ashleyd /

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Yesterday was one of those perfect days where I didn’t think anything could go wrong.

After enjoying a delicious birthday dinner at Joe’s Stone Crab and a few birthday drinks at Twist and Score, two gay clubs in Miami, with my co-worker and manager, both of whom are gay, I slept until 8am, ready to conquer the day.

Marc, my co-worker, and I were able to catch earlier flights to New York City which meant that we only enjoyed breakfast and a few hours of work before arriving at Miami International for our flights.

Due to my Delta status, I was able to change flights within 3 hours of flight time, for no charge!

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I grabbed a quick lunch before boarding the plane in an emergency row, ready for 3 hours of reading and relaxation.

002  By Miami, it was fun but I’m ready to see my friends and husband in New York City!

009 In between reading, I enjoyed a delicious Quizno’s salad, Sun Chips, and a mini bag of peanut M&Ms.

013 216 pages later, I finally figured out why so many people love the book, Girl With A Dragon Tattoo!

014 The weather was clear and cool when we landed at JFK, thirty minutes ahead of our planned arrival time.

017 Since the painters weren’t supposed to finish in our apartment until around 6pm, I headed to Equinox for a quick workout to kill time. I rode on the spin bike for 45 minutes and enjoyed a 15 minute run on the treadmill to burn off some of the previous night’s drinks and food. Since it was only 5:30 when I finished I had the perfect excuse to treat myself to a pedicure. I mean what else could I do to kill time?

Since my normal nail salon, QQ Nails, had a 30 minute wait, I tried a new neighborhood spa, Blooming Nails at 20th and Park Avenue in Gramercy. There were about 15 patrons in there when I arrived but since most of them were having manicures, they were able to usher me back for a pedicure immediately. The space is beautiful and very spa like, unlike many small New York City nail spas.

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Forty five minutes later I had very happy feet and calves that felt like butter after the 10 minute deep tissue massage, included with the pedicure.

024 But, upon meeting Bo at home, we were met with the bad that finally came during this better than expected day. Our painters had left us high and dry, without any explanation on why our house was still in disarray. The painting company we used, Cheap Painters NYC, had great reviews on Craigslist and was fully bonded and insured. Therefore, upon meeting them and signing the contract, we had no worries that they would finish in the promised 3 days for the quoted price which was $500 less than any other painters we contacted.

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Three days later, our apartment was only 2/3 done and none of the furniture, paintings, or hardware has been replaced. In fact, we don’t have one completely finished room. Therefore, our plans of decorating the house for Christmas and starting on our holiday cooking in preparation for next weeks annual Christmas party, is history. We definitely learned our lesson in that when trusting laborers in your home, it’s best to go with someone is personally recommended by friends or family. Trying to save money on things like painting and construction isn’t the best route. I guess sometimes bad things happen to good people!

We spent the evening venting on the phone with our parents and drowning our sorrows in some delicious wine and Chipotle. As my dad pointed out, the good news is that we love the two colors our interior designer chose, Camelback and Oyster Bay. 026027

Luckily, we woke up this morning to a phone call from the painter, promising to finish the job Monday since our building doesn’t allow any painters or construction on the weekends. While that’s great, it is definitely a day late and a dollar short. They will not be receiving full payment when the job is done!

Instead of sulking around the house, I headed to Equinox for a six mile treadmill run before an hour training session. The run went better than normal due to lots of ESPN Game Day, which is live from Atlanta for my alma mater’s SEC Championship appearance this afternoon! 

After a quick salad lunch, Bo and I decided to make the best of the day and the nice weather with a relaxing walk through the city and some Christmas shopping before my birthday dinner tonight at the Hurricane Club. 002

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Odd Fears

This morning I woke up excited for a run outside. During marathon training this year I started to embrace outdoor running due to the many benefits I found versus running on the treadmill. I find that running outside pushes my muscles more and helps me properly prepare for a race which will always be outside. It’s more like a scrimmage and less like a drill!

However, I also have a few odd fears that limit me every now and then. One of those fears is slipping on wet leaves. A few years ago, my first Fall in Philadelphia, I slipped on wet leaves while crossing my parking lot. Since then I have developed a bit of wet leaf phobia, similar to the feeling most people have when the sidewalks and streets are icy.

002Due to the leaves cluttering the NYC streets and sidewalks this morning after last night’s rain, I headed to Equinox this morning for an easy treadmill session. I’m still not 100% ready to jump back into speed sessions and training. My muscles are still a bit tight and sore in random areas and Tuesday’s personal training session left my entire body screaming, even 24 hours later.

001 I spent 20 minutes stretching and foam rolling after doing 3.5 miles on the treadmill. Overall, I was pleased with my pace.

Mile 1: 6.0 mph

Mile 2: 6.3 mph

Mile 3 6.4 mph

Mile 3-3.5 6.5 mph

The rest of the day was pretty status quo: meetings and more meetings. I enjoyed a few snacks between meetings including my new favorite oatmeal combination, a huge salad, and yogurt!

IMG_5199 (640x478)

IMG_0001 IMG_1395I was hoping to try out Equinox’s new class, 3Sum, with one of my friends tonight but by the time I left the office it was too late and I didn’t feel like joining the class late. My body, muscles, and mine were screaming for some relaxation time on the couch with Bo and a nice glass of wine. What can I say? Sometimes you just have to give in and enjoy!

Never fear spin shoes, you’ll find a place in my life sooner than later.

IMG_1368 Until then, enjoy laughing at tonight’s dinner. This huge spread was titled the kebab mixed platter! Who knew?! Needless to say I think we’ll have some leftovers for the rest of the week!

001 Question: What random fear do you have?

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Marathon Recovery

I can’t thank everyone enough for the warm comments that you’ve left on my marathon post. In fact, it is my goal to respond to each comment individually over the next day or two!

I spent most of Monday sleeping and resting, never really regaining my appetite until around 4pm when Theodora and I were midway through a manicure and pedicure pampering session. Until that point I had only eaten a few saltines, sips of ginger ale, banana, and 1/2 a bowl of oatmeal.

Monday night I enjoyed a few glasses of wine and a bowl of soup before going to bed early.

DSC_0106 (426x640)Since I’m not working out yet, I’m able to sleep until 6:45 which is a huge adjustment. My body is really enjoying the sleep and as of yesterday morning the only thing that was still hurting were my hamstrings and my left shin.

I’m trying to focus on helping my muscles repair by eating healthy, whole foods this week as much as possible.

Yesterday I had a banana and oats for breakfast followed by a salad and soup for lunch. I’ve also been drinking more water than I ever felt possible as I still feel a bit dehydrated. The doctors in the medical tent said this is normal and that it would take 3-4 days for my system to balance itself.

IMG_5199 (640x478)IMG_0002 (480x640) IMG_0003 (640x480) My snacks yesterday were an apple in the morning and then dried cherries and a Chobani 0% yogurt in the afternoon.

I finally enjoyed my post marathon massage last night with Schuyler at Equinox on 54th street. I’ve been going to him regularly for the past five months which has been wonderful. Since I’m a regular he knows where I tend to hurt, feel pain, and how my body responds to his different massage techniques used during the 80 minute Equissage. Last night, since it was so soon after my muscles felt trauma during the marathon, he used primarily flowing movements instead of doing a true deep tissue massage which would have been too painful. Instead, I’m going back to him on Thursday or Friday for an hour long session to focus on my hamstrings alone which are in pretty rough shape. He and I could literally hear the fibers and knots as he massaged them last night!

Right now I feel like my body will be ready for activity tomorrow, at which point I’m going to work with Lauren, my personal trainer. We’re going to focus on doing a yoga and stretching session tomorrow limiting any use of weights until next Tuesday. Then, Friday morning I will most likely try to do a light run or a spin class but I’m going to play it by year.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and check back later for this week’s Marathons+Moderation guest post!

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