I miss swimming

This blogger is giving me trouble lately posting. I keep getting errors!
So, back to my latest; I haven't been swimming much and I went last night. Wow, I'm tired and out of shape. I swam 2600 yards and have been hungry and tired ever since. Was a great workout. Now, I need to get some running in today, but we'll see. I have a busy lunch of meetings. My niece started a new blog, very cute that little Logan.
http://olivierlife.blogspot.com

take care all

Monday is not eas to start

Last week went too fast, David was visiting, so the days just flew by. We did keep ourselves busy on the weekends though. On last Saturday, we have my very best friends over for dinner and Mexican was the theme. It was awesome! Jen made the enchilada recipe she got from Frank's Mom and it was so yummy. I made all the salsa's, red, green, and guacamole. Donna brought desert, tres leches. We all ended up having a couple pieces of that because it was also so good. Jen sent wine from her Nappa Valley trip, so we drank and ate very well! Today, its back to work and back to some kind of diet. I have to watch the calories for sure! I didn't work out yet, but walked the dogs 3 miles at lunch anyway (working from home today). I have lots of conference calls today, so keeping busy as usual. Dogs are happy, no changes and I worked from home today, they are enjoying my company.

Sun is shinning today, still cold though

I woke up and it was about 24 degrees. I was hoping that the end of March would bring warmer weather, but not so far. It was supposed to be a high in the 50's, but it was still pretty chilly. I really care about the morning temp as I have to go out with Nikki who can't go on her own yet. We are always trying, but she just won't go without me. She is loyal that one anyway. When I go out there, just to stand there, I often wonder how Forrest has so much energy to go out in the cold so early in the day, even all winter. Forrest may be crazy, but at least he is exercising! I went to spinning last night and dragged David there as well. He was a good sport and is putting up with me and the dogs so far. The week is almost over so I'm sure he is getting ready to be home. I will miss him though.
Today, I worked out at lunch and did 3 miles of sprints, so that gives David a break at home. His challenge today was to walk all 3 dogs, Levi, Nikki and little Maggie that I am dog sitting. It will be the first time he has ever tried to walk more than one dog, so I'll get the update when I return home. Will be intersting.
Oh, did I mention that David got me the 'Kindle'? Boy, do I like reading from that. It's awesome. I had to order a cool holder for it now so that I don't scratch it.
Take care all and catch you another day.
Amy

Spring seems to have a dull start

Boy is it cold in New Jersey. I was hoping for warmer weather to start spring. Thought it would encourage me to get outside running and biking more. Sunday I had a 15K run planned in NYC Central Park. I woke up to 24 degrees, yikes! Long commute into the city, but met up with some friends (Matt, Genine, Steve, and David) to commute into the city. Makes the entire race more fun. I'm really about the social part anyway. I'm not competitive at it and that is only because I'm not great at it. was a somewhat cold run, but was better by 10:30 when the race started. We had Genine as the photographer and her friend Ruth took video. Was so awesome to have them come and do that. Ruth then put together a cool video of it as well, goto http://mooseman08.blogspot.com/ to see the video, second post on 3/22. Pics are also there on the right.
Monday, David and I took the day to hike and went to the Appalachian Trail of hwy 80. Was a great hike and more difficult than I expected. Lots of rocks and water crossings. If the water was any higher, we would have gotten pretty wet and in the mid 30's, that is cold. Now, most importantly, I have no idea how any of old timers back in the day used that trail for anything but hiking. It is certainly not a path for wagons or even horses for that matter. It is soooo rocky, horses wouldn't attempt most of the paths. My dogs were in heaven. There weren't many people out hiking on a Monday, so I let them off leash and they ran up and back the entire time. They probably tripled our distance of around 7 miles. On the way home, the 2 of them curled up together in the back of the blazer and slept hard the entire way home. I don't blame them, they were in and out of the water and running around like crazy. It got so cold toward the end, that when I tried to towel off the dirt and water from their underside, that it froze. They had a million little icicles hanging off them and I couldn't towel it off. The cold probably added to their sleepiness once the car warmed up. Was a good weekend of runs and hikes either way. Back to work today, ugh. I hear there is flooding in Grand Forks and I hope no Lusty's have flooding. Doesn't sound good, river is up 40 feet according to my mother.
Catch you all another day.

Big Loser

So, I joined the biggest loser campaign at work to attempt to knock out the 10 pounds I gained over the winter months. Its not going well. I skipped weigh in this week as I believe I'm up. I actaully feel good and have been eating better, but sometimes the body isn't in the same hurry that I am. I think it will bounce back next week. I did some long runs this week and sprints today. Now, I have to rest Friday and Saturday to prepare for the 15K I have in NYC on Sunday. My time will be slow, due to the 10 pound thing, but it should be fun.

On another note, I've been trying to help a local guy in my county find his lost German Shepherd, Duke. He is 9 mos old and has been lost now over 5 weeks. When Nikki was lost, it was a nightmare and felt like forever. She was gone 1 month exactly, but Duke is still running. He was seen again 2 days ago, but is almost wild now. He is chasing deer like mad. In the meantime, a female German Shepherd was found running lose (we caught that one) and the shelter kept it for 7 days, no one picked it up, so Duke's owner took it in. He is somewhat like me, wanted her to have a good home. He named her Dutchess so now when Duke comes home someday, he will have Duke and Dutchess:) I have my fingers crossed that he can find and catch Duke.

I found out also that 2 wolf-hybrids are lose here as well. This has only been 3 days and they have already killed a dog. Of course, they are in the Cokesbury road area, which is where I found Pink/Elsa and took her in from. I have my eyes open and need to be careful, that is only a few miles from my house and they can really travel. Nikki ended up almost 30 miles away from me! What is it with New Jersey and loose German Shepherds? (and shepherd/wolf hybrids I guess as well).

Take care all

Forrest and his next Journey

Please check out Forrest's blog at http://walkforrestwalk.blogspot.com/ if you haven't already. I am so proud of him! He is walking every day and mapping a fictitious journey across America and documenting it along the way. I love reading the bits of information he writes down. So, I'm voting for Forrest to next come to the East coast! First of all, I live in NJ, that is reason one. Second, the rich history of the east coast, settlers, appilation trail, Erie canal, boston tea party, and the list goes on! Train4tris can't wait and Levi and Nikki will be out on the trail with me at times to cheer Forrest on. NYC Marathon could also be on the route to visit and you could do the Marathon route. Sounds like sooo much fun!
As for me, ran 9 miles on Sunday, sprints of Monday plus 1 hour spinning class, short 3 miles on Tuesday, and easy 2 miles on Wednesday with weight training. I am really trying to get back into shape (well I have shape, its just too big:)). I gained 10 pounds over winter and have to trim it back off. Joined biggest loser at work, so have lost 2 pounds in 2 weeks. I have to really watch what I eat because that is my problem. Have to thin down for the NYC Marathon!
good luck to Forrest in selecting his next endevor and my fingers are crossed for East Coast to be the selection!
Walk on Forrest...