High Five Friday

This was a great week with my sister-in-law staying with me – yesterday I took her to the airport and was sad to say goodbye! We had kind of crappy weather while she was here, but the sun came through on her last couple of days, and she spent lots of time at the athletic club I work at, trying classes, swimming and playing tennis. She also did some pinch babysitting for me, and I’m pretty sure she had a lovely time.

It was also a busy week, so I thought I’d round it all up into a High Five Friday post (for those that don’t know, HFF is Angela’s idea, some of us just borrow it!) 😉 Check out the Happy Fit Mama blog for more Friday fun.

FIVE FROM INSTAGRAM

You can follow me on Instagram here, if we’re not already connected!

I ran my 14th half marathon on Sunday, the Covered Bridges Half Marathon! What a gorgeous day it was for a race – you can read my recap here to find out how it was this year.

Speaking of running, Global Running Day was this week and I broke out some spring-like Spandits for another day of good running weather (at least Mother Nature is timing the good days right, even if she’d been leaning toward rain lately).

This was goodbye for now to my sister-in-law! As well as working out and hanging with the kiddos, she and I got out for dinner a few nights and explored the town. So much fun!

I had to do a Flat Carly prior to my race on Sunday. I wore a new pair of Spandits capris (the pattern is called Pheasant Dreams), a Run Far Gear tank, New Balance Vazees, a Moving Comfort Juno bra (but I actually think MC may have been bought out by Brooks Running?), a Garmin Forerunner 110, Momentum Jewelry motivate wrap bracelet, my Amphipod water bottle (check this post for lots of hydration tips for runners), and a Flip Belt. Oh and Gummi Bears!!

I’ve started teaching group fitness classes at the club I work at – this was a fun boot-camp style class, with timed partner circuits of strength training (after a warm up involving drills on the indoor tennis courts). As I start to teach more classes, I’ll be posting my schedule, so please come work out with me if you ever find yourself near Woodstock VT!

FIVE FUN THINGS

I’m looking for a paper and pen calendar to use because scheduling pick up and drop off of kids around fluctuating shifts is getting crazy and I’m the kind of visual person who needs to see a schedule written out before it makes sense. I asked planner queen Nellie what she recommended. Before I knew it, I had a Michael’s app on my phone, a lot of recommendations, and a strong exhortation to “always check the coupons section,” and “when you are ready for stickers just call.” #imayneverbereadyforstickers #nelliedoesntplay

Babies just have lovely form, don’t they? Here’s Tanner, working on his inverted yoga poses!

The Athletic Club I’m working for is actually part of a spectacular hotel here in my new town, the Woodstock Inn. Earlier this week I took a tour, along with some other recent hires, of all the businesses that form the Inn. As well as the hotel and the athletic club, there is a full-service spa, a country club and golf course, a ski field, an organic garden which supplies most of the fresh produce for the Inn’s restaurants, and a falconry. Yes, a falconry. You can go and experience handling and flying hawks and owls there – we met two of the birds and they are so beautiful. This is Alba, a barn owl:

If you like your weather with a side of sarcasm, download WTForecast. You can adjust the “profanity meter” to off, some, or on, in the settings. It makes me laugh even when it’s pouring out.

I saw deer in my backyard last weekend, then again up close when I was driving home from dropping my sister-in-law at the airport (I had to stop the car and wait for them to move off the road). I never get tired of seeing deer in the wild, they are such beautiful, graceful animals.

FIVE GREAT READS

I loved this post by Carla about finding out your gifts and using them, and why using them is actually valuable to others. Carla manages to use a slightly different angle when writing about her topics, so that you suddenly find yourself looking at something differently, or from a new perspective. And that gift of Carla’s is valuable to others.

Christine attended the Wilder Running retreat and I loved reading about her experience. She writes so beautifully and it filled me with joy to hear what a rejuvenating time she had.

I mentioned that Allie was racing an Olympic Triathlon last week when I wrote High Five Friday – here is her recap of how that race went.

Okay, this isn’t a read, it’s a watch, but this swimsuit video from I Mom So Hard made me laugh:

 

I’m still working on that whole meditation thing…I thought this was a great read on the difference between running mindfully and running as meditation, from Amanda at Run to the Finish. She also lists all the many, many benefits of meditation.

So that’s my wrap-up of a busy and fun week! What was your week like? What are your plans for the weekend? Happy running and racing to those doing either, and remember to do one thing a day this weekend that scares you! 😉

Happy Weekend!