New Loot! + Running Streak

Don't you hate it when life gets in the way of running? Between working nights, teaching morning exercise class, and actually wanting to see my family, running has been getting the shaft lately.

That came to an end Thanksgiving day. I am a proud participant in Runners World's Running Streak. The idea is that you run at least a mile every day between Thanksgiving day and New Years day. Of course, being me, I've been doing the 2.6 mile loop around the neighborhood. And also being me, and needing to sleep, I've skipped...I think two days of running (but made up for it with a six hour shopping excursion)

And now for the loot!

My new shoesises :)

Okay, so I have to talk about the ladies. I have been firmly seated on the 'Name brands do not equal quality.'-thought train. BUT I went shopping on Saturday and found one of these babies for ten dollars:

Mine is blue.

In MY SIZE!!! Hallelujah. And I have to say that the fabric feels so much better than the Target sports bras I've been wearing, and seems to support me a lot better. I am definitely getting more of these.

I also thought these were a bunch of b.s., turns out I was wrong.

This being a foam roller.

You use them to stretch/massage your muscles, and they are amazing. I haven't had such a deep stretch in my hamstrings in a LONG time. Fabulous. I bought a little yellow travel sized one at the Running Room and I liked it so much that I picked up a medium sized one at Target for my exercise students to try. (They also loved it.) Maybe Santa will bring me a large one?

How have your runs been going? Tell me in the comments!

Later lovies!

Day 344

Hmmm...

I don't even know where to start...How about we start with the run recap and then onto the emotional/physical stuff, good? Good.

Run Recap!
Did just under 2 miles at 8 am this morning. With very small hills. Took about 40 minutes. With 2 30 sec breathers after the two bigger-small hills. And the last mile was all uphill.

Is this one of the Hanson brothers?

Annnd...Guess what today was? First day of school! Guess what my neighborhood is full of that I was previously unaware existed? Cute dads! Guess who was out on the sidewalk with their nervous first graders every 3 blocks? Cute dads!

Yes I am happily married. Yet I'm vain/vapid/shallow/what-have-you enough that I need to be the prettiest runner the Cute Dads see on any particular day. Note to self: Wear lipstick tomorrow.

Lies.

Guess what I found out a few weeks ago? The website that lists the mileage of one of the trails I frequently run is a BIG FAT LIE! I thought the loop was 4 laps equals 5 miles (which is what the website says) But being a bit skeptical after a while, I sattelite mapped it on a few different websites and...turns out the loop is only about .5 miles long. Which means that four laps is about TWO FLIPPIN' MILES!!! Sooo disappointed.

Been kind of (very) hard on myself for not being the best runner of all time by now. Why do I have such unattainable/ridiculous standards for myself? Why?! If it was anyone else I'd be like; "Good for you for getting up in the morning and going for a walk." But since its me (and we all know I'm different) I'm like; "You only did two miles after working all night? In the rain? Uphill? Cry me a river. Go do two more sets. Then you can be proud of yourself. Wuss."

Am entertaining the idea of throwing a 'Been running for a year' party. Any ideas?

A confession

I like to think that running is my private little love affair. That it's a big secret that only you and I and the sidewalks know about. It feels like a love affair too. I blush when I think about running, I day dream about it. I get cranky when something prevents me from doing it. I make mix tapes for it. I indulge in a completely selfish way with it. If I could lay in tangled sheets with running on a Sunday afternoon I would. But it's not private. It's very very public. I run in public, I talk to anyone and everyone about it. And by it being public, it affects others. In a big loud way.

Like how this picture affects people in a big loud way. *cough* Teaparty *cough*

I never thought I would be here. I remember so vividly looking at the couch to 5k plan on the computer and then quickly closing the window if I heard someone coming down the hall, for fear of ridicule. For fear of the negativity that would come if I spoke up about what I wanted to do.
I remember being out in the breeze on a cool spring day and wondering what it was like to run. Just for the hell of it. But of course I never did. I was too fat/tall/hungover/smoking/etc. I was really good at making excuses to not do what I wanted to do. Truth be told I was afraid of loving it, and then having it taken away. Maybe it's because I was so young and I had so much taken away, but I knew I couldn't bear it, if I loved something innocent for me and all of a sudden I had to push it away so someone else could prove their power over me. I spent so many years being manipulated and not even realizing it.

Now I run for me. This marathon is for me and everything and everyone that I love. I've survived everything else. Now I'm going to thrive during and after a little footrace in October.

Looking forward to tonight!

Not my bathroom sink. Pretty though :)

Have spent the day cleaning the house. There is something cathartic about getting rid of all the dust and grime that accumulates through everyday living. It's like exfoliating for your home. Love it.

What I don't love are two little people who get poo all over the bathroom on accident, cleaning the bathroom, and then spilling the toilet brush water all over the clean bathroom and having to clean it AGAIN. I swear, that bathroom is so clean we're going to cook dinner up there tonight. Jesus (as in exasperation, not as in the picture below.)

Did a Google Image search for 'Sparkly clean' and got the above picture.

Anyway, I think I'm back in the running groove. While doing all this housewifey stuff today I was making a playlist in my head for my run with Louie after the babies go to bed.

The playlist is as follows:
Cold Shoulder- Adele
Rolling in the Deep- Adele
Super Bass- Nicki Minaj
Incredible- Joss Stone
Born this Way- Lady Gaga
Right as Rain- Adele
Rumor Has It-Adele

Yes it is very girlie, but what the hell, so am I.
Later Lovies!

Pulled my head out of my bum

Decided to pull my head out of my ass and take my anxiety meds and go for a run with Louie.

I put on the few pieces of reflective gear I have, coated myself in bugspray, got the dog ready, put on Adeles 'Right as Rain', and off we went.

It was actually really nice to be running in 80 degree weather at 11 pm. No sarcasm. Really it was nice. My legs felt springy and strong. It was pretty awesome. I'm pouring sweat as I type this, and even that feels good.

And Louie found a deer in the front yard! It was a pleasant night for all.

It has been waaay too long...

Oof! Just got back from a jaunt around the neighborhood (yes at 11pm). Ouch. My hips hurt. My shins hurt. My ankle kind of hurts. I'm tired. That was hard. Waaay harder than it should have been.
I finally caved and got some prewrap for my feet.

Using just athletic tape was giving me blisters (which SUCK by the way), I used it tonight and my feet feel really good.

Whilst at the store I saw that they had these:

So I picked one up to try tonight...YUK! It tasted like I was sucking the inside out of a raspberry filled doughnut, without the tasty doughnut part. The texture grossed me out the most, very wet and goopy. Booger-like. The package said to drink water after eating (slurping?) this, and I thought: 'Why not just skip the gel and drink some gangsta'aid?' Its the SAME THING.'

I also got one of these to try tomorrow:

Which is basically the same thing only in gummy form. Perhaps it will be less gross? *Fingers crossed*

On a happier note here are some recipes y'all have been asking for:

GANGSTA-AID
2 packets unsweetened Kool-Aid (flavor is up to you, I like grape)
7 tablespoons sugar (use regular table sugar, not sugar in the raw, it doesn't dissolve well)
1 tablespoon Sea salt (Use sea salt if you have it, it has potassium in it which helps you muscles recover, if you don't have any, just use kosher salt)

Mix, store in a labeled container, add a few tablespoons to your workout water and there you go!

EVERYTHING COOKIES
(Or as I call them, 'Vitamin Energy Discs')
Wet Ingredients:
1 cup pecans
1 cup soft butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 large eggs
Splash vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
2 cups oats

The Other Bits:
1 cup dried fruit (I like cherries, cranberries, chopped figs, raisins, blueberries, etc.)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 more cup dried fruit (Think outside the box! Papaya, mango, apricot, pineapple, strawberry, etc.)
1 cup chocolate chips (white, milk, dark-up to you)

Cream together (mix well) the wet ingiridients, stir the dry into the wet, stir the other stuff into the wet+dry mixture, roll dough into golf ball sized bits, put onto baking sheet, bake at 375 for about ten minutes. Let cool a little bit on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack/waxed paper to cool completely.

I keep trying to double this recipe and freeze half, but they barely make it a day in my house.

Note: this is a GREAT way to use up little bits of dried fruit or nuts you have lying around the house, don't be shy about adding or subtracting things!

Day 208

What I could use right about now :)

Just got back inside from doing 4 miles in 33 minutes. I actually got to turn my brain off and just move my body. It was pretty stellar.

I have a confession to make. When I run on the trail I don't just run. I dance too. And mouth the words to the music I'm listening to, and occasionally sing along. I wonder if I didn't do all that extra movement if I could run faster? Hmmm...

Anyway, freezing rain is falling from the sky today, very pretty to look at, and the first three miles were nice, I even remembered to put on a hat and mittens. By the last mile I was pretty wet and I realized that 'water resistant nylon jacket' does not equal 'water proof nylon jacket'. I then spent about ten minutes in my car thawing out before I could drive home. (That's okay though, it gave me a little while to polish off the bag of dried peaches that were languishing sadly in the car.)

Happy runs lovelies!