Mom in the Mtns

Hey everyone!  Thanks so much for all your feedback yesterday, I learned so much about compression socks, fuel, and foam rollers!  Check out the comments to see what your fellow runners had to say (did you know you can use a rolling pin instead of a foam roller?  Genius!).  I’m so excited to get my compression socks in the mail now!

Now onto the fun stuff:  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!  I’m not a big fan of Halloween because scary stuff really freaks me out, but I am always excited about dressing my dog up and eating candy!

Bella was a shark 2 years ago!  Cutest costume ever!

The craziest thing about today being Halloween is that tomorrow is officially November!!!!  And the craziest crazy part is how nice the weather has been.  It’s been such a mild fall in Philly and the leaves are still bright on the trees.  I love fall so I’m glad it’s still going strong!  And since tomorrow is officially November, it’s time to recap my goals for October.  How did I do?

1.  Work out at least 5 times per week:  Umm, no.  This goal was far from accomplished.  I may need to scratch this goal because it’s not working right now!  My work schedule needs to change a bit in order to make this work  😦

2.  Run a total of 50 miles this month:  If I follow through with my planned 4 mile run today, I’ll be at 34 miles.  Which is totally respectable, especially considering how many miles I hiked in Maine.  But since that’s the exact amount of miles I ran in September, I don’t think I succeeded with this goal at all!

3.  Learn how to use Twitter:  I think I’m getting better at this!  I know how to retweet and quote tweets, and even had a few people retweet me!  (FYI I’m tweeting over at @RunAwayWithKK, you should all follow me!)

4.  Make a fall  to-do list and cross off every item:  I don’t think I officially wrote a list down (fail!) but with all the apple picking, corn maze fun, and picking my own pumpkin last weekend I think I did everything fall-themed that I can think of.  Oh, and I definitely crossed “Drink a PSL” off my list quite a few times  🙂

5.  Try something new:  This goal was so open ended that I don’t even know where to begin with this…but I can definitely say I succeeded.  I hiked The Beehive in Acadia NP!  I also went through my first corn maze last weekend and tried lots of new pumpkin foods.  Go me!

For November, I’ve basically got 2 main goals:  Don’t gain weight with all the pumpkin stuff/Thanskgiving dinner, and bring up my weekly running milage.  And Monica from Run Eat Repeat has a challenge that is perfect for reaching these 2 goals:  Pile on the Miles!

The challenge is simple:  run over to her page (which you can find here if you’re not already following her), submit a form with your info and challenge goals, and you’re all signed up!  Each week you need to check in with your progress and can win awesome prizes.  Plus it’s a great way to stick to your goals throughout the month!  My goal is to run at least 12 miles per week, with an overall total of at least 50 miles!  Who thinks I can do it?  🙂

Other goals I have for November include running a race on Thanksgiving Day (so much fun!), baking a yummy pumpkin dessert from scratch, trying something new (so much fun I had to put it on here again!), and decorating for Christmas.  Black Friday is all about getting those decorations up ASAP!

Have you ever done a monthly miles challenge?  Were you able to meet your goals?  What are your goals for November?