Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
I love Wednesdays
I got out of bed on the wrong side of the bed this morning; you know the feeling, just a little crabby - no particular reason at all.........the feeling persisted most of the day but when my work day was done I put on my running shoes and headed out for a 5-1/2 mile run around my office. It was a BEAUTIFUL day in Portland; the sun was shining and the birds were signing! Post-run I immediately headed to Yoga and this was all I needed to get out of my funk. A feel like a new person.
I arrived home to multiple surprises, there was the Progresso Soup package that I had won from Amanda at Run to the Finish; my wonderful weekly box of organic fruits & vegetables and new pendant lights over my kitchen counter.
You have to go check out the awesome giveaway that Tricia is doing; she's giving away a Nathan Hydration belt! This was on my list for Santa this year; a must have item for any runner.
I neglected to mention the other really cool item I got last Friday, a nifty hat from Ron over at Punk Rock Tri Guy. Ron graciously gave EVERYONE that had commented on his blog recently one of the new hats he's having made for PUNK ROCK RACING. You HAVE to go check him out; he is HILARIOUS and he is doing a ton of really cool events this year, including his first IronMan.
It should be noted that I was wearing my new hat when I PR'd on Sunday! It is now my good luck hat.
Happy Hump Day
I arrived home to multiple surprises, there was the Progresso Soup package that I had won from Amanda at Run to the Finish; my wonderful weekly box of organic fruits & vegetables and new pendant lights over my kitchen counter.
You have to go check out the awesome giveaway that Tricia is doing; she's giving away a Nathan Hydration belt! This was on my list for Santa this year; a must have item for any runner.
I neglected to mention the other really cool item I got last Friday, a nifty hat from Ron over at Punk Rock Tri Guy. Ron graciously gave EVERYONE that had commented on his blog recently one of the new hats he's having made for PUNK ROCK RACING. You HAVE to go check him out; he is HILARIOUS and he is doing a ton of really cool events this year, including his first IronMan.
It should be noted that I was wearing my new hat when I PR'd on Sunday! It is now my good luck hat.
Happy Hump Day
Monday, January 25, 2010
It's a PR baby; PR!
My half marathon this past Sunday was awesome! I finished in 1:55; which is a 4 minute PR for me - yeah me! It was cold for the entire race; and it pouring and windy for the last 4 miles, a PR in these conditions is even sweeter. While 40 degrees might not seem very cold to some of you you're pretty miserable when you're soaking wet.
We had plans to just go out and stay anywhere between an 8:45 and 9:15 pace; just have a nice run, well you know how plans go. Mind you, I really didn't think that an 8:45 pace for 13.1 miles would fall into the nice and easy category for me but WOW, I can't say it was hard for me.........My friend who wanted to take it easy didn't and she ended up taking off at a low 8:00 pace. Vicki and I didn't think we could sustain this pace for 13.1 so we let the others go at about mile 3 and just got into a groove and enjoyed the day. Just as we were commenting that the rain was staying away, it got very blustery and started to pour; maybe we jinxed it :-) We chatted the entire way and really enjoyed our time together; Vicki is a CPA so her life is just about over until April 15th so we know we won't have a ton of training runs together in the next 2-1/2 months. We kept saying we should slow down, but we never did. I was dead set on finishing in 1:58, which would have been a PR for me and I knew we were ahead of this pace for the entire race. I finished with some kick left and I feel great today; maybe I have a fast half in me......I'll get the opportunity to see on February 28th when I run the Max Muscle Half Marathon the next event on my race calendar.
I didn't get any photos and I am hopeful the race photographer got at least one decent one.
I "get" to repeat Week 4 of the 100 push-up challenge; I wasn't able to do the minimum number of psuh-ups to advance to Week 5. I'm o.k. with this though; in no way do I consider it a failure. I did 28 push-ups; when I started this challenge I couldn't even do 2!
I am moving on to Week 5 for the 200 sit-up challenge. The bummer is, now I am not the same schedule for both challenges; a little thing and I will get over it.
Lesson learned this week, when Lori says nice and easy - don't listen :-)
We had plans to just go out and stay anywhere between an 8:45 and 9:15 pace; just have a nice run, well you know how plans go. Mind you, I really didn't think that an 8:45 pace for 13.1 miles would fall into the nice and easy category for me but WOW, I can't say it was hard for me.........My friend who wanted to take it easy didn't and she ended up taking off at a low 8:00 pace. Vicki and I didn't think we could sustain this pace for 13.1 so we let the others go at about mile 3 and just got into a groove and enjoyed the day. Just as we were commenting that the rain was staying away, it got very blustery and started to pour; maybe we jinxed it :-) We chatted the entire way and really enjoyed our time together; Vicki is a CPA so her life is just about over until April 15th so we know we won't have a ton of training runs together in the next 2-1/2 months. We kept saying we should slow down, but we never did. I was dead set on finishing in 1:58, which would have been a PR for me and I knew we were ahead of this pace for the entire race. I finished with some kick left and I feel great today; maybe I have a fast half in me......I'll get the opportunity to see on February 28th when I run the Max Muscle Half Marathon the next event on my race calendar.
I didn't get any photos and I am hopeful the race photographer got at least one decent one.
I "get" to repeat Week 4 of the 100 push-up challenge; I wasn't able to do the minimum number of psuh-ups to advance to Week 5. I'm o.k. with this though; in no way do I consider it a failure. I did 28 push-ups; when I started this challenge I couldn't even do 2!
I am moving on to Week 5 for the 200 sit-up challenge. The bummer is, now I am not the same schedule for both challenges; a little thing and I will get over it.
Lesson learned this week, when Lori says nice and easy - don't listen :-)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Busy week, sore arms and sunshine
Wow, this push-up challenge is starting to take its' toll on me, it's getting harder and harder. I just (barely) finished Day 2 of Week 4 - let's just say that the form on the last 4-5 was pretty bad. But I did it! I also did Day 2 Week 4 of the 200 sit-up challenge this evening and got a 3-1/2 mile fairly hilly run in. I guess I deserve to be tired.
The Fitness Challenge at the gym begins February 1 and I am really looking forward to this; with the exception of the push-ups and sit-ups all I have been doing is running and have been very neglectful of everything else.
I'm going to be running in the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon this Sunday; I have done this event twice and while I am not a fan of the course it is a very well organized event and a good PR course as it is nice and flat. As a bonus, I think the weather is supposed to be good this weekend.
Oregon has nothing on California in regards to rain they have been having recently; have you seen the photos? I have family in Southern California and they are all o.k., albeit a little soggy.
The sun has been out at some point the last two days; it is amazing what seeing the sun does for you, least of all it gives you hope that the rain won't last forever.
The Fitness Challenge at the gym begins February 1 and I am really looking forward to this; with the exception of the push-ups and sit-ups all I have been doing is running and have been very neglectful of everything else.
I'm going to be running in the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon this Sunday; I have done this event twice and while I am not a fan of the course it is a very well organized event and a good PR course as it is nice and flat. As a bonus, I think the weather is supposed to be good this weekend.
Oregon has nothing on California in regards to rain they have been having recently; have you seen the photos? I have family in Southern California and they are all o.k., albeit a little soggy.
The sun has been out at some point the last two days; it is amazing what seeing the sun does for you, least of all it gives you hope that the rain won't last forever.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Weekend update and more
I had a wonderful weekend and in fact, it is still the weekend for me because today is a holiday for me. I'm going to steal this from one of my Facebook friends as I couldn't sum it up better myself:
Yesterday I had the honor and privilege of helping my dear friend Marion celebrate her 30th birthday; she is truly an amazing woman and decided to run 30 miles on her 30th birthday. You can find her story here I intended to run one 10-mile loop with her and then join the group for lunch later, here is the first group at the start.
It was a great day for run and the predicted rain was staying away. Just as we were finishing the first loop I decided I would go out for a total of about 15 miles as I felt so good and it was great to be supporting my friend in this tremendous accomplishment. Here's the group at the beginning of the 2nd loop.
We were running at a pace that is a little slower than my normal pace and it was a little difficult to keep the pace on track and stay with the group, but I felt so incredibly good it really didn't matter. We got the point where I was going to turn around and head back for my 15 miles and I realized that I had mis-calculated the distance, actually if I would have thought about it a little more it would have "clicked" in my brain that I had missed the turn around point. If I turned around here, I would have gone back to the starting point with 18.5 miles, 4.25 of if by myself; I decided just to finish the 2nd loop with my friends and I am so glad I did. The 2nd loop was about one minute per mile slower than the first, but Marion still had 10 miles to go so I just settled in and enjoyed the morning. It was lightly raining by this time, but relatively warm so it was very pleasant.
Here we are finishing the 2nd loop, Marion is in the blue vest.
At this point, I headed home to shower and to meet the group for a late lunch. Marion finished the 30 miles in tears; it was so great to be a part of this. So my 10 mile run turned into a 21 mile run, whoops; I have to tell you though, I have NEVER felt so good after a 21 mile run. The slower pace helped, but this is my longest run since Vegas and I am stoked about how my running is shaping up for this winter.
I won my first giveaway, thanks Amanda and I was also called out by Julie as a blog she likes read. Both of these are so cool; I'm a new blogger and I'm having such a great time.
I began Day 1, Week 4 of the 100 push-up and 200 sit-up challenges today; yippee! This is new territory, as previously I got derailed after week 3; yippee!
I'm off to run errands and head to a friends' house for scrapbooking and cardmaking.
Have an awesome day everyone.
Dr King's day: serve, learn, make the world more human today.
Yesterday I had the honor and privilege of helping my dear friend Marion celebrate her 30th birthday; she is truly an amazing woman and decided to run 30 miles on her 30th birthday. You can find her story here I intended to run one 10-mile loop with her and then join the group for lunch later, here is the first group at the start.
It was a great day for run and the predicted rain was staying away. Just as we were finishing the first loop I decided I would go out for a total of about 15 miles as I felt so good and it was great to be supporting my friend in this tremendous accomplishment. Here's the group at the beginning of the 2nd loop.
We were running at a pace that is a little slower than my normal pace and it was a little difficult to keep the pace on track and stay with the group, but I felt so incredibly good it really didn't matter. We got the point where I was going to turn around and head back for my 15 miles and I realized that I had mis-calculated the distance, actually if I would have thought about it a little more it would have "clicked" in my brain that I had missed the turn around point. If I turned around here, I would have gone back to the starting point with 18.5 miles, 4.25 of if by myself; I decided just to finish the 2nd loop with my friends and I am so glad I did. The 2nd loop was about one minute per mile slower than the first, but Marion still had 10 miles to go so I just settled in and enjoyed the morning. It was lightly raining by this time, but relatively warm so it was very pleasant.
Here we are finishing the 2nd loop, Marion is in the blue vest.
At this point, I headed home to shower and to meet the group for a late lunch. Marion finished the 30 miles in tears; it was so great to be a part of this. So my 10 mile run turned into a 21 mile run, whoops; I have to tell you though, I have NEVER felt so good after a 21 mile run. The slower pace helped, but this is my longest run since Vegas and I am stoked about how my running is shaping up for this winter.
I won my first giveaway, thanks Amanda and I was also called out by Julie as a blog she likes read. Both of these are so cool; I'm a new blogger and I'm having such a great time.
I began Day 1, Week 4 of the 100 push-up and 200 sit-up challenges today; yippee! This is new territory, as previously I got derailed after week 3; yippee!
I'm off to run errands and head to a friends' house for scrapbooking and cardmaking.
Have an awesome day everyone.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
I'm commited now
I did it, I'm registered and am on my way to becoming a Marathon Maniac......Eugene, May 2; Newport, June 5 and Missoula, July 11.......this will be marathons 17, 18 & 19 respectively - wow.
There's no turning back, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. Training has never been more serious; no slacking off now :-)Today I completed week 3 of the 100 push-up and 200 sit-up challenges; I'm still feeling pretty darn good, although the push-ups are tough.
Tomorrow morning I'll be hitting the streets for 10 miles and I am really looking forward to it.
The 7-day forecast calls for rain, showers and more rain - welcome to Oregon.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Pomegranates
Two posts in one day, I don't know if I can continue at this frenzied pace.....
Have you had a pomegranate lately? There has been so much media buzz surrounding them lately that I thought I would give one a try and I love fruit. My last memories of pomegranates is from a really long time ago; all I can remember is that my mom wouldn't buy them because "they will stain your clothes". Well now that I am a "big girl" and do my own laundry I' decided to take the risk.
Here are the pros:
They are pretty darn yummy
They are full of antioxidants
Some studies suggest they could help with menopause symptoms (yes, I am almost that old)
They are high in fiber
Red is my favorite color
The cons:
They are a pain to open up & get ready for nooshing (kind of like crab legs)
I have little red spots of pomegranate juice all over my desk
I will probably find pomegranate seeds in my office for the next 6 months
I probably did stain my white t-shirt (I hate it when Mom is right)
And yes, I will buy one again and I will figure out a way to conquer the mess aspect!
Here is another cool giveaway that you should check out as it gives back. Katye is really active in the fight against cancer and has pulled together a ton of really neat items that you could win. Check it out, we've all been affected by cancer.
Have you had a pomegranate lately? There has been so much media buzz surrounding them lately that I thought I would give one a try and I love fruit. My last memories of pomegranates is from a really long time ago; all I can remember is that my mom wouldn't buy them because "they will stain your clothes". Well now that I am a "big girl" and do my own laundry I' decided to take the risk.
Here are the pros:
They are pretty darn yummy
They are full of antioxidants
Some studies suggest they could help with menopause symptoms (yes, I am almost that old)
They are high in fiber
Red is my favorite color
The cons:
They are a pain to open up & get ready for nooshing (kind of like crab legs)
I have little red spots of pomegranate juice all over my desk
I will probably find pomegranate seeds in my office for the next 6 months
I probably did stain my white t-shirt (I hate it when Mom is right)
And yes, I will buy one again and I will figure out a way to conquer the mess aspect!
Here is another cool giveaway that you should check out as it gives back. Katye is really active in the fight against cancer and has pulled together a ton of really neat items that you could win. Check it out, we've all been affected by cancer.
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