Today I want to wish my big sister, Alexa Bailey, a happy 30^th birthday! Alexa has been an amazing older sister to look up too. She is hardworking, focused, and a mini Martha Stewart. Seriously, you should see what this girl can whip up in the kitchen and how well she can wrap gifts. Not only is Alexa working full time, getting her MBA but she is also planning her wedding! Talk about the ultimate multitasker!

Alexa, I am so lucky to have a big sister like you! Enjoy your day today! Here is to wonderful year ahead!

I love you!

Alexa and I when I graduated from Suffolk University

Alexa and her fiance Jeremy

Us girls with our Dad :-)

This weekend I asked my bff, my old roomie, my munchkin, my partner in crime, my former SS, Ms. Laura Remy (read her blog here:http://f4lblog.blogspot.com) to join me for spin class at Healthworks. Laura is not a member of Healthworks but for a small fee she could use the gym for the day. Normally, I take the 8:15 am class with one of my favorite instructors but I had my work holiday party the night before and Laura doesn’t like to wakeup early so we chose the 11:15 class. Actually, Laura literally cannot wake up early. I have had to wake her ass up to get to class, to get to work and even to catch a flight. The girl just loves to sleep! I think we were both extremely happy we chose the laterclass because we both had a case of being slightly hung over (I hate admitting this).

 When we arrived to class all the women seemed excited to be there. We started to feed off their energy too. What headache, what hangover? We then overheard a women say, “My mom is visiting from PA and I had to bring her to this crazy spin class.” What? No! Come on! Laura and I wondered if we were going to regret this. Our instructor then assured us that today was going to be a fun class and not a hard class.The hangover and tired Gods were on our side. A fun ride was exactly what we needed.

 Our instructor, Kathryn, was a fire pistol who LOVES Lady Gaga. Talk about having energy. Her motto for workouts is simple: It’s got to be fun. Kathryn blasts the music (even takes requests!), walks around to push individuals to their limit (I’m talking about stands in front of your bike and sprints in place while giving you a pep talk),and checks your heart rate all while cracking jokes. To get all of us women pumped up we would all start to scream and cheer. We were “woooooo-ing” and “yahoo-ing”all class long. Even when we were in the middle of riding up a hill or when we got to the top of a hill we threw in some “wooooooos.” After we spent 8 minutes climbing up a hill Laura and I still managed to have smiles on our faces. I could not believe how fast the class went by. I had never been to a spin class with such positive and fun energy. I think I am going to try to go to anothe rone of Kathryn’s classes. Next time I hope it is one of her harder ridescompared to the ride we did this weekend.

 After spin Lolo and I had some bff time. I can’t think of a better way to have spent my Saturday. Well, maybe if Shane was added to the mix…

“Old man look at my life, Twenty four and there’s so much more…” Neil Young

Today is my twenty fourth birthday! I kicked off the day with a quick 3 mile run. I was planning on running 5 but it’s my birthday and I decided to snooze a few extra minutes. I’m the birthday brat!

 Last year I made a list of things I wanted to complete during my 23rd year. I ALMOST completed the entire list:

1)Run Atlanta, GA Marathon- check!

2)Move out of Mr. and Mrs. Zinn’s crib-check!

3)Run a second marathon in the fall- didn’t happen. I am training for another now, doesn’t that count for something?

4)Travel- check! Made it to San Francisco/Napa Valley and I am leaving for Jackson Hole, Wyoming on New Year’s Eve!

5)Spend more time with family- triple check!!!

 Today I feel extremely grateful (more so than usual) to have such a wonderful family, an amazing group of friends and a mister that treats me like the birthday princess I am! People have gone out of their way to make today (really the entire week) a special birthday. With such incredible people by my side I can’t wait to accomplish new goals for this next year:

1)Complete the Rock N Roll Washington, DC Marathon

2)Beat my first marathon time

3)See my efforts at work earn me a promotion (who doesn’t have this as a goal?!)

4)Travel

Year 24- I am ready for you!!   

I am one to admit that I bring my frustration home from work. Working in sales is rewarding but at times extremely stressful.  The plus side to sales is you see your end results. The negative side of sales is you don’t always get the end results you wanted and aimed for. Throughout the day I often repeat the following in my head, “What do you mean those 100+ phone calls I made today did not bring me any opportunities?” (Opportunities= work talk. Sorry for all those who are not Intronites. Hey to my coworkers if you’re reading this).
 
I am the type of person that puts everything I have into something.  If I don’t get the results I want my stress levels and anxiety goes through the roof. Isn’t it funny how sometimes the good things in us that set us apart from others can also be our flaws?
 
 Last month I was feeling tired and stressed. It was almost the end of the month and I was nervous I wasn’t going to reach my quota.  One night on the train ride back to Somerville I was moping, huffing and puffing. Did I really think that would make me feel better? I made it home and I was in an awful mood. “What a horrible way to spend the night,” I thought to myself. I threw on my work out clothes, laced up my sneaks and marched my butt to the gym. I got on the treadmill and spent the next 45 minutes letting out all of my steam. I set the treadmill as fast as I could go and every three minutes I ran a minute and a half at a 5% incline. Then, while running as fast as my little (big) ass would go, I realized this is my time. This is where I take out of my frustration and stress. No longer will I bring my work, or for that matter anything that is bothering me, home with me. The miles I run on the road and the time I spend at the gym is my stress relief and I better use my time wisely. 

On Wednesday night I headed down to Connecticut to attend my 5 year high school reunion. By heading down I mean that I spent a butt load of time in traffic. Brutal. Sitting in traffic might trump my hatred for running on the treadmill. Now that I think about it they are kind of similar: creeping along and not making a lot of progress.

Anyways, the reunion was a blast! The traffic was worth it. It was so great to see old friends and classmates. The whole, “Oh what are you doing you now?” and repeating your current job and living situation over and over did get a little old, but those Stoli blueberry vodkas made it tolerable.  Everyone from South Windsor High School class of 2006 is doing amazing things. Here are some photos from the night:

Unfortunately, I had to wake up around 7 am in order to get to the 75th Annual Manchester Road Race! Remember that post from last year? I am not going to lie; I woke up with a little hang over. On the hangover scale, a 2.5 out of 10 to be exact. Cotton mouth. Headache. Weakness. Totally normal. Luckily Hanbone, Matt and my mom came to the rescue. I’ll take one order of the hangover special: a gallon of water, 3 Tylenol and a banana. By the time the race was about to start I was feeling like good ole Fran again. I told you it wasn’t a bad hang over!

Per usual the race was packed. I heard they capped off registrants at 15,000 runners! Because of my time last year I received another seeded card allowing me have a starting position up front. Once the gun went off it took me 51 seconds to cross the starting line. It took my friend Lauren over 4 minutes!

I felt amazing the entire race. I cruised up the mile long hill at mile 2 and once I got to the top I kept the momentum going for the last 3 miles. NO PRISONERS!
            Results (They are oddly similiar to last year. It’s kind of freaky):
                                       Distance- 4.748 Miles
                                         FINAL TIME- 37:05 
                                         PACE- 7:49/per mile
                                 Age Group Division- 127/1,278
                                        Overall- 1,834/13,407

When I got back to my mom’s house she surprised me with a Manchester Road Race sweatshirt! I have ran this race so many times and I have never bought a shirt or anything! Thanks Mom! Throughout breakfast and days after my mom and I kept saying we were bummed the sweatshirt didn’t say 75th annual. Please see below:

                                        In BIG black letters is 75…

                                                   Embarrassing

Finding the right gym can be a long and difficult process. There are many things to consider: location, equipment, the facility etc. I moved back to Boston in April and as of November 1 I still had not joined a gym. There were a couple of things holding me back:

1) Money. Why does it always come down to money? All of the gyms in the city are so expensive!  What is up with these starting fees? You want me to give you an extra 200 bucks on top of the 100 dollars I am about to pay you each month!? Hold up.  Don’t you know I have bills to pay?

2)  I was being a gym snob. I fell in love with Big Sky and my Super Mom’s. I immediately dismissed all other gyms that were not Big Sky. I did not think I could find another gym that even compared to their facility, environment and classes. And their hand wash. It smelled so good. (Really quickly, speaking of my Super Mom’s- these poor mothers must be worried sick about me. One day I was there sweating and pumping weights beside them, I leave to run a marathon and I never came back. I should have called…)

 A few weeks ago when I came up with the brilliant idea to run another marathon I knew I had to join a gym.  Enough with the procrastinating, Fran. Just do it! While doing some online searching and investigating I was pretty confident that I wanted to join Women’s Healthworks. After a few email exchanges and going all sales lady on an employee at the gym, I managed to walk away with a new gym membership with no start up fees and 2 free personal training sessions! I am telling ya, working in sales really pays off in the real world. Negative reversing, baby, negative reversing!

 It has been about 3 weeks since I have become a member of Women’s Healthworks and I am loving it. Yes, Women’s Healthworks is just for women- did the title give it away?  It is kind of nice to just work out amongst women. All the women are focused and motivated to get in a great work out. I know longer have to worry about beefy men grunting like bulldogs while lifting weights. I do not miss that. The facility is absolutely gorgeous and loaded with top of the line equipment. The classes that they offer are endless. Everything from yoga to spin to mommy and me classes. The best part is the classes run all day. They start at 6 in the morning and the last one begins at 8 in the evening. I have been trying new classes and there are a few that I have liked and a few that have made me laugh.  I tried a class called Urban Rebounding. Aerobic conditioning performed on mini trampolines.  But that is for a later post…

 ….keeping you on your toes, people.

Crime: Signing up for The Hartford Marathon and not fulfilling that obligation
 
Defense: My hips and feet needed rest from my first marathon 
 
Alibi: Toe nails went missing 
 
Sentence: Training for a marathon in the winter. Again. 

 
YES! I am signing up for another marathon and I WILL be running it this time. For realz. Over the summer I started training for The Hartford Marathon but I just wasn’t feeling it. My hips hurt. My toes were nail less. So I decided to listen to my body and I took some time off. I continued running over the summer and even joined a few work out classes. It was kind of nice to relax and not have to worry about logging in a certain amount of miles each run. But, here we are! It is almost the same time as last year and I am feeling the urge to do this all over again. My mind and body are ready and I am committed for the next couple of months. Join me for my ups and downs, good and bad runs and everyone’s favorite: my embarrassing moments while training for my second marathon.
 
I am in the process of deciding between two Rock N Roll marathons.
1) March 4th New Orleans, LA
2) March 17th Washington DC.
 
Decisions, decisions, decisions…

As I write this post I am feeling extremely embarrassed and vulnerable. It is with my deepest regret to admit that I (for the time being) have….Nana Feet.

NANA FEET
NANA FEET
I HAVE NANA FEET!

What the hell are Nana Feet? Nana Feet= ugly feet.
My late grandmother, Patricia (aka Pat the Rat) had the ugliest feet ever. She had a serious case of hammer toes and her toe nails were long and yellow. It became a running joke with our family to poke fun at Nana about her feet situation. After years of joking around with my Nana I have now caught the ugly feet bug. Karma? As you know, my left big toe nail has fallen off and now half of my right big toe is gone, too! Talk about the worst timing- its summer time! Sandals and barefeet galore!  So what is a girl to do? Absolutely nothing. I can’t paint them because then there would be no paint on my big toes. Well, I could try to start a new fashion trend. I think I just need to come to terms that I will have ugly feet for the rest of the summer. I will continue to wear my flats now and then but I will definitely continue to proudly rock my sandals and give anyone the stink eye who stares below the shins!

A few weeks ago I thought of an amazing idea for my work out. I would compare it to the time I decided to run to the gym, complete a Super Mom’s class and then run home from the gym at 5 in the morning in 20 degree weather.  This time, my genius idea was to run 7 miles home from work in 90 degree weather. I guess I like to go from one extreme to the next. Anyways, this whole running home from work really was an amazing idea because 1) I get to avoid the train and the people on the train. No more smelling stinky farts (why do people always fart on their way home from work?) 2) I get to run along the beautiful Charles River and enjoy the fresh air after sitting at my desk for 9.5 hours. I don’t run home every night from work but I try to a couple of times a week to avoid getting up super early in the morning. The runs have all been going smoothly minus one day last week. I was having a serious case of runner A.D.D.  You know when you cannot focus on the run or your breathing? You think about everything else besides the actual run! Normally, I am not an A.D.D runner but this day was unlike any other. I am slightly embarrassed to admit the root of my problem. But since this is a judge free zone…I will. I was so anxious on my run and could not wait to get home because I was so excited for the season premiere of Big Brother. Initially, Big Brother was all I could think about for the first mile but after that there was a serious domino effect and I went insane in the membrane. I had gone crazy. Everything and everyone was catching my attention. ..

Read this next section as fast as you possibly can.

·         BIG BROTHER

·         Oh my gosh I am so hot

·         I really need to buy a hydration belt

·         Am I home yet?

·         Don’t let this lady pass you

·         Dang it, my band aid on my toe is falling off.

·         TOES! A true devastation to have both of your toe nails fall of during summer time.

·         BIG BROTHER

·         I wonder when Amazing Race starts again?

·         Am I home yet?

·         Shoot, I need to pee!

·         I need water

·         NYC- LAURA! SHANE!

·         How much longer?

·         I’m so close to Big Brother

·         What should I make for dinner?

·         BEEF! It’s what’s for dinner! Lolz

·         I wish I had my laptop or recorder to document all of this for my blog

·         That man looks good with no shirt on

·         BIG BROTHER

I ended up making it home without peeing my pants, I chugged a huge Gatorade, I made a delicious salad for dinner and I made it home with tons of time to spare because Big Brother started later than I had thought. Insane in the membrane…

“Where ya going, Frankie?”

“CRAZY! Want to come?”

I recently started taking hot yoga classes. I never had a strong urge or desire to try hot yoga but the studio was offering a new student special. And, well, who doesn’t love a good deal? It was 40 bucks for a month of unlimited classes. Normally, this package costs $120. So I saved a whopping 80 buckarooos. I am such a sucker…
 
I should have turned away from my 31 day relationship with hot yoga on day 1. I arrived at the studio and tried to open the front door (because naturally that is the door most people use). When I went to open the door it was locked. So in typical Franniebaby fashion I became frantic. Surely, I assume the worst. There I am one foot on the door and my hands on the handle trying to rip the door off of it hedges. I start thinking, “You’ve got to be kidding me! They are trying to rip me off. Stealing my 40 bucks! Arseholes!”  And then a sweet, earthy, crunchy, I-am-in-a-constant-meditating-state woman said, “You have to use the side door…man.” Ok, she didn’t say man but she might as well have.
 
Anyways, I really enjoyed my first class and I was better at the positions that I had anticipated. Warrior 1- you.are.mine.  It must have been all of those Super Mom classes. The only thing that really confused me on the first day was when everyone had their eyes closed and then at once started, “ohmming” three times in a row. I giggled to myself and then joined in. I have to admit, it really helped channel my inner chi.
 
My 31 day relationship with yoga was going really well. We really hit it off. I was attending classes every Monday and Wednesday and sometimes on Saturdays. I bought my own mat and I even tried coconut water (not a fan). But then the Bruins were in the finals of the Stanley Cup and clearly that is where my priorities are. And someone ever so rudely scheduled their games on Monday and Wednesday. So I blame the scheduler of the Stanley Cup for fizzling out the fire between me and hot yoga. Or maybe it was the lady next to me who did not shave her legs or her armpits. So sexy. Or maybe it was the guy in front of me on all fours with his you know what hanging out of his shorts. Completely inappropriate. Ya. I blame him…