Thank you Santa!

This year I asked for a new iPad. Along with the new iPad I also got the Commit 30 digital planner. I have really enjoyed reviewing my goals, creating my vision board and working toward better organization. Ultimately went digital because I need to have everything neat and in order.

I do not receive any sponsorships or endorsements for either company. 

Got my jingle on!

Many years ago, when I started my journey this was the first race that I participate in. The Arthritis Foundation’s Jingle Bell Run is the original festive race for charity. It’s where you can strut your stuff in your favorite holiday costume and FEEL GOOD about DOING GOOD. Together, we’ll jingle all the way to a cure – and have a fantastic time every step we take! I always try to make this race to support a former student and her battle with JRA.

Because this is a local race, I can cheer on many of my friends along the course. The course is mostly flat and is picturesque. This year I didn't have any running buddies to jingle along with me. My race buddy was at Walt Disney World for Christmas and my daughter was not home from college yet. 

Opted not to go overboard with my holiday cheer. I pulled out my Christmas themed sparkle skirt and wore my long sleeved race shirt.

It was a nice way to end the year. This year I logged 800 miles.

Turkey Trot Flop

This year my family was going to be out of town for the thanksgiving holiday. My daughter attends college close to my husband’s family and the boys wanted to hunt. Since we only have one reliable vehicle I offered to stay home (didn’t have any vacation days from work). I made the last-minute decision to participate in a race thanksgiving morning. Being a sucker for bling I went with the race that had a medal even though it was a little farther from home.


Since they boys took the reliable vehicle I was left to drive “the truck”. I hate driving the truck. It is old, smelly and prone to having battery issues. On Saturday I tried to move this horrible vehicle into the upper driveway, and it wouldn’t start. For days I begged my husband to charge the battery and drive it before they left.

Thanksgiving morning, I am up early ready for my hour drive to Annapolis. The green hunk of junk that I’m driving seems to be driving okay. The idiot light comes on about 15 minutes from my destination, so I stop for gas. Start to pump the gas and it starts following back out of the car. Weird…maybe I don’t have the nozzle in right. Readjust and try again. Gas still not going in. Must be a trick to putting gas in the truck that I’m not aware of. Call hubby who is sleeping soundly in Pennsylvania with my reliable car. Nope no trick to putting gas in the car. Maybe the clerk can help you. Well…Now I have been pumping gas for many years! I remember when the gas cap was behind the license plate. The clerk walks out to the pump with me and the gas is still not going in. The clerk informs me that “it’s obvious that the tank is full”. I try to explain that there is no way that the tank is full but “it’s obvious that the tank is full”. At this point I am late for my race and smell of gasoline.

I decide to move the truck to the closet shopping center parking lot and contact my friend/race partner. She agrees to come get me. I’m also told that this is karma getting me because I didn’t tell her about the race. If you listen to her story, I called at 4am but it was really 7:45. While waiting for my rescue hubby calls to let me know that the evap vent is either clogged or shifted. He tells me that I should be able to put gas in it, but it will be a slow process. Skip ahead to when my friend arrives, and we get a junk 1-gallon gas can. The gas can must have required a PhD to use. We get enough gas into the truck to drive it to the gas station (we wore most of that gallon).

It takes us 20 minutes to put 20 gallons of gas in the truck. Literally an ounce at a time!


I drove the truck home with my friend following me. The truck seemed to be running okay, so I wave good-bye and drive the last 7 miles home. Well…the truck started to run rough. Make it home and decide that the rest of the day will be spent in my pajamas watching Netflix with the dogs.

Moral of the story…Do not sign up for races until you have talked to your running partner. 

Good news! I was able to pick up my medal so now I can make it a virtual run.

Goat 10k training and Vitrual Across the Bay

October - Got back on the walking train. I decided to use the parking lot at wrestling practice as my track for steady paced walks. Turns out that I had a cheering section. They would goat nuts every time I walked by. On my strength training days, the local roads provided variety. I struggled to find the time to get my workouts in on the weekends. We traveled out of state for wrestling tournaments. The driving, early morning weigh-ins, and waiting for the next match to start made it impossible to get in my activities.

I was finally about to get my medals hung in my office. This year a lot of students have been commenting on "all the marathons" I have done. I do explain that so far, the longest distance is 6.2 miles. The students have helped me stay focused on working towards completing a half-marathon. They are so kind and encouraging. 

November - I knew that the wrestling commitments would slow down until regular season in hopes of getting in a few workouts before my December race (more on that later). Started off the month with a crick on the left side of my neck/shoulder and a sinus infection. This didn’t help my training schedule. I was able to get the weight machine and treadmill into their rightful places now that construction is done. Across the Bay 10k was virtual this year and this allowed me to find out that the closet liquor store is 3.1 miles away. Even though I didn’t do any training there was a great desire to participate in a few races to finish out the year. This desire led me to sign up for the local Jingle Bell Run and the Celtic Solstice 5 miler in December.

Unfortunately, the pain in my neck/shoulder continues and the 1^st round of antibiotics did nothing for the sinus infection. I will participate in my December races without any training. This scares me! Hoping to just cross the finish line.

Where did my summer go?

I can’t believe how quickly the summer has flown by. As always, I think I’m going to get a lot done but it never happens. 

Before summer even started, I was stressed about my daughter’s grades. My ulcer is definitely caused by her procrastination. I proudly cheered her as she walked across the stage; the high school staff raised a glass (which they truly deserved) to no longer receiving my emails.

Adding to the normal end of the school year stress was party preparation and guest arrival. My kitchen renovation project was supposed to wrap up the same week as graduation. Thank goodness I planned and booked another location for the party. It was the perfect party for my bookworm. She is truly blessed to have so many people that support her.

Never one to sit still we packed up the car with a first load of college dorm “musts” and drove to western Pennsylvania. Since grandma has a basement and is close to school we didn’t have to worry about storage. My son had planned to stay with grandma over the summer. His hope was to spend time learning how to track animals in the woods, go fishing and maybe hunt a little. Not sure that it was the summer that he planned but I know that he did his best to help his grandma. 

Of course, through all this the washer machine stopped working. Nothing like spending a hot summer day at the laundromat. 


In August I decided that a quick trip to Florida was needed. I just had to take my niece and nephews to get their wands from Ollivanders Wand Shop. My daughter and I hopped in the car 12 hours and later we were in Florida. We had a wonderful time with the family at Universal Studios. 

I was able to get in a few races. We got together on June 17^th to participate in the Chase the Moon Challenge. I also completed the runDisney virtual races

Virtual races - to run or not to run

I have signed up again this year to participate in the runDisney virtual run series. Overall I am not a huge fan of virtual races but I am a sucker for all things Disney. After my ALIF surgery I used the runDisney virtual races to get back into moving. Now I earn them to remind myself how far I have come. These will also be my only runDisney events until October 2020. The pocketbook can only handle one trip to the WDW a year.

I have no idea what to do about the Across the Bay virtual race. This is my FAVORITE race and has become a huge part of the healing process. I had set my running goal based on this race so now I don't know what to do. The medal is great but earning it won't be the same.

What do you think?

Truly disappointed

This week I found out that my favorite 10k was going to be virtual this year.

2019 Across the Bay 10K Virtual Run

** Due to mandatory maintenance on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the 2019 Across the Bay 10K will be a Virtual Run.**

I was going to focus my training on improving my time on this race. Not sure what I'm going to do.