July 2020 – Zenaida Arroyo

Month: July 2020

30
Jul
2020

Random Thoughts Thursday 135

Random Thoughts Thursday

• I live on the second floor of an apartment building and am so grateful we have a balcony. My mother and I have spent hours there listening to music and people watching. Sometimes we eat our meals there too. I feel bad that she cannot go out that much but at least we have the balcony and the nice weather to enjoy.

• Time to go shopping! Just kidding. My favorite is wine. Once in a while I do drink beer and, of course, a martini.

Back to school liquor-1.jpg

• iPhone storage is full? How is it possible? I had to delete a bunch of photos, videos, messages, etc. I checked the settings and I have 64GB of storage. I am thinking that for my next phone I should get something more than 64GB.

iPhone Storage-1

• My niece and nephew told me about a show, “Taco Chronicles”, on Netflix that is all about tacos. There are 6 episodes and each one covers a different type of taco. Anyone hungry? Those are tacos al pastor. Not my favorite but still pretty good.

Taco Chronicles-1.jpg

• Another race cancellation. I was supposed to run this race in May but then it was postponed to August. I wasn’t sure if I would make it since it was taking place the weekend after the first day of school. Now this race has been moved to next year but we’ll see what happens.

Fargo Marathon cancellation-1

28
Jul
2020

Tuesday Topics: Working out on a busy day

categories: Tuesday Topics

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Topics!

Tuesday Topics-54

This week’s Tuesday Topic: How do you fit your workout on a busy day? You can write about this topic or feel free to post any running related blog post. Remember to link up with Kim and Zenaida! Visit at least two of the other linked posts – the more the merrier! Remember to come back for later linkers!

Currently I am on Summer Break. It’s been two weeks since the end of Summer School. This week I have a few professional development courses (all online) that will be taking up most of the day. There is still no word on our back to school plan. I have a feeling it will all be remote learning and I want to know for sure so I can start making my virtual classroom in Google Slides.

How cool is this? All I need now is an individual Bitmoji of each teacher.

Virtual Classroom-1.jpg

Anyway, back to today’s topic. During remote learning my schedule was different from when I was in the classroom. I was still busy (mostly learning how to do remote teaching) but at the end of the workday I was mentally exhausted. I knew that I would have no motivation to run after work. So I continued running in the morning.

✔️ Running in the morning made me feel better.

✔️ Running in the morning gave me time to think.

✔️ Running in the morning got my workout out of the way.

I got it done by waking up early. I didn’t have to wake up that early since I didn’t have a commute to school and all I had to do was change into a decent looking top and sweatpants.

I realize that not everyone has that option. There are other ways to fit in a workout on a busy day.

➡️ Run/walk home or to your workplace. A few years ago I did the AVON 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer. At that time I was working downtown so I would walk home from work to “train”.

➡️ Do your workout at work. Set an alarm to remind you every hour to get up and walk. You can even walk up and down the stairs. Add in some wall or “real” pushups too. 🙂

➡️ Run or walk during lunch.

➡️ Schedule your workout in your calendar. It is equally important as a doctor appointment or a work meeting.

➡️ Get the family involved. Take a walk after dinner. Take the kids on the stroller to the park or go for a run.

➡️ Run/walk to do your errands.

I thought that by working from home I would have a lot more time to workout. I was correct. I did have the time but sadly did not put in the effort. I was eating more (the fridge was so close) and not walking like I was doing before (in the classroom I was constantly walking). I paid the price. Most of my pants don’t fit anymore. With the possibility of going back to remote learning in Fall, I know I cannot do this anymore. I can use this time to figure out what I am going to do. 🙂

Remember, something is better than nothing. The main thing is to get your body moving. Anything else you would add to the list?

26
Jul
2020

Weekly Run Down: Memories and “new” running routes

categories: Running, Weekly Recap, Weekly Run Down

Weekly Mileage-65.jpg Another week of running 6 days for a total of 23.11 miles. But did it really happen since Garmin has been down since Thursday? 😜🤣

Thanks to Facebook Memories, I was reminded of some fun things that happened a few years ago such as my trip to Alaska and running my 100th race (RnR Chicago Half Marathon). It is fun to see these memories. I like remembering my fun trips and thinking about when things were “normal”.

RnR Chicago Half Marathon was supposed to be last weekend. I saw someone post this announcement and I don’t understand why RnR even is offering these options? I mean do they seriously think that these races will take place? Or will they?

RnR Announcement-1

I know I am late to the party here but now I am taking full advantage of my Peloton membership. I was mainly using it for cycling classes (and even that was just a few classes). Yes, I know a few bloggers have written about all of the different classes they’ve taken and I would tell myself to do it as well. It wasn’t until I started the Pelothon 2020 Challenge that I had a chance to explore it more. Better late than never, right?

This past week I took 12 classes. It might not be much but it is for this girl. I am enjoying the mediation, stretching, and running classes. Yes, running! I do it mostly for the music and sometimes all of the talking still annoys me, but not enough to stop me from taking the classes. This week as part of the challenge I took 2 live classes which is something that I never did.

Even Mateo took the stretching class with me.

With Garmin being down I cannot show you my new running routes. A few weeks ago I mentioned that most of my runs are done by my house. They’re mostly the same routes which is fine by me. Last Sunday I decided to run the streets by the house. I started by going right, then left to the next block and ran there till the major street. Once there I turned left and then went left again in the following block. Kind of hard to explain but see image below. I like that route. I am never too far from my house since there is another street in the middle and if for any reason I need to get home sooner, then I can go down that street.

New running route-1

Yesterday I ran the Quad-City Times Virtual Bix 7 with a few bloggers. It was fun deciding on the date to do said race, starting time, and coordinating our outfits. I did this as part of my long run and had no expectations regarding pace. All I knew was that I was running along the lake and was planning to start early. It wasn’t too warm in the beginning but then it did get hot later in the run.

Quad-City Times Virtual Bix 7-1.jpg

We are entering the last week of July. My goal was to run at least 100 miles. Right now I am at 87.41 miles so I need 12.59 between tomorrow and Friday. I think it is doable and I am excited about it!

I am borrowing an idea from Kim. She ends her post with some funny memes. I am doing the same today but they’re all about the Garmin outage.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Weekly Run Down.jpg

23
Jul
2020

Random Thoughts Thursday 134

categories: Random Thoughts Thursday

Random Thoughts Thursday

• I saw these bags at Starbucks. I would have bought one but not sure if I like the design. How about an image of a cup of coffee or something coffee related. Do you like it?

Starbucks bag-1

• Saw this and it made me laugh. The cold weather doesn’t bother me too much, but the snow is what I don’t like at all. I don’t know exactly how many weeks it will be till Winter but I am not looking forward to it.

Winter and snow.jpg

• Every year we have to do a few video trainings and some of them are just ridiculous. I do roll my eyes whenever I see the list. I remember at one point I would have to watch over 10 of them. This year is just 5. I did check out the list of optional sessions and was surprised to see “Telephone etiquette” and “Timeout”.

GCN Training-1

GCN Training-2

• Last week I wrote about how I was contacted by a University for a Freshman orientation. I was contacted again. Yes, I was annoyed and even so when he asked me which high school I graduated from. I did assume he thought I graduated this year. Let’s hope I don’t get another email.

Freshman session email-3.jpg

• You all know I am a Tieks fan. This is their new shoe that will be released soon. Isn’t it a pretty color? Of course I don’t need them, but I do want them.

Tieks-22

21
Jul
2020

Tuesday Topics: My running gear

categories: Brooks Running, Oiselle, Running Gear, Tuesday Topics

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Topics!

Tuesday Topics-53

This week’s Tuesday Topic: Where do you buy your running gear? You can write about this topic or feel free to post any running related blog post. Remember to link up with Kim and Zenaida! Visit at least two of the other linked posts – the more the merrier! Remember to come back for later linkers!

I have enough running gear that I seriously do not need to buy more. But that did not stop me from placing two orders last week. I have no self control.

Last week I posted on Instagram that I had 6 new pairs of shoes in boxes. I found a pair of the Brooks Levitate 1 in my room. No more shoes for me. I hope Brooks does not make anymore cute shoes that would want me to buy them. I do have enough pairs to last me for at least 2 years.

Bitmoji-2

Brooks Shoes-24.jpg

I also have plenty of socks, tops, jackets, shorts, and pants. Let’s not forget the accessories. So where do I buy all of this good stuff?

✔️ Oiselle. This where I buy most of my running clothes. Like most running clothes, it isn’t cheap but I’ve been able to purchase a lot of it on sale. If it is something that I like very much (i.e. long rogas) then I will buy them at full price. Sometimes by the time there is a sale, the ones I want are no longer available. I must have about 30 pairs of the long rogas (that is how much I like them).

Oiselle Gear-23

✔️Running Warehouse and Zappos. I love their great customer service. I’ve never had any problem with any of my orders or returns. Running Warehouse’s return policy is 90 days but they’re accepted a few of mine past 90 days. Zappos’s return policy is one year. How awesome is that!!

✔️ Amazon. Pretty much everything can be bought on Amazon. I’ve ordered Tailwind, Huma gels, UCAN, Nathan handheld, and a Nathan hydration running vest. I also have a monthly subscription for Nuun. With the hot weather I’ve been drinking A LOT of it. Is there such a thing as drinking too much Nuun?