Happy Fathers' Day!

eating: Greek tomato/zucchini couscous salad (recipe from the couscous box)
watching: Italy/New Zealand

So I'm a little late, but I figured out what I'm getting my dad for Fathers' Day.  On my long, hilly, hot run this morning, I listened to an interview with Barbara Kingsolver about her latest book (see left).  I love her anyway, and I think it's great that she and her family made a year-long commitment to become "locavores."  They moved to a farm in rural Virginia and grew their own vegetables, raised their own poultry, and got everything else they needed from farmers' markets.

Anyway, since retiring, my dad has evolved into quite the gardener/canner/beekeeper (e.g., according to his facebook status, he spent yesterday picking, prepping, and canning 19 quarts of early contender beans).  I inherited my parents' love for fresh produce, but so far I've been way too lazy to grow anything myself (when I had a yard, my dad even tilled a plot and planted tomatoes, which I quickly let become overgrown).  I'm so lazy I routinely let produce go bad in the refrigerator.  But no more!  We have a new Farmers' Market in our suburb, so I can at least take advantage of that.  Maybe I'll even try out that silly Topsy Turvy tomato planter on the deck (if it's not too late).  Stay tuned!

(As an aside, the training is going well, even if I did wipe out on my run today. Did I mention it was long, hot, and hilly?  I think I still have dirt imbedded in my arm, but I wasn't hurt, so I really can't complain.)

Race Report

Last Saturday morning I happened to wake up early enough to head over to the Perimeter Mall area for the Save Our Skin 5K, a sun-safety awareness run to kick off the summer. I think running with the aforementioned Garmin helped my pace. I even may have PR'd (I can't be 100% sure as my race record-keeping over the past 6 years leaves something to be desired). AND I opted for the free skin check, which I passed (woot! woot!).

Other races on tap for the summer: Pride 5K (best race T-shirts, by far) and of course the Peachtree Road Race (not my favorite 10K in the world, but it's tradition).

drinking confession

So the lot of us (well, the cute husband, Jimmy # 2, and I anyway) are all addicted to the following concoction blended into what tastes like a Reese's cup milkshake (after all, there's no wrong way to eat a Reese's cup).

So without further ado, here is the recipe for the You got your chocolate in my peanut butter! Protein Shake:

• 1 cup milk (Silk light vanilla for me, Mayfield skim for them)
• 1 T. Smucker's natural creamy peanut butter
• 1 scoop Wholefoods brand chocolate soy protein powder
• 8-10 ice cubes

Blend.
Enjoy.
Thank me for it later.

It's the gustatory highlight of my day.

week dos

I haven't had much to say, but I did complete Week 1: 4 miles last Tuesday, 2.7 Wednesday, and 4 Friday. My long runs will now be on Sundays with hill work early on.  I had to do Sunday's run yesterday (Monday) as the cute husband had to leave at 6:30 (a.m.!) to referee (and the young'un is still too young to leave at home).  Anyway, so I did 5 miles yesterday with some hillwork.  I also did yoga a couple of times in there.   Four miles this morning to start out Week 2.  School's out, so that helps with the schedule.  Oh, and I got a new Garmin 405, which seriously rocks.

Jimmy #1 has his first swim meet of the season tonight.  Go Warriors!

Happy Mothers' Day!

I finally ran today for the first time since the fake marathon.  I think the Gomers recently mentioned or suggested listening to music and sprinting during the chorus, slowing down on the verses.  I tried that, and it was fun!  And I finally wore the cute new outfit I bought for the marathon (but then ditched because the top is white and I feared being rained/tornadoed-upon). 

Time to put on my cute new bathing suit and enjoy the rest of Mothers' Day at the pool!  (Yes, I have a shopping problem.  Believe it or not, it's why I won't play tennis... I've seen the tennis section at Sports Authority, and it could easily spell trouble!)

No Sticker Yet

So I did get diverted at Mile 11 to the half-marathon finish (due to the tornado rolling in to Nashville).  My time was 2:22, which is my slowest half-marathon time.  But considering I didn't know whether I was running a half or a full until Mile 11, it is what it is.  Found out the Apalachicola marathon in October is basically 26 miles uphill.  So now I'm looking at OBX (see countdown, right), which is already a special place as it's where I married the cute husband.  That gives me three weeks until training officially starts...

well, all right then

From the marathon website:

Country Music Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Weather Contingency Plan:

After consultation with all the involved city authorities, due to the weather forecast in the Nashville area which is projecting severe afternoon storms, the MARATHON will most likely be subject to an abbreviated timeline.

At this time, there is a contingency plan to limit the marathon to 4:30 and under*. Any runner who is behind this pace (10:20 per mile) at mile 11.2 will be directed to complete the half marathon course. This timeline may change based on what actual race day weather pattern.

While we know that this will be a disappointment to some (as it is to us); if implemented, this plan is in the best interests and safety of all involved, especially the participants and volunteers. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

*Time based on chip time, not gun time.

Tornadothon

Forecast:  Strong thunderstorms likely. Damaging winds, large hail, and possibly a tornado with some storms.

As the cute husband said, next time I blog, it'll be from Oz!

Nashville Forecast, 3 days out

High: 76 degrees, T-storms.

Running in rain is fine, but I don't typically make it a habit to run in thunderstorms. This could be interesting.

Bostonian Pimp

I'm sure it's obvious, but Bostonian Pimp is the name of the shrimp pizza I had at Hearth last night.  It was good, but my favorite is still Jessica Says Eat Your Vegetables (butternut squash on pizza??  brilliant!).  Anyway, I mention the pizza by name here because the 114th running of the Boston Marathon is about to begin.  Very exciting!  Unless I get competely immersed in work this morning, I'll try to follow the race and at the very least keep up with how Steve Runner is doing. 

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Nashville Forecast, 5 days out:  High of 82 degrees, scattered thunderstorms

. . . . . . . . . . . .

I bought a race outfit yesterday (and some Espresso Love Gu!) at Sports Authority.  I'm very excited about my first running skirt!  I never played tennis, so I missed out on sports with cute outfits (rugby... not as girly as you might think).  Time to get going.  Happy Patriots' Day!

sloppy, shorter, stuff, and soon

sloppy:
I'm still struggling to "eat clean" and avoid bad stuff in food.  I bought my girl Tosca Reno's workout book this week, and it has nice pictures, but I could have saved my money.  I do highly recommend her cookbook though (see left) and while I'm at it I recommend The New Rules of Lifting for Women.  Anyway, the point here is I made turkey/black bean sloppy joes this week, and they were quite tasty and a hit with at least one jimmy and one adult (me, obviously).  The other two people in the house are hopelessly picky.
..................................................................................................
shorter:
Got my hair cut and highlighted today.  So far no one's mistaken me for Kate Gosselin (today anyway).

..................................................................................................
stuff:
Oooh, new favorite podcast:  Stuff You Should Know (blog is here).  After my run today, I know all about Tourette Syndrome ("Bob Saget!"), Zoos:  Good or Bad (answer: bad with a very few exceptions that do not include Zoo Atlanta), and How McDonald's Works (although I had already seen Super Size Me and Fast Food Nation, so I already knew more than I ever wanted to).
..................................................................................................
soon:
See the counter to the right. (Bob Saget!)

Nashville Forecast, One Week Out

Sunny and high of 80 degrees, i.e., completely the opposite of what they were predicting yesterday.

Forecast for Nashville, 8 days out

High:  72 degrees
Showers
Precip:  60%

Oh goody.

getting ahead of myself

watching:  Parenthood
feeling:  happy not to have daughters

So I've narrowed down my fall marathon choices to either the mountains or the beach.  There's one basically in my hometown that's small but with rave reviews... Ridge to Bridge Marathon  And then there's one in the town with my favorite name (Apalachicola)... Running for the Bay! (exclamation point included)

How to decide?

weekend recap

So I took the jimmies to the hometown for a weekend visit to cap off a lazy Spring Break.

The good:  I spent some quality time on the parents' deck enjoying a perfect day yesterday after an 8.5-mile ("short-long") run reading my new favorite book about a fellow Smithie who rowed across the Atlantic (see left).  Through a hurricane.  This chick seriously rocks.

The bad:  I got a speeding ticket in Chesnee, which could have been a lot worse.  I got really lucky.  I think I'm going to suck this one up and pay the fine and accept my 2 points.  This is actually the first moving violation to stick in 21+ years of driving with a lead foot, so I can't really complain.

The ugly:  During the good (see above), I may have taken a little nap and expanded my retard sunburn from last weekend.  I'm hoping the red will spread and turn to tan by the time the pool opens.  It could happen.

Team Edward

watching: Cubs @ Braves (J-Hey!)
feeling: way too full from Taco Mac

Did I say I was going to blog every day until race day?  Did you actually believe me?  Well, the good news is I haven't missed any runs despite not blogging about it.  Alas, I was hoping to go to my second dance class last night but ended up working until 7:30 instead.  My girl Lori is in Ohio anyway, so I may as well wait until she gets back to try again.

So there's not much going on with me.  I would let the cute husband share his own news, but that will never happen.  So here's the good and the bad:

First, the good news:  the cute husband is officially a pledge.  Let the hazing begin.
And the bad:  he doomed himself whilst refereeing last night.  I'm trying to talk him into getting a Hoveround (which I am so going to borrow). 

On the bright side, he's finally getting his 5 servings of veggies.  (If you can count holding a bag of frozen peas on one's knee.)

and by sugar-free, I meant not counting 3 packets of Gu and 1 post-run 20-ounce Coke

Well, I did it.  26+ miles are in the plugger, as the cute husband would say if he'd said anything this decade.  I have a retard sunburn (half of the back of my upper arms, back of my calves) to show for it too.  Now I'm just trying to stay awake for the duke game.  Or at least until tip-off.  Okay, it may not happen.  There was a recovery Fruity Pebbles beer and then a Harlem Globetrotters beer, so I'm fading fast (except for the sunburned parts, of course).

sugar-free

Today is Day One of my 21-day No Sugar Challenge.  Not sure why I decided to start this 2 days before Easter.  But here's 146 reasons maybe why.  Or maybe it's just because the jimmies get mad when I steal their candy. 

Did I mention 26 miles tomorrow?  Oy vey.

I said a hip hop, a hippity hop

So last night I made my way to Dance 101 (suggested by some random commenter here) for my first ever dance-studio-dance-class. It's possible I'm not as good at the hip hop moves as you might think. It was fun-ish, less than it might have been because my girl Lori wasn't there (she sent me ahead for reconnaissance purposes). I tried to hide out in the back and not throw everyone else off, but that exacerbated the problem as I didn't have a great view of the instructor. So it wasn't pretty, but I think I need to withhold judgment until after a few more classes (maybe not of the hip hop variety).

Did I mention 24-26 miles on the agenda for Saturday? Oof.

good eats

I wanted to give more of a race report, but other than saying that it was unseasonably cold Saturday and that my shoelace came untied within view of the finish line, I don't have much to add.  So instead I'll talk about the culinary highlights of the trip.  I tried to somewhat eat healthy while we were there, although that sorta fell apart Saturday night while we were watching the tournament (don't even ask me about my bracket).  Saturday lunch we were on the patio at Red's Ice House (where I stoically never once mentioned the cold).  There, I enjoyed Saku tuna dredged in blackening spice, seared rare, and served with a cool cucumber salad and topped with sweet and spicy soy mustard. If there's a better post-race meal, I'd like to hear it.  Then on the way home yesterday, we stopped at a random Carrabba's.  I gotta tell ya, the Insalata Fiorucci is a beautiful salad with roasted bell peppers and eggplant, marinated artichoke hearts, and something called a hazelnut goat cheese medallion.  Very healthy and yummy, and conveniently there's one not far from us.  Say what you will about chain restaurants, but I like being able to find out nutritional information, and this one's a winner.

Less healthy but something I had to try out on the trip:  Chocolate Peeps!

CRBR PR

i.e., "Cooper River Bridge Run personal record."  I think my time last year was 60 minutes even, and this year, I ran it in 58 minutes and 20 seconds, officially making it my PR for that race.  I haven't been doing any speedwork, just trying to get through my runs, so it was fun to pick it up a little.  After the marathon, I think I'd like to focus on improving my 10K time.  I bet I could shave some serious time off if I actually tried (and found a less crowded race).

Next weekend is the last long long run (24-26 miles) before Nashville.  Yikes.

Muddy Mayhem

I mentioned the Warrior Dash (an "insane race" with "11 obstacles from hell") here (btw, this random mention has driven more hits to my blog than anything else).  I didn't think I'd be able to find anyone else crazy enough to do it with me (and I'm still not sure I'm crazy enough), but I found out yesterday a work acquaintance (mentioned here) is thinking about it.  Also I may have convinced my friend Keith (former work buddy at the Happy Hour last night) to join me.  The website says you only have to run to prepare for the race, but I'm really not so sure about jumping over fire and plunging underwater and weaving my way between submerged logs.  Or any of the other 9 obstacles.

But I really want the cool helmet.

it's getting easier

The past 2 mornings I've woken up before the alarm went off.  I think I'm finally adjusted to the time change.  The downside of this schedule of course is that I'm falling asleep on the couch by the time the cute husband gets home from refereeing.  But we have a fun weekend in Charleston to look forward to tomorrow... woohoo!

On the agenda today:  court all day, then Happy Hour to catch up with my former work buddies.  Glad I got my run in!

oops

Okay, I'm a bit off, but I'm back.  I hit the snooze a couple of times yesterday so ended up just doing a short exercise dvd (basically just crunches) and running this morning.  If I run again tomorrow, I'm where I wanted to be.  I really need to be getting ready, so this will be quick. 

While I was running this morning, I listened to an interesting interview on Manic Mommies with Gretchen Rubin, who has a book and blog called The Happiness Project.  I'm definitely going to check her more out later--basically she spent a year testing out ways that are supposed to make you happier.  The big tip she had for Manic Mommies: get more sleep.  I'm a big believer in this one, plus I know I am a whole lot less likely to get up and run at 5:30 if I didn't get to bed by 10 or 10:30.  And running makes me happy. 

ing envy

Or I should say that I'm envious of people who were training for the ING Marathon and now have it behind them.  Like my girl Emma (mentioned here, among other places) who has another sub-4-hour marathon notch on her running shoes.  There's only one month until my little marathon, and based on my times for my long long runs, I'm starting to worry I'll be looking over my shoulder at the sweeper van.  I wish I'd been training (and pre-training) with higher mileage and speedwork.  Oh well.

It's a little late to ramp up my training, so my goal for the next month will have to be at least stay on track with my scheduled training and to watch the caloric intake so I'm carrying as little extra weight on race day as possible.  I've been saying I need to do this, so I commit to blog every day until race day!  Can I do it?  Yes, I can!  Is every entry going to be fascinating?  Well, probably not any less than usual.

So today:  I lamed out this weekend and missed my short-long run (8-10 miles).  This boils down to me not getting up early enough either day to go before the cute husband had to leave to go referee and then thinking I would do it after he got home and then not doing it.  I apparently have to keep re-learning the same lesson:  get up early and do it.  Period.  So today I got up at 5 and ran a little over 7.5 miles, the most I could squeeze in before heading out of town for work.  I'm going to run tomorrow and Thursday instead of M/W so that today makes up for the weekend.  You heard it here first.  (I'll check in tomorrow!)

back on track

I ran 22.2 miles this morning, and it went as well as I could have hoped for.  I credit the following:

1. fancy new fuel belt (see picture)
2. 
   
   chocolate Gu
3. 
   
   alternating running/fitness podcasts (burning 2010,  early morning runner [which appears to be done, but I wanted to listen to episode #6, the story of his first marathon], and of course Two Gomers [which made me want to join them at Grandma's Marathon in June]) with Manic Mommies podcasts.  My girl Lori (mentioned here and here) told me to check the latter out a few months ago, and I just now got around to it.   Anyway, Lori was right--they're great.  Plus I felt like a good mom just for listening to a mommy podcast.
4. 
   
   tummy medicine that I didn't need, but it probably helps psychologically just to have (my slightly asthmatic, occasionally smoking and always running faster than me friend Heather feels the same way about her inhaler)
5. 
   
   forcing myself not to make the rookie mistake of starting out too fast and taking walk breaks a little more often
6. 
   
   and last, but definitely not least, perfect weather (cool but not cold and overcast most of the morning)

So, even though I ONCE AGAIN missed my weekday runs (that has seriously got to stop), I am feeling better about this whole marathon thing.  Or at least that I might be able to finish.  Oh!  I also have to credit my new post-run trick: I took my first ice bath!  After the heart failure in the first minute, it really wasn't so bad.  Plus, I took others' advice and wore a fleece jacket and bathing suit and enjoyed some chai latte to distract myself from the freezingness.

So the long run's done, and now I can look forward to the Harlem Globetrotters tonight (Jimmy #2's belated birthday celebration).  And (theoretically, at least) not working for the first weekend in a month.  Woohoo!

bridge

watching: iCarly
reading: Woman's World

I'm either turning into the jimmies or my mom, I can't decide. Two particularly sad observations: 1) I've seen this episode before; and 2) 5% of Woman's World's readership is men. (Seriously?)

So no bonus-make-up-for-February-at-the-last-minute run today, unless you count a few minutes on Wii Fit. Speaking of which, I beat my trainer (again!) at the push-up challenge (up to 50! oh yeah!).

Time to register for my new favorite 10K: The Cooper River Bridge Run! The cute husband and I enjoyed a lovely weekend in Charleston last year (see right), which included watching the Heels in the Final Four. I have this crazy feeling that part won't be happenin' this year (and not just because the race is a week earlier).

slacker

I dunno why I've been slack about blogging... maybe because I didn't have a great long run last weekend (and in fact cut the scheduled 19 miles short) and missed my midweek run (again).  Oh well.  Today's run (9.7 miles) was good, and I was thinking about an unscheduled run tomorrow just to get to my goal for this month of 75 miles.  We'll see if it happens.  I also have a good amount of work to do tomorrow, so no promises.

Anyway, I had a fun date night tonight... the cute husband and I had a yummy dinner and went to see a wonderful play at our favorite local theatre.  I think I mentioned earlier that I was excited about our half-season tickets and also about getting Wii Fit.  Both of those things have not disappointed.  Wii Fit is crazy fun and addictive.  I still need to get new running shoes (the other item on my list of fun things on the horizon)... I think the discomfort I had on the outside of my foot today may have been because my soles are too worn down.  Unfortunately, I spent my shoe money at Ulta today.  I told the cute husband that letting me go in there alone was like letting a 7-year-old go in a candy store alone.  But for some reason, he preferred to wait for me at Borders (and letting him go in a bookstore alone is about the same thing). 

Oh, very bad news... one of the Two Gomers (mentioned here as my favorite new podcast) got hit by a car while running (he's going to be okay, but their March marathon is off).  Very scary stuff, and as they pointed out, a good reminder to run with ID.  Which I'm totally going to start doing.  Really.

so you think you can krump

watching: The Buried Life #33: Compete in a Krump Contest
remembering (fondly): So You Think You Can Dance Krumper and season 6 winner

All I have to say is if 4 white boys from Canada can quickly learn how to Krump and not get booed offstage in a competition, surely I can run a marathon after months of (sorta) training. (They did have one of the best teachers imaginable, but still.)

And now back to my suburban reality: time to go log some minutes on Wii Fit so the jimmies or kitties don't get too far ahead of me.

Winter Olympics! Ohno!

watching: women's mogul skiing (2010 olympics)
elevating: my left foot

I had a good shorter-long run today (9.7 miles) with a somewhat gross surprise when I got home.  But you know, watching what these Olympic athletes go through (and not just Nodar Kumaritashvili) makes me almost want to not bitch about something as silly as a blood blister.  Almost.

I have a new favorite podcast.  It's only new to me.  It's hugely popular apparently.  And after listening to Episodes 18 and 19, I see why.  Last week on my miserable long run, I tried out 3 episodes of Running Stupid.  I don't know if it's just because I was having a bad run, but it wasn't doing it for me (and it wasn't the kazoo either; I actually didn't mind the kazoo and the Dean Karnazes reverence).  Anyway, the Two Gomers (my favorite new podcasters) are gearing up for ING right here in the ATL, which would have been my marathon choice, but it was just a little too soon when I was choosing a race and looking at training schedules.  They're funny and relevant, and I like the show format.  It's a lot better planned out than this blog ever thought about being.  So check it out if you haven't already.  (PS - I still love Steve Runner.  But the longer runs finally required me to branch out, which he's been trying to get me [and by me, I mean all 10 of his listeners] to do for years.)

Exciting things on the horizon:

1. First and foremost, the Valentine's plans with the cute husband (may his blog rest in peace):  we're supporting local theatre and going to see a fancy play.  We even bought half-season tickets, which I'm so excited about!  Now if we can only decide on which six plays to go see!
2. As soon as this stupid blister stops freaking me out, it's time to go get new running shoes.  The old ones have way too many miles on them, and I need to start breaking in the new ones before the marathon. Who knows, I may even branch out and try a different shoe.
3. I finally broke down and ordered Wii Fit!  I decided to channel some of my Guitar Hero O.C.D. into something that doesn't give me carpal tunnel. We'll see how that goes.

Celebration

So it's FINALLY the end of football season, and we're having a party. The cute husband is in the kitchen making chili; I'm baking my pie crust for sugar cream pie (Go Colts!). I'm going to try to locate some beignet (Go Saints!) mix at Cost Plus as soon as it opens. And mostly I'm wondering if I can sneak in a game of Guitar Hero during all the preparations.

I ran 17.37 miles yesterday, and honestly it sucked. It kept getting colder while I was running, so that I had "frostnip" in my hands by the time I finally got home. Oh well, only 3 more longer-long runs before the race, and hopefully it will warm up for those. My weight was way down this morning. It's possible that 22 ounces of water for 4 hours of activity was not enough. Also, we went to Taco Mac Friday night, and for some reason I had not one, but two beers. I'm really not very bright. I would never do that the night before a half-marathon. Why did I think it was a good idea the night before a 17-18 mile run?

Oh well, they were yummy. Rogue Chocolate Stout and Rogue Hazelnut Stout. But I really gotta drink more water.

Speaking of water, there was an incident yesterday involving Tony Randall and the laptop crashing to the floor along with a glass of water.  Luckily for Tony Randall, the laptop seems to have recovered.  But we're wondering how well he'll be able to behave himself during this party with food everywhere.  I don't see it going well.

Warning: Long Post Ahead

Past Runs...
Well, I missed Monday’s run (my excuse is it was the morning after my birthday and I was out late seeing Up in the Air), but I ran my usual weekday run this morning. I got freaked out before I got to the main road when a car slowed down next to me and then pulled into a church driveway right in front of me, completely blocking the driveway so that I had to run in the road to go around them. I think they just had to stop and do something and didn’t feel like turning around in the parking lot (this way they could just pull straight out), but still it really freaked me out in the semi-dark and on the not-very-busy road. I ran right on the middle line of the road when going past them… nowhere near grabbing distance of the car, just in case.  I need to start doing PSAs about how not to freak out runners when you're driving.  I wonder if that would just make it worse though.

Luckily, that experience was balanced when I ran by the jovial traffic cop who directs traffic into a car dealership during “rush hour.” He always gives me such a big smile when he says hi; I think it’s appreciation that someone else is out in the cold too.  It's the little things in life...

In case you were worried about how I'm doing on my schedule after being lazy with my cold... I didn’t do my long run from a week and a half ago until this past Friday. I did that in place of the shorter long run scheduled. The plan is to just skip that one and do my next longer long run this weekend (17-18 miles… boo!) to basically get back on track. 

Future Runs, Part I...
I may do a 5K at the end of the month... my schedule allows it, and I haven't tried to run faster than a crawl in forever.  Could be fun.  Anyone want to join me on the 27th?

Presents:

Speaking of my birthday (we kinda were in paragraph 1, really), the cute husband (who, you will notice, has not posted since last decade) did a good job on the birthday presents. One of his best qualities is he supports my running (on-again, off-again though it may be). So he got me a very cute (Carolina blue) Ironman watch and a cute (pictured) water bottle. And a book, but it’s not exactly exercise-related.

Past Eats:

I made another new chicken recipe on Saturday, which I LOVED, the jimmies were not such big fans of, and the cute husband conveniently avoided by being out birthday-shopping.  It was Chicken and Sweet Potatoes with Shallots, and that’s pretty much all it was. It was so easy, Real Simple even. But I like my food pretty basic, so that worked out. Mmm, in case you were wondering, I got my usual for my birthday dinner… the vegetable plate with Israeli couscous, steamed broccoli, roadkill zucchini (that’s probably not the official name), and acorn squash with some sort of ridiculously yummy maple butter or something on it. And of course the earlier-mentioned carrot cake, which the jimmies generously helped me eat.

Future Runs, Part II:
One last note… registration for Chicago on 10/10/10 opened up, and I have a couple of friends planning to run it. Would it be too crazy to sign up for a second marathon before I even make it through my first in April? On the plus side, it’s a lot flatter than Nashville, and I’d have a free place to stay as two of my BFFs are moving back there right around now (they're still looking for a place to live, and I've already invited myself to crash there - how do you like that?!).

Future Eats:
Super Bowl Party Sunday!  The cute husband will be making his famous chili.  As I'm the one with the sweet tooth, I'm thinking about making beignets, à la New Orleans, and Sugar Cream Pie, à la that team from Indiana.  I do love a theme.

That's Italian!

I haven't blogged in forever because I haven't exercised in forever (until yesterday's long run... more on that later).  So this post is about food.  Yesterday, I made homemade cannoli and tiramisu for my girl Laura's 40th birthday party.  That was not so much clean eating, so instead, I'll report here on a healthy version of chicken parmesan I made the other night from the March/April 2010 issue of Clean Eating magazine.  The important thing is that I loved it - I give it an 8 easily, as did the cute husband overall (9 for the chicken, 7 for the whole wheat penne on the side).  Jimmy #1 did not like the pasta, but 99% of his pasta consumption is mac-n-cheese.  Jimmy #2 really liked the dish once I let him put butter on his pasta.  Anyway, the chicken was really good... panko bread crumbs and parmesan with a bit of dijon holding it on and obviously baked instead of fried.  And mozzarella on top.  The recipe calls for reduced-fat, but we still had a good bit of the real stuff from when I made the cute husband make fake Pokey Sticks the other night (not so clean either).  So the cheesy goodness probably didn't hurt the ratings.

Tomorrow's my birthday!  If I get my way, there will be warm carrot cake with melty cream cheese frosting at one of our favorite restaurants.  Good thing I ran 15 miles yesterday.

not feeling so good

I started feeling less than 100% Sunday evening sometime after hot yoga.  So the run yesterday did not go as planned.  I ran to the turnaround point and then walked home due to general achiness.  Today I have a cough and still a headache, so I skipped the hot yoga.  I'm hoping to feel better for a run tomorrow.  There's lots of discussion on the interwebs about when to run when you're sick (e.g., symptoms from the neck up, go for it; neck down, take it easy). 

Saturday's 7-mile run was great, but I'm feeling anxious about the 15-16 miles scheduled for this Saturday.  I made it to 17 miles a few years ago when I was planning to do the Marine Corps Marathon, and that's when things fizzled out.  There were other things going on, but part of it was that at 17 miles it gets hard (for me, at least).  I know it sounds like I'm whining, but this is my journal to keep track of the highs and lows of this alleged marathon training.  So when I get through Saturday, I'll look back and say pssh, what was I so worried about?  And that will show this wannabe cold.

No soup for you!

Welcome to Installment Three in our Blogging-About-Eating series. Tonight, I decided to make Winter Tomato soup from the January/February 2010 issue of Women's Health. So I announced my intention to the jimmies and was informed that Jimmy #2 does not like tomato soup (he ended up having leftover tacos) and that Jimmy #1 really did not want to try tomato soup if it involved onions and other grown-up flavors. So Jimmy #1 and I had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, but his soup was the silly drinkable kind. The cute husband did humor me by trying a spoonful of the soup, and he gave it a 6.5 (out of 10) after a good bit of discussion on how strong the bay leaf flavor was. He tells me he's more of an eat-soup-in-the-summer kind of person. I think he's just being contrarian. Anyway, I liked the soup; the combo with the grilled cheese sandwich (which I totally invented) was exactly what I was craving on this rainy night.

I'll definitely try at least one of the other soups from this article. Both the Gingered Sweet Potato & Carrot and the Savory Moroccan look yummy.

I had a good workout week this week: Hot Yoga Sunday and Thursday, P90X Yoga X DVD on Tuesday, ran 3.69 miles each on Monday and Wednesday, and 7.02 miles today. Tomorrow, if I get going in time and can talk myself into delaying the Sunday morning Waffle House tradition, I may try the Power hot yoga class instead of the regular hot class in the afternoon. I dunno though. The tradition is sacred, and I'm not sure I'm ready to pick up the pace in hot yoga.

Shout out to my sister's friend Megan who successfully completed the Disney Marathon in near-record low temperatures and freezing rain.  I heard the water at the water stations was freezing and that the runners were slippin' and slidin'.  Yikes.  Megan, you rock.

It Doesn't Matter

Did I mention I'm done complaining about the cold? It's hard to whine about the weather here, in light of the devastation in Haiti. I'm sure you've heard, but you can donate by text:

 

• $10 to the American Red Cross International Relief Fund by texting "Haiti" to 90999 
• $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund by texting "Yele" to 501501

 

It doesn't get any easier than that. Plus, all the cool kids are doing it.

Moving Too Fast

Just to clarify, it's time that's moving too fast. I'm still plodding along at my very slow pace. According to my countdown clock to the right (which would never lie), there are only 100 days until this alleged marathon.

I decided enough already with the blog post titles about it being cold outside. It's really not that bad when one dresses appropriately. It would never be my choice, mind you, but the (Atlanta) cold alone is no excuse not to get outside and run. This is a note to my future self when I promptly forget this lesson next fall and start whining. It was 20 degrees this morning, and it really was okay.

Or, as my (marathoner/triathlete) friend Renee wisely said in a similar context: "Put on your big-girl panties and deal with it." Sometimes girlfriends only tell you what you want to hear. It's refreshing to have one who doesn't.

[Edit: Okay, I guess it's really 101 days, or 100 days and 23 hours. Still.]

freeze frame

In honor of the temperature being "20 feels like 10" when I ran this morning (although it now says "18 feels like 8"!), I listened to Episode One of Adam Tinkoff's new podcast, Burning 2010, wherein he takes on the challenge of burning 20 pounds in 20 weeks. Funny stuff, and of course I appreciate the end-of-show weigh-in, Biggest Loser junkie that I am.

I know I complain about the cold (um, pretty much every day), so I had to remind myself this morning that when I did crew in college, I got up at 5 every single weekday morning to run the 2.5 miles to the boathouse (and then spent the next two hours moving quickly over a river). In Massachusetts! So I really need to suck it up through this next month or two.

head, shoulders, knees, and toes

After yesterday's 13.825-mile run in sub-freezing temperatures, it all hurt, especially the knees and toes. As I told the cute husband when I staggered in, I'm getting too old for this... stuff.

So I took gu with me for the first time in this training season (mmm... chocolate outrage and espresso love), but for some reason I didn't take any water or even any cash so I could stop at any of the numerous gas stations or grocery stores that I passed to buy some water. So I skipped the gu because I don't know about eating (not sure that's the right word exactly as it's a gel, but the alternatives sound gross) it without water. But the gu helped in that I stopped to get it at Sports Authority before my run and while there I saw the big cold weather product display and very wisely purchased a balaclava (baklava? this is starting to turn into a dessert blog), which had the desired effect of simultaneously keeping my face and neck warm and making me look like a bank robber.

Anyway, I feel a lot better today. It helped that I didn't have to do much last night and the cute husband kept refilling my water glass so I didn't have to get up. We'll see how hot yoga goes today...

On an unrelated note, Seven Pounds is a really good movie. Just have tissues nearby if you watch it.

Eat It

It's been awhile, but I can finally offer you Installment Two in our Blogging About Eating series.  This week, we had two of the Six Healthy Chicken Recipes from the January 2010 issue of Fitness Magazine (which was in my stocking... thanks, Santa!):

So last night, we had Chipotle-Glazed Roast Chicken with Sweet Potatoes.  It was hard to fairly evaluate this one as either our oven or the recipe was off.  So the sweet potatoes never got done, but Jimmy # 1, the cute husband, and I still gave the chicken a 7 out of 10.  Jimmy # 2 isn't really on board with the rating system.  He said he didn't like it, but he ate his whole piece, which is saying a lot.  Ms. Prien was here too for the season premiere of The Biggest Loser (woohoo!), but I forgot to get her two cents.

Tonight, we moved on to Mexican-Style Chicken Soup, which Jimmy # 1 gave a 7, the cute husband a 5.5 (he deducted a point because there are tomatoes), and Jimmy # 2 gave it a 4.  The fellas all put cheese on top, which always helps.  (The avocado garnish was wasted on them.)

All that said, I'll make both of these healthy dishes again; I'll just raise the oven temperature on the chipotle chicken and offer a gimmick (i.e., chips) with the soup.

Tomorrow night, I relax: the cute husband is making his famous chili as we hunker down with wintry weather and still more football.  At least there will be chili.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

I just downloaded this 1973 (a.k.a. best year ever) song by Elton John (whom I have mixed feelings about (I'm expecting a Britney Murphy [may she rest in peace] tribute version of Candle in the Wind any day now)). I've found that I can run just as fast (read: slow) to a ballad as to a faster-paced song, so I just try to have songs I really like on the running playlist. While we're on this topic, I do like listening to a song that starts out slow and then picks up momentum (i.e., Fix You) while I start my run up a hill out of our neighborhood.

Anyway, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, or 2009, or something. I had a good workout week with jimmies out of town: 12 miles Sunday (since we were traveling last Saturday), hot yoga Monday and Wednesday, and 3.7 miles each Tuesday and Thursday. I'm heading out for 6 miles as soon as it warms up (looks like I might be waiting awhile... it's currently 28 degrees, feels like 17... brr!).

Rumor has it it's time to make some Resolutions (or I'm running a little late... I'll work on not procrastinating next year). After a (very) little thought, they're basically the same as the top 10 for the rest of the country, tweaked just a little because I don't smoke, and I don't feel a need to give up my weekly glass of red wine or pint of fruity beer. So here you go:

10. Stop smoking. Floss every day. (Inspired in part by 5 Habits to Break in 2010.)

9.Be nicer to other people and don't lose my temper so easily. In other words be more patient. Okay, maybe. I'll modify this one slightly to Keep Going to Hot Yoga, as yoga and running do a good job of mellowing me out.

8. Quit drinking. Drink more water.

7. Quit taking recreational drugs. Cut out the refined sugar/processed foods and Eat Clean.

6. Spend more time with the family and friends. Superbowl Party at Casa MarathonDelusion/SweetestLittleHeadCase!

5. Read more books. Hmm, maybe I'll start taking MARTA again so I can read more. Although my goal here really needs to be Return Books on Time and Stop Single-Handedly Funding Library Expansion Projects.

4. Learn Something New. I'm still catching up from my career change in April, and I'm planning to run my first marathon this April, so I'm just going to focus on those two and my still-new yoga practice.

3. Get Organized. Yes. I need to get this paper thing under control. It's no Hoarders situation, but with 3 cats and 2 jimmies, we have to be ever-vigilant.

2. Go on a diet/lose weight. And more specifically, run 1,000 miles this year.

1. Get out of debt and handle my money better. Enough said.

Happy Twenty-Ten!