The Epicurious Runner

I can’t wait for the summer to be over and it’s more than just because of the brutally hot weather. This was my very first summer in New York and although I survived, I definitely didn’t flourish. I’m not going to lie, it’s been a tough and rough summer for me and I survived by the skin of my teeth.

I think the first thing that through my summer for a loop was the injury I encountered on June 13th. I hurt my foot running a long 12 miles in preparation for my half marathon that I would eventually have to drop out of because of this said injury.

Next, my car broke down a week later. This was a huge ordeal, but thankfully we made it back to NH and was able to attend the American Craft Beer Festival, which I didn’t seem to write about. Did I only write about all the negative things that happened this summer? That’s sad and I promise this will be the last of my complainy posts and I vow to write about more of the happy and fun situations that I experience.

Well I didn’t get my car back till like 5 weeks later, then it went back into the shop again almost immediately for another two weeks. Pretty much my car was gone all summer and it was a ridiculous situation that just kept getting worse.

During this time, my foot was still injured. I decided to go see this woman, Shelly, she was recommended by some co-workers and…oh wait, is this a good post? Yes, it is, she fixed me up and I was immediately healed! Shelly fixed my foot for good and I was able to start my marathon training. That was probably one of the best parts of the summer.

I also ate some pretty fantastic food this summer, including Shake Shack and I tried my first Korean/Japanese restaurant. We also made it to the Portsmouth Brewery and ate the best mussels ever!

I was also able to escape for a very short 3 days to Squam Lake where I joined my family for a much needed vacation.

I ran two awesome races in August, a 5K over the Brooklyn Bridge and I also completed by second half marathon, which turned out to be an excellent race.

I also officially became a NY state resident and got my NY license. I got my car registered and inspected in New York and I’m also for the first time paying for my own insurance and my car is actually in my own name now. Yay, I’m officially and adult. Although I wasn’t that happy about the whole process. I obviously waited till the last minute because my NH stuff expires in August, so it was kind of rushed. I was able to survive it all with the generous help of my dad! This whole process was the reason I didn’t blog for 2 weeks!

Derek and I went home last weekend to do some wedding stuff! We found a very possible venue that we love and we want to book it, but you know money is always the issue, so we got a little more trial and error to go through before we can officially book a place. But! I bought a wedding dress and I love it so much! It’s perfect and I am so excited about it. So, yes the very first wedding planning that was done was me buying a dress, ha!

Now, another negative thing…Leela, my cat, is really sick. Not, deathly sick, thankfully, but chronically sick. We brought her to the vet on Saturday morning because she was throwing up a lot for the past two days and she just didn’t seem right. The doctor did some tests and it turns out she has Kidney disease It was recommended that we leave her there for the weekend (by the doctor, not my wallet) so they could re-hydrate her and help her get back to normal.

I was able to pick her up today and bring her home and she seems back to normal and we were so glad to have her back! But! There’s always a but, there is no cure for her, only treatments. She should still live another several years, but we will have to treat her with fluids every single day for the rest of her life. Tomorrow is the first day I have to do this and I am a little nervous.

I basically have to insert a needle into her skin and a bag of fluids, like an iv bag hangs and drips the fluid through the needle and the fluid gets pushed under her skin, which is then absorbed throughout the day. This is to help push all of the bad waste out of her kidneys so that her kidney’s don’t have to work extra hard to remove all of the excess waste. Check out the procedure here.

It seems like a complicated process, but I felt better about the whole thing after leaving the vet’s office today. It’s definitely going to take some getting used to, but we are going to be doing it so often, I’m sure it will seem like nothing after only a few weeks. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to go on any long trips or even short trips really. It’s very important to do this daily so we are going to have to stick around at home a lot more often than we were. It’s a tough situation, but I’m really glad Leela is okay now because she is totally worth it.

Money is tight, life has been rough, but even with all of these things, I am still happy and I am looking forward. It’s definitely been a rough summer and I’m clearly not a millionaire yet, so we’ll see what the next few months bring.

Happy end of summer! I have never been more excited for Fall to come than I am this year!

Just a quick update. I know I have not been around in a while, but I’ve been super busy.

• I bought a wedding dress!
• Found a Possible Venue

• I got my NY license and I am now an official resident.
• My car is also an official resident and is all registered and inspected in New York.

• I got a new writing job at Examiner.com
• I am the Queens Ethnic Restaurant Examiner

• Leela, our cat has been sick, brought her to the vet yesterday.
• Turns out, she has Kidney Disease

• I am currently out running 15 miles.
• Wish me luck!

My site has been incomplete for a while now. I worked on it a while ago and got it going in the right direction, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of time to teach myself everything, so I couldn’t do it all at once. I’m ready to finalize it, so please excuse the appearance as it goes under construction toward it’s final stage of awesomeness!

I don’t think I’ve ever been so grateful to run before, but my foot is finally healed and I can run again!!! I went to see someone last week and luckily it was a simple fix. It was actually my calf muscle that was super tight and stuck in the wrong position, so it was therefore making my foot curl inward. She stretched out my muscles and after a few minutes, I heard and felt it release! It was crazy to be able to feel it, but once I did, I knew right away that had to be definitely what the problem was. I did a few more exercises there and she showed me how to stretch properly, overall it was well worth the visit and I wished I had gone sooner!

I’ve officially started training for the Manchester Marathon! I am a week and several miles behind, but I feel confident enough that I will be able to catch up and move forward successfully. The first run I attempted after I was healed, was a 5 miler up at Squam Lake. I didn’t realize until I was done that it had been the longest I had run since the 12 miler where I hurt my foot. I was so happy to end that run with no pain at all! It was amazing. I also ran 4 miles yesterday and other than the heat, I felt great!

Now it’s time to catch up with my long runs and to really finalize my training plan for the next few months. I am going to try and run 8-9 miles this weekend, I have a half marathon coming up on August 15th so I have to at least be ready for that. I’m not going for any kind of time, just endurance for now. 10 minute miles would work fine for me

I’ve had a fun, but also stressful past couple of weeks. I’ve just been real busy and I’m ready to settle down and catch up on lots of stuff.

I took 5 weeks off from running, I am so ready to be back in the game! What’s the most amount of time you’ve taken off for an injury?

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I feel like I’m on a roll! I’ve been working out for 6 days straight and I feel great! This hasn’t happened in a long time and I feel like I am FINALLY getting back into the schedule of working out regularly, which is coming just in time for my Marathon Training.

I’ve been doing mostly indoor things, using hand weights and lot of abdominal exercises. Tomorrow I am planning a 2 mile run and then I’m going for a big 6 miler on Sunday morning with my friend Sandy.

This is going to be a good month because I am going to make it a good month. I can’t believe it’s already July though, kinda crazy. I’m ready to run my ass off and start gearing up for the next biggest race of my life!

I had Oatmeal Squares with a banana for breakfast, which I have declared my favorite cereal of all time, it’s so good!

This picture’s not so great because it was taken with my phone. My camera battery is dead and my really good camera is up at Joe’s house, along with everything else >:(

I don’t have much planned for this weekend for the 4th of July. We are having a Beer Tasting Party on Sunday night, but unfortunately it’s only going to be a few of us. It should be a lot of fun though and I am really looking forward to it. Don’t worry there will be a full recap on Monday.

An update on my car: it’s finally on it’s way to being fixed! YAY!!!!! I cannot wait to get it back, I miss you car. It would be a miracle and absolutely amazing if it was ready this weekend, but I doubt it. It’s going to seem like a brand new car when I finally get it back, the hood and the mirror are going to be fixed

I’m dropping out of the Half Marathon I was supposed to run this Sunday. I hurt my foot a few weeks ago during a 12 mile training run and ever since then it hasn’t been the same. It’s improved a lot, but I went on my first run (only 2.65 mi.) today since then and although it didn’t kill me to run on it, it was definitely sore within the first mile and is still sore now. When injured I think about if I want to run now or if I want to continue running forever.

This is the first race I’ve ever had to drop out of and I must say it’s pretty heartbreaking. I know that probably sounds dumb and dramatic, but I was REALLY looking forward to it. I guess it’s for the better to not run for more reasons than just my foot. It would’ve been a pain in the ass to get there and honestly I don’t even know how I would manage getting there without spending a ton of money, so in the long run it’s better for my health and my finances to stay home.

So, before I could even say hello to you, goodbye 13.1 Boston, maybe I will see you next year.

This week, I’m just gonna have to say has sucked! Things are still a mess and I have found myself in quite a dilemma for my upcoming race this weekend.

First of all, long story short…my car broke down on my way to NH Friday night. We were stranded in Fairfield Connecticut at 9:30 with a smoking car. 6 hours and $700 later we arrived in Nashua at my sister’s place with a rental car. My car is currently in New Haven, CT at an auto body place and won’t be fixed within 3 days.

Check out this picture of my car getting put on the tow truck. It looks like it’s going to heaven.

Currently my foot feels pretty good. I haven’t run on it yet, which I was planning on doing today, but it’s like 90° out right now, so it doesn’t seem like the best idea. Anyway, as of right now I want and feel that I can run my race, but I kind of have no way to get there.

Yes, I can take a bus, which will bring me to South Station, but after that I need to get to Dracut, MA because all of my clothes are at Joe’s house there. Stupidly we brought laundry home last weekend to do and we therefore had to leave it all at Joe’s place. Not only are most of my regular clothes there, but all of my running clothes were in that laundry basket. So, I must go to his house to procure my clothes, then I need to make it to the store where my race number and time chip is being held, then I have to go to the hotel that I am staying at for the night. Then I must wake up at like 4:00 on Sunday morning to make it to my race that starts at 6:13 am.

I also don’t want to spend a ton of money because honestly I just don’t have it. I can’t afford to rent anymore cars or take any unnecessary taxis around.

I don’t know what to do. Maybe I should just not run the race? Is my foot even ready to run 13 miles? I’m so confused and stressed about the whole situation, I have no idea what I should do. I have been looking forward to this race for at least 3 months, it holds a place in my heart because of it’s location. Blue Hills…this is a nostalgic place for my sisters and I because our Nana used to bring us there all the time when we were kids. I have not been there for over 15 years probably.

What would you do?

I have been eating carbs recently like I am about to run a marathon this weekend! I don’t know what’s happening, but it has not been intentional that’s for sure. When we run out of fruits, vegetables and yogurt, all that’s left is carbs.

Last night I had pasta for dinner with two pieces of garlic toast and then today alone I had;

• Breakfast – Granola with milk and a piece of toast
• Lunch – Leftover pasta
• Snack – Peanut butter toast
• Dinner – Egg Sandwich

Seriously I need to stop eating so much bread! 6 pieces of bread in 24 hours, aah!

Since I am sure this weekend will be filled with even more, I am going to make a strong effort to fill up on lots of fruits and veggies for the next three days.

Even tonight, after realizing my crazy carbohydrates binge, all I could come up with for dinner was an egg white sandwich. I made some egg whites with feta cheese and lots of tiger sauce in between two pieces of toast, it was delicious!

Last week I did absolutely nothing when it came to exercise, but I am trying very hard to make up for it this week. I just finished a 30 minute DVD segment and it felt great! It kicked my butt unfortunately, but it makes me want to work harder. My legs feel like jello now.

Tomorrow I plan on doing a 3 mile run in the morning and then an intense ab session tomorrow after work. If you are wondering how I am doing on my push ups, don’t ask. I’m not doing terrible, but I haven’t given up. I still have time!

Do you eat a lot of carbs usually?