A few weeks ago, my sister graduated from college.

This weekend, we celebrated with a cookout and hot weather. I contributed the dessert, graduation cupcakes. They are easy to make and were a big hit. To make them, all you need to do is ice and frost cupcakes, take a Reese’s peanut butter cup and put the bigger part face down on top. Attach a square chocolate covered cookie that has a m&m in the middle with a fruit loop tassel. Bonus points if they are in the school’s colors. I used a small tube of gel icing to put everything together.

After the cookout, it was s’mores time by the fire pit.

Today I got up early to  watch the local Memorial Day parade with my family. The parade honored a fallen soldier from our area and I am so grateful for those that serve and have served so we can enjoy holidays like today.  In high school, I marched in this parade every year as a rockette (band geek alert!) and seeing my school and hearing the drum line with the same beats brings back memories.

I also got a lot of planting done this weekend, which I’ll share soon. I got everything I needed to get done outside of the house, but the inside of my house is a different story. There’s always next weekend. How was your Memorial Day?

Photo by Carrie D Photography

Fitbloggin‘ was amazing. I really don’t know where to start in recapping it all. I will say that I learned a lot and met so many amazing people. Rather than write about what I learned, I plan on showing it all to you on the old blog and you can read some great recaps others have written.

I’ve been inspired to majorly revive this space. For a long time, I’ve thought I didn’t really have anything to say or have any value to add. Julie wrote about the same feelings this morning. I’m not an expert in anything. I’m a slow runner. I should eat better foods. My social life is kinda lame these days with school. I am still trying to learn how to use my camera. Where do I fit in?

I’m working on not letting negative thoughts hold me back. Time to use my little space of the internets to improve myself and accept my faults. Maybe I’ll even find the courage to write about personal things and triumphs I don’t typically talk about (vague, I know), but Fitbloggin’ showed me that people do want to hear about my experiences and I can make an impact. Cheesy, but true.

I’ve been to blog conferences before, but none of them have inspired me like this one has. Major props to Roni for planning such a wonderful conference. I cannot wait until next year!

Fitbloggin’ peeps, I can’t wait to add you all to my reader and visit your blogs. I’ve been doing some major deleting in Google Reader and will be going on an adding/commenting spree this weekend.

I have lots of things I want to talk about, so writing an editorial calendar is on my to-do list. Stay tuned for some DIY, container gardening, fitness, cooking and whatever mess I get myself into goodness from this girl.

I’m in the suburbs of Maryland tonight, spending the night with a friend from college before I head into Baltimore tomorrow morning for Fitbloggin.

Here’s a recent pic of me. The dog stayed at home and I miss him!

I’m shy, so please say hello! I can’t wait to meet everyone.

When you start running and your knee hurts before you get to the two minute mark…you know its not going to be your day. I am disappointed with my 2:41 finish (I’ve set PRs in every half I’ve ran and this was not one), but it was the best I could do today.

Today started off with a 4:35 a.m. wake up call and some foam rolling. I was out the door by 5:20 a.m. to meet my friend Brian to take the train downtown. We got on the 6 a.m. train. After finding the bag check and a quick bathroom stop, the race was about to start.

The weather was perfect! It was a little rainy, but my socks were dry the whole time so no complaints from me. Since I had knee pain from the beginning, I did a run-walk. I pretty much walked every four minutes. As the race went on, the pain traveled from my knee up my hip. Can we say IT band?

I was so happy to see my family at mile nine and then again at mile 11. They gave me that extra push I needed to finish and since I was running alone, I really appreciated that they got out of bed early to come see me.

Thank you to everyone on Twitter and Facebook for your support. Your cheers and well wishes made my day.

And now I am off to foam roll and probably cry…

Source

On Sunday, I am running the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon. It looks like its going to be another rainy one, just like last year. Fun.

After Sunday, I’m taking a break from long distances, including the half. I’ve decided not to run the NYC Marathon this year either. My knee really hasn’t gotten better, even though I’ve taken most of winter off from running like the doctor suggested. Since I’ve been training again, I will get random knee pains here and there. I’ve been training very conservatively and haven’t trained as well as I should have. So conservative, I’m afraid this is going to be my slowest race ever. I wish I could tell you this is not going to bother me, but it is.

In order to get a little faster and have a goal, my plan is to run a 5k each month of summer and run the Great Race again in September. I figure this will be a more reasonable goal, especially since I’ve started school again. Only two more summers to go! With school, I really don’t have the time to train for distance. Others may be able to do it, but I cannot balance it.

With a shorter distance to focus on, I’m hoping to get back into weight training more and attend a yoga class or two each week. I’ve never really worked on speed since I’ve been running long distances. I’ve only ran one 5k in the dozen or so races I’ve participated in. Fingers crossed that my knee issues don’t flare up and that foam rolling, icing and stretching keep it under control.

What are your summer training plans?