Long runs are all relative

If my plans hadn't changed because of the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy, I would be writing this post from New York right now. But I am very happy with my decision not to go, and I'm grateful to be home and safe with my family this weekend. If you haven't heard, the NYC Marathon was also canceled--that is a very big deal! I've been hoping they'd make the decision to cancel. The whole thing just didn't feel right, with all the stuff going on there right now. I think they should have canceled it sooner than today, however. I'm sure a lot of people flew into NYC today for the race.

Since I would no longer be running the 5K in NYC on Saturday, I had to change up my running schedule. I took the 5K race off and added a long run for today.

Six miles.

It feels strange to call six miles a "long" run, after the marathon training I did, but I am SO happy to have my long runs be the distance that my short runs were all summer! I'll gradually build up my long runs again to 12 miles before the Ragnar Relay. Obviously, I'm capable of running 12 miles right now, but I am looking forward to a reduction in miles for the next couple of months.

I dressed in my UA Cold Gear tights and a long sleeved shirt with a (super bright yellow) t-shirt on top. I was going to be running on the shoulder of a busy road, so I wanted to be visible. It was in the mid-30's when I headed out this morning, and after a few miles, I actually wished I'd left my gloves and ear warmer headband at home.

The goal on my schedule was a 10:34/mi pace, but I just decided to run at whatever felt comfortable. There were a lot of cars on the road for the first couple of miles, and it was irritating to have to keep running onto the gravel shoulder every time a car was coming my way. A lot of cars move over into the other lane to give me some space, but I never trust a driver while I'm running, so I always play it safe and get over as far as I can when I run on the road. I do like running on the road, though--for some reason, the miles seem to go by faster.

I was feeling good for the last mile, so I picked up the pace a little. When I finished, I had that really great runner's high that I love!

When I uploaded my run, I saw that I am less than 8 miles away from reaching 1,000 miles this year. I always thought it would be cool to run 1,000 miles in a year--if you average it out, it's about 2.74 miles every single day. Reaching 1,000 miles will likely never happen again for me; I trained for and ran not just one, but two marathons this year. Since I'm not going to be doing another marathon, my mileage probably won't get up that high.

When you add up all those calories, it is the equivalent of 29 pounds of fat that I burned while running this year!

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Estelle has been obsessed with Noah's trick-or-treat bag. She always loves to climb inside of everything, but she was really into this bag. We picked her up while she was in it, and hung it up on our coat rack. She thought it was SO cool to be perched up and hidden like that. It was hilarious to watch her peek her head out, and then duck back inside.

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I've been watching The Walking Dead recently. I don't know how I agreed to watch it, because I absolutely HATE anything having to do with zombies (I even go out of my way to avoid watching zombie movies, because I think they're stupid). But Jerry absolutely loves the show, and I told him I'd watch the first episode of season one on Netflix.

Well, I watched it, and now I'm completely hooked! I still hate the zombie parts, but the majority of the show is more about the people that are surviving rather than the zombies; I've gotten really hooked on the story lines of the people, and I keep watching to see what happens next. Jerry cannot contain his excitement that I like the show ;)

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13 pounds of candy

So Halloween last night was cold, but at least it stopped raining for the trick-or-treaters. I volunteered to go pick my brother Brian up from the airport in the afternoon, and on the way home, we stopped at Kroger. I got a bottle of wine to have a glass while we sat outside that night. Then we went to my mom's house for dinner and to celebrate Mark's birthday before trick-or-treating.

I wasn't planning on eating cake, but my mom made homemade cupcakes with buttercream frosting, and I decided to eat one. I also planned on eating a lot of candy--I had survived the entire season so far without a single piece of Halloween candy, and I had promised myself that I could eat as much as I wanted on Halloween night.

After dinner, I had to drive Noah and Eli to meet up with Jerry, who was taking them trick-or-treating at his parents' house. Then I went back to my parents' house and sat outside near the fire. My dad always puts copper in the fire so that it makes different colors while it burns--it's really cooling looking, but the picture doesn't do it justice:

You can see a little of the blue and purple there. The fire felt great, because it was freezing outside. I brought a long, warm winter coat, gloves, and a hat, and I was still cold. I was drinking red wine, which you are supposed to drink at a warmer temp (about 60 degrees, give or take) and by the time I was halfway through my glass, the wine had gotten too cold (of course I finished it anyway!).

My parents were giving out Reese's Cups and Kit Kat bars (full size ones), and I chose to have the Reese's. I went home at 8:00, and the boys came home about a half hour later. They had SO much candy! We weighed their bags, and they each had 6 1/2 pounds. They dumped it out on the floor and we sorted it all out.

Estelle was keeping inventory

Eli doesn't like Butterfingers, and I happen to love them, so he was giving me his Butterfingers as he came across them. As I ate the candy, I saved the wrappers so that I could tally up the PointsPlus later. I ended up eating 5 Butterfingers, a PayDay, an Almond Joy, a Tootsie Roll, a Take-Five (all fun-size), and a mini Reese's Cup. I could have eaten more, but I felt satisfied enough to stop when I did. The damage wasn't too bad! I counted those against my weekly PointsPlus, and I didn't even blow through all of them.

It was hard to resist eating any candy today, but I told my kids not to give me any more, even if I ask. They are more than willing to share with me, but I told them that I don't need any more, so please don't let me have any ;)

The kids didn't have school today, so I had to do my run on the treadmill this morning. I had three miles at race pace on the schedule for today. My race pace for the Ragnar Relay is 9:00/mi. So I just set the treadmill to 6.7 mph (8:54/mi pace) and ran for three miles. It was over so quickly! I'm used to doing six miles on the treadmill from marathon training, so three flew by. Love that :)

I got an e-mail today from NYRR about the 5K that I was registered for on Saturday in NYC:

They canceled it. There are absolutely NO refunds or other compensation for our registration ($55). I think at the very least, they should donate that money to the relief efforts to clean up after the hurricane. I know they've already ordered shirts and and bibs, but there is no way those cost $55.

However, I'm glad I am missing the race because it's canceled, rather than missing it just because I chose not to go. The more I read about the aftermath of the hurricane, the better I feel about my decision not to go. I feel so awful for all the people that are still dealing with problems with their homes, and power outages and all that. I read today about the woman whose two little boys died--they had been ripped from her arms in the flood, and were missing, and today, their bodies were found. Reading about that completely broke my heart--the boys were 2 and 4, and as you know, I have two boys that are two years apart.

I hate to end on a sad note, so go check out these pictures on BuzzFeed--26 Truly Inspiring Images from Hurricane Sandy. Seeing things like that makes me feel good!

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Halloween (and Wed. Weigh In)

I had a great weigh-in today! After having stayed the same last week, I was hoping for a nice number this morning.

My weight was 138.5, which is down 2.5 pounds from last week. My body fat is 23.2%, which is down from 24% last week. Waist change is (as always) negligible. When I logged my weight into Weight Watchers Online this morning, I discovered that I had reached the 10% milestone that was set on the day I started WW a little over 7 weeks ago.

Now I am just 1.5 pounds away from being back in my "goal range" of 133-137. It's been a LONG time since I was in that range--I think April? Anyway, I'm very happy with the weigh in!

Speaking of Weight Watchers, I got some good news yesterday! I didn't know this before, but Jerry's work will pay for employees and/or their spouses to do Weight Watchers meetings. Now, I've never had a good experience with the Weight Watchers' meetings, but I'm willing to give them a try again. It's been many years since the last time I went to a meeting, so I'm going to give it a fair shot.

As further incentive to go, if I don't attend at least 8 of the 12 consecutive meetings, we will have to reimburse Jerry's work for half of the fee--so that alone will make me do it! I am just hoping that I don't feel like I'm being judged for being the "thin person" in the Weight Watchers meeting--nobody will know that I used to weigh 115 pounds more than I do now. The last time I went in there, just to buy a journal, the receptionist was really rude and made a remark that made me feel judged.

The meetings certainly aren't necessary, but by being a meetings member, I can get free access to the e-tools (logging my food online) and the iPhone app. The accountability of getting weighed in front of a real, live person over the holidays certainly can't hurt, either.

I think it's awesome that Jerry's work is doing their part to help get their employees and families to get healthy--they pay for a lot of the local races that I've done, and now WW. I hope that the employees use it, so that the company continues to do it.

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Renee decided not to run the marathon in NYC. I feel absolutely awful for her, but she has already made other plans so that her marathon training wasn't for nothing. She's going to run the marathon in Indianapolis on Saturday, and her family is going with her (just as they were for NY). I know she's bummed about missing out on NY, but I really don't think the race will be the same with all the stuff going on there right now. She is able to defer her entry until next year, so she may end up doing that (although she'll have to pay for it again, AND do all the training again!).

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Tonight is one of my favorite nights of the year! For as long as I can remember, at least in the past decade or so, we've gone to my parents' house on Halloween night. We pass out candy to trick-or-treaters, but we also celebrate Mark's birthday. My dad always picks Mark up from the group home where he lives, and then we have dinner, birthday cake, and ice cream; we give Mark presents; and then we go outside for trick-or-treating. My dad makes a little fire in the driveway, so we can sit around it and stay warm while the trick-or-treaters come.

Jerry usually takes Noah and Eli trick-or-treating around my parents' neighborhood, but this year things are going to be different. Noah and Eli are old enough to realize that the neighborhood isn't great for trick-or-treating (there aren't many kids out, and the houses are far apart). So my boys requested to go to their other grandparents' neighborhood this year.

I really didn't want to miss Mark's birthday, and I just learned that my brother Brian is coming in, so I'd like to see him. Jerry is going to take the boys to his parents' house for trick-or-treating, while I stay at my parents' house to pass out candy and visit with everyone. My kids couldn't care less if I go with them, anyways!

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Revolution

Shortly after I finished typing my blog post last night, we lost power. I thought, being in Michigan, we wouldn't feel much effect from the hurricane, but the wind was really strong. The power was going off and on all day, but then at around 7, it didn't come back on.

Normally, once Jerry and I put the kids to bed at 8, we get cozy on the couch and watch "our" shows together. Without power, we were just kind of staring at each other, wondering what to do. It's funny how much we rely on electricity for entertainment! We don't get good cell service at our house, so we couldn't use the internet on our phones. We decided to actually have a real, uninterrupted, distraction-free conversation (with alcohol).

I poured a (large) glass of wine, and Jerry opened a beer. We lit some candles and just sat on our bed chatting. We laughed about the irony of missing the show Revolution because we had no power (if you're not familiar with the show, it's about the entire country losing all power for many years). Chandler, Paolo, and Phoebe were all up on the bed with us. It's rare to have three cats up there! One or two, almost always.

Then a couple of hours later, the power came back on, which was a relief. Usually when our power goes out due to a storm, it's out for at least 24 hours. The wind was still really strong, and I could hear freezing rain hitting the windows all night.

This morning, I immediately turned on the news to see the damage from the hurricane on the east coast. I've been so worried about my trip to NY, and not sure what to do about it. Once I saw that the subways were flooded, and they said it could take many days to get them running again, I started to think that maybe I should call Delta and see if they could refund my flight.

This was from my brother's (pilot) friend's Facebook page

On their website, they were offering refunds for flights up to Nov. 1st--my flight was on Nov. 2nd. So I called and waited on the phone for about 15 minutes until I could speak to someone. I asked about a refund, but they told me no, my flight was non-refundable.

I got a Facebook message from Jennifer, who is still stuck in Florida. She said that her flight was moved again, this time until Saturday. So even if I made it to NY (Newark, actually, is where I'd be flying into), Jennifer wouldn't be there. I decided to try Delta on Twitter--I sent a tweet to the Delta Assist, asking about a refund. They had me message my confirmation number, and then they issued a refund for my ticket! I was so surprised--I thought I'd never see that money again.

I'm sure I could have found a place to stay (a reader even kindly offered for me to stay with her), but with the public transportation being down right now, I was worried about getting around while in NY. I also would have had to get (quickly) from the race Sunday to the airport in Newark, and have my bags with me--a mess.

So anyway, I'm relieved I was able to get a refund on my flight. Now I'm only out the $55 for the 5K race registration (that race is on Saturday). I'm hugely disappointed about missing out on seeing Renee in the marathon, but it seems it just wasn't in the cards for me to go this weekend.

A couple of hours after the freezing rain stopped this morning, I decided to do my three-mile run outside. I thought for sure I would wind up on the treadmill, but I bundled up for the run outside. It was still really windy.

A couple of times during the first mile, I felt a gust of wind at my back that propelled me forward, and I felt like I was flying! But the last mile felt pretty tough, because the wind was blowing right in my face ;)

After lunch, I sent Renee a text telling her the situation with the marathon, and she asked if I wanted to get together for coffee/tea. I met up with her and we talked about the situation. I feel really bad for her! This was her fourth year applying to get into the NYC marathon, and she has been really excited to go. Now, she said she's not even sure if she's going, for a host of reasons that are understandable.

The race is at least letting runners defer their entries until next year, but they will have to pay the HUGE registration fee again ($255). I hope that she's able to go and have a great time, but if not, she said she's going to find another marathon to do so that all of her training doesn't go to waste.

Jerry is off work Friday-Monday (he was going to be here with the kids while I was gone), so now I'm thinking I'd like to plan something fun to do to take my mind off of missing out on NY.

Oh, and speaking of Jerry, he was disappointed that I forgot to post this picture yesterday:

I was standing at the stove, cooking dinner, and I kept complaining that my toes were completely numb from being so cold. So Jerry sat there and massaged my feet while I was cooking. (I think he just wanted me to post this picture so that he can show everyone how good I have it!)

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Speed work on the track

It was windy today! Jerry was off work, so I wanted to get my run done early to hang out with him. We got the kids ready for school and sent them off on the bus, and then I drove to the high school track to do speed work.

On my schedule: 6x400 at 7:51 (ish) pace. That means I would run six repeats of 400 meters (one lap around the inside of the track, or 1/4 mile) at a 7:51 ish pace. In between repeats, I can do whatever form of recovery I want, so I decided to do 200 meters of walking (half of the track).

I could feel the wind pushing on my car, which made me really want to skip my run, but I was kind of excited to do speed work. Once I got to the school, and stepped outside, I was freezing! The wind was really strong, and there was a mist in the air, making it even colder. I considered going home and doing the intervals on the treadmill, but since I was already there, decided to just get 'er done.

I started with a lap of easy running to warm-up. Then I picked up the speed for my first repeat. I had no clue what my pace was, since this was the first time I'd done speed work in a really long time, so I decided just to run really hard.

"Hard" is an understatement! Track workouts are supposed to be hard, and make you feel like you're going to puke afterward, so I knew I was on track (haha) for a good workout. When I was running into the wind, it was hard to even breathe--it was like the wind just whipped the air right out of my lungs.

I was very tempted to call it quits after just three repeats, because it was tough and not "fun" anymore ;)  But again, I was already there and halfway done, so I told myself, "Just one more, then you can quit." I kept going, and finally finished all six 400-meter repeats. I was kind of surprised to see that I was pretty close to my goal pace! Here are my splits for each interval (the first number is the min:sec to circle the track, second number is the pace)

Lap 1- 1:53 (7:34/mi pace)
Lap 2- 1:55 (7:40/mi pace)
Lap 3- 1:58 (7:53/mi pace)
Lap 4- 1:57 (7:52/mi pace)
Lap 5- 1:59 (7:56/mi pace)
Lap 6- 1:56 (7:44/mi pace)

I was so glad when it was over! Even though track intervals feel like torture, they are still kind of fun to me. It's not very often (like, never) that I see a 7 in front of my pace!

When I got home and showered, Jerry and I decided to watch a movie--and I chose The Day After Tomorrow, because I've been consumed with Hurricane Sandy. After the movie, we went to a few stores where I had things to return. At Hobby Lobby, I heard an employee say, "There's an alarm going off at Wal-Mart, and they evacuated the building." That was our next stop, so I was wondering what it was all about.

When we got there, tons of people were leaving the parking lot. I was confused, because there were still people going inside the store. So we parked and went in, and up to the service desk for our return. There, we learned that some guy got mad at the employee working there, so he ran and pulled the fire alarm on the wall, then ran out of the store. So that's why everyone was leaving.

We picked up a few groceries that we needed, and I noticed this:

Let me tell you, that stuff is SO good--but extremely caloric. I, however, cannot drink it anymore, because I associate it with a bad memory. After I had broken my jaw and was on a pure liquid diet (my jaws were wired shut), I had to get a lot of calories somehow. And when I saw this stuff at the store, I bought it. It was insanely good, and I pretty much lived off of it for a week or so. I can't even tell you how many cartons I went through!

Then I noticed that my tongue was feeling fuzzy and weird. Since I couldn't open my mouth, I had no idea what was going on. But it turns out that I had thrush from all the antibiotics I was taking! Thrush was not fun. And since I was drinking tons of this pumpkin spice eggnog at the time I got it, I associate the two, and this eggnog is forever ruined for me :(  Just as well, because it has a million calories per serving.

I have been craving rigatoni for some really strange reason (not any old pasta--it was specifically rigatoni), so I picked up the stuff to make it for dinner. My Ragnar team got into a discussion on Facebook about cottage cheese, and Mary and I both mentioned that we like cottage cheese with pasta sauce. So for dinner, I cooked rigatoni, and topped it with cottage cheese, spaghetti sauce, parmesan cheese, and a ton of fresh basil (I adore fresh basil). It was heavenly!

After taking the pic, I stirred it all together, and it looked really gross after that. But if you've never tried cottage cheese on your pasta, definitely give it a try.

I've been watching the news all afternoon, keeping tabs on the hurricane. It's kind of unbelievable how bad it's supposed to get. I just hope they're wrong. Stay safe, everyone!

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First post-marathon run

Change of plans last night--no ice cream cone for me :(

When I was getting ready to take the boys trunk-or-treating, I bundled up because last year was freezing; then when I stepped outside, I thought, "Wow, it's not cold!" and I took off all my layers, wearing just a hoodie and jeans instead. That was a big mistake.

We picked up my dad, and then went to the church. As soon as I got out of the car, I felt how windy and cold it was, and immediately wished I'd brought all my layers with me. The longer we stayed, the less appealing ice cream was sounding. Eli's doughnut looked really good, and I thought about getting one instead, but at that point, I really just wanted to go home and sit under my electric blanket.

He had powdered sugar all over himself after that (this photo was after he wiped some off). Seeing him with the powdered sugar on his face reminded me of a picture I took a long time ago, after the boys got into a container of baby powder while I was in the shower...

My entire living room was covered in powder in the 10 minutes it took me to shower. When I came out, Noah (who was three at the time), was using a towel to "clean it up" (read: spread it around even more). They were both covered in powder, and it was so funny that I couldn't even be mad. I took pictures and video :)

Anyway, I was too cold to even think about ice cream, so I decided to just save the PointsPlus for another day.

This morning, I did my first post-marathon run. Normally, I don't run on Sundays, but if my kids aren't home, then sometimes I do shift things around. They stayed the night at my parents' house last night, so this morning, I got out of bed and dressed for the cold. It was in the mid-30's, so I wore a long-sleeved shirt and I even decided to wear gloves.

A company called Zensah sent me a pair of running gloves to review. They said that the fingertips have special fabric that allows you to use wear them while using a touch-screen device (iPod, iPhone, etc). I had no idea such a thing existed! I always wear the super cheap $1 knit gloves, and then I have to take them off every time I want to touch my iPod on a run.

I was skeptical that the gloves would actually work, so I tried them out immediately when I got them in the mail--and they worked! I thought maybe I'd have to try over and over again to touch the same button, or that there would be a delayed reaction (now that I type that, I realize that sounds kind of stupid...) but the tips on the gloves worked as if I wasn't wearing gloves at all.

Magical fingertips (and thumb tip) for touch-screen

The gloves were comfy to run in (I hate having sweaty hands, but they didn't feel sweaty in these), and I like how they look. My only complaint is the sizing. I measured my hand as instructed, and ordered a medium, but they are bigger than I would like. I like gloves to fit, well, like a glove--but these are loose, which you can see in the first picture above. So if you are interested in buying some, I would order a size smaller than it measures.

While I was running, I noticed that the thumb of the gloves is made of suede, which I thought was really strange. I spent a good mile and a half trying to figure out what the purpose of that was, but never did. Then as I was typing all this, I went to the description page, and it reads: "Micro suede thumb to wipe nose"... BAHAHA, I never would have guessed that's what the suede was for! Definitely going to try that out next time ;)  (Disclosure: Zensah gave me a pair of the gloves for free to review, but opinions are, as always, my own).

So anyway, this is the new schedule I am following (loosely) until the Ragnar Relay:

If you are actually interested, you can click to enlarge

I say "loosely" following, because I rarely run five days a week. So I may be skipping runs here and there, or switching them around. But right now, I'm really interested in running more often, but less mileage--shorter runs, but more of them. We'll see how long that lasts ;)  Also, the pace is just a guideline; I'm not going to be strict with that, either. I made this schedule based on Hal Higdon's Intermediate half-marathon training schedule, adding the paces based on a running calculator app on my phone.

So today was 3.5 miles at a 10:24/mi pace. Almost as soon as I started running, I was coughing. I thought my cold was getting better all week, because my head and congestion feel better; but while I was running, I was constantly coughing. Awesome. But I managed to finish, and my legs felt great.

It was pretty windy, and it's supposed to be really windy all week, because of the hurricane on the east coast.

I'm a little concerned about my trip to NYC next weekend getting canceled. Jennifer is stuck in Florida (she went on a Disney cruise with her family, and was supposed to go home today, but the flights were canceled); since I'm supposed to stay with her, I'm not sure what will happen if she's not home (or feeling up to a house guest!). I'm also wondering if my flight will be canceled anyway, depending on how badly NY gets hit with the storm.

I know those are just minor concerns compared to people who are having to deal with the storm (and its aftermath), so I hope it's not as bad as it's predicted to be!

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Halloween treats

The Halloween festivities have begun. And so far, I've managed not to eat a single piece of candy.

Last night, I took the kids to Renee's church for a Halloween party--pizza, games, crafts, and trick-or-treating throughout the church. The kids had a blast, but by the time we left, I was really looking forward to a glass of wine when we got home! It was pretty chaotic, and my boys always get rowdy in those situations when they are with their friends.

I ate dinner before I left the house, so that I wouldn't be tempted by pizza or other stuff that was there. They had doughnuts, cupcakes and other treats, but I just avoided the food table altogether. The kids brought home lots of candy, but I didn't even dig through it like I usually do--asking them to give me what they don't want! ;)

This morning, I was drinking tea in my pajamas, reading e-mail and Facebook stuff. I saw a post from Jessica about a theater that had a free showing of Ice Age 4 this morning at 10:00. It was 9:00 when I read it, and I made the split-second decision to take the kids to the show. We all threw on some clothes and got to the theater at about 9:35, just after they opened.

I was thinking that since it was a free show on a first-come first-served basis, that it would be wise to get there early. I was wrong. We went into the theater, and we were the only ones in there, among hundreds of seats!

The kids asked if they could run around in there, and I said sure, until someone else comes in. They had a blast running up and down all the stairs and across each aisle--no idea what is so fun about that! Eventually, someone else did come in, so they had to sit down. But I think that wore them out enough to sit through the movie.

I have to admit, I loved Ice Age 4! It's very rare for me to laugh out loud at the movies, but I was laughing throughout the whole thing. Now I want Jerry to see it, because I know he'd love it, too.

I was tempted to take the kids out to lunch while we were out, but we're really broke right now (we finally bought our tickets to Florida, and we had to pay for two nights of the hotel up front), so we went home after the show. I've been having the same thing almost every single day for lunch, and I'm hooked on it--an English muffin with cheese, egg whites, bacon, and caramelized onions, with a side of grapes (of course).

 Normally, I use whole eggs instead of egg whites, but since this has so many other flavors going on, I decided to cut back the PointsPlus and use the whites. The whole breakfast is only 4 PointsPlus.

This afternoon, one of the neighbors asked me to watch her son for a couple of hours, and then my mom's neighbor said her son would love to play, so I invited him over as well. Four boys, all between 6 & 8 years old for the afternoon... fun! :)  No, they were actually really well-behaved.

Tonight, I'm taking them "trunk-or-treating" at my parents' church. That's where a lot of the church members (usually in costume) back their cars up to a decorated pavilion, open up their trunks and pass out candy. It's basically just trick-or-treating without all the walking. In the past, it's been hard for me to resist the food there! They have apple cider, and cider doughnuts, popcorn, and tons of candy. I'm going to avoid everything there, and then maybe stop at McDonald's for a vanilla cone on the way home.

If I really wanted, I could plan on having a doughnut and popcorn and all that, and just count the PointsPlus for it, but I have a feeling that would lead to me getting out of control and gorging on candy. I would rather avoid it altogether, and then have the ice cream.

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The winner of the Sweaty Band giveaway is:

Congrats Mel! Please send me an e-mail at SlimKatie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com with your mailing address, and I will send it out to you. Let me know how it works for you, because I'm curious :)

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Racing plans

I have had the laziest week of my life! I promised myself a week of relaxation after the marathon, both to recover physically and for my mental health ;)

I still feel a runner's high from the marathon--and I'm so glad! I didn't feel this way after Cleveland at all, and that is why I ended up registering for another marathon almost immediately. I was seeking a runner's high from the first one, and when I didn't get it, I was disappointed enough to try again. Now that I got it, I am happy to take a week of worry-free relaxation.

But yesterday, I got really restless, and I was contemplating going for a run. I really felt like I needed this week off, however, so I went for a walk instead. I only walked for a mile, and it was more of a stroll--not with the purpose of burning calories, but just to stop feeling so lazy.

On Monday, I'll be starting a training schedule to stay in shape for the Ragnar Relay. I'm going to train as if I were running a 10-mile race (the longest leg I have to run in Florida is 8.8 miles). I also trying to decide between two half-marathons for spring--either the Martian half-marathon or the Glass City half-marathon. I'm guessing that the Martian will be sponsored by Jerry's work (meaning I won't have to pay for the registration) so I will probably do that one, but I've already run that 10K twice; it would be a nice change of scenery to run the Glass City half.

After Ragnar, I'll have a couple of weeks before I start training for the half-marathon. I may do a couple of short races in the summer (5K or 10K), and then I plan to run the Detroit Free Press International Half-Marathon in October.

I may end up picking one more fall race--one that is out of town which I'll get to travel for--but I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm just looking forward to training for shorter races, concentrating on one race at a time, and not overbooking myself!

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Last night, Kroger was doing a little Halloween party for kids, so I took the boys there after school. It was such a great little set-up, and it was completely free! All of the employees were dressed in costume, and they had different stations set up around the store--the kids could do a craft and bob for a (plastic) apple (filled with candy) in the produce section, decorate a doughnut at the bakery, get popcorn at the seafood department, etc.

I wanted to take a huge scoop of buttercream frosting
for the road, but I restrained myself!

I had no say in my boys' costumes. Halloween is the one time of year that I wish I had a girl--girls' costumes are so cute! Eli chose a ninja, and Noah chose a "mirrored ghoul", but he didn't want to wear his mask or gloves.

The kids collected a ton of candy and prizes, and one of the stations was more for me than them. Fingerprinting! It sucks that we have to even think about this stuff as a parents, but it's something I've been meaning to do anyway, so I had no excuses yesterday. I got a disk of each Noah and Eli that includes their description, picture, and fingerprints.

I guess I thought fingerprinting was done the old-fashioned way, with ink and paper, but it was all digital. He just had to touch a little finger pad, and his prints showed up on the screen. The prints and info is only stored to a disk, so I have the only copy of it (there is no archive or database, for privacy reasons).

Anyway, the kids had a blast, and the whole way home, they kept saying, "Thank you for taking us there, Mama!" I love it when they show some gratitude! Tonight, we are going to Renee's church for pizza, games, and trick-or-treating.

The weather is looking really crappy for Halloween, so I hope it's not too bad! I'm also a little concerned about my trip to New York--I leave a week from today, and NY looks like it's right in the path of the hurricane. I think the worst of that weather is supposed to happen on Wednesday, so hopefully the weather will clear up for the NYC marathon! I'm SO looking forward to being a spectator :)

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Sweaty Bands Review & Giveaway

I have seen these cute headbands called Sweaty Bands at race expos, and I always looking longingly at them, but I've never bought one. My head is big, and I've never found a headband that would stay put more than a few seconds. So while the headbands were adorable, I just knew they'd never work on my head.

The company recently contacted me to see if I'd like to give them a try. I wrote them back, saying that I would be happy to try them, but I've never been able to keep a headband on my head; and since I'm always honest with my readers, I wasn't going to say I loved them if I didn't.

They wrote back and said that they looked forward to the challenge ;)  That gave me hope that maybe these headbands were different, and they would stay on... the company was very confident that I would like them.

They have SO MANY styles and colors to choose from, but I didn't choose what they sent. The ones they chose for me, however, were really cute! There were two different widths.

This is the "narrow" width

This is the "wide" width

The bands have a backing that feels kind of fuzzy, like velvet, which is what makes them stay in place (and absorb sweat). After putting it on, I moved my head from side to side and up and down, and it was still good. But that doesn't attest to much, so I decided to see how long I could keep it in place while cleaning my house--the ultimate challenge.

I cleaned all day long (this was just before Rik came to town) and I kept reaching up to feel it and see if it was slipping, but I was very impressed at how well it stayed in place. It eventually did slip back too far, and I had to readjust--but to be fair, I have a huge head and it stayed on much longer than any other headband I've tried.

Here is the underside, so you can see the fabric

The part that goes behind your head is a thin elastic band

They are a little pricey, in my opinion--$15 for a narrow, $18 for a wide band... but they seem to be very good quality. It doesn't feel like it's cheaply made at all. It would be a cute gift for a runner (or anyone who exercises). They have SO many to choose from--I don't know how I would be able to pick just one. They also allow you to make custom designs, which of course made me think I have to do a Runs for Cookies one. ;)

Sweaty Bands generously sent me a third band to give away to a Runs for Cookies reader! Here is what it looks like:

That one is a wide band. So if you think you'd like to give it a try, you can enter a random drawing by leaving a comment on this post--do you have problems getting headbands to stay on your head, or are you one of the lucky people who can wear all kind of cute headbands?

I will draw a winner on Saturday, 10/27 at 8:00 a.m. EST. and announce the winner on Saturday's blog post. Winner will have 48 hours to e-mail me, or a new winner will be chosen. (This is open to anyone in the WORLD, because I'll be doing the shipping).

(In full disclosure, I was given two Sweaty Bands for free to review and one to give away, but all opinions are my own, as usual).

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Yard issues (and Wed. weigh in)

I was a little disappointed when I got on the scale this morning and saw that my weight was exactly the same as last week. I had said that I was only hoping to maintain or have a *little* gain today, because of the weekend; but I followed my PointsPlus plan the entire week, so I thought maybe I would lose a little.

I'm not horribly disappointed, however, because it was a very tough weekend and I managed not to gain anything!

All stats are pretty much the same. My body fat was 24.2% last week, so it went down by just 0.2%. Hopefully I'll see a change in my weight next week! I'm so close to be back in the 130's, and just four pounds away from being back in my goal range.

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When I was getting the boys ready for school this morning, I asked them what they wanted for breakfast, and Eli said without hesitation, "Can I have green eggs and ham? But can I have it without the ham?" I thought this was hilarious, because he has never asked for green eggs and ham before--it just came out of nowhere.

So I scrambled an egg with a couple of drops of green food coloring, and it looked gross, but Eli was very happy with it:

I made an old favorite for my breakfast this morning--oatmeal with PB2 and cocoa powder. It's been a long time since I had that! I actually haven't been eating oatmeal very often lately. I just haven't been in the mood for it.

When I went outside this morning, I was furious when I saw our yard:

This is the yard on the side of our house that Jerry and I just bought in August. Some jackass drove through it and across the alley, through another yard, and out on another street. They completely tore up the yard. It happened during the night, so I have no clue who did it. I'm so pissed about it.

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Tonight starts the World Series, and the Tigers actually made it this year--I'm totally not a sports person, but I told Jerry I'd watch the game with him tonight. He's very excited about it, of course ;) Even though I dislike completely hate sports, I love the feeling of camaraderie when something big like this happens. There was a lot of talk about it in Detroit on Saturday and Sunday.

Anyway, that's about as much as I will ever talk about sports!

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