2020 YEAR IN REVIEW!

January 2020

LOCATIONS

• Dallas, Texas

• Milwaukee, Wisconsin

• St. Louis, Missouri

• New York, NY

HIGHLIGHTS

HIGHLIGHTS

• I got to visit my best friend and her husband in Milwaukee - we hadn’t seen each other in something crazy like 4 years and we had such an amazing time just catching up. I got to see my cousin too!

• In St. Louis, I finally got to give ax-throwing a whirl - and found these.

• Also in St. Louis, I got to go to an Alanis Morissette concert! And it was basically a Jagged Little Pill album sing-a-long. Definitely a highlight!

WHAT I ATE

• Milwaukee had SUCH GREAT FOOD, cocktails and beer. Big fan! Recommendations include: Odd Duck, Lakefront Brewery, Uncle Wolfie’s Breakfast Tavern, Cafe Centraal and Milwaukee Public Market).

WORKOUT NOTES

• 39 miles! Including runs to and from the Dallas F45 studio, a tour around Wisconsin, a snowy run in Central Park and a headlamp run in Central Park!

• A very thoughtful Christmas present from my supervisor meant that I could go to F45 throughout my time in Dallas, Texas for work!

February 2020

LOCATIONS

• New York, NY

• And a quick weekend trip to Connecticut

HIGHLIGHTS

The highlights of February 2020, before COVID-19 sent the year in a very different direction, are all documented in this post!

Click Here for More!

I wouldn’t have changed one single thing about how I unknowingly spent my last month before life changed for everyone.

WORKOUT NOTES

• 52 miles including trail runs and a long run with Callie, Abby and Annelise before watching the Olympic Trials!

March 2020

LOCATIONS

• Long Island

HIGHLIGHTS

• March offered a few early weeks of normalcy including one more Islanders hockey game, a Dermot Kennedy concert and a solo trip to the new (and beautiful) Fotografiska.

• But looking back, the true highlights of those last two weeks were the more normal, every day things - like a brunch at one of our favorite spots, Divya’s Kitchen. It would be the last time we ordered a bunch of dishes and all ate from the same plates for a loooong time. A final fiesta at Maya for Mexican and margaritas and a farewell walk through Central Parks’ cherry blossoms.

• Then I made the journey to Long Island, where I would remain until July. Living with my parents and feeling the constant fear that COVID brought into everyone’s life, but especially my mom’s, working on the front lines. At night she came in the house through the back door, went straight downstairs to wash her clothes and then straight into the shower.

• Being on Long Island had it’s silver linings as well - I will never forget this time with my family. Walks to my grandparents house - where I would arrive to a glass of wine and piece of dark chocolate out on their deck. Workouts in my basement, on my deck, at the park. Really great cooking from my dad. So much mint chocolate chip ice cream. Beach walks. Having my best friend a few blocks away!

WHAT I ATE:

• Corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day and the leftover corned beef hash casserole with eggs and Irish soda bread later in the week

• Giant salads assembled by my mom with so many fixins! Feta, olives, walnuts, raisins, avocado, beets, artichoke hearts, chickpeas, etc.

• Shrimp tacos

WORKOUT NOTES

• Another silver lining of this time at home was that I quickly fell into a running grove - the best I’ve had in years.. I was able to consistently run 15 mile weeks, I felt fast and strong and was actually foam rolling regularly. But most importantly, I had the mental outlet that running provides in a time when I needed an outlet!

• I found a park not too far from my house where I could even go trail running!

April 2020

LOCATIONS

• Long Island

HIGHLIGHTS

• By April, it was clear that this was life now - and I am nothing if not a creature of habit. I very quickly settled into new routines which included sudoku puzzles, salads, tanning, a LOT of working out and reading.

• More visits to Nanny and Poppy’s deck, more delicious food, more alcohol than I would typically consume and lots of going through old photo albums from our basement!

• Walks around our blooming neighborhood and putting my fear into action by fundraising for my mom’s department at the hospital.

• Making the very misguided decision of resigning a 2-year lease on a Manhattan apartment.

• While I was home my dad gave me folders full of family history that he’d had the foresight to get from my great great aunt before she passed away.  I’m so grateful that I finally had the time to sit down and dive into it – and that I still have my grandparents around to be able to ask them questions when they come up!

  It turns out my great great uncle has a fascinating story - he was a prisoner of war during WWII in the Philippines. I’ve always loved WWII history – it’s why I planned a trip around Eastern Europe and why I’ve read almost every book I can find on the topic. But the focus was always on the European theater, Germany and the concentration camps there. I had no idea the severity of the Japanese POW camps in the Philippines and it was both difficult and interesting to learn more. I would spend hours reading documents and first-hand accounts and one thing would lead to me researching something else and then before I knew it I was watching YouTube videos that were 10 minutes long looking at storefronts in Brooklyn from the 1940s. I loved it. And I need to dive back in.

  Eventually, I would love to write the story of my great great uncle and great great aunts’ lives – but in the meantime, I really want to put together a timeline to share with my family members!

• Ordering harmonicas - my mom LOVED my dad and I’s attempts at learning to play…

WHAT i ATE

• So many English Muffins

• Dad made a family classic - brown rice and chicken casserole - as well as stuffed peppers and shrimp scampi with pasta and artichokes.

• My aunt picked up and dropped off Se-Port sandwiches for us

• We began our love affair with takeout from Orto (we all loved the Pork Milanese sandwich, but you really can’t go wrong!)

• We Facetimed with Kayla and my dad taught us how to make crab cakes

• Mom made her world famous banana pancakes

• After most dinners, I implemented a strict “sobremesa” rule – which is the Spanish phrase for the time after dinner that you spend at the table talking even though everyone is done eating. It’s my favorite! And now it’s a staple in our house – no jumping up to clear the dishes and start cleaning right away.

  Obviously sobremesa is even better with a glass of red wine or a cocktail – which we had our fair share of! Mitch made his famous margaritas, he made gin and grapefruit concoctions, and even some St. Germain/Champagne drinks.

WORKOUT NOTES

• 65 miles! I hit 4 weeks of 15+ mile weeks!

• Running aside, I was also really into a few specific things this month: Bertha’s weekly yoga classes, AARMY EMOMs and 400 Abs, Jon Chaimberg and MadFit videos (you can read about my favorite quarantine fitness resources here!)

• Giving myself a pat on the back because from April - July I foam rolled for 20 minutes almost every day.

May 2020

LOCATIONS

• Long Island

HIGHLIGHTS

• I turned 30 in May of 2020! A quarantine birthday that honestly felt really really special as I spent time on Zoom calls and phone calls with friends throughout the day, family came to visit me on the front lawn, and deliveries and presents showed up on my doorstep non-stop. I was provided with all of my favorite things- a turkey sandwich, doughnuts, tequila, IPAs and most heartwarmingly were my friends from across the country joining me for our attempt at a Zoom run!

• I started drawing really bad cards and sending them all to my friends.

• We cut my dad’s hair on the deck! It was hysterical.

• We played the closed eye giraffe game which I highly recommend!

• I got it in my head that we should have a fancy day with lobster rolls and champagne - so we did! (Lobster rolls courtesy of Spiros!) Fireworks courtesy of our neighbors…

• I got to see my friend and go kayaking! We saved a baby sea turtle and then ate Tiger Lily on the yacht club deck.

• We took a drive “out east” and got a bottle of wine from a vineyard, lunch at Love Lane Kitchen and found a spot by a pond and enjoyed a picnic.

WORKOUT NOTES

• I completed 30 pull-ups on my 30th birthday!

• I completed my first Murph workout!

• A full month of 15+ mile weeks for a total mileage of around 75!

• We even got my dad walking and once or twice a week we would do a 1.25 mile walk around the neighborhood

WHAT I ATE

• Mom made french toast one morning

• My aunt made me an entire loaf of banana bread and gave it to me while it was still hot!

• Dad made burgers, Swedish meatballs, Oysters Rockefeller, curry chicken

• I ate a lot of lunches that were just plates full of dips and dippers (guac and chips, peanut butter and apples, hummus and carrots)

• Tiger Lily Cafe (the Lily Veggie Burger is my go-to!)

June 2020

locations

• Long Island

HIGLIGHTS

• A day spent with my aunt and cousin paddle boarding and kayaking and then a BBQ on their deck

• Our first outdoor dining experience at the yacht club - to have fresh French friends served to us was EXHILIRATING.

• We celebrated my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary on their deck - my aunt and I decorated and my other aunt picked up everyone’s food orders and we each sat at tables spread across the backyard. It was so nice to have everyone together even if we couldn’t hug!

• A long kayaking trip with mom (we never did find Crystal Brook Hollow…)

• A visit from Annelise and Brian! A family friend had been away throughout COVID and offered that if I had any friends from NYC that needed to escape, they could use their house. It was so so wonderful to have Annelise and Brian in town! We were able to get in a good beach day, go to the yacht club for their first rum bucket, and then they visited my house to deliver my parents and I our first ever Chili’s margarita! And me and Annelise got to go for a run together! My first run with another human being in so long.

• Another Father’s Day with my dad since I wasn’t away for work :)

• Completed a quarantine-must-do: a puzzle!

• My mom and I finally caught a good sunset down at our beach

• Lana returned to Long Island! We kayaked and hung out at her pool and got to talk about all the fucked up things going on in our world.

WHAT I ATE

• More Tiger Lily veggie burgers

• My dad made pinwheel sausage with grilled peppers and onions, the GRILLED VEGETABLE PLATTER (a summer staple), and lamb chops

WORKOUT NOTES

• I felt like I was in the best shape of my life, ever in June of 2020. I felt strong, rested, pain free, fast…I was really make sure to get rest days, yoga, foam rolling and a mix of strength and cardio. I wasn’t doing too much crazy HIIT with lots of jumping and high impact and I was feeling GOOD and confident!

• I got to open water swim at my beach with my wetsuit (which my roommate shipped to me from NYC!)

• Actually running on Global Running Day!

• Very into Shadowboxing classes and Mr. & Mrs. Muscle videos (slowly working my way through them and determined to one day finish them all!)

July 2020

locations

• Long Island

• New York City

• Toronto

highlights

• FOURTH OF JULY! My favorite holiday - though it felt a little less exciting this year due to a whole host of social justice issues. The real reason I love it is because its a holiday that means day drinking, the beach, and usually the end of a long season of work events. While we couldn’t top last year’s rental house with 20 of our closest friends, Annelise and Brian did come back to stay at our family friends’ house again and we got to have an A+ summer weekend! There was the Riverhead Cider House, Rubino’s pizza (never forget the white meatball pie), a LONG perfect beach day, boozy ice pops, BBQing in the backyard (shout out to Allison for mastering the charcoal grill) and so many neighborhood fireworks.

• A day out on my family boat! I hadn’t been on it in years.

• We reallllly got into Schitt’s Creek

• The time finally came for me to leave my parents house on Long Island, go back to NYC for an absolutely insane week of work, and ultimately head to a once-in-a-lifetime work experience living and working in a bubble for 50 days.

• Adjusting to life in the bubble was interesting - we wore masks 24/7 except when we were eating, but we were able to go to hotel restaurants and be served dinner indoors with friends and coworkers. I couldn’t leave the premises to go for a run, but there was a massive gym with anything I could ever need.

what i ate

• More pinwheel sausage

• My aunt made a ridiculously good peanut butter chocolate cake

• On a really crazy work day, Allison delivered Ben & Jerry’s, Sour Patch Kids, Pop Corners and a FOUR LOKO to my stoop. I obviously made my parents try some of the 4 Loko and they were (understandably) appalled that I had ever drank one.

• A farewell Long Island egg sandwich, obviously

• In NYC for a few days, I had to have Sweetgreen and my favorite turkey sandwich from Champignon Cafe.

• One day, my apartment buzzer was going off and I decided that for whatever reason I didn’t want to let the person in because my roommates and I weren’t expecting anyone. Eventually, I happened to look at my phone and Abby & Annelise had texted me “GEE LAUREN IS THERE SOMEONE AT YOUR DOOR?!” Turns out they have sent me two pints of Van Leeuwen ice cream before I left for the bubble :)

workout notes

• Another run with Annelise, complete with photo op at the Rocketship park rocket and “The” Lane.

• More swims in the sound that made me so happy! Who knew I would ever come to love open water swimming.

• I said goodbye to my trail running spot and traded it in for a quarter mile stretch of street in Toronto that was part of the bubble that I would run up and down countless times over the next 50 days!

• Before bubble land I had a quick stop over in NYC and was able to get out on my bike and to an outdoor F45 class which was really nice.

• Surprise! The hotels in the bubble had pools where I could swim laps! I was THRILLED

August 2020

LOCATIONS

• Toronto, Ontario

highlights

• Being busy with work again and feeling like I had a purpose in my day

• Knowing I didn’t have COVID because we were being tested every single morning

• Having my friends around 24/7 after months of not being able to see anyone

• Watching live sports again!

what i ate

• What didn’t we eat? Jody hooked us up with the best food Toronto’s delivery services had to offer (Impact Kitchen, Imperfect Fresh Eats). We also loved the French fries at our hotel a LOT.

• Bubble tea

• Lots of champagne

workout notes

• Having access to a giant fitness center with every piece of equipment I could ever want all to myself was exhilarating. I wrote a ton of workouts for my friend Brittany and I and was able to run outside (the runs were very repetitive laps but it was still better than a treadmill!). I was overwhelmed with options - I could swim and even play tennis, use a spin bike, etc. What shocked me most is I still chose to workout in my hotel room some mornings - quarantine really changed me!

September 2020

locations

• Toronto, Ontario

• New York City

• Long Island

highlights

• The Islanders won their series against Philadelphia and moved on to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 1993! Getting home and being able to watch on the couch with my parents.

• Broke out of the bubble by way of private jet which was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kinda thing

• The aquarium! Rebecca and I had way too much fun at the aquarium talking to all of the sea life.

• I felt like we could breathe in September - I went back and forth to NYC/Long Island on the railroad a few times when it was pretty empty and felt safe doing so. The weather was still great for all the outdoor activities. September was a nice month.

what i ate

• I think we were all starting to hit Uber Eats fatigue and tired of having to make a decision for 3 meals a day. I started sticking to some favorites or eating at the hotel restaurant but mainly we just let Jody decide and then hopped on her order ;)

• It was really exciting to get back to my apartment and just be able to make a turkey sandwich for dinner

• My parents and sister and I went to a new Indian restaurant in our town that was PHENOMENAL we were all blown away

• Ordered the world famous “My Cookie Dealer” cookies

workout notes

• As part of my job in Toronto I got to organize a kayaking and paddle boarding trip and that was definitely a welcomed changed of pace considering the weather in Toronto was so beautiful while we were there

• Reunited with Annelise in New York and we went for my first and only long ride of the year - biking to Piermont and back with a stop for delicious pastries and coffees - the best part was there was no tumbles or flats (I feel as if this is a rare occurrence).

• Back to creative workouts using the benches at the beach and open water swims in the sound!

• A hiking trip with Allison - complete with a visit to Peekskill Brewery

October 2020

locations

• Catskills

• Montauk

• White Mountains

• Long Island

• Cape Cod

HIGHLIGHTS

• This month was, other than February, probably the best! I’m not going to justify the things I did, people I saw, places I went - I felt comfortable, safe and responsible and that’s all that really matters!

• First I went to the Catskills for Kayla’s Bachelorette weekend - it was so so amazing getting to see her after so long! We cooked (tacos, roasted chicken, cheese plates, pizza!) and drank (lots and lots of tequila) and made fires (and definitely didn’t break any chairs) at the house (where we definitely didn’t wear shoes indoors) and only left to enjoy the deck of a vineyard and to apple pick (or, have a photo shoot with some apples).

• Next was Montauk where I got to be with my parents and sister all together for the first time in forrrrrever. We had lots of great meals, lots of outdoor drinks, and most importantly got to test my dad’s new portable heater out!

• A trip to the White Mountains with Allison - where we hiked and explored for 5 amazing days! The foliage was absolutely stunning - I wasn’t expecting to be so obsessed with it. And I am now a big big fan of New Hampshire. You can read more about our trip here.

• Outdoor happy hour with my grandparents!

• A day of wine tasting on Long Island

• KAYLA’S WEDDING!!!!

WHAT I ATE (AND DRANK)

• Lots of good meals out this month!

• Montauk: South Edison and Navy Beach

• New Hampshire: White Mountain Cider Co. and trying the Downeast Cider Donut cider!

• Kayla’s Wedding: The craft cocktails, her mom’s couscous salad, the after-party apps, the reception soup and mac and cheese!

• More turkey sandwiches in nature

WORKOUT NOTES

• A great long run in Montauk

• A bike ride to and from the lighthouse that was pretty brutal in one direction because of the wind!

• Our hike up Mt. Chocorua was so legit! Loved it.

• Got to work out at the fitness center at our condo in the White Mountains - was so excited to see equipment.

• Had some fun doing a Kelly Brabants workout on her Instagram - recommend if you’re looking for something difference and dancey!

November 2020

locations

• New York City

• Arizona

• California

highlights

• Big German beers with Lana and Allison

• A walk in Central Park followed by happy hour wine at Kaia with my friend Sam

• BIDEN BECOMING PRESIDENT! I cannot make up this story - Allison, Annelise and I were sitting in Central Park after a run, and talking about how we really hoped we found out that Biden won in an epic way. And minutes later, we got the notification on our phones. We started blasting music and clapping and playing the ham horn on our phones and slowly the excitement spread through the park. We spent the rest of the day walking all the way through Central Park down to midtown, screaming and cheering all along the way until we got close to Trump Tower and a small crowd that had gathered there. 5th Avenue turned into a parade - any car driving down was suddenly a participant whether they knew it or not, and we cheered as they honked and waved. The excitement and relief was so awesome - we were actually happy to see American flags again! We stayed until they shut down 5th Ave to cars and ruined our parade and Allison and I walked back up to the Upper East Side. We saw a little old man with his veteran jacket on, banging on a little pan with a wooden spoon and we melted. It was such an amazing day and made me fall in love with New York City all over again.

• I decided I couldn’t bear to see my vacation time just expire at the end of the year without having done a damn thing with it - and I decided I felt comfortable flying on Delta as long as once I arrived at my destination, I wasn’t putting people or myself at further risk. Callie agreed to drive and met me and for the next two weeks we would be our own two-person bubble - setting ground rules like no indoor dining, no crowded outdoor events, no museums, and a main goal of just being outside as much as possible For awhile I went back and forth on what the itinerary would look like but eventually it was settled - two week road trip through Arizona! You can read ALL ABOUT IT (Phoenix, Tucson, Grand Canyon, Page, and Flagstaff with Scottsdale still to come!)

• I spent my first Thanksgiving away from home which (sorry Mom and Dad) wasn’t as sad as I thought it would be. I did get a little sad seeing the pictures from my families beautifully set-up outdoor Thanksgiving - but I also really enjoyed running along the California coast, drinking beer with friends and having a cute dog to play with at Erin & Cam’s in San Diego (blog post on SoCal to come!)

what i ate

• I made myself some really good Moroccan meatballs in the Instant Pot!

• Post-run bagels in Central Park!

workout notes

• A really really good run around Central Park with Allison and Annelise (that nearly didn’t happen because Annelise thought I meant we were doing a loop on our bikes…) and that I also didn’t tell Annelise I wanted to run…fast :) She obliged me and we even won some Brooks sneakers out of it as part of the RUNchute November Project team!

December 2020

locations

• New York City

• Long Island

highlights

• When I got back from my trip to Arizona and California, I basically quarantined in my apartment for 2 weeks and it was actually an amazing two weeks - I was ready for some alone time, some relaxing, reading, cooking my own food, etc. Runs in the park, workouts on my floor - I was very content.

• A really beautiful sunset in Central Park

• My mom got her COVID vaccine! When she told me she was going, I had just finished a run and I started crying which I wasn’t expecting - but I was so relieved!

• The first big snow! We got around 10 inches on Long Island and I got to wear my Great Great Aunt Nettie’s Antarctica boots to shovel the driveway.

• Convincing my parents not to be Scrooge’s and decorating the tree - and then one night decided we needed a pickle on the tree and hooked a little bread and butter pickle chip that stayed on our tree for weeks (it was very shriveled by the time we took the tree down)

• The last time I felt so excited about reading and books was when I was a kid - bringing books with me to the dinner table until my parents forced me to put it away. That feeling returned in December and it’s making me so happy - I am perfectly content to sit and read for 2-3 hour stretches and I’ve had to start setting alarms so that I don’t stay up until 2 am reading.

• Christmas was different this year - but we still managed to have a really great day. We could only visit my grandparents on their deck for about 45 minutes (it was cold!) but at least we got to see them and exchange gifts. I declared it Hatmas and made my parents and sister wear fun hats, we played Scattergories, drank wine, and ate a delicious meal - my dad’s shrimp scampi with pasta and peas. And there was a really beautiful sunset!

what i ate

• Kayla and I Zoom-baked Tahini, Dark Chocolate, Honey And Pistachio Rugelach and it was hands down the most legit thing I’ve ever made! It was also so fun doing it together!

• Leftover stuffing and eggs

• A very good beer my mom had been saving for me to try - Platform Beer Co. Haze Jude!

• Lamb osso buco with white beans, potatoes, carrots, celery - YUM

• Really really delicious cod

• Turkey sandwiches with LEFTOVER CRANBERRY SAUCE

• Lamb stroganoff

• Crab cakes and TEQUILA COSMOS on Christmas Eve

workout notes

• A particularly warm Sunday long run along the West Side in SHORTS & A T SHIRT

• Every Monday my friends and I did a deck of cards workout together and it was so nice to see everyone at the start of the week!

• My shins are acting up, so there wasn’t much running in December, but I did do a long run through the snow one day which was actually quite pleasant though I was drenched by the end!

Books I Read

(Top 10 in Bold!)

The Nickel Boys
Year One
Of Blood and Bone
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Normal People
1984
Going Dutch
Americanah
The Black and The Blue
The Man in the High Castle
The Tenant
Strange Fits of Passion
POW 83
142 Ostriches
Queenie
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
An American Marriage
The Hate U Give
A Little Life
Little Fires Everywhere
The Dutch House
How to Hide an Empire
The Heart’s Invisible Furies
The Vanishing Half
Where the Crawdads Sing
The Great Alone
The Splendid and the Vile
The Death of Vivek Oji

I started and didn’t finish:
Killers of the Flower Moon
White Fragility
Countdown 1945

TV Shows I Watched

Almost every night my parents and I turned on the TV as I opened their eyes to the wonderful world of Chromecast and Netflix. Every night I filled a ramekin with mint chocolate chip ice cream (after sampling Talenti, Haagen Daaz, Breyers and Turkey Hill – Turkey Hill Choco Mint Chip is the clear winner).

First, we cycled through the documentaries. We tried to get on the Tiger King train, but it didn’t stick. I watched Don’t Fuck With Cats for the third time and it was thumbs up all around. Aaron Hernandez (Yay), Disappearance of Madeleine McCann (Nay), 13th (Yay), Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich (Yay).

Next was settling on a series we could all agree on which took a few attempts. Dad wasn’t feeling my re-watching of the Gossip Girl series and neither of my parents were hooked after an episode of Wentworth (one of my all-time favorites). Mom and I tried with no success to get my dad to love Game of Thrones as much as we do. I thought we were doomed to watch CNN 2 hours every night when Ozark saved us! We loved the entire series – Ruthie especially. When the last season comes out, I might have to go home for a long weekend of binge watching so we can see it together!

After Ozark there was a string of comedy specials, a few episodes of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj and lots of belly laughter over Billy on the Street.

And finally, when I was transitioning into my angry at the world and social injustice phase and work getting stressful phase and getting sad about leaving phase – there was Schitt’s Creek. There like a hug at the end of every day. I knew what to expect, I knew I would laugh, and as I near the end of the final season I’m so so sad that I won’t have David and Alexis and Johnny and Rose (and Ray! I love Ray) to look forward to every night.

Other things I watched:

Rocketman (twice, because I loved it!)
The Prom
Once
The Happiest Season (So bad)
Dash & Lily
Handmaids Tale
QUEENS GAMBIT (Loved it!)
Normal People
Dunkirk (SO GOOD)

Quarantine Trends

Puzzles

Did one at home, one in California with Erin (RBG!), and working on another one with my mom now (of Stockholm!)

Banana Bread

I didn’t make it, but I happily consumed the loaf my aunt made me.

Sourdough Starter

Did not participate

Tiger King

My parents and I tried and failed to get into this.

Zoom Happy Hours

Duh

Sudokus and Crossword Puzzles

I finally learned how to do sudokus and was OBSESSED at the beginning of quarantine.

Color Street Nail Polish Strips

This was just my quarantine trend - but they’re easy and they last awhile and I have no interest in going to get my nails done right now.

Concerts

Dermot Kennedy (X2!)
Alanis Morissette

I think that’s it…crazy and a far cry from 2018’s 11 concerts!

Theater

Little Shop of Horrors
Jagged Little Pill

 This is definitely the #1 thing on my list of things I miss being able to do in NYC and as soon as possible, I will be buying ticketS to showS. Some days I just listen to showtunes all day and get really sad.

Breweries

Tied for last year with 15 new breweries!

Strong Rope Brewery (NY)
Housatonic River Brewing (NY)
Peekskill Brewing (NY)
La Quinta Brewing (Palm Springs, CA)
Landers Brewing Company (Landers, CA)
JuneShine (San Diego, CA)
Epigg Brewing (San Diego, CA)
Ocean Beach Brewery (San Diego, CA)
Historic Brewing (Williams, AZ)
Lumberyard Brewing Company (Flagstaff, AZ)
Dark Sky Brewing (Flagstaff, AZ)
Beaver Street Brewery (Flagstaff, AZ)
Crooked Tooth Brewing (Tucson, AZ)
Fate Brewing (Scottsdale, AZ)
Goldwater Brewing Co (Scottsdale, AZ)

Doughnuts

It might be time to change this recap category - I think my new search is for the best turkey sandwiches! I really didn’t eat many doughnuts in 2020!

Previous Yearly Recaps

2019

2018

If you read all of this - WOW CONGRATS :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

QuarantineFIT: Favorite Resources for Killer At Home Workouts

Typically when I’m back at my parents house for a holiday or to visit for a long weekend, I struggle to find any sort of motivation to workout. My bed is to comfortable to get up early, the basement is too cramped to move around and the neighborhood is too hilly for a run. I usually have a ton of excuses.

But when I moved home for the foreseeable future at the beginning of March, I knew I was going to have to find a way to get motivated to work out at home.

While my bed is STILL too comfortable (I can sleep 10 hours most nights) I’ve been shocked at how much I’m enjoying working out at home.

I have a good mix of equipment here:

-15 LB Kettlebell (thanks, sis)
-25 LB Plate
-Dumbbells in 3 LB, 5 LB, 8 LB, 10 LB
-Sliders
-Resistance Bands in a variety of sizes
-Pull-Up Bar
-Yoga Mat
-TRX

And while I’ve loved coming up with some of my own workouts (you can watch some on my Instagram page) and running (healthy!) 3x a week - what’s really kept me going are some incredible fitness instructors offering free workouts on Instagram, Youtube and Zoom.

Here are my recommendations if you need a little variety in your at-home-workouts.

Anyone else contemplating canceling their gym membership for good?

Jon Chaimberg

Jon Chaimberg owns and operates APC gym in Montreal, but when they were forced to temporarily close due to coronavirus, he took his training to Instagram.

I have taken a TON of his classes and they still leave me sore.

He puts together killer rep schemes to make even the lightest set of dumbbells feel like bricks. Instead of 15 rows, he’ll have you do
1 Row / 1 Second Hold
2 Rows / 2 Second Hold
3 Rows / 3 Second Hold

All the way up to 7.

Or he’ll switch up the range of motion, so you’re doing 10 full chest presses, 10 lower-to-mid way pulses, 10 upper-to-mid way pulses, and 10 more full chest presses.

His classes are long - coming in at a full 60 minutes of work and there are lower body/leg focused classes and upper body focuses classes with abs mixed into both.

On the weekend, he goes live or posts an IGTV of him and his wife, Maddie, doing what they call “Hollywood Squares.” They each go through different exercises so you always have a choice of what you want to do!

Maddie also posts her own workouts on her page, and the APC Gym Instagram has live classes throughout the week too.

If you want to wake up sore - these are what I recommend!

Shadowbox

Each week, Shadowbox has been offering Instagram Live classes that run about 45 minutes. The free Live classes are usually on Saturday and Sunday, but they offer tons of classes throughout the week if you sign up for SBX Virtual. The prices are extremely fair - $5/class, $12 for 3 classes or $40 for 10 classes!

These classes leave me absolutely DRIPPING and since I’ve been trying to use 3 pound weights for some of the shadowboxing, I can almost never properly reach up to do my hair the next day.

I swear boxing classes are some of the absolutely best all around classes - and I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that that’s still the case even without gloves and a bag (read my review of the in-studio experience here!)

The classes incorporate shadowboxing with easy to follow combinations, cardio, and usually some core and lower body focused rounds as well.

From June 8 - June 14, all Shadowbox classes will be offered for free to book. Shadowbox asks that you instead use your funds to donate to Color of Change.

Rachael’s Good Eats

Rachael DeVaux has hosted and posted live workouts on her Instagram almost every day of quarantine.

They cover everything from HIIT, upper body focus, lower body focus, core and total body. I love that she mixes up the type of circuits - sometimes you’re going for time and sometimes you’re counting reps.

And, it’s great that you can either follow along live, or watch after the fact when she posts them on her IGTV or YouTube channel.

And all for the price of FREE 99.

MadFit

It’s been amazing how quickly MadFit caught on during quarantine. My friend Kayla sent me her videos, then I found out my sister was doing them every day, and then another friend mentioned that she had been loving her videos too!

She posts most of her workouts on her YouTube channel and I can’t get enough of her 10 and 15 minute ab routines. I like to do them at the end of my workouts as the cherry on-top! They’re straightforward, she doesn’t talk too much, and they’re very varied.

Her dance and song routines are also incredibly fun! And on the days I’m feeling wishy-washy and I can’t commit to anything, I’ll put together a bunch of her 10-20 minute videos and before I know it, I’ve worked out for an hour!

AARMY

I don’t know how I had never heard of AARMY before, a New York City and LA based fitness-studio opened from ex-Soul Cycle instructor Akin Akman.

AARMY is offering a ton of free Instagram Live content and at the beginning of quarantine I was starting almost every morning with their 10 AM EMOM and 10:20 AM 400 Abs series.

I also tuned in for some of Akin’s Bootcamp classes - and let me tell you this guy is NOT MESSING AROUND. He’s a beast!

If you have your own spin bike, they also offer cycling classes on IG Live.

When studios are back open - AARMY is on the top of my list to try out.

Ripped Training Method

Not quite sure how I found the Ripped Training Method videos, but they’re quick and effective 30 minute strength workouts that I’ve been adding into the mix and enjoying! So far, I’ve only taken classes by Jamie because I know I like them! But they have over 30 workouts posted including treadmill classes! Next rainy day, I might give one of them a try.

CorePower Yoga On Demand

Every week, CorePower Yoga’s On Demand website has some free classes that I’ve been adding to the mix. I’ve done more yoga in quarantine than I’ve ever done in my life! And I’m actually really loving it!

One CorePower yoga class I took challenged me to try a pose I never would have thought I could attempt previously - firefly! I also took a really fun, sweaty endurance yoga class. They have a good mix and you can take classes that are 20 minutes, 30, all the way up to an hour.

Mr. & Mrs. Muscle

These quick 10 minute videos made up of 30 second intervals are AWESOME when you don’t feel like committing to a long workout or don’t know what you feel like doing. You can do a quick 10 minute video and be done, or string together a bunch for a full-body workout. They have a mix of videos that required weights and other’s that are body weight. I love their color coordinated outfits and beautiful windows.

Alex Najarian

If you like kettlebells - Alex Najarian’s classes are amazing! I joined one of her free Zoom classes one weekend and was super impressed. She also offers programs you can pay for to get daily workouts.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

A Thank You to the Respiratory Therapists and the Brands that Supported Them!

When I came home around 75 days ago - I was completely overwhelmed by the stories my mom was telling us about the hospital she works at.

They had created a COVID-19 unit, they were rationing masks, they were running 4X the number of ventilators they normally have - and while everyone was sending the nurses and doctors well-deserved lunches and dinners, the respiratory department wasn’t getting anything.

Growing up when people asked me what my mom did, I always said - “She’s a respiratory therapist - she helps people breathe.”

I never really learned much more about what a respiratory therapist did. And most people, I’ve realized, just assumed my mom was a nurse.

But the coronavirus pandemic instantly made me aware of the fact that respiratory therapists were the front line of the front line. You couldn’t turn on the news or read an article without hearing the word “ventilator” - and the people at the hospital that know how to run and operate and change the settings on and take people on and off of ventilators are the respiratory therapists.

And in New York State, it turns out there really aren’t that many of them. In fact, New York has the second fewest licensed respiratory therapists and technicians per capita of any state.

Traveling RTs are coming from out of state and offering to work throughout the pandemic - these therapists are incredibly brave, appreciated and needed. But they’re getting paid 3X the amount of money that local hospitals’ own respiratory staff make.

Anyway - all of this information was piling on when I first got home. It was making me anxious and stressed and nervous for my mom. And it was also making me angry and frustrated on her behalf - I couldn’t understand why more wasn’t being done to recognize their small staff.

I felt helpless to make a difference - so I started writing emails to companies to see if they could make a donation to my mom’s hospital and the respiratory department specifically.

I knew I couldn’t take away their fear or anxiety or help with the long hours and sadness they were experiencing. But I thought some healthy snacks, some essential oils, some skincare products for mask-covered faces, etc. would be appreciated.

And I was overwhelmed with how many companies showed up and donated - my house and the back of my moms car became a warehouse of donated product. I just wanted to publicly acknowledge and thank the company’s that donated - the donations were in no way dependent on me posting anything. I also thought it could give you some ideas if you’re looking to make gift baskets to drop off at a local hospital (or respiratory therapy department!) near you.

Bada Bean Snacks

Bada Beans wins for the cutest packaging! They sent two Bada Bean Bada Boom Box containers with 100 calorie bags in a variety of flavors. The Boom Box comes with 52 individual bags - 4 of each flavor.

These beans pack bold flavor, protein, and that crunchy-ness that I’m always craving in a snack.

I didn’t realize how many flavors there were!

Everything Bagel, Nacho Cheeze, Jalapeno Popper, Buffalo Wing, Zesty Ranch, Sweet Onion and Mustard, Sweet Sriracha, Cocoa Dusted, Mesquite BBQ, Spicy Wasabi, Sweet Cinnamon, Garlic & Onion and Sea Salt.

Thank you Bada Bean Snacks! These were a hit.

Juice Press

I knew that the hospital was getting lots of pizza deliveries, bagels, etc. and thought that the staff might want some immune-boosting healthy options for a change. Where I’m from, there aren’t a ton of green-juice shops, so I reached out to Juice Press.

Despite the fact that they weren’t able to deliver juices, they told me I could stop by the Southampton store for a donation of granola bars and ginger fireball blasts.

My dad and I took the trip out east on Easter Sunday, and they helped load up our car with 500 peanut butter Perfect Bars and 500 packs of the Ginger Fireball Blasts ( 100% of your daily dose of vitamin C from the acerola plant and pure ginger root - yowza!) that we delivered to the hospital!

Our contact with Juice Press was so sweet - she even made up a bag of fresh juices that I could give to the respiratory department specifically.

Purely Elizabeth

According to reports (from my mom), people absolutely loved the 48 granola bars and 30 individual bags of granola that Purely Elizabeth donated. They appreciated that they weren’t overwhelmingly sweet.

doTERRA

I was so excited when doTERRA told me they could make a donation of their Cheer Blend and Breathe Blend essential oils. I hope that the roll on fragrance blends brought some cheer and easier breathing to the respiratory therapists.

Cocokind

You’ve probably seen the pictures of healthcare workers who have scars on their faces from wearing N95 masks all day - so I thought I would reach out to Cocokind to see if they could donate some clean, healthy skincare products.

They sent some of their winter essentials kits - which came with facial cleansing oil, chia facial oil, rosewater toner and a My Matcha stick. They also sent one-for-all balms. These were a huge hit!

Glossier 

Along the same lines, Glossier donated skincare products as well. I was inspired by Glossier’s leadership and support for the employees when the pandemic started (choosing to close their stores and continuing to pay workers). They also delivered on the donation front, big time!

Priming moisturizers, soothing face mists and balm dotcom, oh my!

Smart Sweets

One of the first companies to respond to me was Smart Sweets - it seemed like they answered within 10 minutes of sending my email with a super positive response.

And my mom said these were a HUGE hit - not only did people like snacking on the gummy bears themselves, but they loved being able to bring home a snack for their kids when trips to the grocery store were on pause.

They send about 15 boxes of these colorful, sweet and healthy (84% less sugar) snacks!

RX Bars

Boxes of bars! Chocolate Sea Salt, Blueberry, Peanut Butter - it was obvious early on that there was not going to be a tone of time in any of the respiratory therapists’ days to sit down and eat a meal - so being able to grab a bar that would keep them satisfied for a few hours of running around (hello, 13 hour shifts) were much appreciated.

Perfect Bars

Not only were 500 of these bars donated by Juice Press, but Perfect Bar was also willing to send me coupons so the respiratory therapists could pick up some bars on their next trip to the store. Everyone commented that these were super filling.

Picky Bars

Picky Bars sent me a mix of 18 of their granola bars and also let me know about an amazing initiative they’ve been running on their website - for $48.50 you can order a “Front Lines Support Bundle” to send to a hospital which I was happy to do with some money I had raised! Please consider ordering a pack for your local hospital!

Simple Mills

The largest box to show up on my stoop was from Simple Mills, packedddd with their Farmhouse Cheddar crackers. These things are SO GOOD (Ok, I will admit I took ONE bag to taste test!)

Mental Health

There were also a ton of apps that were offering free subscriptions or access to healthcare workers for meditation resources. These included 10 Percent Happier, Headspace and Calm.

THANK YOU!!!

I also just want to thank everyone who donated to my personal fundraising for the Respiratory Therapists at my mom’s hospital. I’ve been able to bring them meals throughout the pandemic, which they’ve really appreciated. Plus, I’ve gotten to support local businesses like Tiger Lily Cafe, Carnival, Rubino’s, Crazy Beans and Town & Country Market (order the Cupsogue!)

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

February - You Were The Best

February seems like a lifetime ago, but I keep remember how wonderful and happy it was. February 2020 was SO. FETCH. and I’m so grateful that I had so much quality time with family and friends before this pandemic started.

It seems like a good way to spend a very rainy, VERY windy day - looking back on a month filled with all of my favorite things. A moment in time when I was in NYC, happy and healthy and full of appreciation for all the incredible things I get to do in this life! I don’t care how cheesy it sounds.

2 Hockey Games!

The 3rd Annual Brunch & Barclays! Making all my favorites wear Islanders swag, getting good and tipsy, and going to a hockey game! It’s always one of my favorite days. This year, we started with brunch at Miti Miti, a Mexican spot in Brooklyn. The bottomless brunch was a good deal, though the food itself was pretty pricey. But they had a ton of vegan options, which was a definite bonus!

The game coincided for the second year in a row with referee appreciate night - something that I definitely think we should participate in next time!

The Islanders scored with about :25 left in regulation to bring the game to overtime and I was overjoyed…for a few minutes. Until we lost just a minute into OT. C’est la vie.

I got to go to a second Islanders game just a few days later when work gave out free tickets. This time, we got the W! I’ll definitely miss how easy it is to get to a game at Barclays if the team doesn’t play there next season.

My third Islanders game of the season was technically in March, but pre-quarantine. The annual trip with my parents and Allison and her family to the Coliseum! We were able to pre-game in the hotel and even had a cute little balcony overlooking an empty pool! There was a lot of hand washing but it was still such a fun day - we even did dinner together afterwards before heading back to NYC.

Family Time!

My mom, dad, sister, aunt, uncle, grandma and grandpa were all in the city in February! This is a BIG DEAL.

My sister joined me for brunch and the Islanders game and my parents drove in to give me my Christmas gifts that I wasn’t able to travel with after the holidays.

Then, my aunt and uncle drove my grandparents in over President’s Day Weekend and I met up with them and my cousin for a great dinner with lots of red wine.

Being able to see everyone I love without leaving the city was a very big treat.

Apartment Upgrades

I really wanted to challenge myself to use the time I’ve been home to organize and “purge” in my apartment. I did a ton of purging in my kitchen, a decent job at purging my drawers and closets, my bathroom is in really good shape - but there are definitely a few more things on my to-do list.

That being said, my apartment is feeling comfy and cozy.

I bought myself some plants on Amazon that I’ve managed to keep alive (for now).

I have a new comforter and pillows and my bed feels luxurious.

My Tupperware drawer is a DREAM when I open it.

This new fruit basket makes me smile and I feel super organized with my “swim” “bike” and “run” bins set up under my bench!

Nothing sparked joy more than steam mopping my floors!

Vegan

For the month of February I experimented with veganism. I’ve been wanting to start eating a more plant-based diet for awhile not, mainly because of the environmental benefits.

I had meant to read Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Eating Animals” during my vegan February and if I had, I probably wouldn’t have eaten a turkey sandwich on March 1.

Though I’m not longer eating vegan, I definitely have a new-found appreciation for lentils, beans, tempeh and tofu.

For three weeks I ordered meals from Territory Foods which made it super simple - I didn’t have to think about cooking or eating vegan I just had to pop a meal in the microwave. And the meals were SO good. I was worried it would just be all tofu, but there was a ton of variety from week to week. I liked the meals 100X more than Kettlebell Kitchen’s.

Some of my favorites were

• Spicy Baked Tofu with Cabbage and Brown Rice

• Ethiopian Style Lentils & Braised Collards

• Golden Noodles with Coconut Grilled Tofu & Veggies

• Smoky Maple Tempeh with Sweet Potato Corn Hash & Swiss Chard

• Roasted Tofu with Persimmon Chutney, Brussels Sprouts & Butternut Mash

• Bok Choy, Carrot, Mushroom & Tofu Stir-fry

Plus, they deliver right to my gym and I found the cost super affordable. They also offer vegetarian options, keto, paleo - basically they’ll cater to any diet. (You can use the code PBBF at Territory Foods for $25 off your first two weeks!)

It felt a little bit like cheating though, so I did cook myself my own meals too. Some of the recipes I used were -

1. Ginger & Coconut Split Pea Soup from Food52

2. Turkish Lentil Soup from Gimme Some Oven

3. Cashew Tofu from Gimme Some Oven

And then my own concoction of white beans, kale and soy chorizo.

I realized that I already cook a lot of vegan dishes anyway. The biggest thing was not being able to add an egg on top of a grains and veggie bowl or chicken to my stir fry.

Eating out was definitely harder, especially when my parents came into the city. We ended up eating at a Georgian restaurant! Oda House on the Upper East side actually had a ton of vegan options (though communicating with my waiter was a little challenging at times).

My favorite part of the meal was a tie between the lobiani (mashed pinto beans baked inside yeast dough) and the khinkali (the Georgian equivalent to pierogies). I would love to go back and try more dishes here.

I had high hopes that being vegan would curb my sweet tooth - instead, I just ate boxes of Oreos and Thin Mints (both vegan!) and pints of Van Leeuwen’s ice cream (the chocolate oat milk cookie dough chunk was my favorite of the three pints sampled in February).

All month I thought I was going to stick with it beyond February - and then I ate a turkey sandwich and haven’t looked back. We’ll see. I’m definitely still going to read that book!

Writing Class

I was finally able to sign myself up for a writing class, the Creative Nonfiction 101 at Gotham City Writers. It was a great value - 6 weeks of classes, 18 hours of instruction and we learned about writing op ed pieces, memoirs, travel writing, reviews and features.

Despite ending on Monday nights at 10 PM, I remained motivated to show up. It was a small, interactive class with a professor who reminded me of our Eurotrip tour guide. I didn’t learn any life-altering writing tips, but it was a good way to get me writing every week for the homework assignments.

It was also interesting to see what I ended up writing about for each assignment. For the memoir, I wrote about how grateful I was to have the experience of growing up with a best friend who was Muslim. For my profile piece, I wrote about Jenny Donnelly and how the running community has led to a increase in fast female runners competing at this years Olympic Marathon Trials. For my review, I wrote about Becco, one of my favorite New York City restaurants. For my op ed, I wrote about why US airports are so much more miserable than airports in other parts of the world. And for my travel piece, I wrote this listicle!

Our last class was unfortunately conducted on Zoom once I was already back on Long Island - but I’m glad it still happened.

2 Piano Bars

Brandy’s

I finally got my parents to Brandy’s After a short wait outside on the sidewalk, we entered the small, cramped piano bar on the Upper East Side that serves me tequila cosmos and sings the perfect blend of Billy Joel, showtunes and Jimmy Buffet (when I request it).

As usual, the time flew by and we spent a happy few hours here singing along to song after song.

Marie’s Crisis

I spent Valentine’s Day with two of my lifelong friends singing showtunes in a West Village basement and it couldn’t have been more perfect. We spent something like 4 hours at Marie’s on a Friday night and I’m very thankful that Lana and Allison put up with my constant “just one more song…”

Highlight? A medley of Ragtime songs <333

Brandon James Gwinn was the pianist and I highly recommend finding out his schedule so that you’re guaranteed to see him! You not only get showtunes, you get a comedy show.

2 Musicals

Luckily, I had a good amount of live musical theater in February before Broadway theaters went dark. The theater community has been especially hard-hit with the coronavirus - we’ve already lost legend Terrence McNally and many more theater stars have been fighting the virus including Aaron Tveit and Nick Cordero.

Meanwhile, the Dear Evan Hansen performance on James Cordon’s #HomeFest and the Hamilton casts reunion on John Krasinski’s “Some Good News” have brought moments of joy to many while simultaneously helping with fundraising efforts to help the shuttered theater industry.

Little Shop of Horrors

Allison and I first went to see Little Shop of Horrors because once I read the New York Time’s article about Gideon Glick’s portrayal of Seymour - I knew I needed to go! Gideon has been one of my favorites since I saw him in the original cast of Spring Awakening and last year I got to see him as Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Though Little Shop is one of the most kitschy shows I’ve ever seen, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Jagged Little Pill

In January, I saw Alanis Morisette live at a work event and it was an exhilarating thing - standing at the very front of the stage, suddenly realizing that I still knew almost every word to the entire Jagged Little Pill album. When she broke out the harmonica, I went wild.

I knew I had to buy tickets to see Jagged Little Pill when I got home! Though the show took on a lot of hot button topics, I enjoyed the singing and obviously already knew I loved the songs. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Lauren Patten who supposedly brings the house down during You Oughta Know, but Ezra Menas as an understudy was also amazing!

2 Concerts

DERMOT KENNEDY DERMOT KENNEDY DERMOT KENNEDY! If you haven’t yet listened to this man’s voice - stop reading right now and GO LISTEN.

I can’t remember the last time I was so obsessed with someone’s music.

And in February I got to see him in concert TWICE.

The first time was a super intimate acoustic concert thanks to one of my friends getting me on the list and I am eternally grateful It was amazing being so close in such a small room.

The second time was at Radio City and it was totally different with the full band and a huge crowd. But both concerts were incredible and made me feel more in love with Dermot.

He’s been going live a lot during this quarantine and it’s wonderful

Skiing

Allison and I took an amazing ski trip with OvRride and I highly highly recommend them. I definitely plan on taking a trip again next year, and hopefully more than one!

We got picked up right on the upper east side, had no problem getting a seat, and were given bagels and water as we drove to Windham Mountain. The cost included bus transportation there and back, bagels, water, granola bars, beers on the ride home, a lift ticket and rentals.

We had a solid day of skiing and I felt much better than I did last year when I put skis on for the first time in 12 years. It was a beautiful day - we were even warm at times.

And back to my apartment by 8 PM after bus brews! Such a great day.

Trail Running

I had some awesome trail runs in February - it’s definitely my new favorite way to spend a Saturday or Sunday, though I sometimes still feel like a baby deer with wobbly legs and twisted ankles. Especially on the downhill!

I headed to Prospect Park for another trail run with Trail Women BK on a gorgeous day and Abby and I ran almost 8 miles on a trail in Connecticut during a weekend trip!

In Central Park, I stuck to the trails as opposed to the road as much as I could.

A Quick Trip

In February I even got to take a quick weekend trip out of NYC to a friends family house in Connecticut. We all were questioning whether it was worth the effort of renting a car for just a quick weekend trip but by the end of the weekend we all agreed that even for 48 hours it was BEYOND worth it.

We played board games, cooked in a giant kitchen, went for a trail run/hike, went to a cute little town for fresh baked bread and ice cream and on our way home went to Beacon to a farmer’s market and to walk through the cute town.

I think it left us all feeling rejuvenated!

2 Breweries

Strong Rope Brewery

We stopped by this brewery in Brooklyn after the Islanders game and played cards - it was great and I cant wait to be this close to all my favorite people again, drinking beer!

Housatonic River Brewing

I was thrilled to find a brewery near the house we stayed at in Connecticut - what is better on an unseasonably warm afternoon after a trail run than some flights outside?! Nothing.

I miss you February, you were really wonderful and I’m grateful for the memories!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Home Sweet Home: A Travel Guide

Travel has come to a screeching halt. No one knows the next time they’ll walk with wonder down the streets of a new-to-them city or try a local cuisine straight from the source.

When will I write my next travel guide? (Aside from the ones that are still pending due to my laziness…) When is the next time I will hoist a carry-on into an overhead bin or eat a Biscoff cookie on a Delta flight?

A recent writing prompt encouraged me to write about my current surroundings as if they were a new travel destination. It was a fun activity to look at my childhood home through a different lens. This little home I grew up in re-imagined as a new hotel in a new land on a new adventure.

Local Customs

The residents dress very casually and comfortably. It seems that they are very big fans of the NHL as nearly everything they wear displays the League’s shield. For such big fans, there’s a definite lack of hockey on TV…

The females don’t wear a lot of makeup (or any whatsoever) and don’t seem to give much thought to things like manicures, haircuts, or the shaving of leg hair.

Apparently the plumbing here isn’t great, because I’ve been asked to dispose of my toilet paper in the garbage can instead of flushing it. Squares of TP aren’t yet being rationed, but I’ve heard it’s a possibility given a mounting shortage.  

Morning coffee and afternoon tea is taken very seriously in these parts. Coffee is almost always enjoyed with a book or the newspaper and afternoon tea typically pairs with a crossword puzzle or Sudoku.

There is a lot of hand washing and hand sanitizing with an obvious lack of physical contact of any kind. No one seems to be willing to share a drink or a meal, which is sad as someone who thinks food tastes better when shared. No one hugs hello or goodbye - not even a handshake seems customary.

People seem to take a lot of vitamin C and various supplements - zinc, magnesium, echinacea, elderberry - they seem very concerned with their health.

Night Life

The locals don’t seem to have any qualms about drinking before the widely accepted 5 PM happy hour standard.

The house wine, 14 Hands Cabernet, is a definite fan favorite. The pours are heavy and frequent – glasses don’t remain empty for long thanks to an attentive waitstaff.

There are no sports playing on the TV screens. Instead, there’s an eclectic mix of news, stand-up comedy specials, Netflix documentaries and reality TV.

Some nights, there’s “live” entertainment in the form of showtunes from a livestreaming piano bar or at home performances from stars like John Legend and Mariah Carey.

When the ladies are not staining their lips and teeth purple from red wine, the bartender will mix up strong cocktails like margaritas or gin-concoctions with fresh squeezed grapefruit. The glass always comes with a fancy garnish.

The bar is never crowded, but sometimes voices pour in through FaceTime and Zoom as friends and family swap stories through cell phone screens. It’s shocking how loud a bar with three people can get.

When it’s nice out, the party gets taken outside to a nice deck. Sometimes there’s even a fire!

Cuisine

The local cuisine is very internationally inspired.

There’s been an Irish meal of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots which was later re-purposed for a delicious corned beef hash with crispy potatoes, eggs and peppers.

Greek influences led to a delicious salad with chick peas, grape leaves and tzatziki sauce.

My Mexican mood was met with shrimp tacos resplendent with pickled onions, cilantro, avocado, lime and fresh cabbage slaw.

Another night I was served pot stickers doused with a delicious sauce of soy, freshly grated garlic and ginger, pineapple juice and sesame oil. These pork pot stickers were paired with cauliflower rice and spicy kimchi for an extra kick.

All-American more your speed? The chef can grill up a burger you’d want to write home about.

While some of the locals don’t seem to appreciate meals like breakfast and lunch, the kitchen is fully stocked for people like myself who need a meal every 2 hours.

Everyone here seems to agree on a few things: chocolate Entenmann’s donuts are phenomenal and Ruffles potato chips with French Onion dip is a love language.

My favorite part is that the waitstaff knows I prefer to eat with the small utensils.

Day Trips

When people want to get away, the biggest destination seems to be a nearby beach or park to walk and run in relative tranquility.  

I found a really great set of stairs to run up and down repeatedly, which is my idea of a fun day trip.

Sometimes we take a quick drive over to visit another family, but they never invite us inside. Instead, we sit far apart in their backyard. But they always have wine and chocolate waiting for us.

Gym

The lodging has a robust yet makeshift gym. Though the ceiling is low and there is a lot of obstacles (rocking chairs, fishing poles, plastic tubs filled with old clothes), there’s a decent amount of equipment to ensure a good sweat.

What to Pack

If you want to plan your own trip to this tiny house surrounded by bamboo in the middle of a Long Island suburb, make sure you bring the following:

-Sweatpants and leggings
-College and high school hoodies
-Sneakers for lots of walks
-Slipper socks
-Books
-Face masks
-Hand cream
-Sunglasses for tanning on the deck

If you want fun writing prompts sent to you email during quarantine, you can sign up for The Isolation Journals here.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

You Don't Have to Say You're Fine. Or Feel Guilty If You Are.

“How are you hanging in there?”

“How’s it going?”

“Are you OK?”

I’m asking friends, family and coworkers these types of questions on a daily basis as 99% of my relationships have suddenly become long distance.

I try to cycle through, because no one wants to have to think about how they’re really feeling these days too often.

Typically, these are questions asked in passing in the office hallway, as you walk into the gym and greet the person at the front desk, when you pass a friend on the subway platform.

Especially in New York City – when someone asks you how you’re doing, it’s out of polite obligation. A feigned nicety, dripping in disingenuous interest. The asker isn’t waiting for or expecting a real response. And the person being asked knows that all they’re expected to respond with is a “good, how are you?”

The answer is almost always a brief and typically inaccurate “good.” Maybe an “oh, you know…” before trailing off. Or if you work in my office, a somewhat sarcastic, “living the dream.” The point is that no matter what your short answer is, the person who asked the question has already stopped listening.

But now we find ourselves in a new world. Nowadays, if people reach out and specifically ask how you’re doing, they’re probably asking because they actually care.

So as the person being asked how you’re doing, I have a news flash for you: 

YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY YOU’RE FINE.

Even if you haven’t lost a job. You’re allowed to be not fine.
Even if you don’t have family members in healthcare. You don’t have to pretend you’re fine.
Even if you are healthy. You don’t have to say you’re fine.
Even if you are perfectly content to work at home. You can be decidedly un-fine.

You can say you’re scared, or stressed, or bored. You can say you’re not quite sure how you’re feeling. You can say you’re confused.

In fact, the person asking is probably looking to commiserate with you. They’re probably not fine either.

On the flip side, maybe you are feeling fine. Maybe you’re in self-quarantine with a happy, healthy family. You’re all working from home, making your full salary and enjoying quality time together. You’re making delicious homemade dinners and playing board games at night. But you’re feeling guilty that life is actually feeling pretty nice right about now.

As long as you’re aware of that privilege, you don’t have to feel bad for being happy! But try to do something to pass that smile along to someone who could use it.

Ask a friend how they’re doing and be prepared to listen to their response. Even if it’s not fine.

Real Feels.

I’ve been home for over two weeks now and my “childhood home” is starting to feel like just ‘”my home.” When it comes to a gym, I’ve traded the Lower East Side F45 studio for a cramped basement with various bands, dumbbells and other at-home-fitness-accouterments alongside fishing poles, deer hides and 50+ VHS (yes, we still have a VCR).

I’ve traded a bedroom door for a pull-up bar with a blanket draped over it (it’s a long story.)

I’ve traded Central Park loops for running routes around my neighborhood that I first ran as a high schooler. My entrance to Central Park is now the location of a tent hospital for the overflowing Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City’s Upper East Side.

On Long Island, refrigeration trucks park at hospitals where the morgues are beginning to overflow, but I still find myself laughing in the sun with my family on the back deck.

Normally, the word duality would seem a little too nebulous for me. But lately, it’s come to make complete sense.

I wake up in the morning and there are a million things I could, and perhaps should, do. And part of me wants to. I could read a book, clean out drawers full of old clothes, workout, finally catch up on those blog posts I never got around to writing, start that Michelle Obama guided journal, work on my yoga practice, etc. etc.

But those grand plans and long list of activities live simultaneously in a body and brain that just wants to sit on the couch with a cup of coffee (a cup of brown liquid that’s become the most calming and grounding part of my day). I scroll though Instagram, I scroll through Facebook. I check CNN, I watch another press conference with Andrew Cuomo (I really need to know if he has nipple rings). The tightness in my chest and throat slowly regains a hold so I open TikTok to “relax.” I find myself laughing at videos, and then I feel guilty because my mom is at work, living out a nightmare.

I swipe on Bumble and almost forget that I can’t actually go out for a drink with any of these people. I go for a run and everything feels so wonderfully normal for a short while that walking into the house and seeing the hand sanitizers lined up on the kitchen island feels like a crushing blow.

I see the N95 facemasks that people have donated to my mom and my heart swells with gratitude at the same time I imagine myself throwing them all on the floor and stomping on them because none of them are smalls – none of them will help protect my mom.

I read OpEd pieces written by doctors and nurses in the New York Times that are absolutely horrifying. I try to cry but I can’t because I’m emotionally paralyzed. Paralyzed by the sheer volume of thoughts and feelings living inside me at any given moment.

My mom and I meditate outside. We watch an episode of Gossip Girl. We drink tea and eat chocolate Entenmann’s donuts and I can almost convince myself that everything is normal. That she doesn’t come home through the back door to immediately put her clothes in the basement. That she doesn’t keep her sneakers in her car so they don’t come in the house. That she isn’t sleeping in a separate room. That I can’t hug her.

My dad and I talk endlessly about our next meals. He drives down to the beach to look at the water. He drinks Bud Light with ice and we yell at Trump on the TV. He works out on the Nordic Track and interrupts during American Idol just like 2006. And I can almost convince myself that everything is normal. That he doesn’t stay in bed all morning because he’s depressed by everything that’s going on. That he just wants to hug my mom and I, bur can’t. That he doesn’t have 250 teachers looking to him for answers that he just doesn’t have.

It finally came to me last night, this weird feeling that I couldn’t quite place since I got here.

This is the last time I will live in this house. This is the last time I will have so much time with my parents. It’s an absolutely terrifying realization and it’s also an incredible opportunity that I’m scared of messing up or not appreciating.

I feel like I have the gift of knowing that some day these will be the days I cherish and look back on. The terrifying thing is not knowing if I will look back on this time in 40 years, or 10 or in a few weeks. I guess you never really know when the good old days will be the good old days. But I’m glad to at least know that these are them.

And I’m trying to cling to the details and the little moments. I’m trying to write down the lyrics to the songs we remember and stories we crack up retelling. But every time I go to write them down I feel a little stab of fear and sadness, a reminder that we won’t always be singing Raffi together after drinking a bottle of white wine (“I think it was a smaller bottle…”).

I’m not sure how to wrap this up with an inspiring line, I just know that writing this was the first time I’ve been able to cry since I came home. I don’t feel any weight off my shoulders, my throat still feels tight and I’m still scared and angry. But I also got to see my sister yesterday. I laughed a lot last night with my parents. We FaceTimed with family friends. I’m grateful at the same time I’m scared. I’m content at the same time I’m bored. I’m embracing duality because it’s a reminder that we are complex people living in complicated times.   

Coronacation: Days 9 & 10

DAY 9: MONDAY

THE WORKOUT

I combined a bunch of body weight exercises to create my own F45-style class.

:20 On / :10 Off x4

• Moving Jumping Jacks (5 Forward, 5 Backward)

• Wide Mountain Climbers

• Lateral Shoot Thrus

• Squat Stomps

• Side Plank Hip Dips

• Reverse Burpees

• Crab Toe Touches

• Drop Squats

• Low Hold Alternating Step Back Lunges

• 10 Heel Taps, 4 Speed Skaters

• A Steps

• 5 Bicycles to 5 Jackknifes

Repeat 2X Through!

It was a 48 minute workout and I was definitely feeling it! The hardest for me were the wide mountain climbers. Couldn’t make it :20 through.

EATS

Breakfast of oatmeal - the biggest excitement here is that I put maple almond butter in it.

Lunch - a salad of random things including grape leaves, chickpeas, cucumber, etc.

A stress-fueled midday Irish Soda Bread binge

Leftover shrimp tacos

STAYING SOCIAL

It was so nice getting together with my college roommates via Zoom! We got a good laugh at Nicole’s “Easter ham” and while all conversations nowadays come around to coronavirus, this chat had more laughs than outrage which left me in a good mood.

WIN OF THE DAY

Caught up on 2 or 3 podcasts!

FAIL OF THE DAY

Pay cuts are officially hitting as of April 15 pay checks which wasn’t great news to receive, and resulted in me eating a lot of Irish Soda Bread.

WHAT MADE ME SMILE

Friends that are using their sewing skills to make face masks for healthcare workers!

DAY 10: TUESDAY

THE WORKOUT

Started the day with half of Bertha’s yoga class that she’s offering to her coworkers on Zoom. She’s such a great yoga instructor! Loved it and was sad to log-off at 9 AM but I also wanted to tune in to Jon Chaimberg’s leg day - I’m not walking properly the next day so, safe to say it was an effective class!

EATS

Pre-workout Lara bar followed by breakfast of yogurt with some Cheerios

Afternoon snack of white cheddar Boom Chica Pop

Lunch of celery stuffed with tuna salad and some baby carrots/hummus (+ potato chippers)

Dinner was some chicken strips with potatoes, carrots and red cabbage

Dessert was some raspberry almond dark chocolate bark and a scoop of mint Talenti with a glass of wine (after swearing I wasn’t drinking until Friday night…lasted two days, oops).

STAYING SOCIAL

After work, I laced up my sneakers, put on a podcast, and ran to my grandparents house.

When I got to their backyard, my sister was there and we had each been poured a plastic cup of wine + a chocolate.

We stayed over an hour chatting and drinking, and my tipsy mile run home was not my fastest to say the least!

WIN OF THE DAY

I wrote some cards for my friends, snail mail will hopefully make someone smile :)

FAILS OF THE DAY

I got really sad about a pair of jeans that I didn’t bring home with me that I felt like wearing. It was weird - mental sanity is slipping!

THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE

The phrases “hump ass” and “huyah huyah.”

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Coronacation: Days 6, 7 & 8

DAY 6: FRIDAY

THE WORKOUT

I used small exercise bands to do a full body workout that was awesome. I put together arm, leg and abs exercises from different Instagram accounts.

Afterwards, I did the boxing portion of a Box + Flow livestream and had SO MUCH FUN. My parents were out to pick up their taxes and I used it as an opportunity to jump around and dance and sing the songs at the top of my lungs and it was a really fun 20 minutes. I’ll definitely be trying to tune in to some of their other classes.

EATS

Oatmeal & Coffee for breakfast now that we are re-stocked on bananas.

Split Pea Soup & the final slice of multigrain toast (cue the tears).

Echinacea tea in panda mugs & a Sumo orange to get that Vitamin C while watching Gossip Girl

Looking real real cute during quarantine.

Takeout from one of our favorite local restaurants - a thin crust pizza with prosciutto, roasted red peppers and mozzarella and a salad with pine nuts, beets and goat cheese.

Dessert was my now-standard piece of Entenmann’s chocolate donut + mint Talenti ice cream

STAYING SOCIAL

My sister met my mom and I for a walk at a local park and we shared a good laugh at our quarantine nicknames - created by combining your mood with the last thing you ate:

Despondent Cottage Cheese

Hopeful Chicken Noodle Soup

Stressed Split Pea Soup

Also got a good laugh at my sisters outfit which we determined made it look like she was out for a walk around the rehab facility in her matching purple jumpsuit.

WIN OF THE DAY

Made progress on my book - I’m at the point where I just want to finish it so I can start something new. It’s good, but I’m not enraptured by it.

FAILS OF THE DAY

I’m starting to feel angry all the time. Every time I log on to Facebook or turn on the TV or read a new article and see people posting stupid memes about how hard it is for them to stay in their houses. I’m trying hard to educate people instead of just hate them when i see that they went out and bought N95 masks that should be used by a healthcare worker.

I’m so, so scared for my mom, who never lets her emotions get the best of her but cried at breakfast this morning. She feels that her and her coworkers are not being protected and that it’s only a matter of time before she gets sick. N95 masks are recommended to be used for 8 hours max, but they’ve been given one that is going to have to last them “the duration” of this pandemic.

We think it’s hard to wake up on a Monday morning and go to the office to do our desk jobs? I cannot imagine the pit in my mom’s stomach when she wakes up knowing what she is about to face at work these days. And it makes me sick that people just don’t seem to care. I don’t remember the last time I felt so angry and helpless.

WHAT MADE ME SMILE

Friday night, my mom and I were supposed to be in the city seeing West Side Story on Broadway. Yet another plan ruined by COVID-19, but luckily, the Broadway community managed to save the night.

When I learned that Marie’s Crisis, the classic West Village showtunes piano bar, was streaming live from their Facebook page, I informed my family that we would be tuning in. I forced them to listen to 2+ hours of showtunes by my favorite Brandon James Gwinn.

Highly recommend joining Marie’s Group so you can watch. Every night of the quarantine, you can enjoy showtunes from 4 PM - 9 PM so really, there is no reason to complain about being stuck at home. Just make sure you Venmo some tips to the musicians!

DAY 7: SATURDAY

THE WORKOUT

Jon Chaimberg’s workouts continue to kick my ass in the best way! I took another at 9 AM on Saturday morning.

If I’m ever in Montreal, I will definitely be heading to his gym to take a class.

THE EATS

Oatmeal, obv.

Lunch was toast with veggie cream cheese & lox

Dinner was my brain child and it was amazing if I do say so myself! My dad executed perfectly to make shrimp tacos complete with avocado, cabbage slaw and the best part - homemade pickled red onions! Fresh cilantro and a spritz of lime and my taste buds were in heaven.

The only problem was that the grocery store was out of corn tortillas and we had to eat flour tortillas - I am TEAM CORN TORTILLA all the way. I survived though, and it was such a good meal. Made even better with one of my dad’s world class margaritas!

WIN OF THE DAY

My knee has been bothering me, and while I knew it wasn’t 100%, I had reached the point of mentally needing a run despite what my legs were saying. Smart? No. But do I regret the 5.5 miles I ran on Saturday? Not for a second, even if I’m limping a little the next day.

I felt like I could fully breathe for the first time in a week. I felt like myself and for a little while everything didn’t feel so doom and gloom.

I also cleaned out some of the drawers in my room - lots of Limited Too camisoles still floating around in there.

FAILS OF THE DAY

Having to use Clorox wipes to clean off everything that came back from the grocery store was just another “YIKES, what is happening” moment.

STAYING SOCIAL

Allison joined me for our jaunt through the forest and while we stayed a very good distance apart, it was good to have someone out there to take self-timer pictures with because did you go for a trail run if you don’t take a jumping picture by the random pond?

THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE

I’m still loving my re-watching of Gossip Girl. With Chuck and Dan on my TV screen, I am happy.

It’s VERY hard for my mom, dad and I to agree on something to watch, but Saturday night we all got very into the new Netflix movie Lost Girls which retells the story of the Gilgo Beach murders on Long Island. It’s a news story we’ve talked about for a long time since my mom used to work with one of the main suspects. Watch it and let me know who you think did it!

DAY 8: SUNDAY

THE WORKOUT

Sunday was rest day after 6 days of solid at home workouts. I did a yoga video to stretch some things out and I really liked it. My mom started it with me, but the 5 breathe downward dog holds were a little much.

I also went for a long walk at the beach so I could listen to a podcast. Usually, I listen to 5+ podcasts a week during my commutes, but I’m so behind now! It feels weird to just sit on the couch and listen to a podcast. Walking and podcasting are a perfect pair. I walked about 3 miles and listened to an episode of Armchair Expert where I was upset to hear that Dax Shepherd still doesn’t seem to be taking coronavirus seriously.

THE EATS

Breakfast was a Siggi’s yogurt with some Cheerios for crunch

Lunch was a tuna fish sandwich with avocado on a Long Island everything bagel with bread and butter pickles and Doritos aka it was amazing

Dinner was a giant salad filled with various leftovers which proved my theory that everything is elevated with the addition of pickled red onions.

Dessert was a mini Milky Way and a chocolate truffle because I’m rationing the Talenti (probably not necessary considering we have three pints).

STAYING SOCIAL

My sister stopped by for a visit on Sunday. While she’s not coming into the house these days, it was sunny enough for us to sit outside on the deck catching up.

WIN OF THE DAY

Sunday morning I woke up determined to finish my book and I’m proud to announce that I sat there with my coffee and yogurt until it was done! Overall it was a good book, but I just never got super into it. I’m excited to move on to something else. I’m thinking of starting The Man in the High Castle.

Another win of the day was getting feedback on some of the pieces I wrote for my writing class - I was most proud of the travel listicle I wrote (and posted here) and the feedback was positive which made me really happy!

FAIL OF THE DAY

Every day I realize another horrible situation someone is being put in because of everything that is happening. Sunday, I spent awhile thinking about how horrible it is that anyone who loses a loved one right now doesn’t get to have a wake or a funeral of more than immediate family members. I can’t imagine how awful that must be for close friends who aren’t allowed to attend or family members who aren’t nearby and can’t fly to get to their loved one.

It’s just such a huge reminder that there is still a lot of be grateful for.

THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE

This video of Skylar Astin singing Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka. It prompted me to pull up this old picture from my Spring Awakening stage door days.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Coronacation: Day 4

I’m sure that the Coronavirus pandemic will become a chapter in history books. They’ll list statistics about the number of people infected, the number of deaths, the number of borders closed, the number of jobs lost, the plummeting stock market prices. But the facts are rarely effective in telling the full story. The facts won’t tell you about the runners who trained for the Tokyo Marathon and never got a chance to run. The facts won’t tell you about the recovering alcoholics who couldn’t get to an AA meeting. The facts won’t tell you about the small, every day things we took for granted up until a few days ago. An office to go to, your daily conversation with the barista at the coffee shop, running with a group of people, turning on a hockey game at the end of a long day.

My story throughout this pandemic is one of extreme privilege - cancelling a trip to South Africa, though heartbreaking in it’s own right - is not the same as losing a job, losing a house, or losing a loved one.

But I would like to chronicle this time - on the brink of 30, and moving back to my childhood home for an indeterminate amount of time.

I hope you can relate to some of what I write. I hope you can laugh at some of it. I hope it can serve as a brief distraction. And I pray that we can all get through this.

DAY 4

My wake up time continues to creep closer to 9 AM - today, I managed to roll out of my bed and into my “office” at 8:55.

I had made the mistake of lying there scrolling through CNN, Facebook and Instagram for a good 30 minutes, which I’m quickly realizing is the absolute worst way to start the day. With lots of bad news and stressful new statistics.

Once I realized that it was before 9 AM and I was already feeling anxious and stressed, I flipped my phone into airplane mode. It didn’t last really long, but I’m going to need to be more aware of how much time I’m spending on my phone.

When I went to get breakfast in the kitchen it was a crushing blow to realize there were no bananas in the house. My breakfast options are usually toast with peanut butter and banana, yogurt with banana, oatmeal with banana…banana is always part of my breakfast. Once I recovered from that, it was time to get to work.

Workout break for Day 4 was my own Kettlebell circuit. It was great, and afterwards I took some time posting it to my Instagram account. Though there is SO MUCH amazing home workout content on Instagram right now! Trainers, studios and friends are pumping out so many live classes, circuits and ideas that I might just end this quarantine in better shape than when I started!

My knee is still bothering me too much to run though, and that’s making me very sad. It’s the one thing I can count on to decrease my stress levels and with the weather getting nicer, I hope I’m feeling better soon.

I’m not sure how many days I can include “I took a shower” and “I ate lunch” in these blog posts. I’m boring even myself.

My dad and I participated in a creative exercise - turning the toilet paper he managed to find into an art project. Which do you think is best? Everything is fine. This is totally normal…

We felt bad buying 20 rolls of toilet paper when there are so many people looking for it! Wish that the store had taken the pack apart and sold the rolls individually somehow. But now we are ready 20 weeks, according to the packaging.

Around 6 I headed down to the beach to take a walk and try to catch the sunset. The sky was a little too cloudy for pretty colors, but walking and talking with Allison (6 feet apart) was glorious nonetheless.

Dinner was another turkey sandwich and UPDATE I think I have figured out the bakery that makes the bread I’m obsessed with at Crazy Beans Cafe (Backstory - I go there to buy slices of multigrain bread and every time I ask where they get it I’m told they can’t say!) Now I just need to figure out how to get an entire loaf…

We spent the rest of the night FaceTiming with my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents and shared a lot of laughs, despite my father speaking at top volumes directly into my ear.

When I told them I was planning to use the quarantine as a time to grow out my leg hair, my father proclaimed “If you’re growing it out, you’re taking it home with you! You’re not clogging our drains!” This is life now, my friends.

THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE

The Tonight Show: At Home Edition - Jimmy Fallon and Lin Manual Miranda and really cute kids. Loved this!

A package arrived at my doorstep today - RX Nut Butter variety pack from my most wonderful friend Kayla. I am SO excited to have one of my favorite things fully stocked at my parents house. I forgot how amazing the chocolate peanut butter was!

Joking that this box of corks was from my mom’s wine consumption the past week! (It’s probably from three plus years).

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Coronacation: Day 5

THE WORKOUT

Thursday’s workout was an Instagram Live class with Jon Chaimberg from Adrenaline Performance Center in Montreal.

It was 50+ minutes of an amazing total body workout where he proved that using 5 pound dumbbells can still create quite the burn with innovative rep schemes and static holds. I’ll definitely be tuning in for more of his live classes in the coming weeks.

Later in the afternoon I tuned in briefly to an EverybodyFights HIIT class that got my heart rate going but I was pretty tired at that point and didn’t last too long.

Too many home workout options! Not enough time in the day.

EATS

Breakfast of yogurt + a drizzle of RX chocolate peanut butter courtesy of Kayla and some peanut butter puffins for good measure.

Highlight of the day was my dad bringing home dark roast with almond milk from the drive thru Dunkin Donuts.

Lunch was an odd mix of random things - side salad and hummus with carrots, celery, cucumbers, peppers along with an egg.

Dinner was leftover corned beef and cabbage from St. Patrick’s Day.

STAYING SOCIAL

Today’s House Party involved some of my best friends at work - I usually see them way more than my friends or family so it’s been very weird being apart for so long!

Catie is crushing her embroidery, Brittany is raising the cutest pup, Rebecca gave us a glimpse of New York City outside her window so I know it still exists, and Brynn made us all hungry cooking a beautiful brunch spread.

WIN OF THE DAY

I put on real(ish) clothes - but let me tell you, my definition of real clothes is quickly taking a nose dive.

FAILS OF THE DAY

My wake up time has continued to creep closer and closer to 9 AM.

I’ve been extra aware the past few days of all my friends that are riding this thing out with their significant others and fiances and husbands and I’m almost 30 years old and came home. I’m beyond happy to be home with my parents and to have this huge chunk of time with them that I never would have had normally. But it’s also just made me more aware of the fact that I haven’t had a romantic relationship in over 3 years. Even my younger sister is quarantining at her boyfriends house a few towns over instead of at my parents’ house.

I go down that train of thought every once in awhile and then I pull myself out of it. Not worth getting upset right now, this situation is what it is and all any of us can do is make the most of it! Like watching American Idol on the couch with my parents while my dad talks over all the performances just like he did when I was in high school!

Another fail is the fact that people in our area are taking advantage of the situation and knocking on doors pretending to be with the CDC and proceeding to rob people. So now not only do we need to deal with people losing jobs, people dying, hospitals running out of masks, etc. - we need to deal with being scared to open our front doors. Cool cool cool.

THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE

I’ve started to look forward to my daily National Geographic newsletters. You should sign up for them!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Coronacation: Day 3

I’m sure that the Coronavirus pandemic will become a chapter in history books. They’ll list statistics about the number of people infected, the number of deaths, the number of borders closed, the number of jobs lost, the plummeting stock market prices. But the facts are rarely effective in telling the full story. The facts won’t tell you about the runners who trained for the Tokyo Marathon and never got a chance to run. The facts won’t tell you about the recovering alcoholics who couldn’t get to an AA meeting. The facts won’t tell you about the small, every day things we took for granted up until a few days ago. An office to go to, your daily conversation with the barista at the coffee shop, running with a group of people, turning on a hockey game at the end of a long day.

My story throughout this pandemic is one of extreme privilege - cancelling a trip to South Africa, though heartbreaking in it’s own right - is not the same as losing a job, losing a house, or losing a loved one.

But I would like to chronicle this time - on the brink of 30, and moving back to my childhood home for an indeterminate amount of time.

I hope you can relate to some of what I write. I hope you can laugh at some of it. I hope it can serve as a brief distraction. And I pray that we can all get through this.

DAY 3

My wake up time has gotten a little later each day - oops. I slept in until 8:30 and then spent my first 30 minutes of the day on the couch reading with a cup of coffee. My mom read the paper and i read my book until it was time to log on to work with a big bowl of oatmeal.

I had been really distracted on Monday by sitting at the kitchen counter which is right in the middle of the house so on Tuesday I cleared off my sister’s vanity in her bedroom and turned it into my makeshift desk. The walls are very bland. I might need to color myself a picture. I regret not bringing some pictures home with me!

Now, the basement is my gym and my sister’s room is my office. I refuse to work from the couch or bed!

I worked on my laptop for most of the morning, caught up with coworkers and checked in to see how everybody was doing. I sent a few emails, but things are just really slow and it’s depressing.

SWEATY LUNCH BREAK

Today’s lunch break was a good long sweat. At 11:45 I tuned in to Instagram Live for a “Stop, Drop & Jab” with a New York City trainer whose class I’ve been wanting to take. While the two minute plank and 50 jump squats certainly burned, the rest of the “15 minute workout” wasn’t much to write home about.

From there I transitioned into an ab circuit that my F45 studio had posted - I did 2 rounds for a total of around 12 minutes.

Next up was sheer torture that a friend had sent me and I will pass along for you now!

ROUND ONE

100 Squats
25 Burpees
50 3-Count Mountain Climbers (1 2 3 1, 1 2 3 2, 1 2 3 3, 1 2 3 4) *So it’s really 200 Mountain Climbers
20 Switch Lunge Jumps (per leg)
25 Jump Squats
20 3-Count Toe Taps (Use something taller if possible - I used my couch to really have to drive the knees up)
25 Push Ups
5 Minutes Jump Rope (I didn’t have a jump rope so I did 5 minutes on the treadmill)

ROUND TWO

80 Squats
20 Burpees
40 3-Count Mountain Climbers
15 Switch Lunge Jumps (per leg)
20 Jump Squats
15 3-Count Toe Taps
20 Push Ups
4 Minutes Jump Rope (My sister was on the treadmill so I alternated between stuff like high knees, butt kicks, jumping jacks, shuffles, jumping in place)

ROUND THREE

60 Squats
15 Burpess
30 3-Count Mountain Climbers
10 Switch Lunge Jumps (per leg)
15 Jump Squats
10 3-Count Toe Taps
15 Push Ups
3 Minutes Jump Rope (Or cardio of choice)

This took me 40 minutes - if you give it a try, leave your time in the comments! I might come back to it in a few weeks and see I can do it faster!

After I was reduced to a puddle of sweat, I headed back to my laptop and lunch. Leftover salad was clutch. As I sat and at, I also yelled workout commands at my sister which was beyond fun.

CONCERTS GALORE

Back in my “office” I was delighted to find that one of my favorite singers, Noah Kahan, was live on Instagram performing! I tuned in for the last few songs and it made me so happy.

To my surprise, as soon as that wrapped up, i realized that another favorite, Joshua Radin, was also streaming live! Had some fun listening to him too.

Then, at 4, John Legend had a little concert.

My parents came back from their walk to me screaming DERMOT KENNEDY IS LIVE ON INSTAGRAM! Definitely the grand finale to an afternoon of artists doing what they can to spread some happiness!

I highly recommend checking throughout the day to see if your favorite celebs are up to anything on Instagram. I also noticed that Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus were live together at one point.

Gotta love technology…can’t imagine what we would be doing right now without it! I just PRAY that internet providers can keep providing service with the huge amount of users flooding systems, working from home, etc.

STAYING SOCIAL

When I was done with work for the day I actually put some real clothes on to make me feel a little bit more human.

Then I got on the phone with my friend Callie in San Francisco and we went for a walk & talk together. It’s so nice catching up with friends but it’s also just a reminder that there is not much else going on in people’s lives right now - almost every conversation comes back around to coronavirus no matter how hard we tried to steer it in other directions.

Next was a quick Happy Hour Zoom call with some other friends (and my parents) before a big corned beef and cabbage dinner to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with my parents.

Obviously, the playlist featured Unicorn by the Irish Rovers and Galway Girl by Ed Sheeran.

We ended the night watching the first two episodes of Schitt’s Creek - though the concept of a family losing everything and suddenly finding themselves poor was a little hard to laugh at given the current economic situation.

Eventually, we switched to Trevor Noah’s comedy special on Netflix followed by YouTube videos of Jerry Seinfeld and Sebastian Maniscalco.

WIN OF THE DAY

Completed the Newsday crossword puzzle!

Completed by 10 pull ups throughout the day!

WHAT MADE ME LAUGH

Sebastian Maniscalco - shout out to #Pete for putting this guy on my radar!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Coronacation: Day 2

I’m sure that the Coronavirus pandemic will become a chapter in history books. They’ll list statistics about the number of people infected, the number of deaths, the number of borders closed, the number of jobs lost, the plummeting stock market prices. But the facts are rarely effective in telling the full story. The facts won’t tell you about the runners who trained for the Tokyo Marathon and never got a chance to run. The facts won’t tell you about the recovering alcoholics who couldn’t get to an AA meeting. The facts won’t tell you about the small, every day things we took for granted up until a few days ago. An office to go to, your daily conversation with the barista at the coffee shop, running with a group of people, turning on a hockey game at the end of a long day.

My story throughout this pandemic is one of extreme privilege - cancelling a trip to South Africa, though heartbreaking in it’s own right - is not the same as losing a job, losing a house, or losing a loved one.

But I would like to chronicle this time - on the brink of 30, and moving back to my childhood home for an indeterminate amount of time.

I hope you can relate to some of what I write. I hope you can laugh at some of it. I hope it can serve as a brief distraction. And I pray that we can all get through this.

DAY TWO

On Sunday night I swore I was going to stick to a schedule and wake up at 6:30 to workout, shower and eat breakfast before reporting to my laptop for work from home day one.

That was before I drank beer and stayed up past my bedtime :) So instead, I rolled out of bed at 7:15 and was working out by 7:30 - still giving me enough time to shower and pour a cup of coffee before 9 AM.

A dream deferred

Then, it was time to face the reality that I was going to have to cancel my trip to South Africa.

I can’t even estimate how many hours I spent planning and dreaming up this trip. The amount of blog posts and news articles I’d read. The number of bus schedules I’d looked at and menus I’d perused. The number of Google Map routes I’d explored.

I’d planned out everything - there were 30+ confirmation emails I had to go back and find. Some were as simple as clicking a cancel button, but a lot required emails and dates and confirmation numbers and booking references and questions about re-booking and refund policies and I’m sure I’ll be going back and forth on some of this for weeks to come.

Each time I sent an email or clicked the cancel button, I felt my eyes well up with tears. It might sound dramatic, but I had spent so much time planning and picturing myself doing all of these things that it was a pretty devastating way to spend the morning - making it all go away.

The good news is we will likely get to reschedule our trip - but I’m not going to lie if I say the thought of redoing all the work over again fills me with excitement. I think I need some time before I’m ready to get excited again. Plus, there is so much uncertainty right now surrounding my schedule and what life will look like in the coming months that I honestly am not sure that a 3 week trip will be possible at any point. The trip may look different when we re-plan it, and I’m giving myself some time to process that.

If anyone is interested, I might post the itinerary I had put together- because it’s quite impressive if I do say so myself.

lunch break - a quick trip out

My mom and I took a quick trip to CVS so I could buy some tampons, shampoo and more Emergen-C.,,the essentials. It’s really crazy to see the empty shelves where the toilet paper, Lysol wipes and hand sanitizer used to be.

After we got the necessities we drove over a couple of parking spots to Crazy Beans Cafe. I had to laugh - it strikes me as so suburban to drive across a parking lot instead of keeping the car parked where it is and just walking. I got myself an iced vanilla dirty chai latte and 4 pieces of multigrain bread because they have the best bread ever (and refuse to say where they get it from!) Just a casual $12, oops.

While I waited for them to make my drink I thought of some of my other favorite dirty chai lattes - they’re usually my go-to treat at the top of a hike or when I’m getting a mid-day pick-me-up on vacation. It made me wish I knew when I’d get to travel again. Or hug my friends!

A definite up-side to the quarantine business is that people seem to be going on a lot more walks! My mom and I drove to the beach and did a few laps of the walking trail, it was chilly and windy but sunny.

Then it was back to work - a few phone calls, but unfortunately not much good news.

What was good, was my turkey sandwich. You know I love a good turkey sandwich. Like, really love.

We made them on the crazy delicious multigrain bread from Crazy Beans - turkey, American cheese, mustard, bread and butter pickles, spinach and avocado.

I will admit that I might have dozed off in my bed for 20 minutes or so in the late afternoon.

Dinner was a big giant Greek salad, because my mom and I are insisting on some healthy meals up in here. Greens, chickpeas, dill, feta, dolmades, tzatziki, carrots, onions, cucumber, tomato - mmm I was a happy camper!

Then it was time to wrap up my Gotham City Writer’s Creative Nonfiction 101 Class. Sad that we didn’t get a chance to say a real goodbye to our professor and classmates, but really glad that instead of outright cancelling, we were able to call in via Zoom for one last 3-hour lesson.

I’ve been trying to think of companies and industries that are benefiting from this crisis, and Zoom certainly seems to be one of them - along with online streaming services like Netflix and at home workout streaming services like Peloton!

THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE

I highly recommend revisiting some of NPRs tiny desk concert series while you’re home! It brought a lot of joy to my day. Harry Styles’ dropped yesterday and I also took some time to listen to Maggie Rogers and Dermot Kennedy.

THINGS THAT MADE ME LAUGH

I was all about the NYC coronavirus-related content today.

THIS video from Trevor Noah

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Coronacation: Day 1

I’m sure that the Coronavirus pandemic will become a chapter in history books. They’ll list statistics about the number of people infected, the number of deaths, the number of borders closed, the number of jobs lost, the plummeting stock market prices. But the facts are rarely effective in telling the full story. The facts won’t tell you about the runners who trained for the Tokyo Marathon and never got a chance to run. The facts won’t tell you about the recovering alcoholics who couldn’t get to an AA meeting. The facts won’t tell you about the small, every day things we took for granted up until a few days ago. An office to go to, your daily conversation with the barista at the coffee shop, running with a group of people, turning on a hockey game at the end of a long day.

My story throughout this pandemic is one of extreme privilege - cancelling a trip to South Africa, though heartbreaking in it’s own right - is not the same as losing a job, losing a house, or losing a loved one.

But I would like to chronicle this time - on the brink of 30, and moving back to my childhood home for an indeterminate amount of time.

I hope you can relate to some of what I write. I hope you can laugh at some of it. I hope it can serve as a brief distraction. And I pray that we can all get through this.

DAY ONE

I’m two months away from 30 and today I waved goodbye to my NYC apartment, not sure when I’ll return. 2 weeks? 2 months? I left a note for myself: “Welcome home, we missed you! Light a candle and breathe.” Who knows when that will happen.

Packing for a Pandemic

What do you bring with you when you don’t know how long you’ll be gone, but know you’ll be spending a lot of long hours inside the house?

One Suitcase

Filled mainly with leggings, sweatpants and workout clothes - there won’t be much reason to wear real pants for awhile.

My Backpack

Two laptops, two chargers, some headphones and a lot of books I managed to pick up before the New York Public Library closed its doors.

Workout Equipment

A strong home workout routine is what I anticipate will keep me sane throughout this experience. Various exercise bands, a 25 lb plate, my vibrating foam roller and a pull-up bar were all packed into the car.

Food

Two bags of food - being back in the ‘burbs means Stop & Shop - not the millennials’ beloved Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. I’ll be rationing my LesserEvil paleo puffs and popcorn. Most importantly, a 6 pack of Captain Lawrence Orbital Tilt IPA.

Home Sweet Home

When I arrived home it hit me. For the first time in over a decade, I’ll be sharing a house with my parents. It’s not very big. There’s one bathroom.

The governor had just announced that all schools in NYC, Nassau County, Suffolk County and Westchester County would be closed for at least 2 weeks. Seeing the amount of calls, texts and emails my dad was getting and realizing the amount of stress he must be under was hard. So many people were looking to him for answers. No one wants to have to say “I don’t know,” to people who look to you for guidance. But these are unprecedented times. We are all having to figure it out on the fly.

Speaking out figuring things out - the first thing I did when I got home was attempt to do a crossword puzzle. Then I remembered how absolutely awful I am at crossword puzzles.

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but being told you should be staying in the house has had a weird psychological effect. It’s really got a way of making you want to go outside. Staying inside all day on a Sunday isn’t that crazy of a concept, but now, everyone is feeling trapped.

So my sister and I laced up our sneakers and walked the mile to my grandparents house. We called the house phone and told them to come to their front door and we stood on the sidewalk and yelled across the lawn to them before moving to the backyard and sitting an entire deck apart from each other. Though I hadn’t seen them in weeks, there were no big hugs or our classic faire la bise with big “MWAHS!” We couldn’t go in the house.

No return to Long Island would be complete without a bagel, and when my sister and I got home we loaded up everything bagels with vegetable cream cheese, lox and tomato.

There were a lot of episodes of Gossip Girl watched on the couch the rest of the day, too much scrolling through Instagram, and a lot of refreshing CNN’s live updates.

When my mom got home from work, we had dinner (bangers and mash - we maturely made sure to say bangers 99 times during dinner) and I had my fork swatted away when I temporarily forgot about coronavirus and went to take a bite of my moms’ food.

After dinner it was back to the couch, where I was already creating an indent of my ass, to watch the democratic debate.

Somewhere along the way (about halfway through my second IPA), we lost interest in the debate and instead devolved into laughter about the “computers on wheels” at my mom’s hospital.

“We can’t call it a cow because patients might think we are calling them cows - so it’s a wow!”

“What the fuck does the W stand for?!”

“I don’t know why we call it that, it’s just so we don’t call it a cow!”

The final thing I did on my first day home was make an Entenmann’s chocolate donut & mint chocolate chip ice cream sundae with lots of whipped cream. There are few things more nostalgic to me than an Entenmann’s chocolate “doe-doe.” I’ll never forget the time I was younger and my dad made me an ice cream sandwich out of one - a true revolutionary! As a ate my sweet treat on Sunday night I still felt nervous about the days to come, but also felt infinitely safer and secure being home.

Things I’m Reading:

11 Charts that Explain the Coronavirus Pandemic

Americanah (I’ve been reading this for approximately 5 months, to be honest)

Things That Made Me Laugh:

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

SECRET IDAHO - A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN POTATOES

Since my first big trip to Barcelona in April of 2017 I’ve tried to plan a longer vacation every April/May. In 2018 I went on my huge Eurotrip, visiting 6 counties in 17 days (Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Hungary). And in 2020 I’ll be setting off on an epic 17-day trip around South Africa.

But in 2019 I chose a destination that many people were very confused by. I took off a week of work so I could explore a place a little closer to home – the state of Idaho.

Most people think of Idaho and think “potatoes.” And not much else. But when I thought of Idaho I saw alpine lakes, gorgeous hikes, greenery and waterfalls. And I had a suspicion that people were seriously underestimating this state that I tell everyone is “the next Denver.”

Turns out, I was right. Idaho was amazing, and “secret Idaho” is a real thing – the people that live there know how awesome it is – and they don’t want it to be discovered. That didn’t stop them from being incredibly friendly (and slightly surprised) when we told them we were just there for a road trip.

If I were to go back and re-plan this trip, I may have gone at a different time of year. The week we were traveling was during their “mud season” – the in-between time when skiing and snow-shoeing are done for the season but it’s still too muddy for a lot of mountain biking and hiking and still too cold for kayaking, rafting, swimming, waterskiing and all other forms of water activities.

Luckily, we had a somewhat loose itinerary and were able to use the expertise of locals to find mountain biking and hiking options in each of the towns we visited.

Here was our Idaho road trip – I hope I can convince you to add this Midwest state to your bucket list!

1. STANLEY

I landed on Saturday night in Boise and stayed at a hotel close to the airport – it was a little sketchy, but it was cheap. On Sunday morning, Sabrina landed and picked up the rental car and came to get me.

First stop was for smoothies and juices at Boise Juice Company followed by a stop at Ross to get towels, which we had forgotten.

Then we were ready to start our adventures. We drove along the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Route which had stunning views. I was glad Sabrina had offered to drive – the roads were curvy and a few distracted seconds would have sent us over the edge of a cliff.

After about an hour and 45 minutes of driving, we made a stop at the Kirkham Hot Springs. We were definitely not the only people there – and while it was pretty crowded, we enjoyed hiking down to the hot springs and lounging around for a while.

I was shocked at just how hot the water was!

We finished the drive to Stanley and checked into the Triangle C Cabins. There was no one around, and after a quick walk around town, we realized that we were in for a very quiet first few days.

So we picked up groceries and sat down at one of the few bars that were open and toasted to vacation with a beer, some bar food and the Islanders game!

That night we walked from our cabin with some beers and watched the sunset up near Stanley Pioneer Park. It was absolutely gorgeous and so peaceful.

Then, it was time for the Game of Thrones finale!! We watched in our cabin with a snack-dinner and beer and it was a perfect chill night.

The next morning, we woke up and after multiple attempts at getting into the main hotel building and various e-mails, we realized the “gym” we had been looking at was the owners’ personal gym equipment – oops. So we wrote up our own workout and did it in the cabin! It was a good one – we called it “Bad Bear” and we still talk about it to this day!

Next up was a hike to Redfish Lake – the road was still closed because of snow, so we had to park pretty far away. It was more of a walk than a hike, but it was really pretty as the snow swirled around us. We were the only people there, and it was really quiet and serene.

Even though Stanley ended up being a lot sleepier and snowier than I thought (we weren’t able to hike or mountain bike and Sabrina had to pack an extra jacket for me), it was the perfect way to start our trip on a laid back and relaxed note (something that I sometimes need help with!) Stanley was incredibly picturesque, and I was just happy to be out in the fresh air with mountains and sky and not much else.

We drove out of Stanley and headed through the Sawtooths on scenic Highway 75 making our way to Sun Valley.

2. SUN VALLEY - KETCHUM

I never realized what a fancy-ass place Sun Valley, Idaho was. The cars you see driving down the streets, the bikes you see on people’s bike racks, the stores you see while walking through town – the people who live here and spend their winters skiing here are loaded.

In fact, 17 leaders of Fortune 500 companies live in Sun Valley part of the year along with 136 current CEO’s and Presidents of US businesses (according to Visit Sun Valley).

And there are a ton of celebrities who use Sun Valley as their place to disappear. They can fly largely under the radar here – the paparazzi don’t tend to follow them to Idaho and the locals aren’t phased. It’s sometimes referred to as “The New North Hollywood” because so many celebrities own homes and spend time in Idaho including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Warren Buffet, Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, Justin Timberlake and more.

Sun Valley is nestled in the Sawtooth National Forest and receives 250 days of sun a year! Sun Valley is known for their ski and snowboard mountains like Bald Mountain, Proctor and Dollar Mountain. There are smaller towns in the surrounding area including Hailey and Ketchum. We stayed in the cutest tree-house Airbnb in Ketchum.

STAY

There were two beds in our cozy treehouse and a zip-line to the backyard bathroom along with a trampoline! The Airbnb was in our hosts backyard and he was incredibly friendly and helped us come up with our game plan while we were in town – he had a ton of intel on the mountain biking trails that might be mud-free, hiking trails that weren’t still covered in snow, and hot springs that might still be open. He offered to set us up with bikes and gave us a day pass to the local YMCA. He used to own a local store and let us look around at the leftover merchandise that they were selling at huge discounts. One of my favorite mornings of the trips was when we ate oatmeal out of mugs on our treehouse balcony.

Hike

When we arrived in Hailey ready to hike – we were greeting with some sudden snow and decided to stall by walking around town and ducking into some shops.

Eventually, the snow stopped and we made our way up Carbonate Mountain Trail– approximately 1,351 feet in elevation. I was absolutely DYING – for some reason I couldn’t catch my breath. Unfortunately, this feeling continued the  rest of the trip and by the time we were in Boise I actually went to a walk-in clinic to make sure nothing was seriously wrong before I flew home. Whether we were hiking or working out or biking – I was super out of breath! Ultimately, I guess it was just a mix of elevation, maybe a little bit of a cold, and maybe being a little bit run down.

Speaking of run down – when we got to the top of the 3.7 mile loop trail – I convinced Sabrina we would take the trip down as a trail run which was super fun! Minus the fact that running in hiking boots doesn’t feel great. I really need to invest in a pair of trail sneakers!

Carbonate was a quick but challenging hike with great views of the town below!

sweat

YMCA

The Sun Valley YMCA in Ketchum was massive and we used our guest passes to take a soak in the hot tub on the snowy afternoon.

Yoga Class

We took a great yoga class in Ketchum at Gather Yoga Studio and it turns out the instructor used to leave near me in New York City! Everyone in Idaho was so friendly and we loved chatting with her after class.

EAT

Post-Hike Lunch in Hailey

JERSEY GIRL

Such a cute little cafe for a half turkey sandwich (duh) with a cup of tomato soup. And it even came with complimentary cookies! The best part was the warm mug of tea on a snowy day.

A+ Dinners in ketchum

TOWN SQUARE TAVERN

This was such a great Mediterranean meal in Ketchum on our first night - any restaurant with a plate of carrots covered in tahini yogurt is good in my book!

Plus a trio of deliciousness - hummus, labneh and roasted eggplant.

THE COVEY

This was my favorite meal of the trip- we sat at the bar and everything we ordered was absolutely unreal. We ordered ourselves a bottle of champagne and split things from their seasonal and rotating menu.

My favorite was the pasta special - homemade pasta with pieces of goat in it. We also had the pheasant which was super flavorful and the sunchoke soup.

bomb brunch

THE KNEADERY

This reminded me a lot of the brunch Callie, Abby and I devoured in Banff - classic, cozy breakfast dishes in a kitschy cabin setting. Complete with a John Deere parked outside, a giant bear guarding the door and a canoe hanging from the ceiling.

We split the Veggie Benedict sans Hollandaise sauce and obviously ordered table pancakes.

JAVA ON FOURTH

This spot was hopping when we walked in one morning. Super cute and conveniently within walking distance of our Airbnb! They’re known for their “Bowl of Soul” - a mocha drink with homemade whipped cream.

DRINK

sawtooth brewery and tap room

This was our first stop upon arriving in Sun Valley. There were plenty of IPAs to choose from, so I was a happy camper!

Lefty’s

Local watering hole in Ketchum where regulars have their own mugs at the bar!

The cellar pub

Another casual local bar we went to late one night.

SAWTOOTH PUBLIC HOUSE

An offshoot of the brewery, the Sawtooth Public House was within walking distance of our Ketchum Airbnb and we happened to be in town for Trivia Night! It was a ton of fun, and we ended up winning! Later that week, in Boise, a group came up to us at the bar and said, “Are you the girls who beat us at trivia in Ketchum?” Small world! I’ll never forget that the last question I got was the character Puck from Midsummer Night’s Dream!

This was also the first place we tried a milkshake IPA - IPA’s brewed with lactose that have gotten pretty big recently. Then we continued to drink more champagne :)

3. Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve

Located between the small towns of Arco and Carey, Idaho - the Craters of the Moon National Monument is at an average elevation of 5,900 feet about sea level - so it’s no wonder that I felt a little out of breath.

It was like stepping into another world - and we got sun, snow and rain during our visit. It was nice that you could drive around or walk around, and we spent a few hours exploring the different areas of the park.

It wasn’t the coolest thing I’d ever seen, but I’m still glad we stopped! It was definitely cool to walk around the lava fields and take pictures of the other-worldly scenery.

4. Twin Falls

Our next destination was to Twin Falls, Idaho which I would say was my least favorite of the towns we stayed in.

It just wasn’t as naturey as our other stops - a few too many strip malls for my liking. That being said, we still had a few noteworthy stops during this portion of the trip!

Shoshone falls

The main reason for our time in Twin Falls was to check out Shoshone Falls, which were pretty massive - they’re actually 45 feet higher than Niagara Falls!

perrine bridge

Something else that Twin Falls is known for is BASE jumpers who come to jump off of the Perrine Bridge --486 feet above the Snake River.

Yellow brick cafE

If you find yourself in Twin Falls, Yellow Brick Cafe was a good spot for a casual, healthy and quick dinner.

twin beans coffee company

Perhaps the highlight of Twin Falls, for me, was my latte from Twin Beans Coffee Company. I could have drank 7 of their Honey Cinnamon lattes!

box canyon hike

Just a short drive from Twin Falls was one of the coolest hikes we did - Box Canyon Springs Trail.

What first looks like a dusty, flat no-man’s land is actually a 4.3 mile trail that leads you down into a canyon with a gorgeous blue lake!

It’s more of a walk than a hike, but really beautiful once you enter the canyon. I really enjoyed it - minus seeing a snake cross right in front of Sabrina’s feet!

5. Bruneau Sand Dunes

About an hour and a half drive from Twin Falls are the Bruneau Sand Dunes - a state park that’s home to the tallest single-structured sand dune in North America. Fun facts! One of the dunes is 470 feet tall!

It reminded me of my days of swimming ashore from my boat to climb the sand dunes at Pirates Cove!

6. Boise

The grand finale of our Idaho road trip was the state’s capitol - Boise!

We decided to base our Boise itinerary around a different beverage each day - this just kind of came to us on the first night and it worked out so well. Highly recommend!

day one - wine, tapas and art

boise art museum

We started out with some culture by stopping by the Boise Art Museum. The real motivation behind this stop was the fact that there happened to be a DOUGHNUT exhibit going on.

It was actually SO cool - Jae Yong Kim’s exhibit was called Donut Ever Forget Me and was made up of hand-sculpted and painted donuts. Each one is totally unique and they stretched out on an entire wall. It was the perfect backdrop for a good old fashioned photo shoot.

freak art gallery

I’ve seen much more exciting graffiti and street art in other destinations (Austin, London, Berlin) but you might as well walk by it while you’re in Boise!

basque block

Did you know that Boise is home to one of the largest Basque populations in the United States?

We stopped into one of the small wine bars and I felt instantly transported back to a pintxos bar in Barcelona - it was so authentic!

txikiteo wine bar

According to their website, the word txikiteo (chee-kee-tay-o) is a Basque words that refers to “a pub crawl or stroll with friends to partake in coffee, tapas, and wine.” Perfect for our night!

We stopped in and had delicious wine and a gorgeous cheese plate - and it turns out the couple sitting next to us were the same couple that took our picture in front of the donuts earlier that day!

the stil

How do you end your wine themed night in Boise? Oh, I don’t know - how about a wine and ice cream flight? Sounds too perfect, right? Well it’s a thing.

They have dairy-free flavors, booze infused flavors, custom flavors and beer and wine pairings and flights. It’s a dream come true in this place - and I had been following them on Instagram for over a year in anticipation.

It did not disappoint and was the perfect way to end the day before heading back to our Airbnb.

bikes and brews

mountain biking

I’m smiling to mask my intense cardio-vascular and muscular distress coupled with severe fear!

The day finally arrived toward the end of our trip - my first attempt at mountain biking! I was absolutely petrified, but if I was ever going to try it, I knew I was in good hands going with Sabrina.

It couldn’t have been easier to walk from our Airbnb to rent a bike at a local shop and ride straight from the shop for 10 minutes to the Military Reserve a whole 1.6 miles from Downtown Boise.

The Military Reserve seems like it was a good place for a beginner - but I also have nothing to compare it too. I’m so glad we went, but it was hands down one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. Going uphill felt impossible and then going downhill felt absolutely terrifying. And the bikes couldn’t be more different than a road bike. Most notably, clutching the brakes, though a natural reaction while racing down a mountain (okay, foothills) with tree roots and rocks, is not advisable. Instead, you’re supposed to “feather” the brakes.

Super grateful I got the chance to do this, but not sure there will be a next time!

MEAT PIES AT KIWI SHAKE AND BAKE

It was simple enough following our mountain biking adventures to swap out our rentals for cruisers for the second half of the day. They were really nice, comfortable bikes that were perfect for riding from brewery to brewery which was our plan for the rest of the day.

First stop was for some substance to line the stomach - and since Sabrina is marrying a Kiwi, Kiwi Shake and Bake was a must visit for meat pies and cold brew to bring us (OK, me) back to life.

BREWERY CRAWL #1 - CLAIRVOYANT BREWING COMPANY

This place had classic brewery vibes and super friendly staff that almost derailed us from our brewery-hopping plans. We made ourselves so comfortable, that we didn’t want to leave! The bartender even promised he would put on the hockey game later in the day if we stuck around, and we met the most adorable old-lady-traveling-duo that we joked would be us in 40 years.

Highly recommend stopping by Clairvoyant - even non-beer drinkers will enjoy the vibes and be able to order a wine, cider or even a Capri-Sun! They also have some live music and food trucks on select days/nights.

BREWERY CRAWL STOP #2 - CLOUD 9 BREWERY

The vibes at Cloud 9 were definitely more strip-mall than brewery, but it was a gorrrrgeous day outside and we plopped ourselves on the patio smack dab in the sun while we enjoyed our beers from this nanopub.

What stands out about Cloud 9 is they are the only certified organic brewery in Idaho and they brew very small batches of each of their beers. They had interesting choice like Honey Basil and Blood Orange.

BOISE GREENBELT INTERLUDE

We took a break from boozin’ to pedal along the Boise Greenbelt for a little while. It’s a 25-mile bike path. Yes, 25 miles! Imagine how easy long training rides would be!

It weaves along the river and if I’m ever back, my goal is to bike all 25 miles!

We may have been a liiiitle tipsy while biking to the next brewery, which resulted in a lot of cycle-selfies. Please take special note of the one souvenir I really wanted: a potato pin for my denim jacket.

BREWERY CRAWL STOP #3 - PAYETTE BREWING COMPANY

The last stop on our bikes ‘n beers tour of Boise was Payette Brewing Company and it was definitely the largest and most popular of our destinations.

It was a great place to end our tour and located right off of the Greenbelt. Plus, who doesn’t love fun beer names like Fuzzy Memories and Kitten Mittens?

We only scratched the surface of the Boise (and Idaho) beer scene - if you’re looking to bike to even more breweries while you’re in town, check out these recommendations from the Seattle Times.

DINNER AT JUNIPER ON 8TH

For dinner, we veered off course a little and switched from beer to bubbles - we may have made the questionable decision to order a bottle of champagne.

As usual, we split a buncha things on the menu - including the Kale & Eggs, Baked Brie and Pork Belly & Gorgonzola Fries. *Chef’s kiss* (just a quick question - when did this become a saying? I think I love it. Should I hate it?)

TEQUILA DAY!

The last day, we decided, would be dedicated to the nectar of the God’s - TEQUILA.

But on tequila day, you need to start slow and get yourself ready.

F45

Step one was getting in a good sweat at the local F45. Followed by a trip to the walk in clinic to make sure I didn’t have anything wrong with me to prevent me from flying the next day - I was still feeling very out of breath but everything seemed OK (per my incredibly hot doctor) so I chalked it up to a combination of the elevation and just a run of the mill cold.

FARMER’S MARKET

The next stop was the farmer’s market - where we strolled around and had some samples. I picked up some really good granola and then we were on our way.

LUNCH IN HYDE PARK

Our Airbnb host had told us that Hyde Park was a cute neighborhood to walk around in, so we decided to head there for lunch. After walking up and down the street we settled on The Hyde House because of the patio. the sun was shining and it was an absolutely beautiful day out.

I couldn’t even think of ordering hot food - so I went with the shaved Brussels sprouts salad.

I was full afterwards, but the ice cream at Goody’s Soda Fountain comes HIGHLY recommended.

DOUGHNUTS

Did you think I wasn’t going to go to a doughnut shop? After lunch we headed back downtown to walk around and shop in the beautiful weather.

Then it was time to dive into the doughnuts from Guru Donuts. They’re best known for their “Hipsterberry” donut - a donut with a glaze made from blueberries, blackberries and lavender. There were a ton on the menu that I wanted to try but since I wasn’t with the biggest donut fan (I will keep working on converting you Sabrina!) I settled on…4 :) Well, I ordered two, and then they offered me two for free. Couldn’t say no to that proposition!

I got the Hipsterberry, an OG glazed and I’m pretty sure another one was margarita-esque (it was tequila day, after all).

Ain’t they pretty?

KENTUCKY DERBY

It happened to be the day of the Kentucky Derby, so eventually we found ourselves getting ready to watch the race go off at the incredibly festive Whiskey Bar.

People were dressed up, there were drink specials, there were raffles, and there were really really good cocktails.

Plus, it turned out to be a very controversial and exciting Derby Day when they disqualified the winner!

Did I mention that while we walked around, we found this mini horse?! Derby Day made.

TACOS & TEQUILA

It was finally time to get our tequila on in pre-celebration of Cinco de Mayo and my 29th birthday. In a day already full of some of my favorite things (F45, doughnuts, miniature horses…) I knew that tequila could only make it better, right?

Right.

We sat down at the bar of Matador and would ya look at that? It was happy hours and tacos and margaritas were on special. Jackpot!

Then, to our surprise, we find out we are sitting next to one of the owners (Matador also has locations in Colorado, Oregon and Washington!) He proceeds to buy us a lot of very expensive, very delicious tequila.

We then run into people who had played us in trivia in Ketchum. We then make more friends and at this point the night is remembered in strange half-memories like:

“YES I WANT TO BUY JIMMY JOHNS NOW SO I CAN EAT IT LATER!”

“Hi, I run an Office-themed trivia tour and bar crawl, but I don’t actually watch The Office.”

“No drinks on the dance floor?”

“I have a hot tub!”

“Here, you can wear one of my bathing suits.”

“I REALLY HATE THE ME OF 3 HOURS AGO THAT THOUGHT AN UNWICH WAS A GOOD IDEA. I WANT BREAD.”

And then, it was morning and it was time to drive to the airport.

We ended the trip with such a fun, crazy night then really could only have happened in Boise.

It was such a great trip - it was equal parts relaxing, exciting, wild ‘n crazy, nature-y, yummy and funny.

I’d travel anywhere with ya Sabrina, and I’m so glad I was right about Idaho - it’s wonderful and incredibly underrated!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Brews in the Baltics: Riga, Latvia Travel Guide

Iceland is having a moment. Ever since Icelandair started offering free “stopover” flights – it seems like this Scandinavian natural-wonderland has skyrocketed to the top of everyone’s travel bucket list. And every male and female on a dating app has a profile picture in the damn blue lagoon.

Scandinavian tourism has suffered in the past due its reputation as being overly expensive, but Iceland’s meteoric rise to tourism mecca has seemed to momentarily change that.

Yet when I started trying to plan my own trip as a part of my time in fellow Scandinavian country Finland, I was surprised to find so many of the tours and accommodations seemed ridiculously overpriced. Plus, I have a tendency to avoid places that are overrun with tourists.

So where was I going to travel after my work trip to Helsinki, Finland? After a lot of time staring at a map, I settled on two small countries that seemed charming, interesting and affordable. The wheels were set in motion for a Finland, Latvia and Estonia trip. I will admit – Latvia and Estonia in November is not exactly the happening place to be. Oftentimes, my friend and I found we were the only people at a bar or restaurant or the only people walking around old town in the evenings. If you’re looking to meet other travelers, go dancing at clubs, etc. – this is not the trip for you. Some things were closed in the off season (we struck out a lot when trying to find scenic overlooks in towers and churches). We were bundled up in layers and jackets and the skies were a constant gray.

But if you’re looking for cities that you can explore in a few days, relatively itinerary-free – Riga, Latvia and Tallinn, Estonia could be perfect for you. If cobblestone streets almost entirely your own to wander and explore coupled with cheap but gorgeous hotels sounds good to you – read on for more reasons to visit these two cities.

RIGA

ART NOUVEAU ARCHITECTURE

Riga, the capital of Latvia, was an affordable and quick hour-long flight from Helsinki. I was surprised to learn that this Baltic city has a ton of art nouveau architecture. A lot of it can be found on Albert Street . We took awhile to walk and photograph these beautiful buildings on our way to a breakfast at Mr. Fox – a café that could have come straight from the East Village or Williamsburg.

I was perhaps a little too excited to order an almond milk latte and good old avocado toast. With wallpaper like this, there was no choice but to have a photo-shoot.

OLD TOWN

There was little on our itinerary that was planned for this trip – we headed to Old Town and simply wandered. We found a little museum that we spent some time in, which was a good way to learn some interesting facts about Riga (since I knew almost nothing going into the trip).

My friend Sam is a master of maps and used her navigation skills to bring us on her own little walking tour of the old town, pointing out things like the Swedish Gate, Riga Castle, St. Peter’s Church, Three Brothers and The Town Hall. Though I loved the effort – we were missing a fair amount of context and fun facts without an actual tour guide.

Throughout our walk, we were fascinated with how few people were out and about.

TEA HOUSE

By far my favorite stop in Riga was this little tea house in the park by our hotel. You walk in and its instant colorful, bohemian vibes. Since we were there in the fall, the park was full of fall foliage and it felt like we were in a treehouse.

After ordering our tea and a pastry (so many tea options!) we climbed up the spiral staircase to the second floor. The top floor is a big ring with a seating area wrapped around and an inner walking path.

You find a place to sit, take your shoes off, climb over the rail, and sit down on pillows and cushions on the floor in front of a 360-degree window looking out at the creek and park. It was perfect and relaxing and beautiful and I am really sad that we don’t have one of these in NYC because I would be a frequent visitor.

CRAFT BEER

Obviously, we had to check out some of the many craft beer spots in Riga. Like most cities, the breweries of Riga were slightly off the beaten path – I was glad we walked to our first stop during the day.

After a brief stop at the Laima Chocolate Museum (which I don’t necessarily recommend), we started our beer crawl:

VALMIERMUIŽAS BEER EMBASSY

This was the start of our weeklong game of 500 Rummy! Nothing particularly stood out about this place, but we enjoyed a beer and looked through the shop next door.

LABIETIS

Next up was my favorite – Labietis. The vibe was decidedly more brewery-like here and we were able to order flights and depart with a new glass and some coasters.

ZIEMELU ENKURS

We finished up the beer crawl with Ziemelu Enkurs – one of the few breweries opened later in the evening. I loved the look and feel of this spot too and it was probably the most “crowded.”

TROMPETE TAPROOM FLIGHTS

Another day, we went to Trompete in Old Town and were able to order a final flight – I was pleasantly surprised by the number of IPAs we found in Riga! The bartender here was friendly and helpful and this is a great stop while you’re in the more touristy part of town!

If you’re looking for more beer options while you’re in Riga, download the Beer District Map and plan your own bar crawl!

HOTELS

I’m not a hotel person. When I travel for pleasure – I tend to like Airbnb’s because hotels remind me of work. Sometimes, I’ll go for hostels if I feel like it’s a place where I want to make friends and go out. But Sam found this great hotel and I’m SO glad we booked it because it ended up being – ready? – my favorite hotel I’ve ever stayed in. And I’ve been able to stay in some phenomenal hotels thanks to work.

The Grand Poet Hotel by Semarah was picture perfect. The room was comfortable and classy. But the best part? The breakfast buffet in the morning, included with our reservation, was out of this world. I almost missed it the first day because I was at the gym but Sam texting me telling me I HAD to get down there before it closed. And she was right. Not only was the food spread amazing – but there were pitchers of different flavored brunch cocktails for free!

And did I mention the absolutely gorgeous spa and pool that you could use free of charge? There was a pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, aroma room and gym.

Since this was off-season, we paid just $47.22 a night! A deal that I still cannot believe. If you’re ever in Riga – this is the place to stay!

OTHER THINGS

A few other recommendations -

• MiiT Coffee for your caffeine fix

• COD for sushi

Black Magic for fancy cocktails & desserts - go thru the hidden bookshelf and down to the alchemist’s laboratory

• Black Balsam - a very traditional Latvian liquor you should try while you’re there

  We had two full days in Riga and I felt that we got to walk and see a ton! Next up: Estonia!

  YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

GRIT HIIT - Grit Boxing Review

I’m not going to pretend that I’m an expert on boxing classes - but I can say that I’ve taken my fair share of boxing classes at different studios in NYC over the past couple of years (Work Train Fight, Overthrow Boxing Club, Everybody Fights, Punch Pedal House, Rumble, Shadowbox, NYSC, Kickbox Haus and Tapout Fitness).

Recently, a new studio joined the fray, and similar to the guerrilla-marketing campaign that accompanied Rumble’s arrival, this newcomer came in HOT with the Instagram sponsored advertisements, intro packages and beautiful models. Would you expect anything less from the boxing gym backed by none other than Mr. Worldwide? That’s right - one of Grit Bxing’s investors is Pitbull! Another big name behind the boxing gym? Tony Robbins. What a squad.

Grit Bxing has another gimmick though - it’s a fitness studio with a bar! No, not a barre. And not a smoothie bar or a juice bar - a straight up, “hit me with a tequila shot” BAR.

Naturally, I signed up for their intro package when it came across my phone screen - $36 (the usual cost of 1 Grit Bxing class) got you:

• 2 Classes

• 1 Guest Pass

• An “MZ Wallace-esque” Gym Bag

• 2 Free Drink Tokens

A definite deal! I appreciated that as the expiration date on the classes inched closer, and I struggled to get myself in for a class in the midst of triathlon training, they quickly answered my email and extended my classes.

I showed up for a 7 AM class at the Union Square studio (there are already plans to open the next Grit Bxing in San Francisco) with Evan Betts.

It’s worth nothing that Grit pays two of their trainers $1,000 an hour - and most make $450 per class! They’ve been very vocal about the fact that they wanted to find and hire the best of the best trainers - which meant auditioning over 500+ before selecting the 9 founding trainers you can now take a class with.

The Studio

The studio’s entryway was fancy, clean, and staffed by friendly front-desk folk. There are rhinestone studded gloves and punching bag spinning in the window, stadium style seating for people to wait for class, bright lights, and plenty of other extra AF touches.

Also in the lobby is the bar - but it’s not huge…there are only about 8 seats at the bar. At the morning class, the bar obviously wasn’t very popular (though they do serve coffee and kombucha) but when I went for a second class in the evening, there were quite a few people staying after class for a drink.

The Locker Rooms

The locker rooms have a lot of nice amenties - dry shampoo, tampons, hair dryers, fancy moisturizers, etc. While the locker rooms were nice - they were just SO crowded. I waited almost 40 minutes following my morning class to get in the shower. This is a product of the class size being so massive. This was also noticeable while waiting to go into class - when one class lets out and everyone is waiting for the next one to start, the waiting area is completely packed.

The Class

The class is split into three areas - you’ll start at either the bags, the treadmill or the weights section and cycle through twice during the 50 minute class.

Treadmill

Approximately 12 minutes of intervals (jog, run, run at an incline, sprint)

Bags

You rotate through different :45 combinations that are showed to you on a screen to make it easier to follow!

Floor

Ladder of the following exercises:

• Prisoner Squats

• Med Ball Burpee

• Squat to Med Ball Lateral Raise

  8-6-4-2-4-6-8-etc.

  The second lap on the floor was:

• 6X Side Lunge Left

• 6X Side Lunge Right

• 12 X Shoulder Taps

• 6X Single Leg Glue Bridge Left

• 6X Single Leg Glute Bridge Right

  Finally we finished with:

• 5 Medicine ball squat to press

• 5 Medicine ball burpees with plank jack

• Last :45 was all med ball burpees with plank jacks

On our way out after class, we were offered up a shot of electrolyte margarita! Pretty kitschy, but people seemed to love it.

What I Liked

• The instructor was very impressive at giving direction to the three difference areas of the class - it was a lot going on, but he managed to keep things from getting too confusing.

• They use my favorite type of bunching bags - they’re filled with water and very satisfying to punch!

• This class would be great for people that get bored doing one thing - you’re constantly switching it up which makes things go by really fast! Class was over before I knew it.

What I Didn’t Like

• I’m not a huge fan of classes that include treadmills. I love running so much, and can’t run a ton of mileage, so I want my runs to be outside in the park with my friends! Not on a treadmill.

• There were SO many people in the class. The instructor was shouting directions the entire time but had no time to really encourage people or have any one on one time with people in the class. Corrections on form was impossible.

• There was almost no teaching of the boxing moves. It’s pretty much expected that you already know jab, cross, uppercut, hook, etc.

Class Size

As I mentioned, the class size is very large. There are 50+ people in each class. But they must be doing something right, because many of the classes fill up a week in advance!

Sweat Scale

Boxing classes always get me sweat and this was no exception. Though my arms weren’t as dead as they have been after some other boxing classes, I certainly felt that I got in a great and very well-rounded workout. It’s a good mix of cardio and strength.

Cost

The intro deals were definitely worth it. Class costs are in line with other boutique fitness classes, but on the higher end at $36. You’ll also need to either rent or purchase gloves and wraps which is an added cost that bothers me at boxing studios.

Bottom Line

Despite the founder claiming that creating community is the reason behind the bar-in-studio formula being tested by Grit, I didn’t get very friendly vibes during my two trips. I think this is mainly due to the fact that there are just so many bodies in the studio at any given time - it’s overwhelming and also makes it almost impossible to have any sort of connection with the instructors.

It’s a great workout, it’s fun and sweaty and feels like you’re in a nightclub. Some people might light being able to just blend into the crowd and not draw any attention to themselves in the midst of the loud music, flashing lights and crowded room. If that’s what you like in a class then you’ll probably have a great time at Grit! It’s not for me but I wouldn’t discourage anyone from going and making up their own mind! Just go at night when you don’t have to shower and get to work afterwards…

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Ironman 70.3 North Carolina Race Recap

I’m going to start this Race Recap with a post I just found in my drafts - titled, “Triathlon Training Week 1 Recap:”

This was supposed to be my Week 1 Triathlon Training recap post . I was going to recap all about ramping up my swimming, biking and running with the NYC Triathlon a short 7 weeks away.

I was going to start laying the groundwork for half Ironman Wilmington this fall (because yes, I’m doing that again!)

In my head, the week looked like this:

Monday - Bike Ride (Hills)
Tuesday - F45 Strength Training
Wednesday - F45 AM / Run PM
Thursday - Long Bike Ride
Friday - F45 AM / Swim PM
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - “Long” Run

Instead, I got in a bike crash during Monday night’s bike ride (but not before completing my first ever Harlem Hill workout - 10 repeats!) and have been sidelined with a bruised tailbone and super stiff neck.

I’m sad. I’m frustrated. And I’m really really grateful that I’m sore but I’m not broken.

I won’t lie - taking a full week off of physical activity (while PMSing) feels a little bit like torture to me - but I know that I’m over-reacting and need to relax. I need to rest, recuperate, and not jump back in too quickly and derail training even further by making things worse.

So I’m forcing myself to be smart, despite the fact that it’s Global Running Day and all I want to do is lace up my sneakers. Despite the fact that it’s my first time back in two weeks and I’m dying to go to an F45 class with all my friends. Despite the fact that I’ll certainly be the least prepared I’ve ever been for the NYC Tri this year.

So, the reality of week 1 of training is:

Monday - Bike Ride (Hills)
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Walk to Work
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Rest

Fast forward tot he NYC Tri being cancelled, my summer being packed with work travel, wavering on whether or not I wanted to even attempt Wilmington so close to a big work event - and here we are - at the race recap. I did it! Another 70.3.

Here’s what I wrote in my journal on the flight to Wilmington:

I spent another 16 weeks training for the Wilmington 70.3 Ironman race and this year - I’m actually on a plane headed to North Carolina. We are doing this!

My triathlon season got off to a shaky start this year when the NYC triathlon was cancelled and although I was sad since it’s always one of my favorite days of the year - I wasn’t distraught considering I was exhausted after a long stretch of work travel.

So without a real practice round, 70.3 training began without much fan fair (Abby accidentally started a couple weeks early…) It is really crazy the amount of pressure I put on myself in 2018 vs. this year, after having completed the half iron distance last year in Montauk.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m still type A Lauren with perfectionist tendencies and I was still very insistent on two a days and planning weekends around long rides and having some minor meltdowns when work trips interfered with my master plan (Excel sheet).

But overall, it was only a few weeks into training when I said to Abby: “It’s such a good feeling to know if the race was tomorrow…it would be hard be we would finish.”

Now, after a week of tapering I’m trying really hard to reconnect to that feeling of self confidence because the voice in my head is saying, “It’s been forever since you biked 60 miles, are you sure you’re going to be able to do it?”

Along with the ever present triathlon vampires that take turns saying:
”You are going to drown.”
”You are going to get a flat tire.”
”Your shins are going to hurt too much to run.”

But I’m reminding myself of a few things every time those voices kick in.

#1 This weekend is going to be great because I will be with two of my best friends

#2 My goal when I signed up again for this years race was, “I probably won’t be able to do it because of work but I want to spend the summer training.” And I spent a great summer biking with Abby and running in Central Park and swimming in the Long Island Sound.

#3 I practiced swimming in open water more than ever before! And actually enjoyed some open water swimming!

#4 I’m going to do the best I can. Being a triathlete requires mental strength just as much as physical strength.

If I beat last years time, I will be ecstatic. If I don’t, I don’t.

I’m excited for Kayla to finally get her 70.3 finish!

I’m excited to eat peanut butter, bananas, bread and dates for 24 hours.

I’m excited for a pre race turkey sandwich and pre-race jitters and race day braids and my manicure is SICK!

I’m excited to do something for myself before working for 23 days straight.

I want to smile a lot. I want a laughing induced bellyache in the next 4 days. I want to be present and supportive and I don’t want to give in to negative self talk. I want to trust my training and trust my self motivation. I want things to go well but if and when they don’t I want to roll with the punches cause that’s life. And life is grand!

THURSDAY

Our flight to Raleigh luckily left without delay, despite strong winds and rainy skies. I had an emotional moment when we took off in gloomy gray skies and ascended above the clouds to bright sunshine.

The sun is always there! Even when it’s obscured by clouds!

I journaled a little on the flight (see above) and listened to Dermot Kennedy and soon enough we were in North Carolina. Kayla and Caroline landed right around the same time as us and we were quickly united in baggage claim.

The plan was to go to Whole Foods to stock up on food for the three days we were in town, eat lunch at the bakery attached to Whole Foods, and then be picked up by Caroline’s sister Molly who would be our race Sherpa and bring us to Wilmington.

When our Uber arrived to pick us up at the airport it suddenly dawned on us how ridiculous this seemed – 4 girls with backpacks, suitcases and duffel bags asking to go from the airport to…Whole Foods?

We were cracking up along with our driver Michael who ended up being from Brooklyn and Port Jefferson! Such a small world and we had such a fun ride with him. My goal of laughing until my stomach hurt during the weekend was accomplished within approximately 20 minutes of landing.

The best picture of the weekend very well may be this one taken by Michael in the Whole Foods parking lot.

We were greeting by granola and bread samples as we rolled our suitcases through the aisles.

Next stop was lunch and while I wasn’t super hungry, Abby and I split the avocado toast (with black beans and other delicious things) and (obviously) the TURKEY SANDWICH.

We also had to try the cinnamon and pumpkin spice scones which were out of this world.

We made ourselves comfortable in La Farm Bakery, bought ourselves a loaf of Fall Harvest bread for the weekend, and then – MY FAMILY STOPPED BY!

My grandma, grandpa, aunt and uncle were nearby for a wake and they were able to stop and say hello. It made me BEYOND happy. It had been a long time since I had seen family, and after a recent cancelled weekend trip home I definitely needed some hugs.   

My grandma left my friends and I with the parting words of: “Find the cutest male butt and follow it!”

We hung out for awhile longer and then Molly came to pick us up. The car ride to our Airbnb was pretty uneventful, but by the time we pulled into the driveway we were in a time crunch to get to the final athlete briefing of the day at 5 PM.

We quickly dropped off our stuff and headed downtown to the convention center and Ironman Village! Seeing that sign made everything feel real!

We sat through the 45 minute athlete briefing which had a lot of information and I think put us all a little on edge with the amount of rules and how many things on the course were grounds for disqualification. 6 bike lengths is what they say cyclists need to maintain – otherwise you risk being penalized for drafting. Absolutely no phones on any part of the course. 

With the briefing over we picked up our packets – full of race information, bibs, stickers (sadly, no tattoos) and shopped around for a little bit – I came incredibly close to buying a donut jersey but unfortunately, they didn’t have my size.

Abby picked up some new shoes (I’m sure this will be the number one item on her packing list at future triathlons) and we laughed at the fact that my name was cut off from almost every item of clothing that listed all of the participants’ names. 

We returned to our car to find someone peeing – “Sorry! It was a really long drive!” they announced unabashedly.

Dude. The building, which has a bathroom, is 50 feet away. 

We got back to the Airbnb and unpacked the car before heading off in search of food. It was crazy to me that every single restaurant in the Wilmington area was a chain of some sort. 

The chain we ended up at was Zoe’s Kitchen – a fast casual Mediterranean spot. 

Back at the house, we spent the night arranging our things into T1 bags, T2 bags, morning bags, “give to Molly for after the race” bags, etc. etc. My brain hurt, and I wrote myself a LOT of post-it notes to try to make things simpler. But there is really nothing simple about a two transition half Ironman.

FRIDAY

The next morning, we awoke with the intention of heading to the water for a test swim in our wetsuits – until I realized my wetsuit was in the bag I had shipped with Tribike and was still sitting at Ironman Village. It was to be a morning of lots of logistics, lots of talking in circles, and lots of walking in circles. But 4 heads are better than one and I like to think we did a great job staying calm and organized (for the most part).

Once I realized I needed my wetsuit we drove back into town to pick our bikes up. When we got to Ironman Village we stopped at the information table to ask a few questions. The biggest question was – do we really need to take the athlete shuttles from Ironman Village or can we get dropped off at T1 on race morning – which our Airbnb was much closer to. As someone who works in events, I could tell that everyone we asked was just giving us the answer they were trained to give which was essentially, “We planned for these shuttles, get on them!”

But after talking to multiple people we made the decision that if we got dropped off at T1 before the road closure, it would still save us time as opposed to driving all the way back into town to get on a shuttle. 

Anyway – the man at the information table was super chatty and gave us lots of words of advice about putting our wetsuits on which actually turned out to be incredibly helpful.

After talking to him for awhile we went to Tribike and got our pedals put back on – the two guys working were also incredibly friendly and helpful. They inflated our tires to the right pressure and reassured us that they would be fine overnight and there was no need to worry about re-inflating them in the morning. I think we all breathed a little sigh of relief since none of us had flown with a pump.

We managed to fit all four bikes in the back of the car – which Abby and Caroline drove to T1 while Kayla and I hopped in an Uber and met them there.

Before bringing our bikes into transition and saying goodbye to them until Saturday morning, we took them for a spin around the parking lot to check that everything was A-OK.

Then, it was time to drop off our T1 bags. We left them hanging with our bikes and helmets and would actually set the items up on Saturday morning (they warned us not to put anything on the grass overnight because of fire ants!)

We were very lucky with our rack locations – they were in an easy to remember place and close to both the run in and the bike out. Plus, we were all close to each other which was great.

T1 Bag

• Cycling Shoes

• Socks 

• Goggles

• Swim Cap

• Ear Plugs

• Shirt with bib pre-fastened

• Arm Sleeves (these were perfect and I’m so glad Abby had them on her packing list)

• Cycling Sunglasses

• Towel (to lay things out on and to dry off after the swim)

Before leaving T1 I made sure that I had put stickers on my bike frame and helmet and my numbered sticker on my T1 bag.

I checked that everything was in my flat kit and I loaded my fuel into my Po Campo handlebar bag (a Stasher bag full of dates and a Lara Bar)

And I made sure to take my water bottle off my bike so I could fill it and bring it with me to T1 on race morning.

We then went in search of a place we could get in the water – which resulted in us walking around in circles for a very long time before realizing we couldn’t swim where we were and needed to head to the swim start.

We ended up across the street from the swim start, but water is water and at that point we just wanted to practice getting in and out of our wetsuits and mentally prepare ourselves for the water temperature. A nice lady in the parking lot had us cracking up as she seem completely bewildered at what we were about to do the following morning.

After putting another giant hole in my wetsuit with my nails – I was a little cranky. Wetsuits just make me anxious and claustrophobic and I was convinced that after getting out of the water I was going to feel more nervous and stressed. But luckily, everything felt good. The water temperature was lovely, I had put my wetsuit on properly for possibly the first time, and though we were only in the water for a grand total of 3 minutes, I emerged feeling better about things instead of worse.

We obviously had to take a parking lot wetsuit selfie before doing some quick changing and drying and continuing to T2.

At this point, I couldn’t have imagined arriving on Friday and having to do all of this – I would have been a complete disaster of stress. Taking off from work on Thursday and flying in early was definitely the right move!

T2 was anticlimactic in a good way – we simply left our labeled T2 bags at our rack and walked out.

T2 Bag

• Plastic Waterbottle 

• Goodrs

• Spibelt

• Socks

• Sneakers

• Gel

• Lara Bar

On our drive back to the Airbnb we stopped at the grocery store for some lunch supplies and walked out with not only a pound of turkey, but a giant baby head mask and a bottle of champagne.

I was very relieved that by lunch time all of the logistics were pretty much done – all that was left to do was hydrate, fuel, relax and get ready for show time!

Lunch (turkey, Pop Corners, Fall Harvest toast with PB, baby carrots, etc.) was enjoyed outside by the pool – it was sunny and beautiful out (but there were 238492 flies trying to eat our food).

I made the mistake of logging onto my email and almost passed out as 100+ emails flooded my inbox. I spent the next 2 hours making my way through them, since I knew I would feel better Saturday and Sunday if I got to a good place with work.

That night we made pasta with sauce and ate a simple, carby dinner. We went around the table and all said what we were most excited for – and my answer was that I was excited to put all my swimming practice to use. I really was looking forward to hopefully having a swim I could feel proud of! I wanted to swim, not just survive the swim.

The 5 of us played Anomia to stay distracted and then it was time to go to bed!!

My Friday night post its to myself were:

• Give Caroline my Patagonia (so it was in the car post-race) 

• Give Caroline my backpack (so I can return it to Tribike after the race)

• Charge Garmin

I actually fell asleep pretty easily.

SATURDAY - RACE DAY!

Soon it was 3:56 AM and Kayla was dancing in our room to “Life Is A Highway” with her baby mask on and I was belly hysterically laughing. The perfect start to the day!

We did a lovely dance around the Airbnb as 4 girls got ready in a house with a small kitchen and one bathroom.

Saturday Morning To Do List:

• Breakfast – half of an English muffin with PB and banana   

• Coffee – Starbucks instant coffee which I swear by for getting things goin’ if you know what I mean

• Give Caroline my phone charger, so it would be in the car after the race (I think the most annoying part about not having an iPhone is not being able to share a charger with people and always having to make sure I have mine with me!)

• Body Glide, Body Glide, Body Glide

Walking out of the Airbnb – I was dressed in the following:

• Sports Bra

• Long Sleeve T

• Garmin

• Road ID

• Voler Tri Shorts

• Teva Sandals

• Timing Chip

And the following came with me into the car-

Morning Bag:

• Water Bottle

• PB & Banana Sandwich (which I put into my handlebar bag)

• Iced Coffee

• Wetsuit

• ID/Debit Card (which I put into my handlebar bag so I would have it post-race)

• Phone (same thing – I put it in my handlebar bag and would transfer it to my Spibelt before the run – I was nervous not to have it with me and am used to running with it on all of my training runs anyway)

• Post Race Clothes (leggings, sports bra, shirt)

We left the Airbnb around 4:40 AM and Molly dropped us off right near T1 with absolutely no issues at around 5 AM. We first got our Sharpie markings on our arms and calves and headed into transition. Everything was set up and ready to go by 5:15 AM (I left out my arm sleeves, shirt with bib, socks and cycling shoes, helmet).

Before Leaving T1 Checklist:

• ID/Debit Card, Fuel and Phone in Bike Bag

• Water bottle in Cage

We headed to the shuttle with our morning gear bags.

Morning gear bag

• Post-Race Clothes (morning gear bag would be waiting for me at the finish line bag pick up area)

• Goggles

• Swim Cap

• Ear Plugs

• Triple checked my timing chip was on my ankle

We were one of the first shuttles to get to the swim start and we found a place to sit – we would be there for a while! On paper, sitting and waiting to start the race for 2 hours sounds horrible – but it really wasn’t bad somehow.

We were a little chilly, but it wasn’t anything unbearable. We took turns getting in and out of the porto potty line and I continued to get more stressed at the fact that I hadn’t had any luck yet in that department. I sipped on cold brew and we watched as the sunrise turned the sky some pretty incredible colors! Abby braided my hair – I must-do for any triathlon. Ideal for swim caps and helmets!

Photo by Brett!

Around 6:15 AM I hate a piece of my Ole & Steen seeded rye bread with PB & banana.

I distinctly remember Dermot Kennedy playing as we waited and I took it as a sign of a good day to come.

Eventually, around 6:45 AM, we started to get our wetsuits on. I was careful not to rip it any more than I already had and also made sure to pull it way up on the ankles and wrists to make sure I had more than enough space in my shoulders.

Please note the giant hole. It’s fine. This thing was cheap…….

It felt good. I didn’t want to mess with it. But then we decided to give the bathroom one more shot. And I am GLAD I did because I finally had success in the portos. With my wetsuit back on, it was time to drop off my morning bag and for us to make our way to the long line forming around the swim start area.

Abby and Kayla were back and forth on which swim group they wanted to start with (it was a self-seeded swim start which I am now a huge fan of!) but I knew that I was going to go with the 45-50 minute group to play it safe. I stood with them in the faster group just to stay calm – I wasn’t ready to go off on my own just yet. I’m really glad I did – because we stood in line for about 45 minutes once the first athletes got in the water.

As we inched our way closer and closer to the street we would cross in order to get in the water, I finally gave them a hug goodbye and put myself at the front of the 45-50 minute group. Luckily, the girls around me were also chatty and we made nervous, excited small talk for the next few minutes.

I concentrated on taking deep, full breaths. I told myself to take today one thing at a time. Up first: a swim I could be proud of. I reminded myself of all the open water swimming in the Long Island Sound and at the lake in the Adirondacks. I had put in so much time and I wanted it to show! I didn’t need to be fast, but I wanted to actually swim. Face down, bilateral breathing, for real swimming. Catching and pulling and having tired arms at the end of 1.2 miles. Not side-stroking and backstroking and any-stroking to stay afloat – real swimming!!

As our group got up to the road the announcer said, “And here are the folks who are the really fast bikers and runners!” I laughed – so true.

Then, we were walking into the water.

And it felt – so warm?

Because the air was colder than the water and I was wearing a wetsuit, getting into the water felt downright pleasant. It was so nice not to start with the cold water taking my breath away.

I wish I could write a more detailed swim recap – but overall, I just knew that I was swimming and I wasn’t panicking. There were a lot of people around me (and a lot more men than I had anticipated) so I felt like I was having to change course a lot, but I was calm and I wasn’t getting kicked or swam over (for the most part).

My sighting could definitely use some work – because my version of sighting is pretty much stopping my forward momentum to stick my head up and look forward – and I was doing it a lot. My sense of direction isn’t the greatest, and my sense of direction in the water is laughable. But I managed to somewhat follow the crowd. Because I wasn’t trying to beat any records with my swim, I didn’t mind if I had to take wide turns or an indirect route in order to stay away from the most concentrated areas of swimmers.

I did take a turn pretty tight next to a wooden pole and kicked it – which I would later realize left some scratches.

Otherwise, I just kept swimming and before I knew it I could tell that we were in the final stretch. I felt good! I felt like I had done the absolute best I could and I was also very happy that I hadn’t swallowed a gallon of water which I hoped would help my stomach later in the race (in Montauk last year I had horrible cramps on the bike which I think had to do with the amount of salt water I unintentionally drank).

To get out of the water we had to scramble up a little ladder and it was perfectly fine – no line up of people waiting to get out.

Once I was up the smile on my face was massive. I felt like no matter what the rest of the day had in store, I had finally had an actual swim in a race.

SWIM: 35:08

As I ran out of the water I remembered to put my sleeve over my Garmin and my earplugs/goggles in my hand as I rolled down the upper half of my wetsuit.

After a few feet I came to one of the race highlights – the WETSUIT STRIPPERS! I plopped down on the ground, stuck my legs up in the air, and had my wetsuit ripped off me in one fell swoop. It was truly exhilarating.

I ran toward the transition area and as I got to the final grassy portion I saw Kayla and Abby up ahead and ACTUALLY jumped into the air. At that point I had seen that my watch said 35 minutes but it didn’t really hit me until I saw Abby and Kayla right there in front of me that the swim hadn’t just gone well, it had gone really well.

They heard me scream their names and we ran to our bikes together, with me saying something like, “I DON’T KNOW WHAT JUST HAPPENED, but it was great!”

At my bike I started getting ready and eating my sandwich (1 slice seeded rye with PB and banana). Putting on arm sleeves while wet is not easy, FYI. And I definitely should have wiped my face off a little more. Before I left, I made sure that my wetsuit and everything else was packed up in my T1 bag (it would be picked up there and brought to the finish line). Soon I was running alongside my bike, cleats clip clopping like a horse as I came up to the line and mounted. 

T1: 8:04

In retrospect, I probably could have spent a little more time in T1 getting myself situated, but I was just so pumped coming off of the swim that I wanted to keep the momentum going. Once I was on my bike I spent the first few minutes pedaling easy and eating my sandwich – of course, this is where about 3 photographers captured me looking stunning with food in my mouth and my sunglasses completely lopsided as I hadn’t managed to loop them over one of my ears.

With my sandwich finished, I was ready to roll. The first couple of miles there was a lot of passing and being passed as people fell into position and tried to maintain distance between the cyclist in front of them. I was happy with the terrain – it seemed flat and the wind seemed calm. I was the perfect temperature.

I’m not sure what point it was that Abby and I found ourselves riding together, but all I know is I was overjoyed to think we could spend some time together on the bike course. I’m incredibly bad at pushing myself on the bike – and I knew that with Abby near me we could keep each other going like all of our training rides.

We ended up biking the rest of the way together. Abby led for most of the way, like the magical pacer that she is. And I just had to worry about keeping up.

The course wasn’t the most beautiful thing – but it was flat and car-free (for the most part) and I had Abby to yell random things at and we kept passing a few of the same girls back and forth (including Megan! The girl I had started the swim with!). Everyone was so lovely and encouraging and I loved that the self-seeded swim start meant that you really couldn’t look at anyone as competition because you had no idea when they had started.

I was good about eating and drinking and at the second aid station I hopped off my bike to grab a water bottle – I got way too nervous about grabbing it on the go (but Kayla did and I’m so impressed!!) Note for next time is that I should definitely have two water bottle cages. When I grabbed the plastic one from the aid station, I had to ditch my other one ☹ I was worried Abby would be too far ahead after that for me to catch up but eventually I found her again.

She told me she wanted to finish the bike in under 3:30 and I said, hell yes let’s do it!

Other highlights from the bike ride include passing a crazy house with lots of sculptures and passing a motorcycle gang and thinking how funny it was that a giant group of bikers was passing a giant group of bikers.

Bike Fuel:

• Mile 15 1 slice seeded rye with PB & banana (bringing the grand total to 3 slices of seeded rye with PB & banana…sponsor me Ole & Steen!)

• Mile 30 date

• Mile 40 date (as I dexterously got the date out of my handlebar bag, a fellow cyclist complimented me on my coordination. Little did he know I was also de-pitting the date in my mouth. Talent.)

• Mile 50 date

I really loved this bike ride. I felt strong and it was nice not to feel lonely and in my own head during it. But then we got to the last 5 miles – and the wind picked up, and I was tired, and I just wanted to finish. It felt like I wasn’t moving – and the demoralized feeling that I was hoping to avoid on the bike kicked in. Luckily, it was just the final stretch and we didn’t have to contend with the winds for the entire ride. But it was a brutal finish. Not to mention, the course was long by about 2 miles – so we really felt like we would never get to the end.

But finally I was on the final stretch into T2 and Molly was on the corner and saw me coming and started cheering and it was so good to see another friendly face out there!

BIKE: 3:18:53

Abby was close behind me and I started getting ready in T2. She told me to go without her if I was ready but mentally I didn’t want to be on my own just yet, so I drank some water and told her I would stop by the portopotty and meet her at the exit.

In the porto is when I realized that I still had black shit all over my face from the swim. Cool cool. Very cute.

T2: 7:17

We jogged out together and I prayed that my legs would carry me the final 13.1 miles, but regardless – I was very happy with how the swim and bike had gone.

Starting out, things felt pretty good and eventually Abby and I parted ways. There was a great crowd in the first portion of the run since we were in the downtown area and it was the first time I saw the shops and restaurants that I knew must have existed outside of the Convention Center and strip malls. Since it was an out and back course, there were people flying through on their way to the finish line and I tried not to think about how much more there was to run for me – I just tried to take in the positive energy.

I was also excited that the out and back course meant I could be on the lookout for Caroline, Michelle, Kayla and Abby as I went.

I was shocked when my watched beeped for the first mile – it seemed to have gone by SO fast which was a good feeling.

Like in Montauk, by plan was just to take things one mile at a time. To truly never think ahead to the next mile, and just run the mile I was in.

It made things go quickly, despite the fact that I wasn’t moving super quickly. I let myself walk through every aid station – making sure to drink at least one cup of water at each. I also had some oranges and pretzels at the aid stations- which had a big selection.

I came up to Megan again at one point and we chatted for a few minutes.

Each of the aid stations was themed and all of the volunteers were so amazing - fully dressed up and playing music and yelling our names.

But eventually, like I kind of suspected, my right IT band started feeling like it was completely wound up in a knot. The rest of the run was spent gritting my teeth and stopping every half mile / mile to stretch on any street sign or portopotty that I passed. Miles 9-13 were probably the worst, but the pain started around mile 5.

I’m proud of myself for not getting frustrated or angry – there was no changing it, it had been bothering me all throughout training, and I was just happy that I had gotten to the starting line, had a great swim, great bike and I knew I was going to finish the run and do my best to still enjoy being out there!

I passed Michelle at some point, and then saw Abby at the turn around point, and finally saw Kayla who had a big happy smile and we stopped for a quick hug.

At mile 6 I also ate a half of a Lara Bar (it was such an exciting surprise when I took a bite and realized it was carrot cake flavored!)

When I made it to mile 12 I told myself, “It’s been hurting for the last hour and it’s going to keep hurting no matter what speed you’re going, so make mile 13 your fastest – cross the finish line feeling fast!”

And so after a final stretch at the last aid station, I ran proud and slightly limpy for a final 1.1 miles – crossing the finish line with a half marathon time of 1:59:19 and a final mile pace of 8:14 (my fastest of the 13 miles).

Run: 1:59:19

My hamstring seized up once or twice on the final sprint and I thought I was going to go down, but I focused on using my glutes and hips to bring my legs up instead of my hamstrings and was able to keep pushing.

I have never soaked in a finish line more. I’ve never raised my arms above my head and had time slow down. I could feel my face twitching between a giant smile and the threat of tears. I heard them announce my name and time sped back up as I took the final steps and slowed to a shaky stop.

I got my medal, I got a water bottle. I heard Michelle screaming my name at some point. I got a picture. Molly found me and brought me over to Caroline and eventually I looked down at my phone – the first thing I saw was a Venmo sent to me by a coworker directing me to buy an IPA.

In the craziness of a finish line I didn’t have much time to think or reflect – soon Abby was crossing the finish line and I was trying to find her, and we were getting our bags, and talking to Michelle and Brett (it was so nice to see them there and Michelle absolutely CRUSHED her race going sub 6!) and then we found Kayla who was crying a lot and we were also just so happy and in such a post-race bliss. At some point I called my parents and eventually, we gathered ourselves and got our bags from T2. We brought them to the car and changed on the top of the parking garage while recounting our stories from the day.

We walked to the post-race food, but it was super disappointing (though there was a turkey sandwich!), and it had started to rain at that point. So we went back to T2 to give our bikes back to Tribike. I waved goodbye to my bike and bag (not wanting to think about how gross it would smell when I was reunited with a still-wet wetsuit two weeks later in NYC).

Plz peep the manicure - these nails made me faster.

On the car ride home I scrolled through the final results and felt super content with how the day had gone. Sure, I would have loved to crush the run, but I had kind of known that wasn’t in the cards. And I was beyond proud of my swim and bike. Sorry, have I mentioned how happy I was about my swim and bike?

overall finish: 6:08:39

That’s a more than 30 minute PR (Montauk was 6:40:20)!!

Back at the house we drank champagne and showered and were merry. That night, Abby, Kayla and I went to a brewery to eat and drink beers flights and take tequila shots which was pretty much the best thing I could have asked for. I was with my favorite people in the best post-race high I had ever experienced. 

The post-race high was so real, in fact, that we found ourselves awake at 3:40 AM that morning hysterically laughing and completely incapable of sleep.

In the aftermath of the race, I’ve been seriously contemplating a full Ironman. After Montauk, I felt like a half was challenge enough. It felt really hard and I couldn’t imagine doing twice the distance. But after North Carolina I felt good. I felt like I had belonged out there – and yes, it was obviously a huge challenge, but there was still something left in me (though there was nothing left in my IT band).

I’m really proud of this race – not just because it was a huge PR but because I trained through a crazy work schedule this summer. I’m also proud of myself for taking a bit of a step back from last summer – where training was all consuming and I thought about nothing else.

In this year’s final weeks of training I didn’t feel burnt out and ready to throw in the towel which I think says that I did things right.

Thanks to my family – though I’m not quite sure they understand why I do this – they never make me feel guilty for having to schedule things around not only my work travel but my long ride schedule. 

Thanks to my acupuncturist and F45 and my foam roller and the biggest thanks of all to Abby and Kayla. When it comes down to it – I wouldn’t do any of this if it wasn’t so much fun to do it alongside both of you.

I don’t know what’s next. I do know I want to set some non-fitness focused goals for the next year. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be some races thrown in there too.

If you read this whole thing, thanks to you too!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: