Category Archives: beach

June 25, 2012

My Weekend on Wheels and Giveaway Winner

Today’s Workout: Chisel class with Carl Hall @Crunch

Hope everyone had a great weekend :) It was sunny and warm here in NYC so I took full advantage of it and went on a 16-17 mile bike ride Saturday to Staten Island (with some breaks in between) with Karl. Still no running, although I may  start again this week which I am SO exited about. I’ve missed my favorite sport but I’m hoping this break will be good for my old lady body. Hopefully by the middle or end of the week I’ll fit in a few miles and then training starts for me for my relay in October.

But in the meantime I’m biking a lot and thankful that I can do that without my body freaking out. We started off with a ride across the Manhattan bridge, along the East River, and down to the SI ferry. The riverfront is SO pretty around there!

Riding along the East river near the seaport.

Karl loving all my picture-taking… not.

After we took the ferry over we decided to explore Staten Island a bit on our bikes. I grew up there but biking it is different so we headed first to Snug Habor Cultural Center and Park, a hidden gem!

There was a small castle there, it said the secret garden on it. Not sure what’s inside.. guess its a secret.

This water fountain was a lifesaver on the hot day. I was able to cool off a bit.

Super cool tree tunnel!

Pretty flowers all over :)

Fountains!

After we left Snug Harbor, we headed back around to the SI boardwalk. We planned on staying and laying in the sand for a bit, but it was a bit too hot for my liking plus we had no beach towels. And I hate when sand gets stuck on me and I can’t get it off. So we just admired the beach from a distance :)

The boardwalk on Staten Island. Thats the Verazzano bridge in the distance, the start of the NYC Marathon.

After, we headed back to my parents house and got ready to go out to dinner. We got a recommendation for a pizza place we heard is apparently the best in the city so we decided to go try it out. Its called Lee’s Tavern and its basically a dive bar with pizza. But it was AMAZING. Seriously, Staten Islanders know how to make pizza. I have to say that in all of NYC the two best pizzas I’ve had were both on SI: Lee’s (my number one now) and Denino’s. The best!

Wearing my new dress to dinner!

Fresh mozz and tomato with basil @ Lee’s Tavern.

After dinner we came home and just hung out all night in the backyard with my sister, just chatting and joking around. I really miss having a backyard! It was so nice and relaxing. I was wearing this shirt from my mom who is really into science… don’t ask. I have no idea what it means but its my lounging shirt so I didn’t ask questions.

Me and my sister!

Karl and I. He LOVES pictures!

We stayed up late just hanging out, which is probably why I’m so tired still today! On Sunday I was helping my parents clean since my dad is having knee surgery this coming week. We are also trying to create a man room for him downstairs, since he’s always surrounded by girls! During our cleaning we cleared out National Geographic magazines from YEARS ago. The stack we bundled ranges from 1960s to today. The ads in the 1960s books were hysterical!

Those are some serious books.

So now that you’ve read and seen all about my weekend.. tell me about yours!!

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I also want to announce the winner for my Drink Chia giveaway! The winner is…

Blogging Runner!!!

You have 48 hours to contact me (runlikeagrlmegan@gmail.com) to claim your prize, otherwise I will have to choose someone else. Congrats!

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May 28, 2012

A Graduation, Family Party and SI Memorial Day 4m Race

Today’s Workout: 4m Memorial Day race

Before I tell you all about my weekend, since its Memorial Day I want to first say thank you to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country! We should always remember their sacrifice and all they do to protect us. A special thanks to my brother, you are my hero!

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I had a very busy holiday weekend! I was in three states total over three days and spent a lot of time commuting. But it was a really fun time. The weekend started off with a long trip to Delaware for Karl’s younger brother’s graduation. We went out the night before with his brother and friends.. man they really know how to party at Delaware!

The graduation itself was a large ceremony with about 15,000 people total including the graduates. Soledad O’Brien, a reporter from from CNN, spoke as the keynote and delivered an amazing speech. She seems like a great person and I’d love to read more about her!

Huge graduation ceremony!

Since it was an outdoor ceremony the dress was very casual for the most part. But I did see this major fashion mistake. I never understood this sandals and socks things and its one of my biggest pet peeves. I couldn’t believe I saw it at a graduation either! I mean its casual, but that’s taking it too far. What?!

This is just so wrong. PSA: Don’t do this!

After the graduation we went out for lunch and on the menu I saw the option to order a Fiat 500. Yes, that’s a CAR. That’s certainly not what I think of ordering when I go out to eat. Now I think I’ve seen it all.

We headed back the city after and went to my parents house. The next morning we left to NJ for a family reunion-type party. Basically half of my family was there and we had a great time catching up. My uncle played the guitar (and after a few beers there was guitar-playing and dancing), we looked at old photos, and we had lots of food. My sisters and I all wore pretty dresses!

Karl got to join in on all the fun too! After 7 years, hes definitely part of the family.

I also got the pleasure of seeing my cousin and her adorable Shirley Temple look-a-like daughter. Shes such a cutie and I love her face!

I can’t get enough!

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MEMORIAL DAY

Today I spent the day at my parents house with my family. We woke up early and got ready for the annual Staten Island Advance Memorial Day 4m race. My two sisters and I were running the race and my parents were giving out water at the water stop. It was a very flat course that started on the streets and looped around to the boardwalk.

It was beautiful course with views of the Verrazano Bridge and Brooklyn. But it was HOT and super humid. In all my years of giving out water at this race, the conditions have never been this bad. My asthma really kicked in today (and also for my sister who also has asthma) because of the temperatures, which made it difficult to breathe well at times.

But it was great that we were together and kept each other motivated the whole time. Otherwise I don’t know how I would have done. I love having running partners, it makes a huge difference and makes it much more fun!

Look at all the sweat. Not sexy!

We saw my parents at mile marker 1 and got some water from them. It was nice to be on the other side and be running this time! It was definitely one of those types of days where we needed water from the first stop and poured some on our necks to cool off.

My favorite part was running on the boardwalk. Not only was the view nice, but the wood is forgiving on my legs. But the downside was that the sun was really strong and there was no breeze. At one point, my sister and I sort of wanted to walk in between miles 3 and 4 but we eventually saw the finish line banner and decided to keep pushing on. I’m glad we did!

According to my watch, our final finish time was 37:47, which is about a 9:26/mile pace. Definitely not a 4m PR for me, but I’m happy with it. Especially with the tough conditions! After the race we got some Gatorade (gotta replenish those electrolytes!) and bagels and then went to take some photos on the boardwalk.

My two sisters and I after the race

And of course when my sisters and I are together, we have to take one of these types of photos… I got some serious air this time!

This took a bunch of tries to get. We must have looked like idiots on the boardwalk.

After the race we went home and all three of us ended up taking a nap. The heat really got to us! Karl was the chef today and cooked the family Memorial Day dinner. We had burgers, baked potato rounds, grilled asparagus, pasta salad, and hot dogs.

I had a veggie burger instead and one of those 97% fat free hot dogs (so basically its not even a hot dog, its an imposter). I didn’t want to go too much overboard with my food, even if it was a holiday. But I did have some rainbow cookies for dessert :) I can’t resist those! All the food was delicious, which it usually is when Karl cooks. I’m so lucky to have him!

Here’s some of the food we had. It was a feast!

It was a long and really nice weekend. Even though it was hot and humid, I’m just glad it didn’t rain. So tell me…

How did you celebrate Memorial Day?
Did you run this weekend? Tell me about it!

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May 24, 2012

Three Things Thursday

Today’s Workout: PT exercises and 4 miles on the Alter G

Hey everyone! Its Thursday again :) This is becoming one of my favorite days of the week to post because I can just talk about a bunch of different things that have been going on. Its like a mixed salad of my thoughts! Here we go…

1. If you didn’t already see on twitter, I just found out recently that I am a new Sweat Pink Ambassador! I’ve wanted to become a part of this for some time now and I am so happy they accepted me! This program is through Fit Approach, a community for active women. The abridged mission of Fit Approach is:

We’ve learned that real women sweat, and sweat hard…We believe in pushing ourselves, and we believe in giving ourselves a break, too. We’re all about the rush of endorphins and the thrill of the challenge. We’re all for looking great and feeling even better. We’re committed to finding our best fit, and making it stick.

In summary, they want to inspire and support women in all they do. And to me that is AWESOME! Since I became an Ambassador a few days ago, I’ve gotten in touch with so many amazing women who are incredibly inspiring. Many of them reached out to meet their new fellow sweat sister (me!) and made me feel so welcome! Joining this is a great way to meet and connect with women similar to me and I’m already making lots of new friends.

I’ll be getting some Sweat Pink goodies soon, but you can also buy some Sweat Pink gear on the website. You can also check out my bio on the Fit Approach website by clicking here! My “intro” post is coming next week :)

2. I forgot to tell you all last week, but I’m so excited to say that I signed up for one of those crazy 200-mile relays! I’ve been seeing everyone talk about these races for so long and its seems like an amazing experience. So when Jamie@ Couch to Ironwoman was looking for members for her team, I emailed her to join right away!

I am one member of a team of 12 runners who will be running the Reach the Beach NJ relay in October. The race is sponsored by New Balance and will start at Mountain Creek in Vernon NJ and go 200 miles to Island Beach State Park in Berkley, NJ. We don’t have our individual distances yet, but the website says its an average of 16 miles for each runner separated between 3 legs.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be a part of this. It will be a crazy 24 hours I’m sure, but I have a feeling it will be something I’ll never forget! Lots of planning will certainly be needed. I mean, what the heck do you eat to fuel and recover when you run a race like this?! I’ll have to do some research!

3. I am in love with the Saucony “Find Your Strong” campaign. Basically its their new marketing campaign for their shoes, clothing, etc. What I like about it is that its not specific to one group of people, but applies to everyone since its about what makes YOU strong, not anyone else.

I think this is so important to remember. Through blogging I’ve met so many people from all over and every one of them has their own style. I run on city streets while other people run on backroads in the country. I tend to run in the evening while others are morning people. And either is okay! Its easy to forget that everyone is different and no one person has the same experiences or is motivated by the same things. If we did, that would be so boring! For these reasons, I love this campaign.

If you visit their website, they also post videos and quotes that are inspiring. You can send in your “strong” to them on twitter using hashtag #findyourstrong. Oh, and they are also doing giveaways each week so you might want to take a peek at the site!

Time for the 3 things questions:

3 things I ate so far today:
1. Breakfast: A fried egg, toast, and potatoes
2. Lunch: Flaxseed smoothie with a handful of spinach in it, bread with almond butter
3. Snack: banana

3 of my favorite fruits:
1. Mango
2. Bananas
3. Blackberries (or any berry actually)

Pinned Image

3 things I’m looking forward to this summer:
1. The Olympics!
2. Starting fieldwork for occupational therapy
3. Seeing Brad Paisley in concert on June 30th

Brad Paisley at MSG

Answer any of the three things questions above.
Tell me three random things about your day!
What is your “strong”?
-My strong is continuing to run despite the obstacles.

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