Happy Friday!!!

This is a super happy Friday for me because hubs got to fly in a day early and I get to have him home for a whole week!!!  It's his birthday on Halloween so now we gotta celebrate!  He was told he needs to run 25 miles during his week off which of course made me a little excited because it means we get to run together!

I thought this video was funny, ladies if you need some workout motivation, here you go:

                                What do you do on days you need a little motivation?

and just in case you need an excuse to start the day off with a party, this is not for the faint of heart but pretty hilarious!

                                                 "I work out!"

I RUN....

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what running and exercise means to me what a huge role it has taken in my life.  It’s gotten me out of some dark places and made the fun times even more meaningful!  Recently I had a close friend reach out and need some help.  More than one of us tried to remind her to run!  We know that when we are most stressed, anxious, or depressed is usually when we forget to eat right or exercise yet that is usually the quickest road to recovery in most situations.  So I’m trying to think of the best way to remind her or anyone of us of that when we forget.

I RUN….

I run for myself 

I run to stay sane

I run to remind myself that I am strong

When my feet move and my heart pounds I am alive and for that moment my problems disseminate, my anxiety releases, and my energy returns. 

As life goes on and obstacles appear I remember I am a runner;

I don’t give up

When the voice says stop I question it

When the pain feels unbearable I assess it

When I hit that wall I leap over it

I run, not away from my problems but through them

I run, to my next personal record

I run, until my head is clear and I am once again STRONG!

We’ve all heard the different phrases that we sometimes refer to as our mantras when we have to reach deep down and find that hope that will keep us moving forward. 

“Incessant Forward Motion”  IFM

“I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful”

“Pain is weakness leaving the body”

“One foot in front of the other”

What is your favorite mantra?

How has running (exercise) helped you with your daily life or get through a tough situation?

What tips would you give someone close to you going through a hard time to help them get through it and back to running?

Local Organic Produce & Creamy Kale/Swiss Chard Sauce for Spaghetti

Now that I am on my own for the next year I made a few changes for example, I cut my Netflix down from 3 movies at a time to 1, I know big changes right?!?! :-)  I've decided I want to try and read more and since it's just me I don't have someone going, come on let's watch "Insert cheesy sci-fi, kung fu, or action movie title"   The other thing I changed was I signed up for a weekly delivery of local organic produce.  I'm going to try and eat less processed foods and more fresh foods.  So now I have to become even more creative and try to find recipes for stuff I've never used before, like tot soi a type of green.  One of their favorite things to include in your order is more than one type of leafy dark green.  Which I know is very healthy but can get a bit dull if you don't try new things.

Last night my first attempt at creativity was this Creamy Kale/Chard Sauce and it's not as unhealthy as it may sound.  Now I would recommend putting it over nice whole wheat noodles but I have a lot of left over stuck together lasagna noodles from my little mishap this weekend which I used.

Ingredients:
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
4 cloves garlic crushed
2 tomatoes chopped
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 bunch Kale
1 large onion chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (you can use regular milk if you'd like)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Noodles (your choice)
                                                              Tblsp Olive Oil
                                                              Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions:
Saute the onion, garlic and tomatoes in olive oil until soft and salt/pepper.  Add the kale and Swiss chard allow some of the water to cook off.  Cook your noodles per directions.  Add the cheese, milk and cream of mushroom soup at the end to warm and either serve on top of noodles or mix in.  This was quick easy and yummy!

Day of the Tread Ride Report

It was a perfect day for a ride and a little warmer than normal for October and I was happy to get to hang out with the whole fam! Luckily we decided to get an early start to pick up a friend because we ALL forgot our bibs and had to run back home to get them.  I almost forgot my helmet too!  You can definitely tell it is off season for me because there was no prepping the night before or checking off lists and I was completely calm.  I didn't even pack a water bottle thinking I was only going 26 miles and they'd have aid stations.  I know, I know I totally jinxed it!

So we get there and got stuck in a never ending loop you get of people directing you where to park except there's no where left to park!  We finally found some piece of dirt that only a 4x4 could park in and hope that we gave just enough room for the other guy to get out later!  Then we make a mad dash to the start.  We are standing around waiting for my brother and his girlfriend to show up then they yell START 15 minutes EARLY!!!!  In a panic and tons of bikes swallowing me up I just went.  I lost everyone almost immediately.  Then I got a phone call from my brother and took it, yes I know not safe while riding.  But I knew he didn't know we had started.  I told him they needed to go that they started early!  Finally found my dad and we rode together.  We kept going past all the aid stations because I told him I'd only need one stop at the turn around for water, MISTAKE!  As we were passing an aid station I thought ok I know we already had to have passed the turn around for the 12 miles which my mom was supposed to be doing, how come we didn't see a marker?  Sure enough she had missed it too we found out and "almost fainted" when she asked some one and found out she had already gone to the 10 mile marker (she's a little bit of a drama queen) but she actually did 20 miles on my commuter bike and felt great!!  It gave her the confidence she needed to maybe do more cycling?!??

Later as were passing a station I yelled at my dad " I think I saw a sign with what looks like a u turn that might be our turn around!"  My dad kept riding not hearing me at first then a guy rode up and said "No, I thought that too but it's not it's further up on Tramway."  So we kept going and once we got to the casino I told my dad there is no way that was less than 3 miles we just rode!  Sure enough on the way back I yelled out was this the turn around for the 26?  And just by coincidence I had asked the same guy that had told us wrong and he had turned around earlier he said "Yes, it was sorry I told you wrong!"  My dad wanted to just finish out the 54 but I reminded him we needed find everyone else.  So we did close to 40 miles in a couple of hours.  I was tired, hungry and thirsty but still felt good and managed to have a blast!  So if I do this again probably won't do the bike ride I'll think about doing one of the runs!  I did like the shirts though!

Random thoughts....

I posted this on facebook today:  Listening to people complain about the rising cost of healthcare at their place of work, yet when the conversation leads to the fact that 60-80% of dr. visits that contribute to the rising cost are due to personal actions they get up and leave the meeting hmmmm.... I don't really care what side of the "health care reform" argument I'm on but if there is something I can do (exercise) or not do (put down the doughnut) to improve my health or prevent taking medications, sign me up!

 

I'm curious if I'll get a completely different response in comments on there than if I post it on here or DM? :-)  I know health care reform is a touchy subject but why don't we at least try to control what we can that's all I'm saying not trying to get political.

So I looked at some of the new layouts for blogger and I liked some of them but it seems like it takes away some features like does anyone know how someone would choose to follow you (not that I really have this problem but just in case) it doesn't seem to give you the option to add "widgets" on that one or I wanted to change the color of my Blog title so that it would show up with the new background I had picked but I couldn't do it under the new version.  Just putting this out there in case anyone has some insider tips I'm not aware of?

Yesterday I went for a run with the dog trying to get her prepped for a doggy dash and doddle but I can't use my running leash because it goes past 6 feet.  This will be a very interesting run.  I tripped over her at least 4 times and almost got my arm ripped off twice when she tried to stay behind sniffing or standing on her back legs trying to check out where the barking was coming from (behind the fence).  My mom practiced riding my commuter bike for this weekends Day of the Tread that we will be doing with the whole fam.  I'm so proud of my mom she can lift weights right there next to Mr. Macho Heavy Grunting Scary Dude and not get fazed, she goes to spin class with me and tries her best, she will jog/walk a 5k just to be able to do it with me and she can hike trails with her friend in the mountains like you wouldn't believe!  I'm so glad I learned good habits from my parents!  They are also celebrating their 36th anniversary this weekend!  Congrats Mom and Dad!!!!  I will be making them an eggplant lasagna for dinner that night.

Ironman Championship 2011

Who watched the live streaming of the 2011 Ironman Championship in Hawaii on Sat?  It was on live stream all day Saturday and I loved every second I was able to watch!  Unfortunately I was not able to get away with sitting on the couch from sun up to sun down to watch the entire thing but believe me I would have if I could!  Luckily they will show the recaps on NBC Dec. 10  I can't believe the comeback Chrissie made!  I didn't get to watch the pros finish and am so sad but she was behind so far on the run I didn't think she'd win it then when I came back and saw the picture of her taking the win I was amazed!
Below is an article about her win:
http://ironman.com/events/ironman/worldchampionship/kona2011/kevin-mackinnon-recaps-some-quotes-from-womens-champion-chrissie-wellington#axzz1aO4apmja

I wasn't too surprised about the male win with Craig Alexander.  I have to admit it was a little heart breaking to watch him pass Chris Lieto on the run, he tries so hard every time!

Every time after I watch the Ironman I become super motivated an inspired and just want to cry with excitement at every one's accomplishments from pros to age groupers "You are no longer an everyman you are now an Ironman!" 

What inspires and motivates you?

One of the most heart wrenching Ironman finishes I've ever watched:



What is your favorite Ironman finish?

Happy Friday!

Not much to report today but thought it was worth saying happy Friday everyone I'm in such a good mood finally and am over the little post half slump!!!  I took most of the week off from training and am feeling like I'm finally caught up on sleep, geez being sleep deprived sure makes me Grumpy!! I apologize to all who had to deal with me this last week :-)   I start back up again tomorrow with a Spin class followed by Yoga class and I'm super excited for it!

On another note I'm super excited to have our family photos back from our wedding day.  We may have kept it small but my family totally made it worth it!  We also got a dvd slide show of our photo shoot and added the above song to it.  Anyone that knows me knows I don't listen to country but sometimes you just have to make exceptions!

Happy Friday and Happy Training!!!  So here are the photos (web version)

Disney Wine & Dine 1/2 Marathon

Well, after some ups and downs I made it through a week off from work, my husband's send off (kind of), and a half marathon that was at night!  First I ran around for 3 days running errands trying to get name change stuff done then military stuff done, this whole time the hubs didn't have his official orders.  On Thursday I left for Orlando, Fl. met up with 2 of my best girlfriends, spent 12 hours walking around the Disney Hollywood and Epcot parks, ate a humungo breakfast at Animal Kingdom then hung out by the pool trying to get our legs to recover, got a call from hubs saying he was leaving on Sun. morning probably while I would just be getting back from my race and after party. 

It was a 10 pm race start and that was soooo hard I had no idea how to fuel for that.  We had the really big and yummy breakfast buffet then we had PB&J sandwiches for lunch then for dinner I had some PB crackers and 1 packet of Clif Shot Blocks.  We had to leave the hotel around 7:30 pm then wait around until race start.  Luckily I was able to get bumped up to coral A so I got to hang out with my super fast gal pals until the start.  It was cool that they had a firework start for each coral.  There were cute Disney characters along the way with music (my camera battery died right before the race booo).  By mile 8 I was so starving that I ate 2 clif gels even though the gels usually upset my stomach.  It was hard to get into this race for several reasons, I wanted to cry for about the 1st two miles because of the news I had just received from hubs, then my legs felt like led from having walked around the parks for 12 hours the day before.  At least the weather had cooled off so the humidity wasn't too bad.  I powered through and finished in 2:16 which I know was slower than I wanted but I'm just glad I didn't have a meltdown in the middle.  There were 8,254 finishers 5,213 of those were females.  I was 1080/5,213 for female and 193/996 for my division.  The finish line was the only part that I was disappointed in.  You did a bunch of quick turns then all of a sudden you were at the finish with no spectators allowed to cheer you on, no special finish area (it was in the back of the park), and I thought it was WINE and dine not go grab a budlight.  I don't think I'll do another night time run just because it is very hard to be ready for and as far as destination races I think unless I can stay after I will just do them locally and vacation separately.  The best part about this weekend was getting to hang out with two awesome ladies and being distracted about home.  BTW Kelly finished 3rd in our division and 15th overall female in 1:38 Awesome PR!  My other friend Season finished in 1:56 which is totally awesome I'm so glad to have such great friends!

Now for the picture race recap:

Toy Story Ride (I saw a hidden Mickey!)

I knew the camera was there I tried to tell her to keep her eyes open!  :-)

Who says these are just for kids!

PB&J w/baked lays for bf, lunch & dinner!

Before...

After!

Finishers medal was sooo heavy but nice!