April 17, 2013

This and that

This post is really just going to be a mish mash of things that have been going on the past few days. I finally uploaded some pictures (nothing too exciting), but it reminded me of things I wanted to write about.

On Sunday, I was super sore from the half-marathon on Saturday, so I took a rest day. On Monday, I was still really sore. Jerry didn't have to go in to work until noon, so I asked him if he would want to go for a short, easy recovery run with me. I knew my legs would probably feel better if I moved them a bit, and since Jerry only runs probably four times a year, he was the perfect running partner ;)

We went to the State Park and ran the 5K loop. We ran at a very comfortable pace, which I thought would feel like a piece of cake, but with my sore legs, I actually felt like I got a good workout. But it was really nice to run with Jerry--I think it was only our third time running together, and we've been together 14 years!


I had a pretty relaxing afternoon, until 3:30 or so. Jerry sent me a text saying that there were two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the news.

I ate horribly on Monday afternoon/evening. I didn't binge, but I just kept snacking. I don't know if it was because of the news getting to me, or just feeling snacky. I got into the peanut butter and chocolate chips--a lethal combination for me--and eventually decided to throw away the chocolate chips. I did fine with them in the house for the longest time, but the past week or so, they were constantly beckoning me.

Then, even though I had already gone over my PointsPlus for the week, Jerry and I did a margarita taste test in the evening. A company called SmarteRita sent me a bottle of their product as well as a bottle of Skinny Girl Margarita to do a taste test. I will never turn down free margaritas! ;)

The two brands have nearly identical nutrition stats. They have 100 calories for 4 ounces, which isn't bad at all. I wanted to do a true taste test, without being biased, so I had Jerry pour a glass of each brand, and then I closed my eyes and tasted each of them.


The first one I tried was not very good. I thought it tasted like really watered down tequila. The second one was actually really good, and tasted like a "real" margarita--not the best margarita I've ever had, but good enough that if I were at a restaurant, I'd order a second one. I asked Jerry which was which, and he told me the first one was the Skinny Girl Margarita, and the second was the SmarteRita brand.

I did the same test for Jerry. He blindly tasted both of them, and had the same thoughts--he said the SmarteRita tasted like an ordinary margarita, and the Skinny Girl Margarita tasted "what you would expect a diet margarita to taste like--kind of tasteless".

I liked the SmarteRita so much that I ended up drinking two okay, three glasses of it that evening. I looked up on their website how much it costs, and it's $11.26/bottle. If you can find it in a store, that's a decent price. But when I checked out shipping, the shipping costs more than the drink! Shipping to my house is $12.95. I would honestly never order it because of the shipping cost, but would buy it if I found it at the grocery store. (If you're in Texas, you're in luck--here is a list of where you can buy it.)

(In full disclosure, I was given the two brands of margaritas to taste for free, but was not required to post a review. As always, my opinions are honest.)

So anyway, between the peanut butter and chocolate chips, and then the margaritas, I was 20 PointsPlus over for the week (I'd already used my activity PP and my weekly PP). It's no surprise, then, that the scale was up today:


Up a pound from last week, which isn't terrible, but I was happily maintaining 131 for a long time until about a month ago. I'm going to be careful about measuring and counting everything this week, and hopefully I won't see another gain next week!

I saw on Facebook a page called Run for Boston 4/17. Basically, they wanted to get as many people as possible to run today (4/17), wearing a blue or yellow shirt, and then take a picture with a sign that says "Run for Boston". Today is normally a rest day for me, but I wanted to participate, so I went to the State Park for a run.

I planned to do a nice, easy pace like I did yesterday. It was gorgeous outside! I stopped about a half-mile in to take a picture.


About halfway through my lollipop route, my cell phone rang. I almost ignored it, but decided to make sure it wasn't the school calling about one of the kids. I looked at the caller ID, and of course it would be the school. I stopped running and answered. It was super windy so it was hard to hear. I was also breathing a little hard from running. They said Eli told his teacher he felt like he was going to throw up, so they wanted me to come get him.

I knew I was 2-3 miles from my car, so I told her I'd be there as soon as I could. I tried calling my mom to see if she could pick him up, but didn't get an answer, so I just ran a pretty fast pace for the last half of the run. I was trying to get back to the car as fast as I could. My body did NOT want to run fast, since I'm still a little sore from Saturday's race. My adrenaline was going, and I was feeling stressed out. I felt like a bad mom, because it was going to take me 40 minutes to go get my kid. What started out as a nice run ended up being stressful and tough, mentally and physically.


Finally got back to the car and drove to the school to pick up Eli. He's totally fine, which I knew when they called; he hadn't complained about anything this morning. A lot of times, he gets a stomachache when he eats too fast, or drinks too much, or just eats something that doesn't agree with him. But the teacher said that a couple of kids have been out with a stomach bug, so it was best that I take him home.

Eli's pretty cute, though. On the way home, he asked me if he could do what he always does when he's sick: "watch a movie with a blanket and pillow on the couch and drink broth". I think it's kind of funny that his comfort food of choice is just chicken broth. It started when he was really dehydrated from the stomach flu one time, and now he always asks for it when he's sick. So we watched a movie together this afternoon.

Tomorrow, I'm for sure taking a rest day. I'm not sure how far I'm going to run for my long run on Friday. Now that the half-marathon is over, I don't have to run more than 6 miles until marathon training this summer! But I kind of like running 12 milers (long enough to be a little tough, but not enough to be miserable).

14 comments:

  1. I've tried the Skinny Girl Margarita, and I didn't know what all the fuss was about. I didn't care for it at all!

    I think between the two in your picture the SmarteRita even looks better than the Skinny Girl.

    As luck would have it, I am in Texas! I think I'll buy some tomorrow. I'm curious to try it!

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  2. I did a run today too for Boston, and my 9 year old came with me. We did 3.1 at a very easy pace. We ran the first mile and then walked and ran after that. He was so tired, and kept asking me, "How do you do this?" LOL Sorry your run was stressful. I would be very anxious too if that happened to me.

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  3. After running so much with Charlie, I really prefer to run alone. I can do my own thing and don't feel I'm pushing or dragging anyone down. And he's hard of hearing!!!

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  4. Can't wait to try that Margarita... the one that tasted good, of course! :)

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  5. I also did a run for Boston today! A running store here in Albuquerque organized it about 24 hours ago, and they still ended up with about 500 people running. The store donated $5 for each person who ran :) The running community is amazing.

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  6. I hadn't heard about the run for Boston! I was wondering why all the people on my trail were wearing blue today. Well, not all, but most. I have been running an extra .2 for all my runs this week - slowly and using the time to think about how there are some people who may never run again. One of my mantras when runs get tough is "run for those who can't"!

    I agree, the running community is awesome!

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  7. Also ran today with my normal run group, however, the group members who went to Boston were back so it was a huge welcome back event for them. We gave them all hugs and they recounted their stories. Then a great run on a beautiful day!

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  8. It's sweet how kids remember certain things. I used to give my kids Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup when they were sick- the kind from the dry packages. It's mostly broth with short little noodles it in. My mom used to make it for us when we were kids. Now my kids think it's an essential part of recovery from any illness. Cute:-)

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  9. Being new to the running community, I've just got to say how amazed I am at how supporting everyone is to everyone! Every running blog I've visited since the Boston marathon has posted about it and it's just amazing! I'm glad your little one isn't sick. I almost kind of like it when mine get sick because it means guaranteed cuddle time. ;)

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  10. It is crazy. Yesterday, I ran farther than I've ever gone before in one sitting. For some reason, it just felt right.

    Also- I feel the same way about the Skinny Girl margarita! I've always thought it just tasted watered down, so if I drank it, I just squeezed a lime into it. I'm glad you found one that actually tastes good!

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  11. I've tried a few Skinny Girl products, and I didn't like any of them. They really do taste like a "diet" drink. I was pretty annoyed, since they aren't exactly cheap.

    I'll just stick to my regular drinks and drink from a smaller glass. :)

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  12. I've tried the skinnygirl margarita before, and wasn't impressed either. And, I have that same blue shirt :)

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  13. 12 mile easy runs ahhh. I have to run 9 this weekend for my half training and I've never run that far yet. I'm hoping it's a good run day!

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  14. I feel the same way about skinnygirl margarita.. though I don't think my comment about it was as nice as yours. I believe it was more along the lines of "this tastes like ass". I dumped it.

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