Where's the Beach?

I'm convinced that Arkansas has been transported to the far northwest corner of the US. We have had rain, rain, and more rain. I feel like I should invest in a boat to get around at this point. Luckily, it wasn't storming when I set out for my runs this weekend, just wet. I guess the upside is that the rain keeps me cooler on the runs. That's something positive right? Saturday morning I woke up before 6 am because of dearest Maddie barking. I was up. It was as cool as it was going to be for the day, so I headed out for my run. I saw lots of other runners out and about. Chatted briefly with one man who was out for a 20+ mile run. I was happy that it was overcast, light breeze. I zigzagged and meandered through the neighborhood and near the river. I'm still using Jason's Suunto (because my refurbished Garmin was a total dud and had to go back, total other story though), which measures pace in mph. This completely throws me off, so I've not been managing my pac...

Did you race this weekend? It seemed like there were tons of St. Patrick's Day races going on. I had signed up for a new 10K - the Downtown Dash - put on by the Junior League. They had a 5K and 10K. Because it was an inaugural race, it was fairly small. I believe I heard that they had 500 people sign up overall for both race events. Of course, I think that's pretty good for a 1st time race. The race was downtown, my running grounds. I knew the route really well with the exception of one small stretch. I knew where the gradual inclines were as well as the downhills. So I felt really prepared for this race, with the exception of typical race-day nerves. Initially I had pulled out a tank top and shorts for the race, but then it ended up just a bit cooler than I had expected - around 48 degrees and damp. I made a quick top change then headed out to do an easy run down to the start of the race - 1.2 miles to be exact. It was a great  way to warm up before the race and t...

I guess first things first - I need to announce the winner of the Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones. Congrats Sarena! And thank you to everyone who took the time to enter. I will have another giveaway this week. Saturday morning I was up early. That worked out fine though, because it meant I could meet up wiht Amy at 6:45 and get the run out of the way for the day. I had thought it was going to be sunny. I put on my shorts, top, hat and pulled out my sunglasses. I kept thinking that it seemed awfully dark for that time of the morning though. Hadn't we just taken a picture of the sunrise around 6:30 the day before? Then, I stepped outside and realize it was raining. Huh? When did that happen. Talk about a complete change in the forecast. It was hovering around 48 degrees so then I worried I would end up cold because of the rain. It was a tiny bit chilly for all of 5 minutes, then I was almost glad for the rain since I had worn a long-sleeved top, foolishly. Despite the gloomy ski...

Dismal Run but Wonderful Family Time This weekend ended up being far better than I had expected. Initially, Jason and I had no plans. I was supposed to have lunch with my mom and sister next weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday, which was the 18th. Things changed and mom and sis ended up coming up on Saturday. Saturday started off with one of those dig-deep-to-finish runs. I had set out to do 4 easy miles. I wanted it to be slower, easier, just enjoying being outside. I ended up over-dressing. It was 32 degrees when I started the run, but it warmed up faster than I expected. I also encountered far more creepers (aka vagrants and un-savory characters) than usual, so that meant I instinctively ran faster, faster than intended, and faster than my body needed. I never got my breathing on track so I felt like I struggled the entire run to breathe easily and to even hit a nice rhythm. I had to stop at mile 2 to take off my gloves then I had to stop each mile after to try to reco...

Blown Away Gosh, you guys sure know how to make a girl teary-eyed. I want to thank everyone for your incredible words of kindness, support, and positivity after Friday's post . And the support went above and beyond with so many of you dedicating your miles or workouts to me. Seriously, you have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you ladies for running and lifting for me! Jen from Running with the Girls Kierston at Candy Fit Christine from Love Life Surf Angela from Happy Fit Mama Jolene at Determined to Be I also appreciate all of your emails, direct messages, Facebook and twitter messages. Seriously blown away by the support of so many people who've never even met me. It's just amazing. Simply amazing. The Weekend This weekend was actually pretty good. My sister was in town on Friday for a follow-up appointment for my nephew. So, she stopped by the house and also took me to Hobby Lobby so I could pick up some picture frames. Unfortunately she didn...

Well, I must say this weekend was so not as planned. I mentioned last week that I was feeling kind of cruddy. And it never went away. Friday I was off work. My plan was to go ahead and get in my 10-mile run then get my hair cut then spend the rest of the day with my sister. I woke up still really stuffy, sore throat, sinus headache. But I went ahead and headed out for my run. I got in 5.4 miles before stopping by the house to meet up with Jason and to change from short-sleeved shirt to tank. It was already in the mid-60's and humid. The run wasn't easy. It was tough and tougher because I kept going faster than necessary. I don't know if it was just a "let's just get this shit over with" thing or what, but I was going way too fast. I was way too sick. And it was way too warm. Jason did 3.6 miles with me and I called it done with all caps at 9 miles. I rushed to get cleaned up and to my hair appointment, then met my sister at Target. I had regular shopping...

Impromptu Long Run This weekend was a good one. Mostly low-key, but still lots of fun. I ended up getting in my long run on Friday. That wasn't exactly the plan. Jason was out of town, so I was going to run 5 miles then meet up with friends for a drink. Well, the happy hour plans fell through. But the run didn't. I actually ended up running with someone from work. We've chatted via email and talked about trying to run together, but it's just not happened yet. But, it ended up working out for us on Friday. I had worked extra to take off earlier on Friday. So I left work just before 3, went home and changed then ran from my house back down to the office to meet up with "B."  I won't lie, I was a bit nervous. I am always nervous when I run with someone new for the first time. You don't know what their pace might be or what if you have a crappy run. Anyway, it was really hot (70's) and the sunny. But there was a wind that kind of he...

Well, we went from Summer to our form of Winter within a few hours on Friday. By 7pm it had gone from 85 degrees to 40's. Rain, lots of rain. My sister was in town for a conference so she stayed the night. I made some chili as well as more of Sarena's chickpea flatbread . This time I added in green chile peppers, chili powder, red pepper, garlic, salt and pepper. It was so flipping good. Seriously, you gotta check out her recipe! The rest of the night....well.... Basically, we stayed up way too late, drank way too much wine, and laughed our butts off. Saturday morning was gray and gloomy and right when Jason and I were ready to head out for a run, the storms started. Thunder, lightening, small hail, wind...oh and it was about 43 degrees. So, long run was thwarted. Luckily, I do have access to our company's gym. It's not the best gym, but it's free, convenient, and a really nice perk. So, I ended up getting in 4 miles on the treadmill then back and abs. And ...

Saturday I decided to do myself a big favor and disconnect this weekend. I spent virtually no time online at all. And...it was really quite nice. The whole weekend was nice actually. We had a cold front move through so Saturday morning it was only about 65 degrees for my run. It was overcast, so that kept the temps down as well. While I love sunshine, I'm ok with cloudy for running. I set out for my long run around 8:30. I wasn't really sure how it was going to go, how far, or the exactly route. I thought I'd just kind of go with it and see how I was feeling. My first mile was a 9:22 pace, which is what I try to do for long runs - slow and easy is the theory. But, I tend to start speeding up a bit after the first mile, after I start settling into the run. I hit mile 2 at 8:58 and sort of scolded myself mentally. But then I realized, I was feeling fantastic. The pace was perfect. So I decided to just go with it. See how I felt. See what I could do. I know the cooler...

Six-Mile Saturday I must say, I have really been enjoying disconnecting on Saturdays and focusing on enjoying the day at hand and not blogging. I hope you don't mind longer Sunday recap posts. I think most people tend to be busy and aren't really reading blogs on the weekend as much anyway - which I think is a great thing actually. It seems like we've been pretty busy most weekends, or at least on Saturdays. No complaints though. Yesterday started off with a 6-mile run with Jason. We did get started later than we should have so it was already pretty hot and steamy. The sun was definitely out in full force. I actually prayed for a cloud to just momentarily block the sun, or perhaps a breeze would have been nice. The route we took put us in full sun with very little shade. But man when we saw a shady spot, we definitely slowed down to enjoy. The run was really good for me mentally. I didn't overthink, I just ran and enjoyed every minute. Definitely the best run I h...

Today the rain finally cleared out. The sun was shining and everything had a nice, fresh look - in other words, not a heavy layer of green pollen. I would have loved to have gotten out for a run, or even gotten in a workout at the gym. But, I had appointments after work (finally a hair cut and more PT) that meant I had to leave a little early. So, today had to be a rest day for me. I mean, I could have gotten up early....right...... Since I don't have too much to talk about (no workouts) and won't be home early to make a fantastic new recipe (Jason will likely get veggie burgers started), I thought I'd do something a little different - Thankful Things Thursday . Here are just a few things that I've been thankful for recently, or that have made me smile. Wine outside with my sis on a perfect, sunny, Saturday Email from a friend - the subject was "This reminds me of you." Finishing my last half marathon with Jason - this picture makes me smile. Sou...

Saturday Re-Cap This weekend has been really good. Jason and I started Saturday off with a 4-mile run. It was mostly good. Definitely felt more like my old running self. It started sprinkling too, which was sort of fun - and it felt good considering it was already in the 70's and rather humid. My sister got here around 11:15, so lots of sister time this weekend. We started off the day going shopping. We hit up DSW (big fail, no deals) and Charming Charlie. I found a couple of bracelets and Sarah found several tops and accessories. We were getting pretty hungry, so we thought we'd try to hit up Dugan's. However, being St. Patty's Day (Dugan's is an Irish pub)and a parade going on, eating there wasn't going to happen. It was standing room only, and even that was iffy. We ended up at another place nearby called Dizzy's Gypsy Bistro. They had outdoor seating which was a big score, but terribly slow service. Of course, we were hungry so even minimally slow...

Celebration Recap As I mentioned yesterday , my sister came up to stay with me to celebrate her birthday. We started of the afternoon with a late lunch at Canon Grill. We were supposed to meet friends at a wine bar about a block away at 5. Funny, our friends walked into the restaurant while we were finishing our meal. They had wanted to grab a snack and watch a game on the tv there and then just meet us at the wine bar - Diversion . I missed the text so had no idea they were going to Canon Grill and they had no idea we were there. But, it worked out nicely. The girls went to the wine bar at 5, and the boys went to another bar with tvs to finish the game (not a clue what game to be honest). The vibe was really laid back, hip. But it was almost a bit too dark. I mean, I would like to read the menu list ;-) I tried to not be too shocked at the prices....but wow. Proud of the wine. But we were there to celebrate and have fun, so I just went with it. We all ended up getting the same ...

Early Morning Cooking & Workout Switch Up This morning I ended up waking up around 7:15. I had hoped to sleep in a little bit, but I was wide awake. I had plenty to get done, so it worked out nicely I suppose. By 11 am I had made 2 pizza doughs, marinara sauce, and prepped all veggies for tonight (which I'll get to in a minute). It was really cold and windy, but sunny at least. Supposed to be in the mid-50's. I was trying to get myself psyched up for our long run. My half marathon training plan had me at 12 miles, but with my recent food pain, Jason and I decided it'd be best to start at 10 and do 11 tops depending on how I was feeling. I kept watching the weather, refreshing to check the temps and the wind. Forecast included up to 18 mph winds. Ugh. Not fun to deal with for 10 miles. Not even fun for 3 miles really. After lots of debating both in my head and out loud, Jason and I settled on gym today and run tomorrow. I don't know why this stressed me out, b...

Run & Legs I was off work today, actually off work until next Tuesday, so that meant I was able to sleep in a bit. But I did need to get my workout done earlier rather than later. So I hit the gym by 8:30. It was pretty much dead other than one other person on the treadmill. Love it when it's quiet and I don't have to fight for a fan or "my" treadmill. I wasn't exactly keen on a treadmill run, but sometimes you just have to get yourself going. I started with 1 mile warm up at a 9:22 min mile then 4 sets of intervals at 1 min with 1.5 min recovery (I guess that's really 1 min and 30 seconds) at an 8 min mile and 9:31 min mile then finished out the remainder to round out to 3 miles. I decided to go ahead and work full legs today rather than split them up. I went with supersets of 3x8 unless noted. Barbell squats - warmup set of 10 SS#1 Barbell squats Stiff-legged deadlifts SS#2 Step ups (with dumbbells) Plie squat with low end pulse - using ...

Saturday Recap Not only did I have an absolutely perfect Saturday, I did myself a huge favor and pretty much logged off the computer the entire weekend. It was quite liberating actually. Saturday, my sis made it to my house around 9:30 and we got ourselves ready for a run. Unfortunately, the sun decided to stay hidden (though it was supposed to have been sunny all day). Sarah is more of a run/walker, and so is a friend of ours. Sarah and I started at the Big Dam Bridge and headed towards the newer bridge (Two Rivers) where our friend C was going to meet up with her so they could explore the new trails. Sarah has gone down to the river trails with me before, but this was before the new bridge to the other trail system. I got in a solid 8 miles. I had the strange sense of guilt (irrational of course) for not getting double-digit miles done. Thankfully, I listened to my rational side and made my loop back sooner than later. The last mile was quite painful, so I really am glad I did...

Last night I met some friends for a short happy hour before heading home. Jason went camping with his dad and brother, so I was flying solo. That didn't mean no pizza for Pizza Friday. I ended up making myself a mini socca pizza for dinner. I enjoyed that with a glass of wine snuggled on the couch with the pups watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I have no idea why, but I just love that show. Maybe it's just Guy's personality. It's usually not the food as it's rarely meatless. Anyway, a guilty pleasure I suppose. As I mentioned yesterday, today I am hosting a Girls' Night In. Not a big shindig, just a few friends over - PJs are the required attire (similar to last year's PJs n' Pizza Party ). I don't know about you, but sometimes my excuse for not going to a party or event is because I'd rather be in my PJs. So this works out quite nicely. My sister is coming up this morning and we're planning on running. So, I've just been p...