A run with Dean!

A couple of nights ago, I was feeling kind of down, and I posted about it to my Sole Mates team on Facebook. I absolutely love my teammates--I feel like I can tell them anything, and they always have great advice or know just what to say to make me feel better. The next morning (yesterday), I got a text from Dean, asking if I may want to get together for lunch or a run today.

It was really great timing, and of course I said yes. While lunch sounded good, I always have a hard time with counting points while eating out, so the run was a better idea. We made plans to meet just outside of the State Park near my house for a 5.5-mile lollipop route.

It was really warm on Monday and yesterday (67 and 60 degrees), but this morning, it was in the 30's! I was freezing just before we started to run, but I warmed up about a mile in. I even took off my gloves after a couple of miles.

Dean is much faster than I am (he just ran his first marathon in 3:52!) so I felt bad about slowing him down, but he didn't mind. I made it a point not to look at my watch during the run, and the only time I looked at it was at around mile four. I felt like we were going faster than I would have run on my own, but I had no idea just what our pace was. I haven't run with someone in a while, and it was nice to be able to have a conversation while running--definitely makes the time go by faster!

Just before we finished, I saw a truck up ahead that looked like my dad's, and it turned out that it was actually my parents. We stopped and talked to them for a minute, and then ran back to our cars. Our average pace was 9:24, and we had (mostly) negative splits. Considering we were talking the entire time, I was very happy with that!

Dean had driven about 45 minutes to meet me, so I invited him back to my house until lunch time, when he had plans to meet up with his sister. Jerry was off work today, so we sat and chatted for a couple of hours. Estelle loved meeting Dean, and took it upon herself to cozy up on his lap the whole time he was here.

Anyway, it was a fun morning, and I hope we do it again soon!

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When I was at the Heartbreak Hill Half in June, one of the bloggers I met was Amanda from Run to the Finish. She noticed that Noah has gotten into running lately, and she recently asked me to write a post about getting kids interested in running (without pushing them into it). I loved the idea, so I wrote some tips that I hope are useful ;)  You can read the blog post here: How to Get Kids Interested in Running.

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My brother's comparison photos!

I couldn't believe I was still really sore when I woke up this morning. I was supposed to do speed work yesterday, but there was no way that was going to happen the day after that half-marathon, so I decided to do it today instead. But even at that, I wasn't sure I'd be able to do speed work because my calves are very sore.

When I was cleaning yesterday, I found an old Runner's World book called "Competitive Running". I don't know where or why I got it, but I flipped through it, and looked at some of the speed workouts. They were certainly more interesting than the 6 x 400's I had on the schedule, so I decided to replace mine with one today. On paper, it looked easier than the 6 x 400's, and since my legs aren't fully recovered from Sunday just yet, I figured it wouldn't hurt.

The problem was, I knew I would have a hard time hitting the correct paces outside, because I'm just returning to speed work, and it takes a while to really get a feel for the "right" paces. So, I decided to do the treadmill, even though it was a nice day outside today. Here is what the workout consisted of:

My goal half-marathon pace right now is 9:00/mile (9:10 would be a sub-2:00 half, but I want a little cushion in there). I used a race comparison chart to figure out what paces to do the 10K race pace and 5K race pace intervals at, because I haven't raced a 5K or 10K in a long time. According to the chart, I should aim for 8:20 and 8:40 for the 5K and 10K respectively.

The whole workout went REALLY well, which kind of made me second guess my foot pod. I used the outdoor track several times to make sure the calibration was correct (or at least very, very close). The calibration number it kept giving me on the track was just over 100% (101.2% to be exact). But whenever I've used my treadmill, I have to keep it at 89% to make it read the same as the treadmill. This means that if the 101.2% calibration is, in fact, correct, then I've been running MUCH faster than my treadmill displays. I've suspected that for long time, but I never really knew how to calibrate the treadmill.

Today during my run, I was afraid to either the foot pod or the treadmill. I sort of just aimed for a number in between. My splits ended up looking like this:

Too fast according to my Garmin, but too slow according to the treadmill. I don't know which is right. I'm going to see if I can figure out how to calibrate my treadmill.

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Anyway, today is Veteran's Day, so I first want to acknowledge all the veterans out there. I posted this on Facebook, which totally sums it up:

As I've mentioned before, my younger brother, Nathan, is an Army veteran. This morning, I was looking through his Facebook photos to see if I could find a good one of him in uniform. I did find a pretty cool picture (although because it's shadowed, you really wouldn't know it's him!):

He's on the right in that photo. I saw another photo that made me stop and stare really carefully to make sure it was actually my brother. I barely recognized him! When he got out of the Army, he apparently gained quite a bit of weight. I didn't really notice the weight gain, because he was just "Nathan" to me, but looking at the photo was shocking, considering what he looks like now. I made a couple of comparison photos of him to show the drastic difference:

His waist now is smaller than mine, for sure! haha

I had never thought of him as being overweight, or even a "big guy". He was always just "my little brother". Anyway, I'm super proud of all he's accomplished (on the outside AND the inside). He inspires me!

And speaking of being inspired, I am super excited for tomorrow. I have plans to go for a run with Dean! I met Dean because of Motivational Monday last year after he'd run his first 5K. Since then, he's lost 140 pounds total (he went from 317 to about 177)! He's also become a running machine (my Ragnar team calls him "Dean the Machine"), and he just finished his first marathon in 3:52:43. He continues to amaze me all the time. He lives fairly close (relatively speaking--it's about an hour away, I believe). Tomorrow he is driving up this way so we can run at the State Park. I'm looking forward to it!

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Motivational Monday #86

Happy Motivational Monday, Friends!

After yesterday's humbling half marathon, I am feeling extremely motivated today to get back into the shape I was last year. At the same race last year, I paced my friend Stephanie to a sub-2:10 finish, which is about the same pace that I ran yesterday... but the difference was HUGE in how I felt. Last year, I had just run the Chicago Marathon a couple of weeks prior and was in extremely good cardiovascular shape (not my thinnest, but I could run). I felt so amazing after that race that I felt like I could run the whole course twice. Yesterday, that same pace nearly made me keel over at the finish line, and I can barely walk today ;)

I've been back to counting Weight Watchers points for about 6 weeks, but I haven't seen much progress in my weight (only down 4 pounds). I've had a few bad days, but I've mostly been right on track. When I saw the photo of my brother and me at the half yesterday, I almost didn't post it on my race report, because I couldn't believe how big I looked! Maybe it was the angle, or the fact that I was wearing a few layers of clothes, but I wasn't happy with that photo at all.

I've been doing a new running schedule for three weeks now, and I am really happy with how that is going. Despite how I felt during the race yesterday, I actually did finish faster than I expected to, so I am happy with that. I've been hitting my goal paces during my training runs, so I have no complaints.

I think the hardest part is just having patience. I want to see results NOW (if not yesterday), and it's hard to wait! But I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing (counting points and running according to my schedule) and I hope that in a few months, I'll see some nice changes. Maybe I'll run a spring race with my brother, and we can do another photo for comparison (or redemption? haha)

Anyway, the whole point of all this is that I am feeling extra motivated on this Monday! I want to kick this half-marathon's ass next year, and feel like I could run the whole race a second time... maybe even backwards. ;)

Here are a few motivational stories for you to read this Monday...

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Rachel just completed her first half marathon! That alone is cause for celebration, but she has quite the motivating story. She started running in August 2012 with the sole purpose of running a Disney half-marathon--and at the time, she couldn't even walk more than a mile. While she was training, she and her family were in a car accident, which caused her to suffer a bilateral vertebral arterial dissection and stroke that impacted 1/3 of her cerebellum. Her neurosurgeon told her she'd never be able to walk normally again, and she should plan on never running again. She made it her mission to prove him wrong!

Eight months later, she was cleared to start running (slowly) again. And now, eighteen months later, she completed her first half-marathon in a time of 3:16! When she started this journey, she hoped to show her then-2-year old that with hard work, you can accomplish anything, even if it seems impossible. She has proved to herself that she is the only one who can put limits on herself, and that 'impossible' is not a word that should be in anyone's vocabulary.

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Heather (left) and her sister,  Emma (right), just completed their first triathlon! The race consisted of a 300-meter swim, 9K bike ride, and 2K run. They had a goal to finish under an hour, and even though it was very hot (they're in Australia, where it's nearing summer), they reached their goal!

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Jamie just ran her third half-marathon, and PR'ed by nearly 30 minutes! She's also feeling proud because she just got her school photos back, and was excited to see such a difference in her appearance. In just over a year, she's lost 90 pounds!

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Don't forget to check out more stories on the Motivational Monday Facebook post!

If you have an accomplishment you'd like to share, you can email a photo and short description to me at Katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com, subject "Motivational Monday", and I may include it on a Motivational Monday post!

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Monroe Half Marathon 2014 race report

Well, if there is one word that sums up my race today, it is: humbling.

When I first started running in 2010, a half-marathon seemed so HUGE to me. It was something to train several months for, and just finishing it was something to celebrate. After running three full marathons, something happened in my brain where I just didn't think of halfs the same way anymore. I regularly run 8-12 miles for my long runs, and it's usually no big deal to sign up for a half-marathon on a whim, knowing that I can do it. The half-marathon distance became "just another race" to me.

I say that today was humbling because I realized just how big of a deal it is, and that it ISN'T "just another race". It's tough!

With that intro, I'll start my race recap. As of 10:00 last night, I still wasn't even 100% sure I was going to do this race. My younger brother, Nathan, said he had to push a car out of his driveway last night (I didn't ask), but if he was able to get to bed at a decent hour, he'd do the race, too. I sent him a text at 6:30 this morning, and he said he was in, so we planned to meet at the race at 8:00 (it started at 9:00) to register.

It was COLD this morning. I wore some Eddie Bauer clothes that I'm going to write a review for soon (long-sleeved top, jacket, and tights), and some fun Running Skirts compression socks. I really wanted to wear the new Altra shoes, but the farthest I've run in them has been 6 miles, so I figured I'd better play it safe and use my Adrenalines. I also wore a hat and gloves. The "feels like" temp was 33, but it honestly felt colder than that to me.

The start and finish of the race were at the State Park, which is only about five miles away. When I got there, there wasn't a line at all, so I registered quickly. Then I noticed that Nathan had sent me a text saying that he was there and registered, so I went to his truck where we sat until a few minutes before the race started. We really could have left home at 8:45 and still have been to the starting line on time!

I noticed that there were several people wearing shirts that said, "I run for ___" and someone's name. I really wish it had occurred to me to make a shirt in honor of Mark! The proceeds of the race go to benefit the Special Olympics, so for that reason alone I am glad to have run today.

I was feeling really nervous because of my lack of preparation for this race. I honestly had no idea how it was going to go. I figured I'd feel good for about 7-8 miles, and then the rest would be totally up in the air. It was so cold, and my feet were numb, so I really just wanted to start moving. Finally, the race started. I'd told Nathan to run his own race, so that he could do well and I wouldn't hold him back. Also, that would make me feel less pressured to run fast.

I ran at what felt to be pretty easy--I guessed it was probably a 10:00/mi pace--and was surprised to see that it was actually an 8:58 pace about a quarter mile in. I deliberately slowed down, but I felt like everyone was passing me. I always warn new racers about this happening: it always feels like the entire pack of people is passing you, but just stick to your plan and run your own race. So I tried to keep that in mind, but I still started too fast for the first mile.

I could have sworn I went much farther than a mile, but my Garmin hadn't beeped. Then I remembered that I had forgotten to turn the auto lap feature back on! I was at mile 1.3, and there was no way I could run the whole race without knowing my lap pace, so I changed the settings (mid-run) to turn the auto lap on. It screwed up the first two laps (the first one was long and the second one was short) but by mile 3, it was back on track.

My first mile was about 9:08, and I knew that was way too fast. I briefly thought, "Maybe I should go for sub-2:00 today!" because I was feeling really good at that point; but then reality reminded me that I wasn't trained to even run a half this weekend, let alone a sub-2:00 half ;) So I decided to try and keep my pace at around 9:45.

Everyone was wearing headphones, so there wasn't anyone around to talk to while I ran, which was disappointing. So throughout the whole race, I kept thinking about my breathing. When I was in Bethlehem, I met Budd Coates*, who wrote a book called "Running On Air". He taught us how to breathe while running, and I found his whole presentation so interesting! It wasn't at all what I was expecting. He said we should breathe rhythmically based on our steps, and it should always be in an odd pattern (a lot of people inhale for two steps, then exhale for two steps, which can cause injury to one side of the body). So through the race, I was trying to focus on inhaling for three steps and exhaling for two steps (his recommendation). It helped pass the time, if nothing else!

*Side note: I learned a fun fact about Budd while I was there--he's one of very few people to have run a sub-3:00 marathon in five different decades of his life. Pretty cool, right?!

I really love the course of this race, because it's all so familiar to me--I've trained on nearly all the roads/paths that the course is on. At around mile 4, I could hear someone yelling way up ahead, and it sounded suspiciously like Jerry. I started looking for him, but it seemed like forever until I actually saw him--that's how loud he was. It was fun to see him, so I gave him a quick kiss before I kept running. I continued to hear him yell for a good 3/4 of a mile down the road, haha.

I felt the exact moment that my legs just went to shit, for lack of a better way to word it. It was at mile 9, when we were back in the State Park. I had maintained all sub-10:00 miles up to that point, so I was really determined to stick it out to the end. But no matter how hard I thought I was running, my pace was slowing down. I kept seeing it get over 10:00, so I would sprint a short ways to get it back under 10:00.

I actually started to wish that the State Park wasn't so familiar to me, because I kept imagining how much farther I had to run, and that messed with my head. I squeaked by under 10:00 for miles 10 and 11. And then at mile 11.25, I just felt so defeated that I gave up on hitting all sub-10's. My calves were really cramping up (something that had never happened to me before). I decided to just jog it out to the finish (I was imagining my pace to be closer to 11:30, but it turns out that I actually didn't slow down THAT much).

I knew that I would still probably keep my average pace under 10:00, so I was happy with that. But I was SO CLOSE to keeping all my splits under 10:00--it just shows how hard it actually felt to me. Normally, I am really good at mentally fighting through runs. If I'd been running with someone, I probably would have been more likely to push myself, but I started thinking the "Why am I doing this?" and "You weren't trained for this, so why would you expect to have a good race?" thoughts.

In truth, I was planning for a 10:15-ish pace, but hoping for a sub-10:00 pace. So the fact that I was doing as well as I was made me think it was totally fine to let go of the last two miles and just run however I could to finish. Those last two miles, I just kept thinking about how humbling the whole race was. I went into it expecting to feel pretty decent (not fantastic, but I'm a seasoned runner, and assumed it would feel like any other (shorter) race I didn't train for).

Mile 12 was 10:16, and mile 13 was 10:10. Those miles felt like they lasted forever. My average overall pace was still 9:45-ish, so I was very happy with that. I saw Nathan waiting for me just before the finish line, and I could barely high five him because I was so exhausted. I crossed the finish line in 2:08:18 (a 9:48 pace). I was given a medal, a can of Red Bull, and a water bottle (the race gave out nice reusable plastic water bottles filled with water rather than the usual disposable ones, which I thought was awesome).

Nathan was there after I crossed, but it took me a minute to catch my breath before I could even talk to him. He did AWESOME! He finished in 1:44:51, an 8:00/mi pace. This was only his second half-marathon, and the first one that he actually raced (the first was part of his 20-mile training run). I'm really glad that I encouraged him to run his own race, because that is a fantastic time.

Overall, I'm very glad that I ran the half today. And even though I felt like crap through the last four miles, I am actually glad for that, too. It confirmed that the race isn't "just a half"--it's HARD when you don't train correctly for it, even as a seasoned runner!

After the race, I found my friend Stacie. She was the race director last year and this year (she's retiring for next year), so I knew she'd be busy, but we made plans to get together on Wednesday. Now that the race is over, she's got quite a bit of free time. I'm excited to catch up with her--she's actually getting a book published next month!

I wouldn't have said this during miles 12 and 13, but it ended up being a great day :)

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Vegan pizza

After I got the kids off to school today, I spent pretty much all morning balancing my checkbook. I guess that's what happens when you go a month without writing anything down! While I did that, and paid a bunch of bills, I watched last night's episode of Parenthood. I absolutely love that show, and I'm so sad that it's on the final season!

I was SO cold this morning that it was hard to get motivated to go out for a run. When I woke up and checked the temp, I was shocked to see that it was 24 degrees outside. I was really tempted to just skip the run and take a hot shower instead, but I knew I'd feel better if I just did it.

I decided to go run at the track again. I feel like I've run more miles on the track in the past three weeks than I have in the past three years combined, but I kind of like running there. It's quiet, there's no traffic, and it feels nice and soft to run on. Normally, I do long runs on Fridays; but I decided to run the Monroe Half this Sunday, so I shifted the schedule a bit, and just had 3.5 miles to do today.

My planned easy pace was 9:53-10:47/mile. After a half mile, I was surprised to see my pace was in the low 9:00's, because it felt pretty easy. I don't know if that means the speed work + cross training is actually working, or maybe I was just having a good day, but I'm happy with that! I consciously tried to slow down a bit, because I want to save my energy for Sunday. I ended up doing 3.5 miles in 32:32, a 9:18/mile pace. (I forgot to press the stop button on my Garmin, until a few minutes after I finished).

My plan for Sunday is to just run at a pretty easy pace. I think I'll feel good for about 8-10 miles, and then it'll get tough, so I want to plan on saving some energy. My longest run since August was 10 miles, and that was a month ago. I run enough that I can pretty much just go run a half-marathon on a whim, but that's not to say it'll be easy. I expect to be sore afterward! But I really like this particular race, and if I take it nice and easy, I should be able to enjoy it. There is also a chance that my brother Nathan will run it with me--I hope so. I'm planning to run about a 10:15-10:30 pace, but if I happen to feel really good that day, I may aim for sub-10:00.

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For dinner tonight, I made what ended up being one of the best pizzas I've ever tasted--and it was cheese-less! We always used to do "Pizza Fridays" and make homemade pizza, but we haven't done that in a long time, so I wanted to do it today. I made my favorite whole wheat crust recipe, and divided the dough into fourths so that we could each make our own individual pizza.

After getting home from the grocery store, I realized we didn't have any pizza sauce; so I just took a can of tomato paste and added a touch of sugar, some Italian seasonings, and enough water to thin it out. I decided to make an all-veggie pizza with no cheese.

I chopped up garlic (lots of garlic!), peppers, onions, zucchini, and mushrooms, and sautéed them in olive oil. Then to assemble my pizza, I spread the tomato paste mixture on the pre-baked crust, sprinkled on some red pepper flakes, and topped it with the veggie mixture. I sprinkled some black olives on it, too, and then baked it at 450 for about 10 minutes.

I wasn't sure how it would taste, especially with that tomato paste-sauce, but it was AMAZING. I'm already looking forward to making the same thing next Friday! I didn't miss the cheese at all, and the entire pizza was only 9 PointsPlus (crust was 6, sauce was 1, olives were 1, and the oil from the veggies was 1). One of these days, I may try doing a vegan challenge just for a month, to make myself get more creative with food (vegetables in particular). I'm not planning to become vegan, but I do think that it would be a good challenge to try. Speaking of challenges, I forgot to pick a challenge for November. Maybe I'll consider the cross training (bike riding) once per week my challenge for the month.

Jerry's off work tomorrow and Sunday, so I'm not sure what our plans are yet, but I am hoping to have a pretty low-key day tomorrow. I love cold weather, but it makes me want to curl up under the electric blanket and watch a movie ;)

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Favorite teas

I had plans to run with my friend Amanda this morning. She had asked me if I could check out her running form and give her some tips, and since I had an easy three miles on the schedule today, I asked if she would just want to meet up for a run at the State Park. She sent me a text this morning saying that she had a migraine, so would have to reschedule. It was a nice morning for a run, so I just did three miles near my house.
For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what I wanted for breakfast this morning. Breakfast is usually my favorite meal of the day, but absolutely nothing sounded good. Finally, I decided on a Chocolate Cherry Almond Smoothie, and that ended up being a great choice. I hadn't had one in so long, and it was really good! I added extra cocoa powder to make it a rich chocolate flavor.

I headed out for my three-miler, and my legs felt okay. They were definitely fatigued from the bike ride yesterday, but I just ran at what felt like an easy pace. I forgot to turn the auto lap feature back on my Garmin, which was actually kind of confusing while I was running. I always look at the "lap pace" rather than the average pace or current pace, but because I forgot to turn on the auto lap, the lap pace WAS the average pace. So I just ignored the watch, and ran at what felt comfortable.
When I was messing with the cycling mode yesterday, I realized that my weight was still set to 135 on my Garmin. It's been a while since I was at that weight! I reset it to 152, and I was surprised at what a difference that made in my calories burned on my run today. The Garmin uses height, weight, gender, and heart rate to determine calories burned, so with a higher weight, the number of calories burned increases. I guess that's the only real bonus to being over goal right now ;) 

On Facebook this morning, I saw that a local craft store was going to be closing at the end of the year, and everything in the store was 75% off. I have enough crafting supplies to keep busy for a long time, but I couldn't resist checking it out! I browsed around for a while, and the pickings were pretty slim, but I did buy $150 worth of stuff for less than $40. I got a few things for the kids for Christmas, some stuff for Eli to make a school project (he has to make a wigwam), and a few random crafting things for me. I saw a huge display of St. Patrick's Day stuff, and I was tempted to buy all sorts of things to bring to Portland for the Shamrock Run. 

I didn't get the glasses or headband (I'm sure Thomas will be so disappointed!), but I did get some green hair extensions and temporary tattoos. 

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I slowly-but-surely have been working on using up my David's Tea stash. I have a ridiculous amount of tea in the cupboard! It's hard not to order more when I hear of the new flavors they come out with, but I really need to use up what I have. Several months ago, I made it a mission to use it and clear some space in the cupboard. I've made a pretty big dent, but I'm bummed that I don't have any of my favorites left, so now I'm drinking ones that are good, but not great.  Then a few days ago, Caitlin told me that David's just released their Banana Nut Bread flavor for a limited time. I used to love that flavor! I would mix it with the Salted Caramel, and it was delicious. Because it's only available for a limited time, of course I ordered some. And naturally, I had to get some of the Salted Caramel to have with it because I am out of that! (I just looked at the site to add the link to the Banana Nut Bread, but it's already gone--I just ordered it on the 31st.)
Several people have asked me what my favorite teas from David's are. I've tried dozens of them, and I definitely prefer the flavored black teas. My very favorites that I'll keep ordering as long as they aren't discontinued are:
Salted Caramel Red Velvet Cake Glitter & Gold Read My Lips
Those are all black teas. Once in a while, I'm in the mood for rooibos tea, and my favorite flavor is Birthday Cake. There have been several others that I loved, but they were (sadly) discontinued. I will be one VERY happy camper if they ever bring back Toasted Marshmallow! It's funny, I even got Noah hooked on David's Tea--his favorite is Cranberry Pear black tea.
Now I'm in the mood for tea. Going to go make a cup and probably take a hot bath. I'm freezing!

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A 20-mile ride

When I got up this morning, I kind of wished I hadn't said I was going to bike ride for cross training once a week. But, because I said it, I was going to do it!

After getting the kids off to school, it took me a while to get ready to finally leave, but not nearly as long as last time. I already had my bike in our garage, I had the right air pump for the tires, and I knew how to put on my helmet ;)  I didn't know this until this morning, but the Garmin 620 has a cycling mode on it. Last week, I wore the 910XT in order to use the cycling mode.

I read a little bit more of that book, The Big Book of Cycling for Beginners, but it made me feel SO overwhelmed. I had no idea there was so much to know! I just prayed I wouldn't get a flat tire or something. Instead of riding on the roads again, I decided to drive to the Metropark and ride the long bike path, so I wouldn't have to worry about cars coming up behind me.

Getting the bike into the Jeep took some time. I knew you could take the front tire off the bike, but it took me a little while to figure that out. Once I did, though, I realized just how simple it was. Next time it'll be easy!

FINALLY, I made my way to the Metropark. I parked at the near end of the park, where the trail begins. I was hoping to bike 20 miles today, but I wanted to see how it felt before determining that. Last week, I did 16, so I just figured I could ride out 8 miles and see if I wanted to turn around or keep going.

It was pretty windy again (not as bad as last week, but still very noticeable). I stopped about a mile in to put on some gloves. As I was riding, I spent some time messing with the gears, just to see what happened. I wanted to understand a little better when to shift gears, so I figured playing around with them was the best way to learn.

The first time I downshifted while going up a hill (overpass, because we don't have hills), it was a big lightbulb moment for me. It was SO much easier to pedal! Also, when the wind was really strong, I found that downshifting helped.

The trail was really bumpy going through the woods, because of all the tree roots growing underneath the asphalt. There were a few times where I hit a bump and was pretty sure I shattered my pelvis when my butt came down on the seat. It's funny, I never noticed the bumps when I was running, but on a bike, they are definitely magnified. I wasn't really able to go fast where the bumps were bad, because I was constantly braking.

I felt good at mile eight, so I kept going. I was really surprised that my butt bones weren't nearly as sore as they were last week. Last week, I had to keep shifting positions on the seat, because it was painful, but it was definitely more tolerable today. I looped a park at mile 10 before heading back. It was pretty!

On the way back, I had a tailwind, and it was crazy how much easier it was to pedal with the wind rather than against it. You can see on my speed graph exactly where I changed direction:

On the way back, I went across the overpass, and a combination of the downhill plus tailwind, I hit over 20 mph. I'm sure that's not impressive to "real" cyclists, but that was pretty terrifying! It felt fun going that fast, but I knew I was toast if I hit a bump.

I went back through the Metropark, and was surprised at how good I felt for having just ridden my bike farther than I ever have before. My legs felt tired, but not sore at all. I'd also burned 743 calories, earning 10 Activity PointsPlus! (Good for two glasses of wine ;) )

I definitely enjoyed today's ride more than last week's, and I dare say that I'm sort of looking forward to doing it again next week. Maybe I'll choose a new place to go, to keep it interesting.

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I was so excited when I saw today that Andrew Peterson is a finalist for the Runner's World Cover Contest. I posted about him when the voting had just gotten started, and I was really hopeful that he would win. I voted for him daily, and I loved seeing his name rise up the leaderboard.

When I was at the Runner's World headquarters office last month, I was really hoping to get a sneak peak at who won, but they kept it very confidential. We still don't know who the actual winner is, but there are 10 finalists, and Andrew is one of them!

When I first read his story, I found him so inspirational. He's intellectually disabled due to fetal alcohol syndrome, but he said, "I don't want your pity; rather, I need your respect." His story of being teased when he was younger because of the way he talked made me think of Mark, which of course tugged at my heart strings. But Andrew has proved himself to be worthy of Runner's World not because he has a disability--but because he's FAST and a great runner. He used running to cope during school, but he kept taking it up a level, and now he runs in the Special Olympics. His times are amazing! So I would love to see him on the cover as a respected athlete.

You can read his finalist bio here, on the RW site. There are some really great finalists. Michele Elbertson, for example, has lost 268 pounds and is a six-time marathoner! 

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For dinner tonight, I had a bunch of peppers to use up, so I made an old favorite--Stuffed Pepper Soup. I had forgotten about that soup until I saw a picture of it a couple of days ago, and it sounded SO good. I always crave soup this time of year, and thankfully, my family loves eating soup for dinner.

Eating that tonight made me in the mood to try out some more soup recipes. Love this time of year!

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RECIPE: Unstuffed Peppers

This started out as a stuffed pepper soup recipe (adapted from Skinny Taste), but I made some changes to make it nice and thick--so it's basically a stuffed pepper, but without all the work!

I had a ton of peppers to use up, and that recipe only called for 1 cup, so I made some changes to accommodate all my peppers (and my family's tastes). The soup unstuffed peppers are SO yummy!

Unstuffed Peppers

2 tsp. olive oil
1 lb. lean ground turkey breast
4 bell peppers (I used one green, one yellow, and two red), chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cups beef broth
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
1 can crushed tomatoes
3/4 tsp. marjoram
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1.5 cups uncooked rice (white or brown--I used white)

Cook the rice according to package directions, and set aside. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot (at least 5.5-quart size). Add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the turkey, breaking it up as it browns. Once the turkey is browned, add the bell peppers and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the rice) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and let it cook until the peppers and onions are as soft as you'd like (I cooked it for about 15 minutes).

Add the rice to the soup pot, and stir to combine.

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Hills! and Taste Test Tuesday

Since I'm going to be running the Shamrock Run 15K in Portland in March, and just looking at the elevation chart makes me feel out of breath... 

...I figured I'd better do some hill training over the winter. There are 482 feet of elevation gain in the race, and it would probably take me at least 200 separate runs near my house to get that kind of elevation gain ;) The only option for hill training, other than an expressway overpass, is the treadmill. 

So yesterday, I did a short hill workout on the 'mill (I was in a hurry because I had a meeting with Eli's teacher). It ended up looking like this:

0.25 mile warm-up at 6.0 mph and 0% incline

0.25 mile at 6.5 mph and 5% incline (rest 90 seconds)

0.25 mile at 7.0 mph and 5% incline (rest 90 seconds)

0.25 mile at 6.5 mph and 5% incline (rest 90 seconds)

0.25 mile at 6.0 mph and 7% incline (rest 90 seconds)

0.25 mile at 6.0 mph and 7% incline 

It looks so easy on paper, but it was tough! The 7.0 mph part was actually too hard, so I had to reduce the speed about halfway through that split. The ones at 6.0 felt so easy for the first 30 seconds or so, and then I was counting the seconds until it was over. Even though it was only a mile and a half of running, it wasn't easy running at all. Makes me nervous for Shamrock!

Today, I went to the track again, just to test out the new calibration on my foot pod for the Garmin. I was determined to find the right calibration number. I did the math based on the last run, and set it on 101.8% today. Turns out that was nearly perfect! I turned off the auto-lap feature on my watch (where it automatically marks one-mile splits) and every fourth lap of the track, I pushed the lap button. The splits were marked on the Garmin as 1.00 miles, but I'd actually run 1600 meters (slightly less than 1.00 miles). I'm just glad they were so consistent, which is what I was looking for.

For the first split (four laps), I just ran at an easy, steady pace. Then, for the second split, I ran a 100-meter stride in each of the four laps, just to test to see if the foot pod would still give me a consistent distance even when running faster. For the last split, I just ran at a slightly faster pace, without a big variance. I was very happy to see that the foot pod could decipher the different stride lengths, and there was no discrepancy on the distance run at all.

I'm curious to see what happens when I use this on the treadmill now. I've always had the calibration set at 89%, which meant my Garmin was showing me that I was going slower than I actually was. But that was to get the same readout that was on the treadmill. So likely, my treadmill calibration is off--when I have it set at 6.0 mph, it might actually be moving at a 6.1-6.2 mph speed. 

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I haven't done Taste Test Tuesday in a while, so I thought I'd bring it back today. When I was at the Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival, Health Warrior was at the expo with a booth set up, giving away samples of their Chia Bars. I also received a few samples in my welcome bag, and I actually didn't even try them until after I got home. I was amazed at how good they were! The first one I tried was coconut:

I liked it so much that I ended up ordering four boxes--Coconut, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Apple Cinnamon, and Banana Nut. They're all really good, but my favorites are the Coconut and the Chocolate Peanut Butter. The ingredients are pretty simple (this example is from the Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor):

The nutrition info isn't bad, either:

They are 3 PointsPlus each, which is good for the size. They're not huge bars (you can see it in my hand in the first pic), but they're a good size to keep you satisfied between meals.

They have a bunch of different flavors to choose from, and there haven't been any that I really disliked. The Coffee flavor is interesting, but I didn't love it enough to order a box. I didn't think these were available in stores (I ordered mine on Amazon), but I just checked the "Find a Location" section on their website, and they are available at a nutrition store near me.

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Jerry's off work tonight, so we're going to try and catch up on a few shows! Perfect for a rainy evening :)

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Motivational Monday #85

Happy Motivational Monday! What a tough few days this has been, with my kids eating Halloween candy right in front of me at all hours of the day ;) I've managed to avoid it, which is a big victory for me! Halloween marks the beginning of the whole holiday season, so I'm hoping that I can just keep my goals at the front of my mind and spend my Weight Watchers Points wisely.

Overall, though, I'm very happy with how well I've been doing this fall. My eating has been on track for the most part, and I've been following a new running schedule (excited about it, even!). I want to go into 2015 feeling happy with where I'm at.

Anyway... Let's see some motivating stories this Monday...

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Cat had surgery a couple of months ago, and was told that she couldn't run for 10 weeks. She didn't realize just how much she'd miss running until she couldn't do it--she was aching to get out there. Yesterday was her big day--10 weeks after surgery, she got to run! She ran four miles and felt fantastic. (Cat is a "Sole Mate" of mine, from my Ragnar SoCal team. She's lost over 90 pounds!)

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Maegan, and her husband, David, just completed their third 5K race together. Her goal was to run at least one mile of it, and to finish the race under 50 minutes. While running hasn't been easy for Maegan or David, they continued to train, and Maegan even completed her goal of running a mile during training. The race they did was the Undy 5000 5K (for colon cancer awareness) in Atlanta. The couple was surprised and excited to finish in 47 minutes, beating their goal! They've even lost a combined 80 pounds on Weight Watchers since mid-January. (Maegan's blog)

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After getting back into running regularly in August following a break, Kelly completed the Dallas Running Club half marathon Sunday! This was her fourth time running this particular race, and it was her fastest time--2:22:56. She says the best part was all the different kinds of people and bodies on the course.  Little old ladies, one-armed runners, big, skinny, short, tall, fast, slow--everyone was a runner!

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Alice is very proud of her mom, Edith, for completing the 4-mile Fall Frolic in Hammond, Indiana--at age 80! Edith started running in 2011 while taking a No Boundaries running program at her local Fleet Feet store. Even though a friend told her she probably shouldn't be doing "those things" at her age, she checked with her doctor, who gave her the okay. Running even helped take away some aches and pains that she had in her hips. She just had a full cardiac workup in August, and the cardiologist said he'd never seen such a healthy 80-year old, and he wishes that all his patients were that healthy! Edith took first place in her age group at the race, and continues to be a huge inspiration to the other runners in her No Boundaries program.

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I got this email from a woman named Lori while I was in Pennsylvania, and I was so excited about it that I immediately shared it with the other bloggers in the car with me. I love hearing about stories like this one! Rather than edit the story down, I'll just copy it here:

"For a while I wanted to write you an email and thank you because you made a difference in my life and you don't even know it! And believe me, it is a pretty big deal :) I will tell you why. In January 2012 I found your blog. You inspired me to change my life, to take care of me not just everyone around me. I needed badly to lose 50 pounds (even more, but those 50 pounds really mattered for my health). I was also trying to get pregnant for a couple of years and it was just not working. Reading your blog every day helped me keep myself motivated and I even joined a boot camp. And I did it, I lost those 50 pounds and felt better than ever. Following year I got pregnant. With QUADRUPLETS!!!! It was a VERY high risk pregnancy and the doctors gave the babies very little chances of survival and no chances of all being born healthy. Well, I took that pregnancy all the way to 29 weeks and 4 days, the babies were little but PERFECT. The doctors told me that my body was in a great shape before I got pregnant and that was one of the reasons the babies did so good. So thank you from the bottom of my heart! I didn't know what I was preparing myself for, but now I really wanted you to know too, because you are part of our journey. I will attach some recent pictures of our family. The Quads are doing great, they are 13 months old now. May God bless you and keep you and your family healthy and happy! Much love,
Lori."

(Lori's blog about the quadruplets)

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Don't forget to check out more stories on the Motivational Monday Facebook post!

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