If you’re coming up to run Mohawk Hudson/Hannoford Marathon/Half next month, just watch out for those acorns! In 10+ years of running I’ve never been hit by one, until this week. Damn, those things hurt! Did it just naturally fall or did some angry squirrel throw it at me?
Joining Kim @ Kimrunsonthefly and Deborah @ Confessionsofamotherrunner and just sharing juggling activity — still — in a stressful, busy week.
And linking up with Jenn @ Runswithpugs, Brandi @ Funnerrunner, Anna Louise @ Graciouswarriorprincess, Briana @ Matsmilesmedals, Meghan @ Meghanonthemove, and Elizabeth @ Trainwithbainfor RIOTS(running is our therapy)
Workouts update
- Monday: Dogwalk, 3 miles easy, Bodyweight exercises (10 min)
- Tuesday: 4ish mile time trial, Yin + Vin Yoga Practice for teaching (60 min)
- Wednesday: Dogwalk, Taught yoga 60ish minutes, Soul Stroll
- Thursday: Dogwalk, Warrior III Flow (30 min)
- Friday: Yin Yoga (40 min), 6 mile LSD
- Saturday: Yoga for Balance (20 min), Hips & Booty (15 min), Long walk
- Sunday: Crossings 5k Challenge + .9 mile warmup
Mileage: 17ish (+3)
JY = Jasyoga
PB = Killer B
TM = Treadmill
YFR = Yoga for Runners*
WU = warmup
CD = cooldown
SB = Stationary Bike
YFPR = Yoga for Pain Relief
YTU = Yoga Tune Up Lower Body*
*Disclaimer: Amazon affiliate links; I will make a small amount of money if you buy through these links
Running Updates
Monday
I was going to run in the morning then do grocery shopping. Nope, too humid I’ll run on the treadmilll later. Then I walked the dogs and with the cloud cover it was not bad.
Got home, ate a small snack (since I’m not a fan of the fasted run), and chose a rolling hills route because I’m thinking about a 5k this weekend (all depends on how I feel). It won’t be nearly as hilly, in fact overall somewhat flat, but there’s a little bit of hills.
Because my route was hilly, I did let my HR climb more than I normally do for an easy run, but I just wasn’t feeling the walk breaks (except to drink water each mile) today. The sun started to come out just as I finished. That was my miracle this morning (which refers to last week’s WRD,which you can read hereif you missed it).
Tuesday
I did a sort-of time trial today to try to figure out my HR zones. WU .5 mile, run comfortably hard for 30 min (one walk break roughly halfway through to drink water), and .75 mile cool down. It was nice to know I could still actually run fast, for me.
Now I just have to figure out how to configure those HR zones from the data!
Friday
Another beautiful Fall morning to run, another day getting out pretty late, but a decent (if slow) longish run. Cause I don’t really consider 6 miles long, even if the longest I’ve run in basically 8 months is 8 miles.
The good news is the 5k on Sunday starts earlier, but the bad news is that park has basically no shade. On the other hand, the weather looks to be good (which is part of why I decided to do it).
Sunday
My friend and I had a good time at the Crossing 5k Challenge this morning, with a recap to come on Tuesday.
Favorites of the week
Unfortunately a few of my running friends are on the injured list. The good news for me, since I wasn’t running but walking, was that I had someone to walk with for a nice long walk on Saturday.
We had our second visit to the local Japanese crepe restaurant. I chose the spicy crab crepe this time and the blueberry cheesecake dessert crepe; I know, no chocolate, shocking!
The interesting surprise here was that while we were eating, the owner of our favorite sushi restaurant walked in. She owns this restaurant, too. And a few others. She’s a busy lady!
Last but of course not least, I taught my first private yoga lesson this week. She seemed to like it and wants to do more, although she’s busy so synching up our schedules isn’t easy. She’s also running Chicago, btw. We hadn’t discussed price, and I didn’t charge her, although she made the offer to pay me when we were done.
She should be a good resource, as she’s a chiropractor and also helps volunteer coach other runners. I’m trying to decide whether or not to offer her the friends & family price. Probably.
Oh, and really not least, but last: Happy New Year! Yes, it’s the Jewish New Year tonight. I think I’m overdue for a better year. Although there were certainly ups and downs this year. I am headed back down to my mom’s again tonight so she won’t be alone, and I will take her to my Dad again tomorrow.
Do you sign up early for races to save money, or wait til the last minute to make sure you want to actually do it?
Have you ever had your own business? I was a graphic designer for a long time.
How did you handle pricing for people you knew? Would you give the chiropractor a discounted rate?
Chocolaterunsjudy 
Congrats on a great race.
I always signup early to save money. If I don’t race it’s a donation.
I help my friends with their computers and they always want to pay me. But no I couldn’t take money from someone I know.
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I don’t race anywhere near as often, so I’d rather just wait until I’m pretty sure I’ll do it.
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Haven’t been racing much lately.
But I will race in all weather conditions. Would only DNS with an injury.
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Hi, Judy! I’m a new sub, love your blog!
I am a salon owner who also sees clients. In response to your question about the discount situation, I would suggest a dollar for dollar trade if this is someone whose services you would use. If the service is not something you need, you could mention to this client that you’re giving a discount, and be very clear that you are hoping for referrals in the future. I don’t like to get in the habit of discounting to everyone I know. Your price is your price, and you need to be receiving something of value from the discount. Just a suggestion 😊
Congratulations on your new endeavor!
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Thanks for your advice! I’ve been in business before, but it was a very different sort of business & didn’t usually do Stuff for friends.
Unfortunately I usually see the other chiropractor at this practice, it was just an odd set of coincidences that had me seeing her. However I’ve known her a long time. I know she wouldn’t take advantage of me.
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Acorns are tricky! We have an oak tree (currently hosting that hornet’s nest) and our yard is buried under a layer of acorns. I have to be careful when I leave for my early morning runs so I don’t step on any in the dark (don’t need any twisted ankles at this stage of my training).
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We actually don’t have an oak here but we did when we lived in TX.
We watched this squirrel running around our raised deck the other day; we’ve never seen one there before (it’s the second floor of our house).
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L’shanah tovah! How nice that you are going to be with your mom. I’m sure she appreciates it. I haven’t been hit by an acorn yet, but yesterday on my bike a giant oak leaf hit me in the face. I sign up for races early because they fill up around here.
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Oh I know my mom appreciates it (and that my husband doesn’t really care). The timing was good as there was an incident with my dad today. He’s ok, but it just worked out well that I’m here to be moral support. At least try to be. Thanks, Coco.
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I was hit by a falling acorn this weekend too! And yes, it hurt more than I thought it would LOL. I’ve also almost rolled my ankle on them several times – they are tricky little things!
I usually always sign up early for races. I try to save money there since I know travel costs can add up.
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For races I travel to I’ll usually sign up ear.y, but there have been a few that I did sort of last minute on a whim.
I know — I was surprised at how much that acorn hurt, too!
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Happy new year to you as well. Wishing you and your family a year of sweetness and health. I have also been hit by an acorn while running it’s weird!
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I hope you have a fantastic year, too, Deborah!
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Happy and healthy new year!
I have never seen such active squirrels as I have this past few weeks. I’ll keep that in mind re: Mohawk.
I go both ways on signing up early. I hate wasting money if I subsequently can’t/don’t want to do the race. As a result I got closed out of a couple I might have wanted to run – which reminds me to go check on Ted Corbitt. I’m so glad Mohawk had a bib transfer. I didn’t know until it was sold out that I’d be up, but luckily (for me-not the injured person), Darlene knew someone wanting a transfer.
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If it’s a race I know sells out & I want to do it, I’ll probably sign up earlier. Scheduling anything right now is really, really hard though.
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No acorns around here–for some reason, we don’t have many oak trees. Odd. Now I have something else to ruminate on when I run, lol.
I don’t sign up for races in advance any more. I just never know what my body is going to be doing. Altho, I have been feeling really good the past couple of months. I hope this is a trend that continues!
Happy New Year!
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I hope you continue to feel good! Right now life is kind of hard to schedule for me, too, unfortunately also out of my control.
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Happy new year! I used to sign up for races early to get the cheaper price but now I lean toward last minute decisions just to make sure I actually want to do it. If you think that you may get more business from the chiropractor, I would go with a discounted rate. I would just make sure she knows that it’s a discounted rate (so she doesn’t tell others they can get the same rate) and let her know that you’re open to referrals.
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I’m still swinging back & forth on how to charge the chiropractor.
I wait on races most of the time to make sure I’ll be here, or the weather—especially for trail races.
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L’Shana Tova! Mostly I signup for races in advance, although I’ll wait on local 5ks. I like what Kelly said above about charging for yoga. We have acorns but even worse, we have black walnuts, which are almost the size of a tennis ball. I totally need to take cover when those things are raining down thanks to squirrels, not to mention they’re ankle breakers when they’re all over the trail
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Black walnuts are the worst! My parents house had a bunch of them.
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I definitely sign up for races in advance for the discounts haha. That squash reminds me of my parents – last year a bunch of acorn squashes grew in their compost pile because they discarded the seeds there. They’ve been doing it for years, but it finally took root. I wonder what kind your neighbor has?
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The one time I composted I remember some sort of melon grew in it.
I kind of figure the discount doesn’t help much if I’m unable to do the race.
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Oh dear, the acorn thing! I thought you were going to say underfoot! We have all the conkers in the world at the moment and they can really catch you out and roll an ankle.
I’m self-employed and I have a mates’ rate for friends which is the lowest level of my price range. People do prefer to pay for a decent service from a local or independent, and it means you value yourself, too.
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In addition to my day job, which I work 3 days a week part time, I also work as a contracted network admin/programmer/computer girl. So for the past 2 years now I’ve been an independent contractor. It hasn’t raked in the dough quite yet as I hoped (ugh, taxes!), but I didn’t want to leave my old company high and dry when I left. It’s an easy paycheck for me, and they know they are getting the same quality work that they got from me before. Win, win!
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Yup, I had my own business for 13 years. It’s the rare business that becomes profitable in the first few years.
That’s great that you’re in a win-win situation — it can be really hard to do!
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Looks like a pumpkin to me! I wonder if they planted it in the middle of the yard on purpose, or if it was a “volunteer” plant?
I usually wait to sign up for races, unless I know they will sell out. And I will register for the “early bird” discount some times, but most of the races I’ve done recently don’t have that.
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I kind of thought it was a pumpkin but I wasn’t sure. I’m assuming it’s a volunteer, because it was basically growing from within one of their bushes. Still it looks really weird!
I’m the same way about races for the most part right now. Things tend to happen last minute for me so it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to sign up before hand (to me, anyway).
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Hi Judy!! sorry to have been away from your blog so long. Trying to catch up this week has been tough too!
When Ron and I were out Sunday (him running, me biking) I wondered if we were going to be injured by acorns! luckily no hits yet!
Happy New Year! I hope it is a better one for you. I’m looking forward to a better year too. I guess I don’t have to wait for the gregorian calendar to tell me that though 😉
I only sign up for certain races early. Some races are just spontaneous decisions.
Since I work for someone (for sports massage) I have to charge the normal rates. But if you book with me personally for a massage at my house, you definitely get a friend rate. With the chiro, I’d actually speak to her about the referrals and THEN give her a discounted rate for the collaboration. I work (when I work) at a Pysio/ Osteopath office and if they book with us they get a discounted rate. They also send us referrals all the time.
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Unfortunately this “year” is not starting out well. My parents aging woes have just dragged on for years. But it is what it is.
Funny, what you suggested re: payment is ultimately what I decided to do.
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