Trying to Keep Up

Not much new to report today. Just enjoying a rather quiet and relaxing evening at home, and doing some work I've been meaning to do. I've had a killer headache all day, but it seems to be subsiding now (finally!). Work is pretty crazy right now too. I'm planning to get up early tomorrow and do my speed workout before work, as D and I are having date night tomorrow night. :) I'm really looking forward to it - we're doing the bistro menu at the Refectory! He's so sweet - he sent me a dozen roses at work today!!! What a great guy I've got. :)

End of June already?

Wow, I'm so sorry I've been so bad at keeping up with the blog. I've been busy and went on a FABULOUS vacation in California at the beginning of the month. I'll post more about it (including pictures) soon.

The summer is in full swing with some major freaking heat, and I have to admit that I'm having a really hard time motivating myself to work out and run in this weather. Last night's run was horribly brutal. I'd so much rather sit and drink with my awesome boyfriend than go to bed early so I can get up to exercise. :) As my clothes get tighter and tighter though, I am starting to see a little bit of motivation. :)

I'll try to post more soon!

sorry :)

Hello! I'm so sorry that I've been so remiss in updating my blog. I've been a little busy these last two months because I have a new boyfriend. :) Yeah, that's my exciting news. He's pretty awesome and we spend just about every second together, so I haven't been spending much time updating the ole blog. I'll try to be better, but I can't promise anything! :)

Other than that, not too much has gone on. I did run the marathon and finished it, despite some issues. It wasn't a PR but I was very proud of how I did. Full race report to come. Work has been very busy lately. The installation was fairly crazed and things haven't really slowed down much sense. So I'm really just trying to get back in the swing of things back and work and in my life.

I have a nice relaxing long weekend planned. I have a long run tomorrow morning with my group, and BBQs on Sunday and Monday with various friends. And other than that, nothing except what I feel like doing! It's my kind of weekend. :)

And then next Friday, I leave for VACATION!!!!! woohoo!!!! I'm SO excited. D and two sets of couples were already planning this trip to Napa, and I get to tag along. Yes, he invited me on a trip after we'd only been dating for a little while. But in my defense, we've known each other for a while and had been friends. So it's not like I'm going on vacation with a stranger. :) So we'll be renting a house in Napa for the first 4 days and then staying on a vineyard in Amador county for the last two days. And I'm starting out the trip by flying to the LA area for my friend JJ's wedding. It will be fun seeing my old Granville friends! Kimberly and I are flying out together and staying in the hotel together, so I'm sure all sorts of craziness will ensue. :)

Ok, time to get my relaxing evening going. I'll try to be better from now on (especially if I can figure out a way to blog from my new Android phone - anyone??) and I'll definitely be updating my food blog (colYUMbus.blogspot.com) more soon as my CSA is supposed to start soon!

Taper!!

I had a reallllly great 22 mile run this morning. Probably the best long training run I've ever had. Weather was good, we ran on a flat trail for once (we usually add hills in, not that I mind), had a lot of water stops, my legs felt great, and my stomach even cooperated!! My stomach barely hurts even now, and it normally hurts all day after my long runs. You know what I changed? No bread or pasta yesterday, or after my run. I did have several Ezekiel English muffin halves, which are made from sprouted grain and are flourless. And for dinner last night, I had lentils, quinoa, shrimp and feta. And a salad, and one small piece of pizza that had very little bread or cheese or anything like that. So I guess I did have a little bit of bread. And right after my run, I had some vanilla 2% milk for recovery.

Anyway, I feel pretty ready for this race and am kind of a little excited about it!

Now it's a gorgeous day and I can't decide what to do. Go shopping? Be productive in the apartment? Get food? All of the above? I do have dinner plans around 7 so I don't really have all day. That's the problem with the long run - it eats up your day! I think I'm going to go get some food and go from there.

Beautiful spring!

Spring is here and it is gorgeous!! We had record breaking highs in the 80s this week and today it topped off in the 70s before a cold front came in and brought us down to a sunny 65ish. I am loving it!

Everything is going so well right now. I've been having a lot of fun hanging out with new friends and old friends and have been staying up too late and drinking too much. :) I'm working on that! We had a shorter run today, and after next weekend's 22, it's officially taper time until the race May 2. Work is going to get crazy starting next week, but that's ok. We've got a great show coming up and I like the craziness of installation. In the middle of it, I'll head to STL for my college reunion and then the next weekend to Cincy to run my marathon. And then it will be May! I've got a wedding coming up at the end of May, and lots of other fun stuff.

I might have something exciting brewing, but it's too soon to talk about it. Let's just say things are good. :)

Tomorrow I'm heading up to my brother Dave's house for Easter dinner with the family. I'm excited that my sister Laura will be here, up from NC, for the weekend. It should be a good time!

Happy Easter to those of you to celebrate it, Happy Passover to those of you who celebrated that, and happy spring to everyone!

20 miles, check!

The twenty miler went really well this morning. Stayed on pace the whole time, the weather was gorgeous, and I dressed completely appropriately for once. I usually overdress but I fought my desires and stuck with what I knew would work. Which, by the way, includes the most awesome jacket in the world, which my awesome mom gave me for Christmas. The Nike Convertible jacket. Once it started to warm up, I zipped off the sleeves and handily stashed them into one of the many pockets. Perfection. Anyway, I am definitely feeling pretty good about this race! Not sure I'm going to break 4 like I'm hoping, given the hills and all, but I think it will be a good run, and fun.

My stomach is freaking killing me now though. But, I felt great on the run, and really, that's all I care about.

So, the clean eating thing. I recently read Rachel Cosgrove's new book, The Female Body Breakthrough. It's awesome, and I'm super fired up to do the workouts in it. (Her husband did the workouts for the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I just finished these workouts and have noticed a huge change in my body in the past 5 months or so.) The book really encourages you to lift heavy weights and eat clean 90% of the time. Since I am now a full believer of the importance of weight lifting (I guess I should try to do some before and after pics to make you a believer too!), I thought I'd try out the other component. I eat pretty clean already, but I could definitely do better. I've gotten pretty lax about a piece of candy here, a cookie there, a pop with dinner. Eating clean involves eating as close to the natural food source as possible, without additives or processing. So, no white sugar. Also no bread, even whole wheat. Ezekiel bread, made with sprouted grains, is considered ok though, and I am now fully obsessed with the Ezekiel English muffins. So good. She also wants you to eat 5-6 mini meals, and every meal should have a vegetable or fruit, and a protein.

So, as of Tuesday or Wednesday, I've pretty much completely cut out sugar, refined flours, processed food, and alcohol. Alcohol is the biggie and will certainly factor into the 10% splurges I'm allowed to have per week. (I've actually been splurging about once per day, instead of 3-4 times per week, as I ease into it. But they're been mostly good splurges - a piece of whole wheat bread, some low fat microwave popcorn, etc. Nothing horrific if you ignore Thursday night. :P) I have to say, I'm feeling pretty terrific. I think it had a lot to do with my lack of Diet Coke craving. And I haven't been craving sugar either. (I did have some DC and a little bit of candy after my run today, as I know I burned off a gazillion calories.) I have a lot of stomach problems, and I felt really good through my run today.

So, I consider this a big experiment. At least for the next 4 weeks, until my reunion, I'm going to try to eat like this very consistently. I might decide at that point that it's not worth the trouble and extra expense, but so far, it's not a huge shift from my regular eating and I'm interested to see how big of an impact it has on me. I've been reading other things about the negative impact of additives and chemicals on the body functions (especially metabolism), and it kind of makes a lot of sense when I really think about it. So, stay tuned.

diet coke

many of you may know that i've fought my whole life against my diet coke addiction. i finally really cut back a few months ago and I only drink maybe one a week, a treat after my long runs. as i was getting ready for today's 20 miler, I realized I'd need to stop and purchase one for my daily treat today. and then it dawned on me that I haven't even thought about or craved a diet coke all week. before, I would at least crave it a few times a week. not this week! guess this clean eating thing is really working for me! (more about that soon, have to go get dressed for this insane run! the annoying thing is that it's 26 degrees now and will be almost 50 by the time we're done. makes it hard to dress!!)