kettlebell hell

A few weeks ago I got a brochure in the mail for the winter session of Adult Ed. I was just about to throw it away when I decided to flip through it to see if there was anything interesting being offered. Most of it was bleh but I did see that there was a 5 week kettlebell class. Hmmm....i had kind of heard about kettle bells before. I mean, I know what they looked like. Whatever, it sounded fun and I need something to whip me back into pre-baby shape. I added it to my list of  28 before 28.

I was of course a few minutes late to the first class and when I got lost looking for the class at the community center I almost said screw it (I hate walking in late to the first day of anything). I was on my way out the door to go home when I decided to ask some stranger in the hallway if they knew where the class was. Sure enough, "down the ramp, last room on the right". Ok fine...I decided I would suck it up and be late.

I shouldn't be surprised at the kind of people who were in the class. I live in the ghetto. There was the middle aged man who was front and center with his skin tight pants that unzip at the knees to make shorts (which he did halfway through the class) that had clearly taken this class before and wanted us all to know it. There was classic pair of old lady friends who could beat me in a push up contest any day, one semi-athletic looking dude,  and the guy who showed up in jeans with his tshirt tucked in and his wallet in his back pocket. Oh! and the instructor...yeah, he was wearing his own skin tight pants, only his were camouflage with a black (also skin tight) tech shirt tucked in and his sneakers looked like they had seen better days.

Regardless, I was there...time to whip my ass into shape. I should have had some idea how difficult it was going to be when squats and lunges were part of our warm up. That was fun. Time to grab our kettle bells. Mind you, we were told they would be provided so I didn't have my own. They did provide them but not many choices of different weights. I wanted the 10lb kettlebell but by the time I had gotten over to the rack, they were all gone. Awesome. So I grabbed the 15lb. Oi...this was going to be a long class. As Danielle kindly said "well that was your first mistake".

I won't bore you with all the details of the class...but we were just getting used to using the kettle bell. Lots of what I presume are basic kettlebell moves. Then we were told once we are comfortable using the kettlebell we will start doing more advanced things like throwing them in the air and catching them again. Say whhaaat???? *note to self, if I am going to be throwing these things and expected to catch them, I need a lighter weight!!* It was at this point that I thought maybe I should have googled "what is a kettlebell class" before I signed up.

Maybe it would be more fun if I did my workout on the beach in my bikini?? These are the types of basic moves we did.



It's been 3 days since class and I am just starting to be able to walk again. Yeah, that class kicked my butt!! I was debating if I liked enough to go back...but I think I do and I will! Should make for a few good stories.

blog makeover!

What girl doesn't love a good makeover!?? Oh heck ya. Thanks to erica sara my two blogs (Tales of a Running Mom & A New Adventure) have had a full new years makeover and I have added a third blog for your reading pleasure (Emerson Family MLB Park Tour) !:-) Erica is starting a new template design business in addition to her fantastic and amazing jewlery company.

When I finish the MDI Marathon I will be getting myself this gem

I want to get one of these with Ty's name and birthday on it

Clearly I need to add this beauty to my collection!

I can't remember if I stumbled on Erica's blog first, or found her through Twitter...either way she totally rocks! She is an amazing photographer hence this beautiful picture she took at our tweet up lunch at the Philadelphia Marathon. She gives me some sweet fashion advice since "Sarah" and "Fashion" are not words I would put together in the same sentence. She also blogs about some yummmmmy recipies. I'm dying to try her lemon blueberry muffins,  lemon hummus, and banana bread. She really is so sweet and I can't wait to go visit her! We are going to take Sampson and Oscar out for a run together, dress up and have a photo shoot and who knows what else:-) I really wish I lived in the city because we would be in Central Park every snowstorm sledding and then enjoying a cup of hot coco together (see I told you she rocks!).

Look around-- I'm blogging about my running, marathon training, life as a new mom, baby T stories, baseball parks and whatever else I feel like!:-) Stay tuned for stories, adventures and lots of FUN!

hood to coast

last night danielle and i went to brunswick to watch the premier of hood to coast. im a relatively new runner and i live on the east coast so i hadn't heard about the hood to coast race until a few months ago when i read an article written by ryan hall about the races on his wish list. hood to coast was one of them. clearly i looked it up and loved what i saw.

for those of you living under a rock (like i had been), the hood to coast is a 197 mile relay from the top of mt. hood to the coast of seaside, oregon. a team consists of anywhere from 8-12 team members. but seriously, if you run with 8, you're crazy!! you run all day and all night until your team completes the 197 miles. you sleep in vans, schools, parking lots or not at all. annnnnd you pay lots of money for this experience. sounds fun, huh?  i had heard about these kinds of relays before. danielle has run the fall reach the beach relay the last two years and i am finally at a point where i can run it with her. this year reach the beach is adding a spring relay and danielle is the team captain for our all womens team. its sure to be a blast shit show. i. cant. wait!

ok back to the movie. it follows four completely different teams as they prepare and run the hood to coast. the dead jocks in a box, the heart ‘n’ soul, the thunder and laikaning and team r. bowe.

the dead jocks in a box are a group of older yet talented and experienced runners who usually finish in the top 6 of their age group. while they may be older, their maturity is about that of a 12 year olds. good fun.

the heart 'n' soul team highlights a 67 year old runner who has run 70 lifetime marathons. in the 2007 hood to coast she suffered a heart attack just as she was about to head out on to her 3rd leg of the race. in the movie she fights to keep her heart rate down so she can run her 3rd leg, the same one she collapsed on the year before.

thunder and laikaning might have been my favorite team. their training plan consisted of drinking as much beer as possible and not running. teammate rachel had no idea she was going to have to run past midnight and swore like a pirate through her legs. jason becomes my hero and eats a huge, greasy cheeseburger instead of oatmeal before his final leg... but fought all the way to the end.

team r. bowe was run in honor of ryan bowe who passed away at the age of 30 from a heart attack just one month before he was to run the 2007 hood to coast leaving behind his family and wife who was 9 months pregnant. his family and college buddies got together to run this relay in his honor.

it was such a great movie. it got me even more excited to run reach the beach in 4 months. will i have what it takes to run alone in the country at night? can i run without the comfort of my music (im seriously worried about this!), will i get lost? how many memories and new friends will i make along the trip??

did you see hood to coast?

28 before 28

Holy crap! I'm old. ok, not really...but today is my birthday and im one year older. 27 BABY! What the hell? 27? What does that mean? I can already buy lotto tickets, drink, and rent a car. I'm not entering a new decade, joining a new age group or going over the hill. soooo what do i have to look forward to in my 28th year of life? a whole bunch of things actually!

my twitter/blogging friend erin has these lists. each year she comes up with things she wants to accomplish by her next birthday. so i stole this idea from her (dont worry, i already told her about it!). it also happens that my birthday is at the beginning of the new year so its a birthday list/new years resolution list. although i really don't like the term "new years resolution"...but whatever.

here goes. 28 things i want to do before my 28th birthday.

1. host a dinner party
2. dress up and have a photo shoot with erica miss america
3. blog more. a lot more.
4. go camping
5. spend more time with my family
6. visit 2 more baseball parks. we are going to each MLB park. 5 down 26 to go.
7. attempt nordic skiing (jamie if i hate this, it's your fault!)
8. get in the pool. start using swimming as a form of cross training
9. run the pineland 25k
10. meet some twitter peeps
11. build the train 4 autism maine chapter
12. try 3 new foods (im kinda scared about this one)
13. go for a hikes in acadia
14. have a girls night (no husbands! no babies!)
15. run the mdi marathon
16. stay up late having on the deck sitting by the fire making smores and chatting with friends
17. go to the top of mt. washington
18. take a polar bear plunge
19. get a tattoo
20. organize my closet
21. read a book (haha. yup, just one)
22. spend some time with old friends
23. get to the track and do some speed work
24. PR in a 10K.
25. pay off a credit card
26. take a day trip to peaks island
27. take a kettlebell class
28. *a secret to be revealed at a later date!*

So here's to another year- I have no doubt 27 is going to be a blast!

what's behind the ipod???

ever wonder what the runner next to you is listening to? or heard a song while you were at the grocery store that brought you right back to a specific time in a specific race?? i do...all the time. i have quite an interesting mix of songs on my ipod and i thought id share a few memorable ones with you here.

turn your speakers up and enjoy!

#1. best days of your life- kellie pickler
every time i hear this song it brings me back to my very first race ever. the ll bean 4th of july 10k. it was the first song to play on my ipod and it was the best day of my life...kinda:) i was pretty proud of myself for being there that day.



#2. amazing grace- dropkick murphys
this was the first song on my ipod at the 2009 beach 2 beacon 10k. don't ask me why i remember, but i do. and now whenever i hear it, it brings me back to the starting line with the other 5,999 people that were there. getting to the top of that first hill and looking behind you at the sea of runners is pretty cool!



#3 poker face- lady gaga
mile 10 of my first half marathon.



#4 thunderstruck-acdc
this was at the starting line of the mdi marathon & relay. this was my first race back from being preggo and i was pretty nervous. i had the first leg of the relay 8.x miles. once this played i got pumped up!! i'm going to request they play it again next year when i will be running my first full marathon!



#5 somebody to love- cast of glee
this played around mile 4 of mdi. i remember we had just climbed a massive hill (duh! it's mdi, what do you expect) and we were on a nice downhill stretch. i was feeling surprisingly good and was proud of myself for making it up the hill. i decided to bless the rest of the runners with my lovely voice,  pretended i was on american idol and sang the song out loud. my friend kate that was running with me loved every minute of my singing screeching.



#6 airplanes- b.o.b featuring hayley williams
for a while when i was training for mdi my ipod was set to play the playlist alphabetically and of course this was the first song that played every time i went out for a run. so naturally it reminds me of my mdi training.



#7 hey, soul sister- train
i love this song and i have since it came out. it will always remind me of 2010. sam also loves this song and he used to tweet a lot about how he and his wife loved listening to it. now when i hear it, it reminds me of him.  sam is THE reason why i have started a train 4 autism chapter in maine and why i am running my first marathon. he indirectly gave me the ass kicking that i needed at a time when i really needed it. not sure he knows that...oh well, he does now!:-) fun fact: this song came on my ipod just as i was crossing the finish line for the operation jack 6.1 mile satellite run. weird.



#8 i do not hook up- kelly clarkson
this is for my dear, amazing, funny, fantastic, thoughtful, inspirational, beautiful, best friend danielle. we attended this concert together. i'm pretty sure we were the oldest peeps there. that's ok, at least we could buy beer...and we did, lots of it!!! xoxo d.



#9 sweet caroline- neil diamond
what red sox fan doesn't have this on their playlist?? it's fun when im running with my husband and randomly shout out "so good! so good! so good!". of course it's better singing it at fenway!



#10 o holy night- nsync
haha, yup! you read that right! i love acapella music, i have since i was in middle school and we had a group come sing at our school. D put this on a cd she made me a few years ago and it's now on my running mix. there is nothing like christmas in july!



so there you have it, 10 songs from my ipod. every time i hear each of these it brings me back somewhere!

what's on your playlist???