Month: October 2024

Beautiful Fall

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

This week was my perfect fall week. The weather was gorgeous – it felt like summer (70s/80s) in the beginning of the week, the sun was shining, and the leaves were changing. I was lucky enough to get outside every day for a walk, run or hike, and take advantage of the beauty. It was a great week to be outside, and I’m glad I was able to enjoy it! I’m so glad I’m back running. I tried to get in some longer miles this week when I wasn’t weight training, and while I’m not back to where I was before the broken toe incident, I am getting there!

Here’s what the week looked like:

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Fitting It All In

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 9 Comments

Now that I’m back running, AND still wanting to keep up my weight lifting, I’ve come to a dilemma – how do I fit it all in? AND fit it all in before 6 a.m. when my day with the kiddos starts?

This week, I tried to fit it in. My days consisted of getting up early for a short weight-lifting workout, and then I did 30-40ish minutes of cardio on weight-lifting days. I’m still getting back into running, so that included a few miles along with some cycling.  I’m trying to get back into it slowly, but can’t wait until I feel healed enough and strong enough to get in a truly long run!

Here’s what the week looked like:

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Getting Back At It

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

I’m now at week five of having a broken toe, and I’m starting to get back out there to run. I’m starting slow and short, since my toe still doesn’t feel 100% normal, but I’m not sure how it’s supposed to feel, so maybe not normal is normal?

Sunday started with a local 5K I was planning on doing with FW. I had told him that with my broken toe I would take off my boot and we’d walk it together, maybe run a little bit. But when I got to the starting line, I was ready to run! FW however didn’t want to run, so we mostly walked, which was probably a good idea for my healing. But after this race and the taking off of the boot, I was dying to try to get in a run this week and see how I felt. Here’s what the week looked like:

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White Chocolate Pumpkin Pretzels

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

I love, love, LOVE white chocolate pretzels. My mom’s cousin (my Aunt Alice) used to make them growing up and it was a treat to get a tin of those during the holidays. Hers weren’t only delicious, but they looked great, too! She made chocolate-covered pretzels also, and while I love those, the white chocolate are my absolute favorite.

So when I found myself in Michaels with my daughter a few weeks ago and I sporadically picked up some orange candy melts, I knew I had to make some festive Halloween pretzels. This turned into a fun kid-friendly activity that I enjoyed with LM! Since she broke her arm, we’ve found ourselves with a few free evenings that we would have usually been at soccer practice, cross-country, or another activity – so on of those evenings, we opted for this activity! They didn’t turn out as professional-looking as I would’ve liked, but when a 6-year-old and I bake, it’s mostly about having fun (and enjoying the fruits of our labor). 

white chocolate pumpkin pretzelswhite chocolate pumpkin pretzels

White Chocolate Pumpkin Pretzels

Here’s what you need

Here’s what you do:

  1. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.
  2. Melt chocolate according to directions. I placed mine in a glass Pyrex and melted it in the microwave on 50% power for 1 minute, then stirred it and melted it again for another 1-2 minutes and stirred again. Do not overheat or the chocolate may seize.  
  3. When chocolate is melted, dip each pretzel into the chocolate, tapping the edge of the bowl to release the extra chocolate.
  4. When pretzel is fully covered, lay it down on the foil and then place an M&M at the top of the pretzel so that it looks like the stem of a pumpkin. Repeat until you run out of chocolate.  Mine made about 30 pretzels, but we ate a few along the way 🙂
  5. Let cool/dry completely. I put mine in the fridge to speed up the process.

Screenshot 2024-10-07 160816

Some questions for you:

  • Do you like chocolate covered pretzels?
  • What would you have made with a surplus of orange melting chocolate?

It’s Been Four Weeks

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

If this were any other year, this would be a post about my wonderful September running update. I would talk about the fall season (best running season!), getting in some good races (Akron?) and total mileage. Alas, I had zero miles of running in September. The last time I had a zero mile month was after giving birth and I was forced to take 4 weeks off, but then immediately got back out there.

Was I inactive all month? Nope – hardly. I kept up every morning going on my bike, the rower, and lifting weights. In fact, this week marks a milestone – four weeks since I broke my toe! Well, I guess it’s a little longer since I broke it, but four weeks since I have been wearing my boot and have not been running.

That also means that I’m in week 4 of my weightlifting regime! I’m getting into the habit of it, and while it definitely doesn’t provide the endorphins of running, on these dark and wet fall mornings, getting in a basement weight training workout isn’t that bad. I’m starting to wonder if/how I can incorporate this into my routine when I get back to running, without waking up much earlier than I earlier do!

Here’s what this week entailed:

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