Author: Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Breathe It In

Disclaimer: I received Earth’s Care Pain Relieving cream to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

I am usually bruised in one place or another. I’m notorious for running into things and forgetting about it until I see the bruise. It’s a running joke in my family that we are notorious for hurting ourselves in new and inventive ways. We’ve all made a doctor’s visit or ER trip where the nurse just looks at us and says “you did what how?”. I also tend to be anti pain medication, my go to is usually an ice pack for every ailment. Migraine? Ice pack. Sinus congestion? Ice pack. Shin splints? Ice pack. But that’s also how I gave myself second degree burns on both my legs. But that’s another story.

So I figured I would give Earth’s Care Pain Relieving Ointment a try. All natural ingredients that I could actually pronounce? Score. When it arrived and it smelled like wonderfully, minty menthol goodness, well that was just a bonus. 😊

Of course, since I’ve had it, I haven’t bruised anything. It’s a new streak! However this stuff was amazing while I was sick. My back was aching so badly from coughing so much. The cream made sleeping a little more comfortable. Plus I like just taking the cap off and smelling it. That’s not weird at all, right? Until I quit coughing, this ointment and I will be very good friends.

I am sure my bruise free streak will end at some point. My shins will likely ache once I end this unplanned running break. Now I have something to help me instead of suffering in silence. Well, I was never really silent, I whine a lot. 😛

What do you do when something hurts?

Are you accident prone?

Week 50/ Vacation Week 1 Recap

Otherwise known as Disneyland fail, the flu and a DNS. 😛

I had so many plans for this first week of vacation. They were good ones too! Since when do I have plans? It was kind of exciting. So how did those plans go? Ha ha!

I came down with the flu. I spent Friday through Sunday alternating between my bed or my comfy chair. I stopped eating on Wednesday. I know I talk about wanting to lose weight but not like this, this was miserable. My back hurt from coughing so much, stomach muscles I forgot about were aching in protest. I’ve slept too much and yet not enough. But let’s backtrack to the one fun day of the week.

With my mother’s birthday and Christmas both being in December, I thought it would a great gift and a fun way to spend a few days if we went to Disneyland. The plan was to drive down on Tuesday, check into the hotel, hit the main park all day Wednesday and then California Adventure on Thursday. Neither of us had ever been to California Adventure before.

After some nightmare traffic in La, we arrived at our hotel like planned. I had a tickle in my throat but I was trying to ignore it. I was hoping a good night’s sleep would make things all better. My throats didn’t hurt and I felt super tired in the morning but I always wake up a little rough so I put my game face on and we were at Disneyland before it opened. Yay!

I’ve always wanted to see Disneyland at Christmas and while it was just as awesome as I had hoped, I hadn’t anticipated how crowded it would be. Ouch. As crowded as it was, the wait times for the rides weren’t too bad. We were able to ride every ride we wanted to except for Indiana Jones as it was having technical difficulties throughout the day. Boo. I rode a couple of rides for the first time- Autotopia, It’s a Small World, Storybook Canal. I think I have the name wrong on that last one.

The problem was is that I was losing serious steam throughout the day. I thought I was doing a decent job of hiding it until my mom pointed out that I was walking hunched over. Oh, oops. I had some troubles in the Pirates of the Caribbean line and leaned against whatever I could. Luckily Pirates is a longer, low key ride and one of my favorites, so it was a good way to get off my feet for a bit.

We were having fun but I was fading fast. We hoped food would help, but instead I could barely finish it. Then Space Mountain made me a little green. Once drenched by Space Mountain, we decided to find a spot to watch the parade from. The parade was great but oh so cold. We wandered through a few shops before deciding that we were both cold and tired and heading back to the hotel. So instead of staying at the park until late in the evening, we were back in the hotel by 6. 😢

The next day I was worse. So bad we checked out and headed home instead. I was so ill that I gave my mom the keys so she could drive while I hung my head out the window like a dog. The proximity to me and an open car window did my mom no favors and instead of a second fun day, I got her sick. #birthdayfail We made it home by early afternoon where I showered and then crawled into bed.

And I’ve barely moved since. I’ve put off errands and Christmas shopping. I was supposed to run with Ashley on Saturday. Wah! And Sunday? Sunday was supposed to be my last race of 2016. A 5 mile trail race out at Montana de Oro. But considering walking to the bathroom tires me out, I probably shouldn’t be running up a mountain. Wah. I love this race.

At the rate I am going, I have no idea when I am going to run. I may end up binging on too many Christmas movies. One day I’ll be hungry again. I did manage to drag myself to the DMV though-

How was your week?

Ever go to Disneyland during the holidays?

How long does the flu knock you out?

Run to the Music 5

Christmas Edition!

Now while I may have been watching cheesy Christmas movies on tv since November, it takes much longer for me to listen to Christmas music. I am still barely listening to it. That said, I am getting closer and closer to being ready for Christmas music all the time.

Christmasrun — I have over 400 Christmas songs but I love these. So odd, I know.

Running to Christmas music can be kind of tricky though, it doesn’t always give you the beat you are looking for. This is coming from someone who has over 400 Christmas songs on her iPod ranging from traditional to house music. I dragged the above playlist image out of the archives- 2014!- hasn’t changed much, so here is one of my favorites to run to –

Wizards in Winter-

Can you run to Christmas music?

What is one of your favorites?

Week 49 Recap- Double Digits!

Ok, for the week but we’re getting somewhere right?? 🙂

Last week was weird and long and rough and short -all wrapped up into 7 days. My boss said it best- when you wake up Monday thinking it’s Friday, you know it’s going to be a long week. While I wasn’t quite that bad, I was pretty close. Part of my issue was vacation brain. I was trying to get everything done that I had to do before I left. I wanted to try and leave nothing behind when I left for 2 weeks. It didn’t help that open enrollment for our health insurance fell during the 2 weeks I am gone. Well, that’s not good timing. Grrr. But as of 6:30 Friday I am on vacation! Ask me again in 3 days if I am still liking this vacation thing. 😛

Monday- Rest Hmmm, I can’t remember anything particularly special about Monday

Tuesday- Rest Same as above

Wednesday- 3.1 miles Another night run. Farthest one yet! I was bundled up and in reflective gear. Or at least I hope it was reflective. It’s not like I stopped a car and asked and I received no helpful cat calls this time. On the plus side, Christmas lights are going up and every light helps to run to! Then I went and did some shopping for the Toy Bank and that was nerve wracking. When did toys get so expensive?? If you follow me on Twitter, you know I was asking for help. 😛

Thursday- Rest I’m giving my lungs a chance to adjust to the 4o’s and only running at night once a week and I just couldn’t force myself to go to the gym just yet.

Friday- Last day of work! Also, my mom’s birthday. I made poor food choices throughout the day. Oops.

Saturday- 4.7 miles Farthest and fastest run in a month! Which is awesome and kind of sad all at the same time. I set out in the middle of the afternoon and I quickly realized how over dressed I was. The plan had been to run to the high school where my mother was having tennis practice then we’d run some errands. I was hoping to run 5 miles but unfortunately all of my sugary, carby food choices made over the last few days came back to haunt me while I was running across the bridge. The fact that that was also my fastest mile in well over a month and a half probably didn’t help either. I spent that last .7 just trying not to be sick. That put me right at the high school and I figured that was good enough for the day.

Oh, and for the first time in the 30+ years I’ve lived in this town, I went to the Christmas Parade! We froze- 70 floats?!!- but it was super cute. The announcers on the other hand- they needed help. They either thought they were funny or were a little deeper in their cups then they should have been.

Sunday- 3 miles Ooof. I had a headache in the morning and a dinner plans with the family in the evening so I headed in the early afternoon. Maybe I should have skipped it. My Garmin died 1/2 mile in. My lungs never got on board the run train. I took a ton of walk breaks. Near as I can tell, I completed 3 miles around a 13:00 pace. Say what? 3 miles is 3 miles right? My legs felt fine, my lungs and head had other plans. It is what it is, right? I brushed it off before joining the family for dinner at Olive Garden. Breadsticks, anyone?

Just barely over double digits for the week, woo hoo! Food choices on the other hand got a little screwy by the end of the week. With work having donuts on Thursday, a celebratory lunch on Friday, my mom’s birthday Friday and my dad’s birthday Sunday, I’m feeling a little fluffy and bogged down. I didn’t even feel like this after Thanksgiving.

How was your week?

Any vacation tips?

Meandering Musings

Happy Friday!!!

By the time you read this, I will be one shift away from 16 days off. 16, people. 16. Ordinarily I would say I was afraid I was going to lose my mind but it’s been a long year. This may be a vacation I can handle. I know I need a few days with no alarms or deadlines.

It may only be December 2 but I have been watching non stop Christmas movies for weeks. I can’t stop!! They are so cheesy and I love it! Now if only I could figure out what to do on the Christmas gift front.

Does anyone else get cold feet? I mean literally. My toes are frozen all the time! I need thicker socks!

I made it out for my second night run! Made it 3 miles this time. It ended up being a very slow progression. 😛 Man our sidewalks are uneven. I was bundled up in tights, tank, long sleeves, my Buff®, a beanie, gloves, reflective vest, and a flashlight. A woman passed me at one point; she was wearing shorts and a dark sweatshirt. One of these things is not like the other.

Starting next year, work won’t be open on Saturdays anymore, well for the most part. While kind of awesome, it’s also odd. Don’t get me wrong, I may miss the occasional odd half day but I won’t miss working Saturdays. Or the trek to that location.

Speaking of that night run, sorry to everyone I blinded with the strobe light on my flash light. Apparently this blonde can’t operate a flashlight properly. 😛

Also, WordPress has recently dumped a lot of the blogs I follow so I’m hunting you all down again. So if you get another follow from me again, hi!

16 days. I keep coming back to that. How long until the boredom posts start coming?

Share something random with me!