Back to zero.

My running had been going so well and then -- justlikethat -- it all went downhill.

The day before Thanksgiving, we drove to Long Island. We got caught in the bad snowstorm that hit upstate NY that week and our usually 3 hour drive became 4.5 hours. During the stressful ride, I felt my right hamstring tighten up. For the last hour or so of the trip, it was hurting in that dull, achey, tight way that I really, really should have listened to.

The next day, I went out for a run with my young niece who was also in town, up from Virginia. A little over 3 miles into our run, I had to stop. I felt searing pain at the top of my hamstring/my glute. I hoped, hoped, hoped it just needed a little stretch. So I stretched gently and then started to run again -- only I couldn't.

I couldn't run at all. I had a flashback to last spring when I'd torn those muscles in my left hip/glute. And how loooooong it took to heal and for me to get back to running.

I wanted to cry. But I didn't. Instead, Maggie and I walked back to my sister-in-law's house (well, I kinda hobbled, she walked with her nice brisk I-could-totally-be-running-now stride).

And I haven't run since.

We did, however, enjoy seeing so much of the family over the holiday.

My mother-in-law in the middle with several of her grandchildren.

My mother-in-law in the middle with 6 of her kids and their spouses/partners.

Now, I'm walking a little, riding the bike, getting back to the weight-lifting I neglected during marathon training. I am not running at all for the rest of the year. My hope is that this intentional rest, along with frequent applications of lemongrass oil and Deep Blue rub, and much-needed sessions with my chiropractor, will help my leg heal completely and I'll be back running with no problems at the beginning of 2015!

Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, happy December, everyone!

Welcome, 2014!

Happy New Year!

Day 3 of 2014! I can safely say I've recovered from a fun New Year's Eve, when I rang-in 2014 with some fun friends and, of course, my kids and husband. We had a blast. The kids were up past midnight and behaved so well all night, saving their complete breakdowns until it time to leave. Bedtime was awesome, as you can imagine.

But, like I said, we had a blast so it was worth it.

Even more worth it was my first run of the year, 3.75 miles as part of the HMRRC Winter Series of races. Bridget and I committed to the run while enjoying our New Year's Eve champagne, you know, when everything sounds like the Best. Idea. Ever!

New Year's Day morning, it was another story. Fortunately for me, Bridget got me going and 12 hours into 2014 we conquered our first run of the year.

Feeling cold before the race.

Dorky runner twins! (With our friend, Melissa, in the vest.)

Yup, a chilly fun run!

Since then, we've been blanketed by snow. It hasn't made for good (or any) running, but it has provided opportunities for reflection and planning. I've been thinking a lot about how my running went in 2013 and what I want to do this year. I don't have full-on goals just yet and, in fact, I only have one race on the schedule so far (half marathon in Boston in May), but that will change over the next week or so.

Until then, I'm happy I started the year with a run -- the best way to do it!

How about you? How did you kick off 2014?

Happy New Year! And thanks, as always, for stopping by!

 

 

Delight.

These weeks leading up to Christmas have been packed with delightful days. Not as much running as I would like, but definitely as much fun!

Here's a look at these delightful days of December:

Santa visit at preschool.

Gift from my little guy.

Dancing elf!

Aunt Claire's visit from Chicago!

Shepherds in the Christmas pagaent.

Two gingerbread-house-making parties means we have a gingerbread neighborhood!

 

Happy boys happily waiting for Christmas day.

And, while I'm at it, I might as well delight in the fact that this weekend I had two great runs. On Saturday, I ran 6 miles with Bridget and we both rocked the capris for our moderately warm first-day-of-winter run. Then, yesterday, the 60 degree temperature called for shorts. Shorts! For a run the second day of winter. In upstate New York! Awesome.

Now, the boys and I are enjoying the holiday break -- kicking off the week with some rollicking indoor hockey.

Thanks for stopping by -- have a great week!

 

Happy Thanksgiving.

In case you were wondering 'bout them 'taters . . .

 

I couldn't resist! 

Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 

 

Cheers to 2012!

What a year! 

Here's a snippet of the year that was (for this happy runner, at least):

Winter Series with friends.

True words!

Runnin' of the Green 4-miler

Fun with good friends.

The New Jersey Marathon crowd.

My running boys.

Pre-race.

Freihofer's Run for Women

Before the Boilermaker.

Beach time!

2nd place female at the Clove Run 10-miler!

Sandy Paws 5K

My little kindergartener.

At the ZOOMA half.

Told myself this a lot in 2012.

Before the Mohawk Hudson Half.

A new PR!

Post-race with friends!

The little guy's first school race.

Love my friends!

Veteran's Day Run -- new PR!

I know, I'm not great about making the photos look good and line up. I tried, believe me!

I hope you all have an enjoyable New Year's Eve -- and best wishes for 2013! Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

~ Felice

Holiday week.

I hope you all have been enjoying the holiday season!

It has been a good week here in Happy Runnerville. I've been keeping my mileage up, through lots of chilly outdoor runs -- including a nice 9-miler last Saturday with friends -- and a bunch of treadmill ones. Now that most of my running is indoors, I treasure the occasions when I can get outside. I don't care how bundled-up I have to get!

There was also this little thing called Christmas on Tuesday and it was great. My boys were so in to the holiday this year -- I think one of Conal's favorite things this year was making cards and drawings for people, especially his little brother. It was pretty cute.

Christmas day was spent at home in the morning and then over to my parents' house for the afternoon/dinner. There were 39 of us this year. Check out the panoramic pic my brother took:

That's a lot family, huh? Yup.

Yesterday, we were hit with the big snowstorm, which thrilled my boys. They even got out to make the first snowman of the year:

Sadly, we're finishing up the week with a wake and funeral but they are for Owen's elderly aunt, who lived a good, long life. And that's really all any of us want.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for stopping by!

~ Felice

Turkey(ish) trotting.

Not having a formal turkey trot to run this year didn't stop me. Thursday was a beautiful day and I got out for a great run:

My own personal 10K in 54:29. Not bad! Best of all is that I felt super while running. A great way to enjoy the day.

And then there was the rest of the day. We were down on Long Island at my mother-in-law's house for a few days and Thanksgiving dinner was at my sister-in-law's newly renovated house. It was perfect for the large gathering.

The family -- heading out for Thanksgiving dinner.

We had lots of fun and a great time catching up with family that we don't see all that often.

On Friday morning I decided to extend my turkey trotting, this time working a mile time trial into a 4-mile run:

Loved running that sub-7 minute mile the morning after an indulgent Thanksgiving!

And now, we're back home, back to the routine.

Did you run or race on Thanksgiving? How did it go? 

I have to give a special bloggy cheer to my little sister who, on Thursday, ran her very first 5K ever! Way to go, Claire! And, while I'm at it, I'll cheer for my pal, Bridget, who ran a 10K PR on Thanksgiving, too.

Have a great week!

~ Felice

Another "not racing."

But this time, it isn't because of an injury.

I'm not racing tomorrow even though I've long had plans to run a turkey trot. At first, I'd planned to run a local turkey trot with friends. Our plan was to stay local for Thanksgiving this year and so I would run a 10K to start the day. Superstorm Sandy changed everything and now we're headed to Long Island for the holiday instead.

So I found a 5 mile turkey trot on Long Island that I'd run several years ago. But, unfortunately, registration closed before I got a chance to get myself together and register. You snooze, you lose. I snoozed and lost.

No turkey trot for this happy runner.

Still happy, though. I'll map out a run and head out tomorrow morning anyway. The weather is supposed to be perfect so why not?

Are you running a turkey trot tomorrow? Just running on your own? 

Have fun whatever you do!

Just go easy on the mashed taters.

Happy Thanksgiving!

~ Felice

Wicked hawt.

I probably don't have to tell you that it was hot out this weekend. But, really, it was so hot I can't avoid mentioning it. It was H.O.T. Wicked hawt.

We were fortunate in all the heat because a) we have central air conditioning, to keep us cool in the house and b) we had fun things going on. A BBQ and swimming with fun neighbors, mini golf with friends, running through sprinklers, a quick visit with my family, splashing in the kiddie pool, lots of gardening and, oh yeah, the sweet treat of summer ice cream.

Of course, I worked several runs into the weekend (4 days, 4 runs!), all of them leaving me ultra hot and sweaty. Wicked hawt.


This week I'm catching up, getting ready for my first post-marathon race (the Freihofer's Run for Women on Saturday) and celebrating my birthday.

Yup, the last day of May is this happy runner's birthday! A PR on Saturday would make an awesome gift so if you'd like to send me some fast running vibes, I'll take 'em!

Until then, splish splash!

Hope you all had a great weekend. Enjoy your week!

~ Felice


PS: My Sony W-series MP3 player giveaway ends tonight! Check it out HERE. 

Crafty Valentine-ers.

We've been on a crafting and cooking roll here at Chez Happy Runner. Bread, biscuits, soup. Collages, heart chains, sun-catchers. All lot of doing. And my boys love it. They enjoy the doing, the working together. 

Over the past week or so, it's been all hearts, all the time. At one point, my son asked if we could make a Valentine's Day wreath. Well, sure! I didn't know exactly how we'd go about it but then I put my thinking cap on, called up all the creativity I have (not much) and planned out a cute, easy-to-make wreath.

So, for you procrastinators out there who still want to do a little Valentine's day decorating, I give you this: 

• Start with a thin wire clothes hanger.

• Clip the hook end off with a wire cutter, and twist the remaining ends together (be careful if they are sharp at all).

• Shape the hanger into a heart shape -- with a thin hanger, the shaping is easy. It doesn't have to be perfect, just get the general shape of a heart.

• Next, find an old RED t-shirt, top, sweatpants, socks, towel, whatever to cut into strips. I used an old polo-style top that was stained and ready to be tossed out. 

• Cut the shirt (or whatever you are using) into strips, about 1 inch wide and 4-6 inches long:

• Again, they don't need to be perfect. As you can see, my strips were all different lengths. In my opinion, that adds to the charm of the wreath :-)

• Cut about 50 strips.

Now you're prepped and ready to go!

• Take the heart-shaped hanger and start tying your strips of material on it, in a simple knot. Nothing fancy. Tie as many as you need to cover the entire hanger.

Viola! Easy Valentine's Day wreath! This is what is now hanging on our front door:

To hang the wreath on the door, I used an extra strip to make a loop that I then tied on to one of the tied strips on the wreath. 

It looks cute and, best of all,  my son loves it!

*     *     *

Yesterday was a rest day after my cold, long run on Sunday. Today I have 6 on the schedule; 1 mile warm-up, 4 miles of pick-ups at 5K pace, 1 mile cool-down. It is one of my favorite workouts so I'm looking forward to it!

I'm also looking forward to a little baking, Valentine's Day style. The boys are, too.

Have a great day, everyone!

~ Felice

Trot on, turkeys!

After a week of no running, I'm excited to be running a local turkey trot tomorrow. My fingers are crossed that my hamstring/calf/knee issue is a thing of the past -- or, at least, that I don't make it worse by racing! It's only a 5K so, honestly, I should be fine.

Whatever happens, I'm 100% sure that I'll need some sort of run before I start guzzling gravy:

Yeah, don't pretend you don't love gravy!

Good luck to all the turkey trotters tomorrow! Trot ON!

~ Felice

Just fun!

First let's get to the good stuff: The Rudi's Organic Bakery giveaway winner!

I used random.org to pick a winner and that lucky person is Karyn Murphy (no blog)! Congratulations, Karyn! Now, by the way, Karyn is lucky because not only was she the winner, but we're also friends in real life :-)

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway -- and thanks to Rudi's Organic Bakery for the review and the giveaway. For those of you who didn't win, be sure to get your hands on a Rudi's coupon HERE.

*     *     *

And now, some pics of the Halloween that was:

My little not-so-happy Jack O'Lantern, waiting for big brother's Halloween parade to start.

Commander Conal! Astronaut boy at his preschool Halloween party. Loading up on the goodies.

Trick-or-treating! That's me with the baby (he was slightly happier there) and Janis.

All the kids, ready to trick-or-treat!

We had a fun, exhausting day. Today, I need to hit the road and run some good miles!

Happy November, everyone!

~ Felice