Small Changes – Week 2

October 16, 2013 by 5 Comments

table

It’s time for the One Small Change weekly link-up! Week 2 is done and I’m happy to say that I managed to keep my coffee table this clutter free all week! The trick was to do a quick “drive-by” every morning while I was grabbing my coffee. I also kept up week 1’s daily planks so I’m two for two on the small changes so far. (OK – in full disclosure, I did take race day off on the planks!)

So what’s up for week 3?

More of this

glass_water

 

I just don’t drink enough water so I’d like to get at least two more glasses in each day.

Are you making small changes?

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Filed Under: hydration, Small changes

Stay Ahead of Holiday Madness and a Giveaway

October 14, 2013 by 5 Comments

As I sit here recovering from Sunday’s race (recap coming soon), I’ve been sorting through the mail that seemed to grow over night that I let pile up this week and I cannot believe how many catalogs I have! Each one urging me to take advantage of their great sale, to not wait before that perfect holiday gift sells out! Seriously – it’s only mid October. Combine the catalog deluge with the four different notices my boys recently brought home announcing various school holiday activities/events and I can feel the first tinges of holiday madness starting to seep in.

And, before you think I’m jumping the gun on holiday panic – there are just  44 days until Hanukkah, 45 days until Thanksgiving and 72 days until Christmas. And, as my fellow moms know, keeping track of all of the school activities, family events and finding the perfect gift for each and everyone on our list can add quite a bit to an already packed to do list!

So how do you find/maintain some balance going into the holidays? Today I’m collaborating with a few other bloggers, sharing tips for maintaining health and fitness priorities when things get crazy. For me I find a couple of things are a must:

  • Keep moving — Commit to carving out time each day to move. Some days you may have time for your regular run, but other times you won’t so have some quick back-ups ready – like planks or a few sun salutes. And, remember every little bit counts so take the stairs when you can or park at the far end of the parking lot when you’re out shopping.
  • Take a moment to breathe — This time of year is when I pay special attention to not fall off the meditation bandwagon. If you don’t have a meditation practice, just taking a few times throughout the day to stop and breathe can help slow a mind overwhelmed by to do’s.
  • Get enough sleep — As hard as it may be, don’t sacrifice sleep in the name of getting more done. Try to maintain your normal bedtime – your mind and body will thank you.
  • Remember to eat — In your daily running around trying to cram in all that needs to get done, it is very easy to skip a meal for the sake of time. Don’t do it! Feed your body and feed it well. You’ll be less tempted to down that extra cookie and you’ll have the energy you need to get all of those “to do’s” done.
  • Treat yourself — One of my favorite things to do around the holidays is plan a get together with a friend or two where we grab coffee together and then go for a mani/pedi! It’s a great way to grab a little girl-time. Check out  Coupons.com for Spa Finder coupon codes good for big discounts on spa services and day spas.

How do you keep holiday madness in check?

Win it: One lucky reader will win a $100 eGift Card to Spa Finder.Com (This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only)

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A big thanks to Coupon.com for sponsoring this giveaway!

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Filed Under: giveaways, holiday sanity

Friday Five – Race Time and an Anniversary

October 11, 2013 by 6 Comments

Kurig

Coffee cup in hand and lots of thoughts swirling in my head….

1.  This has been such an odd race week. I have been icing, stretching and doing everything else I can think of to baby my right knee and foot. There are moments things feel pretty good and other times I cannot believe how much everything hurts!

2.  I’ve only run once  – a 4 mile fartlek yesterday. Some discomfort but no serious pain – I’m calling it a small victory.

3.  Originally the B.A.A. Half was going to be a goal race – I was hoping to go after a PR. Obviously, I’ve been rethinking that goal all week and trying to figure out what’s realistic. Still have no idea what time goal to aim for – looking forward to my call with Coach Bennett to see what he thinks.

4.  I am so excited for my running buddy E – this will be her first half! She’s trained so hard for this and I just know she’s going to do great! I can’t wait to see her cross the finish line!

5.  My hubs J gave me an amazing pep talk last night. His support always means so much to me. And, today is our 21st wedding anniversary!

 Are you racing this weekend?

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Filed Under: BAA, family support, Friday Five, race goals

Small Changes are Coming

October 8, 2013 by 6 Comments

 

smchange button

How many times have you declared a change/new habit you’d like to see in your life – you start out with a lofty promise/declaration and lots of motivation but over time for a whole host of reasons, some of those new habits just don’t stick? Sound familiar?

Last week Marcia from Marcia’s Healthy Slice announced a great challenge for the final three months of the year — to make one small change each week. The trick is to stick with whatever change you’ve made while adding a new change the following week. Love this idea! While I feel like I’ve been pretty good at tackling some of my bigger goals this year – I still find there are some nagging things that I just can’t seem to get a handle on…like the paper clutter that has taken over various parts of my house despite my best intentions!

For week 1, I decided to return to doing daily planks – that way I ensure that no matter what other exercise I may or may not do, I’ll get some core work every day. And I’m happy to say, that with the exception of Saturday when I took my big tumble, I got my planks done. For week 2, I’m going after some of that aforementioned paper clutter by trying to keep my coffee table clear and organized.

Marcia will be hosting a link-up every Tuesday…and there will even be prizes if you need a little extra push 🙂

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Filed Under: building good habits, Small changes

Race Week Focus

October 6, 2013 by 10 Comments

photo (16)I can already be pretty obsessive during race week…but now there’s this.

Yes that’s my right knee. I had just 3/4 of a mile to go in my long run on Saturday when my toe caught an uneven piece of sidewalk and before I knew I was air borne. I jammed my left shoulder and scraped my right elbow, but my right knee took the brunt of the fall. So I spent the rest of Saturday alternating between icing and hobbling around.

I’m happy to say that while still stiff and sore, I’ve got a lot more mobility today. I’m sure it will continue to loosen up as the week goes on (she says with fingers-crossed). I have just a couple of light runs planned for this week, and one run with a few miles at race pace – but, at this point the work is done.

My main focus this week will be to eat mindfully, get enough sleep and, yes baby the knee. (I will not obsess, I will not obsess, I will not obsess!)

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Filed Under: injuries, no excuses, race week

Runner’s World Cookbook Review

October 2, 2013 by 5 Comments

When I received a preview copy of the new Runner’s World Cookbook a couple of weeks ago, I was super excited! I love food and love to cook – so a cookbook dedicated to runners – um yeah that’s a no-brainer for me…sign me up!

Cookbook1

That philosophy – that you can eat well while fueling your body – is something we strive to bring to the pages of Runner’s World every month. Over the years, we’ve published hundreds of recipes that show you how to create nutrient-rich and satisfyingly delicious meals that you can cook for yourself, your family and your friends. Now we’ve compiled the very best of those recipes into one cookbook that you can turn to no matter what your needs.”
 — The Runner’s World Cookbook

The first thing that struck me as I took my first scan of the book, besides how visually appealing it was, is that I really think they deliver on the promise of offering something for everybody! The introduction “How to Eat Like a Runner” offers some helpful nutritional information on key staples, including  protein sources and healthy oil options.

The introduction also provides my favorite feature – the recipe key. Every recipe in the book is indexed by a color-coded key at the top of the page so you can quickly and easily identify if the recipe is best for pre-run or recovery, as well as if it’s vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free.

Contents pageThe 150 recipes are laid out over 10 chapters, covering everything from Breakfast to Snacks and Smoothies to Mains to Deserts. As you can see from all the little green tabs, I had no problem identifying a bunch of recipes I wanted to try 🙂

While I have not worked my way through all of those tabs yet, I can definitely say that what I have tried has been really flavorful!

Soup Collage

Spicy Sausage & Mushroom Soup

pear sandwich

Almond Butter & Pear Sandwich

peanutbutter balls

Frozen Peanut Butter Balls
(totally addictive!)

These are just a sampling of some of the recipes I’ve tried so far – I still need to work on my food photo skills – and in some cases I started eating before I remembered to take a picture 😉

Overall, in addition to being delicious, the recipes are really straightforward, easy to follow and quick to put together. So you can get a great meal and then either get on with your run or the rest of your day!

I’m really looking forward to trying more of the recipes. A huge thanks to the folks at Runner’s World for sending me a copy of the book to review!

The Runner’s World Cookbook is available for sale now. I received a complimentary copy to review, however all of the opinions expressed here are my own.

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Filed Under: Nutrition, product reviews, Runner's World

Monday Motivation – Desire

September 30, 2013 by 3 Comments

gibsons-daily-running-quotes

So true! Happy Running!

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Filed Under: Monday Motivation, Quotes

A little of this and that

September 27, 2013 by 2 Comments

Hello Friday!

Good grief what a week it’s been! My brain’s in a bit of a scramble as I wait for my coffee to kick in…it’s a bullet points kind of morning:

  • I have been flying solo this week as J’s been traveling for work and I just have to say that I am in awe of what single mothers pull off every single day!
  • It took until Wednesday for the effects of that bug/virus I had to finally be gone. Happy to finally be feeling like me again.
  • I did manage to get a couple of runs in this week – nothing too crazy, but after Saturday’s debacle it just felt good to run.
  • We’re three weeks into the school year and I’m already waving the white flag! Middle school homework is no joke – my oldest is already on his 5th test – seriously?
  • And, speaking of middle school, I’m off to watch my son play his first ever football game this afternoon! I’m a mix of nerves and excitement – I think I’d feel better if he could add a few inches and pounds before this afternoon 🙂

 

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Filed Under: general musings, randomness

Wicked Half Marathon Recap

September 25, 2013 by 7 Comments

countdown_wickedHalfOn Saturday I headed up to Salem for the Wicked Half Marathon. This race was to be a training run for me – a chance to make sure that the stomach issues which have plagued me during races this year were behind me and a chance to test my race pace.

Well nothing about this day went as planned.

Given the fact that I’m still sick a couple of days later,  I can now say that I was battling some kind of bug during the race. The wheels came off the wagon at mile 5 – for the first time ever in a race I made a porta potty stop and struggled to keep running/walking through mile 10. Just after the 10 mile marker I was only walking. My stomach was a nightmare – I was really nauseous and had the continual feeling that I was going to be sick. I seriously thought about packing it in and taking a DNF but what kept me going was my kids out along the course.

Boys at wickedSince the course was open to traffic, J and the boys were able to leap-frog me along the course, so I saw them multiples times. They cheered their hearts out and it really kept me going – the boys even came and ran along with me a little bit. I wanted them to know that even when things don’t go well that you don’t give up! So when I just didn’t think I could manage a shuffle any more, I walked.

I ended up connecting with a woman named Dawn whose ITB had her walking since mile 4! We stuck together and encouraged each other and the other “walking wounded” we encountered along the way.  As we passed the 12 mile marker, we talked about trying to run it in. Dawn really didn’t think that she could but she knew I really wanted to try (I just couldn’t bring myself to walk across the finish line!) so she encouraged me to give it a shot. I did and ran/shuffled to the finish. I waited for Dawn to cross the finish and we gave each other a big hug! Isn’t it amazng how quickly you can bond with another runner over the course of just a few miles?!

Best moment – my son telling me he was proud of me! Doesn’t get better than that!

Every race experience teaches you something about yourself right? So I take this experience and dig in for the next couple of weeks and get ready for the BAA Half.

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Filed Under: #13in2013, kids, lessons learned, race report, Wicked Half Marathon

A Day in the Life – Finding a New Normal

September 20, 2013 by 9 Comments

DayintheLifeI so enjoyed reading the different Day in the Life posts inspired by Jill & Angela – and since Jill said the link up was open for a few more days I thought I’d join in!

Since the school year started two weeks ago I must admit I’ve been struggling a bit to settle into a “typical” day and find a new routine.`Of late, most mornings the alarm goes off by 6 giving me a little time to meditate, become semi-coherent and then get my oldest up and moving for school.

Once I’m sure he’s up, I head downstairs to see my morning BFF Kurigas I continue to work on becoming coherent. I check email, do some blog reading, prep breakfast for my son and lunch for my youngest. I chat with my son about his upcoming day while he eats and then ensure that he and my husband J are out the door on time. Now it’s time for round two with the “tiny terror” – he’s like me, slow to wake up so this takes a while – in between rounds I get the first of many loads of laundry started laundry and get some more screen time in until he makes an appearance for breakfast. While I have not been loving having the boys on two different school schedules this year – I do love having one on one time with each of them in the morning before the day gets crazy.

Soon we head out to hang with our neigbors and wait for the bus. Once the great yellow beast has rolled out of sight I’m off and running – literally shoes. Despite not being a natural early riser, I do miss the early morning runs of the summer – I liked that sense of accomplishment before the day even started…but for now, waiting until the kids are out the door just works better.

Post-run/workout, the morning is quickly filled with work, blogging, more laundry and errands.

Taz2 Eventually this big guy will demand some play time  — so there’s either a walk or lots of running in the back yard. Some days, like yesterday, I manage running errands and grabbing lunch with a friend – which makes the errand thing so much better! On other days, there’s more work in front of my computer, mixed with doing stuff around the house (a definite advantage of working from home!)

Before I know it’s time for the bus and my youngest is home excitedly chatting about his day. Depending on the day of the week, I then have to race out for carpooling duties. With everyone home and settled, it’s all about homework and dinner prep – unless there’s an evening school event – which was the norm this week.

I’m trying hard to get us all to the dinner table at least 3 nights during the week. By 8 we start winding down for the day – the tiny terror is lights out by 8:30 and by 9 my oldest is hanging in his room reading. For the first time in hours, the house is quiet – some nights J and I just veg in front of the TV – especially if football’s on. Otherwise, the laptops are still up and going for both of us. I’m naturally a night owl and have to force myself to head to bed by 11.

Head on over to Fitness, Health & Happiness to check out the link up for other Day in the Life posts!

 

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Filed Under: Typical day