Twice as Nice

So did everybody realize that today was 10/11/12?  Some people I talked to had no idea!  How fun is that?  It could also be 1-2-3 if you add the numbers up.  Moving on...

 I had to get a run in today since I didn't go yesterday and tomorrow is my only day I can get in my long run.  I had 5 scheduled.  I decided to go through this small park that is in the middle of my neighborhood.  I have explored it one other time.  It's rather small and the trails really don't go anywhere, but I was really craving a change of scenery.  This added on only about a quarter of a mile, but it was something.  I did the rest of my miles around a cemetery.  The wind was crazy today.  Running against the wind, I could barely move and running with the wind I was going crazy fast and not even realizing it.  I ended up quitting at 4 miles and decided to save my legs a bit for tomorrow considering I still had to go to work and run around for eight hours.  I walked the mile and a half home so I did still get my five miles in.

You can see haw drastically the splits went down!








After my run, I hopped into the shower, changed and headed to the grocery store.  I had no fruit in my house and needed something to eat.  I headed to Aldi.  I get almost all of my produce there.  It is so much cheaper than the grocery story.  I got tons of food for $25!

By the time I got home I was so hungry I felt a little sick.  I heated up some of the refried black beans that I had made the other day and put them on corn tortillas with avocado, lettuce, and tomato.  I used half of the avocado on the tortillas and I mashed up the other half and ate it with some tortilla chips.

After that, I had to hurry and change for work and pack a lunch to take.  I'm trying not to spend money every day that I am there on silly things that I don't need.

Tomorrow I have off, but I have a lot to do!

What are your plans this weekend?

If You Like Piña Coladas

I got up this morning and my cat was so cute sleeping at the end of the bed.  I am mildly obsessed with my cat and pretty much all my pictures are of him.  He doesn't mind.  He loves getting his picture taken.

I had a running date with Becky at 8am.  My alarm went off at 6, I got up to make coffee, and then laid back down.  The plan was to get back up at 6:30, but after texting with a friend for about 15 minutes I decided to change the alarm to 7.  That went off way too quickly.  I texted Becky and asked if we could change the time to 8:30.  She said sure, so I went laid back down until 7:30 then finally got up and had some coffee and toast with jelly.

It was a bit chilly and windy, but sunny.  I cannot get enough of this fall weather!  Before I know it winter will be here.

Becky and I ran a 3 mile loop along the bike trail by our houses that goes through 2 parks.  We saw three deer.  Becky yelled out "Hi" to them and pointed.  I warned her not to make eye contact!  Those deer make me nervous.  It's hard to tell what they will do.  Especially when they are only about 20 feet from you.

It's nice running with someone else.  I was able to push myself to keep going, because I didn't want Becky to have to walk or go too slow.  I will also have her for company on my long run Friday.  I have to do 9 miles and she said she would like to run with me.  It's awesome to do long runs with a buddy!  It makes it a little less awful.  It also gives us time to catch up since we don't get to see each other too often.

And afterwards, I got cupcakes!!  They are a Hungry Girl recipe called Pina Colada Cupcakes.  They are so good.  It's just cake mix, pineapple, and one or two other things.  It's very similar to a recipe I've had called happy cake.  This recipe had fewer ingredients though and all the yumminess!  Someone ate the four cupcakes she gave me to take home though....okay, it was me.   Did I mention that they were delicious?

I also made some refried black beans.  Pretty much I just soak some dried beans overnight, boil them for an hour or so, then cook them in a pan.  I smoosh them with a potato masher and add water, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.  I keep adding water as they cook and keep mashing the beans until I decide they are done.  I think I cooked theses for about an hour.  I put them on corn tortillas with lettuce, tomato, and salsa.  It was very good!

After that I went over to my friend Melissa's.  We went for a walk.  She is five months pregnant with TWINS and is trying to stay active.  She is rocking it with these walks!  She is doing a 5k in two weeks too.  Hopefully all goes well!  We walked about 2.1 miles...I wore my Garmin so I would know.  I'm weird that way.

After that, I worked for a few hours.  It was so slow and boring!  I'm glad I got to leave after four hours!

Until next time...

What's your favorite season?

The Long "Runs"

I planned on doing my long run yesterday, but laid around all day instead.  I don't know what it is, but I've been so tired lately!

So this morning I got up early to go.  I drank my coffee and had my breakfast.  It was super cold out, only about 40 when I left.  Despite the temperature I wore capris and then a short sleeve tech shirt with a long sleeve cotton shirt over it.  I couldn't find any of my long sleeve tech shirts.  They must be packed away with my winter stuff.

I really wasn't feeling this run today.  I decided to start running as soon as I got to the end of the block.  Usually I walk about ten minutes or until I've gone up a large hill I have to climb up to get out of my little neighborhood.  I just wanted to get these miles over with.  I ran the four block to the hill then walked up the hill.  My stomach was kind of bothering me, but I figured I would be fine after a bit.  I ran through a cemetery that I pass to add on another mile and took a GU on my way back out to the street in hopes that it would give me a little energy.

By this point, I was walking a lot. I had a lot of pressure in my stomach, but figured it was from my water belt pushing on it.  I continued on my way and figured after each mile I would feel a little bit better.  A little after mile three I was really gassy...at least that's all I thought it was.  I ended up sharting!  I stopped dead in my tracks and didn't really know what to do.  Should I keep going?  Should I call Kevin to come pick me up?  What a sh*tty run!

I ended up deciding to just run home.  Kevin was sleeping and probably wouldn't hear the phone.  And this way, I could at least get in a couple more miles (you know you're a runner when...).  I had to stop and walk a couple of times because of fear I would further poo my pants, but my pace really picked up!

I finally got home and told Kevin what happened.  He said he just woke up, so not calling him was a good decision.  After I changed and spent some quality bathroom time, I thought I would be good to do at least three more miles.  I headed out and after about a tenth of a mile my stomach was not cooperating.  I turned right around and called it quits.

My first and second runs.

I forgot to even stretch afterwards.  I just jumped in the shower.

Kevin and I went to his parents house to celebrate his sister's 30th birthday.  They were having lasagna and his mom made me my very own since I don't eat meat.  I thought that was super sweet of her!  It was very good.

Then we came home and watched the rest of the Packer game.  They lost by 3 points.  I blame myself.  Every time I watch them they end up losing.

Who is your favorite sports team?

Have a great Sunday!

Fabulous Friday!

Happy Friday!

I am so excited to have three days off in a row!  It only happens every couple of weeks if I'm lucky!  I was so excited I couldn't fall asleep last night and then woke up super early this morning!  

My legs were sore today!  After work I even put on my compression socks and wore them to bed in hopes a miracle would happen and my legs would be refreshed.  No such luck.  I was scheduled to do 3 miles today, but decided to wait and see what the day would bring.  

I went to my mom's to see if she needed anything since she has a hurt back.  I brought her a bunch of movies to watch and the first season of Psych.  I reassured her that if she really liked that first season, I had up to season four.  

I took her other daughter  dog for a walk later too.  She has been cooped up lately and needed to stretch her legs.  We went in the field by my parents house and spent over 30 minutes hunting any possible animal she could smell.  She was pooped after.  She looks a little creepy sleeping with her eyes half open.

 Random!  I saw this on Pinterest and cracked up.  Any time you can incorporate "That's what she said" is okay by my.  And how funny would that be to see during a race.  I would start cracking up!

 My friend, Melissa, came over tonight to hang out.  We thought it would be fun to do our nails, so I started trying to find all my nail polish.  I kept finding more and more.  Why do I have so much nail polish?  I'm not a nail salon!  And has anyone ever really used a whole bottle?  Ever?  Probably not.

 Melissa tried a new technique for taking off polish that she saw on Pinterest.  It is supposed to take one swipe after sitting two minutes.  I got mine off before she was done, but I can see how this would work with colors that smear everywhere when trying to remove.  I always have a hard time getting off blue colors.

I thought I would do pink since October is breast cancer awareness month.  I did the ribbon swoosh free hand.  I couldn't believe how well it came out on the first try!  I had to do it twice on my other hand, though.  But I am very happy with the results.

Tomorrow, 10 mile run and then Party on the Pavement! 

What are your plans this weekend?

Tame Tuesday

Finally, after eight days in a row, I had a day off of work!  I always wake up, early and excited, like a little kid on Christmas morning!  I got up, had some coffee and breakfast (banana and clementine), watched some TV and then went for a 3 mile run.

I had to make sure I went in the morning, since I had plans for the rest of the day.  It was so beautiful out!  It was sunny and breezy and about 60.  The fall colors were everywhere!  It was so picturesque, I had to stop several times while running to take pictures.  It was literally raining leaves in the woods where I run.


After I got home, logged my run, and showered, I ate a salad with my homemade pickles and made a dressing with some red wine vinegar and half a packet of Sweet n Low.  It's very good.  I really like the tartness of it and it's virtually no calories!


I went over to my friend, Melissa's.  We were going to go shopping to find some clothes for our Halloween race and she needed to run some errands. I got a little bored waiting for her so I took some pictures of myself.  There are a lot more like this, but I thought one would be enough to share.
We went to a couple of thrift stores and found what we needed.  We also went to Menard's since she had to get some painting supplies.  That is probably my least favorite store to go to.  There is nothing there that interests me...even when we are doing home projects.  So, I was glad that we were there for only about 15 minutes.
After I got home, I grabbed a jar of pickles I made and headed over to my parents.  My dad had made more salsa and had a jar ready for me.  I also wanted to check on my mom.  She has a slipped disk in her back and has been in a lot of pain.  My little brother gave me a big old bag of quinoa too!  I was quite excited about this.  And, I convinced him to run the Halloween half I'm doing.
After my parents I ran to the grocery store.  I was pretty much out of fruit and ran out of almond milk the other day.  As a result of my shopping trip this ended up being my supper; carrots, grapes, tortilla chips, and my dad's homemade salsa.
Later that night Kevin came home with half a tube of Nestle chocolate chip cookie dough from our neighbors.  I made the cookies and ate 6 of them.  Good thing I pretty much ate nothing all day, because 6 cookies really adds up in calories.

I'm going to finish watching I Love Lucy and then get ready for work.  I just have to get through today and tomorrow and then I have a three day weekend!

Cleaning with a Feeling

I was so tired this morning...maybe it had something to do with not going to bed until 1am.  I was running a bit behind this morning so took my oatmeal to go.  I eat it on the way to work a lot.  It's filling and easy to eat!

I made sure to bring my lunch and snacks though.  I had a hard time this weekend to eat healthy, but I blame it on working too many days in a row.  It gets hard to think of food to bring.  I did really well and didn't go buy any junk food or eat any of the junk food we have in the break room.  

When I got home, I was excited to see that my compression socks had come!  I have read a lot about them and with my marathon training starting soon and a sale going on where I bought them, I figured it was meant to be.  I have been wearing them all day.  I can't tell if they are doing anything since today is a rest day.  They are definitely the most expensive pair of socks I have ever bought!

For supper I had a salad and I made my own dressing.  It was super easy. I just mixed together some red wine vinegar, EVOO, and a half packet of Sweet n Low.  I also put my homemade refrigerator pickles on it.  Those pickles are super good!  I am definitely  making them next year again.  I also had the rest of my soup that I brought for lunch and a banana and pear cut up.

I spent the rest of the night cleaning, doing laundry, dusting and doing the floors.  Tomorrow is my day off and I do not want to spend the whole day cleaning like I usually do. I cleaned out a cabinet I have random things in and found FOUR Gu's!  The receipt was dated April of last year.  That was right around the time I hurt my knee.  I must have bought them for a race and then not needed them anymore.  That was a sweet find though since I have a lot of long runs coming up!

I am going to finish watching Revolution and then heading to bed!  

Have you ever found anything while cleaning?

Sunday Funday!

Despite working most of the day, it was still a great day.  I was pretty tired when I got home.  I knew I had to run, but actually fell asleep for about an hour in my running clothes.  I got up and turned my Garmin on when it beeped and said low battery.  Well, that was just great!  I will not run if I don't know how far I'm going!  So I charged it for about twenty minutes and hoped it would last.

 I was walking for about 5 minutes outside when it beeped low battery again.  I turned it off until I was ready to run.  I was already outside and it was getting late.  It was almost six and I knew I would be out for over an hour.  With fall here, it is getting dark at about 7 now.  I'm not a fan of running in the dark just because I feel a bit off balance.  I turned my watch on and started running.  It beeped the low battery warning at me, but I just figured I would go until it died and then I could just figure out how far I went by mapping out the rest.


The first mile was really tough.  I kept getting crazy stomach cramps and stopped about three times until they passed.  After that pain was gone I was feeling a bit better.  I listened to Jillian Michaels podcast.  Her and her cohost are so funny.  It really made the time fly by.  And every time I wanted to give up I would just think about Jillian and what she would say to me.

On the way back I couldn't believe how huge the moon was! I tried to take a picture of it (again) and it never does it justice.

After I got home and I logged my runs on my 3 websites and wrote it in my running journal ( a little over-kill, I know) I jumped in the shower.  I hadn't realized that I had sweat through the two shirts I was wearing!  I knew I was sweating a bit, but I most mostly a bit chilly and was thankful I had thought to wear the long sleeves over a short sleeve T-shirt.

The rest of the night I just hung out, caught up on blogs, and watched Boardwalk Empire.  Next week's episode looks good!
Off to bed!  Early day tomorrow!