Looking back.

Without my husband coming to meet me yesterday, I would not have gone running, but he did so I did. We got in almost 3 miles, making the week total so far about 7. My week's total will be at least 20 after I run 13.1 tomorrow. Aaaah! I'm a bit nervous for some reason! I bought some Gu energy gel from Academy the other night, and I tried Clif energy gel before our 4.3 mile run Wednesday. It was kind of gross, the consistency, but I do feel like it gave me energy to run when I had been so tired after a long day of work. I will take a Gu before the run and then carry two with me for the duration. I will be drinking Powerade or water every 3 miles or so.

Tonight my husband and I are going to eat at a burrito place with our Bible study, so I will try to load up on the veggies and get some carbs in. I am looking forward to having this run tomorrow over with! Then it's taper taper until the race. I'm so glad that I was able to up my mileage over the last month -- it feels great to look back and see what I've accomplished.

Before I started running last May, I'd never run regularly with the exception of Summer 2005 when my then-boyfriend (now husband) and I started running in the mornings at a park near our college campus. I never was sure of our distance, but I believe I got up to around 3 miles. When the summer ended, so did the running, and I never fully embraced it so I didn't miss it. I had been a walker for a long time, starting in high school probably, and continuing sporadically in college, but I never envisioned becoming a runner. Now in the last 8 months, I've gone from not being able to run a mile without stopping to being able to run 12 miles, and I went from never having completed a race since the age of about 8 (in a fun run) to doing three races within a month and a half of each other.

Now I am about 2 weeks away from a half-marathon - I can't believe it!

I only wish I had started running sooner.

Willpower.

My bank has put me through the ringer today, and it has left me just feeling defeated and wanting nothing more than to go straight home after work and crawl in bed. In fact, it's got me wanting to leave work early and do that!

But I need to run today, and while everything in my mind says, "No, I don't want to run!" I know that I need to. Yesterday something happened right before I met my husband to run that made me feel so down, so mentally unprepared to go for a run, and yet I had to do it because I had my husband waiting on me. I ran 4.2 miles and by the last mile and a half felt much better. I think running is therapeutic and it's something that right now, I really need to be committed to, with this half-marathon coming up.

Speaking of which, I will run 13.1+ on Saturday and then I am done with these long runs until race day. We have a 10K a week prior, so next week I will focus on doing about 4-6 mile runs and then race day is on Saturday, what previously had been my long-run day. I am going to take it relatively easy in the week leading up to the half, doing short runs and yoga/pilates stuff.

It's days like these I really do need that running/accountability partner to force me to go running, because if left up to me, I will be heading straight home at 5:30 and immediately get into rest mode.

Latest purchase.

 

Through Thick and Thin Sandals

Sluggish Monday.

There is something about Monday that just makes me feel sluggish. I usually get to work around 8, but didn't make it in until 8:30 (as long as I'm there by 9 and work 8 hours, my boss is OK with me coming in at varying times).

I love this new iced coffee kick I am on because it means my coffee is already made and waiting for me in the fridge in the mornings. So much better than having to brew some up bleary-eyed when I'm still half-asleep.

My menu for today is pretty much set out:

Breakfast = Van's belgian waffle with light butter and syrup; one medium tangelo

Lunch = Lean Pocket and spinach/tomato/cucumber salad

Snacks = Kashi bar, light salt + vinegar chips, almonds

Dinner = Low-calorie stir-fried shrimp

I ran 12 miles yesterday, and I made sure to look up the total KM equivalent so as not to sell the run short like last time. Here were my stats:

Duration: 2 hours, 9 minutes, 50 seconds

Distance: 19.41 km

Average speed: 9.0 kph

Average pace: 6:41 min/km

Calories burned: 1074

Max speed: 16.3 kph

My running plan for this week:

Tuesday - 4 miles
Thursday -6 miles
Saturday - 13 miles

Yes, I am tackling the half-marathon distance on my own finally, and then after that I'm going to just do shorter runs until the race on Feb. 13

I am doing a 10K with my husband on Feb. 5, which will be my first race of that distance. My goal is to finish it in 1 hour. I did a 5-miler in November which I finished in 48 minutes. I hope I can do 6.2 in just 12 minutes more.

As for shopping, not much of that going on lately. We're in a little period where we are having to pay big bills all within weeks of each other, so my recent income has been going toward that, plus the additional race registration costs. It should stabilize after Feb. 1, and I'll be able to indulge a little more in that area. :) I still have my $25 Anthropologie gift card and I am patiently waiting to see what item I will use it towards.

Officially Signed Up!

It is only three weeks away, but today I officially signed up for the Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans! I had been thinking about doing it since October, but never fully committed to it mentally, and then in December after watching the documentary, "The Spirit of the Marathon," on Hulu, it really inspired me to commit to this half-marathon and just go for it.

I had to wait until I recuperated from Christmas spending to afford the $105 registration fee (as well as paying rent and car insurance for the next 6 months), so I waited until this pay day today, and registered as soon as I got up.

I am running it with a friend and am sooooo excited. My husband is going to come be a spectator, seeing us off at the starting line and then taking a shuttle to the finish line to wait for us. The Rock 'n' Roll series is a popular, fun race that will provide entertainment on the course and entertainment at the finish line.

I plan to run 12 miles on Sunday, 13 miles next Saturday (with short runs mixed in the days between), and then I'm doing a 10K the week before the half-marathon and will do some short runs the Monday-Tuesday before the Sunday race. Then I will take a break from running the rest of the week and just do some yoga and pilates.

The next thing on my list is to make a half-marathon playlist for my iPod and plan where we're going to eat afterward! I hope I will still have an appetite when the race is over!

Gift Card Spending

My mother-in-law has given me a White House Black Market gift card for Christmas the past four years or so. It is always really hard for me to find something at WHBM because their stuff is just a bit too dressy for my workplace. I usually end up getting a purse or simple earrings, and I opted for the former this time around as well.

 

Dynasty Croco Purse

I have actually had bad luck with WHBM purses - the first purse I bought from them had these flaps on each side, and one of the flaps tore off after about a month. I was able to affix the flap back on and it looked OK, but that was annoying. It was REALLY annoying when the second purse I got from them, a cute black/white checkered hobo bag, ended up having a defective zipper which broke after about 2 months of use. If something goes wrong with this purse, I will probably make a  complaint to WHBM and never buy a purse from them again. One time could be a fluke. Two times is concerning. A third time? Heck no.

Food (and drink) to look forward to.

In the past two days I've discovered two little snacks that I know from now on I will be excited to have!

I picked up 2 little containers of Dannon's Greek yogurt with honey on the bottom, and yesterday after coming home from work early, I dumped one in a bowl with some Bear Naked vanilla almond crunch granola, frozen strawberries, and banana slices, and it was AWESOME. I think next time I'll forgo the frozen strawberries, as they didn't seem to mesh well with everything else. But this was sooooo good. 140 calories for the yogurt container.

Then, I looked up tips on making good iced coffee, tried it this morning, and it too was AWESOME. You need to brew a strong pot of coffee at night, then pour into a pitcher and mix in the sugar (Splenda in my case) while it's still hot. Then cool the pitcher in the fridge over night. This morning I added some almond milk to the coffee and then poured it over ice in my coffee thermos. It was really good! The biggest thing is to cool the coffee in the fridge first, because otherwise it would melt the ice quickly and water down your drink. Putting in the sugar while the coffee is still hot is also a key, because as we all know sugar doesn't really dissolve in cold water (which is why I don't get my husband ordering iced tea at restaurants and then pouring in sugar packets into. You also get gritty sugar when you drink and to me, it's gross!)

I did not run Tuesday OR Wednesday for two different reasons - Tuesday it was raining, so I went home and did Kenpo X (of p90X). It's about an hour of kickboxing-like workouts. Yesterday was the first day of  my Monthly Gift, and the first day is always rough on me. I came home and took some medicine for a headache, and after dinner I felt OK enough to do my Bikini Ready Workout.

There is rain in the forecast today, but I MUST RUN. I get frustrated having gone this long without running. If it's raining when I get off of work today, I might cry. The forecast says it will be, but sometimes the forecast is wrong. Fingers crossed. Days like this, I wish I had a treadmill or belonged to a gym.

My Long Run and Menu for the Week

This past Saturday was the third Saturday in a row that I set out to run the longest distance I've ever run.

Two weeks ago, I ran 15k or 9.3 miles, then last Saturday, I ran 10.2 miles, and my goal this past Saturday was 11 miles. I use an application on my BlackBerry to track my distance, and unfortunately it only offers distance in km. I should have figured out how many km = 11 miles before I left, alas, I did not. I figured that since 10.2 miles was about 16 km, that 17.5 km should be 11 miles.

Obviously I don't know enough about km and miles. I ran 17.5 km and returned to my car in triumph. When I looked up the distance to see exactly how many miles it was, I was so mad - 10.89 miles. Not 11 miles. I beat my longest distance, but did not reach my goal. I learned a nice little lesson, and I can't wait to get a Garmin which will measure my distance in MILES.

Here were my stats:

Distance: 17.52 km

Duration: 1 hour, 53 minutes, 2 seconds

Average speed: 9.3 kph

Max speed: 14.9 kph

Average pace: 6:27 min/km

Calories burned: 956


Today after work I plan to run about 4.2 miles and then I'm going to the store to stock up for the week. I gained about 2 pounds over the last week because I've been eating:

1) fast food
2) lots of king cake
3) ice cream
4) pizza

So who can be surprised by weight gain after a week of that? I'm getting back on track now, as I want to lose about 6 pounds to be at my ideal weight.

On the grocery list for snacks:
apples
grapes
cherries
almonds
dill pickles
Greek yogurt and granola

Dinner Menu for the rest of this week:

Tuesday: Parmesan chicken pasta with rosemary
Wednesday: Gardenburgers (portabella) with sweet potato fries
Thursday: Stir-fried shrimp
Friday: Date night/eating out -- I will get a salad


My running and workout plan this week:

Tuesday: 4 miles and Bikini Ready Workout
Wednesday: 3 miles
Thursday: 2 miles and Bikini Ready Workout
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Bikini Ready Workout
Sunday: I have a birthday party to go to at 11:30 a.m. an hour away from home, and since I normally run my long run in the morning, I am thinking of moving my long run to Sunday. I want to run 11 to 11.75 miles.

The brouhaha over Ricky Gervais.

Ricky Gervais is hilarious. For some reason, Hollywood decided to take itself way too seriously this weekend and absolutely freak out over some jokes he made as host of the Golden Globes. These millionaires/billionaires gasped when he made a veiled joke about Tom Cruise/John Travolta possibly being gay, as if they've never heard it before. I've read in several articles that one of the people he "attacked" was Angelina Jolie - the only joke I've heard relating to her was about "The Tourist" being a bomb, and if that's all he said, isn't it an "attack" on Johnny Depp too? It's not like he called her out as a homewrecker. Which would just be stating the truth. What he said about "The Tourist" was true too. 

 

He might have a crossed a line by making a joke about Robert Downey Jr's checkered past, since Downey is recovered and probably doesn't find that period of his life to be very funny. But did I mind Gervais calling out Charlie Sheen? Absolutely not. Sheen has displayed some disgusting behavior as of late, and yet his network sticks behind him and his lame show.

 

The show just so happened to garner higher ratings than last year, but I'm sure next year they'll have some unfunny, mild person host for the sake of pleasing the rich and famous attendees. You do what you have to do, I guess. Doesn't mean I have to watch it.

The joys of marriage.

My husband and I are usually not up at the same time in the morning. The way his classes fall, he's either out the door before I wake up, or I'm on my way to work before he gets up. Today was one of the rare mornings when we're up and getting ready at the same time, and boy, was I in for a treat. I wanted a kiss goodbye since I was leaving about 10 minutes before him, and he informed me that he hadn't brushed his teeth yet right before trying to french kiss me. He did it to gross me out, which worked, but it made me laugh, and wish we had more mornings together. We are both interesting when we're tired.

This week has been one big running fail. I didn't run yesterday after work because I felt like my head was going to explode, it hurt so bad. I'm not running today because my long run is tomorrow, and I feel like I shouldn't do anything running-related the day before those. Tomorrow will be interesting, but I'm aiming for 11 miles.

Dress standards and running in cold weather

I'd say for most people, there are certain basic standards which your clothing must meet. For example, you usually don't want your dress to be see-through. Am I right?

Forever 21 apparently doesn't hold this standard up extremely high, which I found out when I received the above dress in the mail. I LOVE the dress... it's simple, easy to accessorize, just long enough for work, BUT... completely see-through. I am wearing it today with a brown camisole underneath and brown tights, but I want to wear it in the spring and summer and tights are not going to fly here with the heat we get.

Thankfully, there is an easy solution, and that is to buy a simple brown or cream slip/chemise to wear underneath. I might even get one that is suitable to peek out from the bottom, to make the length of my dress appear even longer. But it sure would be nice if the dress came with some kind of lining so this wasn't a problem! Oh Forever 21. How you tease me. I guess that's the price you pay for a cute $20 dress.

I think this week has brought us the coldest temperatures of the winter thus far. Holy Mother. It is freaking cold, and windy on top of that, and I absolutely have zero desire to run in it. Which might explain why yesterday, Wednesday, was the first day I even attempted to run since Saturday, the day I ran my longest distance ever: 10.2 miles. I managed 2 miles yesterday before giving in. I am going to attempt to run again today, this time with gloves and a beanie to cover my poor ears. It's just so hard sometimes to get motivated for a run mentally, and the cold does not help. With the half-marathon exactly one month from today, I know I must overcome this mental block and run my little heart out anyway. I have a checklist of things I want to get related to my running:

• Fuel belt
• Gu
• Spibelt
• Garmin Forerunner 305

I currently use an application on my BlackBerry called "runtastic" to track my runs, but I'd really prefer to get the Garmin Forerunner, which my husband has promised to get me for Valentine's Day (but before the half-marathon :)

I also have the Camelbak Delaney pack, but I rarely use it to hold a water bottle because the pack bounces too much. I mainly use it for the pocket which holds my phone and keys. I'd like to get the Spibelt which seems lighter, with the Fuel belt on the side for longer runs.

Let's Talk Anthro.

Anthropologie is many things to many people. I've read that their target demographic is 30-45-year-old women with an annual household income of $150,000-$200,000. But what I see around the blog world is that many women outside of those particular lines LOVE Anthropologie. Even so, the price points at Anthro aren't going to change dramatically just because an unintended audience became loyal customers. A dress will start at $150+ and that's just the way it is. The beauty of Anthropologie is the sale-watching and the great deals you can sometimes find. I've never seen anything like it before - until I discovered the Anthropologie blogging community.

Because I'm your typical 25-year-old who makes considerably less than the above standard in household income (and am putting my husband through law school, so that annual income consists of one salary - mine), my relationship with Anthro is fragile and sometimes tenuous. The only thing I've ever been able to buy full price was a pair of tights ($12.50). But I find a way to make this little relationship work.

Since yesterday was Sale Day, I looked through my wish lists, hoping for some reasonable prices on any of my favorite items. I have some standards that won't be compromised - I won't pay more than $30 for a shirt. I'll spend the most on shoes, but I rarely ever visit the Bags page because the bags just never get down to what I'm willing to pay for one. I like to stay below $50 for skirts and dresses, which means I miss out on a lot of pieces I'd love to have that never get below that price.

Being much poorer than the target demographic at Anthropologie means there are a lot of things I just can't afford there. But when I am able to get something I love, at a price comfortable for me, this relationship is worth that.

My sale pick-ups yesterday:

 Fancified Boatneck in lilac, $29.95

Tweed Magnificent Sash, $19.95 (no longer listed on web site but popped back in my wish list)

Shop, Run, Rest...

It is interesting to look over the past year of my life and see how I have changed. A year ago I was not a runner. Presently I'm training for a half-marathon. A year ago I didn't put much thought into what I wore to work or adding color to my bland black and gray ensembles. Today I'm wearing mustard-colored shoes.

These two things are somewhat intertwined. Part of the reason I didn't much care to put effort into my appearance was because I didn't feel confident with the way I looked. I was highly sedentary, ate bad food most of the time, and how I felt about myself was reflected in my appearance. I started running to shed the extra pounds I'd put on since getting married, and with running (and learning to eat better) came not only weight loss, but a sense of self. Confidence. Sort of "finding myself."

Clothes and appearances don't matter in the long run, but how you feel about yourself does matter. I feel good about myself not because of what I wear; but what I wear reflects how good I feel about myself.

There are so many times I want to post a link of something cute I want to buy or just bought, or talk someone's ear off about my latest run. While I do have some good friends and a husband who don't mind hearing about these pieces of news, I'm sure they don't want every.single.detail. That's where this blog comes in.

I'm not sure if anyone will ever read this regularly, but I'm a writer and while my current job doesn't provide many opportunities to get creative with my writing, this will!

Race Results

Crescent City Fall Classic 5K - 11/6/10
32:03

Goldenfliers 5-Miler - 11/27/10
48:27

Old Man River 5K - 12/19/10
27:50 (4th age group)

Mardi Gras Mambo 10K - 2/5/11
57:33

Rock 'n Roll Mardi Gras 1/2 Marathon - 2/13/11
2:18:47

Race for the Cure 5K - 2/19/11
26:33 (6th age group)

Hammond Rotary 10K - 3/12/11
53:19 (4th age group)

Race Judicata - 3/23/11
34:06 (4.2 miles)
Overall female winner

Rock 'n Roll Dallas 1/2 Marathon - 3/27/2011
2:07:33