Coach Jen B

I bet you did and didn't even realize it.  The other day, I was feeling rather sorry for myself.  I have been missing my girls on my runs lately and was thinking that I was going to have to change the name of my blog because I've been running by myself a lot lately.  Perhaps I'm a bit overdramatic.  A few years ago I talked Stacy into running with me.  Our kid playdates soon became replaced with mommy run-dates.  I was in heaven and my bestest friend was running with me.  I didn't realize it at the time but I inspired her to run.   But the story doesn't end there, Stacy has gone on to inspire many other people to run.  She runs with a group of women after school most days before getting her daughter at daycare.  She has also been running with one of her teacher friends throughout the summer.  She even inspired her daycare provider (who is a super fit woman already) to start running again.  The it dawned on me - Inspi...

Last night the girls and I took Hallowell by storm.  Yes, we are wild like that.  We set out for a night on the town to celebrate slightly belated birthday for our gal, Stacy.  Life has been a bit busy lately and that was the only night the majority of us girls could get together.  Each time we got out, we end up at the same place - Slates in Hallowell. the best margarita hands down Before we could even look at the menu we were asking our waitress about the drink specials, more specifically margaritas.  She barely finished uttering the words "Blood Orange" when we said just about simultaneously, "I'll take that."   I think Jill needs some aviators, don't you?   A little backstory here, last weekend, our teammate, Andy was wearing some sweet aviators for our relay race.  Unfortunately, for him, he misplaced them somewhere in Jill's truck.  After some searching on Jill and Andy's behalf, the glasses were still missing. ...

When the girls met up this morning, it was about 30F but the sun was shining!  The rail trail is completely off limits right now due to the ice.  I'm hoping that the weather will cooperate and we can return to our beloved rail trail sometime next month, but until then, we'll be running the roads of Gardiner, Richmond and Wiscasset.   This morning we met up at Kim's house, which meant she got to plan the route.  To be honest, at first I wasn't excited about the hill she took us on, but it was at the beginning and it really wasn't as bad as hills we've done before.   All in all, the route was enjoyable.  It's great to change things up and to try different routes.   The route actually took us along the same River Road I ran yesterday but a totally different stretch of it.  Maybe someday I'll do the entire stretch from Richmond to Gardiner?   I did actually bring my phone with me, so when the girls weren't looking, I took some pictures. ...

Friday is my regularly scheduled CSA pickup day.  We’ve had a few pickups already, but yesterday was the start of regular weekly pickups.  My CSA had an incredible season last year (for instance – we had 4 weeks of “take as much as you need to feed your family”) and I’m hoping for another great year!  We’ve been getting mostly greens, but CSA greens always taste better.  Yesterday I walked away with 3 lbs of goodies plus a quart of strawberries.  kohlrabi, oregano, lettuce, spinach I am sad to report that most of the strawberries never made it home.  I admit, I did eat a few, but a certain little blonde hair-blue eyed girl in the backseat LOVED them.  I kept hearing “more please” and “done” as she handed me the green tops.  The big day is tomorrow – The Kennebec River Rail Trail ½ Marathon.  Race time is 7:30 am; which makes for an early morning.  That also means I need to get my gear ready tonight.  Here’s the checklist...