A Bit of Randomness...

I thought I would share a little bit about me that you might not know.

• My first blog post was on March 29, 2009
• I was born in West Virginia when my mom was visiting her sisters. I think she was about 34 weeks pregnant and she had no idea she was having twins.
• I didn't start running until I was 35. I had run a couple of 5k races before that but I could barely run three miles without stopping.
• I do not have a green thumb. We have two plants in our house. One is an ivy that no longer has leaves, the other is a cactus that has only survived as long as it has because it doesn't need watered regularly.

• I collect salt and pepper shakers. My first set are pink flamingos circa 1982 that my MIL bought me.

• I don't regularly watch the local news. I always say that if its important Jon Stewart will tell me about it on The Daily Show.
• I do not like putting up Christmas decorations. I like putting them away after Christmas even less.
• I have no tattoos and aside from my ears being pierced once I have no additional piercings.
• I love to knit and I taught myself how to crochet by watching YouTube.
• I am a big fan of dessert. Any time you come to my house you will almost always find homemade cookies.
• My pantry might be out of bread or cheese but you can usually always find the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies.
• I hate clutter. It doesn't seem to bother my daughters though. We usually keep their bedroom doors closed.
• I am a morning person. Because of that it is about my bedtime.

How about you? Leave a comment and share something random about yourself.

 

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WIAW, Lets Talk Half Marathon Fueling...

#RWrunstreak day 8, one mile with Josh after work. I'm glad he went with me because it was really dark already.

For my WIAW post this week I thought I'd talk about the improper fueling I did for my last half marathon.

{As I type this we are watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas. One of my favorites, but its still November.}

Anyway, I should probably throw in some pictures of some recent eats before I talk about the food I didn't eat. So...

As the weather gets cooler I find myself making more soups and stews. On Sunday I made a pot do Veggie Pot Pie Soup from the Cheeky Kitchen. You should check out her pics because they are much more beautiful than any I could take. This soup is every bit as good as it looks.

I recently discovered a new foodie blog that has some fantastic looking recipes. I decided to try out the Honey Dinner Rolls to go with the soup. {Have I ever told you that I aspire to be a bread maker? No? Well I would love to make wonderful homemade bread. There, now I've told you.}

Now that we have that out of the way lets see what it looked like...

After one last rise we threw them in the oven and they turned into this...

I'm not gonna lie to you, these are AMAZing. You should make them immediately. We just had the last one with the leftover soup and I'm very sad they are all gone.

So back to half marathon fueling. We went up to Tulsa Friday night before the marathon. I ended up sleeping in on Saturday morning until 9:45! For anyone that knows me they might think I was seriously ill. I never sleep that late. I got up and went for my 30 minute shake out run, when I got back to the in-laws house I had a peanut butter and honey sandwich.

After the girls and I hit up the expo we went by Cherry Berry and got some frozen yogurt. By the time we got home it was after four, and then there was the waxing field trip. For dinner my MIL made a salad with yummy roasted veggies and lasagna.

Here I would like to point out to the lasagna makers of the world that it is not necessary to put white sauce on veggie lasagna. Really, red sauce is made of tomatoes and as a vegetarian I have to say I enjoy tomato based sauces. You can make a perfectly wonderful veggie lasagna with zucchini, mushrooms, spinach and red sauce. Talking about this is making me want to make some lasagna.

I am grateful that I have the worlds greatest MIL and she bought me my very own veggie lasagna, I just didn't eat as much of it as I should have. That seemed to be the theme for the entire day. I should have done some serious carb loading.

I did do a good job of drinking lots of Nuun water, but the lack of proper fueling really affected my race. By the time I got a Gu at about mile 8 my tank was empty. Gu on an empty stomach actually made me a little nauseous. It was not a fun feeling.

I did make it through the race, even if I was a little unhappy with my performance. The most frustrating part is that this was completely preventable on my part. I guess if running was easy everyone would do it. I did learn valuable lesson and will work hard to not repeat it next time.

 

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Bedlam, Ear Infections and a Pedicure...

#RWrunstreak day six. I got in a mile while my frittata was in the oven this morning. It was a little hard into the wind going out but coming back was a little easier. 8:47 pace.

Turkey Tracks 5k...

#RWrunstreak day 3.

Last Thanksgiving I ran my first Thanksgiving themed 5k, today I ran the Turkey Tracks 5k with some friends.

Like last year's race it followed the Route 66 half marathon. My legs were pretty beat up after Sunday's race, we ended up running a 6.5 mile hilly route on Tuesday morning and my legs were angry the rest of the day. Wednesday was a flat 5 mile run and it did a lot to help me recover.

I was excited that the race didn't start until 9 this morning, it's nice to sleep in a little on a Thursday. I meet Kim and Dwight at their house and we headed downtown.

Kim and Dwight

Kim and I

Dwight, Kim, me, Jesica and her friend Jennifer

Me, Ben and Kim. Ben ran the marathon in Tulsa Sunday and we convinced this would be fun.

Who wouldn't want their picture taken with this guy?

It was a beautiful morning, just a little windy, and before we knew it we were off. My splits from my Garmin were pretty good, 7:38, 7:31 and 8:15. The last mile included a hill on Broadway that was straight into some pretty mean wind. At one point my pace was around 9:30. I was the 37th woman overall with an official time of 24:28, 4th in my age group.

We hung around at the finish and got to see some friends.

This English bulldog was too cute to not take his picture.

I even saw a David, he was on our team for the Ragnar Relay in Colorado. He just ran the Las Vegas race two weeks ago. Yes, I am very jealous.

It was a mini high school reunion, my friend Chad was in town from Savannah, I think he convinced me that I need to come to Savannah for the Rock n Roll race.

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out. Josh was painting, and fixing this disaster of a painting decision.

Josh even ran his first mile of the #RWrunstreak. Tomorrow I think we will finish painting, and by we I mean Josh, and it'll be time to get out the Christmas decorations.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

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Route 66 Half Marathon Recap...

This was my third time running half at the Route 66 Marathon. It was my first half marathon two years ago, and we went back and had a much improved run last year.

As with any race there are pros and cons. This year I was again impressed at how well run this event is. From the packet pick up at the expo to the organized corral system at the race start. The OKC Memorial Marathon could learn a lot about how to have a more organized start at their race.

I must say that the Memorial earns high marks in my opinion for the ability to defer an entry due to injury. Tulsa was supposed to be my sister Karen's first half marathon, she managed to break her fibula last week and got a shiny pair of crutches on Friday. She was basically out of luck and out her entry fee. I just think race directors should get it together, if a race like the Memorial can figure it out...

Anyway, After a nice 30 minute run around the neighborhood, I took Camy and Carson to the expo where we meet up with my sisters and two of my nieces. There was no line to pick up our packets, and imagine my surprise and excitement when I learned that the race shirts were technical shirts. I would have loved long sleeve, but they were much better than the cotton shirts from the last two years.

This guy followed us around for a bit. We visited the OK Runner booth, and bought a few Sweaty Bands. My expo excitement has diminished a little over the last couple of years so we didn't stay too long.

We got a random stranger to take a picture on our way out.

We got back to Josh's parents' house just as Rochelle was getting there. Rochelle and I decided to go check out the European Waxing Center where Josh's mom works. All I have to say about that is Ouch!

After dinner we called it a night pretty early and went to sleep hoping that the great weather from Saturday would still be around on Sunday.

We had per race photos before we left to head to the start.

We were sporting our new OK Runner shirts in Thunder colors.

Followed by two goofy pictures. Josh had agreed to drive us, and he dropped us off near the gear drop and we headed to meet the rest of the OK Runner crew.

Kara, me, Rochelle, Kelsey, Laura and Lauren representing our favorite running store.

After a quick run we headed to the corrals. We were in corral A (gasp) and we had a few minutes to hang out there and chat about the weather and Laura running the marathon.

She didn't look nervous about the 26.2 miles she was about to run.

Before we knew it we were off. I had a plan prior to the start of the race but by the time I crossed the starting line I managed to throw it all out the window. {Spoiler Alert: it was not a very good move on my part.}

The first six miles of this race are hilly, and that was about as long as I felt good. Rochelle slowly got ahead of me around the first relay exchange and the wheels fell off shortly after that. I thought I would be able to catch back up after the hills but I was never able to. Apparently Ro thought I was still with her for a while because she was still talking to me even when I wasn't there.

I had my first walk break around mile 8 or so, and it wasn't like our normal walk breaks. I wasn't recovering so I could pick it back up after. I grabbed Gu from the water stop before we made out way back to Riverside and for the first time ever I actually felt nauseous after taking it. I felt like my stomach was completely empty.

Once you get to Riverside you run a couple miles down and then about three miles back to the finish line. It was a very long out and back, I did get to see some friends, and Laura caught me and passed me along there. I knew I was in trouble then.

It was along the river that my feet started to hurt. I didn't find out until later that this was part of my problem.

Not the best picture bit that is a blood blister that was on the side of my toe that ran along the bottom of my toe too. There was also another blood blister on the top of my pinky toe. It is not uncommon for me to have blisters on my toes but these were painful.

I made it to the final uphill to the finish line and found Rochelle waiting for me. She had an awesom PR run. My sister Jen came in shortly after and there were pictures.

We found Kelsey too, she was so close to finishing under two hours. I know she will get it next time.

It was not my best run race, it was about two minutes faster than last year, and I was so glad that the weather cooperated.

My official chip time was 1:56:34, I was 44th out of 361 in my age group. I am happy that I could go out and run 13.1 miles, after my injury earlier this year I had felt like my next half marathon would never happen. While I am not completely satisfied with my time I do think I learned from this race and it will help me be stronger for the next one.

I think it's only 95 days or so until Cowtown and I can't wait.

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Race Weekend...

As I type this I am sitting on the couch in my pajamas at my wonderful in-laws' house. {I changed into my pjs the second we got here, gotta be comfortable.}

The girls are watching Toy Story 3 and Jill and I are drinking wine and checking out social media.

The boys are hanging out in the other room. No telling what is going on in there.

Little Edith is snuggling with Camy.

There has been some excitement today with the race. My sister Karen, was running a few days ago and stepped off a curb wrong. Her leg was bothering her so she went to the doctor today and they did an X-ray.

Turns our she broke her fibula! Seriously! She broke it. {I would like to note that she is not a vegetarian.}

Sadly, I will not be running with her on Sunday for her first half marathon. Not sure if there's a PR waiting for me here in Tulsa but I think I'm ready to run.

I saw my chiropractor and got my IT band taped up today, and my leg has been much better this week. I've got a Thunder inspired OK Runner shirt to wear, and I have way more running stuff than I will actually need in my suitcase. Can't wait to check out the expo tomorrow.

So now I'm gonna drink my glass of wine and hope little Edith doesn't kill us all with her gassy stomach and call it a night.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

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WIAW, A Vegetarian and a Birthday...

This WIAW is going to be a little random, so just stay with me.

Today, which when you actually read this will be tomorrow, is (or was) my friend Rochelle's birthday.

This picture was taken this morning, or yesterday morning, after out six mile chilly birthday run. How awesome is it to have friends that get up bright and early to celebrate birthdays? Pretty awesome, in my opinion.

Anyway, this is supposed to be about food, right? There was food on Saturday night when we went to Louis to celebrate Ro's birthday.

The best thing about Louis is their super skinny French fries and their black bean burgers. When my black bean theta burger came, imagine my surprise when I took a big bite and realized that it was a regular hamburger instead of the vegetarian variety.

I have been a vegetarian for two and a half years. I didn't eat much red meat for quite a while before I gave up meat. While I have had fish and shellfish on occasion I have not had a real hamburger in a very long time.

It kinda grossed me out. Rochelle decided to tell our poor waitress that I had been a vegetarian for ten years. The look on her face was priceless. I did end up getting a free black bean veggie burger out of the deal.

We had a great night. There was food, some shots and a police officer. He was definitely not a stripper.

Abby, Kendra, the birthday girl, Kim and I.

After Louis we headed to The Garage. We hung out, there was some tequila and more pictures.

Me and Abby.

Me, Kim and Abby

Kim, Rochelle and Kendra

Kim and I

So, since this is supposed to be about what I ate, how about this...

Dinner tonight was leftover sweet potato and black bean chilli, since it was leftover I had it for dinner on Monday night too.

Tis was dinner one night last week. Fake chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries, roasted broccoli and steamed Brussels sprouts. Yummy.

I found a way to make my homemade chocolate chip cookies even better. I added a little Nutella, this was even better than the animal crackers dipped in Nutella we ate in Colorado when we were there for the Ragnar Relay. It took a lot to keep me from turning this into a chocolate chip Nutella sandwich.

Gotta go, there are cookies in the kitchen calling my name.

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Wahoo! It's race week again, and I am very excited.

On Sunday I'm running the Route 66 Half Marathon for the third time, with this girl…

It also happens to be her birthday tomorrow, we did a little celebrating on Saturday night, but that's for another post.

On Friday we are loading up the family, dropping the dogs off at the kennel (Seriously, I called to get them a spot this morning and they got the LAST spot. Gotta work on the procrastination), and heading up to the hang out with the in-laws and run a little race called the Route 66 Marathon. I am running the half, but our speedy running friend Laura is running the full. How awesome is it to have all your slacker friends run half the distance you are running and then hanging out to wait for you finish your race? Well I've been a part of the slacker crowd before and it's awesome! It's even more fun when you know the person that wins the marathon and comes in about 30 minutes after you finish your race. (I can't wait to go back to Cowtown in February.)

Just so I don't upset anyone, I don't think that only slackers run half marathons. I have only run one marathon, and I LOVE the half marathon distance. I'm a fan of any distance that I can run basically untrained. (See last year's recap.) This will be my sixth half marathon, and my third trip to the starting line in Tulsa. I have a love hate relationship with Tulsa. I love that it was my first half marathon two years ago; I hate the six miles of hills at the start of the race. I love that it has been a really well run race the last two years, I hated the crappy weather we had to endure last year.

So we are heading up to T-town and have plans to celebrate some birthdays, Jose and Gordon's, and partaking in some Thanksgiving lasagna.

I love race week! I love checking and stressing about the weather. Really you cannot check the weather six days out and get an accurate picture of what the weather will be like. Unless you are lucky to live somewhere where the weather is always in the 70s and it never rains or snows. If that place is right by the beach I am totally moving there.

I love trying to decide what I'm going to wear. Because really, that is one of the most important parts of race prep; forget the hill repeats and speed work, it's all about the outfit and the pictures.

I am happy to report that I have made up with my IT band and we appear to be on a much better path than we were previously. I saw my chiropractor last Wednesday and got adjusted and they used the taped up my knee. I wonder if I could just put the tape all over my body because it has made my leg feel much happier.

Ro and I ran a naked 4.4 miles last Thursday morning, first run in a LLLOOONNNGGG time where I didn't have my Garmin and no one else had one either. On Friday we got up as the freaking crack of dawn to get our long run in with Patti before she headed out of town. I don't care what anyone says, meeting at 5 am is A LOT harder than meeting at 5:15. There is just something about leaving the house when the clock says 4:50 am that seems much harder. We ran just over 11 miles and while my leg had a few twinges during the run, while I was moving I was fine.

I am heading back to the chiropractor this evening and I'm planning to go back on Friday morning to get taped up just to make sure I'm good to go come Sunday.

Looks like I might be running Sunday with my sister Karen. It's her first half marathon and I am excited at the prospect of supporting her for her first half.

WIAW, Cruise Food...

It's been awhile since my last WIAW post, and I decided I needed to recap some of what we ate on our cruise. Let me first day that the food was amazing, Disney sure did a good job.

I would have felt a lot more guilty had I not gotten up and ran five mornings of the week.

First I'll start with breakfast. We ate at the buffet all but one morning, when we had breakfast with Mickey Mouse.

I liked the eggs better when I had them made special for me. Not pictured is the watermelon I ate at every meal I could.

Carson's favorite breakfast was Mickey waffles with bacon. The waffles were good, I preferred them to the French toast.

Post long run breakfast. I ran three miles four days in a row, but after I missed a run on Thursday I decided to have a long run on Friday so I got six miles in. The watermelon and grapes were good, I still don't like grapefruit even on vacation.

Lunch at the buffet was similar to this each day. A little bit of everything. I love having a salad bar every day, the chickpeas were something I always consider adding to a salad but never did before now. The girls loved that they could have chicken strips or pizza for lunch every day.

Dinner each night was pretty fancy, the service was excellent. There were always vegetarian options, but I had some selfish during the week.

Caesar salad at dinner.

Lentils with portobello mushrooms.

Grilled shrimp appetizer at Parrot Cay.

Creamy mushroom soup.

Lobster at Parrot Cay, I forgot to get a picture before taking it out of the shell.

Creamy tomato bisque at Lumiere's the last night.

The highlight of each meal had to be dessert. I am a huge fan of dessert, and think most meals should end with something sweet. Even with all the fabulous desserts we visited the soft serve ice cream station multiple times a day.

Each night they offered a trio of desserts in case you couldn't decide on just one.

Chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream.

My favorite desserts usually have chocolate in them. I can say I was never disappointed with dessert.

At dinner each night the menu had a few recommended alcoholic beverages. The best part of the cruise was that we didn't ever have to drive anywhere.

The girls liked the banana and vanilla smoothies they could order at dinner.

Each day there was a drink of the day. The Mai tai was my favorite.

It's a good think I wasn't counting calories on the boat, I might not have been able to sleep at night. Oh what I would give to have someone to cut up fresh fruit for me every day.

I can't wait to go on another cruise.

 

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