Motivated to Succeed

8:30 AM - Yesterday was Storm #1 of a 1-2 punch socking us over the next couple days. We have had 9 storms in 7 weeks and most of us set record snowfalls for last month since records were kept in 1868. We went in to school yesterday, but they let us out at 12:30. I took it slow coming home, ran errands, went grocery shopping, picked up Emmy lunch from Panera to surprise her, then went with her to get her nose pierced (Holy moly was that an experience! No way I could ever do a piercing!). While we were waiting a group of five or six teenagers were in there and one was getting her tongue pierced! I can't imagine what that feels like or what would possess teens to pierce that!

No school today. It was actually announced last night which was really nice. I slept in until 6am and then got up, got coffee and hopped on the treadmill. I did a nice 90 minute run and felt relaxed the whole time. I was sweating like crazy the first hour, but that was because I forgot to open the windows. Stopped for about a minute to open the windows and take my shirt off because it looked like I had jumped in a lake. Finished up the run. After shoveling and such I think I may do another 5k on the treadmill.

Total Time: 1:31:40 Total Distance: 9.3 miles Average Pace:  9:51/ mile

5:00 PM - Still sleeting out. Rough stuff. Did about 2 hours of shoveling this afternoon which was a good upper body workout. Got all my things together for tomorrow. Going to teach the kiddos about political cartoons and then get them to make their own about ancient Egypt. Ran on the treadmill during a brief interlude while Emm was still working at the spa on some paperwork. Ran 3.1 miles in 26:40. First run in my Vibrams this year! 

Total Time: 26:40 Total Distance: 3.1 miles Average Pace: 8:46 

6:30 PM - Easy 20 minutes on the dreadmill after work. Today was a sad day. A good friend and coworker had her last day. :(  Went out afterwards to celebrate payday before coming home. Tomorrow is my long run and my youngest brother, Harry, is coming up to celebrate his 17th birthday! Got lots to do! Have to bake a cake tonight!

Total Time: 20:00 Total Distance: 2.05 miles Average Pace: 9:45/ mile 

Freezing rain all morning. Mom and Harry made the trip from NY to MA to see us. Emm and I wanted to make a fun day out of it. After all it is only once that your youngest bro turns 17! We went to the Arcadian Shop and went for a snowshoe hike in the woods. All four of us had a blast! A LOT OF FUN! 1.5 hours total of hiking.

Then we went out for dinner at House of India and came home and watched a movie. Had such a blast.

On Sunday we went sledding behind the house and the rope tow was going It was the best experience ever! My first time ever on a rope tow! 

Went running after a long day at work. Ran in my Vibrams. Did 4.25 miles in 42:23. Nice and easy. Need to start getting some serious miles in!

Total Time: 42:23 Total Distance: 4.25 miles Average Pace:  9:58/ mile

10:45 AM - So I ran 23 miles on the treadmill! Blustery and snow outside. Emm went to Boston this a.m. to spend time with her two best friends. I decided that since I did not get in a long run last week, it was time. I had in the back of my mind the idea to push myself. I have never gone farther than I did two weeks ago 18.25 miles in training. I got on the treadmill and popped in a disc of Season 1 : MacGuyver. Watched four episodes. I had 2 x bananas, 2 x fiber one granola bars, and 5x water bottles. Had 4 salt stick capsules as well. Felt amazing. Did the first 21 miles in 4:03:49, and then later, put on the Vibrams and did 2.1 miles in 20:00. Felt so great today! Did my longest treadmill run ever AND my longest training run ever!

Total Time: 4:23:49 Total Distance: 23.1 miles Average Pace: 11:25/ mile 

An "easy" 5k on the treadmill to shake things out. Legs felt trashed from yesterday. Emm was still in Boston. I took it easy. Really slow. Even walked for a bit. Ended up with a 5k in 32:50.

Total Time: 32:50 Total Distance: 3.11 miles Average Pace:  10:33/mi

I've found one of the best ways to shed a sickness is to get out there and run. And, as it WAS Valentine's Day and Emm was also sick we decided to go for a jog outside. Oh, did I mention it was 47 degrees out? Seriously, unless on a death bed, how could you not go outside. Went to the "loop". Started off slow. Emm went to the car after four miles I think. I kept counting cars leaving. It's a dead end cul-de-sac and I counted no less than 11 cars that left while we were running! Splits were: 

• Mile 1: 9:16
• Mile 2: 8:58
• Mile 3: 8:30
• Mile 4: 8:03
• Mile 5: 7:48
• Mile 6: 8:18

10:00 AM - What a change a day makes. Yesterday was near 60. Today it is 28 and falling, with projected high of about 22 today. Blustery winds with gusts of 45 mph. The trees are dancing like marionettes. I was going to go to Taconic high school to run, but with the last two weeks of long runs, I figured maybe a shorter one was in order. Will try to stack runs so that I run on Sat, Sun, and Mon before I go to Florida to see Su and Rocc with Emmy.

Hopped on the treadmill and did a solid run starting slower, but gradually increasing pace. Did a .5 mile cool down barefoot. Was warm on the feet!

On another note, I went with Emm all day to run errands, only to get back at night and find that I had lost my swipe card to get into work! I am hopefully going to rely on a coworker that lives in Adams to help me get into BArT. Maybe it was time. The card had been on my keychain for a year come Monday. I emailed my boss and everyone so hopefully they can change whatever needs to be changed. I feel like a failure though! Blah!

Emmy and I are really excited. Monday we are leaving to go to Orlando for the week to go see Su and Rocco. I can't wait to go to Sea World, run on the beach, and just have a great time! I haven't seen them since the wedding!

Emmy and I went on a tour of the YMCA today as well. We are thinking about joining and there are perks for paying in full in advance, like we tend to do. If we pay in cash up front, we get a $50.00 discount on our membership, so instead of $720.00 for 12 months for the two of us, it becomes $670  AND, perhaps the best part, they give us 6 MONTHS FREE! That's 18 months for 50 bucks less than a 1 year membership and this equates to only $18 and change for each of us per month. Seems doable. Building is nice, machines are fantastic, and there is a swimming pool as well. We are thinking about getting rid of DirecTV to help with the bills, and instead concentrate on having a membership here. I guess Emm says since we are in the city we will still have automatic basic cable. I could deal with that! 

2:00 PM - Ran on the treadmill before getting ready to go to Albany International Airport tonight. We are on our way to Orlando to visit Su and Rocco during winter break! Ran 30:23 for 3.5 miles, good for 8:41 pace per mile.

10:00 AM - Ran with Su and Emmy on the bike trail in Orlando this a.m. Very nice and easy. Overcast with a slight breeze of 5mph. Lots of cats! We saw so many cats, especially at the beginning and end, and I dare say I saw a cat lady that had showed up between our way out and back and was in the process of feeding them! Su really hung in there. Her first time running in over a month! I ended up with 7.25 miles total, Emm at about 6.5 and Su at 6.2 miles.

Total Time: 1:11:16 Total Distance: 7.25 miles Average Pace:  9:50/ mile

12:00 PM - Emmy and I went to Cocoa Beach with Su today. Rocco had to work at Ron Jon's again, though he is getting Friday and Saturday off so we will be able to hang out more with him! Today was also the last blast off launch of the shuttle Discovery. It was absolutely amazing to see how many people were showing up for it. We couldn't stay though. The launch was at 4 something, and Su had to be back for tutoring. The people that Su tutors for own 22 discount bargain stores and are multi millionaires from somewhere in the Middle East. They live in the most stunning gated community ever! But they pay Su great. $50 a night for 2 hours a pop of tutoring, 4 nights a week. Really good money considering it's all tax free! That's almost as much I made a week working 40 hours in the bookstore!

Emm and I walked 32 minutes out from our tent while Su surfed, past the pier. Then, we turned around and jogged back barefoot (12:16) to the tent before going swimming in the ocean. Truly a lot of fun!

Total Time: 44:16 Total Distance: 3 miles 

10:00 AM - Last full day in Florida. Emm and I went to Boggy Creek Boat Tours with Su and Rocco. We ended up having the tour all to ourselves! It was great! The guy is actually from upstate NY too. We saw a couple momma alligators and one even came up and hissed at us! Also saw some babies. I learned that the babies actually will stay with mom for several years as long as they don't annoy her or the littler ones.

Afterwards, we went to a wildlife preserve and went for a nice 1.5 hour walk before we had to go back into town for Rocco's internship with the UCF Knights basketball team. (Michael Jordan's two sons play for the team and we bought tickets and watched them upset Southern Mississippi by 1 point in a nailbiter with 3.8 secs to go on the clock!) During our walk we counted 19 ALLIGATORS!!! It was insane! We could get within 10 feet of some of them too! Really cool! Had a blast. Did get a little sunburned though.