Peanut butter cream

Today started out on a really crappy note. Jerry got up SUPER early to go to Detroit for the Tigers opening day tailgating. I fell back asleep, and then at 5:15, the phone rang, waking me up. It only rang once and then whoever it was probably realized it was way too early to be calling, and hung up. So I didn't know who called, but there was no way I was falling back asleep after that.

Then I fed the cats (I've gotten them on a feeding schedule, which has been a huge pain in the ass for me, but I'm hoping will help with Chandler's obesity). Paolo wolfed his food down, then ate Estelle's leftovers. Within a couple of minutes, he threw it all right back up (which happens sometimes when he eats too much, too fast).

So I was cleaning up cat puke, and then the boys woke up, and I was getting them ready for their camp. I made them eggs, and Eli came to the table from the bathroom. The kids are constantly tattling on each other, and Noah said, "Eli used three butt wipes!" I knew, before I even asked, that he'd clogged the toilet. So there was that.

It wasn't even 7:00, and I was already having a bad day. I got dressed in my running clothes, so that I could take the kids to camp and just head out for my run from that parking lot (it's right next to the trail that runs through the state park). I signed the boys in to their camp, and then headed out for a 12-mile run.

I had a couple of goals for today's run--first, to run sub-9:00 miles throughout; and second, to try and run a negative split (the second half of my run faster than the first half).

About a mile in, I started to doubt that I would even be able to finish 5 miles, let alone 12. I just felt tired and "off" for some reason. Mentally, I let go of the idea of trying for a negative split, but I still held on hope to run the sub-9:00 miles. Next weekend is my goal race, and I wanted the confidence of a good last long run before the race.

I didn't bring my iPod, and listening to the wind, I realized why keeping pace felt so tough. The wind was brutal coming off the lake! I really didn't want to run through the park, and then past my car to do another five miles, so I decided to try and fit all 12 miles into the park. It was kind of fun just running without a planned route. Since I know the mileage of the park so well, I would think in my head, "Okay, from here it's 0.6 miles to the bend" or "From here, it's a straight 3 miles to the car," etc. That helped pass the time.

Once I turned away from the wind, I felt some relief. I was able to pick up the pace a little, and felt a little peppier. I saw a couple of women walking together, but each was listening to her own earphones. I thought it was so odd! At one point, I saw a man (probably about my age) running on the path coming toward me, and when he noticed me, I could see him run a little taller and pick up his pace ;)  (Although, to be fair, I tend to do that when I see people, too!)

Toward the end of the run, I really wanted to take a short break--either walk, or stop and rest a minute. I was so ready to be done! But my pace was great, despite feeling tired, so I just struggled through it. The last mile was killer. I deliberately tried to get stopped by a red light, and I managed to catch about a three second break before the light changed again. Funny, when I don't want to get stopped I always do for a full minute or two; but when I want to get stopped, I almost never do!

I got back to the parking lot at mile 11.85, so I ran past it to get to 12. When I heard my Garmin beep, I was SO relieved to be done. I had actually met both goals for today's run! All of my splits were under 9:00/mi; the first six miles, I ran in 52:41, and the second six miles in 52:00--negative split.

Based on today's pace, I'm estimating my finish time for the half-marathon to be about 1:55. I'm not really aiming for anything, as long as it's less than 1:59:59, though ;) I tend to do best when I don't feel pressured, and I'm very confident that I can finish under 2 hours, as long as nothing drastic happens with my body or the weather.

After I got back to the car, I went to Subway to pick up lunch for the boys; I dropped it off at their camp, and then stopped for my long run treat on the way home. I've actually been thinking about what to get for the last couple of days, and I decided on a peanut butter cream-filled doughnut from an amazing local bakery. I wasn't sure how many PointsPlus it would be, because their doughnuts are bigger than typical ones from other places. So I weighed it when I got home to calculate the PP.

It was 5.5 ounces, and I calculated it at 16 PointsPlus--not too bad, actually! In comparison, the cookie sandwich I was getting for a while was 23 PP.

I was ravenous when I got home, so I quickly showered and then ate lunch, and still had plenty of room for the doughnut. It was delicious! I could eat that peanut butter cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Jerry, who I'm sure was having a much better morning in Detroit with his friends than I was while out running 12 miles, sent me a text that made me kind of excited:

I don't think I will ever get used to having random people know who I am because of my blog!

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Killer cravings

This morning, I got up bright and early at 5:15. I wanted to run and shower before the kids got up. My plan was to run four miles, so I did a mile warm-up and then ran three miles. I'm not sure what to call that pace, because it's faster than an "easy" pace (8:45/mi), but it's slower than a "tempo" pace (8:05/mi). I guess I could call it my "happy pace", because that's where I do most of my running!

I was watching the season three finale of Sons of Anarchy, which was a longer episode than normal, so I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the whole thing. But I ended up running a mile cool down so that I could watch a little more. I'm definitely liking it more now that they are back in California!

I plugged in my ActiveLink after my run, and saw that I was already at 78% of my daily activity goal, and it was only 6:15 AM!

Yesterday was a rest day, and it took me ALL DAY to finally reach 100%--and I was pretty active yesterday. I ran a few errands in the morning, walked on the treadmill while reading a book (which I'm going to review soon), went for a walk outside in the evening, put away laundry and cleaned up the house... the only time I sat down yesterday was to write my blog. I was at 93% when I finally sat down last night with Jerry to watch some of our shows, so I jogged in place during a few commercial breaks just to hit 100%. Some days, I don't even come close to my goal, but when I was that close, I wanted to just finish it out.

I've been having some killer cravings lately for specific food items. Of course, they aren't healthy things; so I've been making substitutes, and they work so well!

The first is pecan pancakes from Cracker Barrel. I looked for a lower-calorie pancake recipe, and I found one for banana pancakes in Hungry Girl's 200 under 200 recipe book. I used whole wheat pastry flour (instead of regular whole wheat), and I added pecans. They were AMAZING! (I put the recipe over on my recipes page). So I've been on a banana pecan pancakes kick for breakfast lately.

Another craving I've had is for this pasta at Olive Garden--I can't remember what it is, but it was penne coated with alfredo sauce and then topped with marinara sauce and cheese. Or something like that! Anyway, I did a VERY simplified version of it a couple of days ago, and it was so good that it killed my craving. I didn't take a picture, because I honestly didn't think it would taste very good using jarred alfredo sauce.

I just cooked gemelli pasta (12 oz dry) and added a whole jar of light alfredo sauce and stirred it together to coat the pasta. Then I topped each serving with a couple of spoonfuls of diced tomatoes, and a Tbsp. of parmesan cheese. I used this seasoning grinder thing that I bought for a quarter on clearance. This stuff is awesome, on all kinds of different foods!

The ingredients are just sea salt, tomatoes, roasted garlic, black peppercorns, sweet basil, dehydrated green bell peppers, and dehydrated red onion.

My biggest craving has been for a Reese's Cup Blizzard--and I haven't thought of a decent way to kill that one! When I took Noah to the Dairy Queen, I ordered one, but it wasn't good. The ice cream place by my house makes REALLY good ones (tons of Reese's) but it would use up all of my PointsPlus for the week, I'm sure.

Tonight, my kids have the task of choosing a winner for the cat food! I've gotten probably about a hundred photos, so it's definitely a difficult job. I think I'll put all the photos into a slide show, so if you want, you can see all the submissions. They're too cute not to share! Here's a picture I just took of Phoebe a few minutes ago...

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RECIPE: Banana Pecan Pancakes

I was looking for a lower-calorie pancake recipe, and tried Hungry Girl's banana pancakes from her 200 under 200 cookbook. They were pretty good, but I made a couple of changes the next time I made them, and they turned out perfectly! Adding the banana to the batter as well as topping the pancakes with chopped bananas made them extra yummy. Here is the recipe with my changes...

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Banana Pecan Pancakes

1/2 medium banana, mashed (chop the other half for topping, like in the picture)
3 Tbsp. egg whites
1 Tbsp. milk
dash of vanilla extract
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (you can use whole wheat, like in the original recipe, but the whole wheat pastry flour made them fluffier)
1/4 tsp. baking powder
dash of cinnamon
1-2 Tbsp. chopped pecans

Heat a skillet over medium heat. In a bowl, combine the mashed banana, egg whites, milk, vanilla extract, and sweetener. Add the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon and stir until combined.

Spray the skillet with cooking spray, and then sprinkle the chopped pecans in four separate little sections. Pour the batter over the pecans, making four small pancakes. When the top starts to bubble after a minute or two, flip them over and cook for another minute or so.

I top mine with syrup and half a banana, chopped.

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Runs for Cookies turns two!

Exactly two years ago today, I made a big leap from blogging in a tiny little community, with a handful of readers, to starting Runs for Cookies. I had no idea at the time what a huge life-changing moment that would be.

This cookie is what made me title my blog "Runs for Cookies". It was called
a monster cookie, and I was obsessed with them, until the bakery stopped
making them (which is probably a good thing).

I spent LOTS of time Googling, "How to... on Blogger" because I was clueless. I had no idea what html was, or what an RSS feed was. I didn't know that people could actually earn money from writing blogs, or that there were tons of different niches of blogs.

I still don't know much about html or other "computer talk", but my blog has grown much more than I'd ever though possible. When I first started Runs for Cookies, I assumed it would be just like my previous blog (no longer available online--I'm putting it into book-form)--just a small corner of the web where I could write about my day. I started it as a journal to look back on occasionally.

An early version of my header ;)

My handful of readers started growing, and continued to grow. At first, I was terrified--"Why are all these people interested in my boring old life?!" It was kind of scary to see the numbers of people who were reading about my personal thoughts, especially regarding my weight. But I developed a sort of "friendship" with my readers, and I looked forward to reading about them in the comments. I learned how much we all have in common.

My blog has given me all sorts of amazing opportunities, from being in Fitness magazine to meeting my Ragnar Relay team who would eventually travel to Florida and make a documentary (not to mention that the Today Show filmed us!).

In early 2012, I learned that I could earn a small income from placing ads on my blog; not a ton of money, but considering it was earned for doing something that I would have done regardless, it was very exciting for me. I also started getting offers to review products and give some away on my blog, which is always fun.

In January, literally HUNDREDS of people ran a 5K with me (virtually) on my 31st birthday! How many people can say that? 

Eli's drawing of me, running for a cookie ;)

But my favorite part about blogging, by far, is getting feedback from my readers, through comments, e-mail, tweets, etc. I love to read that someone was inspired to start running, or has gone X number of days without binge eating, or has lost X number of pounds. When I was losing weight, I loved finding inspiration from others who had done it; and if I can provide inspiration for someone else, that makes me very happy! This is one of the reasons I started Motivational Mondays--I was getting lots of e-mail from people writing about their accomplishments, that I wanted to share it with everyone.

My blog has now become a HUGE part of my life. It's fun to go back to old posts once in a while to compare what I was thinking then with what I am thinking today. When I am out doing something with the family or with friends, I sometimes think, "Oh, I'll have to get a picture for my blog!" Sometimes I do, sometimes I forget, but I do try ;)

I even felt a need to make business cards when people were asking
for the web address of my blog!

Posting my weight weekly has been a huge source of accountability for me in maintenance. Sometimes, I think, "I could binge, just this once, and no one would ever know!" but I would feel too guilty to do that. I know that I'm not expected to be perfect (because clearly, I'm NOT), but it helps keep me on track when I know that I'm going to write about it.

On the days that I have screwed up, and I feel down about it, all of you make me feel so much better by telling me that you go through the same stuff, too. You tell me that I'm "normal" for having bad days, and even though I know that, it's nice to read it.

I feel so very grateful, to every single of one you reading right now--whether you comment daily, or once in a while, have e-mailed, or tweeted, or even just lurk here. I really appreciate your support, and I want to thank you for taking the time to read!

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And since I mentioned it, I should probably post my Wednesday Weigh-in... just as I expected, the scale was back down this week:

I was 131.5, which is two pounds down from last week (but back to "normal"). I've been maintaining for almost 4 months now!

When I looked at last year's anniversary post, I noticed my weight from this day for the previous two years. On April 3, 2011, I was 139. In 2012, I was 142. And today, I'm 131.5--I'm very happy at how closely I've maintained my weight for two years. I've had lots of ups and downs, and that's what I'm working on now in maintenance, but according to "statistics", I should have gained it all back by now ;)  Ha!

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The saddest cone ever

I feel like I'm finally getting back in the swing of things after such a crazy week last week. My kids are on Spring Break this week, but they wanted me to enroll them in a week-long day camp. They did this camp over Christmas break and loved it, so I let them do it again. The days are long (8 hours) but they play lots of games and sports, and come home exhausted.

Today, Jerry drove them to the camp while I ran on the treadmill. Ever since my RRCA certification class, I've been tacking a warm-up on to my runs. In class, we learned how important it is to warm up in order to avoid injury. I'm REALLY hoping I can do my marathon training injury-free this time around, so I'm going to do whatever I can.

Today, I normally would have done a fast three-miler, but I did a one-mile warm-up and then three miles at a comfortably faster pace. For some reason, by calling the first mile a "warm-up", it makes my mind believe that my run is shorter than it is--doing three miles plus a warm-up sounds much better than four miles, doesn't it? ;)

I've been having a hard time with season three of Sons of Anarchy. The first episode was good, but when the whole gang went to Ireland, the show just stopped making me feel like, "I HAVE to keep watching!" I just got to the end of season three, and now they are back in California, and I'm interested again. I hope season four is better.

Yesterday, I had a huge scare! I was driving home from my mom's house, Noah in the front seat next to me, and I was going pretty slow through her neighborhood. I'm always paranoid about kids playing in the street, so I was glancing around while I was driving to make sure there weren't any kids.

On the right hand side, I saw what looked like a person on the ground next to the road. I stopped the Jeep, and backed up--and sure enough, it was a kid (probably about 12 years old). He was about six feet or so from the road, lying flat on his back, arms at his sides, head turned to the side with his eyes closed.

It didn't look right, at all--I told Noah to put his window down, and I yelled, "Are you okay?" Nothing, not even a flinch. I yelled again. Still nothing. So I got out of the Jeep, and my heart was racing, and I was thinking about having to do CPR and call 911 and all that. I ran over to him yelling loudly, "Are  you okay?!"

Finally, he slowly turned his head and opened his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just laying here."

Good grief! Who lays like that next to the road, basically playing dead? Anyway, I was glad he was fine, but my hands were trembling so badly the whole way home.

This morning, after Jerry took the kids to camp, I went with him to a dermatologist appointment. He had to get two skin biopsies. He had to have a shave biopsy on the back of his head and a punch biopsy of a mole on his back. I'm hoping everything is normal. I've been so on-edge about any atypical skin issues ever since my friend Sarah was diagnosed with stage 3C melanoma a couple of years ago. She's not doing very well right now, and it just amazes me how one little mole can do SO much damage.

After we picked the kids up this afternoon, we took them to get an ice cream cone at McDonald's. We ordered four cones, and the first two looked really good--we passed them back to the kids. It's always a gamble what the cones are going to look like at McDonald's, and Jerry and I have had some pretty messed up ones. The third cone they handed us made all four of us start laughing. It was truly pathetic looking. This is a terrible picture, but maybe you can get the idea:

The picture actually makes it look much better than it did in-person, however! Especially compared to the other ones. So Jerry and I (jokingly) fought over who had to take the crappy cone, and naturally, Jerry lost ;)

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Motivational Monday #9

I can't believe it's already time for another Motivational Monday--this week FLEW by! I think the fitness/health related accomplishment that I am most proud of this week is that I stayed on track while in St. Louis. It was hard not to eat like a pig (and drink like a fish!) when it was paid for. There was a lot of temptation in the short amount of time I was gone, so I'm happy that I handled it well.

Let's see what you all have been up to this week:

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Chrissy did over an hour of cardio in one session for the first time in her life! She is going to be a bridesmaid in her sister's wedding this summer, and wants to look fab in her dress.

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Kay completed her very first 5K--The Color Run, if you can't tell!--and her goal was to do the whole thing without walking. She ran the whole 3.1 miles!

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Katie just turned 25 years old on Friday, and she reflected about her accomplishments over the past year--she started counting calories and running, and has lost nearly 50 pounds and 2 clothing sizes since her 24th birthday!

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Mary started back on Weight Watchers this week, and lost 5 pounds her first week! She also completed her longest training run so far, just under 6 miles. (I love this picture--the post-workout flushed cheeks, the smile, and the Bondiband that reads "Will run for beer")  (Here is Mary's blog--"Runs To Get Waisted"--funny, right?!)

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Ivayla ran her first 5K on Saturday in a great time of 36:54! She is now going to start training for a 10K.

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Allison says she completed "the hardest thing she's ever done" on Saturday; her first triathlon! 

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This tweet made me laugh... because it's pretty much how I feel EVERY week ;)

And finally, you can read the full thread on Facebook (lots of motivation there!). Here is a snippet:

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Awesome week, everyone--keep it up!!

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Jerry did it!

I am LOVING all the sleepy cat pictures you all have been sending... I think Jerry is tired of me saying, "Oh, look at this one!" I'm so glad that I am making my kids pick the winner, because I could never choose.

Yesterday morning, I spent two hours working on my RRCA certification test. I was nervous about it, because you only get one shot to pass. It was actually harder than I expected it to be, because some of the questions were tricky. But I got this e-mail today:

Yay! I don't really have plans of *actually* coaching right now, but I like having some credibility when people ask me for running advice. Andrea said she'll be my guinea pig first client while we train for the Chicago Marathon, and I'm excited to write a training schedule for her.

During the night, at around 1:00 in the morning, Jerry and I were both sleeping. Then we both were startled out of sleep from a horrible alarm sound. I had no idea what it was, and I was so disoriented from being awakened so suddenly. I may have said some obscenities, and Jerry found the source of the alarms--there were TWO that sounded simultaneously. Our cell phones.

Apparently, we have some sort of setting on our phones that sounds an alarm when there is an Amber Alert in our area. I had no idea that this existed. It took me a good hour and a half to fall back asleep after that.

When I got up this morning, it was still pretty early, so I just laid in bed and thought about what to do with the Rockford Marathon--whether I should do it or not. I made a mental list:

Reasons to do it--I can give it my all, and see my potential for that distance; I can be there when my sister runs her first half-marathon.

Reasons NOT to do it--I hate running longer than 13 miles; training for a marathon isn't fun; I am more likely to get injured; my newly faster pace will probably slow significantly; I don't have extra money to throw around; I'm trying not to travel much without my family this year (which is why I'm not running the Indy half); I really don't care in the slightest what my marathon time is, so improving it is kind of pointless.

When I listed all that, it was pretty obvious what my choice should be. I'm not going to do it. I actually felt relieved when I decided that, which means I made the right decision.

Jerry had to work this morning, so we gave the kids their Easter "baskets" last night...

They wanted fitted Detroit Tigers hats (just like their daddy), so I used hats for baskets--it was hard to fit much in there, but we went easy on the candy, because they really don't need it. They got the hats, a DVD (Life of Pi and Wreck-It Ralph), a chocolate bunny filled with caramel, peeps, and some mini Cadbury Creme Eggs. They were really excited about the hats, so it was a good choice!

They dyed Easter eggs yesterday, and this morning I hid them around the living room, dining room, and kitchen. I counted them before I hid them, to make sure we found all the eggs--there were 21 total. When the kids got up, they had fun finding the eggs. We got down to the last few, and they were having a hard time finding them, so I did hotter/colder to help them.

Well, turns out I had no idea where the last two eggs were. We searched for 45 minutes!! I couldn't find them for the life of me, so they are somewhere in my house right now, just waiting to start rotting and stinking up the place. My house is pretty clean, so it's not like they are hidden amongst clutter--I have no idea what happened to them!

So now that Lent is over (I gave up sweetened nut butters), I got a new-to-me peanut butter to try.

I don't think I've ever come across a peanut butter that I didn't like... until now. This stuff tasted way too oily. Peanut Butter & Co. makes a Cinnamon Raisin peanut butter that is FANTASTIC, so I will stick with that one. I like the idea of the granola in the peanut butter, but the flavor of this just wasn't very good. They have a couple other flavors, but those didn't interest me (one of them has banana, and I'm not a banana + peanut butter person).

Giving up the sweetened nut butters for Lent was pretty tough at first, but I'm glad I did it. I got out of that bad habit of swiping a spoonful here and there and not counting it.

Saving some exciting news for last... Jerry reached his goal weight!!! He started losing weight a few months after I did, and his starting weight was (funnily enough) the same as mine--253. He got down to about 10 pounds above his goal weight, and stayed there for the past couple of years. A couple of months ago, he decided to join Weight Watchers, and focus on reaching his goal weight. And he DID!

In his before picture from 2009, he was 253; and now he's 172--so he's lost 81 pounds! Doesn't he look awesome? :)  I'm hoping he'll write a post about his point of view of this whole journey.

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True Nature of Cats

(This is a cat post, so if you're not a cat person, feel free to skip over it!)

I have to say, when I was asked to do this Purina ONE trip, I was a little unsure about agreeing to write four posts about it, because I *hate* reading blogs that sound like big advertisements for companies. (I actually turn down a lot of opportunities for that very reason).

But Purina ONE told me that I didn't have to rave about their food; I could write about things I learned or whatever interested me, so that's why I agreed to do it. I LOVED the experience, and I hope that shines through on these posts--I'm always honest about my opinions of products and things, and this isn't any different.

So anyways, on Thursday morning, I met the other bloggers (I think there were about 12 of us) in the hotel lobby at 8:30, so we could take a bus to the Purina ONE headquarters. I was starving, because I knew we'd have breakfast there, and I didn't eat at the hotel.

I was surprised at the size of the headquarters--I think there were three buildings, and definitely a lot of property. They even have a dog park there for employees to bring their dogs to work! Lots of employees bring their dogs and/or cats to work every day. Needless to say, the employees are big pet lovers. It was fun to talk about cats, and not have people roll their eyes at the "crazy cat lady" ;)

There are even a couple of cats that live in the building, and they were SO friendly...

We went in a conference room and had breakfast while we listened to a presentation about the True Nature of Cats movement. It was fascinating!  The whole point of the True Nature of Cats movement is to bring your cat back to "nature", and make his/her life as a pet as close to the natural life of a wild cat as possible.

Purina ONE sent experts to Africa to study the African Wildcat and learn the cats' habits, and then did what they could to recreate that in pets. I'm going to be writing about this in four separate posts, so I'm going to break it down into different segments. Since Purina ONE is a pet food company, obviously they want us to switch our cats to their brand of food. So I'll write about feeding habits on this first post.

Some interesting things I learned about feeding:

*When you put water in a bowl for your cat, she can't smell or see it; sometimes, you may find your cat putting her paw in the water or putting toys or food in the water. This is to gauge the depth level of the water, or see if there is even water in the bowl. A lot of cats actually prefer running water, and there are special fountains you can get for your cat for this purpose.

This is an example of one of the fountains--the water
comes out of the top and flows down to the bowl and
recycles.

*Food shouldn't be served in a bowl, but rather on a flat dish. Cats' whiskers are very sensitive, and when their whiskers touch the sides of a bowl, it can cause "whisker stress". 

*Food dishes should be placed out away from a wall or corner, because in nature, cats like to be able to see what is happening around them, so they don't allow predators to sneak up on them. If their bowl is facing a wall or corner, then they may feel on edge while eating.

*Cats like to graze throughout the day. If you have just one cat, the best way to feed her is to measure out a bowl of food in the morning, and leave it out for her to come and go as she pleases. I haven't figured out what to do with FOUR cats just yet ;) We learned about puzzle feeders, which I'll talk about in another post, and I think that may help Chandler slow down his eating.

An example of a puzzle feeder--you place a few pieces
of kibble in each cup, and the cats have to reach in and
pull it out with their paws. This makes them "work for"
their food, like they do in nature.

*In nature, cats don't drink much water, because the prey that they eat has enough moisture to keep them hydrated. You can simulate this at home by feeding your cat wet food, or a combination of wet and dry food.

*During a Q&A session with a nutritionist and veterinarian, someone asked about feeding a raw diet to cats. The nutritionist strongly discouraged this, for a couple of reasons. First, you don't know if the meat is contaminated, so there is a safety issue. But also, and this never occurred to me before, cats aren't getting the right balance they need--usually, people who feed their pets a raw diet use the typical chicken breasts and other cuts of meat that people eat. But in the wild, cats don't just eat a nice, clean chicken breast. They eat all the gross parts of their prey, including the head!  

*When cats are spayed or neutered, their hormones change, which can slow their metabolism and cause weight gain. Purina ONE has a food formula called Healthy Metabolism, which has a higher protein content and lower fat and carbs to counterbalance the dropping metabolism. I'm switching my cats over to this in the hopes that Chandler can drop some pounds! (I'm also giving away coupons for a FREE bag of it, which I'll detail below).

I'd say Chandler's metabolism could certainly use some work!

Purina ONE sent me a package of toys, and puzzle feeders and stuff like that to try out, as well as some coupons for free food. They ALSO sent a second box (identical to mine) for me to give away however I choose. I've been putting some thought into how to do this creatively, and my mom had a great suggestion: a cat photo contest!

For the first three posts (this post is number one), I will give away a coupon for a free bag of food ($13.99 value). For the final post, I will give away the box of cat goodies. Here is how it will work: on each post, I will give you a photo topic, and if you want to enter to win the giveaway, you e-mail me a photo of your cat pertaining to the topic. Then, I am going to have Noah and Eli choose their favorite photo from the submissions, and that person will win the free food.

On the fourth week, I will post the previous three winning pictures (one winner for each week); and I will let all of my readers vote for which cat should win the box of goodies. Sound good?

So for today, here is all you need to do: To win a free bag of Purina ONE Healthy Metabolism food, e-mail me a photo of your cat--the topic is "sleepy". Basically, just pictures of your cats looking adorable or funny or awkward while sleeping.

Good thing Phoebe is disqualified for being my own cat,
because she would win, hands-down!

My e-mail address is SlimKatie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. Important: Make sure you use the subject "Sleepy Cat" when you send your e-mail (and include your cat's name). Only ONE photo per person, please (not a collage). I will accept submissions until Thursday, April 4th at 4:00 PM EST.  (And remember, the contest is just about fun--you don't need stellar photography skills! My 7- and 8-year old boys are the judges, if that tells you anything.)

You can find out more about the True Nature of Cats movement on Facebook and on the Purina ONE website. (If you consider yourself a "cat person", definitely check out the Purina ONE site--I spent a couple of hours watching all the videos, because they're so interesting!)

(Disclaimer: Purina ONE provided my travel expenses and a box of cat toys/food in exchange for my thoughts on their True Nature of Cats movement. As always, all opinions are my own.)

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Run with me

I'm going to write my posts a little backwards--today, I'll write about my long run, and then tomorrow I'll write about my second day in St. Louis. I'm going to do a series of four posts (on Saturdays) that talk a little about my cats--not enough to bore anyone to death, but I learned some cool things at Purina ONE headquarters, and I'm (attempting to) integrate some of it into my cats' daily lives. I'm not a cat blogger (I don't even know if there really is a cat blogger niche), so I promise to keep it to a minimum for the non-cat people ;)  Cats just happen to be one of my favorite things to talk about!

Anyway, I slept like a rock last night--that NEVER happens! I needed a good night's sleep so badly, too. My kids didn't have school today, so I thought I was going to have to do my long run on the treadmill. I really didn't want to do that because I ran on the treadmill last Friday. I asked my mom if the boys could go to her house for a little bit, so I could run at the Metropark, and she said sure.

It was 43 degrees and sunny, and felt like a good day to run outside. I planned to run 14 miles, rather than the usual 12. I'm kinda-maybe-sorta toying with the idea of running a marathon this spring. In seven weeks. In Rockford, IL. Crazy? Probably. But I've got my base training down solid, and I know I could be ready by then. My sister lives in Rockford, so I can stay with her for the weekend, and she's running the half-marathon. I would love to be there when she runs her first half!

The other reason I am thinking about it is because when I run Chicago in October, it won't be for ME--I'm going to be running with Andrea, since it's her first, and I'll be doing it solely for fun. Since my pace has improved so dramatically from my last marathon, I thought it might be cool to try and do my best. I haven't decided for sure yet--I'm going to run a couple more long runs and see if I still feel like it. ;)

Anyway, so I drove to a school near the Metropark trail, and I didn't really have a specific route in mind. I just figured I'd do two out-and-backs from the car. Since it's spring, and I was outside running, I decided to stop at the bottom of every mile and take a picture from my point of view. That way you can kind of come along on my run with me, except I do all the running :)

I actually did this 14-miler without my iPod. I used to run without it all the time, and I still don't wear it for races, but I've gotten kind of dependent on it lately. Something we were told in the RRCA coaching class is that we should never run with headphones, and we are to teach our athletes/clients not to run with headphones. So I'm going to go back to not using them, at least most of the time.

Mile 1- 8:50
I started on the trail at the high school parking lot, and then about a half-mile in, I entered the Metropark. I started hearing a weird clicking noise, and knew right away it was my shoelace hitting against my foot pod (the foot pod is plastic, and the plastic part of the shoelace was tapping against it with each step--so annoying). So I stopped for a second to fix it.

Mile 2- 8:31
I really had to pee. I considered stopping in the woods, but I had come across a couple of other runners, and didn't want to blind anyone with my white butt. I knew there was a bathroom just after the spot where I took this photo, so I prayed I could make it until then.

Mile 3- 8:47
The bathroom was closed. I almost cried. I knew there was a bathroom open year--round at mile 3.5ish, so I just kept going. The lake was really pretty (unfortunately, you can't see it in this pic).

Mile 4- 8:48
Made it to the bathroom, and I considered leaving one of my shirts there to pick up later. I had worn two long-sleeved tech shirts, and I was pretty warm. I decided to just bear with the heat until I got to the Jeep, and if I was still too hot, I'd ditch the shirt then. I turned around at the bathroom, and headed back along the route. The wind was BRUTAL along this stretch. My pace slowed, and I had to push harder to try and maintain pace.

Mile 5- 8:53
I hate this spot of the Metropark. I have bad memories of running in the heat with Jessica here, and feeling like I was going to die. It's wide open with no shade for a long stretch, and in the summer, it's killer.

Mile 6- 8:47
I started thinking about how once I got to the car, I was only going to be halfway done. I started to think of excuses to stop early and call it a day (something that goes through my head for EVERY run), but I knew I'd end up doing the whole thing. I passed right by the Jeep just before reaching mile 7, and decided to keep both shirts on.

Mile 7- 8:50
I passed right by the Jeep, and decided to keep both shirts on. As soon as I hit mile 7, I decided to slow my pace for the rest of the run. I wanted to run without looking at my watch, and trying to maintain a comfortable pace, where I could hold a conversation (if I had someone to converse with). I haven't run at that comfortably pace for a long time, so I had no idea what it was!

Mile 8- 9:17
This mile felt like it took forever. I was running at what felt to be a very slow pace, and I refused to look at my watch. I just kept telling myself, "It's not a race! There is no reason to push the pace." When I finished this mile, and saw 9:17, I was surprised that it wasn't a 10+ minute mile. So I learned that my "comfy" pace is between 9:15-9:20.

Mile 9- 9:20
I kept with the slower pace, just trying to enjoy the run. I went over the expressway, which is a tough hill (the only hill I ever do!). I was glad I had brought my handheld water bottle with me, because I felt like I needed some water at this point.

Mile 10- 9:13
I spent this whole mile pretty much trying to guess at what point my turn-around would be. I knew I'd have to turn around at mile 10.6, so I was trying to figure out, from memory, where that was on the road.

Mile 11- 9:15
At the turn-around point, I ate a margarita-flavored Shot Blok. I haven't used any Gu or running fuel at all since my marathon, but I want to get used to it for marathon training. I happen to love the margarita-flavored Shot Bloks!

Mile 12- 9:14
I was really thirsty during this mile, and I only had about 1/4 of my water left. There was a rec center at mile 11.7 or so, and I went inside to ask if they had a water fountain I could use to refill my bottle. Thankfully, they did. So I gulped what was left, and then refilled. Only two miles to go!

Mile 13- 8:50
It's strange, but my body has gotten so used to running 12 mile long runs that I was starting to feel achy at mile 12.1! It was right on cue. I tried a technique I learned about in my RRCA class. When I was tired and felt like slowing down, I did a short sprint instead. I would look at a point ahead of me (like the stop sign) and run hard until I reached the stop sign. It actually helped a lot!

Mile 14- 8:53
This mile was rough. I was tired, and really wanted to stop. I kept looking at the distance on my watch, and when I got close, I noticed that I totally overshot my 14 miles. When I heard the beep of my watch, signaling 14 miles, I pressed stop and then took this picture. My car was about a half mile ahead of this spot!

I walked for a little bit, planning to walk the whole way to the car, but then changed my mind and ran it instead. I felt SO good when I was done.  I was surprised by the fact that I didn't miss my iPod at ALL.

I stretched for a minute by the car. My mom sent me a text saying that Eli needed new shoes because one of the straps on his current ones broke. I drove right to Wal-Mart, and I'm sure I smelled awesome after running 14 miles.

I was right by the mall (where Mrs. Fields is located) and briefly considered getting a cookie for my long run treat, but ice cream was sounding so much better today. I stopped at Kroger on the way home and bought some Butterfinger ice cream. The whole pint is 18 PP, which is actually less than the cookie sandwich.

When I sat down to eat it, I plugged my ActiveLink in to see how many PP I'd earned. I was shocked to see 27 (and the day was only halfway over)!! The most I've ever earned in a day has been 25. I don't know if it was because I'd just run 14 miles, or I was starving, or what, but the ice cream was SO good today.

I was just going to write that next Friday, I won't be doing a long run because my goal half-marathon is on Saturday. I just double checked the date, and it's not until the 13th! I don't know what I was thinking. So I guess I'll be running 16 miles next Friday! My days feel so screwed up since I was out of town last weekend and again Wed-Thurs.

I want to think of something fun to wear to my race. It's called the Martian Half-Marathon, so it's kind of alien-themed. Any ideas?? I was thinking maybe this would be a good race for my muscle pants ;)

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