Monthly Archives: February 2014

Shoes, Races & Jazzercise

Jazzercise, Running, , , , ,

Happy Tuesday! It’s a sunshiny day here in SGF, and I’m loving it! Our 7 day forecast is also showing highs in the upper-50’s, so that makes me extra happy. Fifty degrees + lots of sunshine = clear sidewalks for me to run on. Yay!

New Shoes

Last night when I got home, I had a special delivery waiting for me on my doorstep!

IMG_3267My shoes had arrived from Zappos!! I of course immediately ripped open the box to dig out my new running shoes. And they were so pretty – just as I had imagined.

IMG_3270I decided to go with the Mizuno Wave Rider 16 running shoes in this pretty rose color. It’s not quite red and not quite pink. I kinda like it!

IMG_3271Bonus points to the first person to spot the doggie in this picture!

IMG_3272HA! Mac is always so curious.

Since I was subbing 6:45 Jazzercise last night, I decided I would try out these shoes on the dance floor first since my next couple of runs are bound to be a little slushy and salty still from the melting snow. I’m definitely not taking my brand new shoes out until the streets have dried up completely!

I’m happy to report that they fit great and felt extra light and springy while I taught class last night. They offer lots of arch support and had a lot of extra room in the toe bed. This isn’t necessarily ideal for Jazzercise shoes, but it’s perfect for shoes that I will most likely be wearing in my upcoming races. My toes will appreciate the extra space and the mesh venting across the top during the 26.2! So far, I give them 2 thumbs up!

And speaking of upcoming races, I got a little trigger happy and registered for another race last night.

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The Go! St. Louis Marathon Weekend will take place on April 6, and I’m pretty darn excited to be a part of it! They say that thousand and thousands of people come out to race this event, so it’s going to be an awesome experience. Plus, since it is 1 month after my first marathon in Little Rock, this marathon will be one of two things. Either it will be a race to redeem myself and do better if I totally bonk during the Little Rock race, OR it will be a chance for me to set a new marathon PR. Either way, I’m excited that this highly-recommended event is close to home and timed just far enough apart from Little Rock to make it doable! I’ll have a few weeks to let my body forget about the pain before I do it all over again. 🙂

Jazzercise Marathon

This week, I’ve got a different type of marathon going on though. By the time this upcoming Saturday rolls around, I will have taught 9 classes since Sunday morning. Holy cow, I’m tired just thinking about it. At least my week is front-heavy (teaching doubles Monday-Wednesday) so by the time Valentine’s Day rolls around, I will only have 1 class and it should feel like a breeze to be done and home at 7 pm! After I get my Saturday morning run in, I’m going to collapse on the couch for a much deserved nap. Whew!  On a positive note, all of these classes gives me more chances to wear my new tennies and get them broken in faster. 🙂

Well I’m off to change up my song set for this evening. I need some fresh tunes! I hope you have a wonderful evening – see ya later!

Snow and Caffeine

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, , , , , ,

Happy Monday! I hope you all had great weekends and were ready for the awesome Monday morning commute today in the mini-blizzard that mother nature decided to drop on us…sighhhhh. Luckily, the snow didn’t mess up my day in anyway, so I’m not that angry about it. I still made it to Jazzercise this morning at 5:30 (after some slipping and sliding). And I had one brave student come workout with me!

IMG_3264I stood inside the door of the center watching it pour snow outside. I was pretty sure no one was going to come, so when that one brave soul pulled into the parking lot, I was ecstatic.

We had a quick and fun class followed by me frantically driving home to get ready for work and on the road before the mad rush happened during the bad weather. I beat most of the traffic and made it to work in one piece despite the 1.5 inches of snow on the road. Luckily, the sun also decided to come out mid-morning so the roads were clear and dry for my trip home for lunch. So it’s been a good snow day. Weird, right? I haven’t really had a good snow day all winter. Hopefully this is a sign that winter is on it’s way out soon!

Since I was rushing around to beat morning rush hour, I didn’t have time for my normal coffee at home while I was getting ready. So once I got to work I downed my mug of coffee (holds about 3.5 cups) and was needing more to fight off a small headache. I borrowed some Dunkin Donuts original blend and used the fancy Keurig machine in our breakroom. That was some of the strongest and most delicious coffee I’ve had in a long time!

0088133400046_500X500So I had about 7 whole cups of coffee before 11 a.m. I was basically vibrating from all the caffeine. I couldn’t sit still, and I was so happy and optimistic that my coworkers were ready to kill me. It was a good morning to say the least, but now I’m coming down hard. Nap time, anyone?!

Lunch

Lunch was quick and easy today since I made my awesome chili in the Crockpot yesterday. Leftover chili on a snow day was the perfect comfort food.

IMG_3265But now my leftovers are almost gone. I need to make a bigger batch next time!

And now I’m pondering Valentine’s Day since it’s this Friday. I’m already craving chocolate like the cocoa bean is going extinct. It’s bad. Nick and I almost through an entire bag of mini Reese’s Peanut Butter hearts yesterday. That along with the donuts was just about more sugar than I should need in a whole week.

IMG_3266So maybe I’ll luck out and just get flowers. Flowers are pretty and smell good and they don’t cause tons of guilt from eating too many of them. 🙂 I want chocolate, but I really need flowers instead. HA! And now for a cute picture.

Valentine-Day-MemesAhhhhhh!! Puggy!! I love this for so many reasons. If Nick got me a pug for Valentine’s Day, I would forget all about the chocolate. Maybe….

Looking ahead through the week, I’m teaching a lot of Jazzercise and have a normal running schedule. I’m not in true taper mode yet for the Little Rock race, so I’ll still have my normal runs on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Can you believe I’m 20 days out from my first marathon??? I can’t even wrap my head around that one right now.

I’m subbing Jazzercise tonight, so it’s going to be a busy evening. I hope you guys have a great one!

Craving Donuts

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, Running, , , ,

Hey there! Hope you’re having a wonderful & relaxing Sunday! We’ve had a great weekend despite the sun refusing to shine. I’ve spent most of my time running, teaching Jazzercise, eating, and napping – some of my favorite things!

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Yesterday started bright and early with my second (and final!) 20-miler before the Little Rock marathon. The sidewalks were non-existent and the roads were still pretty icy and slick, so it was a bit of a stressful run. The winter has made me really dislike running on the roads with cranky drivers everywhere. I cannot wait for spring and clear sidewalks and trails!

This run went a lot better than last week’s 20 mile run, and that makes me hopeful that my endurance is improving and my body is ready for the 26.2. I had to take a potty break at mile 11 and this was my only real stop. I’m hoping this pit stop was brought on by the mid-teen temps and that I won’t have to be using any porta potties along the race course!

After this run, a bagel with jelly for a snack, and a hot shower, I had to meet the Jazzercise ladies for a meeting at London Calling. A lunch meeting here after one of my long runs was probably one of the best ideas ever!

We all placed our orders before we sat down for our business meeting on the double decker bus. I ordered the traditional pasty because it was dairy-free. But I was happy to find that it was delicious and decadent!!

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It was buttery and stuffed full of beef, potatoes, and onions. Yum!!

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I ate this pasty in about 2 minutes flat and dipped my leftover ‘crimp’ in some grape jelly. My post-run belly was SO happy! And I even took one home for Nick after our meeting because I’m the sweetest girlfriend ever. He loved it too. 😉

And now for Donuts!!

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I don’t know what it is, but I have been craving donuts ever since last night. After dinner I wanted a donut so bad, but the roads were getting icy and we didn’t want to spend anymore time out before heading home. I had an apple to satisfy my sweet tooth, but it didn’t work too well. I went to bed still thinking about donuts and even woke up this morning still craving donuts!!

On a side note, donuts are awesome but really aren’t my favorite sweet treat. I would rather have a giant cupcake or a hot chocolate chip cookie. So when I was craving them still this morning, I knew it was one of those cravings I would have to satisfy ASAP!

Hurts Donuts was the only donut shop open this afternoon, so Nick and I headed downtown to try out Springfield’s newest donut shop.

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I had this fluffy streusel donut because it was hot when we got there. 🙂 I’m a sucker for hot donuts! And Nick had the plain glazed donut. I also got a special Reese’s peanut butter cup donut to bring home for later.

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Both of them were amazing and disappeared in 30 seconds flat!

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Yum yum yum!! Mac was sad that mommy brought home a chocolate donut that he couldn’t have.

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He was so cute that I’ll have to remember to being him a bite of a plain glazed donut next time!

Hurts was a really cute little shop with a great variety of donuts. They had one covered in Oreos and another covered in Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. This place might convert me into a donut-loving fool! No they aren’t healthy, but a donut a month won’t hurt anything. 🙂 If you’re in downtown Springfield soon, you should stop by for dessert. They are open 24 hours!

Tonight we are just relaxing and finishing up some things around the house. I have some of my famous chili in the Crockpot that we’ll be digging into soon. I can’t wait! Have a good night and I will see you all tomorrow!!