Valentine's Day!!

Since Brandon works in the restaurant industry Valentine's Day is kinda just another day in our house.  He goes to work in the morning, and works ALL DAY.  The kids and I do sweet little Valentine's Day stuff.

Yesterday Brandon got off work early.  He only worked a half day.  I went to the gym when he got home and did some HIIT training.  When I got home he said "We're going to dinner together and I have a baby sitter."  YAHOO!  So we went to Umi in Manhattan.  It's a Japanese Steakhouse that is super yummy!!  At dinner Brandon gave me my Valentine's Day gift.   

Oh yes, it is the Garmin Forerunner 210 for women!!  (For women means it's got this cute little design on it)  I was so excited I thought about running once we got home!!  I've mentioned a time or 100 that I really wanted a Garmin.  I use my phone on my arm but I don't know if it's accurate.  I can drive my car the same route I run and get more mileage on my car than what it says I ran.  I can't wait to try it out today!!  

So for Valentine's Day last week the kids and I made some Valentine's for our parents and Grandparents. 

I hope everyone has a very special Valentine's Day!! 

Snow Day

It is days like today that I love being able to stay at home with my 2 babies.  Some days are stressful and I feel like all I do is clean up all day.  Some days I feel like my patience's are being tested, buttons are being pushed.  Today isn't one of those days, last night it snowed.  I love the snow! 

Well once Lacey went to school Miles and I made the most amazing brownies fudge.  It was a recipe I found on Pinterest and was excited to see that it was from a blogger I regularly follow.  Runs for Cookies (you can read about her journey here) http://www.runsforcookies.com/  She's an amazing woman who has lost 125lbs.  The recipe is super easy.

Pumpkin, Brownie mix, and peanut butter

All you need are these 3 ingredients.  You mix the pumpkin and brownie.  It takes awhile to get it good and mixed.  Put it in a 9x9 or 8x8 pan.  Take 3tbps of Peanut Butter and melt it in the microwave for 30seconds.  Once the peanut butter is melted add it to the top of the brownie mix.  I used a toothpick and swirled it all over the top.

Bake them for 30-35 minutes.  They will look more like fudge than a brownie.  If you eat them hot you can really taste the pumpkin. 

YUMMY!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!!  The kids love them too! 

I mentioned it is a snow day.  What would a snow day be without making one of these?

Shin Splints and Challenges

As a daughter of a runner, I remember many mornings coming upstairs to see my dad lying on the floor stretching after a long morning fitness run.  I remember the rolling pin on the floor and my mom massaging out my dad's sore legs.  I've seen my dad suffer hip pains (that he ran a 10k with and took first in his age group) I've seen him run with a broken knee cap, Achilles problems....he's a runner and has been since high school.  When I first started running I had horrible pain in my knee.  Pain that only showed up when I ran.  After talking to him about it we decided that I had Iliotibial band syndrome.  After stretching more before and after running, buying new shoes, and continuing to run it eventually went away.

My running since there has been fairly painless.  The most pain I've ever experienced from running was after the Half.  I didn't get to stretch properly afterwards, nor eat right, and my body let me know it!!  I swore I could've slept for a week after the half.  Fast forward to last night.  I decided to go on a 3 mile run.  A quarter mile up Eisenhower I thought someone had taken a baseball bat to my shins.  I kept pushing, the pain got worse.  I came home stretched and went to Zumba.  After Zumba I did some of the Warrior Dash workout.  I decided to try and do some HIIT training...warmed up with a light jog for 5 minutes, ran at 7 for 2 minutes and upped it to 9.5 I ran the minute and I could barely jog afterwards.  Needless to say I didn't do any more.  I jogged for a mile stretched and went home, where I was greeted by Swai Tail and fresh veggies for dinner.  I called my dad and he said "Ice and elevate them."  I did and they feel a lot better today.  I decide to take the day off from any work out.

Now on to the challenge. Everyone knows that I like a good challenge.  I read a blog and this lady is doing a Natural Food Challenge for the month.  It got me thinking, I don't think I have the will power to eat no sugar for the month, but what about going Vegetarian?  I love my steak, burgers, turkey, chicken...but what about giving them up?  So I talked to Brandon.  He jumped on board!  On March 1st we will be going Vegetarian for the month.  We will still eat eggs and fish but we will not eat any other meat.

I will blog daily about the trials and tribulations of not eating meat.  I am also going to schedule an appointment to talk to a Dietician to just make sure that I am getting everything I need to be getting.  Especially with running a half marathon the next month.    

Runnin' runnin' and runnin' runnin'

  It was an Eeyore kinda day.  It was overcast and trying to spit snow.  The beautiful big snowflakes that everyone loves.  The kids went outside and caught some on their tongues.  Of course I didn't take pictures.  I did some house cleaning and even cleaned the dreaded toy room.  The toy room is downstairs so it's kinda out of sight out of mind.  I can close the door to the laundry room and not have to look at the toy room (which I choose to do because the minute I clean it they throw everything back on the floor.) 

Brandon had to work a half day.  The minute he got home I threw on my running grub and left.  Remember in the first paragraph I said it was spitting snow.  Well by 4:30 it was full on snowing.  I didn't care, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just weak people."- Bill Bowerman
I knew that I needed to run.  The 1st quarter of a mile I was talking myself into turning around.  I kept plugging along and figured I'd see how I felt at a mile and if I needed to I could run back down the hill home.  I got through mile 1 and felt pretty go.  I ran past 3 other runners and thought well at least I'm not the only insane person.  I took a different route then my normal 5 mile run and when I got to a block away from home I was over 5 miles and only a half mile away from 6 miles.  I never thought in my life that I wouldn't be satisfied with running 5 and half miles.  I ended up running 6.1 miles just to say I ran a 10k in the snow.  It wasn't fast it took 58:28 but I paced myself and didn't feel like collapsing when I walked in the door.   

After the run I went to the gym to do a round of the Warrior Dash workout.  I didn't go through each exercise twice just once.  I figured after a 6 mile run I could do half of it. 

I am super excited about the Eisenhower half, they sent me a confirmation email with a map of the course, packet pickup info, stuff that makes it REAL!!  9 weeks and 3 days! 

Warrior Dash workout

Today I started the Warrior Dash Workout.  It is no JOKE!!  I have muscles in my body that hurt that I didn't even know existed!  Muscles on top of my muscles hurt.

The Warrior Dash workout consists of 30 exercises you do each one for 30 seconds twice.
  (Here's the link to the workout)http://warriordash.com/documents/training/WD_StrengthTraining_Virgin.pdf
I did round one and said there was no way I was going to do it again, but that little voice in my head made me do round two.  After the workout I decided to get a mile in on the treadmill.  (I hate treadmill running but I figured a mile is a mile.)  I ended up running a 7:10 mile.  I probably could've skipped the run but I need to start getting more miles a week.  After the mile I walked for a half mile just to cool down.  Hopefully someday I will be able to run a 7:10 mile for more than just one mile.... 

Tomorrow is a 5 mile run day plus another gym workout.  (I'm praying I'll be able to walk)  

Races!!

I just registered for 3 more races!!  February, March and April races are now all registered for!!

February's run is a 5 mile trail run!!  I am running the trail course with a few friends on the 18th.  I am so excited!!

March's run is a 10k St. Patty's day race.  Brandon and I were already discussing my outfit...we think a green Tutu is in order!!

April is the Eisenhower Half Marathon.  I debated and debated before registering.  Will I be able to get back into good enough shape to run another half marathon?  Am I pushing myself to hard?  I finally sucked it up and registered.  If I didn't register I would talk myself out of running it so I bit the bullet and registered!!  My goal for this half is 2:10 minutes.  2 minutes faster than my 1st half.

My birthday was amazing!! I  got everything I could've wanted.  A new pair of running shoes, a new printer, new sport bras,  and Under Armour Sweats! 

New running shoes

A few race day pictures

My favorite I look like I'm flying

I hope everyone has a blessed weekend!!  

Birthday Weekend

I had a good weekend.  It went by fast but it was lots of fun.  On Saturday I got up and went to the gym while Brandon stayed home with the kids before he had to go to work.  I started some High Intensity Interval Training.  I  only did 1 minute at 9mph, 2 minutes at 5, 3 times.  After the gym I had to go to work for a couple hours.  Once I got home from work I cleaned up the house, did some laundry, and started packing.  My goal was to leave JC around 2 so we could get to KC around 4 so I could go to Legends and go to the Nike outlet to buy some running stuff with the birthday money that was burning a hole in my pocket.  Something in the back of my head said to wait until the laundry was done in the dryer before we left.  So I waited around packed our bags for Kansas City, and loaded up the car.  At about 3 the laundry was all done the car was loaded I was ready to go.  Brandon called and said "Have you left yet?"  To which I responded "Nope. I wanted to finish the laundry, and clean up the house."  He said "Good you might want to wait a couple more hours because there was a horrible accident on I-70 right outside Topeka that has traffic completely stopped."  His boss was driving to Manhattan and watched the accident happen.  She was in shock, it was accident that claimed the life of a mother and 2 of her young children.  I am so thankful for the thought in the back of my head that told me to wait.  Had I not waited we would have been there right as the accident happened.  It is amazing how God works.

So we didn't leave for KC until 5:30.  We got  there around 7:30 the in-laws were out and they had made spaghetti for me.  The kids and I gobbled up some and went to bed.  We were asleep by 9 at the latest.  Sunday morning we I woke up at 6:30 and started getting ready for Race Day!!  I went through my normal race day routine.  Did some stretching and at 7:30 we hit the road.  The Race sight was half an hour away from my in-laws house and I am blessed with such a wonderful Mother In Law she came with me to watch the kids and watch me run.  We get to the parking lot where we park the car and got on a shuttle to shuttle us across the street to the "Caves."  Once we got to the Caves the jitters had hit strong.  This place was PACKED!!  They are man made caves.  It is climate controlled storage units.  Where you can park you car, boat, RV...etc.  I get the race day packet and put my number on.  This is the 1st race I've run that has used chip timing.  I ran the Half Marathon with Chip timing but they had the chips on the back of your number.  I had the chip in my hand and knew that it had to go on my shoe.  Finally after trying for what seemed like hours, I asked this sweet lady who did it for me.

Finally it was time to line up.  I told my Mother in law that my goal was to finish around 25 minutes.  I made my way to the start line.  The line was long.  This was the biggest race I'd ever participated in.  The have 3500  spaces open for 2 races.  The race sold out.  I'm standing there with about 10 minutes left and doing some stretching.  A guy next to me asks how many times I've ran this before and I said this is my first time.  He said "well it's completely flat."  I grinned and said "Great so I should win because I train on hills."  Our conversation went on he ran this race many time before.  We wish each other good luck and the gun fires.

The start of a packed race is like a one car accident on the interstate.  No one is injured but everyone stops and slow down to look.  With it being underground my phone didn't have signal so the mapmyrun app didn't work.  Which may or may not have been a blessing.  I didn't know how fast or slow I was running.  I know my feel good pace, but I like having the reassurance that I'm running at that pace.  At mile 1 I felt amazing.  At mile 2 I felt better than I did at mile 1.  I kept pushing myself, kept running past people.  At mile 3 I couldn't believe that the race was almost over.  I kick it in come around the corner and see the finish line.  The clock on the finish line reads 25:00.  My heart sinks, my  goal was to be under 25 on my 27th birthday.

I followed a group of runners to a table with computers set up.  The guy typed in my number and gave me a little piece of paper with my actual chip timing time.  I felt the tears well up when I read 24:49.6.  Happy Birthday to me!!  I set a PR!!

Before the race

After the race

Next race 5 mile trail run on February 26th!!