Runs for Cookies

April 03, 2012

Chia Seeds and Blood Donation

Today, I had the intention to go to a blood drive to donate my blood. I've only donated blood twice in my life, and I would like to do so more often. While I was falling asleep last night, however, I began to wonder if donating blood would have a negative impact on my marathon training.

So this morning, I asked my know-it-all friend (Google) if it was okay to donate, and discovered that it was a bad idea. I looked at numerous sources, and they all said the same thing: wait until you're done training. Apparently, it takes weeks to get back to "normal" after donating blood. A lot of runners said they felt awful when trying to run after donating.

So, needless to say, I decided not to chance it, and to forgo giving blood today.

Instead, I spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon lounging around in my pajamas on the couch. My body feels pretty sore from yesterday's run. Not horribly sore, but enough to where I really feel like I need this rest day.

I've gotten a few comments/e-mails lately about chia seeds. They were mentioned in the video I recommended: Hungry for Change. All the health benefits sound great, but a lot of people don't know what to do with them or how to use them.

I'm certainly no chia seed expert (I didn't even OWN a chia pet, can you believe it?) but I do eat chia seeds now and again. When you add chia seeds to a liquid and let them sit for about 10 minutes or so, they get kind of gelatinous, and they thicken the liquid--looking almost like a tapioca pudding. I like to use them to thicken oatmeal--particularly my cold oatmeal.

Cold oatmeal is nothing new--just search "overnight oats" on Google and you'll see that. But I'm not a plan-ahead kind of person. I never think ahead far enough to put my oats in the refrigerator the night before. Besides, I think they get a little too mushy that way. I like the cold, raw oats in a much simpler manner.

I make cold oats in the morning, just 10-15 minutes before I want to eat. I combine equal parts oats and milk (1/2 cup old fashioned oats + 1/2 cup milk) with a teaspoon or two of maple syrup to sweeten. I add 1 Tbsp. of chia seeds. Then I add whatever mix-ins I want--my very favorite is 1 Tbsp. cocoa powder for a chocolate oatmeal. Stir it up and then let it sit in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes. Most of the liquid will be absorbed by the chia seeds and oats, and it'll be thickened to a perfect (in my opinion) consistency.

My favorite way to eat cold oats is in an almost-empty nut butter jar or a peanut butter bowl. The chocolate combo above in a peanut butter bowl is SO good:

1/2 c. oats, 1/2 c. milk, 1 Tbsp. chia seeds, 1 Tbsp. cocoa, 1 tsp. maple syrup

It tastes just like a no-bake cookie.

I've also had chia seeds in hot oatmeal, but I don't notice them at all. I will cook my oats on the stove with a Tbsp. of chia seeds (and whatever stuff I want in my oatmeal). You won't taste them at all. I like to save the chia seeds for cold oatmeal though.

For more of my oatmeal combinations, you can check out my post about oatmeal.

I discovered that Phoebe (our orange cat) loves Burt's Bees lip balm. Isn't that weird?! I swear that she knows the second I put it on, because she's all over me. She sniffs my lips and then tries to lick it off before I stop her:

It drives her crazy. And then last night, she went nuts over some tea I was drinking that had the same menthol-like smell. What a strange kitty!

April 02, 2012

16 miles, what???

I took the weekend completely OFF of physical activity. I wanted to rest up and feel great for our 16-mile run today. I've been nervous about it, because I seemed to have lost my running mojo after the half-marathon last weekend.

Last night, I ended up carb-loading with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not at all how I'd planned it! I spent all day making chicken soup from scratch, and just before dinner, when I was going to add the pasta to it, I decided to change things up and make some whole wheat dumplings instead of adding the pasta. When I make dumplings for soup normally, I use an egg, white flour, and salt. I wasn't sure if the whole wheat flour would work well, so I googled a recipe. I thought it was odd that there wasn't an egg in it to hold it together, but I made the dumplings and dropped them into the soup, which was at a low simmer.

Ten minutes later, I checked on the soup and the dumplings were gone--totally dissolved--and I had a murky-looking, thick, chicken and flour soup. I was bummed. Nobody wanted to eat it, so down the garbage disposal it went. And we had PB&J's for dinner--which were actually really good.

I didn't sleep very well last night, because I was nervous about the 16-mile run. I woke up at 3:30, and couldn't go back to sleep. When I got out of bed, I had baked oatmeal for breakfast and dressed in my most comfortable running clothes. Jessica apparently got that memo about what to wear, because we showed up wearing the EXACT SAME OUTFIT:

That's what happens when you train for a marathon together.

I planned our route so that we would park and do two out-and-back routes--the first one being 5 miles out and 5 back, so we arrived back at the car at 10 miles; then the second route was just 3 miles out and 3 back--total of 16 miles.

Jessica was smart enough to bring a long-sleeved top which she put on over her other one. I froze for the first 3 miles or so. It was really cold and windy. At mile 6, I ate my peanut butter Gu. I had the lemon-lime Powerade in my water bottle (that's what they're going to have on the marathon course, so I wanted to try it out on a long run).

We got back to the car at mile 10, and I topped off my water bottle (I'd only drunk about half of it). Then we headed out for the last 6 miles. Once we hit mile 12, my legs were starting to ache. I could feel it from my hips to my knees. Not pain, but definitely achy. I ate my chocolate Gu at that point.

At mile 13, I started bitching and moaning. My legs just wanted to STOP RUNNING. Jessica was feeling okay, so she let me complain. At around mile 14, I got a second wind and it was Jessica's turn to complain. When we got back to the car, and the Garmin beeped mile 16, we stopped running. And we both started groaning. We walked stiffly over to the grass and started stretching, groaning with each stretch.

We were SO achy. This was the most sore I've ever been after a run! There were some guys in the parking lot getting into a truck and leaving, and they asked how far we ran. We both got really excited that they asked, because nobody ever asks when we are running long. We both said, "16 miles!" and told them we were training for the Cleveland marathon. It totally made our day that they asked ;)

We took some pictures:

16 miles!

This was where we tried to look like we were running, hahaha

THREE effing hours of non-stop running

And our splits...

After our run, we went to La Pita for lunch. I don't even have to show you what I ate, because it's always the same! This time, however, we didn't order extra garlic sauce and we didn't eat the pita bread until our lunch came out. I immediately divided my lunch in half, and only ate half of it and two pita breads. I didn't want to get too full, and I'm really trying to watch my calories. Today I'm aiming for about 2,500. If I go over, I won't worry about it, but I at least want to be aware of how much I'm eating.

All-in-all, today's 16-miler was a success! Neither one of us had tummy troubles (which is a miracle, because Jessica always has stomach problems on long runs, but she tried new fueling stuff today). We both are sore, but we feel good. I'm looking forward to a rest day tomorrow!

April 01, 2012

Reader Questions & Answers #7

Q. My question is about clothes....during your weight loss, how did you manage to dress yourself in clothes that fit without buying 10 different wardrobes in different sizes? I think I'm down a size and I need SOMETHING new....maybe just a belt to keep my pants up...I just don't know what to do...spend money on something that I will (hopefully) shrink out of in a few months...or look frumpy in my current clothes?

A. I dropped sizes pretty quickly while I was losing weight--approximately one size per month. I went from a size 24W to size 4 in 16 months, so I went through a LOT of clothes. But I didn't spend much money! Because I only wore each size for a month or so, I knew I only needed a few pairs of jeans and a few different in-season tops. I didn't need new pajamas, or dresses (unless I had an event), or undies. I love to shop at thrift stores and garage sales (even now--95% of my wardrobe comes from either a thrift store or garage sale).

So while I was losing weight, and realized I needed the next size down, I would go to the thrift store and buy 2-3 pairs of jeans and a few tops to get me through the month. It's not a huge variety, but I didn't mind wearing the same things over and over for a few weeks while I was losing weight.

I wore my underwear and pajamas until they were too baggy, and then I obviously had to buy new ones. Just for the record, I don't buy used panties ;) As I got too small for my jeans, I cut them up into squares and eventually put them all together into a quilt:

So you really just need enough to get by, if you're losing weight consistently. And don't be afraid of used clothes! I bought most of my (name brand) jeans for $1 or even less at garage sales.

Q. What kind of aches and pains did you have when you first started running? My hips are killing me!

A. I think it's very common for hips to be sore when you've just started running. Even now, when I do a longer run than usual or I run harder than usual, my hips will be sore for a day or two. There is a difference between pain and soreness, however. If you think something is wrong, you should definitely get it checked out by a doctor. But I think most people get sore in the hips and even hamstrings (back of your thighs) when they first start running.

Another common complaint is of shin splints--a sharp pain in the front of your lower leg. This can be remedied by stretching after a run, by warming up before you run, by wearing well-fitted shoes (make sure you get fitted for the right shoes!!) and by easing into running rather than running like hell your first time out the door. And, of course, my favorite remedy--rest days! ;) One or two days rest really works wonders when you feel achy. And if it doesn't get better, you may have injured yourself and should probably get checked out by a doctor.

Q. I was wondering what you use for water/hydration while on your runs? I run regularly, but only for short distances as I hate carrying water, and find that fanny pack type things bounce too much so I end up not bringing any water with me. I'm starting to train for a half marathon, so I will need some way to incorporate water into my runs, and hoped you would have a solution for me.

A. This was an issue I just recently had myself. I trained for my half-marathon without carrying water, but now that I'm training for a full, I knew I'd need water during my long runs. There are a few solutions:

1) Plant water bottles along your route the day before your long run. This takes effort and time, and I just didn't want to be bothered doing that;

2) Plan to run loops so that you pass your house, or your car, or some building where you can get water. For example, on a 12-mile run, plan to run three 4-mile loops so that you pass your car or house twice during the run. This was my plan, until I discovered...

3) Buy a hydration belt. I was 100% sure I was going to hate wearing a hydration belt. I don't like to carry things with me when I run (even an iPod is annoying to me). But Jessica bought one, and I gave hers a try on a long run. I was really surprised that it didn't bounce or slosh around or ride up or anything like that!

We found that the secret is to wear it up around your natural waist (the narrowest part of your midsection) and wear it pretty snug. I tried to wear it low around my hips, but it bounced around like crazy.

See how high up I wear the belt? It doesn't bounce.

The one I bought is this one by Amphipod, but I honestly don't think that the brand matters. I tried one on at Target (after buying the Amphipod) and it felt exactly the same to me, for $20 cheaper. My only concern with a belt like this is for people who carry a lot of excess weight around their midsection--I don't know if it would bounce around or not in that situation.

And now a question for all of you...

What is your current favorite TV show?

I am LOVING "Shameless" on Showtime. It's a guilty pleasure of mine (like listening to Eminem!) but I can't get enough. Love it!

March 31, 2012

A Complete Dozen - Meredith's Story

Our Ragnar Florida Keys team is now complete! We finally made a decision about our 12th team member yesterday, and let me just say, it was HARD. When I first had the idea of filling that open spot by having people write e-mails to "apply" for it, I wasn't thinking about the fact that we were going to have to pick just one person out of many. It was upsetting yesterday when I realized I was going to have to turn people down.

All of the "applicants" (I hate that word, but I guess that's what they would be called) had something unique and amazing about them. We would have been lucky to have any of them on the team, and we had to choose just one. We did toss around the idea of a second team, but putting together a Ragnar team involves a LOT of work--and Rik would be up to his eyeballs in stressful planning, so we decided just one team is plenty for now.

But anyway, we voted as a team and made the final decision yesterday. Our newest team member is a woman named Meredith--and she is extremely inspiring! She's lost 101 pounds and has kept it off for two years now. She's completed three half-marathons, with a PR of 2:10:29. Her husband has even lost weight too--166 pounds!! But I will stop raving and let her share her story.

This is the e-mail that she sent our team:

Hi Ragnar Relay Team,

My name is Meredith and I would love to be considered for the last spot on your relay team. I live in Mesa, Arizona. I am 37 years old and in the best shape I have been in my life. My friend in California read about this opportunity on your blog and text me to let me know. As soon as I read the blog I knew this was something I would love to do.

Let me tell you a little about myself and my journey to where I am now. When I realized I need to lose weight it was May of 2005 and I had just gotten back from my best friend’s rehearsal dinner. We took a bunch of pictures and when I saw the pictures I wanted to cry. I always knew I needed to lose weight but I never realized how much I had put on. I always avoided scales and I always just assumed that I was no bigger than the previous time that I had to lose weight. My job did not require me to wear any form fitting clothes so I always had elastic hiding my true size.

As of today I have lost 101 pounds. I joined Weight Watchers in September of 2005 weighing 256 pounds and have been attending meetings ever since. My experience in my weight loss journey has completely changed my life. I would love to say that the weight came off easily and that keeping it off is not a struggle, but that would not be the truth. This journey though has taught me that I am able to keep the weight off for the first time in my life and I have completely changed the way I live.

I reached my “goal weight” at Weight Watcher’s at the end of May in 2010 and became a Lifetime member six weeks later on July 10th, 2010.

I am proud to say that I have been Lifetime ever since and have not gone over my goal weight. I had taken the first 40 pounds off in a relatively quick manner but the last 61 pounds were a struggle. My real turning point was in November of 2009, the Saturday before Thanksgiving that year. I was struggling badly. I had just realized that in a 42-week span I had gained and lost the same pound over and over again. When I went to discuss my plateau with my WW leader I couldn’t do so without bursting into tears. I sat through the entire meeting crying and only my husband and my WW leader knew. When I left the meeting that day I told myself enough was enough and I was going to get to goal. This is where my running came into play.

I started off walking every day, started at three miles and got up to five miles. Once I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to have the same results with just walking I started to run. We used to go to a rec center near my house that had an indoor track. Living in Arizona, this was a must in the summer time. The track took 14 times around to equal one mile. I would walk 70 laps; and when I started running, I started with one lap out of 70.

Back in September of 2010 I ran my first 5K in which I came in first place in my age group. I was working on training for my first half marathon in October of 2010 when I tore my right hamstring when I slipped on a wet piece of tile in my house. That put my running on a stand still for a few months but I never gave up. I got back to running, knowing that I still needed to do my half marathon that I could not do the year before. I used a few 10Ks and a 12K as training to get ready for the PF Chang’s half-marathon in January of 2012.

I successfully ran the half marathon and finished in 2:22:01; my second half marathon was just one month later. I signed up for the Lost Dutchman half marathon and ran that one in February 2012, completing that in 2:17:29. So I figured what is one more... I ran the Phoenix Half Marathon on March 3, 2012, and my finishing time there was 2:10:29.

I typically run 4-5 times a week from 5-10 miles a day depending on my schedule. I use running as a stress relief and as a way to make sure that I stay in shape. I love to run. I have found something healthy that I love to do and that, to me, is the best feeling in the world.

I think I would make a great addition to your team because I feel like I have learned a lot from my weight loss journey. I have learned how to overcome struggle, how to never give up, and how I can do anything I put my mind to. I am so inspired by other people and their weight loss journeys and I love to hear about them and to be surrounded by people that have done what I have done and what I continue to do. Although technically I am at my goal weight I do not feel like my journey is over. I feel like I will be on this journey for life and am excited to do so. I learn new things about myself on a daily basis and I have an amazing support team around me including my husband who is also down 166 pounds.

I have attached a before and after picture. My before picture was the one that inspired me to change my life and the after picture if the day I made Lifetime at Weight Watchers.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you,
Meredith

Our team is very happy to have Meredith on board!

March 30, 2012

Easter candy temptations

My legs feel like they are going to snap in half at the knee right now. I'm lying on the floor, and I just finished playing solitare (with real cards, not the computer). Chandler decided that he would settle all 23-pounds of cat right under my butt, on top of my legs. I managed to get my camera from the table and take a picture while holding the camera over my head...

Taking that picture was much harder than it looks, believe me.

Speaking of the cats, Jerry just showed me Paolo's "trick". Paolo is the first long-haired cat we've had, so the hairballs are new to me. But apparently, if you scratch the underside of Paolo's neck and his chest (which he loves) he then coughs up a hairball on cue. I didn't believe Jerry when he told me, so he showed me. Totally gross, but hilarious at the same time.

Today I was scheduled for a 4-mile run. I (once again) was really not wanting to run. I decided to go to the rec center and run on the indoor track so that I could see other people and hopefully it would go by faster. There were a few people walking on the track. I brought my iPod to listen to the radio, but it didn't distract me enough.

I actually started counting my laps, thinking that the foot pod was all wrong and I had actually run 5 miles when my Garmin said 2 miles--but after counting laps, I realized that the foot pod was right on target and my run was just going by really slowly.

Alicia came up to the track with a friend when I had 1.25 miles left. They were just ahead of me, so I just kept pace with them for the rest of my run. I really hope that taking the weekend off of running helps me to be excited for Monday's 16-miler. Our 15-mile run was so good that I felt like I loved running!

Jess and I decided we're going to La Pita (like usual) after our run Monday, but we're going to skip the side of garlic sauce that we always order with the pita bread while we wait for our food to come out, and we're going to ask for our bread to come WITH our meal rather than before. That way we won't load up on pitas and garlic sauce and then eat a huge meal.

I ate really well yesterday and today (tons of veggies and fruit). Today I've been craving Easter candy. I went to K Mart with Jerry so he could buy a new lunch cooler, and they had these HUGE Reese's peanut butter eggs. I really wanted one, but resisted. Then I saw these Reese's Pieces eggs, and those looked really good too. But I keep reminding myself that I have GOT to get my weight back down before this extra 5 pounds turns into 20 and then 50 and then 100.

We got a storm this afternoon and our power has been on and off all afternoon. I better post this while it's back on!

By the way, thanks so much for all of your votes on the Fitness magazine blog award! I can't believe how quickly I've caught up to a lot of the other bloggers. I'm sure it's just a promotional tool for the Fitness website, but it's still fun to be in the running :)

March 29, 2012

Hungry for Change

I was supposed to meet up with a bunch of the girls that ran Sunday's half-marathon today for breakfast, but I was so tired this morning that I decided to just stay at home and be lazy. It's weird, I went from insomniac to sleeping like a rock over the past week. Normally, I'm bouncing out of bed at 6:00, but lately I've been dragging myself out of bed at 7ish. I'm thinking it may have something to do with all the miles I've been running recently.

Anyway, I decided to watch a film called Hungry for Change online. It's free to watch online until March 31st. I really liked the film Food, Inc. and this is by the same producers. I wish I had watched it before I tried my "real foods challenge" last month. It's very eye-opening about sugar, high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, and all kinds of stuff that harms your body.

I LOVED this film, and I'm probably going to buy it so that I can watch it again and again when I need a reminder of why I need to cut back on the sugar ;) The film recommends juicing, and I don't think I will ever hop on that bandwagon, but I am willing to add more fruits and veggies to my diet. I was so inspired by the film that I went to the fruit/veggie market after watching and picked up a lot of produce. I got all of this for $28 (and that's including an 8 oz wedge of parmesan cheese $$):

I've decided to make it a goal to use all of it up before it goes bad. That's a challenge in my house. I buy produce with good intentions, but end up throwing half of it away because nobody eats it. So I washed and chopped up the veggies and made them easy and accessible for me and the family. I made some hummus for dipping.

I think my kids just may find them appealing, if I give them some ranch dressing for dipping, of course.

One of the things that the film points out is that you shouldn't worry about cutting things OUT of your diet, but focus more on fitting things IN--like the veggies and fruits. Once you fit those in, the other stuff starts to get pushed out.

Anyway, check out the film, it's worth your time!! And it's only free until March 31st.

I was reading my Runner's World magazine today and came across this page that seemed was printed just for me:

It says to limit your reward calories after a run to 200--or 400 for a "really" long run. Bahahaha, I have been rewarding myself with nearly all the calories burned on my really long runs, and about half the calories burned on my other runs. Maybe that is why my weight is up 5 pounds ;) I really should try and cut back, but low-fat ice cream does not seem like a "reward" to me. I'll stick with the good stuff, and just try to have a smaller portion.

I was just notified today that my blog was nominated for Fitness Magazine's 2012 Fitterati blog awards for "Best Weight Loss Blog". Thanks so much to whomever nominated me! However, the other nominees have been up for about a month now, so I'm way behind the game.

March 28, 2012

Burnt out

Over the past couple of days, I've realized that I am feeling very burnt out on running. It was especially apparent after the half-marathon, when all of my friends (except Jess) are done training now, and I still have a long way to go until the marathon.

I'm only running four days a week, so I know I'm not over-training. I am just at the point where I completely dread going for a run. I've always dreaded running, but nothing like this. Jessica sent me a text yesterday that said, "I just want to tell you that I don't want to run tomorrow. I'm still going to, but I don't want to." Hahaha, that was exactly how I was feeling about it too.

Our medium length run is now 8 miles. So we made plans to meet today for that. I'm glad we did, otherwise I would probably have procrastinated all day. We agreed to go slow and easy, since neither of us wanted to run today. A "lazy run", if that isn't an oxymoron ;)

I brought a peanut butter Gu and some lemon lime Powerade. I checked the website of the marathon, and they are going to have the lemon lime Powerade throughout the course, so I want to train with it and see how my body reacts to it.

We had a very uneventful 8-mile out-and-back run. At mile 5, I ate my Gu and sipped some Powerade. I felt fine with it, so I think I'll bring it along on our 16-miler on Monday. Right now, I don't even want to think about 16 miles. I have another 4-mile run this week, which I'll probably do on Friday, and then take Saturday and Sunday as rest days, like usual. I really feel like I need them, both mentally and physically.

When I got home, I made a breakfast that I've been having a lot lately. Last week at Kroger, I noticed that they had a bunch of boxes of my favorite cereal on 'manager's special', because they are going to expire in a couple of months. Logically, I knew that buying some and bringing it home was asking for trouble... but I did what any normal person would do and I bought 5 boxes. (What can I say, they were only $1.49!)

I wanted to make sure that I didn't do what I did last time I had this cereal in the house, so I tried using it as an ingredient rather than the main course for my breakfast.

I peeled and chopped an apple, and sprinkled it with cinnamon, then threw it in the microwave for 2 minutes to get it soft. Then I sprinkled on 1/3 cup of the granola, and drizzled with a tablespoon of almond butter. The whole combination was REALLY good. The texture was perfect too.

You know I'm always talking about Hal Higdon's training programs, but I just got his book Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide from the library and I LOVE it so far! The first couple of chapters would probably get anyone excited about doing a marathon. I'm only about 1/4 of the way through the book, but I've gotten a lot of helpful tips so far. It's geared more toward a full marathon, but people training to do a half-marathon would benefit from it as well.

I just read a part last night about feeling burnt out about running, and if you feel that way, it's probably from training too hard. Which makes sense, because I just did a half-marathon race that I wasn't "supposed" to do (it wasn't in my training schedule). I'm going to make sure I take my easy runs very easy, and my long runs even easier. I need to get out of the race-mindset.

My Ragnar team is trying to come up with a team name... something clever that incorporates the fact that we've lost a lot of weight. Any ideas? (By the way, we have not chosen our 12th team member yet--we're working on it though. I will introduce the person when we do.)

Oh, by the way, I posted a bunch of blogs on the "Blog List" page... so if you're looking for something to read, take a look! A lot of those blogs were new to me, and I'm super excited to check them out as well.

March 27, 2012

A blog list

I don't know what was wrong with me this morning, but I was SO tired when I woke up. It was 6:30, which is later than I usually get up, but I had to drag myself out of bed to get the kids up for school. I was really tempted to take another rest day, but I knew I would feel guilty if I did that, so I decided to get my 4-mile run out of the way.

My legs were a little tired, but I feel pretty good. I expected to be much more sore after Sunday's half-marathon. Oh, I got the race photos today... I added them to the race report post.

It was kind of cold this morning--30 degrees, which is much colder than it has been lately. So I wore my running tights and a long sleeved shirt, gloves, and headband to keep my ears warm. I actually wished I had worn my fleece, too.

When I got home, I took a shower and then decided to use some almond meal my mom bought me. She went to the Detroit Eastern Market on Saturday morning, and I was really excited when she told me that she bought it for me. She said it sounded like something I would like.

I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I decided to try making a one-minute muffin using the almond flour instead of flaxseed. (I thought I was brilliant for thinking of this idea, until I later looked online and thousands of other people already did this, haha).

I combined 1/4 cup almond flour + 1 beaten egg + 1 Tbsp. Torani sugar free chocolate syrup + 1 Tbsp. cocoa powder + 1/4 tsp. baking powder in a mug, and then microwaved it for 60 seconds. The result? A beautiful chocolate muffin! Which I spread with peanut butter, of course.

There is a certain question that I've been asked dozens of times, but I always avoid it. People want to know a list of blogs that I read, because they're not sure how to go about finding blogs similar to mine. I don't want to hurt feelings of people whose blogs I may not read, so I don't have a public blog roll.

In fact, I don't read a LOT of blogs--probably only about 15-20. I don't read food blogs, because they are a binge trigger for me. And I don't read any blog that has one of those gadgets that say, "A visitor from Detroit, MI!" or whatever city--I hate feeling "spied on". I don't follow any of the "big" blogs with thousands of readers, because I much prefer smaller, friendlier, more "quaint" blogs.

My intention with my blog was to keep it small, friendly, and quaint--which is why I didn't even tell my friends and family that I was writing a blog--but it kind of blew up on Pinterest. I'm happy to have a lot of readers, but I still try to keep my blog warm and friendly, and I always respond to reader e-mails.

So because my blog has gotten quite a few readers, I can't possibly read all of the blogs of my readers. When I get a comment from a new reader, I always check out their blog (if it's linked). But as far as blogs I read regularly, I read a few running blogs and a few weight loss/maintenance blogs, and that's it.

So I've avoided the question of a blog roll for those reasons. But in order to have some sort of blog list that you can see at a glance, I've created a "Blog List" page. Here, there is a form you can fill out about your blog. I will compile the information on that page, and when you want to find a blog to read, you can do so--by category, with a small description of the blog.

So if you have a blog that you would like me to link to, feel free to fill out the form and I'll add it to my list. (Thanks, Detroit Runner, for the idea!)

March 26, 2012

Reader Questions & Answers #6

Normally, I do this post on Sundays, but since I had my half-marathon yesterday, I saved it for today...

On Sundays, I will answer some readers' questions in a post. If you have a question that you would like me to answer here on the blog, just send me an e-mail with the subject "Q&A", and I may include them in a future Q&A post. They don't have to be about weight loss or running--anything is game! (Remember, I'm not a doctor or dietician, or any sort of medical professional--I can only answer questions from my own experience).

Q. Which character from the hit TV series "Friends" is your favorite and why? Also, which "friend" could you see yourself hanging out with in real life and why?

A. Love this question!! I can honestly say that I've never been asked this one before. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I would have to say Chandler. I love a sarcastic sense of humor! Could Chandler BE any more sarcastic?

I could see myself hanging out with Chandler for sure (his goofiness reminds me a lot of Jerry). I would say Monica, but she and I are a LOT alike (very bossy, kind of nerdy, type A personalities...) so I think we would butt heads. I love Joey and I think he would be fun to hang out with too!

Q. How do you manage not going out to eat with friends and family during the week or on the weekend? It seems you have a pretty close-knit group of friends and your family live nearby so I would think it would be hard not getting together and eating.

A. I honestly don't have much of a social life. I go out with friends once a month for Winers (my wine club). Winers is always after dinnertime, so while I was losing weight, I just skipped the food at Winers and just had a glass of wine. Just recently, Jessica and I have been going out to lunch after our long runs. Other than that, however, I never go out to eat.

When I was losing weight, and someone wanted to go out to eat, I would do one of two things: 1) If it was something I really wanted to do, I would look up the menu online and figure out exactly what I was going to order (and a back-up order in case they were out of what I wanted). Then I would stick to that plan no matter what. Or, 2) I would decline the offer.

If declining going out to eat, I would suggest something else--want to go bowling after dinner? Go see a movie? Take the kids to the zoo? Stuff like that, where I didn't have to eat.

Eating out, for me, ALWAYS makes my weight go up quickly, no matter what I order or how little I eat. And I'm very cheap with my money, so I don't want to spend the money on one meal when I could spend the same amount and feed my entire family at home.

I've never been extremely social or had a lot of friends, so I wasn't constantly turning down offers ;) The most frustrating was when my mom would ask us to come over for dinner at her house. She lives less than a mile from me, and she always invites us over. She likes to cook, and she makes some good (i.e. highly caloric) food. I explained to her that I was following my food plan and I didn't want to eat dinner, but I would come over with the family and I would bring my own food.

Going to a race expo can be way more fun than pigging out!

And I did just that. I would make a dinner for me and bring it with me, then sit down and eat with everyone. It took a long time for my mom to realize that I wasn't going to give in. She wasn't trying to sabotage me, but she didn't understand how serious I was about losing weight.

Now, I still don't have many friends, but the friends I do have understand my way of doing things now. Renee and Jessica are my closest friends, and I feel very comfortable telling them thanks, but no thanks to certain foods sometimes. They're used to it, and they don't push me to eat things when I've told them I "can't" right now.

The best part is, I've made some running friends--so instead of getting together for dinner, we get together to run. Doesn't sound like much fun, but I've had some great conversations while running with my friends, and I've met some great girls as well.

I think it all boils down to what YOU want most, and what will help you reach your goals. If you know that eating out is going to throw you off track for your goal, then don't feel guilty telling your friends/family "thanks, but no thanks"! Just suggest something else you can do, that doesn't involve food. Something else I do is get together after dinner for a glass or two of wine--it's social, it's fun, and it only costs 100-200 calories.

Q. I really need some advice from an ex-non-runner. I just started training for a half marathon and I'm trying to increase my mileage (following a program) and I've decided my problem isn't so much my stamina, but my brain. I can pump myself up all I want for a run and be so excited about the weather, but the moment I take my first running step I start to talk myself out of it. I tell myself I'm tired, or hot, or fill in the blank. How do you (or did you) get past this? Maybe you never had this problem, but I'm really in dire need for some advice in this area. Thanks in advance!

A. Ask any runner about this, and they will tell you that running is as much mental as it is physical, if not more so. I have the same problem as you on most of my runs. It's easy for me to get out there, but the second I start running, I want it to be over.

For this reason, I make sure that I am always training for a race of some sort--that way, I have a training schedule that I have to stick to. I will know that if I skip a run, or cut it short, I won't be able to meet my goal for the race I'm training for.

I print out my schedule (I always use Hal Higdon's race training programs), and I keep it hanging in my kitchen. After I do my scheduled run, I highlight it so that I can see where I'm at in the training. It gives me a sense of satisfaction to cross it off. And being the Type A that I am, it would bug the heck out of me if I skipped a few runs and didn't have those highlighted marks ;)

You can see that I missed a 3-mile run the second week of training. I hate seeing that white spot! ;)

Another thing I will do to stay motivated to run is reward myself, especially on my long run days. I know you're not "supposed" to reward yourself with food, but I do--and it works for me. If I know that I'm going to have an awesome cookie after a long run, I get excited to finish that long run! Jessica and I have been rewarding ourselves with lunch at La Pita (or Whole Foods) after our long runs, and we both find that it makes us look forward to our runs.

We don't feel guilty for eating that many calories for lunch because we burned a heck of a lot on our run. Just make sure that if you reward yourself with a treat, it doesn't exceed the calories you burned, or you're defeating the purpose ;)

And now, a question for all of you...

Which Friends character are you most like?

As I said above, Monica and I are very much alike in our personalities. Which is kind of funny, because I don't like her personality! haha

March 25, 2012

Rock CF Rivers Half Marathon race report

Let me start by saying that I am so glad I didn't go into this race with the expectation of hitting my sub-2:00 goal! Today was not my day for racing, apparently.

It took me forever to fall asleep last night, and I didn't sleep well at all. I woke up before my alarm, at 4:15 this morning. I had oat bran for breakfast with milk and peanut butter, and a cup of tea. Then I drove to meet Jessica, Renee, and Andrea, and Renee drove to the race, picking up Alicia and Stephanie as well.

Alicia, Jessica, Andrea, me, Renee, Julia

The race was scheduled to start at 7:30, and we got there pretty early, so we took a couple of pictures while we waited. Then we waited in the long bathroom lines, of course. I got to the starting line about 2 minutes before the race started--and it started right on time, which was great.

I brought along my iPod, which I've never done for a race before. I remembered how awful my last race on Grosse Ile was (the Run Happy 8K), and nobody was talking during that race. I figured it would be the same, quiet run today, so I brought the iPod.

I popped a Clif Shot Blok in my mouth right as the race started, because I usually get caught up in the excitement, go too fast, and get a really dry mouth. Having the shot blok helped a lot. Almost immediately, I spotted a someone about 5 people deep in front of me with a shirt that had "watchmegorun.com" on the back--and I realized that I read her blog. So I tried to catch up to her to say hello, but there were too many people (and she was definitely speedier than me).

I tried to settle into a comfortable pace right away, but it was hard. There were a lot of people, and the race course bottle-necked us a couple of times right at the start. About a mile or so in, Johna (who I ran with a few times with Jessica in the beginning of our marathon training) came up from behind, and we ran together for a couple of miles. I had a bad muscle cramp in my left side from the very start of the race, and it was then that I realized today was definitely not my day for hitting the sub-2:00, so I was glad I stuck to my 'B' goal (which was to PR).

At mile 4, I ate a chocolate Gu that the race was handing out, and that gave me a little pick-me-up, so I sped up and that was the last I saw of Johna. Once I got to mile 6 or so, I was really looking forward to the water stations. I was thirsty! But they were more sporadic than I would have liked. I wished I had brought my water bottle belt thing.

At around mile 7, I was staying right on pace with this one guy for a while--we were running side by side. Then he'd pass me, and I'd pass him, and so on, playing leap frog until I passed him at mile 9 and didn't see him again until later.

I chatted with a woman for a minute about her Nathan handheld water bottle, asking if she liked it. At mile 10 or so, I felt like my legs suddenly turned to lead. The fatigue hit me fast. I ate my 'emergency' Gu from my SPI belt, and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I wanted it to be over so badly!

At around mile 11, that guy from earlier passed me. I said, "Hey, not YOU again! I thought I passed you!" But I knew I had slowed down, and I was fine with that. I knew I would still PR, by quite a bit. I felt like I was dying for water the last 5 miles or so, but they had finally had a water station at mile 11, which I definitely needed. I drank two cups and kept moving along. The last mile felt really long.

I kind of wished I didn't bring my iPod with me, because a lot of the people on the course were friendly. I probably could have had some good conversations. I put the iPod in my SPI belt at mile 12, so I could be all-ears for the last mile.

I finally saw the finish line. We had to enter a high school track and run half a lap to finish. It was then that I heard Andrea yell out to me, "GO KATIE" really loud, and that boosted my spirits, which were feeling crappy at that point. (Steph was kind enough to take some pics of me--I wish I knew that, so I looked a little nicer for the camera!)

The clock said 2:03:47 (which was more than my chip time), and I knew I crushed my previous PR of 2:10:40. I waved to Renee at the last minute and stuck my tongue out (as in, "Ugh, I'm so exhausted!") and I think that's probably what was captured in my race finish line photo, haha.

The Garmin time isn't my "official" result, but it's close:

I saw Alicia, but all I could think about was to find water. I was dying! I got my medal (they had soldiers handing them out, which I thought was so cool!) I thanked him for his service (the military, not handing out medals, haha), then went to find water. I grabbed two bottles, and chugged the first one down fast. Then I went and sat with Renee (1:48:??) and Alicia (who just said she had the worst race of her life, but she still beat me and PR'ed) and Stephanie (who walked the 5K, her first race, in 40:xx! That's a super fast walk). We saw Johna finish at 2:09:xx, and then Jessica at 2:13:xx (a PR for her).

While I was walking, I saw a very pregnant half-marathon finisher who looked familiar--so I said hi and introduced myself (I read her blog, but I don't think she had a clue who I was).

We went to check out the food, and they had PANERA bagels and homemade cookies--if my stomach felt up to it, I would have eaten some serious carb calories. I did take a blueberry bagel and a macaroon. I ate the macaroon right away, and it was AMAZING. But my stomach wasn't feeling up to the bagel, so I brought it home for lunch, and it was delicious.

Stopped for a group picture on the way to the car:

Me, Alicia, Andrea, Jessica, Stephanie, and Renee

My "official" results:
Chip time: 2:02:57 (9:23/mi pace) (crushed my previous PR of 2:10:40)
Overall placement: 454/834 (I was in the bottom half of finishers... good grief!)
Age group: 32/75

And my splits:

You can see where miles 12 and 13 were where I just felt exhausted--going from 9:09 to 9:31 and 9:36.

I'll post the race photos when they're ready on the website. Overall, I'm happy that I PR'ed, and I'm happy I didn't go for the sub-2:00, because I think I would have been very disappointed. The race was good, I would probably do it again next year--except I'd bring my own water for the course.

Race photos are in! A couple of good ones, a couple of bad ones...