I clearly stink at remembering to blog

I think the title sums it up well...but oh well! I'll start posting more soon :)

I just got cleared to run again after tendonitis - yay!!!

Thoughts & Prayers for Boston

Given the news today, it only seems right to use this area to express how scared and torn I am now. It's scary how short life is and how quickly something can change. The finish line is that place where you celebrate your achievement - I have never forgotten crossing my first marathon finish line. Regardless of how many races I've done, there is a magic at that line that I haven't felt anywhere else. And the other runners are people who I cheer "Go Team", wave, hi five, and share stories of chafing with. After a race, you can always tell who ran...we're always the ones limping but smiling. And you can always start a conversation with us the day of or after a race, whether in an elevator or an airport, by spotting our limps or seeing our shirts. There is nothing like going into an airport and seeing all the race shirts to make you realize how far people travel...how running brings people together.

 I will continue to run and never forgot how blessed I am each day to be able to run.

Coach Bonnie Brooks & I at the celebration party after my first marathon

Finish line of my first marathon

Returning to the Barre

Yesterday was the first day I went back to my barre class in a long long time. And I gotta say, today I am feeling it. You know when you workout your muscles enough that everything hurts the day after? It's that kinda day for my abs and my triceps.

Such a good kind of pain!

So if you've never heard of barre before...I'll explain it! It's seriously one of my favorite workouts ever since I discovered it two Octobers ago...I shouldn't have taken off so much time from it. *Cough* I really have been slacking on my workouts since my deviated septum surgery last August *Cough*. I'm just happy I went again :)

The whole idea behind it is to target your muscles in small controlled isometric music. You work your arms, your thighs, your seat, and then your abs. You do them each in small segments and then you stretch out after, with the goal of giving you long sexy muscles. It'll get you sweating :)

I took ballet when I was younger and barre definitely appeals to that part of me - you use the barre, but no tutu. Did I mention the music is awesome? Each instructor makes up their own playlists from the latest music...and I totally have found some of my favorite workout songs from the classes.

I could probably go on and on about it, because I love it. It's the only time I've really felt my abs and triceps go what the heck did you do to me, and I've noticed huge changes in my body from it. There's something about making your thighs shake that seems both terrifying and amazing at the same time.

At any rate...my abs and my triceps hurt today. But it's a great kind of pain :)

My Diet Coke Addiction

I have an addiction to Diet Coke....seriously, not kidding. It's pretty bad too. Growing up, Diet Coke has always been in my house. It tends to be my go to drink. Water? Naw. Milk? Not really. Diet Coke? Oh yes! My family (mostly my father) drinks Diet Coke like it's water. In all honesty, I have jokingly said that my blood is made out of Diet Coke.I've considered using Diet Coke during half marathon training before.

In fact, there was a conversation with my college boyfriend and very good friend NW that went down something like this when he wanted me to quit drinking coffee (I worked as a barista for 2.5 years in college).

Me: You can pick either coffee or Diet Coke for me to be addicted to
NW: I'd rather you not be addicted to either
Me: Well....you have to pick one, mister Mountain Dew. So pick one, cause I'll be addicted to one...

I've had guys that I was dating before come and pick me up with a bouquet of flowers and a Diet Coke....I wish I was kidding.

I've never been into any of the other sodas. Diet Pepsi is gross to me. Everything else too much sugar. I'll drink 3 20ozs at work, then go home and drink more...this is a problem.Especially since there's all the studies and proof behind Diet Coke that just...wow. Shudders! I'll have to share them.

So as part of my losing weight, I'm trying to cut out the Diet Coke for once and for all. I've done it before, but it always comes back. Especially given my family's history with diabetes, it's better for me to cut the Diet Coke out. My awesome nutritionist has told me again and again that I gotta quit the Diet Coke. Break up with the Diet Coke. Divorce the Diet Coke. Etc Etc.

So yeah.....this is to help me with quitting the Diet Coke. I need accountability. No more Diet Coke.

 

 

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

The sun is shining, it's a wonderful Saturday morning! And I just made awesome delicious & moist banana chocolate chip oatmeal muffins :)

Recipe Courtesy of GreenLiteBites

On tap for today:

• Watch March Madness for my alma mater! GO GREEN!!! (Work on meal list for the week during)
• 30 Mile Bike Ride
• Hot Yoga :)
• Bachelorette party 

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone!!

Wanderlust

If it wasn't obvious from my race schedule, I like to travel! Hence the explore part of my blog title too :)

So I made it my goal this year to lose the weight I put on after hurting my knee 2 years ago. As a reward, I want to travel to somewhere tropical: Austrailia, Fiji, Bali, Virgin Islands, Hawaii, etc. Why somewhere tropical you ask? Well, I'm a super self conscious person and a slight perfectionist (ok, maybe I underestimate a bit) - I've actually never worn a bikini in my life. And so that is my goal for this year!

                                    A Reminder of My Goal - Fiji Hilton (Seriously how cool is this?)


I've got other places on my list of course to see too! I'd really like to travel to each of the continents (except for Antarctica I think, it's a little too cold for me) before I'm 30....I've got a year and about 9 months still. Totally doable! Especially I went to Europe already =)

It's one of my goals in life to get to travel all over the world. I'd like to travel abroad at least once a year just so I can see everything I want to see...

Working Out of My Rut

So...I've been a little bit lazy lately in regard to running, working out, etc...the combination of allergies, rain, and being depressed is really knocking me out. I need some Vitamin C and Vitamin D!

With that being said...I have quite the race schedule coming up and so I need to start kicking my butt. Motivation city! (And yes...I may have lost my mind)

4/28 - Nike Women's Half in Washington DC
5/19 - Rock N Roll Portland Half
6/22 - Rock N Roll Seattle Half
7/13- 7/15 - Seattle to Portland Bike Ride
8/31 to 9/1 - Dumbo Double Dare Challenge (10K on Saturday, Half on Sunday)
9/22 - Air Force Marathon
10/13 - Chicago Marathon

And if my third shot at the lottery actually goes through....

11/3 - NYC Marathon


Did I mention that it was quite the race schedule? I'm also debating on adding a sprint triathlon or two.

So yeah....I need to hit the gym. And it's been a little hard because of not wanting to get out of bed/ sleep the day away. I'm at a much better point than I was a year ago, but it's still a battle. My Stay Positive group is helping a lot....I'll share one of my favorite quotes that I shared with them. (I have a decent sized collection of these quotes because I love them).

Updates

Well, it's been awhile since I updated here!

First things first, the WDW marathon went ok...ish. I got my first DNF - I made it to mile 20 and gave in to heat exhaustion and dehydration after running from portapotty to portapotty. It was definitely a frustrating race...but ultimately, I'm glad I stopped because I felt better immediately after it.

So now I'm trying to decide on my next full marathon. I can't decide. I am registered for the Air Force Marathon in Ohio on September 16th already. But before then...I'm not sure about my next full.

I do have some 5Ks planned already...and at least one half :) I'm registered for the Dumbo Double Dare- its a 10K on Saturday, then a half on Sunday at Disneyland. Otherwise...I have to decide on if I want to qualify for Half Fanatics and Marathon Maniacs this year or not.

The other big thing that's happened so far this year is an elimination diet. No sugar, no food colorings, no chocolate, no soy, no dairy, no eggs, no alcohol, no caffeine for a month. I did definitely slip up on the chocolate a few times...but the no caffeine wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact, I'm at my lowest amounts of Diet Coke ever now and really don't miss it.

Coming soon....my workout plots as the plan this year is to start kicking my butt into shape!

It's a New Year!

I'm not very good at posting often, but I'll try to start changing that this year :)

I've got a couple of different resolutions (not going to post all of them on here), but I will post some of the big ones. Without further adieu:

• Give up Diet Coke
• Get back to a healthy, happy weight for me
• Workout more regularly
• Get my half marathon & full marathon speeds up - new PRs for both! 
• Do another sprint triathlon 
• Save up more money!

In other news....I'm doing a detox diet right now through my awesome nutritionist Ashley. She's amazing. The whole idea behind it is to clean out your system of bad foods and reboot your liver. Also - it serves as a basis for seeing what you're allergic to for food (oh how I need to figure out my allergies!) In the detox, you eliminate caffeine, gluten, refined sugars, chocolate, eggs, and milk.Eliminating the caffeine hasn't been that bad - I'm just drinking tons of water. The chocolate on the other hand....all I want is chocolate!

The fun part about it has been getting to try out recipes :) Yay cooking! I love to cook.  The newest recipe I tried this week (always great recipes on this blog)

http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/2012/10/11/autumn-butternut-squash-salad/

Tomorrow, I plan to make this smoothie by Green Plate Rule (I seriously love her blog!)
 
http://www.greenplaterule.com/recipes/blueberry-almond-green-smoothie/

No More Slacking

I've been slacking off a bit on updating this blog.....so a few things to update ;)

1. I wound up not doing the Seattle to Portland bike ride since both my friend and I didn't do too hot at training for it (and there wound up being higher priorities in the form of meat, meat, and more meat that weekend).  My goal is to do it next year.

2. I did do the Eugene Marathon- I beat my old marathon PR too by 30 minutes! :)

3. I did the Seattle Rock N Roll Half....I slowed down a bit and wound up off pace....and then I got discouraged and didn't push myself. So, no new half PR for me at that.

Apart from the races that I had previously been planning to do, it's been a busy year.

1. I got surgery done in August on my deviated septum. I can't begin to tell you how much easier it is to breathe now or how much it's helped. And I'm told it'll be 6 months for full impact!!! YAY!

2. I had to take off a month from exercise after it....and I've kind of been slacking off a lot since....and by kind of, I mean A LOT.

3. I did start playing soccer again after being cleared by the doctor....up until 2 weekends ago, the most I was running was at soccer.

4. I did the Dawg Dash 5K at University of Washington 2 weekends ago. Despite not running for awhile, I was able to get close to my old PR without pushing myself too hard. The problem was that I was sore after it for 3 days.....lol

So now I'm signed up for a few races....looking at signing up for a few more. :) And I'm working on my diet again, so I'll posting more about that too :)

In the meantime - hope everyone's doing well!

Finding Motivation

I've been lacking motivation for training for the Eugene Marathon the last few weeks. So when I had some other friends doing a half marathon over last weekend, I decided that it'd be a good way to motivate myself to start training more.

It definitely worked! I wasn't trying to PR the half/ was treating it as a long run...and I finished 6 minutes off my best time :)

Schedule for this week:

Today: rest - no run
Tuesday: light run (2 miles), then indoor soccer
Wednesday:  run and pure barre
Thursday: TBD (allergy retest, so it depends on how I feel after)
Friday: run and pure barre
This weekend: 16 to 18 miles

Q & A

My cross country coach from high school George tagged me in a recent blog entry, and I've been a little bit behind on answering it. Thus, the following blog entry was born! Here are the rules:

1. I must post these rules.
2. I must post eleven random things about myself.
3. I must answer the questions set for me in George's post.
4. I must create eleven new questions for the folks I tag.
5. I must go to their blogs and tell them that I've tagged them.
6. I can't say, "If you are reading this, you are tagged!" I have to actually designate eleven people.

Here are the eleven random things about me that you may or may not have known:

1. Growing up, I was a huge bookworm. I'd go with my mom to the library at least once a week and get 4 books everytime....to prevent me from only reading "garbage" books (*cough* Sweet Valley High *cough*), there was a rule that I had to get 2 books that were award winners of some sort, or appeared on book lists like the New York Times Bestsellers. It was probably one of the best rules to have growing up, and it forced me to read a lot of books that I wouldn't have otherwise read. 


2. I always have a stack of books on my nightstand that I want to read...but lately, the only time I can sit down at home and read is while I'm traveling. Then, when I'm on vacation, I'll go through a ton. My current nightstand stack in no particular order (and yes, literal stack...I don't have a Nook/ Kindle): 

• In Defense of Food - Michael Pollan
•  Packing for Mars - Mary Roach
• A Whole New Mind - Daniel Pink
• Fly by Wire - William Langewiesche 
• The Shallows- Nicholas Carr

3.  Within my immediate family, I am the only one with a unique middle name (Eileen). My brother was named after my dad, so they both have the middle name of Charles. My mom and sister both have a middle name of Ruth.

4. I love to watch Top Chef....I've seen every season since it started. I am slowly becoming more and more of a foodie and love to try out different recipes.

5. Because my dad has lots of allergies, I grew up without using many spices in food. Since leaving home, I've been able to use spices and different ingredients a lot....garlic is amazing!

6. I love history. Over the years, I've had many fascinations: King Tut, Titanic (before the movie came out), the Russian Revolution, JFK, the Holocaust, Sarajevo, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, the Trojan War, etc. 

7. The King Tut's treasures are coming to Seattle in May....I will totally be one of the first people in line. Growing up, King Tut was a fascination of mine and I read everything I could find about him and his tomb's discovery. 


8. I love to play Risk....best board game ever!


9. I considered majoring in architecture for college. It's always amazing to go to places and see how they're designed and how that impacts the environment of it. 


10. My favorite book for the longest time growing up was From the Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler. When my family lived in NJ, I was 1 hour away from NYC and we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art a lot....I always wanted to live at the Met like the kids did in the book.


11. It isn't truly Christmas for me until I've seen the Nutcracker. I think I've seen it at least 12 performances now....and at least 10 have been by different companies.


Here are my answers to George's questions: 


1. What is your job and how did you choose it?
I currently work as a stress analyst in flight test instrumentation at a large aerospace manufacturer. Essentially, I make sure all the parts designed to take measurements during flight test don't fall apart or malfunction.  


Engineering isn't something that I had ever planned on doing...it's a long story how I got into it. When I wound up picking mechanical engineering as my major, I knew I wanted to go into aerospace (space shuttles!) or biomedical (love medicine). I interned in aerospace, and have been in it since I graduated college (plus night classes in biomed). I've worked in a couple of different groups now, and switched to my latest group about a year ago so I could learn more about the planes....and get to fly!

2. What is the destination of your next big trip?
I'm still trying to figure that out...this year I have 4 weddings, which should all be fairly short trips apart from the July one. My cousin is getting married in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and I am considering flying in a few days early so that I can go to Mt Rushmore and then drive across the state and visit the other national parks (the Badlands, Crazy Horse) and other things (Corn Palace).


My next big trip should be overseas....just am trying to decide where! I have a friend living in Tokyo that I can go visit and know some folks going to Germany for Oktoberfest. I'd love to get in a trip to South America though too!

3. What was the last good book you read?
I love reading about running....The Long Run by Matt Long is absolutely amazing and heartbreaking to read, and I recommend it to anyone that's going through PT for an injury ;)  It gives you a lot of perspective and I think it really motivates you to just enjoy a run.

4. What is the most interesting place you've ever been?
When I went to London & Paris in October 2009, I had an 8 hour layover in Iceland. Rather than sit in the airport, my friend and I took a cab into Reykjavik. During the short time period that we had to run around, we walked along the water, visited the Blue Lagoon, and went into Hallgrimskirkja. 


The Blue Lagoon was really crazy to see how blue the water was....and to smell all of the sulfur. Hallgrimskirkja was unfortunately under construction when we were there, so we didnt get to see the full beauty of it....but what we did see was breathtaking. I have friends that honeymooned there after the volcano erupted, and they loved their trip as well. I would love to go back there again for longer!

5. Who is your best friend?
Probably Dana and Nathaniel from college. Dana and I met in the line at the cafeteria with some mutual friends....when one of the Michiganders commented on "pop", Dana and I both exclaimed  "Its SODA!" at the same time. Nathaniel and I dated for a year in college, and he's always been able to read me like a book/ figure out I'm thinking....it's kinda scary really.

6. How did you come to live in the place where you currently live?
I moved out to Seattle,WA when I took my job offer....it was the first place I got that wasn't in Wichita, KS and I really didn't want to go back to Wichita after interning there the summer before. 

7. Describe one of your mid-range (next 5 years or so) goals.
I want to improve my marathon times and eventually qualify for Boston. I'm not sure if I'll ever be fast enough to...but I want to work toward it and at least get close to it. Apart from that, I want to get my student loans paid off and buy a house.

8. If you could fill a swimming pool with anything, what would it be and why?
M&Ms....I love M&Ms. But, not the peanut butter ones. I will eat every type of M&M except for peanut butter...I'm not a huge peanut butter fan. 

9. What do you do on a typical Friday night?
Typically, I go and do a good workout then I either meet up with friends to hang out or watch a movie/catch up on tv shows/ read. I usually do my long run Saturday mornings, so I try to make sure I'm as rested as I can for it.

10. What was your favorite subject in school? Do you still "use" it?
I've taken physiology two times now (one in college, one as a grad student) and anatomy (grad student). I absolutely adore both, and would take them over and over again if I could. I don't get to use either of them in my job,  but I do use them constantly while I'm doing activities and I try to pay attention to aspects of them in my every day life. I also read constantly about them. :)

11. And, because Jill asked it and I liked it, If you had the chance to implement one change in America what would it be?
I can think of several, but I think quite a few could be summarized into one: re-evaluating the role technology has in our lives. Over the last 13 or so years, it's gone from computer class being a big deal to now everyone's expected to have a computer, a cell phone, some video gaming system, etc. It's increasingly harder to separate yourself from technology and in my opinion, it seems that many things in our society have suffered from the influence of technology.  While technology has done and continues to do amazing things,I think it would benefit everyone to consider how it is to be without it vs with it for a few days.

As for tagging...I don't have eleven people that I can tag....so I'm just going to tag Heather!

Here are my eleven questions:

1. What scares you the most about the Seattle to Portland event?
2. What's your favorite food?
3. What is your favorite movie?
4. If you were stuck on an island, what 3 books would you take with you?
5. What saying motivates you the most?
6. What's your favorite song?
7. If you could fill a swimming pool with anything, what would it be and why?
9. What's your biggest pet peeve?
10. What is one goal that you have that scares you?
11. And, because George asked it and I liked it, If you had the chance to implement one change in America what would it be?

Choo Choo

Yep....I'm getting back into the swing of things after the last 2 weeks where I missed tons of workouts!

Friday = PB....was a brutal first day back and I was definitely regretting missing so many classes.
Saturday= PB....better than Friday's class by far.
Sunday= 2 PBs.....Ouch! Was definitely sore, especially in my arms.
Monday= PB.....Didn't have my regular instructor, but was definitely a good class.
Tuesday = PB, then indoor soccer....The thigh workout this time was pretty rough. Brand new moves and everything was burning- yay! But it made for some soreness during soccer.

Rocky-ness

The last 2 weeks of training haven't been going too well...work interfered a lot with my schedule. In fact, the only workouts I've gotten in have been soccer. :/

I've been able to start getting back on track again this weekend, just am still behind on my schedule.

Friday: PB
Saturday: PB
Sunday: 2 classes of PB

And onto this week's workout plans:

Monday: PB
Tuesday:  60 min run/ indoor soccer
Wednesday: 40 min CT (bike ride) and PB
Thursday: 60 min run
Friday: PB
Sat: 90 min run and PB

Happy Valentines!

Nothing much to say today apart from Happy Valentines!

Off to a good start!

I got in a bunch of good workouts this weekend, so I feel like I'm off to a good start on my training! 

Friday: Pure Barre

Saturday: Love Em or Leave Em 5K--> missed my November 5K time by 7 seconds

Sunday: Pure Barre 

You'll wind up seeing the words Pure Barre or PB in my blog a lot...I'm kind of addicted to it! I started doing it in October because my physical therapist (bad knee injury) told me that my abs needed to get stronger and that I needed to figure out how to engage my glutes/ abs/ hamstrings more effectively. Currently, I'm doing a 50 classes in 60 days challenge. I have until middle of March to get them all in....I'm now at class # 17!

 I'm now about 4 minutes off my 5K times from before getting hurt...I should definitely continue getting closer to that as I run more and more :)

The training schedule ahead for this week:


Monday 2/13: PB (check!- # 17)

Tuesday 2/14: PB and a 50 minute run

Wednesday 2/15:  PB and a 10 mile bike ride

Thursday 2/16: Outdoor soccer and 50 minute run

Friday 2/17:  PB

Saturday 2/18: 80 min run, PB, and 10 mile bike ride

Sunday 2/19: PB and 20 mile bike ride

My main concern is getting in the long run and the bike ride on Saturday...I'll have to experiment with timing. It does definitely make me a little nervous, but I know I'll get them in somehow.

Starting Out

I decided to start a blog to help with keeping track of my training endeavours & recipes... so here goes nothing!

The title of my blog comes from one of my favorite Quotable Card Magnets:

 I keep this magnet at my desk at work to remind myself to take challenges and not be afraid of trying new things. My current challenges:

•  Eugene Marathon - April 29th
• Completing the Seattle to Portland (STP) bike ride...204 miles over one weekend (July 14/15) 
• Improving my 5K, half, and full marathon times this year
• Doing my second sprint triathlon 
• Getting back in shape and improving my knee strength 

I'm going to try and post at least once a week with how the training is going....maybe more.

Anyways- Welcome!