Half Marathon recap

Whew….   what a feeling!!

The day started out bright and early, I stayed the night at my sisters house (all the kids stayed at my house) and we were able to get a good night sleep and an early start without having to do the Kiddie shuffle….

We had to park about 3 miles from the start line and take a shuttle over- there were ALOT of people there!  But we made it and were off and running!

I had doubled up on shirts, short sleeve with a long sleeve over it because it was COLD!!!  So at about mile 2.5 I was warm and I took off my long sleeve shirt and tied it around my waist.   At mile 3 ish I realized the dates I had in the little pocket on my water bottle were GONE!!    Oh NOOOOOOOOOO, not my dates!!   I think they fell out when I was doing my presto change-O while running….   my plan was to eat a couple of them at the half way mark.

I felt best from mile 3 to mile 9, I found a good rhythm and held a good pace and was feeling really good.  At mile 8 we turned back onto Pacific Coast Hwy and ran the last 5 miles along the coast.  It was a beautiful day, blue skies and cool air.  The sun was in our eyes at this point but it was an awesome way to finish the race.  Mile 9 is where I started to feel the blister forming on my 2nd toe on my right foot.   By mile 11 it was getting really big and I could feel it squish with every step.  I kept wondering if it would pop and offer some relief or major pain but I kept putting one foot in front of the other and was never happier to see a finish line in my life!!!

I had my nephews Flip video camera with me and made this video… I apologize for the un-steady hand but I wasn’t about to stop and video along the way so I did it while running…   the quality isn’t great after I transferred to Youtube but at least you can see how much fun I was having!!

Surf City Half Marathon

We did it!!!!

and look at the adorable finisher medal we got!

I couldn’t be happier with the whole experience!!!  It was an awesome first Half Marathon!    I was pretty sore for the rest of the day and am a bit better today but still sore.   We are already making plans to do another one, probably in the fall!!

Thank you all for showing me soooo much support and love!!   I had every one of you in my mind along that course and just knowing that you were all cheering me on was enough to keep me going…every step of the way!!

xoxo

13.1

Well I did it!!!

I ran my very 1st Half Marathon!!!

What an amazing acomplishment,  I cannot tell you how amazing it feels to know I ran, I ran well and crossed that finish line with a BIG smile on my face.   I couldn’t have done it without all the support of my bloggie friends, that’s for certain.  The kind words and cheering section you all provided was what kept me putting one foot in front of the other for parts of todays race.

I finished in 2:33  I had set a goal of 2:30 and came ‘this close’ to making that goal.  I really thought that I made my goal when I crossed the line, my garmin time was 2:34 but I forgot to stop it for a bit and chugged a bottle of water.  Oh well, I’m happy with the 2:33 time and will most certainly take it.

I have some pictures and videos to post and will do that later today or tomorrow with a complete race report…for now I have a blister that needs tending to and I feel the need for a nap!!

xoxo

Ready or not!

SURF CITY HALF MARATHON here I come!!!

The weekend has finally arrived.  You know the one.  It’s the weekend I will be running my very 1st Half Marathon!!!

Eeeeeeeeeeeek!

I’m not afraid of alot but one thing I do fear is the UNKNOWN.  Which would explain the butterflies that feel like they are trying to tear their way out of my stomach!  I keep telling myself that “I CAN DO THIS” and really I know that I can but I’m still nervous.

Sorry for the randomness of this post but I am having a hard time focusing on anything other than Sunday right now and I just wanted to share a few things…

After 15 weeks of training and even more time mentally preparing, I have done two 10 mile runs.  One felt great, one not so much.   Looking back at the training I think it was an OK plan, but I have already been thinking of ways to tweak it a bit to get more out of it.

Yep you guessed it, there WILL be another one.  I kind of have that mentality of “if one is good, two is better”  so sometime around the Fall I will plan for another Half.

My sister and I run on the riverbed trail every Sunday morning for our long runs.  Every Sunday we see this woman running, we see her on our return trip so she is always running toward us and we always say HI.   Last weekend I asked her as we ran by if she would be at Surf City and she said YES.   I wonder if we’ll see her there…  I just found it interesting, like ‘running’ is the ’shoelace’ that ties us all together.

Tapering is hard mentally,  I find that I have the urge to go out and run or I’ll lose all that I’ve built up.  I know that is not true but not running the week before a big event is as hard as I’ve heard it to be.   I ran my last run yesterday, an easy peasy 2.5 miles.  Then I came home and whipped up some juice!!

An interesting thing I learned while training for this (from Thrive of course!) is that immediately after a hard workout you need to replace the Glycogen stores in your muscles.   I always thought that I needed protein immediately after a hard workout, it turns out that should come a bit later.  According to Thrive,  immediately following a workout, the best snack is one that contains Simple Carbohydrates with no fats, not even good fats.  This will allow you to replace the glycogen in your muscles so that it will be readily available for your next workout.   The nutrient rich meal that would include protein should follow about an hour later.

Carrot, Romaine, Beet & Apple   Mmmmm good!!

Have a wonderful weekend my friends, watching football, getting massages, going wine tasting, running 10 miles, whatever it is YOU will be doing this weekend… just know that you will all be with me at the beach as I run my first Half.  Thank you for all of the encouragement and kind words.

xoxo

Vitameatavegamin

Holy mother of all things good, grab your britches kids we’re going for a RIDE!

So, I had my post-it in hand and headed out for a regular ole trip to my favorite store Sprouts.   It started out as any ordinary trip would….but while I was there I struck GOLD!!   My lord I feel like I’ve won the Lotto!!!   First let me show you my haul, then I’ll break it down.

Jackpot!!

Behind door #1 we have Kambucha

and so it goes,  I’m late getting on this bandwagon, but now that I am WHOA BABY!!  After getting some advice on flavors and brands from Shari I went with the Divine Grape and was NOT dissapointed!!   I had purchased a bottle of this stuff about 3 years ago, long before I ever heard about it.  I saw some girl in Whole Foods putting about 10 of them in her cart, she looked fit and healthy and I figured she must be on to something so I bought a couple.  When I got in the car I cracked it open and about gagged over the smell!  Needless to say I didn’t drink it.   So this time I figured I was going to try it, cracked it open,  and chugged.  OMG!!   It is SO good,  the taste is not like the smell (at least with this flavor).    I drank about half the bottle on my way home and then realized it may contain alcohol!!  OOOOOpsie!    Does this mean I was drinking and driving???    God I hope not.  Wont do that again just in case….

may contain trace amounts of alcohol

So why don’t you join the thousands of happy peppy people and get a great big bottle of Vitaveatyvemeanyminimoe. I’ll tell you what you have to do. You have to take a whole tablespoonful after every meal. It’s so tasty too. It’s just like candy.

Behind door #2 we have :

Amazing Grass after seeing it all over the blog world and asking this lovely lady for some advice.  I debated for a while on the flavor.  Original vs Chocolate.   I decided to go with the chocolate because I already have a ton of green stuff that I put into my smoothies and figured I could use this to mix up a treat with either Hemp or Coconut milk and have it for a snack.

Behind door #3,

COCONUT ALERT!!   This my friends is BIG news, especially to my friend LUCY who may need an intervention soon.

After plugging along with my Spectrum brand of coconut oil for about 3 months and not knowing I was missing out on anything…. I tried the Living Foods brand and Holy Coconut Oil, there IS a difference!!!!  I also picked up some fresh dates because I couldn’t remember when I bought the ones I had and apparently there IS also a difference in a fresh date and an old date   (that’s what she said).  I yanked out the pit, slathered on some of my coconut oil (which by the way smells divine!!) and popped it into my mouth… I’m not sure if it was the alcohol in the Kambucha or the date/coconut oil but I dropped to my knees.

Great, just what I needed, another vice.

try it, you won't be sorry!

And finally, door #4

Now….  I know we’re all trying to be healthy and if we lose a pound here or there, what’s the harm right?  But I’m here to tell you that my new religion is MODERATION.  I will preach it till I die.   And for those days when our healthy food and exercise is tipping the scale just a tad too far to the left and we need that somethin’ somethin’ to balance it out….  well don’t say I didn’t warn you.   The following food item may or may not be addictive.

Purely Decadent.... aint no lie!

I cracked this puppy open and got a spoon like I was raised to do…. but honestly,  I just wanted to shove my face in it!!!  This is the creamiest, coconuttiest elixir I have ever tasted in my life.  I mean how is it that I’ve been eating solid foods now for over 44 years and had no idea this existed???   It’s ecstasy on a spoon.

Beware.... and don't say I didn't warn you!!!

It’s creamy coconut ice-cream made with coconut milk and has little flecks of coconut in it….   I have no words.  There were other flavors but I figured I’d stick with the theme of the day.    I’m thinking of adding a Pay-pal button to the blog just to support my new habit.

Other items of lesser interest included some produce, sea salt, steel cut oats and a bag of Sprouts Coconut threads unsweetened coconut…

Well, tonight is The Biggest Loser so you know where I’ll be if you need me….   and if I’m not there, check the freezer!

xoxo

It’s all relative…

It’s hard to believe that one week from today I will be running my very first Half Marathon!!!   eeeek!

This morning bright and early I met my sister at the trail for our final ‘long run’ before the Half.  Being our taper week we had a 7 miler planned.   Only 7 miles Ha!  I think it’s quiet funny how when I see 7 miles on the training plan I am RELIEVED.  I still vividly remember the day I could not make it one single lap around the high school track (1/4 mile) without stopping.  Believe me when I say, consistence is key.  Just keep showing up and doing your workout and you will see results, I promise.  There were times during this mornings run that I wanted so badly to stop and walk,  there were some strong internal dialogues going on that’s for sure!!   I kept telling myself if I couldn’t do 7 miles without walking there was no chance I was going to do 13.   Not that I won’t walk during my 13.1 miles next week, I mean if I have to I have to, but my goal is to run it without stopping.

Sooooo, I did my push up challenge “initial test”.   Yeah.   I got down on the floor in regular push up position, lowered myself down and then collapsed in a heap and laughed.   I could NOT get back up.  Nope, couldn’t even do ONE regular push up!!   So I tried them ‘girlie style’ on my knees and could do 12.    Now trust me, I debated with myself and even tried one regular one another time to see if I could squeeze out just one, nope.   I really thought I could do at least one regular push up but apparently my arms are in worse shape than I initially thought.   If I can’t do even one regular then there’s no chance I can even get thru the first workout doing them regular style.  Girlie style it is, at least for me.  I will start the program tomorrow and figure once I get finished with it I can always do it again with regular push ups if I want right??

For any of you that are dog lovers and really, who isn’t???   Go check out Fitfeat, there’s a sweet doggie over there that needs your help!

Well,  Grammy’s are on tonight and this girl loves her some music awards so I’m off to feed the kiddos and sit my sweet patootie on the couch to watch!!

Have a wonderful week my friends!!

xoxo

New kicks!

Yeah baby…rolling like a big shot  Mama’s got a new pair of kicks!!

Same shoe, new version Asics GT2150

I didn’t realize I was even due for new shoes until my knee started SCREAMING after last weeks 10 miler.   After experiencing some pretty bad pain I realized that the 2 pairs of shoes I have been running in were over a year old!!   Given that I ran 375+ miles last year I’d say they were ready to be retired.   The general rule of thumb is 300-500 miles or 6 months for a pair of shoes.  After doing some research I found it is not uncommon for someone who is running regularly to feel knee pain after about 250 miles on a pair of shoes…   I felt lucky that I had been able to get over a year and many more miles out of my shoes.  With less than 2 weeks before my first Half Marathon I figured I better get some new kicks and break those puppies in!!

and the GOOF is off!!

I headed out for their Inaugural run and planned on doing an easy 3 miles.  Right before I hit the one mile mark my knee started hurting so I debated on turning around, continuing on the 3 mile route or making a turn to cut it short and do a 2 mile run…   I opted for the latter and made a turn.   As I kept on running my knee pain started to go away,  I would have stopped running if it had gotten worse but it went away and by the end of the 2 miles it was fine.  Just for good measure I am going to ice it and rest it for a few more days and hope that by Sunday I’ll be good as new for my 7 mile taper run which will be our last longish run before the Half.

2 miles in 20:42 with a couple stops for drivers on cell phones and a train...I'm happy

In other exercise news…  I promised my friend Cindy that I would participate in her Pilates Challenge this month.  Yeah.  Not so much.   At first I just couldn’t squeeze it in, then I found myself with some extra time on my hands and figured now was as good a time as any… I got a Pilates DVD for beginners at the library,  the lady bugged me and I couldn’t get thru the 1st workout, something about her voice I just couldn’t get past.  Not ready to give up so quickly I went to Youtube and found another video.   I gave that one a whirl and only lasted about 10 minutes.   I think I just DO NOT like working out in the living room, on the floor all alone.  I was bored and not enjoying it.   I’m pretty sure that you should be able to relax and at least enjoy the workout-  I wasn’t.

On to the next challenge!!   In my one woman attempt at rushing Summer I thought I’d do my small part and get my arms and shoulders ready for TANK TOP SEASON!!    I’ve decided to make February my 100 push up challenge month!!  The 100 push up challenge actually goes for 6 weeks and is kind of the Couch to 5k for push ups.  I am going to do my ‘initial test’ this weekend to determine where my push up fitness level is and I will begin my challenge on Monday.  I’m thinking of adding a page to the blog for this challenge with some dreaded before and after pics… arms I can do, abs not so much.  Stay tuned!

Remember at the beginning of January I challenged myself to use my re-useable grocery bags on EVERY shopping trip??   Well, I am happy to report that it was a HUGE SUCCESS!!   I was very good about returning my bags to the car after every trip to the store and taking them in with me on all but 1 trip to the grocery store AND even Target!!   I managed to make it thru the entire month and only used ONE plastic grocery bag!!  ONE I say!  It’s kind of a funny story with that ONE bag…. had I been paying attention I would have not even used that ONE bag.   I ran in the store to grab eggs.  Nothing more than eggs.   As I was checking out my phone rang and I answered it….  the bagger put my eggs in a bag and I walked out with it.    Had I been paying attention I would have done what I intended to do and just take my carton of eggs with no bag but I wasn’t paying attention and there I was with my ONE plastic bag.  BOO!   The moral of the story here my friends is BE AWARE.   That’s all I have to say about that.

So,  do YOU have any fun challenges going on for the month of February??  I’d love to hear about them~!!

I hope your all enjoying your day!!

xoxo

Sweetness…

I read this somewhere… and found it to be perfectly suited for today.

“People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  When you figure out which it is, you will know exactly what to do.”

Today I  had a perfect day!!   I never in a million years would have thought that this blog would produce a REAL life friend but it has and I consider myself Lucky.

So, as my luck would have it Cindy and Hubs were going to be in my area today and since I happen to have some free time on my hands these days, we had the perfect opportunity to meet for lunch!    We met at my favorite restaurant Rutabegorz, which is the cutest little place and has some amazing vegetarian friendly food!

Her little guy is THE cutest and so so sweet!  And her hubs was just as awesome as she was!!

I have a feeling there will be many more get togethers with them,  a couple hours just was not enough!!   We couldn’t have been more lucky with the weather either, it was slightly chilly but still nice enough to sit on the patio and felt good to be outdoors!   The second I got in my car, sprinkles were falling on the windshield- Whew!!!

Yay for new friends!!!

I am most certainly looking forward to the next time I see this lovely lady-  we are going to need alot more time than we had today!

Here’s to MANY MANY MANY years of friendship!!!

xoxo

Sabotage

Warning: The following post may be a bit depressing, but it is REAL.

Webster’s dictionary defines sabotage as “any undermining of a cause”.

Simply stated, my ’cause’ is the Half Marathon I’ve been training for over the past 12 weeks.  My poor eating habits and lack of water intake is my ’sabotage’.    I have not met my daily water requirement once this week but have drank enough coffee/tea to float a boat.  I have eaten more than enough chocolate chip cookies and meals that involved red meat to make my performance this morning less than ideal.  Much less.  At mile 5 I knew I was in trouble.  No wait that’s wrong,  I kinda knew I was in trouble before my run started….   my head was NOT in the game.   Mile 9 was walked while fighting back tears.

Something happened this week,  a story that is not uncommon these days.  We hear about it on the news or know people that have been personally affected but most times it’s ‘them not us’ and we go about our day.   This past Tuesday it became ‘me not them’ and I lost my job.  The sole provider for myself and my 3 children and I find myself out of work.  I have mixed emotions about this as I have been in the Mortgage industry for 25 years now.  I started when I was 19 by accepting a good paying job and figured I’d do that until I figured out what I wanted to do….. that day never came and I just kept on doing what I knew.  Never really happy with that career and working for a poorly run company that didn’t care one single bit about me or any other employee I prayed daily for an out.  Well, that day came.   Because my prayers were so specific “get me out” I have to believe that this was an answer to that prayer, while at the same time I feel scared.  Scared because I know I cannot go back to that.  But that is all I’ve ever done.  Now I need to figure out what I really want to do and make that happen… finding yourself isn’t any easier at 44 than it was as 19.

I haven’t cried but at mile 8 today I felt the need to cry… I think I will feel better if I do but at the same time I feel like I need to be strong and put on that happy face.  It’s hard.

So with all that said.  Today is the day that I will plan for my week and get my diet/water in check.  This I can control and I will.  I will break out the ole Thrive and bury my nose in it and refresh my memory.  This I can handle.

I apologize for the depressing post, I honestly thought that maybe it would be better saved for the Journal…but the emotion and the words come out quicker on a keyboard and I really needed to get them out…. for those that are still reading, Thank you.

Onwards and upwards my friends….

xoxo

Purl girls…

What’s a girl to do when she’s been rained in???

Drag out the ole knitting bag and begin a project or two or three!!

So, me and my best girls took advantage of a break in the storm to make a run to Michael’s for some yarn.   Some people spin their own but I am not that patient talented, so off to Michael’s I went…

And look at the loot  we came home with!

5 skeins of yarn, new needles and some Knifty Knitter Looms

I was eyeballing a new project that looked fun and thought I’d give it a whirl.  It’s a ‘Cowl” which is basically a tube like scarf.  I had forgotten how theraputic and relaxing knitting is!!   I can’t put it down and will probably be done with it tonight.  Good thing I got more yarn!

The girls also started projects,  Jessica is making a beanie and Makenna a scarf.  They’ve been busy little bees all afternoon, nice warm cozy girls knitting quietly-  it just doesn’t get any better than this on a rainy day!

So that’s what we’ve been doing while on rainy day schedule….

I did head out for a 1.5 mile run yesterday during a break in the rain,  the intent was to do 3 but I realized quickly I had on too many layers and was still coughing too much to get my breathing rhythm down.  It was a good thing I cut it short because 5 minutes after I got home the sky opened up and POURED unbelievably hard!!!   There’s a 10 miler on the schedule for this Sunday-  our last LONG run before our Half on the 7th!!   I pray that we don’t have rain on Sunday and that I feel as good during this 10 miler as I did the last.

Stay dry my friends and if you must go out you should probably take the canoe!

xoxo

Squid juice and sheer determination…

That is what got me thru this mornings 9 mile run… Squid juice and sheer determination FO SHO!!!

Last night was a rough one,  girlie coughed ALL NIGHT and when girlie don’t sleep- Mama don’t sleep.  I doubt I got more than 3 hours sleep in all.   Then to top it off, I woke up with a tight chest and a cough- really??  What gives?

Oh how easy it would have been to send that text and say “not today sister” but I didn’t because with the Half a mere 3 weeks away I don’t have time to put off  a 9 mile run, so coffee in hand, out the door I went.

Thanks to the girls over at pure2raw I had a new sports drink with me to try out.   I cannot stand Gatorade or those sugary type drinks, I find them way too sweet.  Normally I would just have coconut water in my water bottle but Michelle & Lori had posted about their Spirulina drink that they used when they ran the Disney Marathon last weekend.  So I asked for specifics and they were very helpful!   They did say that it was based on one of the sport drink recipes in Thrive (my FAVE!) so I was game!

I love the simple 4 ingredients:

coconut water, spirulina powder, lemon, agave nectar

I mixed:

• 10 oz coconut water
• 1 tsp Spirulina powder
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tsp Agave nectar

I mixed it together in a jar and have to say I was SHOCKED when I saw it.   My son was watching me and freaked out saying “Oh my god, I cannot believe you are going to drink that!!!”   and honestly it was kinda scary but I stuck a straw in it and OMG OMG OMG  it was SO GOOD!!!   The weirdest thing, it had NO ocean taste whatsoever and the lemon could not be detected at all either.  If I had to give it a ‘label’ I’d say it tasted like grape juice.  I think the next time I would even cut the Agave back just a bit more as I really don’t need the sweetness but for todays run it was great!

This is what it looked like:

Squid juice!

I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a healthy sports drink option!  Don’t be afraid!

I’m sure my Squid juice played a big part in my survival of that 9 mile run this morning,  I felt good till mile 5 and then it was sheer determination.  It was HARD.

After my run I grabbed my girl and headed over to Urgent Care because I suspected some antibiotics were needed for this little one.  She isn’t a complainer so if she’s up all night with an earache it’s something… Sure enough 2 1/2 hours later we had our prescreptions!    I hate giving her antibiotics so tomorrow we are heading over to Trader Joes for some pro-biotics to try and keep her belly healthy!

Yesterday we took some of our juice pulp and made our first attempt at pulp crackers that are all the rage…

What started out like this:

Added some flax, seasonings and water and mixed well….  it had the consistency of meatloaf  when we were finished.

rolled out thin, addes some Himalayan Pink Sea Salt & some Dulce flakes to the top,  scored it and popped it into a 350 oven for about 10 min.  Then I turned the oven off and let them sit in there to dry out while we ran some errands….

The verdict???

BLECH!!!!    I don’t even have a picture of the finished product as they were HORRIBLE!   Even delicious Hummus couldn’t cover up the horrid taste.    If anyone has any pointers on making these good- I’d love to hear it.

Well, I’m off to relax… I am forever grateful that tomorrow is a holiday and I can sleep in…

xoxo