Learn To Properly Use a Gas Station

March 30th: 5:15am wakeup. New Go Lean Cinnamon Crisp for breakfast. Lunch already packed from the night before. Salad with chicken divided into multiple tupperware containers. Reasoning behind this is obvious. Keep the tomatoes seperate to avoid making the lettuce soggy and the chicken can be heated separately. Work 6am-2:30pm. Slow day overall and it felt for a Friday. Realized I probably walk about 5-8 miles a day at work. Solid cross training. Home to pack up and run a bit. Talked with my sister, Katie (One of two that reside in California), before heading out for a run.

Easy 4+ miles (29:39). Ran through the high school/middle school campus with my purple short shorts and blue tye-dye long sleeve. No comments. Back to stretch, finish washing the dishes from the night before, and foam roll. Showered and shave before gathering up everything for the weekend. Made a list at work in order to avoid forgetting any essentials. Helped a bunch. Goupil home at 4pm.

"On the road" at 4:45pm. Attempted (key word) to fill up my tank at the local Sunoco in Clifton Park. Terrible idea. It was a madhouse at the pumps and this was all to get 10 cents off a gallon with my Fuel Advantage card from Da Choppa. After waiting a solid 7-8 minutes, I was able to pull up to a pump. Slide my card. Not accepted. Worked a second time because I had to press the "I have a Fuel Advantage card" button on the screen. 10 cents off. Bring the nozzle over my car's gas tank. Nozzle didn't reach. Short by a foot or so. A truck (facing my car, hood to hood) was at the pump adjacent to mine so I couldn't pull up any closer. Put the nozzle back down. 10 cent discount eliminated. I was fed up at this point and as I was retreating back to the driver's side door, the owner of the truck exited the convenient store and began to fill up his truck. You got to be kidding me? What was he doing all that time inside? Proper gas station ediquette is not emphasized in New York. Left in a huff. Back on the road 15 minutes later and stopped off at another gas station in Troy, NY. Success, but expensive since I lost my savings from my card.

Officially en route to Keene at 5:30ish. Arrived in Swanzey at 7:30ish. Dropped off Goupil and headed to Jaffrey to stay the night at Kimber's apartment. Chicken parmagina with green beans and yellow squash over spaghetti for dinner. Mmm. Relaxed the rest of the night and bed by 10:30pm. Shooting for a 6:30am wakeup.

Routine

March 29th: 5am wakeup. No cereal so I settled for oatmeal. Made it with milk. Extra creamy with maple syrup and sugar. Packed the lunch. Out the door at 5:40am. Work 6-2:30pm. Work was smooth. No tool sign-offs and standard safety walks throughout the day. PCW "explosion" at the end of the day. Gallons and gallons of process chilled water pouring out of a pipe in the back of the subfab. Other than that, normal day. Stopped off at Target before heading back to the apartment. Cheese grater, cereal, and ACT mouthwash. Home to take off the shoes and socks. Slip on the Sanuks to let the feet breath. Pooped. Took some chicken out of the freezer for dinner/lunch. Relaxed in front of the television with the iPad until Goupil got home. He had a meeting scheduled until 5 so later run.

Out the door at 6pm. 10+ miles (70:21) with a 6:00 last mile. Solid run. Relaxed. Calves actually weren't sore in the 1st mile. Progressively more sore through the run. Survived. Foam roll, stretch, and prepare my dinner. Chicken with salad. Avocado, tomato, and cucumber. Shredded cheese and carrots with the use of my new grater. New Big Bang Theory finally. No March Madness tonight. Ate my dinner after the new episode. Packed the remains for lunch tomorrow. Shower and iced the calves before falling asleep. Bed early to rest up the legs for the Fast Friends 4.5 miler in Keene, NH this Saturday. Should be nice weather and good competition.

Work It Out Now

March 28th: 5am wakeup. Bowl of cereal for breakfast. Finished off my Honey Bunches of Oats. Double decker PB&J for lunch with snacks. Work 6-2:45pm. Work went well. I officially have a computer at work now because I am part of the tool sign-off team. Pretty exciting. Still doing the safety for the most part so its about 25% tool sign-off. Home to relax before getting ready for the workout. I started to wash some dishes and it led to cleaning the entire stovetop. Removed the coils and everything. Windexed the whole thing. I can tell my mom has rubbed off on me a little bit with the OCD cleaning. I don't mind :)

Drove to the track at 5pm. Planned workout 3xmile and 6x200. 3+ mile (22:29) warmup. Lacrosse game set to start at 6pm so we got right on the track to begin. I rocked my extra short shorts (no comments luckily). 4:50, 4:46, 4:42. 31, 31, 30, 29. Calves let me know they were still feeling the half marathon so I ended it at 4x200. 800 rest between the miles. 200 rest on the 200s. 2.5+ mile (19:28) cooldown. 11+ on the day.

Back to foam roll, stretch, and pop my dinner in the oven. Boneless pork ribs with chopped garlic and onions. Some sweet and spicy rub on the pork. Iced while I waited it to cook. Cooked up some angel hair pasta and divided everything into two portions to have some for lunch tomorrow. Big Bang Theory and Family Guy. Shower and bed early.

Nap Time

March 27th: 5am wakeup. Bowl of cereal for breakfast. Took some Mucinex and a multivitamin. Kinda groggy this morning. Chicken with salad for lunch. Out the door before 5:40am. Work 6-2:45pm. Good day at work. Meeting with our boss in the morning. Tool sign-off again today. Starting to get the hang of it and it breaks up the day fairly well. Home to relax. I dipped into the box of Oreos. I started with just 3. Then another 3. Then some more (this is why I don't buy Oreos because they are my weakness). Ripped open the hot and spicy beef jerky my sister got me for Christmas. Food coma and fell asleep at 4:40. Goupil home at 5:15pm (he told me that because I was passed out cold). Attempted to wake me up. He thought he did. I opened my eyes, threw on my glasses and responded with some mumbles. Back to napping on the couch. Shook me again and I sprung up as I always do in total confusion. Got ready super quick and out the door at 5:45pm.

10.8 mile loop (73:04). Goupil had to stop at one point for some abdominal pain. Just some gas build up. Stopped again at 8ish. Gave me the apartment key and let me finish up the run while he figured out what was going on. He said I should come and pick him up in case he wasn't gonna make it. 5:02 last mile. I was feeling good and needed a confidence booster for the workout tomorrow. Jumped in the car after and found Goupil a mile out and he was okay. Bathroom break required and he completed the run with flying colors. Backto stretch, foam roll, and shower up before making dinner. Terrible gas from the beef jerky. Luckily it didn't affect my run at all.

It was already 7:30pm so I went with a 4 egg, 1 onion chopped and sautéed, cheddar cheese omelette for dinner. It was delicious. Big Bang Theory and bed early.

Daily Grind

March 26th: 5am wakeup. Goupil coming back to NY this afternoon. So the last morning I can turn on the bedroom light and be semi-loud scrounging around before work. Oatmeal for breakfast. Double decker PB&J for lunch with some snacks including black licorice. Work 6-2:30pm. Went by real quick for a Monday. Da Choppa for some necessary grocery shopping. Back to drop off the food. Back out for a Walmart run to grab fluids/equipment for my Subie. Windshield wipers, power steering fluid leak stuff, power steering fluid, 5 quarts of oil, and windshield wiper fluid. And some ice packs. Back at 4:30pm. Filled up my power steering with the leak stop fluid. Goupil home at 5pm.

Run at 5:30ish. Shy of 10 miles (67:14). Felt good. Solid time for a Monday. Stretch, foam roll, ice. Dinner eventually after a shower. Chicken on salad with red pepper, cucumber and tomato. Thousand islands dressing. Kept the dinner light after the heavy (yet ridiculously delicious) food over the weekend. And the 6 Oreos right before run. My mom sent me home with a box of em. The regular size one, not the 10 sleeves of 11 cookies.

Bed somewhat early.

Last Day In CT

March 25th: 8am wakeup. Relaxed in bed. Upstairs at 9am. Mom made German pancakes for breakfast topped with heated up strawberries and peaches and a side of bacon. A German pancake is a hybrid of a pancake and a pastry. Can't beat it! Chilled for a while by playing Bananagrams. ALOT of Bananagrams.

Sarah and I went for a run around 2:30pm. 10+ miles (83:28). Great run. Talked to the whole time and Sarah killed the run. She wasn't even close to out of breath at the end of the run. She's doing a half in the beginning of May. She's gonna destroy it. I was gonna go another 5 miles, but my body was telling me don't do it. So I listened. 55 miles for the week.

Sarah and Bob headed out around 5:30 or so. Gathered up my things plus my slow cooker and scale. I finally headed back to NY at 7:40ish. Pork roast sandwich hit the spot at around 9ish. Smooth ride and back by 10:15pm. Bed soon after.

New Phone! Chicka Chicka Yeah!

March 24th: 7:50am wakeup. Jumped into bed with Kimber to wake her up. She was Mr. Grumpy Gills. Upstairs to get people moving for a run through the Huntington State Park trails. Group run in the trails at 10:30am. 8 miles (66:37). Some with everyone (mom, dad, Sarah, Bob, and Kimber) and extra with Sarah and Bob. Beautiful weather. Photoshoot before and after the run.

Back to the house for breakfast. Made omelettes for everyone. Relaxed for a while at the house. Eventually everyone showered. Outdoor shower. We had an agenda for the day and we finally started on it around 2:30pm.

Verizon Wireless for a new phone. iPhone 4S. Ka-pow! Interesting characters at the store while we waited. One woman was extremely impatient to seek help from a sales associate. She had a party to attend. She let everybody know! Another guy seemed to be drunk or something. Deliberately hitting on one of the woman working for Verizon. Then out of no where, the guy ripped ass mad loud! Didn't smell, but just shocked us all. Stopped off at Trader Joe's. Kimber parted there to head back to Higganum, CT.

Home for dinner. Pork roast with onions, potatoes, carrots, rolls, homemade applesauce and a New Castle. Stuffed my face. Sooooooo good! Can't complain ever with my mom's cooking. Relaxed the rest of the night updating the phone with contacts and whatnot. Watched Blindside on tv. Bed for a long run tomorrow.

Home For The Weekend

March 23rd: 5am wakeup. Bowl of cereal for breakfast. Decided on a cold cut sandwich for lunch, then realized (after I had servhed the entire fridge) that I finished up my spiced ham the day before. Settled on a grilled cheese with muenster cheese. Work 6am-2:30pm. Back to the apartment to finish up packing my things before heading home. Basically laundry and foam roller. Quick 2+ hour drive home. No traffic. Day off from running. Dad called up when I was about 1/2 hour away. He was hitting up the driving range with his carpool buddy from work. Joined in. Kimber arrived at the house at 6:45pm. I still had golf balls to swing away at. Met back at the house around 7:15ish. Filet mignon and pasta salad. Delicious. Can't beat home cooking. Sarah and boyfriend Bob arrived around 9ish. Late night talking. Bed at 12pm. Surprised I had a ton of energy past 10pm.

Warm One Today

March 22nd: 5am wakeup. Bowl of cereal for breakfast. Made my lunch. Two ham and cheese mini sandwiches in rolls. Work 6am-2:45pm. Good day at work. Another SL1 signoff for a tool. Lunch at the normal time. Made my phone calls to all my sisters after work plus my mom. Swung by Verizon Wireless to check out a new phone. After talking with my sister Sarah, I have decided on the white iPhone 4S. Buying it this weekend. Stopped off at Marshalls/Homegoods for a bit. Home before 5pm.

Run at 5:15pm. 11+ miles (77:21). Ran to the Kinns trails, a few miles on dirt, finished up through the high school. Clifton Park residents are not the friendliest. No one yelled me, but I greeted 4 or 5 different people. Minimal response except for one person. Just strange to me. I was running through a quant little neighborhood and a little boy stated "Mommy, he's naked!" All I could do was laugh as I passed. I did sneeze during my run and that was super weird.

Home to stretch, foam roll, shower and start making dinner. Two open face sandwiches. Chicken sausage. Cheddar cheese. Sautéed avocado, onion, and red pepper. Wolfed it down. March Madness. Bed.

Clean Rooming It Up

March 21st: 5am wakeup. Made my lunch. 3 mini roll sandwiches with spiced ham and muenster cheese plus some hot pepper jelly. Breakfast alongside Goupil because he was working my shift to make the 5 hour trip back to NH. Work 6am-3pm. Clear room for 3 hours (Fully gowned and overheating). Two more SL1 sign-offs with Alyssa. I had to eat lunch at 12:30pm (about an hour and half later than I usually do). I was beyond starving. Home to relax and update the running schedule for the next couple months with the hold on the marathon this spring. Out for a run right before 5pm.

10.8 mile loop (73:34). Legs were still sore (just the calves). Felt smooth clipping off sub 7s. Bathroom break at 4 miles. Last 2 miles in 12:39. Back to stretch, foam roll, and pushups/situps (on my 4th week of em). Protein shake. Shower. Big Bang Theory. Burger with sautéed veggies for dinner. Bed at an early hour.