runyogabeer

So its not quite summer yet but its 90 degrees here tooday so here it goes…

1. Fun Runs! The hubs is just about to run his first full marathon so because of his serious training time, I decided to schedule mostly fun runs. My daughter and I did the Color Me Rad 5k this past weekend. Even though it did not feel very summery then , it was a blast. Bethlehem came out in full force for this fun event.  This event is all about fun…there wasn’t even a clock at the finish! On the schedule yet this summer is the Spartan Sprint and Hero Rush…and whatever other fun stuff comes up…

Before…..

After…

2. Beer summer Variety Cases! I am loving Magic Hat’s Summer Scene pack. Yummy! Magic Hat rarely disappoints and this case is no different. I like that it has just 4 beers verses the six that many breweries do. Elder Betty, blind faith, Magic hat number 9 and the new girl on the block, Higu- a  hibiscus cucumber ale. Cucumber, you say? Hibiscus you say? It’s good though. definitely has a floral undertone which is interesting for sure but I highly recommend you give it a try. Not often you get to drink flowers after all.

3. Summer running!!! Yes its hot and sweaty…both tings I happen to love by the way! I just love how my muscles are ready to go with no real warm up required.

4. Neon colors- I am not afraid to sport a nice neon top in winter but in summer it seems almost required. As a child of the eighties the resurgence of neon is one of my most favoritest thing ever!

5. Hoola Hooping and working out Boot Camp style!!!! The owner of Sweat like a Girl had a day off to attend her kiddo’s preschool graduation so Hoola Sweat took place of pilates today. It was my first hoop class and even though I sucky suck suck at it that shit was FUN!! Silly old fashioned fun. LOVED it! My new goal is to make that thing stay around my hips for more than 5 seconds by the end of summer. My other favorite SLAG class is Sweatcamp. Oh its sooooo, hard and hot and maybe even painful but nothing makes me push myself more. <3 it!

5. And finally I know I am the only woman ever to say this but swim suit shopping!!!! I LOVE buying swimsuits. A couple of years ago I decided to buy a real legitimate two piece. Not a tankini but a two b]piece. And that has opened a whole new world o f options and baby I am loving it. Fuck it, we all have imperfections but we have strengths too and I am choosing to embrace those. I won’t be posting a pic here but if you see me poolside, let me know what you think.Better yet show me your great bathing suit find.. I could always use another.

Tell me what you are loving now!

Namaste bitches…until we meet again,

Sarah

Its official spring has sprung here in the LehighValley- we saw this little snake on our hike today!

Good thing too because I just cracked open a case of Sam Adams Spring Thaw Seasonal variety. I have to say its pretty darn good.

The case contains the flagship Boston Lager, Alpine Spring, Maple Pecan Porter,Double Agent IPL,  and the White Lantern ale.

So my biggest complaint with all of Sam Adams seasonal cases is the cohesiveness or lack there of. For some reason, breweries feel the need to put in a representative of most of the kinds of beer they make. Which is fine but if its a seasonal variety pack why not stick with seasonals! I don’t want a porter when I am thinking about spring and barbecues and picnics. That’s just my personal gripe but I am guessing I am not alone?

Alpine Spring has been appearing on our local drafts for awhile now. I really like its light citrusy taste. Even though the white lantern is a different style beer, I found the taste quite similar to Alpine Spring. Both are smooth, sweet and light. I enjoyed them both and could definitely see serving them at a summer barbecue.

Double agent IPL has a nice strong hoppy flavor with that kind of piney overtone that some of Sam Adams beers seem to have.

The last varietal beer is the Maple Pecan. I was reluctant to even drink this one as it just shows winter to me. And I am so done with Winter!But popping the top had me e guessing myself. Its smells sweet and syrupy and almost like a desert. Beer for dessert….can’t go wrong there. And  it doesn’t disappoint. I still feel like its a cool weather beer but yummmmy!

April brings me to the month where I began actually running in a training mode. So I decided to sign up for the April run your ass off challenge. The rules are run a mile everyday. If you miss one day, you have to run 3 miles the next day. Skip 2 days and you have to run 5 miles. Its going well so far. Today we did a family hike in our local state park. The littles and I ran the first half ( with liberal walk breaks to explore the surroundings and for photo ops of course!)

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I plan to run at least 3 miles tomorrow so its all good. It is nice to be running again even if it is harder than it used to be I swear

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I started teaching at a new studio in Quakertown called Yoga-cise2. we are working on getting the word out and its been fun to be involved in a ground up venture! If you are local feel free to come check us out- mention this and your first class will be free! And you can always find me at Lehigh Valley Yoga Wednesday morning for hot vinyasa and Saturdays for Power vinyasa!

Schedule here- https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/home.asp?studioid=36038

Local runners hubby and I will be running this 5k for a little boy that is fighting brain tumors. It is sure to be a nice race on a flat, fast course and its walker friendly too!

That’s all for now but in the meantime…

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Spring is in the air….kinda. Here in the Northeast we are preparing for one last winter event. I am not holding my breath that it will amount to much as the three weather alerts resulted in nothing more than some drizzly rain.

Ayurveda is sometimes called the sister science to yoga and describes everything in nature consisting of three doshas including us human beings. The three dosha are vata closely associated with the wind, kapha associated with earth and water and pitta associated with fire and water. Ayurveda also divides year into six seasons dividing winter into early winter/late winter and spring into early spring/late spring.

Ayurveda considers the period at the end of winter and beginning of spring a transition period. This transition leaves us very vulnerable healthwise and emotionally. The effects of Vata that  can be strong in late March can leave us feeling anxious, lonely and out of sorts. You might feel the urge to roam, planning a spring or summer vacation. You might find yourself saddled with a spring cold or just generally feeling blah. The good news is it’s all temporary and normal.

I talked briefly about this transition period before leading a kind of backwards practice in my Saturday Power Vinyasa class. Normally a challenging invigorating strength practice, this week I scaled it back a bit and led the sequence from seated through to standing poses then ending with a few restorative postures.  I described it as coming out of hibernation in preparation for the upcoming season of spring which is generally a time of expansive growth and creativity. Understandably this change from my usual style left at least one yogi out of sorts but was overall well received. Another yogi found her headache of the past couple days dissipated with the practice.

After this transition period comes a period when our bodies are quite receptive to detoxifying. Adding extra twists to your yoga practice as well as inversions and backbends can help any feelings like loneliness and anxiety that you are struggling with as well as aid in detoxifying that your body will be asking for as you come out of hibernation period.

To help usher my transition into Spring, I completed my first race since dealing with the Winter of the Flu as it has become known to me. The Westend St. Patty’s 5K is a great race run on a mostly flat course. I have been sick with a spring cold as have many others and I almost bailed on this one but I have never not run a race I signed up for so Sunday came and in glorious green legged fashion,I joined a throng of green garbed runners to have some St Patty’s day fun. There were tons of early drinkers lining the street and I convinced my husband to stay with me on the course. He donned his Sullivan kilt and hung by my side the whole way. It definitely wasn’t my finest 5k but it did remind me that you don’t have to be fast to enjoy racing. It was a fun time and 35 minutes later we were done. I wasn’t pleasantly surprised as I felt like I was going much slower than that and had to walk more than once. After the race we enjoyed the course as part of the Irish Stars Parker School of Dance consort of Irish dancers of which my daughter is proudly a part of. Capped off the evening at Braveheart Pub, our local Celtic brewery for a nice cold one.If you haven’t tried Belhaven’s  Scottish Ale I highly recommend…after all Guinness is so last year.  All in all not a bad weekend. Now if my little guy and I could just kick this spring cold we would be awesome! Darn Vata.

Excuse my “love handles” that was actually a layer of five  shirts I wore in an attempt to be warm on this breezy 34 degree day!

As Spring is just around the corner, I am finalizing my race schedule. I am deferring all races until hubby finishes his BIG race, the Lake Placid Marathon on June 9. It makes sense for me to since I am still recovering from the Winter of the Flu. I have us registered for Atlanta’s Peachtree Road race which is July 4th and the largest oldest road race in the U.S. We did this last year and it was awesome- 60,000 runners in the hottest city in the South! They know how to throw a road race let me tell you! Looking forward to this.

He doesn’t always wear a kilt but when he does…meow….

The Spartan Sprint is next just 10 days later with the sweatiest girls in town. I joined the Sweat like a Spartan team today after tossing it around for awhile. I did the warrior dash two years ago and it was a blast- I am happy to return to adventure racing with he Sweat Like a Girl ladies! Should be blast. Those girls are nothing but sweaty fun!

I am toying with training for  the Steelman Sprint Tri at Lake Nockanmixon, Hubby did this 2 years ago and it was a great venue and race put on by a stellar team of race coordinators….we’ll see whether I have the balls to enter another triathlon.

The Hero run is sometime in August too and I already registered for that one too. It’s another adventure style race where you get to try your skill at firemen drills.

And my goal race will be as it was last year, the Runner’s World Hat trick. That’s the 5k, 10k and half triple threat. I loved this challenge last year and I am in again…just have to register for it. I am guessing it’ll be an even bigger crowd this year so I need to get on it!

I found out too late about the Lager Jogger 5k put on by Yuengling. I will definitely be signing up for this next year. I had also hoped to do the Bay to Breakers race in good ole San Fran. I am not sure I can make it happen this year but it is definitely on  my races to do list. So what’s on your race schedule this year? I am definitely planning a fun race year- not much seriousness in here. With hubs in the marathon path the focus for me is just laid back low mileage fun…until I turn it up for the RW Hat Trick.

My first run in almost three months!What can I say? It was slow going, involved alot of walking and I remembered how freaking hard running is! But I also remembered why I love it. I got to see all my old buddies at Trexler Park….okay I don’t actually know any of these people but I see them every time I run in the park…umbrella guy, old man that walks so fast holding his cane in the air, the man with what looks like about 10 identical little yappy dogs racing around his ankles…yep they are all my buddies..in my head at least. The birds were all out and even though its snowing now, it felt like Spring was in the air.

My husband admonished me to just try to run one mile and see how that goes. Ha….apparently he doesn’t know me. I really did have good intentions of keeping it to around 2 miles but I ended up doing 4. I felt relatively good and took breaks as needed. It did make me hopeful that I will be in 5k shape for the Shamrock run I already registered for. I kind of wish I did sign up for the St Luke’s Half at the end of April but its all sold out so there’s that.

Onto beer….I picked up a sampler of Blue Point Brewing Company craft beers. This brewery hails out of Long Island New York where my husband spends his week working. I was up for a visit and the Lululemon Warehouse sale  a couple of weekends ago and enjoyed Blue Point’s winter ale along with a delicious black bean burger at Smashburger, a Wantagh burger joint. when I went to visit a local beer distributor and saw the sampler box I had to try it.

First the details the sampler includes 4 beer varieties including one seasonal surprise…which wasn’t much of a surprise to me as it was the Winter Ale I drank at Smashburger. The Winter Ale is a nice dark amber with a solid 7% ABV. It’s crisper than alot of more weighty winter beers. Easy to drink and a bit on the sweet side too, definitely not one to be missed.

Second in the box is the Toasted Lager. Now I have to admit that I had a bad run in with a smoked stout and have been since turned off of any beer that has roasted, toasted or smoked on the label. But this beer is very smooth and doesn’t have an overwhelming smoky flavor to it. At 5.5% ABV its a nice gentle beer. Even though it is available year round, it does have a Fall/ Winter vibe to it and would be lovely drank in front a blazing fire.

Third up is the Hoptical Illusion, which is yes you guessed it- an India Pale Ale of the finest. It’s everything an IPA should be. Its hoppy and malty and bitter-sweet. It boasts a nice 6.8 ABV and has a nice citrusy after flavor.

the last beer in the sampler box threw me off a bit. I tend to think of fruit beers as summertime indulgences so to include the Blueberry Ale in the sampler box was perhaps cutting edge on the Bluepoint Brewery’s side. According to their website, it is one of their most popular beers and I can see why. It is kind of a beer for people who don’t like beer. Its sweet and light and flavorful. It goes down easy and there is just a slight sweet after taste. I can definitely see this making it to many summer barbecues and I do think it is a good way to highlight the Brewery, especially to non beer drinkers or those unfamiliar with microbrew style beers.

I bought a case of the sampler (24 beers total) at Stangy’s Beer Distributor  in Emmaus, PA for around 35 dollars which makes it a great deal too!

That’s all for now folks! I leave you with this kind of silly collage I made to enter a fit family contest that I didn’t enter due to my own technical difficulties! But I got this great collage anyway…enjoy!

So I have been pretty absent from the blog for quite awhile now. That’s because I haven’t been doing much running, yoga or beer drinking. And I am not happy about it!

In the beginning of December I started coughing. Took a couple weeks off of running, kept up with yoga and tried to rest. Then the shit hit the fan when my littlest Jack caught the flu and it took me down like a ton of bricks. The asthma I thought I had outgrown came back in full force. The doc started me on steroids and an antibiotic to treat the bronchitis that had been with me for the prior two weeks.  Felt a little better than Christmas day, I woke up and could tell it was going to be a long day. I was hosting Christmas dinner and did what I had to go do to get through that. As soon as dinner was over my husband said we had to go to the E.R. I felt  terrible and apparently looked worse.

I was admitted Christmas day and just stayed overnight. Again another round of steroids and I felt betterish for a day or so. As soon as the steroids ran through my body I got sick again. This time I went to my family doc and he gave me a bigger dose of steroids which helped for a couple of days but once again I got sick again. This  time I got to spend the weekend in the hospital. So once again here I am with even more steroids, and a couple of other drugs which I am crossing my fingers will make me all better. Lest you think I am relying on modern medicine too much, I will tell you I tried many other homeopathic medicines  teas, deep breathing, hot yoga, and a macrobiotic remedy as well as eating even more healthy than I already do. But as my husband said, without the drugs I probably would have died. Not to be dramatic but it was really that bad. I hate taking any kind of medicine and they make me feel all weird. I am planning a major full body detox once I am back on track and I have discussed with  the pulmonologist how I can get off this stuff for good…..but in the meantime I am happy to be able to breathe!

I am also so thankful for many things. I am thankful that I was able to access healthcare and get the help I needed. I am happy I could afford my very expensive medicines. I mean really 185 dollars for an inhaler! that is literally insane. I am thankful that as long as this illness has been for me, it is ultimately a temporary state and I will get better. While there is a nagging fear ( especially amongst my family) that this is a sign of something to come, I am relying on my doc that tells me it is all the fault of an even flu that has decided to attack the bronchioles of my and many others lungs this season. I am also so thankful for my family, especially my teenage son Ray who shouldered childcare duty for the other two. The hospital had just enacted a ban on anyone under the age of 18 entering the hospital to hopefully fend of flu carriers.

And finally but most importantly I am thankful for the fantastic nurses and assistants that made this whole thing a little easier for me. Prior to my current stint as runyogabeer lady, I spent 12 years working as a nurse on an inpatient unit in the hospital. I dallied in other areas of nursing but the bedside is where I spent most of time.

This time I found myself on the other side of the bed as a patient. Having been away from  healthcare brought me a whole new perspective. Christmas day in the ER was packed and I didn’t get the sense from a single person working that day  that they begrudged being there. I am sure as I remember how it is to leave my family to work on Christmas. This past weekend I again met kind, empathetic individuals that took the time to make sure I had everything I needed. They actually cared. They come in one holidays, weekends , in the middle of the night, at the break of dawn and they take care of people when we are at our worst. It isn’t glamorous or fun but they do it. They are intelligent, hard working and could do any number of other things with their lives. But they show up and take care of us. Shout out to all the healthcare workers out there. And personal thanks to Chelsey, Kassidy,Tanya,  Carol, Caroline, Marge and Susan for being there when I needed you.

Here’s hoping that I will be back to running, yogaing and drinking beer very soon! Until then….hug a nurse! They deserve so much more then they get.

Bethlehem Pennsylvania is known as the Christmas City…for obvious reasons. It is also known as my home town. And we do Christmas in a big way around here. It starts early and goes on and on. And as bah humbug as I might want to be about the over commercialization of Christmas, I can’t help but get a little bit giddy when I see the lights start going up. And the giant advent candle rings placed all around the city. And the signs for Christmas putz at all the old Moravian churches. It is the part of Christmas I love. Even though I am not at all religious, there is something to the long standing tradition of it all that speaks to me.

The end of Fall for me in the last few years has been indicated by the Bethlehem Turkey Trot. It’s a great race that runs right through the historic district. For the past couple of months I have been working with a group of new runners. Although health problems and family circumstances dwindled the group down quite a bit I was happy to see two of the group, Alison and Jason, complete the Bethlehem Turkey Trot running the entire distance. Alison was also accompanied by her 63 year old father whom she inspired to run his first 5k as well. This year the race had over 1600 participants. It was bitter cold and a hilly course but the mood was festive as usual.

At the finish line there were smiles all around.

And even though it is the Monday after Thanksgiving, this area gives the kids an extra day off for the start of deer hunting season. Its a crazy tradition that I am guessing might go away in the the future but I use it as the day to switch over the decorations and do a good overall housecleaning. Time to get busy!

Namaste Bitches!

Sarah

I hate Winter. The encroaching cool weather makes me grumpy. I try to find joy in the  possibility of being snowed in but when you grow up, that is far less fun then when you are a kid. As much as I really want to write a post about the reasons I hate winter, I am going to take the high road and instead write about things I am loving now!

1. Boots!!! I love boots-tall boots, slouchy boots, furry boots, high-heeled boots….the list goes on. And even though you can kind of getting away with wearing boors in the Spring and Summer, Fall and winter is really where it’s at.My daughter’s teacher has a pair of silver Hunter’s. How I yearn for those boots!

2. Cool weather running. There is something about the crisp Fall air that just begs me to go for it on a run. My first race ever was a Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot so Fall also gets me a bit nostalgic about that race. The group of beginner runners I have been coaching will be completing their first race as Turkey Trot too. I am so excited for them! This is me and my sissies and the hubsters at  our first race!

3. Thumbholes! These are thoughtfully placed holes in the wristbands of athletic clothing that allow you to cover your hands and keep your sleeves pulled down. I LOVE thumbholes. If every shirt I owned had thumbholes I would be a very happy girl.

4. Legwarmers! I know it is super silly but now that I am an official yoga teacher I feel justified in wearing legwarmers. And I  don’t care what you  say, they are super cute and remind me of my days as a young fashionista way back in the day.

5. Hot Yoga! On the topic of yoga, I am absolutely loving my hot classes lately. It is so comforting to come out of the cold and into the toasty hot stdio. My only gripe is at some point, I have to leave and head back into the cold…which leads me to my next current love.

6. Fleece! What did we do without this material. Seriously.

7. Wool plaid! I grew up wearing a uniform to school until I was in High School. This turned me off plaid for a very long time. Just recently I got an amazing purple plaid Lululemon Fast in Flight bag. See below- super cute right? It is really making me fall in love with plaids again. I have been wanting to get my husband into a kilt ever since we went to our town’s Celtic Fest. He’s got great legs. I think I know what his Christmas present will be…

8. Mulled wine and winter lager. Need I say more?

9.The end of Daylight savings time! Early bedtime anyone….

10. Being a housewife! I love my kids. They are really awesome. Even when the little one is yodeling for the 30 minute ride to school every morning. And the big one is strumming away on his guitar with the amp jacked up while I am trying to finally write a new blog post. And don’t even get me started on the Princess. Seriously they are awesome kids.  And they are all school age and for reasons both complex and simple, I am a stay at home mom with school age kids. And let me tell you, it is seriously the best gig in town. I miss working as a nurse but man I am settling into the life of a housewife. Soon, I plan to teach more and work more but for now I am digging this set up. Can’t you totally imagine me hanging out with these broads…

And I didn’t even mention pumpkin pie, stuffing, my electric blanket,smoky eyeshadow, and scarves…oooo I love scarves…..okay maybe Winter isn’t so bad….

Namaste bitches (yeah…it’s back),

Sarah

SO I know this blog is about 3 of my favorite things. Those three things take up a max of 3 hours on any given day. The rest of my day is filled with being the mama to 3 of the coolest kids in town. Not usually the topic of discussion for this venue but today will be an exception.

Today my cat of over 13 years died. I knew it was coming. He was approximately 19-20 years old. He was a stray of unknown age when we got him. The vet guesstimated between 6-7 years old. In the last year he has slowed down and gotten very thin. Nothing to do for him , other than let him live out his life in peace and hopefully dignity.

He was a good cat and friend.

In the middle of the night I woke knowing today would be the day he died.

My weird talent, only revealed when I became a nurse, is that I can tell with a few hours when someone was going to die. My talent was proven accurate in my many end of life patients I cared for as well as my own sister. Not something I talk about much but there it is.

He looked pretty much his usual self when I took the kids to school this morning but on my way home, I had a terrible feeling. Tears ran down my face for no reasons. I thought about who I could ask to take care of him. My husband was 2 and half hours away at his job.

When I cam e in the door I convinced myself I was wrong. It couldn’t be true. I stayed downstairs to avoid the inevitable. Finally, I convinced myself to go upstairs to my bedroom to check on him. And there he was. Sprawled on the floor a few inches from his favorite napping spot. I couldn’t bring myself to go to him.

I called my husband and told him the news. We had expected it would happen one of these days and he reassured me that he had had a good life. He said he would drive home and take care of Archie.

Today I get to tell the kids that Archie is gone. And today I don’t want to be the mama. I wish my mama was with me here instead of miles away.

RIP Archie. You were a good kitty and I will miss you. This picture was taken the day before he died-

Namaste-

Sarah