October 16, 2011

It's not obsession, it's commitment!

With that title, you would think I'd be defending my running hobby in this post.

You'd be wrong.

While I do get the occasional, "Oh my God, stop running, you're obsessed!" comments from people, I brush them off because yes, I am committed to running. I run 5 days a week, I hardly ever drink and my calendar is filled with more races than anything.

But today I'm not talking about racing, I'm talking about something else.

Pumpkins!
Yesterday  morning, I woke up and had a bagel with pumpkin cream cheese. Then, I showered and washed my hair with pumpkin shampoo. After that, I had a slice of toast with pumpkin butter. Then I went to The Cheesecake Factory and had a giant piece of pumpkin pecan cheesecake and believe me, when I got back to my apartment and saw the Coolhaus truck outside the door with their brand new flavor of pumpkin pie ice cream, the only thing holding me back was the lack of cash in my wallet and my refusal to pay a $2.50 ATM fee at a bank that's not my own.
Try it. It's wonderful...and no, you won't smell like pumpkins all day. 
It's not obsession, it's commitment.

2 years ago, I thought pumpkin pie tastes like lipstick (Mrs. Smith did that to me) but a free sample of Starbucks' pumpkin spice latte turned that around real fast. Since then, I've spent my last three Octobers consuming everything pumpkin in sight sometimes eating as many as 5 different things with pumpkin in them in a day.

It's not obsession, it's commitment.

Thursday night, I needed to get out of the city so a trip to Mom's was in order. I got in late after an absolute nightmare train debacle involving New Jersey transit...from now on, I'd rather walk to Jersey, thanks....and after watching Thursday night TV with my mom and The Pilot, headed to bed.

Friday, it was time for an early morning run. You know what I learned? I do have the taper crazies. My taper crazies are that I don't want to run...ever. It took a lot to get me out the door but when I headed out for my 8 mile tempo run with 4 miles at 8:20, I was convince I couldn't do it. Guess what? I did. I think aiming for a BQ marathon is definitely in my future. Yea, I said it.

When I got back, The Pilot picked me up and said we were going for a "surprise." 45 minutes later, we pulled up in front of the Philadelphia Pretzel Factory in Princeton, NJ and holy goodness after that morning's oatmeal, bagel (with pumpkin cream cheese of course) and toast, those decadent Philly pretzels put me on carbo-overload...which I didn't think was possible for someone in marathon training. Nonetheless, they were delicious...even without any kind of pumpkin goodness spread across them.

Nothing says carbs like soft pretzels!
I thought the pretzels were the surprise because well hey, they were surprising but The Pilot had something else in store. He drove us 5 miles to a farm where we could go pumpkin picking. Pumpkins and delicious carbs? Holy goodness guys, I've said it before but is this guy a keeper or what?

The Orchard had the most adorable little farm store!
We went to an orchard that had apples, pumpkins, ponies(!), a petting zoo, a corn maze, a winery, the works! First, we paid a visit to the petting zoo and fed some goats. (Unfortunately, The Pilot had led me to believe we were going to the movies for surprise date day so pictures are minimal) Then, we got lost in a corn maze eventually finding our way through the entrance again...no need to call 911 here folks. Then we went wine tasting and then picked our pumpkins! As you can see from the photo above, I picked a short fat 13lb-er. The Pilot wanted baby sized pumpkins. Just as we were making our way to the farm store to pay, a thunderstorm struck so we hung out in the farm store and bought a bunch of stuff before making a run for it to the car...me with 13lb pumpkin in tow.

Then we went back to The Pilot's house and turned my big fat pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern!

Yay!
We tried to carve The Pilot's pumpkins but they were really hard and we gave up.

We drank apple cider and finished off a fantastic freshly baked apple pie that we picked up from the Orchard and then we went our separate ways for the night and I went to sleep. 

Yesterday, I didn't run. I didn't feel like it. But I did eat a lot of pumpkin.

Today, I ran 15 miles...and currently have a loaf of pumpkin bread in the oven. I'm also writing a 15 page paper...wish I could have written a page a mile this morning. *Sigh*

All in all, it's been a great weekend. Unfortunately, Fall Break is over and I've got to get back to school tomorrow but hey, I'm graduating 7 months from today! Woo! 

I hope you're all having great weekends and are recovering from any kind of physical activity that you did today by doing something other than writing papers about failed African economies. I also hope you ate a lot of pumpkin. 

And to everyone who raced today, great job!



9 comments:

  1. I've never had the pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks -- is this a sin?

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  2. I'm super obsessed with pumpkin everything! Particularly pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, cookies, bread, pancakes, anything!

    Yum. I feel you sister!

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  3. I am laughing at your obsession. My goal last weekend was to consume as many products with the word pumpkin in them as possible.
    I am jealous of your pumpkin shampoo. Where did you get it? I bought 4 bottles of pumpkin body wash yesterday.

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  4. Your pumpkin obsession is hilarious, girl! I love that you actually used pumpkin shampoo and now I am determined to find some!

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  5. Loved the beginning of this post. Because I totally thought you were talking about running! But I am also obsessed with pumpkins and all things fall. I only wish DC would cool down to feel like fall.

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  6. Ha, that is hilarious. And I didn't eat a lot of pumpkin, but I did run a lot of miles! Last (super) long run of marathon training!

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  7. I'm not going to lie ... when you said you were writing a 15-page paper, I assumed it was going to be about none other than - p.u.m.p.k.i.n.s. LOL. And yay for being 7 months away from graduation, how exciting! :)

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  8. I would say it's a borderline obsession...but we can call it commitment :) Glad you had a great time with all your pumpkin picking and carving

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  9. Wow! I didn't know so many pumpkin things existed! Sounds like a fun weekend with your favorite vegetable :) Can I have some pumpkin bread??

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