Weekly Rundown- The Hay is in the Barn!
Guess what? I’m officially in my taper!!! I had my last long run on Wednesday and now I just have to get through the next two weeks without doing anything stupid. I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Rundown. Let’s just see how the week went! Monday I started off this chilly week with a 4 mile run. It got down to the upper 40s every morning- I don’t think I’ve ever had so many photos of me running in a long sleeve shirt before! Followed this run with plank and dead bugs. Tuesday I got myself to the gym for the 12/3/30 treadmill workout- 12% incline, 3 mph, for 30 minutes. Followed by upper body and abs! Wednesday LAST LONG RUN before my race! It was a planned 20 mile run, and just for something different I decided to go to the trail I used to run on when I was training for my 50K last year. I wonder why I haven’t been running there lately? This trail is SANDY. I trained on it last year because my race had a lot of sand- but my race this year has NO sand (yay!) I forgot how hard it is to run on the sand! The trail is really beautiful though. Everything was going well until mile 15, when I felt my left achilles. Oh yes, it’s all coming back to me- long runs on this trail used to bother that achilles. I tried to stick to parts of the trail with less sand, but by 18 miles that achilles was yelling at me, so I called it. SIGH. It was such a bummer, because the weather was beautiful and everything else felt great. I had to remind myself that in the big scheme of things, it won’t matter that I ran 18 instead of 20 miles on this day, and it wasn’t worth it to end up with an injury. Thursday My achilles, along with many other body parts, was stiff and sore when I woke up, but I did my mobility routine and decided to try a run. I walked a mile- so far, so good- and then started running. My achilles said “NOPE!” I cut this run short after a mile. I was pretty sure the achilles was not injured, but just very angry. And I don’t blame it! Whose stupid idea was it to do a long run on a sandy trail??? I went home and doubled up on my core. Don’t be too impressed by that- my core work has been pretty minimal these days, so it was probably good to do a little more. Friday I contemplated doing strength at home, but decided to go to the gym, and I’m so glad I did. I did squats, deadlifts, overhead press with dumbbells, abs and low back. I felt like this workout was so good for me. I had some lingering soreness when I started, especially in my quads while doing squats, but it got better and better with each set. I’ve had this happen before- I have lingering soreness from a long run, but “heavy” lifting (the term is definitely relative) helps it dissipate. Anyone else have this experience? Saturday 4 mile run, and my achilles felt perfectly fine. PHEW! I was 99% sure that it was just irritated and not actually injured, but that 1% doubt was stressing me out. Actually this was my best run of the whole week! The weather was perfect and I felt great. Go figure. Sunday On tap for today- off! Sleeping in, waffles, taking down the outdoor Christmas lights… wait, WHAT? Yes, they’re still up. I’m not sure if this makes it any better, but at least I haven’t been turning them on. Today is finally the day! So that was the week, with a little drama thrown in for good measure. But that’s to be expected- there will be drama from now until my race on the 17th (last year I was convinced my foot was broken the week before my race,) Buckle up for a bumpy ride while I navigate this taper period! Sand running- yay or nay?- I can’t believe I ran a SANDY 50K last year- I must have been insane. Does anyone in your neighborhood still have their Christmas lights up?- There are a couple people in our area who not only have their lights up but are still turning them on- I see them when I’m out for an early morning run.
February Coffee Date
It’s February, the non-official start to 2024. If you struggled to implement your 2024 goals and plans last month, you’re not alone. January is hard- the beginning of the month still felt “holiday-ish” to me, and the second half of the month brought on my post-holiday depression. But now I’m finally ready to dive into the new year. First, of course, I’m joining Deborah and Coco for the Ultimate Coffee Date. I’ll be drinking my usual Earl Grey tea out of my new mug, which was a Secret Santa present from San! On the subject of January goals, let’s just see how I did. I wanted to read six books (I read five), do the Knees Over Toes exercises three times a week (I did it twice a week) and sleep seven hours a night (which I did some nights, but not all- I’m getting there!) Overall, I’ll call it a January win and re-set those goals for February. The next thing I would share over coffee is that we have had the most beautiful weather lately. Several nights in a row it got down to the 40s! And by that I mean, 48 or 49- that’s just about the coldest we get here. Overall our winter has been cooler than usual (thank you, El Nino) and I’m loving it. Maybe I don’t have to move, after all. The most important thing I would talk about over coffee is, IT IS RACE MONTH. Yes! My big race- the Forgotten Florida 50 Mile- is on February 17th. You’ll be hearing more about this, because it’s pretty much all I can think about. I’m nervous about the logistics- it’s been a long time since I’ve traveled for a race- and obviously nervous about completing the distance (I’ve never run 50 miles.) And I’m also really excited! More thoughts, feelings, and goals for this race will be coming up. Do you feel like you crushed your January goals? Or did you need time to ease into the new year? Do you have anything exciting coming up in February?
Reading and Eating
I have some fun eats to share! But let’s start with the reading. My goal for January was to read six books. Just like the rest of my January goals, I didn’t quite achieve that. But I did read five books: And I’ve started two more. A word or two about Sally McRae’s book. Sally is a professional runner. She’s not a writer, but she wrote this book all on her own, without an assistant or ghost writer. Keeping in mind that she’s not a writer, I thought she did an amazing job. And in case anyone is wondering how someone can run these crazy distances (she’s won Badwater 135 and competed in multiple 200 mile races) a glimpse into her childhood is instructive. Boy, did she have it hard. It’s a sad story, but the book overall is inspiring. Let’s move on to the food! Sunday was my husband’s birthday, so I made a brunch. This was my husband’s plate, with a Just Egg omelette (recipe from Nora Cooks), air fryer potatoes, and coffee cake, once again from Nora.. My plate was a little less exciting, because I didn’t have the cake. This brunch was YUMMY! But the fun didn’t stop there. In honor of the Lions-49ers game, I made a Detroit-style pizza. Actually, my sister and I had a pizza throwdown. She made her own Detroit-style pizza and we compared and contrasted. I used this recipe for my pizza, and subbed vegan cheese and left off the pepperoni. This type of pizza is traditionally baked in a special “Detroit pizza pan”, but who has one of those? As it turns out, my sister does! I knew I would be fighting an uphill battle in this throwdown. Here’s my pizza (baked in a regular 9×13 metal pan); The sauce in three rows is traditional, but I wasn’t really a fan of that. You either got a bite with a big glob of sauce, or a bite with no sauce. I sauteed broccoli with garlic and red pepper flakes, but put this “topping’ under my cheese, to keep it authentic-looking. Here’s my sister’s pizza: I was ready to declare her the winner, but she generously said we could call it a tie, and the important thing was that our pizzas were obviously giving the Lions good luck! It was a win-win! Until it wasn’t… sigh. So I guess we all lost. However, the leftovers were even better the next day. The edges of the pizza got nice and crispy. I don’t think it would fool anyone from Detroit, but we enjoyed our pizzas! Moving on- what to make for the Super Bowl? My sister suggested Rice-A-Roni (that San Francisco treat.) No, I don’t think so! (What in the world is Rice-A-Roni, anyway?) I’m rooting for Kansas City, which probably means barbecue (somehow this seems familiar.) If anyone has any better ideas for Super Bowl Sunday, please let me know! What are you reading now? Are you going to watch the Super Bowl? Who are you rooting for?
Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse
This adventure was inspired by our friend Elisabeth!. She has written about visits to lighthouses near her home in Nova Scotia. I started thinking… “I live on the coast- I wonder if there are any lighthouses near me?” A quick google search revealed that there is a notable lighthouse in Jupiter, Florida, which is about an hour away from me. In case you’re wondering where the heck Jupiter, Florida is, here you go: Last week my daughter had an all-day rehearsal in Jupiter, and rather than drive there and back twice, I opted to spend the day in Jupiter- I knew exactly what I wanted to do! The Jupiter lighthouse is located at the juxtaposition of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian River, and Loxahatchee River. For $12, you can climb to the top of the lighthouse and visit the lighthouse museum. First, the climb to the top- they warned that it’s 105 steps. No problemo! I’ve been working out. What I didn’t anticipate was climbing that narrow spiral staircase was kind of… scary. I never thought I was scared of heights before, but there was something about it that made me anxious- maybe that the steps were a metal grid, so if you looked down (eep) you could see all the way to the bottom… anyway, I made it to the top and was rewarded with this view: I was definitely glad I went up, but the climb down was even more scary. I made it though, and made my way to the lighthouse museum. This was a small exhibit on the history of the lighthouse, which I loved. It was built in the 1860s, and one of the displays showed a timeline of the history of the lighthouse along with what was going on in the U.S. at the time. I like this little tidbit: It was fascinating, reading about the lives of the lighthouse keepers and their families. This was a rugged and isolated area in the late 1800s, and their lives were hard. Every once in a while there was a shipwreck, and it was their job to rescue what they could of the crew and cargo. In addition to the museum, the “Tindall Pioneer Homestead.” is located on this property. Built in 1892, it’s one of the oldest houses in Palm Beach County, and it was relocated to this area so that visitors to the lighthouse can tour the house on the same visit. The Tindalls raised TEN KIDS in this tiny house! I loved hearing stories of their life. They cooked their meals over an open fire. The “noon meal” was the cooked meal- dinner- and anything left over was eaten for supper. There was no refrigeration, of course, so they only cooked what they could eat each day. There was also information about the Native Americans of this area: I loved reading about it, but I can’t imagine living in South Florida without air conditioning! These people were tough. Near the lighthouse is a protected natural area: I followed the path to a little beach. I sat here for a while watching the boats go past. It was so peaceful! Visiting this area was so out of my normal routine, it was just what I needed to jolt me out of my post-holiday funk. A few days later, my husband was working up in Jupiter and sent me this photo of the lighthouse at night: Now I want to visit more lighthouses in Florida. Some of them are too far away, and some are accessible only by boat (ooooh…). Future adventures await! Have you ever visited a lighthouse? Would you climb to the top? Are there any lighthouses near you?