It’s not a particularly good picture, but it was a particularly nice day for a walk along the trail so I snapped a quick shot on my way to the post office.

The morning of the Boston Marathon, other than a snippet of news that I heard, I almost had forgotten completely that it was Patriot’s day. I found myself thinking how sad it was that the national news coverage of the marathon isn’t  even a fraction of the local news coverage (Patriot’s Day is huge Boston holiday). Fast forward a week later and I want to take that wish back.

A few years ago I mentioned that the hubs ran the Boston Marathon. But I didn’t blog much about the race and my experience there.  So I thought I’d share just a little bit about what it’s like to spectate the greatest running event in the world of running (besides the Olympics). I liken it to the superbowl or world series of running – but better because you don’t have to be a professional to compete. You just have to be really really ridiculously good. It’s one of the few marathons for which you have to qualify. “I qualified for Boston,” is a statement of pride and understanding in the running community. So when the hubs made that statement a reality and I got to watch him cross that finish line, the excitement was palpable.

But it was crowded, uncomfortably crowded. At one point, I was physically incapable of moving forward or back even though the entire crowd was pushing to get through (we were barricaded on both sides). And that scared feeling, of being packed like sardines and incapable of moving, was all I could think of when I heard about the bombs.

I think we all feel some sort of connection to the terrible tragedy that has happened. I’m in awe in the varying ways everyone has shown their support for Boston, the running community, and this great country we call home. In a matter of a weekend, a national running event raising money for the One Fund Boston was thrown together to take place all across the country. York’s own running store, Flying Feet, organized a two mile run/walk that took place this evening.

When I say it was thrown together in a weekend, I’m not exaggerating. The organizers got the call on Friday, promoted via Facebook and word of mouth over the weekend, mapped out the course yesterday and got “Run for Boston” t-shirts printed today. And the turnout was amazing. A $20 donation from each runner went straight to the One Fund Boston because everything from food and snacks to the t-shirts were donated by local businesses.

Nothing can change the horrible tragedy that happened last week, but man does it feel good to be a part of country and community of people that do something good in the wake of tragedy.

I still wanted to take pictures but you can tell how blue everything looked with no sun yet. I was trying to figure out what else to photograph so I turned my attention to my dog, who I had let off his leash. He’s usually pretty cute. But then this happened:

I had literally let him off leash for one minute and he found something that can best be described as sludge to roll around in. The smell was awful. It was akin to the muddy banks of the Chesapeake, you know, that rotten sulfur smell?

Let’s get one more look at that. Yup, on the collar too.

After two baths, he still has a faint odor. My friend suggested tomato juice to get the smell out – any other suggestions?

It was a really quick trip for us but we still managed to squeeze in a stop at Primanti Brother’s for lunch and the opening game for the Pittsburgh Power, the indoor football team. Primanti Brother’s is a sandwich shop famous for inventing the Pittsburgh-style fry and coleslaw stuffed size-of-your-head sandwich. Poor hubby had a tooth infection and couldn’t eat one. He’s still talking about wanting to go back so he can try one the sandwiches.

Sadly he also missed out on this:

It was not only my birthday but also the hubs and one of our friends that we were visiting. Naturally I wanted to celebrate with a fancy and scrumptious chocolate and vanilla cake from Copper Crust Company. Copper Crust is a bakery inside Central Market that makes the best chocolate croissants in the history of chocolate croissants. So when a I figured out a way that I could get my hands on one of their cakes with out risking eating the whole thing myself, I jumped on it. The general consensus (minus the hubs – poor guy) was that it was worth every calorie, even if you do have to risk eating the whole thing to get one.

Though it was a quick trip it super fun and so worth it. Have a Happy Easter friends! So sad my birthday month is over in a few days…

Somehow we made it just in time. Sort of in time. We went to Heritage Highpoint park (previously blogged about here), where there is a winding mile-long trail up to the top of a hill overlooking the Susquehanna. Or you can run straight up in grown-over-half-a-foot-high grass like we did. Because this was happening:

We missed the first part of the sunrise. It was already more than a third over the horizon.

I ran my little heart out to get to the top, the hubs cheering me on all Rocky-esque. My prize:

My favorite was after the sun was over the horizon, with it’s rays beaming on the building where we were married (which I recapped here), the Rotunda at Lauxmont Farms.

My guys were also enjoying the sunrise.

I believe they were thinking, “Hmm…we would look pretty cool as silhouettes running around in the sunrise.”

But my favorite pics of all weren’t of the sunrise.

Did somebody say bacon?

To get these I may have been tackled a few times. With kisses. He cracks me up. So worth it.

And the hubs even agreed it was worth it to get up and enjoy the sunrise. He even said he wanted to do it again. Of course he did take a three hour nap when we got home. But I’ll take it. Happy birthday to me

I’m still a Marylander at heart but I really do love York, especially the city. It’s come a long way even in the past eight years I’ve been working downtown and the twelve in which I’ve called many different parts of York home.

The glass is $6 and you can pick one up from Sunrise Soap Company, which sells all different kinds of made-in-house natural soaps as well as a ton of local artist’s products. Its soaps aren’t harsh like the mass manufactured stuff which strips your skin. I buy all of my soap there and ever since I switched, my skin is no longer dry and I don’t need to wear lotion anymore. If you have dry skin or concerns about crazy chemicals, you should seriously switch. You can thank me later.

Anyway, back to the glass. I’m a big fan of the “I Love York City” logo, it’s simple, clean and effective. Sunrise Soap also carries hoodies with the logo. Proceeds from the sales benefit the ILoveYorkCity movement. You can find more info, specifically a twitter feed of what people are doing in the city its website.

We try to go skiing once every year, but the last time we went (and the hubs first and only other time) was in 2009 which I had mentioned in this post. So with my big birthday coming up, I was determined (weather-pending) to kick off my month long celebration with a ski day. The weather this year has not been cooperating for winter sports enthusiasts so I was afraid we would be putting skiing off for another year, but I kept checking the weather all week and we lucked out. It even flurried on our drive up!

I realize now it looks like dirt on our windshield, but I promise it was flurrying! I was pretty excited We got there a little after it opened, rented our stuff and were out on the mountain before it was too crowded. Then I retaught the hubs how to ski and remembered that I’m a terrible teacher but fortunately the hubs is an excellent athlete. I was a little nervous because it’s been a number of years, but it really is just like riding a bike. I’m by no means good and I’ve always been a very cautious skier, but it just all came back to me like I never stopped.

Ski Roundtop, or Roundtop Mountain Resort (I know they changed the name but I’ll always think of it as Ski Roundtop) is great for the occasional skiers like us. It’s centrally located in a beautiful part of York County and we kick ourselves for not enjoying it more since it is in our own backyard. We saw a number of state license plates in the parking lot and shared a lift with a woman from southern Marlyand – people come from a lot further than us to enjoy the mountain! It has varying degrees of slopes, many classes, and a cafeteria and pub with charming fireplaces overlooking the mountain.

I love their “Take a snow day!” campaign, which will really hit home after today I’m sure! Hopefully you get the chance to get out there and enjoy this fresh snow at Ski Roundtop before it closes for the season this Sunday. They have their pond skimming event to close out the season that day (where you ski down a hill and try to skim a pond as I understand it) – sounds like fun to watch!

Stay safe!

This one is kind of big year for me, so I plan to celebrate all month long – I will have a lot to post about this month . Unlike last month which was kind of lame for me. Sorry friends, but there a couple of things I wanted to catch you up on from last month.

First things first: my photobook came! And it is glorious. I’m seriously impressed with the printing job (Mypublisher in case you’re looking for a good consumer printer). Here is one more screenshot I can share:

Next, this past week in York was Restaurant Week! I had hoped to make it out more than once, but I am proud to share that I convinced some of my coworkers to join me at Leftbank for lunch one day. I’m proud because we’re an eat-at-your-desk-alone bunch, so Restaurant Week was a great excuse to spend some time with people I really enjoy. I ordered the special: the salmon cake BLT. It reminded me of a softshell crab sandwich: YUM. PS Mom – we should definitely add bacon to our softshell crab sandwiches this summer

Last thing: voting has begun for your York favorites. Actually, I’m pretty late with this post and it ends on March 3rd! You can vote for your favs here, but you have to input them yourself. So I’ve compiled a list of favs that I’ve blogged about in the past:

• Event: Taste of York
• Bakery: Just Cupcakes or Copper Crust Company
• French Fries: JR’s Fries
• Donut: Maple Donuts
• Quick Service Lunch: Busy Bee
• Fine Dining: Accomac Inn
• Produce: Dennis Fitz at Central Market
• Pretzel: The Pretzel Twist
• Gift Boutiques: Kimman’s
• Photography: KM Photography
• Winery: Moondancer or Naylor

I’ve probably forgotten a few that I’ve previously blogged about and there are even more that I’ve never blogged about that I do love, but you only need to vote for at least ten categories so there are enough listed to get you started!

Get voting and have a great weekend friends!