To blog or not to blog...

Where have I been? It has been about 6 months since my last post....

To be honest, I haven't had the motivation to get on the computer. I do my internet things on the phone or the iPad, so actually getting the laptop out just seems like a chore. Every so often I will get a thought about a cool post subject or I will take a picture perfect for the blogging world.  I really like journaling my life, but I also like being lazy at the end of the day with my puppy and the T.V. 

So why am I on today?  I recently started reading blogs again looking for the motivation to continue running in the heat, plus finding encouragement to be okay with my slowness. I have been tossing the idea of running a marathon within the next year (I have pretty much decided to, but am too chicken to commit to registering for one), and thought getting back into blogging will help me keep track of my training as well as give me some accountability. 

There you have it: I have been slack and am now a chicken!

Over the past six months, I have continued to run and do a few races. I completed my second half marathon, which was a great race. I didn't finish with the time I would've liked, but I walked away happy that I was injury free and feeling strong the rest of the day (after my nap of course). Discovered my new favorite race distance is the 8k; probably because it is unique and there isn't 1000 of them every Saturday. I have added some cross training into the mix -quickly becoming addicted to spinning.

My #1 running buddy has partially convinced me to complete a sprint triathlon this Summer. I am all for the sport, but I am awful at riding a real bike! Cycle class is easy because the bike balances itself :-). Outside, I can't even take my hands off the bars without some sort of disaster of running into the curb/car/person/tree/bush or falling over. The tri we are considering has only a 12 mile bike segment - I can do that! In fact, we tried out that distance last week!!! I learned that if I want to continue this sport, I will need to get a road bike. My poor little trail bike isn't built for speed. This first tri appealed to use because the swimming is a pool (yay!). For all of you tri-athletes out there, we are planning for tri at the lake in September. Fingers crossed!


What gives you motivation to run?
Usually signing up for races is what gets me on track. If I don't have a race, I find other things to do.

Have you completed a tri?

Puppy Pictures!

Today hasn't been too exciting for me. I did get to go to the eye doctor where she nicely fussed at me about sleeping in my contacts (I still don't know what she's talking about - I am a good girl that takes them out every night). I did buy some new glasses! We'll both have to wait until next week to see them.

I then stopped by the running store (just opened about a mile from my house)! I signed up for a training group for one of the bigger races here in Charlotte that will be in April. I will hopefully start joining some of their group runs when my schedule cooperates. For those of you in the LKN area, I highly recommend Charlotte Running Company. They are always so helpful and have such great patience with all of my questions. While I was stalking visiting, we started discussing their newest inventory. They recently received the new Nike+ Sportwatch GPS Powered by TomTom. 

Source

The owner has been trying it out and so far he likes it. He hasn't had a chance to really explore all of its options, however. One of the staff members will take it out on a run this week and I can't wait to hear what she thinks. This watch uses both the GPS and the sensor (great to record any treadmill runs or if you lose signal). One neat feature is tapping the screen to mark laps and activate the backlight during your run. I have told my husband that after I have completed two more half marathons, I will reward myself with a GPS watch - probably a Garmin. I have used the Nike+ with my iPod for years and love it for what it can do. Now my interest is peaked with the Nike+ Sportswatch.

Today is a day of cleaning and once I log-off, I am tackling the laundry, bathrooms, dishes, etc... Oh yeah, and working out.

But first, I want to share pictures of my puppy. I decided to do this for two reasons: 1) I don't have much to say or post today and 2) he is so freaking adorable! I never understood the appeal of dogs until we got Backster. He is mostly awesome -he is a perfect snuggler and only escapes every chance he gets. Honestly, I adore this puppy and am grateful for having him. Did you notice that we spell his name a bit different? One of hubs patients (5yr old kid) came up with the name and spelling since hubs works on 'backs.' How creative!?!

Introducing Backster:

He was so little!



His 1st bed

He completely fell asleep while playing with the bunny

I love this pic, b/c it isn't his normal face and he looks annoyed

He loves kisses

One of the funniest things ever! My parents got him this hat from Williamsburg



Did I mention how much I smother him with hugs  - he always sighes (or is it sighs?) and pulls away

 

He isn't allowed in my lap while driving, so he snuggles as much as he can :-)

Tarheels!

He loves the beach



Again, annoyed   :-)

I have decided to start adding questions to the end of some of my posts. I notice a few do this and I think it is a great way to know everyone. So.....

What exciting thing did you do today?

Do you have any pets? Names?

1 dog - Backster and 1 cat - Katty

Any cool finds at the running store/race expo lately?

arm warmers for $10 at expo

What words never look right when you write/type them?

so many to list! I have become so dependent on spell check - sad, really.




Pizza, Pizza!!!

First order of fun: Thank you to LMYR for the introduction to the blogging world and welcome to those stopping by – I hope you don’t think I am too much of a complete weirdo (I am ok with crazy though).

Today has been busy, but I was able to get in a short run. I learned the lesson that I should not eat a hamburger for lunch if I plan on running later. No matter, I always love how great I feel after a run.

This weekend was great! Danielle and I volunteered during the Thunder Road Marathon on Saturday. We were so freaking excited and pumped. I packed fuel so we can make it through the day handing out water/Gatorade and watching all the runners.

Packed bananas too, but they aren't as photogenic

Good thing we had fuel, since we walked around for 30 minutes trying to figure out where we needed to check-in and get our t-shirts (btw never got those dern shirts). We finally just palced ourselves with the post-race drinks. It was a lot of fun; I really enjoyed seeing everyone as they finished. But my favorite moments were the final finishers. These people were so inspirational and were the ones, not the sub-4 finishers, that made me think about one day calling myself a marathoner.  


One day?

 And as a bonus, we were able to take home many Lara Bars and 16lbs of bananas!


I may have eaten 1/2 of my stash during my drive home

 Sunday was my first day off in a week, and hubs and I took full advantage of a lazy day. I made it a rest day because my foot was hurting (I am a whimp).

About a month ago, I found and tried a Cauliflower Crust Pizza recipe on Pinterest. I love pizza! I don’t care if it is $0.98 frozen pizza or the specialty pizzas from the local Italian place. So to find a recipe that allows me to add veggies to my diet and take away some unnecessary sugars – I am there! For game watching and couch snuggling, I decided to make the Cauliflower Crust Pizza again. Don’t get me wrong, the original recipe was great, but I wanted to cut down the fats by reducing the amount of cheese and possibly using only egg whites. This is a delightful treat that will meet that crave you might have for pizza.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza (inspired by this)

Crust Ingredients

3 cups cooked riced cauliflower (approximately 1 head)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 whole egg and 2 egg whites, beaten

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp oregano or Italian Herbs

Plus:

Assorted veggies/toppings

Cheese

Pizza sauce

- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

- Cut veggies/toppings and roast until done.

While the veggies were cooking, prepare the crust:

- Luckily, the original recipe had directions to ‘rice’ the cauliflower.

Remove stems and leaves from cauliflower and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain (if you don’t have a food processor, you can grate with a cheese grater).  Place cauliflower into the microwave for 5-8 minutes until cooked.

- After cauliflower is finished, combine it with the remaining crust ingredients.

- Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray (I used a stone that doesn’t need spray)

- Transfer crust mixture to the baking sheet and using hands, pat out.

- Bake for 15 minutes.

Add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under the broiler for about 4 minutes or until cheese is melted.

We had had a slice with salad.

Hubs believes it tastes just as good with the minor changes. Perfect way to have pizza and not worry too much about processed foods and unwanted carbs.

Well, I am off to snuggle with my boys and watch Harry Potter!



Quickie :-)

I just wanted to drop a quick Hello. I am slowly figuring out how to better manage my time to work, clean the house, practice, have coffee dates, read blogs and keep my own blog up-to-date!

Yesterday, LMYR and I went to the Thunder Road Marathon Expo. We are not running it this year (It was our 1^st ever half marathon last year), because she just ran the full in Savannah and I have been a loser by not training for anything these past few months. The expo wasn’t huge, but they had a decent amount of stuff. I bought arm warmers for $10! Score! Arm warmers are perfect for the weather here in Charlotte. My next run is tomorrow and they will so be on my arms. I was sad that I didn’t find any amazing deals on shoes. Some of the apparel was okay priced, but I am so cheap that I know I can go to TJMaxx or Marshalls to find some cute shorts/tops for $5 less.  After looking at Sweaty Bands and deciding not to purchase one (they didn’t have a huge selection; they had lots with the Thunder Road logo) we went for a coffee date with a colleague.

Um……Have you seen my Daily Mile widget?!?!?!?!? Notice that it says 3.1 in about 33 minutes! It was actually 33:05, but Daily Mile doesn’t seem to show seconds. I can not express how freaking happy this made me. I have only broken 35 minutes twice that I can remember and both times I thought I was going to pass out. Yesterday was easy peasy! I ran 2 segments of 10 mins and 1 of 5 mins with 2-4 walk breaks in between the runs. I think I could have pushed to go longer and quicker -TWSS! Had the puppy with me and poor thing had the poopies. Not going to lie I pretty much stopped and partied when my Nike+ told me what happened! Disclaimer: I know the Nike+ isn’t the most accurate even when calibrated—I actually went 3.5 on it. I always add a few tenths to make me feel like I did good J.  

Well, LMYR and I are off to volunteer for the Thunder Road race! We are both going to work the finish line. I am so excited! Glad I got my workout in this morning; I know I will be exhausted after we are done.  If I can find my camera, I will post pics (or at least still D’s).

Whoa, I had a lot to say

So, I finally start this blog and then I don't post for days! I have a good reason - I got a job! More on that in a minute.

The purpose of this blog is to share with you what I am doing to be healthy – again.

About 8 weeks ago I got my treadmill back (stuff has been in storage at in-laws until we moved into a bigger place). I am so freaking pumped! I have designated one of our rooms as the exercise room. Hubs even put a shelf for the iPad and speakers. I love it. So after a 40-min run/walk last night, I foam rolled and stretched in the comfort of my home. Before I continue, I want to say that I did a couple of 30-sec segments of 8mph – I almost fell off.  


 The shelf is ugly (was free), but so cool!


With this being my second post, I thought I would share some stuff:

While hubs and I were in grad school, we were pretty healthy. It was easy to live this way because our friends were just as active and health conscience. Part of this was because hubs was studying to become a Chiropractor. It was during this time I became interested in running. Sadly, we all parted after graduation. And, coupled with no clue how we were going to start a business in the crappy economy, I lost my motivation and coped by eating comfort food. This past summer hubs and I vowed to get back to being healthy.

A year-ish later, along came a friend and we somehow talked each other into running a half marathon. I started to gain back some of my cardio health, but I forgot to eat healthy. After our long runs, I would stop at Wendy’s to grab some fries and a cheeseburger – very counterproductive.  Running my first half was amazing minus the freaking hills and I am so happy I had a great friend to share the experience.

Danielle and me after our 1st Half. She kicked butt! I met my goal, but was DUN!

I had some aches and pains during training and the race, but didn’t think much of it. Shortly after the race, my hip started hurting and all of the sudden I couldn’t walk! My hip flexor was done. I iced and hubs did some muscle work, but the verdict was still no running for 3 months. I couldn’t do any exercise or drive the jeep (it was a straight drive). All health had been lost. It has been a struggle to make running a habit again or even to get myself out the door. I am happy to report that in December, I will begin training for my second half marathon – one year after completing my first half.

I made Cauliflower Crust Pizza the other day – delightfully delicious and I will be sharing that with you later this week.


So about the new job… 

During the day, I am a classically-trained musician (flutist to be exact). I freelance in the Charlotte area as well as play with a couple of the local orchestras, and I also teach privately during the afternoon. Most of my rehearsals and gigs are in the evenings or Sunday mornings. I really love what I do, but there is no myth to the stereotype of a 'starving musician' no matter what genre! I am fortunate to have an awesome husband that takes care of me, but it is nice to have some extra cash for frozen yogurt, clothes, boots and races. Until I land my dream job (teaching on the college level), I have set my sights on the YMCA.  Not only will I have a free membership, but hubs’ membership will be discounted and I work at a gym! I won’t have any excuses to not workout. Plus, extra money for clothes and races!

Can't leave without one picture of Backster from Halloween

The Day I Became a Fitness Model and a Blogger

So, I have done it! I have entered the world of blogging! This has been something that I have wanted to do for about 9 months now, but I was too chicken. Thankfully, my girl Danielle encouraged me to get off my booty and start (she is even the one that came up with the name of this blog!).

Why am I blogging now? I have recently recommitted myself to being healthy. I took a few years off, but now I am regaining the confidence and wellness I once had. I want to use this blog to help myself and others discover healthier versions of the foods we love  - the Healthy Eats.
And, after a year-ish of injuries, laziness and one hot-arse summer, I have re-started running. I have to admit, I don't love running, but I do love how it makes me feel. I am not fast and I can't run without walk breaks. I want to become a better runner - no, I will become a better runner! To help keep me accountable, I will also be sharing my Running Feats!

I have been stalking reading several running/fitness/health blogs and find each one so unique and inspirational (did you see my first strikethrough!?). All in all, this blog is a journal for me in discovering health, wellness and what it feels like to run a 5k/10k without walk breaks. And if you don't mind too much, I will probably share some life things too  - not too many, I don't do much.

Oh yea, fitness model...
I must confess, I am not really a fitness model and the activity I am referring to actually happened last week ;-).  The hubs and I presented a foam-roller talk to one of the local bike shops, and we used me as the model for the pictures in the handout. Thus, that day I became a fitness model. I take pride in my work - I really do.

Thought I'd share one pic from my photo shoot. I picked this one b/c it looks like I have arm muscles!

Today is the day I became a blogger and a fitness model!

Let the journey begin....