Sexy 7 Dinner & My Long Run

Last night, Todd & I went to dinner with the Sexy 7 and their significant others...or rather, the dinner was with 3/7ths since 3 of them don't live in Columbus anymore and one of them couldn't make it at the last minute. So it ended up being just Todd & I, Lynn & her hubby, Nathan, and Megs & her boyfriend, Brian. Since I tend to be the planner in the group, I am usually the one who is sending out the emails to try to get something together. The good thing with this is that it means I get to pick what we do or where we go out to eat. There's an Italian restaurant that I'd been wanting to try so I figured this was the perfect chance. We went to Carsonie's on Lane Avenue and the food was great. We had a really good veggie stromboli followed up by chocolate cake (I couldn't resist!) and an elephant ear that everyone shared. I'm really glad that we're all able to go out to dinner and everyone has a good time. It makes life a lot easier when all the significant others can hang out and get along. I love my friends and it seems like we're doing a better job of getting together more often because for awhile, we would go months without seeing each other even though we all lived within 15-20 minutes of each other. I'm pretty excited to hang out with them again next Friday for Todd's Mustache Party.

Clockwise starting on the left: Lynn, Brian & Megs, me & Todd, Nathan

I woke up bright & early this morning to get in my 16 mi long run in before my boot camp work meeting at 11:00am. This is the one bad thing about training for marathons--I never get to sleep in! I work out/run before work every day, which means I'm up at 4:45am, and I teach a core class & spinning class on Sunday mornings so Saturday is my one day to sleep in...but not for another few months now I guess. Anyways, I ended up running on the treadmill at my apartment complex gym. If I'm going to do anything more than an hour on the treadmill, I'd rather do it at my apartment where I know I have the potential of being the only person in there instead of at the big commercial gym I teach at. Plus, I can turn the TV to whatever I want at my apartment and crank up the volume.

My goal for this long run was to make it a "fast finish long run," meaning I start at an easy run pace, increase slightly in the middle of the run, and then try for goal marathon pace (GMP) for the last few miles. I ran my first 8 mi between 8:20-8:30, the next 5 mi around GMP between 8:00-8:10, and picked it up the last 3 mi between 7:45-7:55 for an overall time of 2:10:24 and average pace of 8:09. Overall, I was pleased except for the few miles about halfway through that I started to cramp up after I drank some water but luckily it went away. The worst part about running so long on the treadmill is that the treadmill will only stay on for 1 hour so when I ran today I had to restart it TWICE which can make it hard to get going again. Now I can relax and enjoy the rest of my weekend!

Most Women Love Shoes...

....but I love purses!

One of my favorite things about my apartment are the hooks I have hanging up in my bedroom behind my bathroom door. I found them at Ikea and knew they'd be perfect to hang up my purses & bags! It doesn't matter if it's Coach, Vera, or Target, if it's a cute purse, I will buy it (or in the case of Coach, I'll admire it from afar at the store since I can't afford to buy every purse there).

A few of my favorite purses hanging up

BUT, my all-time favorite store for purses & bags is 1154 Lill Studio. I was introduced to this place several years ago when I went to a purse party for my friend. 1154 Lill is a custom handbag boutique where you can design your own bag (or wallet, wrislet, diaper bag, laptop bag, makeup bag, etc.). You pick out the style of the bag you want and then choose the fabric for everything--exterior, interior, inside of pockets, and even the straps. They then send in your order and within a month, your bag will be waiting for you on your doorstep.

I love Lill purses because it's your own design and no one will ever have the same bag as you. Trust me, they have tons of fabric to choose from! There are only 4 Lill stores in the country (Chicago, Boston, Philly, and Kansas City) but in many bigger cities, there may be a Lill rep who will come to your house for a purse party. They will bring out swatches of all the fabrics and sample bags to look at. I've been to several purse parties and even went to the store when I went to Boston last year for the marathon....and made 2 bags, oops. I've already started looking at several bags and designs I like because you can bet that I'll be making another one in Boston this year--that is, if Todd doesn't mind!

On a running note, I snuck in an easy 4 mi (8:20 pace) on the treadmill this morning as it was dark & freezing cold outside. Not a fan of windchills in or below the single digits. I usually rest the day before a long run but for some reason felt like getting up this morning & getting moving. Tomorrow is my "first" long run of my training. Now I know I've said I've been doing long runs every week already, but for some reason I don't really think of any of them as being long until I get to 16 mi. I think it's because it takes me more than 2 hours to do and if I was only training for a 1/2 marathon, I would be doing long runs up to 14-15 mi so to me, a 16 mi long run is the start of marathon training. I'm still debating if I'm going to do this 16 mi outside or on the treadmill tomorrow morning. It'll probably be a game time decision. And yes, I've done 16 mi on the treadmill before.

Black Bean & Veggie Burritos and Guacamole

I feel very fortunate that I have a boyfriend who loves to cook but unfortunately I don't always return the favor. I've been wanting to try several new recipes lately so I figured by cooking, it'd make a good date night with Todd and we'd be able to eat somewhat healthy. Todd's favorite kitchen appliance is his deep fryer...enough said. One of the very first blogs I started following was Rookie Cookie and she has a TON of good recipes. Since I'm on a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet, I thought this recipe from Rookie Cookie would be perfect!

Black Bean & Veggie Burritos with a Side of Guac, Tortilla Chips & Spanish Rice

Black Bean & Veggie Burritos

Ingredients for the black beans:
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 jalapeno seeded and finely chopped
1 onion, diced
1 28 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper

*Note--I did not use a jalapeno b/c I don't like hot or spicy food

Ingredients for the fillings:
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 package burrito-sized tortillas
Salsa
Chopped fresh cilantro
Diced avocado
Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
For the black beans, in a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil. Once the oil runs quickly in the pan, add garlic, jalapeno and onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add black beans and spices to the pan and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer beans to a serving dish.In another pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add bell peppers and onion. Cook, stirring often, until bell peppers are softened.To put together the burritos, place a scoop of beans on the tortilla. Add the peppers and onion. Top with salsa, cilantro, avocado and cheese. Wrap up and enjoy!

Yields 6 servings


I figured what better goes with mexican food than chips & guac! My brother, Jeff, makes the best guac so he gets the credit for this recipe.

Guacamole

Ingredients:
2 large avocados; cut in half, remove the pit & scoop out skins
1/2 tomato, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 lime, juiced
1 package guacamole mix

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. If you make it ahead of time, the guac will turn brown. Cover it with the avocado peels and this will prevent it from happening.


All in all, the burritos & guac were a hit! Instead of using avocado in the burritos, we put some of the guac. We will definitely be making these again in the future because they were delicious!

Another Book Down...

I just finished reading Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. This is the sequel to The Nanny Diaries and picks up 12 years after the original book. You should probably read the original before the sequel though because a lot of the story deals with situations from The Nanny Diaries.

Nan Hutchinson was a nanny to Grayer X in the first book and now 12 years later, she and her husband, the "Harvard Hottie," have moved back to New York after living abroad. Grayer is now 16 and shows up one night on Nan's doorstep. She still feels guilty about what happened when she was his nanny and is dragged back into the drama of Mr. and Mrs. X and their new 7-year old son, Stilton. Nan is also busying starting her own consulting company and remodeling her house with her husband.

I found the book to be really slow during some parts but the last 100 pages or so I couldn't put it down because I was dying to know how it finished. The main characters are likable and it's hard to imagine people actually acting like they do in this book (think upper class of New York...aka The Real Housewives of New York) but they go into way more detail and description than is needed. Definitely not one of my favorites books (and I liked The Nanny Diaries better) but worth checking out and reading if you don't have anything else to read in the time being.

Spartacus Workout

Ok so I've been talking about this "Spartacus Workout" for a week or so & thought I'd share what it actually is. The guys I work with were talking about it because they'd read it in Men's Health so I thought I'd try it too. It's a high intensity circuit designed to work every part of your body. There are 10 exercises that you are suppose to do for 1 minute each, doing as many reps as you can with good form, before moving onto the next exercise. You get 2 minutes to rest in between circuits and are suppose to repeat the circuit 2 more times for a total of 3 times through each exercise. You also use weights for each exercise. Now, if you don't exercise or lift that much, you probably will not make it through this whole thing 3 times. If you can't make it through the entire minute, rest a few seconds and then resume until your time doing that exercise is done. You can also use lighter dumbbells or no weight at all.

I've tried this workout twice now, consider myself to be in pretty good shape, and I have yet to make it through the circuit 3 times doing 1 minute for each exercise. The first time I tried I made it through twice doing 1 minute for each exercise. The second time I did it with Emily and we made it through 3 times but only for 30 seconds. The split lunge jumps (exercise #5) are killer for 1 minute! You will be sore for days after doing this.

Here's a link for it if you're unfamiliar with the exercises and need pictures to look at: Spartacus Workout

Circuit: 3 x 1 min
1. Goblet Squat
2. Mountain Climbers
3. Single-arm Dumbbell Swing
4. T-pushup
5. Split Lunge Jumps
6. Dumbbell Row
7. Dumbbell Side Lunge & Touch
8. Pushup Row
9. Dumbbell Lunge & Rotation
10. Dumbbell Push Press

Total time is about 40 minutes from start to finish.

Good luck & let me know if any of you attempt this!

Week 13 Recap: January 18-24

I had to switch my long run to Wednesday this week since Todd & I were in Cleveland Saturday morning. I would've done it Friday morning but I wanted to sleep in a little bit since I had the day so I did a medium run that day.

Monday: 6 mi w/ 4x400 @ 4% grade (tempo/hills @ 7:59 pace; did this on the treadmill so I could control the incline), lifted upper body

Tuesday: 50 min elliptical, lifted core
45 min elliptical w/ Em after work (She was in town & I miss working out w/ her so I did a 2-a-day)

Wednesday: 12 mi (long run @ 8:09 pace; did this on the treadmill before work b/c it was too dark & icy outside)

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 8 mi (tempo @ 7:55 pace); core & push ups

Saturday: 3 mi easy run w/ Em in Cleveland, Spartacus workout (did circuit 3x for 30 sec)

Sunday: taught 20 min core & 50 min spinning

TOTAL: 30 mi

Feeling great & can't wait to do some of my longer runs in the upcoming weeks!

Weekend in Cleveland

Todd & I left for Cleveland early Friday afternoon to visit Emily & her boyfriend, Mark. After a quick lunch of soup & bread bowls at Panera, we were on our way. We got to Cleveland around 3:00pm and headed straight to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Todd had been once before awhile ago but this was my 1st trip there. I wasn't really sure what to expect and to be honest, I thought I'd be bored within 20 minutes. Much to my surprise, it was actually the exact opposite! It was pretty amazing how much memorabilia they had. We also liked the fact that there was music constantly playing so it wasn't like your typical museum.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

My favorite part was all the costumes and outfits they had from various musicians, including John Lennon's jacket from the cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, Jim Morrison's cub scout shirt, one of Tina Turner's dresses, and of course Michael Jackson's sequined glove. Other memorabilia they had were numerous guitars, instruments, and original copies of handwritten lyrics. They also had a neat exhibit about the history of audio technology starting with the phonograph and ending with the iPod. We also saw the special exhibit featuring Bruce Springsteen. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame closed at 5:30pm so at that point we headed to Emily's apartment to clean up before dinner.

*Note--there's no photography allowed in the museum which is why I don't have any pics.

Emily, Mark, Todd, and I went to Little Italy and had dinner at Michelangelo's. It was delicious--great Italian food & wine! Todd ordered escargot for an appetizer so we both got to try that for the first time. Not sure I would order it again though.

Todd trying his escargot

After dinner we went to the Chocolate Cafe for drinks. We started with shooters made in chocolate cups--it doesn't get any better than that! We then had a few martinis before going back to Mark's apartment (Mark lives directly above Em in their building, which is how they met). Our evening ended shortly after midnight.

Mark, Em and I

Todd & I

Saturday morning Em, Mark, Maddie (Em's dog), and I went for an easy 3 mi run before Em & I went to the gym to attempt the Spartacus workout. After trying it last week, I had to torture her with it too. We went through it 3 times but only for 30 seconds on each exercise instead of 1 minute. I'll post the exact workout in the next couple days to see if anyone of you can do the whole thing.

We ended our trip to Cleveland with breakfast & shopping at the West Side Market with Em & Mark. This place was awesome! We had crepes & hot chocolate for breakfast (pear & caramel for Todd, dark chocolate & strawberry for me) and then wandered around all the vendors, buying food along the way.

Our crepes

Todd & I ended up with eggplant parmesan pierogies, hummus, pitas, ciabatta rolls & smoked turkey for paninis today, fresh pineapple chunks, cucumbers, and bell peppers for my black bean & veggie burritos I'm making this week. Em & Mark bought a bunch of groceries too, including some fish.

The guy gutting their fish

The prices for the most part were super cheap, especially the fresh fruit & veggies. I got fresh cut pineapple chunks for $1.99 that would normally cost me $5.99 at Whole Foods!

One of the many fruit & veggie stands

After a great 24 hours in Cleveland, Todd & I headed back to Columbus Saturday afternoon so I could get home to babysit. Yes, I still babysit but in my defense, I don't know where else I'd get paid good money to play Wii and watch a movie, ya know?

We don't have much planned for day. Hopefully just relaxing, maybe watching a movie, and making paninis for dinner.

Wine Tasting at House Wine

Since Todd & I have today off from work, we decided to go out last night with Derek & Emily instead of going rock climbing. But don't worry, we'll go back to climbing next Thursday night. We planned a wine tasting at House Wine, a local wine shop. If you hadn't noticed a pattern yet, Todd & I love wine....ok well let's just say that I love wine and Todd will drink anything. The neat thing about House Wine is that aside from their weekly Thursday night wine tasting, they also have wine dispensers that you can try different wines in either 1 oz, 3 oz, or 5 oz samples. It's fun to just sit around with some friends, hang out, and drink wine. A couple doors down from House Wine is a little Italian cafe, Caffe Daniela, that has a deal where you can order food but take it back to eat at House Wine while you're drinking. The food was delicious!

The five wines they were offering during the wine tasting
The wine dispensers

Our meals (3 paninis and a lasagna)

Todd & I with Derek & Emily

My 8 mi tempo run is in the books. I felt a little sluggish the first 2 or 3 miles but eventually found my rhythm and felt good. Average pace was 7:55 min/mi and I finished off with core & push ups. Now we're heading up to Cleveland for the day/night!

Columbus Restaurant Week

This week was Columbus Restaurant Week, which consists of about 30-40 restaurants that offer a set menu for a set price, usually anywhere between $15-$35. They offer an appetizer, main entree, and dessert. In the past, they've only had it once a year but now they're adding more weeks throughout the year to get more business at local restaurants. For Todd & I, it's just an excuse to try different restaurants at a cheaper price!

We went online and looked to see what each restaurant was offering and decided on a restaurant with the best menu as well as one we'd never been too. We choose The Lost Shepherd in Powell. The 3 course meal was only $19/person and there was also a free wine tasting that night. Perfect!

The special menu for Restaurant Week
Appetizers: Todd got the BBQ Chicken & Chorizo Sausage Pizza and I got the Hummus with Pitas & Veggies

I forgot to take pics of our main entrees, probably because I was so excited to dig right in. Todd got Filet Mignon with red potatoes and I got the Fire Roasted Chicken with Corn Risotto.

Dessert: Todd got the Red Velvet cake & I got the Chocolate Cheesecake

All in all, it was a wonderful date night with delicious food & wine.

I'm pretty excited too because I have tomorrow off work. Let's just say that my boss is awesome and rewards us for having to work crazy hours during the year, specifically in November & December (our extremely busy months). And by crazy hours I mean working from 4am-noon and then coming back to work from 11pm-3am. I typically work 7:30am-4:00pm so throwing in these weird hours multiple times per month can really throw you off schedule. Since I have tomorrow off, Todd also took off and we're heading up to Cleveland to go to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as well as visit one of my friends, Emily (my former workout/running buddy).

Because I knew I'd be up there on Saturday morning when I'd normally do my long run, I switched my schedule around and did my 12 mi yesterday morning on the treadmill before work. I felt great--no twinges and nothing seems to be hurting! I started out at 8:19 pace to warm up and threw in a few miles at 7:47 towards the end so my average pace was 8:09. My legs were tired this morning (and I was tired in general) so when my alarm went off at 4:40am, I reset it for 6:15am and decided to call today a rest day. I have an 8 mi tempo run on tap tomorrow morning along with core & push ups before we head up to Cleveland.

Bookworm

Besides running, one thing I really love to do is read. I enjoy reading all kinds of books but typically I either read "chick lit" or books about running. Every so often, I'm going to post what I'm reading and whether or not I'd recommend reading it because I know I'm always searching for good books.

Vision in White by Nora Roberts

Vision in White is the first book in a four book series called "The Bride Quartet" about childhood friends, Emma, Laurel, Parker, and Mackensie who operate a wedding planner company named Vows. Each has their own specialty: one creates beautiful wedding cakes, one arranges floral arrangements, one handles the books, and one is a photographer. Each book in the series will focus on one of the characters. Vision in White is about Mackensie, the photographer. I've never read any other books by Nora Roberts so I don't know how this compares but I found it to be a fun, easy read about friendship and romance. The second book in the series just came out last month, called Bed of Roses, and is about Emma, the florist. I already have another book to read but I'm sure I'll be reading that one too in the next couple weeks.

The Runner's Rule Book by Mark Remy

This is a quick, entertaining read for runners that discusses rules, etiquette, and behavior of running. There are some serious rules but a lot of them are meant to be humorous. Some of my favorites include:

Rule 1.4 Black Toenails are Badges of Honor
Rule 2.32 Do Whatever it Takes to Finish Ahead of a Costumed Runner
Rule 3.5 Save the Race Shirt for Post Race

The John Wall Dance

If you don't know me, you might not know that I'm a huge UK fan (and huge might be an understatement). I grew up with Kentucky basketball. In fact, the very first basketball game I ever remember watching was the infamous Kentucky vs. Duke basketball game in 1992. I was 8 years old and have hated Duke since then. I even went to the Final Four & Championship game in 1997 when Kentucky lost to Arizona in OT. We didn't know it at the time, but it was also Rick Pitino's last game at UK. They ended up winning the National Championship one year later though in 1998 under Tubby Smith.

Fast forward about 10 years and most UK fans were living through the glory years of years past. In fact, the past few years have not been Kentucky's finest in terms of their basketball program. Fans were getting restless that they weren't going to the Final Four year after year. Kentucky fans probably would have been ecstatic if they had even made it to the tournament last year.

Enter Coach Calipari, John Wall, Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe. The program (knock on wood) has seemed to turn around. Thanks to Texas' loss last night, UK remains the only unbeaten team in the country. A large part of that goes to the freshman phenom John Wall....and perhaps his dancing skills.



Apparently Wall displayed his dancing ability a few months ago when he was introduced at Rupp Arena for the first time. His signature dance move has become such a hit that there's even "The John Wall Dance" facebook page. T-shirts are being made. Fans are doing it at games. Coach Cal did it at a telethon the other day to raise money for Haiti. Courtney Cox even did it on her TV show Cougar Town.

What can I say? The John Wall Dance craze has hit the nation!

Week 14 Recap: January 11-17

I had a great week of workouts & running. The past few weeks I'd felt kinda slow during my runs but finally felt like I was running at a decent pace this week. It seems like every time I get injured (which let's be honest, happens pretty frequently), it takes longer & longer for me to get my speed back...ugh it's frustrating!


Monday: 5 mi (speedwork/ladder workout: 200, 400, 600, 800, 1200 with 400 easy in between with 1 mi warm up & 1 mi cooldown)

Tuesday: 45 min elliptical

Wednesday: 7 mi (tempo @ 8:04 pace)
30 min elliptical & taught 20 min core after work

Thursday: 30 min bike & The Spartacus Workout

*The Spartacus Workout is from Men's Health (hey, what can I say? I work with 3 guys) and is HARD. You're suppose to go through it 3x but I only managed 2x

Friday: REST

Saturday: 10 mi (long run @ 8:36 pace)

Sunday: taught 20 min core & 50 min spinning (and I'm still sore from the Spartacus workout on Thursday morning ha!)


This week I'm going to keep increasing my mileage and do some hill work (probably on the treadmill so I can control the distance and speed for each hill). Let me tell ya, Boston is not a flat course!

A Weekend with Friends & Family

Well, another busy weekend in the books. Friday night, Todd & I went to Average Joe's to celebrate Lynn's 27th birthday. I love this girl & am lucky to have called her my friend for the past 21 years. I was the Maid of Honor in her wedding this past May and hope that someday she will be my Matron of Honor at my wedding.

Megs & I with the birthday girl

Todd & I (his beard is coming in nicely for the annual mustache competition in a few weeks)

On Saturday, Todd's family came into town from Leetonia for the OSU vs. Wisconsin basketball game. Our first stop when they got into Columbus was Thurman's for lunch. Todd's cousin, Bum, had been dying to go here and I was excited since I'd only been once before. Now for those of you that aren't familiar with Thurman's, it was featured on the show Man v. Food (awesome show by the way) and is known for there amazing burgers. They're also known for their looonnnng waits. See, the restaurant only has about 10-12 tables/booths and since they're famous in town, you can end up waiting for hours. We got there around 1:00pm and waited almost 2 hours for a table. Normally I'm not that patient but it wasn't too bad because we were able to get some drinks, appetizers, and hang out with his family. I was hoping someone would get the Thurmanator, which is their signature burger. It's two 12 oz. burgers, bacon, ham, cheese, and some veggies all for a whooping $17! Unfortunately, no one got it but Todd did get the Bacon Ranch Cheeseburger, which was still a huge burger.

Todd's Bacon Ranch Cheeseburger w/ Onion Straws

By the time we were done with lunch, it was after 4pm so we headed over to the hotel his family was staying at to hang out and relax before heading down to campus for the game. We eventually made it down to the Schott for game time at 8:00pm. It was a decent game (tons of annoying calls by the refs though) with the Buckeyes beating the #13 Badgers 60-51.

View from our seats Halftime show which featured a girls jump roping team. They were amazing! (and I might have been more excited to see them then game)

Before Todd's family headed home on Sunday, we had to squeeze in a trip to Hooters for wings. Bum loves Hooters wings but unfortunately there isn't one in Leetonia so it's always big deal to go in Columbus. He is an expert at eating wings and has his own method. He first breaks the wing, eats the meat on the small bone, and then puts the rest of the wing in his mouth. When it comes out, there's nothing but bone. He just sucks the meat right off. It's actually pretty impressive to watch.

Bum's plate of 50 wings

He managed to eat 31 wings in 15 minutes

All in all, it was a great weekend but like always, went by way too fast. Todd is all tuckered out too as he's taking a nap on my couch as I write. Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend!

My 1st BQ

It's hard to believe it's been 2 years since I first qualified for the Boston Marathon. I ran my first marathon in October 2007 at Columbus in 3:49. As soon as I crossed that finish line, I was already planning on running my next one. I ended up doing one just a few months later, the Rock & Roll Arizona Marathon in January 2008. I choose this race because my brother lived in Phoenix at the time so not only did I have a place to stay but he was also going to run the race. It was a perfect day, temps in the 50s, and I had a nice, flat course to run on. To qualify for Boston, I needed to run 3:40 or faster. I finished in 3:38:59.

Around mile 13

Up until I crossed the finish line at Boston last April, this day in Phoenix was the greatest day. Well, maybe a few things rank ahead but it was an amazing day to say the least. When I had a mile to go, I knew I was going to BQ as long as I didn't trip & fall or decide to walk the rest of the way. For those of you who aren't runners, you might not understand this, but that feeling as I crossed the finish line, exhausted, spent, and dehydrated after running my heart out for 26.2 miles was simply incredible. One of the best parts was knowing I had accomplished this on my own. I trained by myself and I did not have anyone pacing me during the marathon. In fact, I only had one person cheering for me on the course, my brother's girlfriend, who I saw at mile 13 and again around 25.5. My brother was there at the finish as he had already finished the marathon in 3:09.

Jeff & I afterwards

“It begins 30 minutes from the finish line. You find yourself chastising yourself for this foolishness, and promising yourself if you just finish you will never put yourself through such self-imposed torture again. Within 30 minutes after you complete the race, you have experienced the relief and recovery. Then you forget about all the pain and begin planning for your next marathon.”

93 days till Boston!

Ain't No Mountain High...

Ok so we weren't exactly climbing mountains but we were climbing. Todd & I went indoor rock climbing at Vertical Adventures last week for the first time in over a year.

A few years back, before we were dating, Todd used to climb with a bunch of people from work 2-3 nights/week but then slowly got out of the habit. Last winter, Todd wanted to start climbing again so he took me and I really liked it. We meant to keep going on a regular basis but then I kinda broke my hand so that went out the window. We figured with the cold weather and limited outdoor activities, we might as well start going again. Last week was a little shaky for me as I was slowly getting back into the swing of it. By the end of our 1.5 hour climbing session, I had made it to the top twice!

All the climbs are numbered 1 through 10 according to difficulty with 10 being extremely challenging. When Todd was climbing a lot a few years ago, he could make it up some of the 7s and 8s. Last week, I was happy I made it to the top of a couple 2s.

We went climbing again last night with Derek & Emily and had a blast. We're going to try to make it a weekly activity. I even made it all the way up a 4!!

Just getting started....

Halfway up!

(I eventually made it to the top)

Emily & Derek deciding which one to climb

Good job Todd! You made it off the ground.

Baked Oatmeal

I tend to get stuck in a rut when it comes to breakfast foods. I'll go weeks with eating Low-fat Eggo NutriGrain waffles with peanut butter and then be so sick of them that I won't even think about eating them for months. The same goes for cereal, english muffins, and pumpkin bread. I really wanted a new, healthy breakfast that's easy to make and easy to take with me if I need to eat breakfast at work. Well, thanks to Todd's sister & mom, I have something new to throw into my breakfast rotation. I went home with him the weekend of Thanksgiving and his sister had this at her house and it was delicious. I'm not a big fan of regular oatmeal so this baked oatmeal was perfect because it's crumbly and more like a cake. Also, you can add tons of different ingredients so it's always different.

Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients: 1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup white or brown sugar (I use brown sugar)

1 large egg, beaten

2 cups quick oats, uncooked

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

*You can also add walnuts, slivered almonds, raisins, dried fruits, fresh fruit, etc. My favorite is adding slivered almonds with an extra sprinkle of brown sugar on the top. Feel free to double the recipe too for a bigger batch.*

Directions: Mix oil, sugar & egg together. Add oats, baking powder, salt, & milk and mix well. Pour into 9x5 pan. Bake for 350 degrees for 25 min. Serve with milk.

Sushi & Beer

What we thought would be an uneventful weekend turned out to be quite busy for Todd and I. This past Friday night we went to my work holiday party at Columbus Brewing Company. It was pretty low key but fun to hang out with my coworkers, along with a few former coworkers who were also invited.

Saturday we spent the better part of the day visiting Chihuly exhibits (see post from 01/10/10). We also made a stop at the North Market to walk around and see if there was anything good to try/buy. We bought a waffle from Taste of Belgium, which was delicious and not what I expected it to taste like, as well as a loaf of bread from Omega Artisan Baking to have with our gnocchi for dinner that night. We also drove by the new Ohio Union on OSU's campus to see if it was finished (almost but not open yet, at least it didn't look like it) and made one last stop at the Beer & Winemaker's Shop where Todd couldn't resist buying a brew kit to make Holiday Ale.

So what do you think we did on Sunday? Yep, you got it, we made beer. I met Todd at his house early Sunday afternoon for omelets (egg whites, veggies, and fat free cheese for me though because of my low fat diet per my doctor....boo!!) and hash brown potatoes. Afterwards, the real adventure began!

Todd & I brewed our 3rd batch of beer. We had previously made an Amber and a Dunkelweizen so this time we made the Holiday Ale. It took almost 6 hours from the start to when we transferred the wort (it's not technically beer yet) to the fermenter. It'll still be a few more weeks until it's ready to be bottled.

After we added the malt extract & bittering hops

The longest step while brewing the beer is cooling it down to room temperature after it's been boiling for over an hour. Needless to say, my patience begins to wear a little thin during this step, but luckily on Sunday, we made sushi for dinner while we were waiting.

Our sushi in front with veggie tempura in the back

I plan on posting more in the next couple weeks about the whole beer making process from start to finish (with pics of course!) so stay tuned....


Also, for those ladies out there who need a good book to read, I just finished reading The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. I've read quite a few of his books (he wrote The Notebook and A Walk to Remember among others) and really enjoyed this one. I definitely recommend it!

And I came home from work today and had a package from Amazon! It's the new book I just ordered called Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance. I'm pretty excited to start reading it because it got good reviews and it's perfect timing for my Boston training. I really am focused on trying to PR in April and I want to know that when the race is over, I gave it everything I could whether that's in my running, cross training, lifting, sleeping, and/or eating.

Week 15 Recap: January 4-10

At the beginning of each week, I'm going to do a recap of my running & cross-training workouts from the previous week to monitor my progress for Boston. As stated in a previous post, I'm only running 3x/week so I rely a lot on cross-training to increase fitness. All workouts are done in the early hours of the morning before heading to work unless otherwise noted.

Monday: 4 mi (tempo), 30 min elliptical, lifted total body

Tuesday: 15 min bike warm up, 45 min spinning
1.5 hrs of indoor climbing w/ Todd after work

Wednesday: 5 mi (easy)

Thursday: REST

Friday: 35 min elliptical, core & push ups

Saturday: 8 mi (long run)

Sunday: taught 20 min core, taught 50 min spinning


Goals for this week are to bump up my mileage!

Saturday Afternoon with Chihuly

After a decent workout at my apartment gym Saturday morning (8 miles on the treadmill at 8:18 pace for me and 3.1 miles & some lifting for Todd), we had no plans for the day. That is, until Todd remembered the Chihuly exhibits on display at both the Columbus Museum of Art and the Franklin Park Conservatory. We were pretty excited to go and even more pumped when we remembered one of our friends, Sara, had given us free tickets to both places. Her and her husband live in Pittsburgh but they were in town for the Columbus Marathon in October and the hotel they stayed at had given her these tickets. So, we saved $40 and got to see Chihuly for free all afternoon. Thanks Sara!

Our first stop was the Columbus Museum of Art. They're going through some major renovations so most of the exhibits were closed so all we were really able to see was the Chihuly exhibit, which was called Chihuly Illuminated. It was pretty neat because the rooms with the hand blown glass were darkened with only spotlights or black lights on them.

The biggest piece on exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art...it's pretty incredible what Dale Chihuly can do!

Todd posing....he loves Chihuly

Next, we went to the Franklin Park Conservatory. They have the Chihuly pieces all throughout the conservatory starting at the front entrance and spread out into the botanical exhibits. They have a couple permanent Chihuly pieces from the last time he was there a few years ago. If you have never been to FPC before, definitely check it out now while the exhibit is around. It's cool to walk through the different botanical regions (tropical rain forest, desert, Himalayas) to not only see the flowers & plant life there but also to see the colorful hand blown glass hidden throughout.

Pieces of Chihuly on the ceiling, similar to what is at Bellagio in Vegas

Todd & I in the rain forest
Todd wanted me to buy him a piece of Chihuly....it only cost $5600 for this little one

A Peek Into My Job...

As I've mentioned in a few of my posts, I'm an exercise physiologist and work within a hospital system. I don't actually work directly in a hospital but at an offsite occupational health clinic. I work with 4 other EPs in the Health & Performance Testing department. My job mainly consists of fitness testing city firefighters and police officers as well as some smaller fire departments. One of my favorite parts of my job is going out to one of the local fire stations every other week to group train the firefighters. I've been doing this for 2.5 years now so I know the guys I train pretty well. I have a blast torturing them with my workouts but also getting to see the results during their annual physical fitness test.

Unfortunately, when I go out to the station to train them, they're on the job so if a call comes in for a medical emergency or a fire, then they're out the door within a minute to respond to the call, which means I'm left hanging out by myself. This was the case the other morning. Since I had already run before going to work, I didn't feel like working out again while waiting for the guys to come back so instead I snapped a few shots of their workout room with my phone.

Cardio equipment (treadmill, bike, and elliptical) along with dumbbells

Strength training equipment, stability balls, plyo box, resistance bands

Various fitness equipment such as a leg press machine & medicine balls (if you look close enough you can see on the mirror where I write their workout for the day...and yes, I was watching the Today Show)
The bulletin board I created with fitness tips, tons of workouts I've created for them over the years, nutritional info, and department results from previous years' fitness tests

My Guilty Pleasure

The Bachelor, Biggest Loser, The Real Housewives of Orange County (or New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, etc.), Real World, and even the Jersey Shore. Yes, I said it, I watch the Jersey Shore. I'm guilty of watching loving reality TV. I just can't help myself. It's so bad I even watched Conveyor Belt of Love the other night, which unfortunately is about 42 minutes of my life I will never get back. Thank god for DVR though so at least I could fast forward through the commercials and wasted only 42 minutes instead of a full hour.

I feel like I can justify watching Biggest Loser because of my occupation as an exercise physiologist and the fact that I love to work out. It really is amazing to see the transformation the contestants go through despite how unrealistic the show really is. I mean, seriously, how many people can go from being an obese couch potato to working out 8 hours a day, restricting their diet, and losing 25 lbs in 1 week all while not having to worry about working 40 hours/week and taking care of their family? That's right, NO ONE. But it's still crazy to see how much weight they do lose.

I tell myself after every season of the Bachelor/Bachelorette that I won't watch another rose ceremony because 1.) the relationship never lasts between the couple (ok ok besides Trista & Ryan) and 2.) the show is sooo cheesy. But, what did I find myself doing the other night? Setting my DVR to record the series yet again.

As for the MTV reality shows that I should have stopped watching about 10 years ago, well, I really have no answer for you. I thought when I turned 20 I'd stop watching them. At the rate I'm going, it looks like I might have to wait a few more years for when I turn 30....


On a side note, ironically, after I posted about the trips Todd & I were hoping to take this year, we got a save the date for a wedding this June in Washington DC for one of Todd's friends so it looks like we might have to bag the trips to Vegas and/or the cottage.

Traveling the World in 2010

With the new year just beginning, I've been thinking a lot about some of the fun trips I'll be taking this year. I need something to look forward to during the long, cold winter months, right?

Obviously in April, I will be heading to Boston for the Boston Marathon and Todd will be coming to cheer me on. We'll be there from April 17-21 with the marathon on Monday, April 19. I went last year so I've already done a bunch of the "touristy" things but I'm excited to go with Todd since it'll be his first trip there. We bought Red Sox tickets a few weeks ago and will watch them take on the Tampa Bay Rays. I'm sure we'll also walk the Freedom Trail, which is a 2.5 mile red-brick walking trail that takes you to 16 historic sites (such as Paul Revere's house and the site of the Boston Massacre). Or maybe we'll just take the famous Boston Duck Tour if my tired legs aren't feeling up to a day of walking.

In June, we're hoping to head to Vegas for a long weekend. Todd knows somebody that works for Harrah's so we'll see if he can hook us up with a good deal otherwise I'm leaning towards staying at Mandalay Bay. We're hoping to just hang out by the pool, maybe see a Cirque du Soleil show, and relax.

In July, we might head up to Laporte, Pennsylvania (northeast PA) for another long weekend to stay at my family's cottage. The cottage, named "Wake Robin", was built in 1910 by my great-great grandfather. It's a great place to take it easy, go canoeing at the lake, hike at Ricketts Glen state park to see the waterfalls, and head to the Haystacks on the Loyalsock Creek to go swimming.

Wake Robin

Haystacks

August will take us to Portland, Oregon for Hood to Coast. This is a 12-person, 197-mile long distance relay that takes you from Mount Hood to the coast of Oregon. The course consists of 36 legs and each team member must run at least three in rotation. The legs vary in length from 3.5 miles to about 8 miles and the terrain for each leg can vary from level terrain to steep uphills and/or downhills. Each runner will run between 13.5 miles to 20 miles in about a 24 hour period. So yes, I could potentially be running at 2:00am on little or no sleep, considering we'll be driving around the course in 2 conversion vans. Sounds terrible to most people but I cannot wait! I should clarify too that Todd will not be running in the relay. We still have to figure out the details but I think he will be coming out to Portland after I'm done with the relay so we can spend a few days there. We're also hoping Derek & Emily, the couple who's wedding we went to in St. Thomas last summer, will also come out with Todd.

Towards the end of September, Todd & I will be joining my parents on a Mediterranian cruise. We'll be flying to Barcelona, Spain and then heading out on a 7-day cruise to see parts of Italy & France. I really don't have a lot of other details yet but will definitely be posting more about what we're going to do in each city we visit as the time gets closer.

Ports of Call

Our last trip of the year will be for Todd's 30th (!) birthday. I'm hoping to plan a trip along the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky with lots of Todd's friends. Ideally, I'd like to rent a charter bus that will leave Columbus and take us to several of the distilleries in Kentucky so that no one has to worry about driving. I really haven't looked into this much so if you know anything about renting a charter bus, let me know!

Map of the Bourbon Trail

Wheww...I'm tired just thinking about all this traveling but I know it'll be a year to remember!