I started the week in my thirties and ended up in my forties. New age group bitches!!!

The whole family! It was a great celebration of LIFE!

The whole family! It was a great celebration of LIFE!

 

WEEK OF MARCH 16, 2015

RUNNING: Last Monday started with a bang when I ran 18 miles in the sun. The first half of the run I was still digesting peanut butter so that wasn’t good but the middle was amazing and end was painful. I was hoping for 7:50 pace and ended up with 7:58. Hey, I’m 40, cut me some slack.

It took me to .01 to hit the stop button because I was delirious.

It took me to .01 to hit the stop button because I was delirious.

I rounded out the rest of the week with an easy 5 miler on Wednesday and some speed work in the form of 4 x 1 mile repeats on Thursday.

Total mileage: 31.5 (not too shabby for a total of three runs!)

CYCLING: I was happy to return to spin class on Tuesday for an hour of cycling. I was cringing when I first walked down myΒ stairs at 5am on Tuesday morning, feeling the full effect of the 18-miler the day before. I may have thought something like “how the hell am IΒ going to teach class?” but, it actually felt really good toΒ spin out my legs and sweat out all those chomps!

SWIMMING: When you see “Kick and Scream” as the title of your pool workout, it can’t be good. I asked CRS if she didn’t recall I ran 18 miles on Monday when she prescribed (among 1900 other yards) 10 x 50 kicks! I’m not really sure if I walked or crawled out of the pool.Β I do know that all that kicking made the sprints sets wildly fun and floaty.

STRENGTH TRAINING: I’m really starting to see all this strength training pay off! I have almost no pain in my left hamstring and my glutes (especially that pesky right one!) are firing on all cylinders…or more then they were. Here’s a glimpse of what I do to keep them that way:

 

Yes, I’m wearing my Shamrock compression socks because it was St. Patrick’s Day and I’m sooooo very Irish. #KeepItReal

SNOWBOARDING:Β An absolutely amazing weekend of snowboarding in the sun with my brother. All the kids skied, and a great time of just hanging out was had by ALL…

It was sunshine and smiles on the mountain all day long!

It was sunshine and smiles on the mountain all day long!

My nephew was a little eager to get out on the slopes! He's three and skis like the wind...

My nephew was a little eager to get out on the slopes! He’s three and skis like the wind…

Birthday party dinner with my BIL and SIL.

Birthday party dinner with my BIL and SIL.

FUEL:Β Waffles, burgers and beer and of course, birthday cake baby…

 

Slope side...

Slope side…

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GEAR: There are so many cool Kickstarter campaigns for runners right now!Β For anyone who hates to run in the dark (I’m looking at you Angela!) youΒ mustΒ back these:

NightRunner

Lights for your shoes! Genius!

Lights for your shoes! Genius!

There’s only two days left to get these things made so let’s do this people! I had a chance to talk with the husband of the wife/husband team who created these and he was one of the nicest, most down to earth people/runners I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to. Their main concern? Runner safety.

Here’s a quick sales pitch: they are lightweight (only 1 and half ounces each!), they run on LED rechargeable batteries and have a winged design that clips onto your running shoes – zero bounce factor and 270 degrees of light. See and be seen!

THINGS I LOVE: My new snowboard!!!! I’ve seriously been riding the same board for almost 20 years. I still have my Burton Twin 139 (foreshadowing much?) that I purchased at the Burton factory when it opened in Burlington, VT when I was a college student. I absolutely love that board but it was definitely time to say good-bye. As the guy in the ski check said about my bindings “They just don’t make ’em like that anymore.” And it’s for a very good reason…

My new ride!

My new ride!

THINGS I DON’T LOVE AS MUCH:Β Waiting in ridiculously long lift lines! When you take a sunny weekend in March, add in a gorgeous mountain of fresh snow, you get a lift line that looks like this:

Is there a lift up ahead? And am I the only one not wearing a helmet?

Is there a lift up ahead? And am I the only one not wearing a helmet?

However, this line gave me the opportunity to read all the fantastic Facebook messages everyone left me for my birthday! I absolutely loved reading each and every one – some were hilarious, others short and sweet and some made me tear up – that in itself was a gift so THANK YOU!

RANDOM QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’m sorry Miss Jackson,” sung randomly by multiple people in our party, for various reasons. It’s best to leave it at that.

How was your weekend?

What do you think about the running shoe lights?

What have you been “fueling” with lately?

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