My sister came down from Kent State for the weekend. We all went to Disney on Ice Saturday. Lots of fun and Summer was glued for the first 75% of the show then she started getting a little worked up, but still loved the show.
I also spent most of Saturday working on my sister's van. The brakes were very squishy and I found a leak in the back.
Big Sunday breakfast for the family!
Sunday was my final "fun run" before marathon training starts this week. New shoes felt good for the
run. A little more arch support than expected since they are labeled as
medium-low arch. But my super flat feet seemed to pound that down some
after a while.
A few pockets of light snow showers this morning then a few peaks or sun and mostly cloudy for the rest of the day. More snow returns tonight with light accumulations, mainly north. The northern third of Ohio could see up to 2" of snow, but Central and Southern Ohio will be seeing less than that. Most snow will be overnight, but a few light snow showers Tuesday with a spotty wintry mix possible we warm to near 40 for the high. A few lingering flurries Wednesday then we turn colder for the end of the week. Keep an eye on more snow for next weekend. Have a good one!
Last week was my mom's birthday and she was passing through town after dropping my sister off at college. She mentioned at Christmas a few times that she wanted a coffee maker. She said all her kids drink coffee and she thinks it would entice us to stay the night more often. So I got her a coffee maker for her birthday. Summer helped unwrap it.
Over the weekend we went up to visit Dawn's family and it is much more hilly in the Cleveland area along the rivers. The Youngstown Marathon looks pretty hilly, so I need to get some hill running in when I can. It was a VERY sloppy run, but so much fun.
I ran along a few of the cliff overlooks down to the river. This photo, above, doesn't do the depth justice.
Five muddy miles later and I was regretting wearing my good road shoes. But hey... it was fun, right?! I was very thankful to have a trash bag in the back of the car.
When I got back to Columbus I rinsed off all the mud that I could. Then I took out the insoles & shoe strings then tossed them in the washing machine. 18 hours on the heater vents around the house and they are back to being squeaky clean... for the most part. I hope to get another 150 miles out of them... I am at 264 miles so far and hoping to get 400 miles before retiring them.
I also think I might look into getting trail running shoes. I saw some on sale at Kohl's. It would be nice to get a pair of shoes that I know will get dirty AND actually get more traction.
A couple of mild days before the winter temperatures return. Today we
will stay cloudy with some early patchy fog and a spotty rain shower
possible throughout the day, highs in the upper 40s. Clearing overnight
could lead to patchy fog for early Wednesday morning. Increasing clouds
through the day Wednesday with some spotty rain possible later in the
day and overnight. Temps fall fast on Thursday with some flurries and
light snow showers possible. Flurries stick around for Friday and the
weekend with temperatures struggling to get above freezing. Have a good
one!
Reading and running… My marathon training doesn't start for another week and a half, but I am trying to stay in shape so I'm not behind the ball. Tuesday I kinda wanted to push to a 10k and I took it slow and steady, but I was looping around by the house and my knees were telling me to take it a little easy. I felt great and not winded, so did a couple of sprints and called it a day feeling accomplished with 4 miles of no walking.
I honestly didn’t want to run, but after reading a few chapters of Hal Higdon’s Marathon book I got the itch. The final straw was when we were sitting around watching videos of Summer about a year ago and I could hear my heavy breathing. That did it. Wife and daughter took a nap, so I laced up.
I changed my training schedule for the Youngstown Marathon. I’m sticking with the unaltered, 18 week, Novice 1 plan and doing a 5 mile warm-up before my Half during week 13, 18 mile, long run. I don’t want to tweak with the tapers. So still 2 more weeks til my marathon training starts, but loving the fact that I will hit the ground running. Literally.
I have a new respect for the patience of family that put up with me running… Dawn joined a gym… First time ever and on her own. I told her I am super supportive of the idea and anytime she wanted to go that I would keep an eye on Summer. Well home appraisals are slow now and Dawn wanted to go while Summer was napping and that’s normally my running time. (Had 6.2 planned today) But I told her to go and take her time... Because rushing at the gym is never fun. Summer woke up 30 minutes before Dawn got back. She had the running stroller in the car she took. So we sat and waited for mom to get home. Daylight was running out so I squeezed in 2 miles before it got too dark.
It gave me a reminder to be more observant about the time I’m putting into working out and how it will affect those around me. Either way... Summer loved riding along yesterday and every time we went up and down on the ramps between the sidewalk and roads she would yell WHEEEEE! I bundled her up in her snowsuit, but can't wait for warmer weather to finally get here.
A wet, but warm weekend ahead... Today steady rain in the morning
then spotty rain on and off for the rest of the day and weekend. Highs
will climb into the mid 50s today then low 60s for the weekend. Some fog
and haze possible between the spotty rain showers. More rain likely as
we start out next week, but staying mild through the middle of the week.
Winter weather returns by the end of the week. Have a good one!
We had some storms last week and Summer and I went outside to watch them roll in. She kept calling the rain "snow," but I tried getting her to say rain.
Thursday night we cashed in Dawn's Christmas gift. I got her a painting class, because she is more about experiences than physical things.
Working on it...
Almost there...
DONE! It was a LOT of fun!
Summer is still getting over our cold and she woke up before us this weekend, so I let her come into bed and watch some cartoons. She wasn't interested in me at all once the TV was on. HAHA!
Roads may be slick in spots early for your Monday morning with some
spotty wintry mix then warming temps will mean spotty rain showers
through the day. More spotty rain tonight and staying mild. Scattered
rain showers Tuesday and even warmer with highs more than 20 degrees
above normal. Early rain Wednesday then mostly cloudy til Friday when
more rain returns. Have a good one!
I have been so insanely busy I have not been on here in a while. Grandma Judy would not be pleased. I am so happy that she told me, before she passed, that she loved reading this and keeping up to date and that one day I would cherish the time and energy I would put into this blog. She is right, and she was greatly missed on New Year's when one of her grandson's was married. My grandpa was a lot of fun and cheerful despite being without his wife for over a year now. Summer, Dawn, and I are pictured above getting ready for the wedding.
We had a lot of fun and the whole family was there... Even Marcus in spirit from Bulgaria since he couldn't come back for the winter break. Summer enjoyed the cake and dancing with all of her cousins... but that came back to bite us... more on that shortly.
I came across this photo from five years ago. It reminds me of why I am running now. To get back into shape and do things I have never done. My brother Marcus loves to explore and always lives by the saying "When is the last time you did something for the first time?" I love that and want to live more by this motto.
So to continue with the running... My final run of 2016 was from Kentucky over to Cincinnati before the wedding.
I absolutely love running on bridges over bodies of water. The flowing river makes me want to run forever.
I have only run a few times since the new year... because I have been pretty sick. Plus after my 39 straight days of running for my run streak, my legs need a little rest. But I did get my best PR, since high school, on a 5k around the neighborhood with a sub 24 minute run!
AND I registered for my first Full Marathon!!! I have never been to Youngstown, so why not check out the city by running around it?!?!
Here is my training schedule. I may switch the week 12 and 13 long runs so I don't have three weeks with decreasing distance. But most of that is based on the Novice 1 plan in the book I'm reading. More on that shortly...
So I mentioned that Summer being passed around at the wedding came back to bite us... well it did pretty good! She first got sick then gave it to me. Her and I have been sick with a NASTY cold. I am still not 100%, but getting closer by the day. I luckily had everything for my famous hot toddy.
So I have read more books in the last 30 days than the last year.
And this is my next book. I can't wait to read it and then read it again.
So check out this video... This is why I have not had time to blog. I normally love to find a few minutes each morning to do an update, but we are now using this 3D Augmented Reality for LIVE shots during the morning news. For those who don't know my schedule... I get to work closer to midnight than sunrise. I put together my forecast, build my graphics, update all digital content, record weather for St. Louis, Good Morning America, cut radio, then 4:25AM-7AM I do the weather... From 7AM-10AM I work on other stories, but changing that a little now. Since there are less than a dozen stations in the world that have this Augmented Reality, it is working from scratch each day. So in between my 17 hits in the early 2.5 hours of the morning show I am building new scenes to use like this in the field. Each day I am trying to build something new and original... which is a little challenging because I am limited to the creativity I can muster up while doing the morning show before the sun comes up. So I have been super, super busy and work is squeezing every drop of the 8 hours out of me. I am not complaining because I love my job, but just figured I would let you know. I promise to be better about getting on here more often, Judy.
