Despite the new aches and pains I’m feeling this week — discomfort in my lower back, cramps in my legs, pokes in my ribs — I couldn’t be happier. 29 is going to be a good year!

Sometimes I cruise above thick fog.

And enter Happy Valley like a hobbit going to battle.

While wind turbines pass by en route to mountain ridges.

And now onto the winners. Random.org helped me to select the two winning entries:

Congratulations, Kelly! Kelly is a fellow runner and is planning a fall wedding full of homemade, rustic details I love oh so much. Her favorite food memory is “homemade donuts my mom would make on snow days. They were the best!”

Congratulations, Kathleen! Kathleen is a newlywed who honeymooned in Quebec City and Montreal and shared plenty of good tips before our own trip. Her current favorite family recipe is her dad’s french toast. “It’s not like you get at restaurants — after you batter the bread and griddle it, you coat the whole piece of bread in a cinnamon-sugar mixture. SO DELICIOUS.”

I’ll email you both about your prizes. And I hope you enjoy glimpses into our family histories and recipes from our kitchen!

P.S. I apologize to those of you whose comments did not show up until tonight! For some unknown reason, they were flagged as spam, and I was not able to approve them until I returned home from vacation. I promise to resolve the issue!

Happy Summer!

By day I manage the online presence of a public broadcasting station. I promote local TV and radio programs and community events. I develop and edit content and write scripts. I produce faculty interviews and educational forums. I compress videos and author DVDs. I initiate online chats and implement Flash slideshows.

And how do I spend the remainder of my waking hours?

I blog here about newlywed life, and I share food stories and post recipes on The Culinary Couple. I told our wedding story on EAD, and I contribute to the Harrisburg Examiner.

I track my runs on Nike+, and I keep in touch with my family on Skype. I share videos on both YouTube and Vimeo. I have accounts with StumbleUpon and Digg and Newsvine, and I’m connected on LinkedIn.

On delicious, I bookmark my favorite finds and tag them as crafting, data visualization, ecofriendly, fitness, font, gocco, HTML, jQuery, photography, public media, recipes, travel, typography, usability.

I subscribe to over 200 blogs in categories like cooking, baking, design, technology, photography, and social commentary. My Google Reader has not been clear for months.

There is undeniable overlap. I create media. I consume media. I am always immersed in media.

I have a personal Facebook page, and I administer five group pages. I have a personal Twitter account, and I tweet to one professional account.

I’ve been uploading photos to Flickr since 2004, and I recently set up a stream for my station.

I manage no less than six public media websites, and there are always new projects on the horizon. On the side, I maintain four websites for freelance clients.

I feel pressure to be plugged in all hours of the day. It’s an ever-evolving environment, and — GASP — what if I miss something?

What if I don’t check-in on Foursquare or connect via Ning? What if I don’t understand the difference between TweetDeck and HootSuite? What if I don’t use Tumblr or Posterous? What if I don’t share my music preferences on Last.fm or post my restaurant reviews on Yelp? What if I don’t track trends on Slashdot or Mashable?

What then? Nothing. That’s what.

Life will go on. Just as it did when Nick and I both completely unplugged for an entire week last August. No iPhones. No MacBooks. No worries.

I need to make more of an effort to disconnect from technology and reconnect with real life. Do you agree? How do you manage?

Well, IT Band Syndrome is very common among runners, so I’m not alone. From Wikipedia: “The band stretches from the thigh to the calf and is crucial in supporting the knee during running. However, repeated friction and extension of the knee during running may cause inflammation.”

Also — and I’m sure I’m not alone here, either — yesterday’s x-rays showed that my knee caps are set high and inside. Doc says this may cause additional strain while running.

The best remedy for IT Band Syndrome is rest. Easier said than done. On days like today all I want to do is run. It’s refreshing and relaxing, and it had just become part of my daily routine. I miss it.

But I’m trying to stay positive. Even though I won’t be ready to run the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Seattle in June, I can still strive to run a half this summer — or perhaps even a full this fall. And Nick and I have already requested time off work in June, so we might as well take advantage of it, right? Destinations currently on the table include San Francisco, Montreal, and London.

So while I continue to stretch and strengthen and roll and ice, please indulge me. Where would you choose to spend five days this summer? And what would you do while you were there?

Two months ago I registered for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Seattle on June 26th. Nick has never been to Seattle, and so he agreed to come along as my cheerleader. (He decided last year’s half marathon was accomplishment enough for him.) I have only spent a few days in the lovely coastal city (during a conference in 2007: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4) and am excited to return.

So I joined a gym in our new town and endured the treadmill during a very cold February. I faithfully followed the first few weeks of Hal Higdon’s 18-week training guide — because his half marathon plan worked really well for me last year. And on the first sunny spring day in central Pennsylvania — two weeks ago from yesterday — I anxiously slipped into my Aasics after work and set off on a trail that connects my office to campus.

I ran past Penn State’s agricultural science labs and fields, around Beaver Stadium, along East Halls, and past the Creamery. About four miles in, I turned around to make the trek back. I felt great. The warm breeze provided just the right amount of relief from the sun, and my legs felt strong. I completed just over seven miles just before 7pm. By that point I was fatigued and hungry and still had to drive almost an hour to get home. So instead of properly stretching, I climbed into my car and headed south on Interstate 99.

Perhaps it was the shock of my first run on pavement. Or maybe it was because I forced my stiff legs into the driver’s seat before a proper cool down. Whatever the reason, I was in pain the following day. I took Advil and iced and declared it a rest day. But the pain lingered the next day and the day after that. Each time I tried to run I felt an acute ache along the outside of my knee. I struggled to walk down stairs, and it felt uncomfortable to cross my legs.

I turned to Google with my list of symptoms, and all search results pointed to the IT band. I vaguely remembered reading about the IT band issues of a fellow blogger, Kelly, and so I tweeted her with my questions. She (along with other well-respected running friends) suggested I invest in a foam roller.

And so I rolled and I stretched and I posed. I jumped on the elliptical and the bike, but I yearned to return to the road. Twice I did. With very unsuccessful results.

After hosting a dinner party last night — which required several hours on my feet to prepare food and more hours on the floor to play with my nephews — I’m in more pain today than I’ve felt over the past two weeks. That realization, along with a lecture from my mother, finally caused me to call the doctor. I scheduled an appointment for Tuesday, and I suspect he’ll tell me I need to take a break from running. But how long? One week? Three weeks? Six weeks? At this point in my training, I should be logging a comfortable 25 miles/week with at least a 9-mile run on the weekend. I can’t afford to take time off. That’s the right side of my brain talking. The logical left side is saying, “Don’t be a fool, Emily. Don’t over exert yourself and cause long term damage.”

Friends and fellow runners: I’m looking for some support. Have you faced a similar situation? What do you recommend?

And for the past five years I’ve worked in an office within three miles of my apartment. I had it down to a science. Alarm rings at 7:40. Hit snooze until 7:49. Hit snooze again until 7:58. Finally get out of bed at 8:00. Shower, dress, dry hair, apply makeup, eat cereal, take coffee to go. I was at my desk by 9:00.

Oh, the glory days have come to an end. I now live roughly 50 miles from my office. Fortunately, it’s a straight shot on I-99 along the ridge of Bald Eagle Mountain. Unfortunately, it can get very windy and snowy along that ridge, as I witnessed on the second half of the first day of my new commute.

Now that I have to spend just under two hours on the road every weekday, I’m more appreciative of my time at home. I’m encouraged to wake up earlier so I can get home earlier. Last week my alarm rang at 6:15 every day, and surprisingly, I only hit snooze one time on one day.

Nick and I sit down to bowls of cereal by 7:15, and  I’m on the road with a travel mug of coffee by 7:30. Steve Inskeep and Renee Montagne keep me company in the morning, and the good folks of All Things Considered are with me in the evening.

Because I’m out of bed early, I need to be in bed early. Last week we averaged a 10pm bed time. This was particularly easy because we were without distractions like cable and Internet. This week could be a different story, however. Figure skating! Alpine skiing!

Nick doesn’t start his commute for another three weeks. He will be on the road for at least two hours each day, too. This was the compromise. I could keep the job that I love, and Nick took take the job that he wanted, if we were both willing to drive to get there. We’re making it work.

What do you do to get going in the morning?

I started my adult life here. For the first time I paid rent and electric along with student loans and car payments. I filled my cupboards with colorful dishes from the Pfaltzgraff outlet store and secondhand pots and pans. I watched the Food Network on a circa 1970s console television from new red couches. (You see where my priorities once lied.)

I hosted as many as nine friends in my small space on any given home football weekend. In the beginning we partied late on Friday night and tailgated early on Saturday morning. In later years we stayed in and sipped wine from the comfort of the red couches and crashed on the carpet immediately following the game.

For eight months in 2006 — during my dad’s battle with cancer — I had a roommate. My brother and I split the bedroom down the middle with tall bookcases. I would often come home from work to find him and his best friend playing video games with an empty bag of cookies between them. Andrew always ate the last cookie. But he made it up to me with his sausage sandwiches.

I established my independence here. I ran the neighborhood streets at dusk and tucked myself into bed. (Though admittedly I would quickly change the channel if a preview for a gruesome horror film filled the screen.) I grew up and learned to take care of myself here. I walked downtown when I was sick to buy cough medicine and chicken noodle soup. When the dishes piled up in the sink, I had nobody to blame but myself.

And then, almost three years ago, I walked into a university lab to produce a research report, and my life changed forever. He was wearing a white lab coat and hovered over a microscope. I had a camera bag slung over my shoulder and a tripod tucked under my arm. His name was Nick.

We fell in love in the kitchen with its retro cabinetry and half-size appliances. I seduced him with sweet potato and apple soup and chocolate cake with thick peanut butter frosting. Nick grilled burgers with tangy blue cheese, prepared calzones with pepperoni and pineapple, and introduced me to Wiener Schnitzel, which is still my favorite dish in his repertoire.

And then he got down on one knee on the carpet of this apartment with candles flickering all around us, and he asked me to marry him. Ten months later we said “I do” in a garden on the banks of the Susquehanna River.

From the day we locked eyes in the lab to the day we slipped rings on each other’s fingers, Nick moved from student housing in Hershey and into a farmhouse in Hummelstown. Then temporarily from the farmhouse and onto Locust Lane. Three months later he took a job and moved to Hoboken. Through every move, this place has remained our constant. He came here again in October, and we finally began permanent cohabitation as a married couple.

Some elements of my life before Nick remain. My scarves and jewelry are displayed on the wall outside of the bathroom. Macro shots of flowers hang in the hallway. And my sweaters and skirts still have the closet all to themselves.

But Nick inserted himself and his things in many ways. He brought a spider plant that multiplied faster than we could give it away. He lined the bookshelves with his neuroscience text books and German beer steins. And he stacked bins of camping gear and ski equipment behind the wardrobe in the bedroom.

The movers arrive at 8:30 tomorrow morning (weather permitting, of course) to pack up the previous five years — from vulnerable college girl to liberated single woman to hopelessly in love to happily married.

Twelve hours and counting until we establish residency on Noelani Drive.

Of course I miss him (and I thoroughly enjoyed finding the love notes he left throughout the apartment — inside the refrigerator and the vanity and under the bed pillow), but I don’t mind the quiet.

Last night I completed my first manageable run since I got back on the treadmill. Afterwards I took a hot shower complete with Dove calming night body wash. I slipped into my sweats and ate dinner in front of the TV. I also worked on a top secret Valentine’s Day gift.

Tonight I plan to do more of the same, minus the run, plus a glass of wine. Tomorrow morning I’ll venture into the cold sporting my new Under Armour running tights and Nike Fit gloves for my first attempt at five miles since last summer. (154 days and counting until the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Seattle.) My reward for the long run is a night out in Baltimore with my best lady, a belated birthday celebration, and chocolate mint brownies.

What do you do when you have a weekend alone?