Tag Archives: 10K

So You’re Going to Purchase Some Running Shoes

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

Happy Tuesday to ya! It’s been a beautiful day so far here in  417-land. (Springfield’s area code for those not from the Ozarks!) I’ve been busily working all morning and thoroughly enjoying seeing the awesome 70-degree weather out my window. Plus, being busy makes the time past faster. Woohoo it’s already lunch time! But let’s back up to last night.

Dinner

My dinner last night was not for the weak of stomach. I crave the weirdest things after working out. And yesterday at 8 PM when I got home from my 3rd Jazzercise class of the day, I was ready for some randomness for dinner…

I quickly ate some yogurt before hopping in the shower. I had some vanilla Greek yogurt, and obviously inhaled it too fast to even snap a photo…oops. Post shower, I reheated some corn/pepper mix from Sunday night’s dinner to get some veggies in my belly.

photo(92)This corn was a Green Giant Steamer mix, and OMG it is amazing. I never splurge on the steamer bags of veggies, but I had a coupon to use over the weekend. I will definitely be purchasing again! It had a light sauce on it that was a little sweet and spicy.

Once I downed the veggies, it was onto some more substantial protein. Here’s where the weirdness happened.

photo(94)For this gross appetizing mix, I added 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese, 1 single serve packet of tuna, and some sweet & spicy mustard. It was amazing basically to my grumbly tummy. I ate half of it in a low-carb tortilla, and the other half I just ate straight out the bowl. Nick said it looked sick; I think it was awesome. But hey, I’m easy to please after 3 hours of cardio!

Morning Run

After dinner, I basically fell asleep by around 9:30 because my body was so exhausted. But I slept hard and woke up bright and early and ready to run! The weather was cool and it had just stopped raining as I headed out the door. I started off pretty slow but I felt amazing, like I could run for hours and hours. By the time I hit mile 2, I was not feeling so hot. The last 3 miles were a struggle. I guess some runs will just be easier than others! I made it to 5.4 miles in around 48 minutes before I headed home to shower and get ready for my day. Not my best time, but it’s better than no run at all.

My 10K countdown is at 18 days, so even these not-so-thrilling runs are at least keeping me on track to do well on race day. I’m already getting excited to see how well I can do the morning of the Sunshine Run!

Breakfast

Breakfast was quickly thrown into my purse like every other morning as I rushed out the door for work.

photo(93)Lotsa coffee, oats, and protein. YUM. And don’t forget all my vitamins in the tiny orange Tupperware container in the background. I always choke those down after my food has been inhaled. I also had a banana mid-morning to stave off some lingering hunger pains. I swear I eat more now after I’ve started running regularly than ever before! I can only imagine the meals that marathon runners eat. 🙂

New Running Shoes

And speaking of hardcore runners, I have officially declared myself a ‘real’ runner since I’ve been training for my 10K. And real runners need real running shoes. I’m currently running in some older Rykas that I bought for Jazzercise but decided I didn’t like to teach in them very much. Probably because they are actually made for running and not aerobic exercise.

This morning after my run, I noticed my feet were extra tired and my toenails were getting sore. TMI, maybe, but it really made me realize that I needed to invest in some good shoes. I immediately started researching and ordered these babies this morning…

photo(4)They are the Brooks Ravenna 4. I’ve never even heard of Brooks before but they had great reviews! I ordered through Zappos so I can return for free if I don’t like them. I can’t wait to try them out asap! Any Brooks fans out there?? This is all new to me, so the learning process regarding running has definitely begun. I’ll keep you updated when the arrive! I hope I love them so I can have them nice and broken in for the 10. Fingers crossed!

Have a great Tuesday, everyone. I’ll catch ya this evening!

Mac & Cheese Long Run

Food for Thought, Workouts, , , ,

Happy Saturday morning to ya! Hope you had a great start to your weekend last night. Mac and I hit the sack early and slept for a little more than 8 hours! It’s so nice to wake up without an alarm.

We rolled out of bed at 7 AM feeling refreshed and ready to hit the pavement. I checked the weather to find that is was 48 degrees outside! Nippy!! I pulled on some running tights and  a long-sleeve Lululemon top that I bought just for mornings like this and set off to accomplish something I’ve never done before: 6.2 miles.

Obviously Mac had to sit this one out. Like I’ve mentioned in the past, anything over 1.5 miles makes his ‘tiny dog syndrome’ kick in, and I have to drag and/or carry him the rest of the way if I want to keep running.

The run was fairly easy for me today, and my running pace was immediately faster than normal. I’m going to chalk this up to the cooler temps.

photo(76)I made it in record time! Well, according to my records at least. 🙂 It felt great to run that final stretch down my street and have my Runkeeper app tell me I was over my goal of 6.2 miles. I’m so ready for my 10K on October 12th! I was most worried about making the distance without stopping, but now that I know I can do it, I only need to focus on maintaining my endurance and possibly increasing my time.

So you’re wondering why I called this post the Mac & Cheese Long Run? Well because it was exactly that…

Kraft Factory
Kraft Factory

This is the Kraft Factory that I run by each time I mention going on longer runs. Yes, Kraft as in the Macaroni and Cheese that we all know and love. Most days, the parking lot is full, and I can see smoke coming out of those pipes. But today was slightly different. I got right next to the building (on the sidewalk of course), and I could smell Kraft’s macaroni and cheese just like there was a big bowl sitting right in front of my face!

kraft mac cheese blue boxUmm YUM!! I continued to smell the delicious cheesy stuff for about another mile. I even changed my breathing from my mouth to my nose (which I don’t like doing) so I could get a good whiff of it!

The craziest thing to me is how Kraft’s mac and cheese has such a distinct smell and taste compared to a homemade mac and cheese. It’s very distinguishable! And when you’re about 4 miles into your run, it makes it hard to focus when all you want is a big bowl of carbs to dig into. But I got quite a kick out of it. People driving by probably thought I was crazy as the whole thing had me laughing out loud at myself. So lesson learned: keep your nose ready for some cheesy goodness if you’re ever running down Bennett street in Springfield!

Breakfast

I made it home from my run and stretched well while sipping some water to rehydrate. I was then ready for coffee and FOOD! I brewed my Candy Corn flavored coffee this morning from Target and immediately poured myself a big mug full along with a splash of Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer. It hit the spot after being chilly during my run! I wanted the warmth to continue. So I toasted some bread while I microwaved 2 eggs with a splash of almond milk.

photo(72)A little raspberry jelly perfected this sandwich with the awesome combo of salty and sweet. My eggs got extra nice and poofy in the microwave making my sandwich extra filling!

photo(74)Mmmmmmmm eggy goodness. This hefty sandwich left me super satisfied, but I also had a small cup of Greek yogurt on the side for extra protein.

photo(73)And now I’m very full but still sipping on the coffee. I can’t get enough of the Fall-flavored coffees. But tomorrow is the FIRST DAY OF FALL!!! So my obsession is finally legitimate.

The rest of today will be spent teaching a Jazzercise class (yes, I’m crazy, I know) and doing some Fall decorating with a tiny and extremely whiny dog.

photo(75)For some reason, every time Nick leaves for a longer amount of time, Mac goes into this annoying & whiny mode until he returns. I may have to go to Hobby Lobby to A) Look at all the Fall decor that is 40% off today! and B) Get away from my annoying furry baby for a bit. I love him, but momma can only handle so much.

Have a great Saturday! Get out there and carve some pumpkins or something!

10K Official

Daily Life!, Food for Thought,

Well, it’s official folks. On October 12th, I’ll be running 6.2 miles!

photoOh man, oh man. I’m not sure if I should be excited or extremely scared! My longest outdoor run thus far has only been 4 miles. And it has left my hurt slightly sore this entire week. Training over the next month should be fun! 😛

I had actually shared with Nick that I was wanting to run a 10K, but I hadn’t found a local one to sign up for. Yesterday, his boss sent out information about this run benefiting a local hospital and several other organizations. We took it as a sign that this was the race where we should attempt the 10K! Nick and I both signed up today. And yes, we are both already nervous 🙂  But, in hindsight, it makes my 5K tomorrow evening seem like an easy practice run!

After work today, I quickly drove to downtown Springfield to pick up my race day packet for the Glow Run 5K! I picked up my glow gear and my hot pink neon glow run shirt and headed over to Salon Moda for a quick haircut.

photo(67)Whadaya think?? She cut off around 2 inches and lightened up my layers a little. I love my long hair and just needed a little refreshing! She also finished me off with some soft curls. I’m always amazed at how hairdressers make curling hair with a flat iron seem so easy! I cannot make my Chi straightener curl my hair the way Amanda can! I guess she’s just a miracle worker.

Dinner

Dinner was pretty easy tonight! We had some aging green peppers in the fridge that needed to be cooked or thrown out asap. So I chopped up those babies with a turkey sausage to saute for a bit with some simple seasonings (mostly salt, pepper, and minced onions). I also threw in some chopped celery and sugar snap peas for extra veggie power.

photo(66)I added a little water to keep the mixture from sticking and getting too dry. After around 10-12 on medium heat, the veggies and meat were perfectly tender and ready to go!

photo(65)Looks delicious, right?! It was super simple. I chose to have mine by itself, while Nick had a small baked potato on the side. He liked it a lot! And his potato helped cut down the salty kick…I may or may not have added a tad too much salt!

By the time we were done eating, it was already pitch black outside! And close to 65 degrees!! This meant I could put on my fleece pullover and still be cool for our evening walk. Nick, Mac, and I set out for a 30-minute walk to help settle our full tummies. All in all, it’s been a great and cozy Friday evening.

Hope you all are having a great start to the weekend. Tomorrow will include teaching Jazzercise at 8:15, then a few hours of rest before my race at 8 PM. Nighty night!