Getting back into running

I first took an interest in running about two years ago; both my parents were training for various races at the time and would go out for a run together around 6:30am most days, so when I moved back home I started joining them in their morning runs. Just as I was starting to get excited about it and making some progress, I started a new job with weird hours. I was working 1pm - 11pm and the new hours made it difficult to get up at 6am to go running; I just didn't have it in me to go on a mere 5 hours of sleep to get a run in early in the morning, and I couldn't go out after work because I didn't have the gear to be out running in the dark. Excuses aside, it was easier to fit yoga into my schedule at the time, so I started taking classes nearby and just stopped running all together. For the next two years, yoga was my exercise of choice.

I recently began running again for a number of reasons...

• I was tired of seeing all of my perfectly good running gear (-a few shirts, shorts, socks, and two pairs of hardly worn down sneakers) sitting around in the closet, unused.
• The weather has definitely been a little more runner-friendly these past few weeks so the thought of taking to the sidewalks has been running through my mind frequently.
• The final push though came when the yoga studio I was frequenting once a week shut its' doors at the end of August. Left without a place to practice I finally ventured onto the road for some physical and spiritual guidance.

Now, I work in the food service industry and am by no means sitting on my bum all day at a desk; I usually spend about 8 hours a day on my feet and I make a point to walk to/from work most days too (I only live .3 miles from work) and Shawn and I take walks around the neighborhood on a regular basis; so I am definitely not lacking in exercise. But I wouldn't mind getting a little workout on occasion.

Since the yoga studio closed I've had to adapt to doing my own yoga at home. I'm far too used to going to classes and not having to come up with my own sequences, so this is actually a push I need and am welcoming, but to get outside of our space a bit I've also decided to add a little running back into my weekly routine.

My first time out I set out on a 2-mile course and was able to run 3/4s of a mile before my endurance got the best of me. The past 2+ years of doing yoga must have made me pretty strong, because I never expected my breathing to give out before my muscles. But what my muscles had no trouble with that day, they certainly got the best of me the next. My legs were burning for almost a whole day after that first run!





But I gave it two days rest and then set back out again, this time on 1-mile course, of which I was able to run .8 before having to stop for breath. This time though, my legs felt no excrutiating pain afterwards. Ah, relief.

After chatting with my mother about working on pacing myself to get the most out of my endurance, I decided to take it a little slower. On my third run I set out on the same 1-mile course but I tried to find my stride and stay at a constant speed, and was actually able to run the full mile in just under thirteen minutes. Not a very fast time, but I ran the whole way!

I've run that 1-mile course a few more times now and am still amazed at how strong my muscles are - two years ago they would to be the first thing to flare up in pain when I would run, and now they give me no trouble at all! It just makes me feel even better about all that yoga that has kept me physically strong these past two years. Now I can focus on breathing steady and slowly building up speed.

Confirmed Suspicions

We all know that squirrels from New Jersey can beat the acorns out of squirrels from Delaware. However! The squirrels from Pennsylvainia seem to be smarter than both the squirrels from New Jersey and Delaware, even if you combined the brain power of the two.

Really? Just how smart are these squirrels?
These squirrels are smart enough to out smart a human being AND countless hours of human engineering.

The human being is our neighbor across the hall.
The human engineering is the squirrel trap. (Which was probably made in China...) (...do they even have squirrels in China?)

A week or two ago now, our neighbors put some lovely flowers out on the front stoop.
Since it is Autumn, the squirrels have been going wild.
The foraging season IS upon us and the squirrels have begun fattening up for the winter.

Our neighbor's lovely flowers are in a plastic planter...
   The squirrels have been foraging in this planter....
      Leaving an even pile of dirt all around the outside of the planter.

The flowers have not been harmed.
The squirrels are making a bit of a mess, but squirrels will be squirrels.

Four days ago a large rodent trap appeared inside the entry way to our apartments.
I wondered to myself if we had a rat problem... I have not seen any giant rats. Hm.

The next day the same trap was outside...    armed with peanuts...     ready to snare its prey....

Later in the day the trap had been triggered and there were no peanuts to be found.
Remnants of shells could be seen around the trap and on the front stoop.

For the next 4 days i wondered who placed the trap out there.
At night it was kept in the entry way, but during the day it was kept outside.

I used my deductive reasoning and the scientific method and assumed it was the neighbors, angry at the mess the squirrels have been making of their lovely flowers.

Dramatization

I ruled out the maintenance man; I've seen him chase the squirrels off, make noises at them, and squirt the garden hose at them, but he doesn't seem to want to cause any harm to the squirrels. He and the squirrels have probably formed a few games over the years.

Also, he seems to have no interest or time for trapping squirrels. and 1 trap is not enough to capture a whole herd of ravenous psycho killer squirrels in the courtyard.

ravenous psycho killer squirrel

Today = Confirmation

Today, I saw the determination of our neighbor.
Today the trap was set earlier and triggered.
An hour ago I actually saw him RESETTING the trap.

These squirrels have figured out how to hustle peanuts from this guy!
They knock over the trap - guy puts more tasty peanuts in. EASY!

This guy is basically giving the squirrels a treat.  
Even though the peanuts are a change from the many acorns falling from the trees,
these squirrels have plenty of food to pick from on the ground.
Why would they enter some bright shiny sliver thing just for some peanuts of death?

No matter what this guy does,
A squirrel is gonna do, what a squirrel is gonna do. 

This guy needs to let his anger out in a different way.
Stop worrying about these squirrels and the tiny mess they make.
Worrying gives you cancer.

Besides, where are you going to release the squirrel once you trap it? 

Out back?? 

Where it can then easily climb onto the roof and back over into the court yard.

Thank you neighbor guy for keeping me thoroughly amused.

Yesterday (Not Just Another Monday)

If you recall, last week ....

...our courageous heroes ventured to the state of gardens- the lush green lands of New Jersey.

Their journey was filled with many obstacles and perils...

Several turns almost resulted in the deaths of our protagonists.

Prepare yourself for this week's:

Journey To Jersey

( A Hazy Morning )

It was a crisp beautiful morning. We left our humble abode promptly at 6:30 am EST.

Our usual road out of the Philadelphia area is interstate 95 via the Vine Steet Express Way. To avoid 76, we usually take the Martin Luther King Junior Drive which Runs along the Schuylkill River. Martin Luther King Junior Drive then connects to The Vine Street Expressway. Which is then a straight shot onto 95.

While on Martin Luther King Drive, I noticed several helicopters in the sky. The choppers seemed to be circling the area in which we were headed.

I even recall saying , "I bet there's a crash somewhere."

SINCE it was now 6:45 in the morning, (15 minutes after we departed) my brain was not at full functioning capabilities and I was unable to put 2 and 2 together.

We get onto the Vine Street Expressway.

Suddenly, behind us we hear a flurry of sirens. Local Cops and State Troopers come racing through the morning commute traffic. As we were driving, a cop pulls right in front of us and blocks off the section of road that we were headed for.

Confused, we follow other motorists slowly to the right and up the off ramp that was several yards before the road block.

We should have known at that point that something was up. Unaware of where we were, we took an on ramp back onto the Vine Street Expressway several blocks from where we got off, thinking we had driven past what ever mess was ahead of us.

We had not. There, in front of us was a line of cars had began to pile up behind the cop car that was blocking access to the Expressway.

Now, behind us, other cars started to fill in. I am not sure why the cops didn't block off the top of the on ramp at first- it would have prevented the back-up on the on ramp. Perhaps we were just several minutes ahead of their accident area containment plan.

Luckily, it was not long before the authorities reopened our side of the highway. Setting us behind only 35 minutes.

Waiting in 35 minutes of traffic however awarded me with a photo opportunity of the crash...

Amazingly NO ONE was killed in the crash. And despite NBC's Helicopter being on the scene the longest. It was FOX and ABC that reported on the events. Along with a few other online NEWS SOURCES.

Maybe it was a miracle that saved those motorists that morning.

Some ONE or some THING looking down on them. The force training to show us that witnessed it a sign.

But several miles down the road, while photographing the sun behind one of my favorite views off of 95, I found a face.

I found a face in the sun.

How's that for seeing something!

Photographing such an epic image after seeing such an awful thing... higher power or whatever, that photo is stunning. BEST photograph I have ever taken- hands down.

If it hadn't been for that crash and our 30 minute wait I would have never gotten that photo.

It really was "perfect" timing.

...

We experienced some other traffic and detour troubles while trying to enter New Jersey, near New Hope. This set us back a grand total of 70 mins or more.

All of this happened because we had to drop the Versa off at Somerset Nissan for it's 15,000 mile service and we needed to get it in early (8am) so we wouldn't have to leave it over night.

We didn't drop it off until 9am but luckily we didn't have to wait too long. The car was ready by 2:30. And we were on our way home around 5:30 after several pit stops at the parents' and friend's places.

And that was part two of our ongoing series,

Journey to Jersey

Stay tuned for the next adventure!

simple animation time!

making mashed potatoes!

Just a quick post...

Haven't had much to say these days, Shawn and I haven't done anything too terribly exciting lately. We're still cooking bunches though! Here are a few things we've made recently:




Shawn made poblano and anaheim pepper burgers (sliders, actually) last week... they were amazing! Topped with onions and pepper jack cheese, mmm.




Breakfast for dinner! Scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, and pancakes.




Lots and lots of veggies. Purple potatoes with chili peppers, black beans and rice, and sliced bell peppers.




Peanut butter mousse and chocolate pie... our friend Christine made one for us last week and it's been on my mind ever since, so I buckled down and recreated it. Hers had a graham cracker crust but I had some pie dough to use up so that's what I used!




Then I topped it all off with some whole wheat sesame pretzel! Super tasty, and so easy to make. Thanks for the recipe, Christine!




I also made some granola last week; the kitchen smelled like ginger and coconut :)




I know that isn't food, but it's food related! My trip to TJ Maxx yesterday yielded a few good finds. Shawn's been complaining about my old and hard to read measuring spoons and cups, so when I stumbled upon the orange kitchenaid ones that so conveniently match the orange theme that's developed in our kitchen, I figured he wouldn't mind me spending just a little money. Then I found the white stacking bowls with lids and I thought about the green set we already have and how we're always saying we should get another set... and so I bought those too! Now we have brand spankin' new stuff to smile about, and it all cost less than $10! Hurray!

Have a splendiferous day!