Saturday!

Please excuse my tardiness on posting about Friday Favorites on a Saturday. Let’s talk about my Friday Favorites but with a twist on the things I really missed being able to do in the last year. And oh by the way, I’m horrible at taking pictures of anything that’s not our baby, so please ignore the lack of pictures in this post.

The Olympics. I love competition and I love the Olympics. It’s been great having coverage on in the background throughout the day. Women’s gymnastics are awesome and of course, swimming. I am also very much looking forward to the track and field events, which started yesterday. By the way, the Women’s 10K race was incredible and so excited that Molly Huddle broke Shalane Flanagan’s American record. Oh and I am with the New Yorker about Women’s Gymnastics deserving better TV coverage.

img_5568Any and all cheeses. Man, I hated asking everywhere I went if the cheeses were pasteurized. Josh and I went out for the first time just the two of us last week for dinner at Bin 14 and it was the first time we just ordered whatever we wanted without concern.

A glass of Riesling. My absolute favorite wine. I never did drink much, only socially, and with constant marathon training over the last couple of years, I was drinking even less. But I really did miss being able to order a drink on occasion.

Smoked salmon with bagel and cream cheese. Yummy! I haven’t had one of these in over 10 months and was so excited to finally be able to eat smoked salmon. Josh makes it best with frozen whole wheat bagels, cream cheese, tomatoes, and of course, smoked salmon.

Stokke MyCarrier Cool, Gaiam Backless Ball Chair and Africa. The combination of these three things have been a savior the last couple of days when our little one would wake up early and not be able to fall back asleep. I carry her with the carrier, either pacing/dancing around the apartment or bouncing on the ball chair while singing Africa. This also keeps my hands free to eat (very carefully that I do not drop anything on her) and of course, type this blog post.

img_5475Can’t wait to run/exercise again. I’m itching to start exercising and running again but will wait until I hopefully receive clearance from the doctors in a week and a half. Did I tell you I brilliantly signed up for the Bronx 10-miler and NYC Marathon? Ha, we’ll see how I do getting back into shape especially in this heat. To inspire my return, I am purchasing a new pair of running shoes. Brooks is having a sale on the Launch 3 in select colors until Sunday! It’s too bad the USA edition is not discounted.

Our families. They deserve more than a mention in a post. We’ve been so fortunate to have our families visit for the birth and afterwards. They have been incredibly helpful and have spoiled us and their granddaughter with so much love, lots of diaper changes, early morning feedings, and extra sleep for Josh and I. We’re so grateful for them.

Hope you have a great weekend with a lot of running, Olympic watching especially the women’s marathon tomorrow, and if you’re in the NYC-area heat wave, that you’re staying cool.