We should not talk about the ridiculousness of my weekend (more or less the drive back…it was so much “fun” I dedicated an entire vlog to it-coming this week.)  You know I normally only dedicate vlogs to cooking with your main girl (and yes I’ve filmed a few more-don’t you worry).

Jackie and I. She was such a gorgeous bride

Back to the wedding-I went to my suitemate’s wedding this past weekend.  I drove the *10* hours back to upstate because she is def worth it.

I texted this photo to my parents and they responded with…”we thought you would wear spandex”

Obviously paying attention…

They had the cutest idea for a photobooth there.  Needless to say I forced Tim to take multiple photos with me.

You know…normal..

You know…normal for me…

Anyways because pictures tell a much more age appropriate version of the wedding (kidding of course), that and they are more interstesting then my text.

Question for you: Have you ever been to a wedding? 

Welcome to another round of PBM.  I can’t believe it’s week 4 already?  What the heck!  If you are new here, PMB is a weekly brag session where you can brag about yourself and share your positive vibes.  If you don’t love yourself (and aren’t proud of your accomplishments) how can you love and be proud of others?  Feel free to link up!

Physically this week I have been loving my eyes.  I have found my bangs (even though that was what…2 months ago?) really play them up.  I’ve even been wearing makeup to showcase them.  I’m not normally a big makeup wearer  even though I have a ton but not the case this week. Why not play our favorite facial (or body) feature with the (way too much) money I’ve spent on makeup? 

Mentally: Geez I could go on and on for this one.  Since I’ve been to Oswego I have been stuck in my OWN mental comfort zone and it’s no wonder I was so miserable.  It’s not that I haven’t made friends (I have) but I felt like I spent so much time whining that I was bored but not really make a difference about it.  Mentally, I just changed my thought process this week and got out of that rut.  I’ve spent more time out of my apartment and seeing friends, then in it which is certainly a plus. I got of my apartment and spent time being out of my comfort zone and it was awesome.  I’ve been hanging out people and having a really good time in my last month here.

Brag: I think I’m getting back into running.  As you can see from this weeks bunch of posts, every day I wake up hoping my cyst is a bit better or hasn’t flared up.  I’m happy to brag that I have been positive and maintained getting back in slowly.  Honestly, every day is a struggle and it isn’t something that has healed quickly.  So I’m bragging that I didn’t have any mental breakdowns and have already begun looking for more races in 2013 instead of what could have been in 2012.

Question for you:  What are your physical, mental and brags of the week?  

If you are my instagram, twitter or whatever friend you know I’m in for a hell of a Thanksgiving traveling break. 

indicated by these arrows…

Since I’m posting this on Friday, I’m praying to the high heavens this still remains accurate. 

I took Thursday off of work and traveled down to Baltimore where I stayed with the lovely Tammi (no blog but she does have a dailymile…).  We planned to get dinner then wake up early (read 6:00am to go for a run before my flight left today for Texas).

You’ll know whether or not that happened when I recap my adventure (or if you follow me on twitter LOL).  From Friday until Wednesday, I’ll be spending time in Texas with this lovely fellow.  You probably remember him (or not) from my college days or five months ago when we went to my housemates wedding. 

Then I’ll be flying back into Baltimore Wednesday night (before Thanksgiving) and driving the four hours back to VA Beach, just in time for the Turkey Trot the next morning.  I’m hoping (preying to the high heavens) my foot will be well enough to race a 10k so we shall see. 

Then of course, stuffing my face over Thanksgivng.  (duh). 

Then the following Saturday, I’m meeting Shannon.  I recently started following her blog about a month ago and she is truly an inspiration.  I’m wicked excited for that!

Then driving back to Northern New York on Sunday and stopping to have lunch with this lovely lady.  I always enjoy my visits with her! 

wah. I wish it was warm again.

Question for you: What are you up too on Thanksgiving?  

I alluded to it yesterday but this week has (word) been all over the place for me.  I thought I would just share life in a series of instagram and whatever photos.  Whoops, if you have already seem them… but now you get some narration too which is far more interesting.  Pictures tell 1000 words, but they don’t tell the 1000 going through my mind.

Let’s dive in.

Last Saturday was the Campus wide big White Out Hockey Game.  (You wear white and cheer on the hockey team). I went with some coworkers..keep in my mind I’m 22 going on 90 and look like I’m 12.  So I was able to easily blend in and get a free student ticket. This photo proves it.  We lost the hockey game (something that doesn’t happen very often…apparently since they were runner up for D3 hockey in the nation last year).

I’ve been partaking in the #holidayaday challenge with my #coffeeadays.  I think it is a nice mix up and somewhat challenging to have actual coffee themes ya heard?

This has been my favorite thus far

I have been chasing deer during my runs screaming just take instagram photos for me babycakes.  (not joking)

Gingerbread pancakes were a hit.  I made them for friends this week too.

Wrote my first big girl check.  Oh. My. Stars.

Oh and I got a new pair of racing flats since mine got a giant hole in them last race.  Love me some nike racers.

Oh and today was the last day of my internship.  Now I’ve got to pack and stuff.  Believe me you’ll see plenty oh instagram photos when I do that because well…I’m terrible at cleaning and packing.

This weekend I’m doing a 5k race down in Binghamton, NY and just packing.  Maybe going out to eat with some friends.   I am planning to get a deep tissue massage (wahoo good bye 80 dollars) to offset any injuries that might be festering waiting to attack…ie die cyst.

Questions for you:

1. 1.       What have you been up to this week?
2. 2.       What are you up too this weekend?  Racing?

I must say…I didn’t even realize today was Thursday until I checked my schedule.  Holiday’s have a funny way of doing that to you I guess.   So with that today it was easier I guess to think of Physical, mental and brags because I’m doing it on the spot.  (Actually in retrospect shouldn’t that make it harder?)

Physical: As some of you know, my New Year’s Resolution was to do 365 days of core.  If that is 5 minutes…fine it’s done.  If that is 30 minutes for the day…wow am I overzealous.   So with that physically I’m doing my core work.  I never said I would be spending hours on hours everyday, but I think dedicating a small amount of time daily is easily doable.  I want to reiterate…the challenge for me is not about getting a six pack.  I don’t care.  I don’t care physically if I have defined abs in the slightest…I want to have a strong core that will help with life versus a six pack that will help me either a. pick up creepers (gross) or b. Scare about creepers (that would be okay).

Mentally: This is a bit more personal but I’ve been issues and mentally struggling with how my body is absorbing sugar right now.   I have felt sick all the time, and it has taken a toll on me.  I also had a great week last week (with Tim and his family) and to come back this week and just feel blah, as well as sick…mentally I’m struggling.  I’m just hoping that my body get’s back into it’s normal routine so I don’t spend another night (ie like New Years before my race) laying on the family room floor.

Brag: Speaking of New Year’s, I stayed up until 1:30 am (for me that is huge).  Actually, I’ve been really hanging out with a lot of people and enjoying myself.  I know I tend to brag about that a lot, but having social anxiety is not the same as just being anxious.  It’s a pretty big deal for me to hang out and be social every day of week.

I know Ashleigh is probably tired of seeing her face on the blog

So that is that.  Next week is my last full week until I go back to work so I’ll have some good brags. 

Question for you: What are your PMBS? 

Sometimes we all just need that fun run with a friend.  For me, it was someone who I communicate a lot with and we only live about an hour away…yet somehow our schedules never work out well.  (Well Laura is super busy being engaged, a working woman among many things).  Sometimes I’m busy…sometimes (roughly 10% of the time)

So with that we went for a lovely 18 mile run.  Through the snow and through winter.  It’s funny how the 18 mile run literally felt like it was 5 if that.  Three hours later we realized, what we had run 18 miles…now it’s time for some food.

It isn’t that I don’t enjoy running with people occasionally, I just don’t have that option.   I can tell you, however, I’m not a group runner.  Running with a pack of more than 2 people is really overwhelming and somewhat awkward for me.

Unless it’s this little awkward trio here

Wow circa de 2 years ago…running together and stuff.

But here are some benefits I’ve found to running with someone else.

1. Chatting.  Duh…it get’s boring to run by yourself for 1 mile let alone a long run.  The run generally flies by quicker this way.
2. Double honks.  Two ladies running together?  More fellas to honk, just kidding but there is a safety element running with someone else if you get injured…ect.
3. Motivation.  I’ll be 100% honest, if I hadn’t run with Laura on Sunday I’d probably have done a ten miler on the treadmill back in my area.
4. More friends.  Who doesn’t love that?

Questions for you: 

What are some benefits you find to working out with others? 

If you missed first semester’s post you can you know…look at that here…but after a nice relaxing January back at home, I came back to Upstate NY to continue working.  It was weird having a break but not going to school and just working.  Alas working on a college campus as someone not a higher up I suppose.  This post is more picture heavy because it’s easier that way…who wants to read 1000 words about my life…not you.

I had moved out of my old place on campus and with one of my fellow coworkers Danielle and a couple of other girls.  So not being alone had it’s advantages.  I really want to take this time to dedicate how much Danielle helped me through this semester.  She was always there to listen to my musings and chat with me when I was mentally struggling (which was a lot mind you).

Coming back was a big mental struggle, not because I hated Oswego (that much) but mostly because I came back to doing this every morning.  Shoveling my car out took at least 30 minutes.  Every. Single. Morning.

This is snow.

In the early part of the semester I found out I had been accepted to run the Lake Effect Half marathon.  (it had been sold out for quite some time) which was the motivation my running needed after some lackluster races while at home.

Can’t forget about the Russian Headwarmer now can we?

The race was awful and the snowfall and ice made for an intense race.  However, something good came out of it and I met Heather who became one of my closest running friends.

Heather and I

Then a clash of the titans last weekend when we all did the 5k!

On the other running note, I also became close very close with Laura who I have spent several weekends going to visit.  (Duh-you’ve seen her on the blog several times).

I am also really glad I was able to get lunch so often with Jessica and Jackie.  Jackie, my sophomore year college roommate who I’ve chatted about quite frequently also had a younger sister Jessica who went to school on campus.  We have quickly become really close as well and naturally I would become closer with her roommate too.

Work was a lot of fun in the spring too as I was given multiple opportunities to go to conferences and interact more with students.  Though I look like a student and am only a few years older than most of them, it’s hard to separate myself and remember…no you are not a student just staff.  That is something I struggled with a lot working on a college campus.   I’m honestly still in a bit of disbelieve that I’m not exactly a student anymore and technically I am in the “real world”.

This is an presh photo of a coworker and I eating chicken wings at a conference.

So cliffnotes version of the Spring.  The semester I didn’t think I would come back…it was a great time.

I made so many new friends and became closer with so many different people who I will truly miss.

I enjoyed work to the fullest.

As I tell everyone that asks, I don’t hate Oswego or upstate NY is the slightest…however, Upstate NY does not give me all the opportunities I need to further myself in my life.

Will I miss my friends, coworkers and job?  Absolutely.

Am I nervous to make yet another new change in my life? Absolutely.

But with all changes you must eventually plummet and go for them.

Question for you: What has changed in your life since January?

I know my blog is often associated with waffles, pancakes but occasionally….well the majority of meals I like to eat other food too.  This can serve as a life update post too because those have been few and far between.  I’ve been working and going out to eat the majority of time catching up with friends.  It’s somewhat expensive, yes, but I’ve accepted August will not be the month for me to be frugal and since I saved up enough working both jobs and I won’t have the luxury of seeing a lot of people once I move for a while…Not to say I’m going crazy and spending my entire savings account but I’m panicking when I spend more money then usual.

I apologize if some have already appeared on instagram and you feel you feel like you are seeing déjà vu.

This is long overdo but there is another Oiselle athlete in my area Mollie is simply incredible.  I’m not sure anything I could say could give her a proper introduction but she is gorgeous, down to earth, 16 minute 5ker and actually also expecting very soon!  Anyways, I’ve gone out with her a couple of times and people like her make me wish I wasn’t leaving the area right now.

Not to mention eating with Ashleigh.  Ashleigh is one of my good friends that I’m always so glad to be able to hang out with her.

I ended up ordering the steak salad which was quite good.  It had all my credentials after all…steak and crumbly blue cheese.

In the midst of work, I was able to eat lunch with Stella.  We went to the Yorgo’s Bageldashery in Norfolk.

Although I’m not vegan, they had a lot of great vegan choices.  (Literally half their menu was vegan).  I opted for a bagel with salmon on it which was awesome.  It still doesn’t beat the Baglary in my college down.  Those were the best.

So that is just a few of my friend adventures in the last week or so.  Outside of a normal 40 hour work week, I’ve been packing like a mad woman and enjoying my last few weeks with my parents and family.

Questions for you:

What is your favorite restaurant ever? Why? 

After signing up for the New York City Marathon 6 months ago, I had no clue where life would take me.  I just knew come November 3^rd I would be running my guts out.  Little did I know that I would move from NY to VA to Tx and be enroute to NJ all in that time frame.  It’s funny because I’m constantly asked if I’m more stressed with the amount of moving I’ve done…and I’m not.  I’m the least stressed I’ve been in years.

Would I have not signed up for the race had I known that?

No.  I still would because I live life on the edge.

As you know on Sunday I am running my first marathon.  For some people a marathon isn’t a big deal but for me it is.   After all the training and life turmoil I have gone through, I’m happy to make it to the starting line injury free (knock on wood since I’m scheduling this post for Friday…).  Since my cyst and cortisone shot just over a year ago I have manged to stay injury free.  The only two exceptions were when a cyclist hit me and when my knee bothered me (which lasted three days with rest…). I have learned a lot about myself and training in the last year to manage this.  When I signed up for NYCM in May, I didn’t truly believe I would make it to the starting line without any injury or niggles.  I have learned when running is and isn’t worth it.  Why push the pace or run now when I can save it for the marathon and be well rested?

My goal for my first marathon has always been to finish injury free.  I don’t know how I’ll feel after that 20 mile point and I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself.  There will always be other races, other marathons that I can says yes 3:10 is a perfect goal.  Or yes X:XX is a great concrete goal.  Right now my goal is to finish and in my dreams being close to 3:10.

With a morning wake up 5 hours before the race as well as standing in the cold, the hidden hills and not so hidden bridges as well as the crowd (1000 people in the same corral!) I can only imagine what will happen.  I can guarantee I will give it my best shot and go from there.

Finishing your first marathon is a great accomplishment and should never be taking lightly.  As dad told me once (while training for one of his Shamrock Fulls), You should always enjoy the process and training cycle as more then the actual race.  You put so much time and life into that training that you have to enjoy it.  Your race is a single morning.  If you can walk away from the race you are fine.

So that has always been my goal.

I want to finish the same way I finished the Plattsburgh half marathon two years ago.

I would also like to take a second to thank everyone that has supported me (in real life and blogging). 

First my parents and family.  My dad drove all the way up to NY with me to watch and my brother came from school to watch and support me.  Also my dad for taking about 100 pictures when I say “it’s for the blog”.  I have asked my dad for advice along the way and I know I can always count on him for real advice.  Though my mom doesn’t run she supports me and my training. I am truly lucky that I have a strong backbone of support from my family.

Tim, of course, for running a large amount of my later miles with me and supporting me.  I was very lucky that most of my 20 milers he either ran with me or rode his bike alongside of me.  That made them go by so much quicker but also pushed me to do what I needed to do throughout the run.  He put up with my whining, complaining, several girl cry runs and several near attacks by dogs.  I also get extremely angry while running sometimes and things escalate quickly…in my mind (as to why I’ll probably never join a running group.).  For those who don’t know Tim drove back to East with me two weeks early so I didn’t have to alone, flew back to Texas and is now driving back again.  He is doing the same two drives I did…in the matter of two weeks.

Next, for everyone that helped and gave me advice.  There are far too many people to mention but I found myself constantly asking for advice from people I truly admire and that inspire me.  Jen, Kris L, Jason, Kevin, Andrew H., Shannon, Kailey and Mollie are a few people that come to mind.  Seriously thank you for putting up with my 100 questions and thank you for just being you…ie inspirational and awesome.

Tim’s family has always been so supportive of my running.  They are always asking how I’m doing, supporting me and it’s so nice to be so close with them too.

Oiselle for being a great backbone of support.  The Bird really is the word.  I can honestly say the company, the people and everything about them is genuine and so supportive.

Next are Hampton Roads runners who I have grown so close with as well as dailymile friends supporting me.  I try to give up dailymile but I’m too invested in your training and each of your journeys to do that.

Finally I would like to thank some of my closest friends and without you guys I would be a mess in real life and running life.  I know this is sappy but I never thought I would make it to the starting line of a marathon without the support of you guys.  Laura A., Laura S., Heather, Theresa and Marie thank you for your constant support.  Though Anna is in China, she routinely checks up on me and I cannot wait to see you next summer!

I know I missed a lot of people but seriously I could not have made it to the starting line of my dream race without each and every person in my life. 

I am truly blessed (proper blogging technique) and happy.  All that is left to do is pick up my number, relax and make it to the finish line as happy as I am right now.  If it’s a 3:10 I’m happy.  If it’s a 4:10 I’m happy.  As long as I make it through my dream race happy and injury free my goal of finishing my first marathon will be accomplished.  Sappy LOLZ out. 

 So thank you. 

I feel semi productive that I was able to write both posts and schedule them back to back.  I always get frustrated with cliff hangers on blogs that last for 2-3 weeks.  I know patience is a virtue but it is a virtue I am not blessed with.  My lack of patience is actually important with this post though.

Here is part 1 of my college growth.

My final semester of college I spent interning full time at a health office in Oswego.  Then I was hired there. (Spending close to another year in Upstate, NY).  Long story short I fully enjoyed my job at Oswego.  It had everything I learned from community health courses, great coworkers, it was what I wanted to be doing, close to Syracuse, Rochester..ect.  I made a lot of friends there.  I hated the cold and weather but that had nothing to do with my job.  There was obviously one large part of my life missing from Oswego and that was my long term boyfriend.  I would be lying if I didn’t say that was 95% I moved.

At the Walk to Save Lives Fall 2012

Until roughly May of 2013, I thought I had my life completely figured out.  After making the executive decision not to stay in Oswego I moved home with my parents for the summer while Tim finished up most of pilot training.

I planned to spend the summer either interning at a health center or working.  I ended up working two jobs to save money to move to Texas (neither having to do with my community health major in college!).  Last summer I felt as though my college career was again a waste.  I was working jobs I probably could have done without a college degree.  They were just that…jobs to pay bills.  I knew once the summer was over I would be moving down to Texas and finding a job similar to Oswego.

So I thought anyways.

Sadly the area I moved in Texas didn’t have those jobs available and I certainly didn’t know what I wanted if those weren’t options.  The closest community college was 2.5 hours away and it’s obvious I don’t even like five minutes of driving.

Oh texas…little did I know I would be here 6 weeks

I knew two things about my community health degree and possible job choices.  I didn’t want to work in a hospital and I didn’t want to work with babies.

Past that I had absolutely no idea and it stressed me out.  (In fact it still stresses me out).  Here I am a year out of college and I couldn’t tell you my exact dream job.   Since my stay in Texas was short lived (6 weeks) it wasn’t feasible for me to find a temporary job let alone a full time job.  (Thank you working all summer).

While I lived in Texas I began to think about my future and my thoughts about pursuing a job when I moved to NJ.  What did I want to do?  Apply to a college and work on campus like Oswego?  Work at the Red Cross?  Work at a nursing home?  I had no idea…all of those jobs interested me.

Since this previous summer I have grown even more.  This past summer though I still worked, I had no idea what I wanted to do the rest of my life.  It worried me.  It frightened me.  It still frightens me.  Do I have to make an executive decision of my career choice right at this very moment?  No.  I have to find a job that I currently enjoy doing and pays bills.

It seems we are asked the “what do you want to be when you grow up” question since we can talk.  I’ve gone from marine biologist to zoologist, teacher to community health worker.  How do we ever know exactly what we are destined to do?  I have thought a lot about the definition of successful and happy.  What makes you successful?  Having a job from the major you chose in college?  Making enough money to pay the bills?  Being happy?

My personal opinion is that being successful comes from doing something you enjoy, not stressed and being financially stable.  Whether that takes you in a completely different route from where you originally started then it does.

Might as well be happy right?  Look a community health center that probably has a job I would like. I guess I’ll just stop the marathon now.

I wish college had prepared me for that.  I wish someone in college had said there is a chance even after four years of classes you won’t know what you want to do.  You still won’t have it figured out when we hand you (mail you) your diploma.  You will never have all the answers in your life. Do not stress about it and you will find the answer eventually.  

Spoiler: Incase you wondered now (and I owe a post about Jersey) but I am happier right now then I have ever have been.

Question for you: How do you define being successful? 

The end of December only means one thing for blogging.  Time to reflect upon the year and see how you have changed (or not) and the excitement of your life.  I can honestly say 2013 was the most crazy year of my life.  Pictures seem to be more interesting then random musings so where we go. Like last year I broke this up into two posts since I need more content and long posts are boring. 

January:

I began my New Years running the Hair of the Dog 5k in a prom dress.  YAY!  (you are supposed to wear last night’s outfit)

I worked in Oswego.  (It was cold and snowy)

Awe I miss you Danielle!

February:

I ran 18 miles with Laura.

I ran the Lake Effect half marathon and met Heather. (and froze!)

March:

I had my first half marathon of the year, Shamrock!

This is from last year when I realized I was about to PR.

This is probably the reason my legs locked up post race.

April:

I had my current half marathon PR: Nike Women’s half!

Was this the month I ran 20 with you Laura?  I feel like it was my first 20 miler in my life too.

I think this was from that day. I remember wearing this dingy jacket and complaining about it a lot.

May:

I had one last ho-rah with Heather and Laura at a 5k.

Adorable

I moved home with my parents.

I broke my first tape in a race.

June:

I worked anywhere from 50-75 hours weekly.  It was awful but I needed to save a good amount of money because of my unsuspecting future.  (Which I needed for sure!).  Sadly I’m not one to take selfies at work.   This was the boring month.  The first half of my year seems pretty tame compared to the second half.

Questions for you: Tell me something about your first 6 months of 2013. 

I feel like I have so much life to catch you guys up on.  I actually just feel like I have more excitement the last few weeks then the three months living in New Jersey. 

Last weekend (Valentine’s Weekend) I went down to Virginia to run the Virginia is for Lovers 14k.  Although the Virginia is for Lovers 14k was my primary reason for driving down there, I had many other reasons like seeing family and friends like Theresa and Kris L.  I always enjoy traveling down to VA because I enjoy seeing all of my friends.  My heart and friends are in Virginia so it is always nice to visit.

Oiselle teammates: Stephanie, Mollie and I at the race start.

I’m not allowed to call it home anymore because I do live in NJ. (with no chances of moving!) I am allowed however, to call it my hometown.

This is where I’ll be…well not in front of this sign but you get it

So outside of the Virginia is for Lovers 14k what else did I do?

I saw Theresa.  We ended up hanging out and just chatting for a while.

I also was lucky to see Kris before leaving too.  Kris is an amazing athlete who I need to get her autograph before she goes to trials.  We’ve been good friends for a while but I can never sing her enough songs. 

Outside of seeing some friends and hanging out…I ate…I ate a lot.

pita bread, feta and olive oil is my favorite.

I ate pita bread at a Greek restaurant.

I ate too much whip cream at the local froyo shop, sweet frog.  I definitely took my relaxing and eating too much on vacation.  I always say I’ll stick on a pretty tight budget so I can go out to eat.  That is definitely true.  After nearly 2 months of hanging out in NJ, it was nice to get out of town for the weekend.  I enjoyed seeing my friends and family.

Coincidentally last weekend was a strange one for my family.  My dad was getting back from a work trip; my mom was leaving out of town the next day…which left Tim and I seeing my entire family but at different points.  At least they will all be back when I go in a month for Shamrock half marathon.

Question for you:

What is something you will budget for?

I will always save to go out to eat.  It’s my weakness, I love restaurants.

As well as racing the Lake Effect Half Marathon I honestly had a great time hanging out with friends.  An alternate name for my racecation is “That time I hung out with 5 bloggers”.  I guess bloggers are the strange type that we like to go run races that don’t sound like a lot of fun.

The Lake Effect Half marathon? 

A half marathon when there have been recorded white outs during the race? 

Of course that sounds fun.

How many times have I complained about hating winter and snow?

I have been enjoying posting various blogs, articles, ect that I’ve been enjoying on Friday’s so this seemed like a perfect day to post all the cool people I hung out with.  (Maybe you’ll find a cool Upstate NY blog you enjoy…because I love them all!)

I stayed with Laura last weekend in Rochester.  I cheered for her while she nearly ran a 10k PR on Saturday…then went on to PR at Lake Effect.  Double winner!  I was just happy that the race started and ended near one of my favorite gas stations to get coffee.  They have gigantic whip creams!

Hello fast trac!

Laura is training for the Boston marathon.  Obviously one of my best friends who has made multiple appearences on my blog.  If you are looking for someone who is fast, running Boston and surviving a Rochester Winter, you’re welcome.

Upon getting to the race we promptly ran into the famous Jason.  Jason went on to run a 1:15.55 half marathon.  He’s fast and full of running knowledge.  He is also super nice and down to earth person.  He posts a lot of race course reports, elite reviews and other interesting running information.

After weeks of anticipation I finally ran back into Heather.  Heather and I have been extremely close since living in Upstate NY.  Heather is currently training for various half marathons (hopefully the NJ half so she can stay at my house!).  After running the CIM marathon last year, she is currently getting back into training.  I hadn’t seen Heather since NYCM, so it was simply amazing to see and hang out.

Also weeks to build up for this race was meeting up Brittany.  Brittany is coming off an injury and now getting back into shape.  She is a spin instructor and awesome on so many levels.  I was so honored and glad to see her as well as high five her several times across the race course.  Brittany is such an awesome person and it was great to get lunch post race with her!

Left to right: Heather, Laura, me, Brittany

The next Upstater I was able to hang out with at the race was Dylan.  Dylan and I met at a local race up there last year.  We’ve chatted back and forth and gone on to run several races together.  All of them have seemed to have been miserable weather-wise.  He is currently training for a bunch of triathlons as well as road races.

Oomph what a weekend seriously.  I cannot believe how many of my friends I got to see and bloggers I got to meet.  I would have loved to see some

more people but unfortunately LOLZ luck gets in the way of that.  So anyways if you are looking for some new blogs to follow each person is truly awesome and I’ve always enjoyed following their journey.  Apparently I like to hang out with a lot of people from Upstate NY!

Questions for you:

Which blogs are you loving right now?

I have taken a bit of a step back from blogging lately.  I still love reading blogs but I’ve been busy with work, traveling and having friends visit.

Friends visit like Laura and Heather! 

We went for a run.

A while back Heather and I decided that the Long Branch half marathon would be fun.  Since Laura just ran Boston, she relaxed at the race and came along for the ride.  I was so excited to come back from Seattle because I got to see them last weekend.

So excited that I didn’t clean my house and drove like a Jersey driver to meet them at my house.  (I got off of work around the same time they were getting there).

We looked like real girls. (Well I did, they always look nice)

After I moved from Oswego one thing I definitely missed was these two.  Neither of them actually live in Oswego…but anyways I missed them.

This weekend was nice because they could come visit and hang out.  Another thing was they got to meet Tim.  When I worked in Oswego, none of my friends got the pleasure to meet Tim.  He was working and training in Texas and was not able to visit.  I assured them I was not making him up…Until this year, none of my friends outside of college had been able to meet Tim.

Post race joys.  I don’t think I could look more awkward.  I must be half delusional after the race.

But anyways it was a really nice, relaxing weekend.   We just caught up and hung out.  Isn’t that what you really need in a girls weekend anyways.

Questions for you:

Do your closest friends live near or far?

Not as far as when I lived in Texas!

What are your favorite things to do when friends visit?

For us I think watching Gypsy weddings, eating red velvet cake and loling win out.

I was hoping to recap my weekend by saying I found a wedding venue and we are set with that.  Sadly that is not the case.  We toured a few venues and while we liked all of them, we didn’t love them.  When I come back down to VA in a couple of weeks I hope we will find a venue that we like.  We did find a wedding planner (person) that we like a lot and are completely excited to be working with her.

I had to take a couple of photos since we are barely ever in fancy clothing.

Anyways even though it’s Wednesday and I’m just now getting to recaping my weekend, it doesn’t mean it didn’t exist.

We went kitchen shopping and saw these little baby utensils. It made me laugh more then it should.  Riddle me this: why are the mini blogger utensils more expensive then the normal sized ones?  And also how does anyone eat with these?

Every time I visit VA, I have a list of things I want to do.  It always involves seeing one of my best friends Theresa.  I’m glad this was not different and we were able to catch up at JoJacks.   We got to catch up after the half marathon.  Even after I showered, I don’t think I could have looked more of a mess…so please excuse that.

That is basically the long story short of my weekend.  I had a great time existing in real life last weekend.  This week I’m working a lot more then usual so I’m a bit more MIA.

Questions for you:

What is one of your favorite restaurant meals?

When was the last time you dressed up?

Did you enter my Erin Condren Planner giveaway (you can share as many times and places you want and get unlimted entries…I’m so kind)

I had so much fun the last week.  Honestly I had such a packed week! I don’t even know where to start.  I had a great time hanging out with my family, friends and seeing so much different faces.

The reason I came down to VA was because my youngest brother Steven, was graduating high school.  He is the last of us to graduate high school.  The graduation itself began pretty late at 7:30pm.  I was lucky my graduation began at 9:30 I guess.  One thing I love about our school district is that graduations are exactly 1 hour long.  There are multiple high schools that use this facility so the graduations are required to be exactly 1 hour long.  No long speeches, just boom boom boom.  So 507 candidates left as graduates in one hour.

But first, let me take a selfie with Matt.  We drove seperately since not everyone could fit in one car.  There was so much traffic to get to graduation.  It took us about an hour to drive about 10 miles.

Watching high school graduation made me realize that mine was 6 years ago.  I thought a lot about how much my life had changed since then.  Wow!  Now I wonder where I will be in 6 more years.  Six years from now will be 2020….what an interesting thought.

Anyways my three brothers and I post graduation.  (Doug, myself, Steven, Matt).

Plus who doesn’t love a great family photo (taken another day).  (Yes we took more…)

Speaking of high school, I also had the chance to meet up with someone I went to high school with Lauren!  It was so great to chat in person again.  We swam together way back in high school and now we are both respectifully planning our weddings.  (Speaking of weddings, I have a lot of news to share about mine…I actually have things accomplished).

As my last horah I got to have lunch with Theresa.  It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed chatting about training, life and just everything in general.  I always have a good time with T.  We actually ended up getting lunch about 40 minutes after my long run from last week so don’t mind that I look a straight mess.  I literally showered and went.  (Which is really hard after running forever).

So that is what I have been up to the last week…existing outside the internet.

Questions for you:

Where do you think you’ll be in 2020?  What do you hope to accomplish?

What is something exciting you have done this week?

I’m currently halfway done with a lot of things in my life.

I’m already more then halfway done recovering from my stress fracture.  Judging by the location of my stress fracture as well as the thickness of the crack, my doctor created a timeline of my healing process.  So far so good and he has been able to accurately predict how it would heal.  I’m about three and a half weeks of no running and everything continues to go streamline I might be able to run my first mile soon. Mentally the time has flown by.  This injury has been different from any other injury that I’ve had.  I didn’t stress that I was injured.  I actually never once cried.  The time keeps ticking away very quickly.  I credit that to staying busy and not worrying about it.  I also credit it to not whining too much and seeking positive aspects of my life.  I didn’t create an injury hashtag and I limited how much I complained about being injured.  I was truly happy for my friends PRing in their 5ks, 10k, marathons and whatever else.  In turn, I feel it’s made the time go quicker because I’m not dwelling on the fact I’m injured.

More importantly, I’m one month into T’s deployment (with one month to go). I’m mentally in a hell of a lot better spot than I would have thought.

If you were to ask me in August, Hollie how do you think you’ll feel when your finance is deployed and you have a stress fracture?

I would have probably responded with, that’s not really a situation I want to deal with. It’s probably not a situation I could even comprehend at the time. I would be an emotional wreck.

Here I am dealing with that exact situation.  Within the matter of two weeks I rode an emotional roller coaster of T leaving and then finding out I had a stress fracture. I’m injured and dealing with  fiance being deployed but I’m making the best of the situation.  I’m not allowing myself to be in a negative spot.  I’m looking for the positive and good situations versus the negative and not so good.  Honestly, some days are better than others but I’m not an emotional wreck. I’m nowhere near that mindset and haven’t found myself there very much at all.  While I can’t say this is my favorite stretch of my life, I can’t sit and pretend I’m letting myself be miserable.  It’s always been in my nature to make the best of situations.  While I may vent or ramble about something, I’m always striving to make the best of the situation.

I’ve found keeping busy and keeping out of an empty house is one of the biggest factors for me to stay happy. I’m working, I’m seeing friends and I’m not allowing myself be consumed by the internet.  I truly believe those that sit around and feel sorry for themselves aren’t going to be as happy.

Could I sit on the internet for hours on end, keep to myself and “get through it”? Sure but that’s not really a life I want to live, running or not.

It’s made me realize that I have a ton of other interests that have nothing to do with running (something I think everyone needs). In case you wondered, I wish I could say I’ve used this extra time to plan our wedding…but that would be a false statement.  I’ve really found other things that interested me.  I have no regrets on anything and have truly taken time to enjoy life.

I’ve fostered friendships in the last month. I’ve learned my friends near and far always have my back. They’ve kept me sane. They’ve kept me from having any meltdowns, from feeling sorry for myself and from becoming more of a mess than usual.  They’ve allowed me to just talk and to bounce ideas off of.

That being said, I’m very much halfway through my recovery and halfway through Tim’s deployment. I’m still looking forward to when I’m 100% the way through both.  Throughout both situations, I try and keep the concept of things could always be worse.  There will always be people that have it “worse than I do” and that I should take time to realize that.  That being said I have a countdown to Tim getting back as well as a countdown to my first mile that I’ll be able to run.  This is just one short chapter of my life.  A chapter building a foundation for the next greater chapter of life.

I always look at this photo and realize that life is full of great moments whether you are looking or not.

Question for you:  How do you stay positive in rough times? 

It’s not a secret that I’ve been working a lot more than usual lately.  I’ve said that a lot.  My work is anywhere is from 30 minutes-1 hour from my house.  Working more days gives me less time to blog and less things to talk about via blogging.  With a 40 hour work week, I’m also driving between 5-10 hours a week.  That means I’m outside of my house (work related) around 45-50 hours weekly.  That doesn’t count time hanging out with friends.  

I haven’t been blogging any less (nor do I really want to stop blogging) but I often times find myself with less things to say.  I mean I could talk about waking up, working out, driving to work, coming home, playing around on the internet and then going to bed.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  That doesn’t seem that exciting to me, nor does posting my daily eats.  Sorry that’s not my blog flow. I guess if posting about my daily food intake and food payed my bills I might be more inclined.  Changing my blog to create more content seems like a lose for me and a snooze for readers.  That’s my humble opinion though and if you like posting your daily food intake, good for you.  I digress.

On my (work) off days, I’ve found I like to hang out with friends and relax.  I don’t like spend more then an hour or two blogging.  So I don’t like to spend all my free time blogging.  I really enjoy blogging but I don’t live to blog.

I’m not sure exactly what I’m saying, I guess more or less that while I’m having a social life and exist outside the internet, it’s not life riveting or things I feel are necessary “blog worthy”.

Do you really care what kind of food I ate today?  (Only if it’s a diner).

Do you care my favorite color is yellow?  Not really.

So anyways what have I been up to outside of boring, adult things?

Last week I got to hang out with a good friend Melissa.  It was a really good time and really nice to catch up.  Melissa has been a huge support system for me and our help and advice is untradeable.  It seems like so long ago and it was only last week.

Say “Smile so we exist in real life”…no…really.

I also got to hang out with Danielle and Amelia who led me into the city.  (PS: Danielle just PRed in her 5k on a hard, hilly course in the middle of marathon training..).  Last Tuesday, I started a pretty rigorous schedule where I went to NYC and then drove straight to work Wednesday in South Jersey that morning.  I worked from Wednesday to Monday (around 50 hours).  Outside of meeting Kate Grace, I didn’t talk a lot about my time in NYC.  I really surprised myself with how much fun I had.  We walked around NY, tried a cool foodie truck (my first foodie truck ever!) and then headed to the Brass Monkey to meet some Oiselle teammates.  While I was nervous to physically go into the city, I had a lot of fun.

Train selfie

Foodie truck: A goat cheese wrap thing and glass noodle salad. It was really good.

Then I worked, worked, and worked.  I am glad I did and I enjoyed each day but it was tiresome for sure.  Those days consisted of work, sleep, work sleep (and two workouts I believe).

I’m now reaping the rewards of just relaxing and getting my house straightened up.  I was going to plan more events with friends but found I just needed some time to just relax.

I think as a blogger, there is an unseen pressure that “my life is so exciting, therefore I blog”.  That certainly isn’t the case and I have several weeks of being “boring” or just lather, rinse, repeating.

I wish I could post more exciting life moments but I don’t have any.  My biggest life update is that I’m just continuing living my life. 

I created an anonymous question box so if you have any idea’s or questions feel free to ask below.  [contact-form]

Questions for you:

What are you up to this week?

Any big plans this weekend? 

It’s RnR Philly so I’ll probably be watching and cheering with that.  Since my work is partnering with Brooks we have a lot of cool things going on.  Let me know if you’ll be there!

My visit last week to Virginia was a lot of fun.  I haven’t spent a week in my hometown in a while.  I think the last time I spent an entire week there was when I lived in Virginia for the summer of 2013.  It was nice to relax and see friends.  I also got a lot of very much needed wedding stuff done. With all of things I have gotten done wedding wise, I might get married.

Where to even begin?

I arrived to Virginia late Christmas Eve.  It’s hard to believe that was 2 weeks ago. I drove home from work and then spent Christmas day relaxing and hanging out with my family. It was exactly what I needed.  While I don’t live in Virginia, Virginia is still home.

In the days after Christmas, I did a lot.  Instead of writing too much, ’ll just caption photos.

I was able to hang out with one of my bridesmaids, Theresa. We went to a (new to us) Mexican restaurant Luna Maya.  Their portions were massive and if you visit Norfolk, VA, I would recommend the restaurant.  In fact, I want to visit Virginia again so I can go.

Getting froyo afterwords. I mean whipped cream with a side of fro yo,

At Luna Maya

I got to hang out with another Bridesmaid, Anna.  Anna and I have been friends for over 13 years (that is over half our lives!).  It’s crazy to think that.  She is truly one of the best friends I could ask for.  After undergrad, Anna taught in China for two years and recently moved back to the US to work on grad school.  While we don’t live close, it’s a lot closer than halfway around the world.  She has been one of my best friends for 13 years now and it was so lovely to catch up with her.

After more relaxing, wedding planning and doing absolutely nothing, I got lunch with Kris L and Kellie.  Most Virginia Beach runners know what powerhouse runners these woman are.  Not only are they both insanely fast, but they are both insanely nice.  We went to a local favorite and (Virginia diner?) Citrus on Christmas Eve.  They are two of my favorite people to talk training, life and whatever else with.

Nonrunning clothes ;) Kellie, myself and Kris

The of course, I also did two local road races (I’m sure I’ve spammed my blog enough with them):

12/31 11:15 pm Beat the Ball 5k

Happy New Years!

1/1 10 am: Hair of the Dog 5k

This week vacation was exactly what I needed.  It broke up the month the month of December and it made it fly by.  I feel like I was just leaving New Jersey and now I’m back.

While my “homecation” was relaxing, I got a lot of much needed stuff done on my wedding too.  I was starting to feel nervous (due to doing nothing in December) but I got a lot accomplished last week.  It also made the wedding as a whole become more real!  I’ll have a wedding update at some point.  Long story short, I’ve gone to the first vendor of each category…said what I have wanted and they have done a great job.  I have no stress or complaints.

Questions for you:

Do you visit your hometown a lot?

How were your Holidays?

Let’s face it…when you are in a community of runners, a lot of your friends are runners.   It’s an unavoidable fact.

Runners do the same things.

They geek out to the same new things. (OMG new Asics shoe next month!?)

Runners have the same internet searches…

How to run

How to run faster

How to run faster and PR

Anyways, as runners we are friends with more runners.  It’s also why we display bumper stickers on the back of our cars.  It’s like the bat signal to others of “hey, let’s be friends because I’m a runner too!”.

Here are five types of running friends you have (or if you don’t, the chances are you are that person).

The Injury Connoisseur

Bless this poor runner’s heart, your friend has had every injury known to runner kind.

Maybe they poorly train or are just extremely injury prone, this poor person always seems to be injured…That being said, if you have any ache or pain from your metatarsal to your ear lobe…you can count on them to know what your problem is.  While they didn’t go to medical school, they still could tell you the symptoms and recovery process to every injury imaginable.

Push the Pace Pat

PTPP runs all of his training runs at the exact same pace he races.  If you are looking for a free speed workout, Pat is your guy.  He is probably slightly awkward to run with because you can’t chat since you are sprinting the entire time.  You wonder how he doesn’t get injured but realize he doesn’t improve either.  He doesn’t mind his consistent speed…he just likes his exact 7:02 pace every single mile of every single run.  No faster, no slower.  His secondary titles are Consistency Cal or Racing Raymond.

Technology Tim

New Garmin out?  Tim knows.

New Fitbit heart rate tracking monitor doodad thingy?  Tim knows.

New cross training machine out?  LOLZ, Tim has known for the last few months.

If you have any technology questions or products, Tim will provide you with the answer.  Just don’t go on a long run with him or you might fall asleep while he geeks out to some formula that causes the Fitbit to calibrate to your steps.

Ultramarathoner Unice

Forest was an ultramarathoner before ultra marathoning was cool.

Unice will run 30 miles just because.  30 miles today, tomorrow and possibly 30 miles every day.  Unice lives for the long run and lives for running on the trails.  Your friend Unice can take you to the best state parks with the best scenery.

Be careful though because they might be gorgeous state parks with hidden intense trails.  A 30 miler is hard enough but adding a 1000 feet climb every few miles increases the difficulty…The male version (Long Run Logan) normally has a long beard because face it…when do ultra-marathoners not have beards?

Hungover Harry

Hungover Harry is the life of the party and the life of the run.  He is always open to running whether he just got done drinking a few hours ago or not.  He is a great and personable guy.  You can count on him to have a good time whether you are running or not.  He just annoys the junk out of you that he will PR and crush your time the night after drinking.

Questions for you:

Do you have any of these friends?

Do you consider yourself any of these people?