Thankful for long weekends and races

Thanksgiving was great day! I love spending time with my family and the food! Oh the food!!! It was just the best ever. The turkey was probably the best my mom has ever made. The mashed potatoes which are by far my favorite were divine and the desserts was out of this world! I ate until I about busted.

I had gone out the night before and didn't get home until crazy late. Then woke up with the chickens on Thursday. I ran 5 miles to prepare for my day of eating and then went to my brother's football game. He's a coach and it's the biggest football game of the year. Thousands of people go and it's always fun to see people you went to school with. Then it was a whole day with my crazy family and eating. Needless to say, I went to bed at 8:30 that night. I was exhausted. However it was a good thing because I was up at 4:30 just in time for Black Friday shopping!!

Yes I am one of the crazies who goes shopping. I have to say though the crowds weren't bad at all and I was able to get everything I needed and more. I am officially done with my Christmas shopping! :) and of course I got some goodies for myself.

The rest of the weekend was nice and relaxed. Which is what I needed. I was able to decompress and relieve some stress. Then on Sunday I ran my first 15K race.

It was the hardest race I've ever did. Not only have I never ran 9.3 miles before, but the course was extremely hilly. The race itself is called a challenge and they are not kidding. One steep hill after another. At some points I was practically walking because it was such a huge hill. Also it was freezing out. It's a very weird feeling to be sweating and also freezing at the same time.

Finishing that race was one of the most accomplishing things I've ever done. It also made me realize I really need to buckle down and train for the half marathon I'm doing in May. I finished the race in one hour and 41 minutes. About a 10:45 min pace. Which is exactly where I wanted to be! If it wasn't for those hills, I think I could have shaved at least 10 minutes off that time. It's so crazy how far I've come and how much your body is capable of doing. I'm amazed every day at the fact that I can do races like these now.

Weekend Trip and Race in Boston

Time really is flying by. I can't believe it's Turkey day in two days!! It is by far my favorite holiday and I cannot wait to see my family. Since the hurricane things are slowly getting back to normal. There is no more gas problem here thankfully and we are starting to rebuild. It feels good to be getting back into a routine again.

This past weekend I went up to Boston with some friends from the gym. We had an amazing opportunity to do a Spartan Race inside Fenway Park. It was one of the coolest things I've ever did. The race was awesome and I did pretty well in it too. I finished in the top 30% of all racers! Not too shabby.

About to Start!

Fenway!

Climbing over a wall! All by myself for once

Climbing up a ladder over rafters

Carrying concrete

Down a cargo net

Box jumps

All my gym buddies inside the dugout

Spartan Finishers!

On the field!

This was an experience I'll never forget. A lot of the obstacles I was able to do all on my own for the first time. Which was amazing for me to be able to do. Now I only have two days left of work before the long weekend. I can't wait to relax, eat awesome food and do some serious shopping. Followed by my first 9 mile race on Sunday!! EEK!!

"The New Normal"

After that bitch Sandy came through, we had to deal with yet another storm yesterday! I'm starting to think the world might really be coming to an end. We can't take much more of this here in NJ. My drive home from work was awful and scary. I think my town ended up with 6 inches of snow! Even though more and more people were getting power back, a lot more are without it again.

It's just crazy here. It's weird seeing the army national guard on a regular basis in your town. Having friends not have power for over 10 days. It's just nuts. Luckily we still have power but I'm a little worried. There is a wire about to snap and is hanging super low on my block. I hope it gets fixed soon or we may be back without power.

Thankfully because of the odd/even license plate system, getting gas is so much better. I only waited about 10 minutes this week, and not an hour like it was. Hopefully the more people who get power back the sooner things will be back to normal and they will lift the odd/even rule.

I just hope that the weather will stay nice for a while so we can actually start to rebuild the homes and businesses that were washed away. It will take months, even years, and nothing will ever be the same again. But hopefully by the summer there will be enough stuff back up and running, and we can enjoy an awesome Jersey Summer once more!

Let there be light!!!

I got power back last night!!!! I am so lucky because most of my town still has no power. Its so crazy where I live. I can't believe the pictures I'm seeing posted of my town. Totally heartbreaking. I know it's going to take a long time to even begin to get back to normal, but slowly and like always NJ, will pull together and come out of this stronger than before!!!