Jan 2nd through 6th

I've gone from New Jersey to Munich, Germany to Cape Town, South Africa! What a way to start the new year.

Going away gift for Gus & Sophie

Helping mommy pack... Going to miss these two!

Marienplatz, Center City Munich, Germany

Flying into Cape Town, South Africa! Table Top Mountain in the background.

Surrounded by Clown Fish at Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town.

Project 365

One of my goals for 2013 is to do Project 365. Each day of 2013 I hope to take at least one picture a day and share it. Time to get started!

January 1 - New Years Eve party at the Chelsea Hotel in Atlantic City!

* I promise the other photos will be better than this one!

Stadium Run

The Scarlet Knight!!!

Even though my triathlon has come and gone I have still been picking some races to do in the off season just to stick with my training. One f these races was the Stadium Run hosted by Rutgers University. It was a quick 2.5 miles throughout the football stadium. Up and down the numerous ramp levels and round and round until you finally ended on the field running through the endzone while they throw you a football. Thankfully I caught my football and didn't look like a dumdum. After the run you had the chance to tour the Rutgers Football teams gym. the gym is state of the art and even has turf inside. The tour then ended in the mini football museum which houses all the different trophies and bowl rings etc... It was a fun event and I will likely do it again in the future.

Crazy Turf Grass inside the Gym

Pretending to be a Football Player

Hickory Run

I remember when I was a kid I loved the summer. I couldn't wait for school to end and for the temperatures to rise so I could spend all my time outside swimming. Once I turned 16 I got my lifeguard certification so I could spend my whole summer sweltering in the sun. However, over the years Fall has definitely become my favorite season. I no longer look forward to the sweltering heat of summer, in fact I dread it. maybe it all started when I moved to Alaska or did all my Antarctic field work, but a sunny crisp Fall day are my favorites now.

As the Fall leaves were hitting their peak I wanted to get out for some camping and hiking. A few years ago I went to Hickory Run in Kidder, PA for the first time and I loved the miles and miles of trails up there. So off I went for a quick weekend getaway. Kona loves being outside and was even happier when one of our trails ran next to a stream he could take a quick dip in. The colors were beautiful! Unfortunately, the peace and quiet went far too quickly and soon it was time to return to the real world.

Hiking with my best friend!

Enjoying the afternoon sunshine!

Happy Fall Everyone!

Time to Tri

Back in May I made the decision that I wanted to do my first Triathlon. I was lacking motivation to just go work out and figured this would be a good goal to work towards. I convinced my friend Kaycee to sign up with me and together we registered for the Clam Man sprint triathlon, the first weekend of October. This gave us plenty of time to train and to help with motivation we picked at least one race each month leading up to the Clam Man.

Our first race was the first of three in the Splash and Dash series held on Long Beach Island. Each race was held on the last Wednesday of every month in June, July and August. Each race consisted of a 1/4mile swim followed by a 5K run. These were nice for practicing transitions as well as open water swimming. The first one in June proved to be a rough swim with a lot of wind chop but during the next two the bay was pretty flat and calm.

The Color Run took place in Philadelphia at the beginning of July. I highly recommend this 5K to anyone because it is really laid back and so much fun. We had a small group of coworkers all register for this race and we had a blast running it. I will definitely be doing this race again in the future!

Nice and Clean Before the Color Run.

After all the Color Fun!!!

On the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum

Sunrise on race morning!

As summer came to an end it was time to really focus on the Clam Man Triathlon! Unfortunately the week before the race I had a horrible stomach bug that lasted a week. So I barely had my strength come race day. One of my goals all along was to finish the race in under two hours.

The glorious FINISH Line

On race day I added another goal of not crapping my pants!!! It was a painfully early morning and with a very empty tummy to ensure no bathroom accidents I got ready to race. I came out of the water ranked 17 out of 72 and was psyched. But I am not a very good land mammal and with a killer head wind I slowly started to drop back during the 12mile Bike ride followed by the 5K Run. But in the end I completed both of my goals and am already looking forward to the next race season. Until then its time to keep training!

Fall or Winter?

Well folks on the east coast are a little confused right now about which season we are in. Is it Fall or Winter?

Last weekend I planned Fall Festivus for myself and some friends from work. What is Fall Festivus you ask? Well it was a weekend packed full of all the fun things to do in the fall. On Saturday we went apple and pumpkin picking followed by a delicious dinner at the Long Valley Pub and Brewery. They have the most delicious Pumpkin beer! After we were throughly stuffed we went to Schaefer's Farm for 45 minutes of sheer terror. It started with a hair raising hayride that dropped you off in the middle of the woods for a treacherous trek which lead to massacre maize and lastly you had to make your way through the carnival of chaos. It was actually decently scary and in between our screams their were fits of laughter. On Sunday we did a hike up High Point Mountain to see all the glorious fall colors. It was a beautiful sunny day and the blue sky nicely contrasted all the red, orange, and yellow leaves.

The weather this weekend however was a bit of a shock when I woke up on Saturday to find a winter wonderland with snowflakes rapidly falling from the sky. The Nor'easter that was predicted indeed arrived and we got about 5-6inches of snow and temps were in the 20's at night. Brrr!!!! While most people threw the covers back over their heads I was actually excited for the snow and went running out to play in it. Turns out Kona loves the snow and he loves chasing and catching snowballs even more. After our morning romp it was time to start getting ready for the big Rutgers football game. Rutgers vs. West Virginia, in the middle of a snow storm! Call me crazy but yes I went and stood in the snow cheering on Rutgers until I couldn't stand their terrible playing any longer and left right before the game ended. It was a great game until the second half and then it all fell apart. By the time Sunday came the snow had stopped and most of it was starting to melt. The storm left behind a lot of down power lines and many broken trees but it was pretty for a little while.

Kona

As some of you may know I am now a dog owner. I found Kona as a courtesy post on petfinder and drove down to North Carolina the first weekend of April to get him. Since then Kona and I have been nearly inseparable! He is absolutely fantastic and I can take him anywhere. Including on my trip to Alaska (next post I write)!