My Fitness Apps: RunDouble

So as I mentioned earlier, I've started running again.  I actually ran cross country for a year in high school once I'd stopped playing volleyball, which is pretty funny if you know me and how much I hated running. I think I cut a minute off of every race, because I really had no idea how to run.

Add to that the fact that I had a pretty major surgery in March, and I feel a bit like I'm starting from point zero. But, I've found this really nifty tool that seems to be helping with that.

From RunDouble

Enter RunDouble. It is an app that, after doing some research, I downloaded onto my android. I believe it is also availble for the iPhone.  It takes the Couch to 5k plan and puts it on your phone. It is also available for 10k, half, and full marathon training plans, but obviously I'm starting at the beginning.

Here's how it works. You choose either a timed or a distance plan, and off you go. The whole point of the couch to 5k is to alternate running and walking to build up your endurance. What I love about this app is that it keeps track of which one you should be doing, and notifys you with a buzz and verbal signal to switch. I just finished the 2nd (of 3) workouts for the third week, and so far so good. I've been using the timed app, which is nice because I know how long I'm going to run for. That said, I'm not yet running fast enough where I get to the 5k distance. Hopefully that will come within the next few weeks.

Note: the first two weeks with the app are free, after that it is paid. However, I got the whole thing for free as part of AchieveMint. I'll get into that in another post though :)

One Week Tomorrow!

Tomorrow marks one week of engagement. It is crazy, really. I look down at this sparkly shimmer on my left hand, and this goofy grin spreads across my face.

Who wouldn't get a little giddy staring at this all day?

Honestly, the whole idea of a wedding hasn't really sunk it. Right now I seem to be enthralled with the idea of spending the rest of my life with Mr. C. He puts up with my goofiness and bad puns on the good days, and my grumpiness and crying on the bad.

This week, he had a little bit of both. I don't know if it was the rush of everything from the week, the fact that it was a stressful week at work, or some homesickness, but the whole week was a little rough. Most of my family and friends are back in Iowa or spread across the country. And although I've made some really wonderful friends here (like the fabulous Lady A) it is tough not having my people any closer.

One of the things Mr. C and I have discussed a bit, not really in any depth yet, is finding ways to meet some new people. What I'd really love are friends who we can go out and do cheap and/or healthy things with. At this point, about all we do with other people is bbq at various friends houses or meet up at for dinner or drinks. And while that is really great, and I am happy for us to keep doing it. But, we are now saving money to pay for a wedding, and we have been working for awhile to live a healthier lifestyle. Most of my parents friends are people they played softball or volleyball with. And while Mr. C is not a volleyball player, it would be nice to even individually be able to do something like that. Eh, I'll keep thinking on it.

No real wedding plans at this point. Eventually, we'll sit down with our respective families and talk budget. We are definitely not expecting them to contribute at all, but if they'd like to we certainly won't say no. Whether or not they will is definitely going to be a factor in the type of wedding we'll have, and how soon we'll have it. If it is just us, we'll probably wait awhile to save up the money to do what we'd like. Who knows! Stay tuned for more updates!

Quarter 2, 2013: Part Two

We left the museums and drove back along main street, along the other side of the lake to Glimmerglass State Park. Last year, at graduation, my class and many of our parents had a barbecue there, and that shelter is where we headed. We pulled in to park, Mr. C mentioned I probably didn't need my purse, and then grabbed a backpack out of the trunk of the car.

We got out of the car and walked a bit around the side of the lake until we found a beautifully secluded spot with a picnic table and an amazing view of the lake. We sat down, and after a minute Mr. C reached down into his backpack and pulled out a scrapbook. To preface this, we have been together now for one year and seven months. His first message to me was on October 11th, and we became an "official" couple on November 5th. On November 20th, we took our first trip together down to Washington D.C. In February, we went down to New York City. While we were there we had a couple of glasses of wine and he, a bit tipsy, confessed that he knew then how he would propose to me.

Me, with what is now the most precious thing I have: The Scrapbook

It turns out that, beginning with that trip barely a month after we'd met for the first time, he began saving the evidence of our relationship; tickets, museum admission pins, receipts, menus, all sorts of things. Last summer, while I was in Nebraska, he convinced some of our friends to drive down to Cooperstown to take pictures to use in the scrapbook, that far in advance.

So that brings us to the present. He put all of these beautiful memories and mementos together into one book. Our first Valentine's Day I left him post-it notes all around his room telling him why I loved him, and he not only kept them and put them in the book, but wrote response notes and used them as the anchor throughout the book. I could go on and on and on in detail about every amazing page of this scrapbook, but I will instead show you a few of the highlights. 

Page one of the scrapbook, the transcript of our first conversation together. Reading this, and the other messages we sent at this stage, I am so happy with how genuinely "us" it all is. We were very much ourselves, right from the start. 

This is the page for the second half of our first date, when all of my classmates crashed our date :) The most wonderful piece here is the picture in the far left. It is a screenshot of our friend K's phone the night of our first date. It might be hard to read, but the text from Mr. C read's "Ok this girl is awesome." K got that text message and decided to save a screeshot of it. How wonderful is that?

Turning each of the pages was turning to another part of our relationship. Graduation, travel, all of the amazing things we've been able to do so far. I realized that we were near the end of the book, took a deep breath, and finally turned to the last page.

Mr. C untied the ring, set the book aside, and knelt down on one knee in front of me. He took my hand, and asked me to be his wife. I think I said something along the lines of "yes please" and we just stayed there, holding onto each other with our faces next to each other for awhile. I realized it probably wasn't super comfortable for his knee, so pulled him up onto the picnic table with me. That's when we walked through the book together, this time with him telling me the background and work he put into each one of the pages. Seriously, he put so much thought into it.

Once we'd pulled ourselves together a bit, we made sure to document the occasion properly.

Pardon the freckles, but I love this picture. You can see just how gorgeous the lake was, plus my amazing new ring :) And really I kind of love my freckles. When my grandpa saw my grandma across a room for the first time turned to his buddy, and said "I'll take the one with the freckles." 

Once we'd taken plenty of photos, we loaded back into the car and headed back home. We called my family and let them know the good news (which they all knew already, bah!) before we got home, vegged for a few minutes to take the edge off of a busy day in a lot of sun, and changed quickly for dinner. We headed to one of our favorite nice restaurants, Provence. Our dear friend Lady A had called them and ordered us a bottle of wine, which was waiting for us at the table. We had an amazingly delicious meal. If you're ever there, always always order the risotto. We've had a couple of the different ones, and have never been disappointed.

There was one more piece that all together made the day really one of the most perfect ones of my life. Mr. C has been saving a bottle of wine (a 1995 Bordeaux) for a few years, just for this occasion. We opened it, a bit apprehensively at first, but it was quite nice. Very leathery, with a very interesting mouth feel. It really was a wonderful way to cap off an amazing day, and the start of this next piece of our lives together. 

Quarter 2, 2013: Part One

So, as of today, Mr. C and I are engaged. I had a hunch it was coming today, as he took the day off of work and was very concerned about the weather. All of my suspicions were confirmed last night when Lady A came over to take me to the craft store, and instead took me to get my nails done so they woul look pretty. That's another story for another time, but it meant I knew what was coming. It also meant I had the chance to run to Kohls to pick out a cute new outfit, which you'll see in the photos tomorrow.

A little sign hanging in the lady's room at Doubleday

We drove over to Cooperstown, home of my alma mater (is it still an alma mater if it was for grad school?) and the location of our first date. On the way down, we finished off the audiobook for the first Harry Potter book, and then we both had the little flourish at the end stuck in our heads. We kicked off the visit with a trip back to Doubleday Cafe, home of our first date, as well as a few other good memories.

On our first date, our next stop was the local pub Cooley's, where we were crashed by my fairly ineberated classmates and friends. As we were there at just before noon today, we decided to pass on the beer and just stroll by. Turns out my favorite restaurant in Cooperstown, Depot Deli, relocated to prime downtown space. The owner saw me walking by, recognized me as an old favorite, and came running out to say hello. Reminded me of why I loved living in a small town. So, passing the pub, we instead stopped at a new frozen yogurt place and split a Red Velvet/Chocolate with strawberries and brownie bits. We also stopped off at Stagecoach Coffee and picked up a cup o joe for Mr. C, then wandered down to the lakefront park to just sit and enjoy being together there for awhile.

View of  "Glimmerglass" from the lakefront park

After we finished off our snacks, we drove over to the house that I lived in when Mr. C and I met. My old landlords are basically my surrogate aunt and uncle, and so we dropped in on them and caught up for awhile. It is always so wonderful to see them, and I'm so glad we were able to catch up with them.

Once we'd said goodbye, we drove over to the museums. We hadn't been to the Fenimore in awhile, so wandered through some of their new exhibits. We especially enjoyed the highlights from the American painters. We also made a stop at "our bench", where we have planned several of our trips together. We still haven't managed the last one we planned on the bench (to Montreal) but now we're also planning our trip to Disneyworld :) We finished off our time at the art museum with a glass of wine on the veranda, which was very very nice. The weather had said it was supposed to storm all day, and instead we had lovely scattered clouds and bursts of sunshine.

We finished off our wine, made a quick duck into the library to check out my first ever exhibit, then dashed over to the Farmers' Museum for a ride on the carousel. It is one of my favorite things to do, and Mr. C always puts up with it. I ride Merry the Labrador Retriever, which leaves Mr C on Benny the Brook Trout. He rides along with a smile on his face, and I even got a kiss mid-ride :)

Tomorrow...the rest of the story!

Goal: 5k Color Run and a Disney 1/2 Marathon

Coming out of 5 years of chronic shoulder pain, I have some big goals. I've been lucky and still stayed moderately active over the last five years, although not nearly as much as when I was younger. I really want to get more involved with my physical fitness. Prior to my shoulder problem, I played volleyball, basketball, tennis, and biked. I can still do those things, but regret it quite a bit the next day. My hope is, as I recover from my surgery, I can start reintroducing some of these activities.

But, goals are all about having something concrete to achieve. So, here are my two big fitness related, post shoulder problem goals.

1. Run the Albany Color Me Rad 5k on September 21st, 2013

via Color Me Rad

2. Run one of the Disney half marathons, ideally the Wine and Dine in 2014

via RunDisney

Don't these both look like so much fun? I feel like, if I'm going to try to start running in races, they should at least be FUN ones! We have a family friend who has run several of the Disney half and whole marathons, and she has said they are by far her favorite races.

So, what am I doing to acheive this goal? Well, I did some research, downloaded some apps, all that jazz, but really I've started running. I'm currently on day 3 of the Couch to 5k program.

My biggest problem right now is that my lung capacity isn't great. My comfortable stride is pretty long, but my lungs can't keep up with that yet. I could run a full out 5k right now, but I'm hoping by going through the training program I'll give my lungs a chance to catch up and hopefully that will help me increase my speed a bit.

Mostly I'm running along the Mohawk Hudson Hike-Bike Trail, conveniently located near our apartment.

From the Friends of the MHHBT

Although this isn't a photo from the stretch I usually run, it is really that beautiful. The section I like to take goes past an old Erie Canal lock, and it is beautifully overgrown. It is also nicely paved, a few little hills but nothing bad, and generally very clean. Everything I read says when you're starting off to not go out too many days in a row, but it felt so great running the last two days, I want to go out again today!

The Day Where Calories Didn't Count...I Wish

One of Mr. C and I's good friends is moving down to Virginia next weekend, and we're very sad. To be honest, between getting settled into work, learning to live with Mr. C,  and dealing with my shoulder, I don't know a lot of people here yet. Our friend, Mr. M, used to work with Mr. C, and now found a new job. We are really, really happy for him, but sad at the same time. It is going to be a good place for him, the job will be great, but we're sad he won't be here with us anymore.


To send him off in style, we took a day-long road trip up to Vermont. Mr C, myself, the fabulous Lady A (my crafting and cooking comrade), M, and another of their friends, Mr. J who I don't know as well, but was a fun addition. We started off with Mr. M providing us bagels at his place, which resulted in a severely cut thumb. Sigh. Luckily he was okay, and we headed off to pick up Mr. J. We nearly to Vermont when I suggested a pit stop, and rather than the gas station (and Diet Coke refresh) I expected, we swung into a nearby McDonald's. This would be the first of 3 McDonald's stops. I didn't get anything, but Messrs M and J stocked up on hash browns and breakfast sandwiches.

Back on the road, we discussed the order of events for the day. Turns out the boys thought it was going to be a day of breweries, but I put my foot down and insisted that we also stop at Ben & Jerry's since we were in the neighborhood.

Nobody wanted to cooperate for a photo

I'm really really glad we stopped. I had a small size of their "special batch" peaches and cream, which had a marscapone ice cream as the base. Seriously one of the best ice creams I've ever had in my life, plus then I got to eat a delicious waffle cone. The weather was beautiful, and we got to just sit outside and relax with friends. Awesome, right?

After Ben & Jerry's and a few u-turns, we found our way to the brewery practically next door, the Alchemist. They are a former brew pub turned brewery after Irene took out their restaurant, and they are actually in the process of expanding. They only had one beer, a double IPA, on tap. Now, I'll forewarn you that I'm not a big fan of IPA's, but this one reminded me very strongly of a beer from my past. It had a very bright, grapefruity scent. The only other time I've seen that was with Surly Furious, which I remember very vividly.

We tried to get a photo of Mr. M at every site

From there Lady A took the wheel and we headed back into Burlington towards Magic Hat brewery. This is probably the one of the trip most of you have heard of before, if any. The whole site has a very funky vibe, and the guys loved it. I found my favorite beer for the day, which seemed to fit the general consensus. It was a Dark Belgian Ale, which unfortunately they only sold in growler size and I can't seem to find on their website. It was surprisingly fruity, and not nearly as heavy as I thought it was going to be. Overall, delicious.

By that point we decided it was time for food, so searched around for a local place where the boys could find more beer. We found ourselves at Barkeaters, a local place, at around 3:00 in the afternoon. They only had their bar menu available, but luckily we were all able to find something. I made the decision to order the mussels, which I regretted afterwards. I love mussels, and these were fine, but they were not the right type of food to balance drinking a lot of beer. My stomach felt a little rough the rest of the day, but it was a pretty spot to sit and enjoy good company.

Full of food, we headed to our next stop on the brewery tour; Fiddlehead Brewery. Started by a brewer from Magic Hat, it is a tiny little place with a really fun vibe. The had two beers on tap, a double wit and an IPA. The guys really liked the IPA, I did not at all. Probably a combo of not loving IPA to begin with and the rough stomach, but I did like the wit. Wheat beers are my go-to, and this one wasn't bad. It was very cloudy, but had a nice orange flavor to it. Mr. M didn't like that, said it was too much like drinking orange juice mixed with beer, but it worked for me.

From there we wandered to our next and final stop, Shed Brewery. This, my friends, was where I made a mistake. Most places give you a 2 oz. sample, right? Maybe, MAYBE 4? Mr. C asked if I wanted to try their beers, and I said yes. I also put in a request for their soft pretzels, as I thought the bread might help absorb some of the beer in my stomach. Mr. C comes over with two sets of the 6 beer flights, which was one sample of all 12 of the beers they offered. Big, 4 oz but filled to the brim samples. Basically, two very large beers for each of us. Ugh. I was not happy, my friends, especially when we found out that we were there late enough that the kitchen had closed. At this point, I tried most of the lighter beers, but didn't really find any that I loved. Luckily, between the 3 men they were able to finish all of the samples, but I felt bad.

Eventually we piled back into the car, and started off down the road. I requested a stop for munchies and diet coke. We stopped at a gas station, and right as I was going in a dad and his 8 year old son darted in in front of me and dashed into the only bathroom. And then stayed there for a good ten minutes. Eventually I gave up on my bathroom dreams and we bought our snacks and left...and then stopped at the McDonald's next door and used their bathrooms. Then, continuing on, we stopped at the same McDonald's we'd stopped at early that morning for another pit stop. More McDonald's than I've seen in a year.

All in all, it was a very excellent trip. It was also a very, very long day. I got up for a run at 6, and we were at Mr. M's house by 7:30. We didn't get back home last night until nearly 10:00. The good news is, a trip like that two months ago would have absolutely killed me, and today I'm tired but fine. Yay, progress!