Showing posts with label Ohio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ohio. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Three Weeks Later...

After three weeks of travel, we are back in Hong Kong and I'm attempting to get back to some sort of routine. Besides battling a little bit of jet lag, this time I'm also dealing with a head cold and laryngitis!

mrC has recurrent training in Columbus, Ohio which works out great for me because I grew up in Cincinnati (just two hours away). While he is working, I drive down to visit my family and he joins us when he finishes. We're really lucky that it works out like this.

Here's a recap of our time in Ohio ---> I'll be doing a separate post for our 5 days in Budapest.

The Alum Creek Trail was near the hotel and we ran there a couple of times. We ran super early when we first arrived in Columbus, but on the last day we were more reasonable and let the moon set and the sun come up.


While mrC was in Columbus working, I stayed at my mom's. It was perfect because it was her birthday week! We had massages, went shopping and had LaRosa's pizza with a bunch of family at my aunt's house. The best was taking her to the Cincinnati Bengals home game opener! It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun that it didn't matter that our team lost. PS - I picked up this cute Coach cross body just before the game and it was perfect (you can't bring large purses/bags into the stadium anymore) for my phone, sunglasses and small wallet. I can't wait to show it off at Happy Hour with the girls ;)


My mom wanted to go zip-lining for the first time and we couldn't let her go alone. It was also mrC's first time. I was the only veteran having gone when I was visiting my friend in West Virginia. It was a cloudy day with rain forecasted, so we were lucky to be our own private party. The instructors at Ozone Zipline Adventures were super friendly, very entertaining and taught us a lot about zipping and nature.


I got to spend as much time as possible with family and (BFF) friends. It's never enough, but we make the best of what time we have. We are so lucky that everyone makes time for us while we are there too.


I didn't workout much while in Ohio. When I could I did, but the rest of the time I was either off visiting someone or crashing from jet lag!

We left Ohio, but instead of heading right back to Hong Kong, we made a pitstop in Budapest to visit youngestC. I'll be writing about that part of our trip soon.

Do you ever mix business with family when you travel?
Do you miss working out when you just can't get to it?



Friday, September 8, 2017

5 Things About My Moonset Run

Have you ever gone on a run and caught the moon setting? In an attempt to get over our jet lag, mrC and I laced up our running shoes on Wednesday for an early morning run. Using MapMyRun, I found out there was a trail head just a couple of blocks from the hotel.


For today's Friday Five 2.0 link-up, I'm sharing 5 things about our run:

1) The Alum Creek Trail is part of the larger Ohio to Erie Trail network in Ohio. The 22 mile scenic trail travels along the Alum Creek waterway in Columbus passing through parks and skirting a golf course and university campus.


2) It was so nice to have a path to run on and not have to worry about roads and traffic (which we are out of practice doing). We saw two other runners (one female running alone which made me wonder if she was practicing safe running with something like Wearsafe) and two bikers ---> one came up behind us and her verbal warning made me nearly jump out of my skin!


3) It was so peaceful. Most of the run it was just us, the fog, a couple of deer. On the way back we had the first glimpses of the sunrise spreading across the sky. Even though the trail is near a road, the daily traffic hadn't yet picked up so there wasn't any car noise.


4) The bridges. The trail crossed Alum Creek and also had a section that seemed to hover above the forest. It reminded me of when we went to the Blue Mountains in Sydney, Australia.



5) We were pretty happy about getting in a good three miles before breakfast and to be running when it was only 50 degrees! Talk about comfortable ---> I love these shorts I got on sale at Athleta. And how about those long sleeves?


PS - I spent the rest of day with my BFF doing a little shopping and a lot of catching up!



Have you ever gone on a run and caught the moon setting?
Do you like running in long sleeves and shorts?

Today I'm linking up with Lacey and Meranda and Rachel for the Friday Five 2.0!

And also with Nicole for the Fit & Fashionable Friday link-up




Thursday, October 20, 2016

Catching Up from Ohio

Wow!

Time has flown by since my last blog post.

mrC finished his work in Connecticut and we wrapped up our stay in New England with a weekend visit to the girls in Portsmouth, NH.

The weather was great on Saturday for a day of hiking and exploring in Maine with D. We hiked Mount Agamenticus in Ogunquit and had lunch (we brown-bagged yummy sandwiches from Backyard Coffeehouse and Eatery off the main street) at the summit. We stopped to view Cape Neddick Lighthouse and then browsed Stonewall Kitchen in York. Later, back in Portsmouth, we met up with G for dinner. After brunch at Popovers on Sunday, we escaped the rain at the movie theater and watched Girl on the Train (just as good as the book!) and then went out for lunch before saying goodbye to the girls.


We spent one more evening with Booney and mrC's family before flying to Ohio for one more week of work for mrC.


The great thing about mrC working in Ohio is that we can see my family while we are here (we really are blessed that he gets to work in both places when we return to the US). We came to Ohio a couple of days early and spent time in Cincinnati at my mom's. We met up with my aunt at Howl at the Moon downtown and had a blast bowling after a great meal. While mrC works in Columbus, we get to visit with the BFF! We went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (little O's choice) and then met up for a free yoga session at the Athleta store the next morning.


After sticking to low intensity workouts (or no workouts 😳) for a couple of weeks, it feels good to use the fitness room here at the hotel for some HIIT cardio on the elliptical and cool down walks on the treadmill. I was feeling a little unmotivated doing the same at-home workouts and getting back on the elliptical is helping bring back my workout HAPPY.

Sprint Workout ---> 10 minute warm up on elliptical, 15 sprints: 20:20 seconds intervals, and 30 minute cool down on treadmill.

The fitness room at the Residence Inn Easton is TINY compared to what we had in Montreal, but it will do the trick while we are here. The room is steps away from the dining room making it super easy to grab some breakfast to-go.


It's a bit rainy here today, but the weekend promises to be beautiful and everything we love: cool temps and sunny, blue skies. It will be our last weekend in the US for about 6 months, so we are trying to soak up everything fall before we leave on Sunday morning.

Do you ever get in a fitness rut and feel unmotivated? How do you break out?
Tell me something you've been up to lately!






Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Shred Day 16 & 17: Resistance Training Workout & BFF Time

I have to brag a little more about the at home resistance training program that I'm loving. Yesterday I had a lower body strength workout to do, but no gym. Luckily my mom bought the system that I used last week and have been talking about ever since (I must have really been talking it up!).


I took a couple of pictures to show how I used the bands for my workout.

Modified "weighted" plie squats with arms straight and then pull your arms down as you stand up.


Side lunges with adduction resistance.

What I'm wearing trekkie joggers

Hamstring curls.


It was really easy to do all the exercises, so I did not feel like I was missing out by not having access to a gym. I also found this website that shows more ways to use over the door resistance bands for lower body exercises.

I drove to Columbus to see my BFF and her family. It was a short, but sweet visit. We had a few hours to chat and catch up in person, enjoy a dinner off the grill prepared by her husband and I got to see her daughter play at soccer practice.


Today I drove back to mom's and spent the day doing laundry and getting my suitcase organized for my return to Montreal tomorrow morning. These two weeks have flown by.


WIA

Breakfast


Lunch ---> yep, I skipped it unless peanut m&ms count

Dinner


Breakfast ---> same meal, different day ;)


Lunch ---> I actually didn't eat the celery and hummus. I started to, but it tasted funny. Not bad, just funny.


Dinner ---> last night in Cincy = LaRosa's hoagy (my mom's idea!)



What training equipment are you loving right now?
Are you near/far to your BFF?





Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Fitness Friday

This post was ready to go last Friday, but I went to a pizza party at my aunt's and forgot about it. And now we're in Massachusetts after a week in Ohio! 

If shopping counts as exercise, I've been killing it since arriving in the US!

I did however, do some actual exercising today (aka last Friday). Admittedly, it felt really good.

It was a gorgeous morning, so I took my yoga outside to enjoy the cool, clean air. My heel is still firing up when I flex my foot during downward dog, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. 


I took my mom's dog with me to get my brows waxed so that we could walk at the park after. She's little, but she can cover a mile pretty quickly.


My favorite thing to do (besides shopping) when we come home is to enjoy food. I know I can eat salads in China, but it's much easier to get boxed salad here and just gobble it up. 


I started and finished a new romance book about a runner. It's been a while since I read a book that fast. It was really good!


My mom made gluten free chocolate chip cookies. A couple of those with Ohio sunshine and life is good.


We arrived in Massachusetts on Marathon Monday. Booney's adoptive dad was running and we tracked his progress online, but we were super excited to get this via a text.


We got a workout yesterday digging around our stuff that's in a storage unit here. It's nice to have our things so close.


My sister-in-law always has something new-to-me and tasty in her kitchen. I'll be bringing some of this back to China with me.


We finally got our underwater camera pictures developed from our trip to the Maldives in February. 



Hope you're having a great day!!




Monday, April 11, 2016

Pushing through Jetlag

We made it Columbus, Ohio last night, a mere 24 hours after leaving China. No matter how much I plan to beat the jet lag, it always seems to haunt us the first couple of days. Today we were both awake by 3AM.

When you're jet lagged and hungry, waiting for the breakfast bar to open seems like forever. We were rewarded with some awesome fruit and made-to-order eggs though.



While waiting for my BFF to come get me for our day together, I thought a little Yoga Camp session would help keep me energized. I tried to get mrC to join me, but he preferred to preview only.


By the way, do you workout with your significant other? Love this guy for trying. 

After some shopping and lunch, my BFF took me to her stylist at Salon Lofts for a long overdue color and cut. I loved this because each stylist has her own space. No loud conversations or styling tools to try to talk over. While Mitzie did my hair, we hung out, drank wine, and talked and talked and talked. Jet lag was far from my mind. 


Oh and my hair...love it!


While at the salon, mrC met up with my dad who flew in from Florida and mrBFF picked up the kid from school. Then we all met up for a Mexican dinner at Abuelos. I really miss nights like this! 


To make it even better, we brought out the Girl Scout cookies BFF has been hiding in her freezer for a little dessert. 


Jet lag? What jet lag?!

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Flying Pig Half Marathon

I'm a Flying Pig!


I finally ran the Flying Pig Half Marathon and I dragged my husband along with me! We arrived in Cincinnati on Friday evening and met up with family and friends for dinner. The weather was gorgeous  and the Flying Pig weekend festivities had already begun. 


After breakfast at a great downtown restaurant called First Watch, we spent Saturday morning at the Expo. They had an interesting zig-zag layout that steered you through all of the booths to get to the race shirt pick-up. At first we didn't mind this layout, but when we wanted to make our way back to something, it was difficult to move against the sea of people and took way too much time. After running with his water bottle for the last two years, I finally met Simple Hydration designer Brian and hung out at his booth for a bit.


The race had an early start of 6:30, but fortunately we were only a couple of blocks from the start line at the Millennium Hotel. We didn't have our normal pre-race breakfast, so we substituted bagels from the hotel cafe. I could only eat half because I was so excited to get going. The weather was predicted to be 50+ so I was comfortable selecting a Nike racerback and running skirt. I also chose my Flying Pig Sassy Bands and Mizuno Wave Creation 14s. After mixing up some Nuun (I forgot to pack the Cytomax) and packing some post-race clothes in my gear bag, we were on our way.

We walked the few blocks to the starting line and located the not-so-easy to find gear bag busses. By then the sun was beginning to rise over the city. We took a few minutes to stretch before entering our corral.


For nine weeks I had been preparing my husband to run his 3rd half marathon. We planned to take it easy in the beginning, manage the two+ mile uphill into Eden Park, and then cruise to the finish.


Running with my husband was easy. The first six miles over the river into Newport, across Covington, and back through Cincy's west side was manageable for us. The hard part for me was dealing with three port-a-potty stops. I guess he forgot to reduce his fluid intake!


We knew the tough part of the course would begin at about mile 7 as we started the 280 foot climb into Eden Park. When I saw the Elsinore Castle, I knew it was time to dig deep.


The good part about the climb was that it leveled off a little in places, like Mirror Lake. This was one of the picturesque views along the course.


The pain of the next part of the climb was lessened just a little by the appearance of Elvis near the Krohn Conservatory. We saw crazy, fun stuff like this all along the course.


After making our way out of the park and through some rolling hills, we started the cruise to the finish line. The downhill view of the city and descent helped increase our pace.


The last .20 of the course was a straight away lined with cheering spectators all the way to the finish. After crossing the finish line in 2:17:03 (PR for hubs!), we made our way through the finisher's corral where we received our medal and more food than I have ever seen at a race. It was awesome! Just minutes after exiting the corral, a light rain began. I was grateful that I packed some extra clothes in my gear check bag. Thanks to the Flying Pig tracker app, my mom was right there waiting for us. We walked around for a bit, got a quick massage, and then decided to head to the hotel to get dry.


I loved this race. It was challenging, but tons of fun. There were more bands/music on the course than the Rock-n-Roll events I have done. The cheer zones and fluid stations were filled with rowdy, happy people. The entire weekend was packed full of events going on downtown including the Expo, 5K, 10K, full marathon, relays, kids races, a family festival, and fireworks. Participants received awesome swag before and after the race: tech tee, poster, cooler, and finisher's certificate.


We had been warned about THE hill leading into Eden Park and more importantly the downhill that followed. Day three post-race my quads are finally starting to recover.


This race is only 15 years old, but attracts over 33, 000 runners to it's weekend events that sell-out. There were more than 100 people who participated in the full marathon for the 15th year in a row - The Streakers! I hope to run this half marathon again too!




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