March 2011: Rewind

I'm glad for March to be over.  And for the reason, I'm going to make this a quick post.

B's Gram passed away on the 22nd, after several weeks of being in the hospital.  It's been a very difficult time for the family, a lot of reminiscing, which is painful, but there was laughter as well as stories were exchanged and pictures sorted through.  It's been draining, and exhausting, etc.  She is already greatly missed.

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My training is still going well for running.  Have really upped the mileage over the last two months and my legs are feeling it, but I've been able to stay away from any injuries, just the typical aches and pains.  In March I ran 44 miles and did 17 miles on the elliptical for a total of 61 miles (February was 52 miles).  I did miss a few runs last week due to circumstances, but luckily I don't think I lost much, if any, of my endurance from the training I've done so far.  Only 33 days left!!  I've had a few tough runs lately, so just trying to push through the next few runs and hopefully be back on track.

Also, I've started my last term of grad school!  As of today, only 10 weeks until I am DONE with school!

Getting back to routine, which will hopefully include more frequent posts, especially since we're going to be working on some little project around the house that I hope to share soon.

February 2011: Rewind

Yes, I realize its now halfway through March.  Oh well.

February was kind of a blur to be honest.  There was good, there was bad, there was a lot of work, and more snow.

B and I went skiing with my mom.  The Packers won the Superbowl.  We watched my parents dog for a few days while they went on vacation (which is good, they needed one! but... so do I...)  Taught my sister-in-law to drive stick and sold her my car.

Because... I got my dream car. Kinda.  Meet my new ride.

 

A 2011 Chevy Silverado Extended Cab 4-wheel-drive pick up.

I say kinda, only because I wanted the blue one.  And I need to have steps and bed rails put on.  Otherwise, perfection :)

I've wanted a truck for a long, long time.  Specifically a Silverado.  It's massive.  And awesome.  And I can run over curbs and even the trash at the end of our driveway without even knowing it! (Ok, that's not so good, but I swear I've gotten better in the last month!)  It was a little spur of the moment, although we had been discussing the fact we were going to need a biggest truck eventually anyway.  And B can't (won't) drive stick, so only having one car we could both drive was getting old.  Plus, B's sister needed a more reliable vehicle ASAP.  And we got an amazing deal.  Everything sort of just made sense.  So now, we're a redneck two truck family for the time being.  We'll see B's (little) truck eventually and get a car or small SUV.  But for now, our driveway looks redneck.

At least mine is the big one.

Also, I turned 26 last month. I feel old.  But, B got a whole bunch of our friends together at a local restaurant a few days before, which was awesome.  I hadn't gotten a chance to see a lot of them in a while, so it was really great.  My actual birthday... I went to the gym before work which was satisfying, but ended up working late, being cranky, and wasn't overly impressed with the day.  Oh well.  Presents?  Yup, I got a few.  I'll post about those someday, I'm all kinds of decked out in electronics and awesomeness these days.

Unfortunately, on Valentine's Day B's gram had an accident and has been in the hospital since.  Prayers and positive thoughts are appreciated.

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On a different note, I've been successful in keeping up with my workouts.  I won't post the calendar now, but I assume you I've been doing well!  For instance, in the month of February I ran 52 miles.  52!!  My previous highest mileage months were 37 miles in October and November.  My half marathon training is going better than I thought it would.  (And if you feel like donating go for it!)

I don't think I have too much else to say about February.  Maybe because it ended 15 days ago and can barely remember what I had for breakfast today, so it's all pretty much all fallen out of my head at this point.

I still owe a bathroom renovation summary.  But mostly I feel like talking about running lately, so stay tuned for some a lot of running babbling in the coming weeks.

January 2011: Rewind

I've decided to change up my monthly reviews a little, and rather than talk about good stuff I discovered during the month, I'm going to highlight the things/memories/events I want to remember.

Our first Patriots game.

My parents got us tickets as part of B's birthday back in October.  It was 1-2-11, against the Dolphins.  We tailgated - getting to the "secret" parking lot long before anyone else. Enjoyed to steak tips and beers (at like 9am... oops), and climbed all the way to the top of Gillette, for a bird's eye view of the game.  Even though our seats were "nose bleeds" it was an awesome experience, and a ton of fun.  Definitely something I'd love to do again next season.  And despite our tough loss a few weeks later in the playoffs... we still love our Pats :)

Ice Fishing.

We spent a weekend down ice fishing at B's parents cabin and had a total blast with friends and family.  There's something very relaxing about being on an island, in the middle of a lake, in the dead of winter.  It's cold, quiet, and beautiful.  Don't worry, it gets above 90 in the cabin with the wood stove going :)

Family Weekend.

Pat of my Christmas present to my mom was a weekend away up north to go skiing and snowshoeing.  The dogs got to come too, and we stayed in a fairly rustic, but decent, cabin.  Saturday the two of spent the day skiing, which was a lot of fun.  That night we went to dinner w/ B and my stepdad at a local inn and brewery, which was delicious and a really cool atmosphere.  Sunday we spend a while snowshoeing and exploring a local trail before heading home.

Snow.

Holy snow.  We've been completely dumped on.  And it's still going strong.

Resolution Check-In.

I had quite a few.  But let's just talk about a couple of them.

Do less housework Worry less about housework and spend more time keeping up with friends and family.  Well, I got the first half of that one down pretty good.  And there's plenty of evidence to prove it.  We've been lucky to squeeze in a lot of time with both friends and family this month.  And although there's quite a few more people I'd like to catch up with, it's a great start, and I'm hoping to get better at making phone calls, emails, and planning dates, a habit.

Stop comparing myself to others and enjoy my life.  This is all mental, and all me.  Not much anyone else can do to help.  And I'd say I've been doing a pretty good, but its certainly something I have to remind myself of.

Staying active and feeling good physical.  I've done way better here than I thought I would.  I've gotten back to "tracking" my food regularly (via sparkpeople.com), which is such a help for me to keep things under control. I also posted a calendar in the bathroom to mark down what I do for exercise each day.  It seemed like the most logical place, since brushing my teeth is the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do at night - so I'm reminded every morning I need to fill that blank space, and every night I either get to fill in what I've done, and accept that I needed a rest day.

I think it filled it in pretty good for month, don't you?

(Please excuse my awful handwriting.  It's not going to get any better. Sorry.)

There's a whole lot of variety here too.  Zumba, elliptical, weights, hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, running, etc.  8 days out of 31 I didn't do anything that I deemed enough to put on the calendar.  And that's ok.  Rest is an important part of any exercise program. Or so I've heard.

You might also notice some numbers on the Mondays.  I'm not focused solely on weight loss, but you can bet I'm still keep track.  So as you can see (or maybe you can't, since I don't really write legibly) I lost a little this month - I came in down 2.2 pounds.  Well, it's better than nothing...

I ran 18 miles last month.  Which is way better than the THREE I ran in December. But a far cry from the 37 in October and November.  For the record, I didn't start official half marathon training until this last week.  So yea, 13 of those miles are from last week. Not too bad in my eyes.

I flipped it to February last night, and I'm oddly excited to start filling the month in.  And really get into my half marathon training.  I have a separate training schedule posted by the kitchen for that.  Along with the spreadsheet saved to my work computer.  So basically, I'm never without a reminder.

Exciting Happenings of the Month

• Happy Birthday to M who turned four!!
• Congrats to my cousin and her husband on their beautiful and healthy baby boy who was born this month!
• There are some properties in the process of being bought, but let's not jinx anything and wait for those to be closed on
• One of our college friends announced she's pregnant - yay for babies!

And I think that covers it? If I think of more I'll add them later :)