GOTR and a new soup for you

You can see me at about the 1:15 point. ;o)

 I really want to participate in "What I ate Wednesday" one of these days, but that would require two things:  1) planning and pictures, neither of which happen often around here, and 2) admitting to the weird combination of foods I eat.  I will say that the HBBC has definitely gotten me to pay more attention to my fruits and vegetables.  Yesterday I had a veggie burger topped with lettuce, spinach, avocado, and a boatload of salsa for lunch.  It was yummy, filling, and hit at least 4 servings of veggies.  Dinner was Potato Leek Soup, mostly because I happened to have all the ingredients from our veggie delivery.  So, yeah, no problem hitting the 7 fruits and veggies yesterday!

Potato Leek Soup

I had some particularly intense carrots this time.

5lbs potatoes, peeled, cubed and covered with water
4 leeks, whites and light green part only
2 med sized onions
8 carrots, peeled and chopped
8 celery stalks, chopped
1.5 C broth
Approximately 4 more cups broth
Dried Parsley
Black pepper

Saute onions and leeks in 1.5 C broth until tender.  Add carrots, celery, and drain and add potatoes.  Cover (barely) with broth.  Bring to a boil, then turn back and simmer.  After 10 minutes, add some parsley and pepper to taste.  When potatoes and carrots are done (about another 15 minutes), puree. Serve with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream.

One of the reasons I love making soup is that you don't have to follow the directions closely LOL.  Last night's rendition didn't have celery or parsley, so I added celery salt.  I have no idea how many potatoes I actually had and I used 5 of the largest, brightest carrots you've ever seen (hence the orange color).  It still tasted awesome and made enough for at least one more dinner for three of us (Jones won't eat it) and probably a lunch or two.

It cooled off here yesterday, so I'm being nice to my legs and hitting the gym today.  ;o)  Gotta keep earning those HBBC points.

Mother Nature's Hot Flash

This past week, Virginia decided that instead of suiting up for the holidays, she'd give us one more week of early fall.  Afternoon temps for the last few days have been in the mid to high 60s with one day in the 70s.

Run outside in shorts and a t-shirt?  Why, yes I will, thank you.

In the last five days I've:

• Run a turkey trot
• Run an easy 3
• Biked 6 miles with my kids and walked around Roosevelt Island
• Run 4 miles with my quads screaming from the biking
• Run a very hilly 5 miles.

My legs are begging to go to the gym and hit the elliptical.  My quads are heavy and things are a bit sore.  But nothing hurts and it's 62 degrees out right now, so there will be a 3 miler in my morning plan.

Suck it up, legs, suck it up.  You can rest when Mother Nature cools back down.  Maybe.

Full Circle

Last year at this time, I was limping after my achilles got angry at the local turkey trot.

This year, I'm slower and my endurance is way less, but I'm finally running pain free!

I've learned not to try to race our local TT.  The first mile involves mostly trying not to run over dogs, strollers, and walkers.  I start near the front, but it doesn't seem to matter.  Normally that would drive me crazy, but I love seeing all of my neighbors out for the race, so I'm willing to accept that the first mile will be slow.  Then, just as things start clearing out a bit, the hills hit.  You'd think I'd be used to them, but no.  They totally suck LOL.

I ran a really smart race this year with major negative splits: 10:23, 10:05, 9:05 with a 7ish sprint to the end.  I missed my goal of 30 minutes by 10 seconds, but I'll blame that on the last big uphill.  ;o)

All in all, it was an awesome start to a wonderful holiday. 

Facebooking Thanksgiving prep

Beer Geek and I have been together for about 17 Thanksgivings. In that time, I think I've cooked 4 turkeys.  One of those times, I set my oven on fire.

This Thanksgiving prep was not as dramatic, but I'm pretty sure it's one I won't forget.

 

 

In the end, the turkey fit in the oven and is done now.  It may not be the best turkey ever, but at least it amused me.  Now I'm gonna head out for a Turkey Trot and then come home and spend the day eating tough bird and drinking good beer with some of my favorite people.  I have much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all my friends in the blog world! May you find lots to be thankful for today!

America's Toughest Road Marathon Entry Giveaway

Do you have what it takes?

Can you not only run a marathon, but run one that will.kick.your.butt? Or maybe your quads LOL?

If so, then this is the marathon for you!  (In interest of full disclosure, I'm not sure I'm tough enough and have not decided if I'll run it!)

Wanna know more?  Check out this video...


Blue Ridge Marathon: America's Toughest Road Marathon from Pete Eshelman on Vimeo.


Or go to their website:  Blue Ridge Marathon

Still think you have what it takes?  Then leave me a comment to enter the giveaway!

Think you can really rock this thing?  Here are some ways to get some extra entries:

• Follow MCM Mama.  Leave a comment.
• Follow Blue Ridge Marathon on twitter.  Leave a comment.
• Tweet about it.  Leave a comment.
• Follow MCM Mama on twitter.
• Link the giveaway on your blog or talk about it in a post.  Leave a comment.

Giveaway ends December 6th at midnight!  Gotta make sure you have plenty of time to train. ;o)

Disclosure:  I was given this entry to giveaway.  I've also been offered a free entry, but I may be too much of a wuss to do the full.  Yeah, I'm scared, but maybe you'll seem me there.

Functional Fitness

I freely admit that the main reason I run is the mental health benefits.  Running pulls me up when I'm feeling the pull down towards depression.  Running takes the edge off when my stress level heads into the stratosphere.  Running provides release when I'm about to boil over.

But, I'm really bad about doing anything besides running.  I might hit the elliptical on days when I can't run.  I manage to do my chiro subscribed exercises a few times a week.  I almost never occasionally hit the weight machines at the gym.

The last few days, though, I've gotten some amazing workouts and I haven't lifted a single weight.  I've just been active in my everyday life. 

On Thursday, as I shared with you, I helped brew.  Included in that was raking the spent grain from the mash tun.  I raked 3 huge trashcans full of spent grain out.  15+ pound rake, pounds and pounds of grain, above my head (the brewer is at least 6 feet, so things are designed for him, not my 5'3"), arms fully extended.  Amazing upper body workout.

On Saturday and Sunday, I raked.  And raked.  And raked.  100+ year old oak trees make a heck of a lot of leaves.

On Sunday, I also volunteered at Girls on the Run.  Now, that might not seem like much, but I came home barely able to lift my arms.  Why? Because I was lifting boxes of bananas that were at least 50 pounds.  I also held entire cases of water in my arms for girls to grab as they went past.  Again, an amazing upper body workout.

I need to do more of this.  So, I'm going another challenge:  30 for 60.  30 minutes of activity for 60 days, starting December 1.  Won't you join me?  Go visit "Because I can" to sign up.

I heart cold weather running!

It's a chilly 39 degrees here right now.  Yesterday afternoon, winter arrived.

But I'm not complaining.  I just had an amazing 4 mile run where my time for every single mile started with a 9.  Woot!  I wasn't even running hard, with the exception of the final uphill half mile (why do I keep doing that?).  Nothing hurt.  I was running by "feel" and taking it easy.  The only difference was that it was cold. 

Every once in a while I reconfirm that I'm really a Wisconsin girl at heart LOL.

Weather and what I wore (so I can remember how much to wear next time.): 

• 39 degrees, sunny, light wind
• Tek leggings with Tommie Copper calf sleeves (would have been ok with capris and the calf sleeves.)
• Running bra, short sleeve tech tee, long sleeve Nike half zip
• Running cap

For once, I was wearing exactly the right amount of clothing.

And for your viewing pleasure, a preview of my Mad Fox Brewing report:

TTT: What I'm doing

1. I've been on a major quest to reorganize my house. We've been in this house 14 years, you'd think I'd have figured out the best place to keep my spatulas. I've been reading a book called Eliminate Chaos (first step for me was to get the e-version from the library LOL). Unlike the 5 million other books I've read about organizing and getting rid of clutter, this one is actually sparking ideas in my head. I booted the "kid drawer" from my kitchen (don't worry, they have their own cabinet in the dining room) and now my less used utensils have their own home. And why is the green tea on a shelf that's easy to reach when I don't drink green tea? And my nuun (which I refuse to fess up to the amount I drink) is in the living room. Um, yeah. Lots of things getting shuffled around with a few things dropping in the trash or donation box. All good, but hella time consuming.

2. Last weekend I attended a meeting for Lead Volunteers for the Girls on the Run NOVA race. It's one of the biggest GOTR races with over 7000 runners.  Like last year, I'll be hanging out at the start/finish lines.  Also like last year, it's my job to keep the first row of girls from starting before the gun.  Last year, that involved standing as a human barrier on the start line.  I do this because I enjoy it, but this year the organization gave us lovely pendants as a thank you, which I thought was very cool.

3.  And guess what I'm doing today, probably while you are reading this?   I'm hanging out at Mad Fox Brewpub, helping brew a batch of Wee Heavy.  That's right.  I'm hanging out with the brewer. Making one of my favorite beers.

You can be jealous now.  ;o)

Swim. Bike. Rake.

What? That's not a triathlon?

Darn.

Last night I finally reached a point where my cheekbones and teeth didn't hurt, so I figured I needed to take Jamoosh's advice and sweat the ickies out.  It was supposed to rain, so I planned to head to the gym  (I'll run in the rain but not when I'm already sick.)

This morning, two things happened.

1. I woke up and it was warm (66 degrees!) and dry!
2. G posted on Facebook that she'd gone for a run.  Now, as many of you know, that girl ran a marathon Saturday.  While coming down with what turned out to be a nasty bug.  And she was out there this morning.  That's bad a$$.  Some might say galactically bad a$$.  So, if I ever have any hope of being part of her posse, I needed to run.

My "triathlon":

1. Bike - 3 miles in 29:25 minutes.  Yes, that's hella slow, but part of it was with my kids, I forgot to turn off my garmin when I was locking up their bikes, and it was a super hilly ride.  Did I mention it was hilly?  And that my bike only works in one gear?
2. Run - 3 miles in 29:56.  My goal was 31, so I was happy with that.  10:22, 10:00 and then I decided to see what I had left - which as a 9:10 pace until I hit the last quarter mile, which was all uphill.  What kind of sadistic race director ends a race like that?  Oh right, me.  Anyways, gives me hope my speed will someday come back.
3. Rake - 30 minutes.  The county will be vacuuming our neighborhood soon, so we are trying to get as many leaves as possible out to the curb.  Can you tell where I ran out of time?

After my "triathlon", I took a quick shower (people at Costco, you can thank me later) and then had "lunch" at Costco (aka stopped at every sample LOL).

What would you do if you came up with a triathlon? Anyone up for an "MCM Mama Virtual Triathlon" where you pick your own activities?

Ahh, the guilt

I didn't exercise this weekend.  I did one thirty minute walk around the neighborhood, delivering newsletters.  That's it.

So, I planned to run today.  I miss my run.  I'm feeling all soft and squishy and lazy.

Unfortunately, my body has other ideas.  After years of not getting seriously ill, I'm finding that the combination of strep and a bad cold is wiping me out.  My head and face hurt.  I get out of breath walking up the stairs.  My body temperature is wacky.  I can't tell you how many times today I've already taken off my sweatshirt and then five minutes later put it back on.  My body is obviously telling me to give it a break for another day.

So, why exactly do I feel guilty for not running?

The world according to Shoo

This weekend has been a rough one.  On Friday afternoon, I found out I had strep throat.  In fact, the nurse was impressed with just how fast the test turned positive.  Under a minute, apparently.  It took about 48 hours for my ear to stop hurting when I swallowed and it still hurts to yawn.  Saturday I woke up with major congestion.  Fun.

Since there's no running going on right now, here's a little fun with Shoo...

In our house:

• we say the "Fledge of Allegiance"
• Virginia is a country
• the best car in the world would be a four door pick up truck mini cooper

And a couple of nursery rhymes for you:

• "Hey little fiddle... and the fish ran away with the spoon"
• Five little piggies went to market, this one had roast peas, this one didn't get any, and this one went pee, pee, pee all the way home.  (Not sure what happened to the other two.)

(Apparently when I don't feel well enough to do anything productive, I play with the design of my blog.  Your eyes are not playing tricks on you if it looks different every time you stop by for a while.)

Little successes

This hasn't been the greatest fitness week of all time.  Nor has it been the best food choices week.  But I'm going to celebrate the fact that there were ANY successes, given what is going on here this week. I have an appointment this afternoon because it hurts to swallow.  At least if it's strep, antibiotics are super effective and I should feel good enough to run sometime this weekend.

• I ran twice.  Short slow runs, but still they were runs.
• I worked out HARD on the elliptical for 40 minutes yesterday.
• I ate an entire head of broccoli as my lunch yesterday.  For dinner I had sweet potato soup.  Yay for vegetables!
• I forgot to cancel our veggie/fruit delivery, so we are swimming in fruits and vegetables.  I hate letting food go to waste, so I'll be choosing produce over other foods for the next food days.  Win!
• The scale went down a pound, so at least I'm back in my normal "tens place".  Still have some pounds to go, but I'll take slow, steady progress.

Today is going to be a quiet day.  Jones and I both feel pretty crappy, so there'll be a lot of reading and hanging out.  Shoo and Beer Geek headed out to Udvar Hazy Air and Space museum for the day.

Happy 11-11-11 day!  And Happy Veteran's Day to all the veterans out there, especially my favorite one!  Your service to the country is much appreciated!

TTT: the good, the bad, and the ugly

The Good:

1. I've been much more aware of what I'm eating.  Fruits and vegetables are starting to remake an appearance on my plate.
2. I'm running on some what of a schedule and I'm hitting the gym a few other days a week.
3. Mother Nature has been apologizing for October by giving us an absolutely beautiful November.  Temps in the 60s?  I'll take 'em!
4. Soup season is starting and I have tons of recipes for healthy soup.  Plus, since most of them are not cream or cheese based, they are really filling without too many calories.

The Bad:

1. Just because I'm more aware of my eating does not mean I'm actually eating well.  A few too many Kit Kats made it to my mouth this week.  Luckily they are all gone now.  Self control?  I don't have it.
2. While my runs have been mostly pain free, I've been moving somewhere between the speed of molasses and the speed of a glacier.  And it feels like my legs are made of lead.  
3. My Honda civic is now in the shop because it was having trouble going into third gear.  Could I go one week without something in my house/car breaking?  (Not food/fitness related, but OMG the stress of dealing with unexpected expenses is killing me!)

The Ugly:

1. Both boys have strep related illnesses.  I'm turning into a major hypochondriac while I wait to come down with some version myself.
2. The boys only had three days of school this week and Shoo was out of school for one of them.  I love spending time with my kids, but I'm completely discombobulated this week.

At least today is our Friday.  We have three days to hunker down and get everyone healthy again.  Maybe we'll even be healthy enough to enjoy the weekend.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Beer Geek's ride

What he was riding:

What I bought him for Christmas:

I might have a little bit of bike envy... And it's definitely a shame we have to keep it in a shed.

Bad habits

It always amazes me how easy it is to make bad habits a part of your life, but how difficult it is sometimes to make healthy choices a habit.

I used to run at least once every weekend.  I used to do strength training of some sort every time I went to the gym.  I used to brush my teeth every night when I got Shoo ready for bed, which meant I stopped eating around 7:30pm most nights. I used to eat every couple of hours because that keeps me from getting so hungry that I make poor food choices.

This weekend I realized just how far I've slipped over the last few months.  I got out of the *habit* of weekend exercise when I couldn't run.  As our weekends have gotten busier, I've gotten out of the *habit* of eating small, frequent meals, instead of handfuls of this and that.  As I ate a Kit Kat at 11pm, it occurred to me I'm out of the habit of eating a small sweet at Shoo's bedtime and then brushing my teeth.  I won't even tell you how little water I actually drank this weekend.

As we roll into holiday season, it's time for me to start rebuilding my healthy habits.  If I don't have that foundation of healthy choices, I'm going to come out of this season even heavier than I am now.

So, my baby steps back towards health for this week are: 1) stop eating when I put Shoo to bed and 2) get a run in next weekend.  Next week I'll try to add more to this.

What healthy habits have you let slide lately?

Randomness

1. ART on  a nerve entrapment?  Quite possibly the most painful thing I've ever done.  
2. My chiro shares an office with a dentist.  I wonder how badly my screaming from the pain would upset the dental patients?
3. On the bright side, the spot that hurt during my run earlier this week didn't hurt on my run today.
4. I wore my running clothes to drop the boys off for school today, including my bright orange Newtons.  Let's just say there were a few comments.  ;o)
5. I ran double digit miles this week for the first time in ages.  12 miles so far, including a 6 mile run this morning.  I hope to run 3 on Sunday to hit 15 for the week.  
6. A long sleeve shirt, windbreaker, and capris was way too much clothing for 54 degrees, even with the wind.  Why do I have to learn this lesson every.single.fall?
7. I'm covered in salt from being overdressed.  You'd think it was actually hot out there.
8. I wore my garmin to map my miles today.  As I expected, I couldn't resist looking at my pace.
9. I still managed to run mile 2 too fast, which made mile 6 really suck.
10. It's "cask week" at Mad Fox Brewing starting tonight.  I asked Beer Geek if it would be ok if I moved in over there.  He wasn't down with that.
11. This weekend Jones has to make a Powhatan Longhouse.  I'm not a fan of those kind of projects, but luckily he loves 3D art, so it will likely turn out really cool.  As long as I don't touch it.
12.  One of my clients is running NYC Marathon this weekend.  She was barely running three miles at a time when we started working together in April.  I'm so very proud of her.  Go Karen!!  

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!  Good luck to all my friends running NYC this weekend!

Three Things Thursday: running, weightloss, and recovery

1.  Running - I seem to finally be on the road back to regular running.  I'm still running most of my runs without Garmin, but I occasionally use it to see my mileage.  I've managed one 6 miler and one 4 miler recently, in addition to a few shorter runs.  I'm not going to be training for any races until at least January, but I am planning to start building my mileage VERY slowly.  As in, I might follow the 1% rule instead of the 10% rule.  LOL

2.  Weight - This has never really been a weight loss blog and I don't generally focus much on my weight.  While I was probably five or so pounds over my "ideal" weight before, I had been that weight (give or take a couple of pounds) since Shoo was a year old.  My generally healthy eating plus running mileage kept me there without a lot of mental effort.  October really messed that up.  The combination of two birthdays, Halloween, and a hell of a lot of stress has packed another 6 pounds onto my frame.  I'm only 5'3", so that's a lot of extra weight to be carrying.  Time to get my eating and exercising back on track.  Thank goodness HBBC starts soon!

3.  Recovery - I feel like I spent a lot of October in my own head.  I struggled to keep up with the things I had to do with the boys and around the house.  I had a horribly hard time finding anything to say on my blog.  In some ways I felt like I was in the last few miles of a marathon where you are struggling to finish.  My head was down and I was counting lampposts and street signs.  It's been a little over a week now since I got the good news and I finally feel like I'm getting back on track.  Hopefully this means I'll actually have something interesting to say in the coming weeks and months LOL.

Bonus:  I signed up for my local Turkey Trot.  I'm not planning to race it (both because it's a huge race with lots of strollers and dogs and because I'm not in racing shape), but it'll be nice to go out and actually enjoy a race for the first time in a while!