Mud, Rain, Wine, 8 miles!

Here is a recap of my last couple of weeks.  They have been packed with lots of candidacy writing but also some fun.  

Running related
The crazy Florida weather has been causing a few problems when it comes to my running in the evening.  Thunderstorms seem to be occurring every evening when I would prefer to be running.  Week 4 ended up with that 7 mile run and two three mile runs for a total of 13 miles of running plus a glorious hour and half of hot yoga.  One of those three mile runs was the Bobcat Run through a ton of mud!  Chris, Caitlin, Ryan, and I all ran it in our Vibrams.  It was so much fun!  We were pretty disgusting after.

Who needs jelly or jam when you can half fresh berries?

Last week we ran 3 miles for four days straight for a total of 12 miles in marathon training week 5.  One run we did awesome negative splits.  Another was run in a downpour that also included thunder and lightening... not the best idea.  I honestly thought it was only going to rain.  Week 6 started today with a fabulous 8 mile run in an hour and a half.  Caitlin and I tried our first goop thing (gel?) around mile 3.5 since that was a convenient water stop.  I really think that it helped quite a bit, except during the last mile my stomach twisted into knots, and I had to slow down considerably.  That wasn't cool.  What was cool, was that Ryan planned his run so that he could help us finish ours so we were not running by ourselves in the dark.  I really appreciated that!

In really exciting running news, the super talented Melinda is writing a book about first time marathon runners, and I am going to be mentioned.  I'm so excited!  If you want some amazing tips about marathon training, I very much recommend her blog!

In other blog-related news, I have been added to the Healthy Living Blogs site.   I'm excited to find new blogs, especially from people in my area.  Local bloggers have introduced me to some amazing new places to run and eat!

Healthy Living Blogs is a new resource for the health blogging community. Created by Lindsey of Sound Eats, HLB is a site designed to enhance the positive community of the healthy living blog world. Bloggers and readers can explore the site and find more blogs to love, bloggers in their area, and forums to deepen healthy discussion and support. If you're interested in having your site listed on HLB, simply send the following information to healthylivingblogs@gmail.com and check the site out for yourself!

Fun stuff
Chris and I stayed at his parents' house last weekend.  While I did have to work on my candidacy, it was nice to be in a different setting.  Their backyard has a fantastic view of a lake, so it was nice to sit out there and work.  We also did a bit of swimming in the pool.  I mentioned that I was just finishing the book Eat, Love, Pray and had a ridiculous craving for Italian food, so Chris's dad made us Tuscan steak.  Oh My Goodness was it delicious!  I also discovered Chris's dad was mentioned as one of the top recommended doctors in Sarasota, FL.  Yay!

Chris and I in front of a tree that is like the "love tree" in St. Augustine.  An oak (I think) and a palm tree have grown together.

Chris's parents.  Aren't they cute?

Siesta Key beach

I did see the Eat, Love, Pray movie this past week with my friend Federica.  I really enjoyed the movie.  I felt the part in Bali varied the most from the book, but overall I was pleased.  Also, speaking of books.... A couple weeks ago I did received my Operation Beautiful book by Caitlin@HTP in the mail!  I had pre-ordered the book.  I LOVE IT!

Yesterday, Chris and I went with Nick, Federica, Diane, Caitlin, and Ryan to Lakeridge Winery.  Before meeting at the winery, most of us met up for lunch at 903 Mills Market, where I had my favorite wrap which is named after the restaurant.  Then we headed to the winery.  I was extremely excited, because they had grape stomping!  Every since I saw that famous I Love Lucy episode, I have always wanted to try grape stomping!  My friends and boyfriend were amazing and patient while I waited in line for an hour to stomp on some grapes.  Then we did a a wine tasting and a tour of the winery.  I had so much fun!

Yummy chocolate chip cookie from Mills

 

Actual hills in Florida!

 

Very hot and sweaty.  Waiting in line for grape stomping.

Chris playing with his iphone.

They weren't kidding.  I had to rub baking soda on my feet to get them to stop itching from the acid.

 

side the barrel.  I stomped on those!

My I Love Lucy moment!  Check that off my bucket list!

Diane and myself tasting wine

 

Of course I would find and take pictures of the chemistry glassware!

That is one big Erlenmeyer flask!

 

Gorgeous!

Bottling machine

Delicious finished product

Next weekend Chris and I are heading to St. Augustine for a romantic weekend/vacation.  We will also be visiting the sister winery to Lakeridge which is called the San Sabastian Winery, located in St. Augustine.  I am super excited!

I am going to leave you with a great quote I recently found and a silly picture.  I hope that you are doing wonderful and have a terrific week! 

‎"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said that it'd be easy; they just promised it'd be worth it." ~...Unknown

Ashe decided to climb in the dish washer when I was unloading it.

10 Random Things About Myself

I was tagged by the lovely Christine @ My First Marathon.  I promise a real blog post or two this weekend.  I have been insanely busy working on my candidacy as well as making time for family/friends and working out.  I promise, as soon as my candidacy is complete, I will back to regular postings.  For now, I am going to take a quick break in writing to tell you 10 random things about myself.  I would like to tag anyone else who wants to participate. (o:

1. I have mentioned this previously, but recently had a discussion about it so I thought I'd share it again... I absolutely cannot stand Popsicle sticks in my mouth!  The very idea is making me cringe as I type this.
2. I am the oldest child and cousin on both sides of my family.  I only have two step-cousins who are older than me.  I feel old now.
3. My Godson's middle name is Danger.  I love it!  I love his parent's for giving him such a rock-star middle name!
4. I collect sea shells.  Every time I go to the beach, I have to return with at least a handful of shells that I put into a giant glass container.  My favorites are the shells that are broken with some unique feature about them.
5. I have been asked on more than one occasion where I grew up in Europe, because I apparently have some mysterious accent.  My family and friends agree with me that I do not have an accent, yet that question has been asked several times.  Go figure.  I like the idea of being from somewhere exotic.
6. I love, love, love pumpkin!  Especially pumpkin smoothies!
7.  I absolutely hate, hate, hate cockroaches or any of their cousins, especially palmetto bugs!  I will scream like a little girl and stand on furniture and throw things at it, hoping I will somehow develop great aim and will be able to kill it.  If I do have bug spray and am brave enough to approach the bug, I will cover it in a mound of bug spray until the bottle is pretty much empty. 
8. As part of my undergraduate internship, I viewed autopsies and visited many crime scenes.  I could handle that, because for me it was both scientific and a way of helping bring justice to the deceased.  But I cannot stand watching gory movies or anything remotely "scary" that may contain zombies or some other fictitious characters.  That scares me.  I will have nightmares for weeks.  Fake blood completely grosses me out!
9. The coolest thing I have ever found while running was a few day old kitten that only weight 3 oz.  I had to bottle feed him and assist him in going to the bathroom.  He now weighs over ten pounds.
10. I love skydiving!  I have been 4 times now, and the first was a static line jump where I got to jump solo, but my line was attached to the plane so there was no free fall.  I would skydive more often if it wasn't such an expensive hobby.  But I honestly don't know if I will continue with it after I have kids.  For some reason the risk seems greater then.

Glorious 7 mile run

Last night Caitlin, Ryan, and I went for a 7 mile run (well Ryan did 8 including his own speed work, since he has a marathon in October).  While we ended up with positive splits, I thought the run was great!  I felt really good during and after the run!  I think my pre-run fuel of some popcorn and a banana with peanut butter worked very well (I was starving and was going to be running through my usual dinner time).

Here are the splits (I stopped my Garmy during water breaks, there were two before the half way mark, one right at 3.5 miles, and then the two on the way back.  I only wanted to know our actual running pace):

Mile 1:  10:57
Mile 2:  11:07
Mile 3:  11:20
Mile 4:  11:33
Mile 5:  11:36
Mile 6:  11:40
Mile 7:  11:47

The only downfall was that my foot started hurting again.  I have been wearing those amazing insoles I purchased, and they worked wonders before, but now it is beginning to hurt again.  I am wondering if part of the problem is that I am not always going at my natural pace so maybe I am slacking on my form.  I really need to pay attention to keeping good form no matter what my pace is or how tired I am.

Now I am off to meet up to celebrate Ryan's birthday.  Happy Birthday Ryan!

Skydiving Again, but this time with my little sis!!

Let me first start with week 3 of marathon training.  Caitlin and I did three runs.  The first was on Tuesday when we did 3 miles in 32:01.  It was very, very humid in the morning.  Thursday evening we did our long run which was 6 miles in 1:08:27.  Caitlin's boyfriend Ryan took us to a new park where we started our run then headed to another park followed by a beautiful neighborhood.  I look forward to running there again!  Since my brother and sister were coming on Friday evening, I needed to get my third run in on Friday morning.  Despite us finishing our 6 mile run at 9pm Thursday evening, we met at 5:45am on Friday morning for an easy 3 miles (in 35:46 (included a few walk breaks).

I also had my last week of swim lessons.  I am sad to see it end, but I was told to move onto the intermediate level class in the fall.  Yay!  The instructor also complimented my backstroke (which is awesome because the previous week I was just not getting it). 

In total, week 3 of marathon training included 3 runs for a total of 12 miles and two hours of swim lessons.  I did not do much yoga, which my body is not happy about.  I am changing that this week.  In fact, tonight I did two yoga videos from ExerciseTV which included the more cardio Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown video (36 minutes) followed by the more traditional yoga in Zen in the Den (23 minutes).  I am feeling good now.

Now, about skydiving!  For my youngest sister's 18th birthday slash high school graduation gift I took her skydiving.  She and my brother, Robert, drove down for the weekend on Friday.  We went out to dinner with Chris and our friends Caitlin and Ryan.  Then we had to wake up realllllly early to drive out to Titusville for our jump at 8 am.  This was my fourth time skydiving, but it was Clara's first.  My co-worker, Bala, also came for his first jump.  We all did the worlds highest tandem jump which is 18,000 ft. with 90 seconds on free fall.  I actually did this same jump 2 years ago.  My Jump Master, Pablo, was awesome!  He had us doing flips and spins.  I LOVED IT!  My little sister and co-worker also loved their jumps; however, Clara ended up getting motion sickness and threw up all over herself (luckily not until after the 'chute was open).  Chris came with us, and rather than jump he decided to take pictures.  He happened to catch a picture of her throwing up, although we didn't realize it until after we zoomed in on the picture.  Skydive Space Center gave Clara a free shirt to change into, which I thought was very kind of them.  We had fun hanging out the rest of Saturday, and I was sad to see them leave on Sunday.  I miss my brother and sister.

Well I'm off to bed, but below are some fun pictures of our adventure!  Have a wonderful week all!

I highly recommend this place!!

Signing our lives away.

My youngest sis, Clara!

Me and my little brother, Robert!

With my co-worker, Bala.

My handsome photographer, Chris. <3

We are ready to go!  Check out my Vibrams!

Pablo helping me get ready.

I really like this picture of myself.  And I love those purple goggles!

We are ready to go!

I'm the oldest and the shortest!

I really want one of these!

Can you make out those specs in the sky?

That's me!

Landing

That's Clara!

That is Clara throwing up!  I felt so bad for her, but we both laughed until we cried when we saw this picture.