5K Numero Quatro

I was SO excited going into this last weekend.  I had a 5K coming up (okay, I was ill prepared, so more nervous than excited) and SwimSis, Coach, and SwimTot were going to be out of town.  I was pumped and could only think about the things I was going to cook or clean while they were gone.

Friday night I got home from work early (thank you, random power outage that nearly trapped me on the elevator - really, the doors were still open from me getting off!)  and then went to get the 5K packets that were forever away (not really, but rush hour traffic in the 'burbs sucks!) and met up with some friends for dinner at a fancy schmancy pizza place where you could get things like quail eggs and jowl bacon on your pizza.  It was delicious!  I had some stuff to take care of that night and it kept me up past midnight :/

I woke up around 6am for the 5K so I could get some food and water beforehand - sadly there was no bread in the house for toast, so I had peanut butter on a tortilla, lol.  SwimSis and I had only ran once before this 5K, compared to last year where we ran the course several times in the weeks leading up to the race.  It was cooler this year - in the high 60's, but with 95% humidity, so I didn't drink as much water beforehand as last year. Which ended up being a good thing because I saw 0 port-a-potties!  There were 867 people in the 5K and there was no official announcement or start beforehand.  We were standing pretty far back and just noticed the crowd moving forward, so that's how we knew the race was on...a little awkward! 

My "this would be the coolest" goal going into it was to run the first 2 miles without stopping.  Well, I knew very soon into the 5K that I would have to settle for not stopping during the first mile :)  I didn't necessarily look for a mile marker along the way, but I got to a point where I knew I was past a mile and hadn't seen one.  My time at that point was 13:30, and I knew my last 5K's first mile was 12:35, so I just started walking then.  I walked twice during both the second and third miles.  I was leap frogging this woman, probably 50ish, who was a pretty fast runner, but her running stints weren't that far.  And instead of being a friendly type, my mind goes to beating her!  Geez.  So in the end, she beat me past the finish line, but I just hoped that she had started before me so my time was faster!  I didn't see her bib #, so I really have no way of knowing, but let's just pretend that I did!  I crossed the finish line and my watch said 41:26, so I was super excited to see the official time.  I logged onto the website and it said something like 42:15, which upset me!  Must have been the gun time because later in the day I logged back on and my official time was 41:24, new 5K PR.  Doesn't get old.  I was proud of myself for the race and for coming so far since last year where I marked my running in yards, not miles!

Last year was 46:39, this year was 41:24 = 5 min 15 sec difference, awesome!

Here are a few pics including the comparison from last year (yes, I wore the same thing on purpose!):

Getting ready to head to the start

After!

38ish pound difference

After that, I hoped on home, cleaned up, went into work for a little bit, and picked up a friend for lunch.  This is one of my dearest friends and she has gained some weight in the past 6 months or so, nothing  noticable, but she did one of those runs where they throw the color (not my kind of thing!) and realized how far she was from where she wanted to be.  She has started working with a trainer, but was kind of hinting that she wanted to work out together from time to time.  We are both really busy and live on opposite sides of town, but I will make it a point to try to get to sweating with her! 

After that, I went grocery shopping, and went home.  I slept for maybe an hour and a half and then had to go babysit.  But I was so out of it when I woke up!  I did not know if I had my contacts in or not.  I kept looking across the room and thinking my vision was fine and I almost walked out the door, but I went in the bathroom and looked at my eyes - nope, no contacts! ha, made me feel silly!  I babysat till 10:30 and then I came home and started on a recipe that I thought was to be chilled overnight.  Then I saw that I was wrong and it was only going to rest for an hour, no more, so I had to scrap that plan!

Sunday I went to work at the church, came home, prepped some food, went back to the church, came home and finished cooking and cleaned up and by that time it was 10pm!  Zzzzzz.....

What good food have you made lately? 

Do you cheer on the people around you or compete with them during a race?  Oh, you must be nicer than me if you said you cheer them on! :)

A Soup for Summer

I was excited to try a new summer recipe!  People think soups are just for winter, but they're not.  They're lovely any time of the year!  Soup and a light side work wonderfully for summer.  I was chomping at the bit to get to the weekend so I could try this recipe. I didn't anticipate on my weekend being this busy, but I was glad I could fit it in!

Yesterday, I worked at the church for 6 hours.  And it is at least 15 mins away - each way, so I spent over 7 hours doing that, which left me little time to accomplish what I wanted - cleaning and cooking!  I had to put a few recipes off for another day, but there were two that I had to get to!  I was making a 7 layer salad, pretty much from memory (lettuce, peas, bacon, eggs, cucumber, carrots, red onion, and a mayo/sugar "dressing").  I worked on that on and off, inbetween this amazing recipe from the lovely blog, Potatoes and Pilates. 

Sweet, sweet baby Jesus, am I glad I found this recipe.  I love soups and this one DID NOT disappoint! 

First off, it was super (souper?) easy.  I failed to have garlic on hand, so I skipped that, but the onion and zucchini part took no time at all.  After that finished cooking, I set it aside and head to church to work their night service.  When I came back, the soup was cooled and ready to blend!

I honestly forgot how good fresh basil is.  The aroma is nearly intoxicating.  And it also reminds me of the meal inbetween a rare episode of day drinking and a crazy night out that left me sleeping in my swim suit...but that's a story for another day!  The basil adds the life to this soup.

Normally, I would have totally skipped the asiago cheese, as I'm not really a fan of cheese (except you, feta), however...We got a fancy schmancy new grocery store that is, in my opinion, very similar to Whole Foods, near my house and they had Free _____ coupons w/$5 purchase.  Earlier in the week, I got a free watermelon when I bought some sushi for dinner.  It was the last day for my free whole chicken coupon to be used, so I got some asiago to shred.  $10.97 chicken for free and I had myself some cheese too! 

My final product!

Let me tell you, that asiago cheese should NOT be optional, it should be mandatory.  Sooo soo so good!  It was such a wonderful, complimentary contrast to the soup.  Perfect!  My soup was a little cooler than eatting temp since I let it sit while I was at work, so I put it back on the stove while I was working on that seven layer salad.  Every time I passed the stove I would sneak a spoonful "just to check the temperature". haha!  I had 1 and a half giant bowls of this soup in the end and I had it again for lunch today.

It was one of those lunches where you sit with your face 2 inches over the bowl so you can keep shoveling it in.  Not very ladylike, but who cares, I adore this soup!

Thanks again Potatoes and Pilates!  I will be sure to try your asparagus and mint soup next - I kept forgetting the asparagus whenever I went to the grocery this weekend!

If anyone grows these things in their gardens, I'm sure this would be an AMAZING fresh summer soup!

Wednesday Confessions – Stinky

Ah, I’ve missed these!  I’m hoping you find these humorous and do not judge me J

1.        I don’t wear deodorant that often.  During the day, I stay in my air conditioned office building and don’t do a whole lot of running around.  In case I need it, I have some in my purse to put on, but I don’t really need it, so I don’t use it.  That brings me to point 1a.  I don’t wear deodorant while working out.  I just don’t get the people who do.  Its exercise, you’re supposed to sweat.  After the workout, I go shower, so what was the point of the deodorant? 

2.       Occasionally, I’ll be super stanky.  Like yesterday, my at work yoga class got cancelled due to instructor illness, so I decided to go to hot yoga.  Well, this was heated, which is a bit cooler than hot J  But really I sweat sooo much.  It was like I had taken a shower with clothes on.  First time I had worn shorts instead of capris.  Should have worn capris, limbs were pretty slippery!  I took a few pics of my shirt when I was done – this was after they turned the fans on for 10 mins at the end.

And this one was 45 mins after class ended – back is still sweaty!

Okay, but the point of this confession was:  When I am super stanky, I use men’s body wash.  I just don’t feel like my normal flowery body wash does the trick for hot yoga stank or any equivalent exercise related stank.  I grab the men’s body wash that the occasional male guests use and I feel like the stank is under control.

3.        In high school, a friend of mine jumped on my back and said "your hair smells good".  I replied "oh really?  i didn't wash it today".  Therefore she nicknamed me stinky because I didn't wash my hair (but it still smelled good?).  Luckily, I rarely talk to this person anymore so I haven't heard that nickname in a looong time!


4.     Usually, I throw my groceries in the trunk – well that was until I got my bike rack, which I keep on my car all the time.  I don’t know if I would be able to put it back on!  So it was around the beginning of April when I got that and it was still unseasonably chilly.  So the beginning of May rolls around when spring really started heating up.  And there’s this smell in my car that is gross and I cannot figure out for the life of me.  I cleaned EVERYTHING out of my car, but…nothing (this is excluding the trunk, which I hadn’t used for quite a while).  Then one day, while showering, it hit me – look in the trunk!   I opened the trunk a few inches, not disturbing my bike rack and I found one, unfortunate, forgotten, rotting onion, that fortunately was still in the plastic bag.  Super gross, and then I febreezed the heck out of my car and we have been a happy little duo ever since.  ß Okay, you can judge me for that story, I did!

My 5K is Saturday and I haven’t ran that far since before Memorial Day.  I did a quick 30 min total run/walk with SwimSis this morning, hopefully that will do the trick J  I am hoping to run the first two miles w/o stopping, that is my goal for this race, even though I would love to run the whole thing w/o stopping, I don’t know if that is in the cards this weekend.  This is the same race as my first 5K last year, so I know EXACTLY where the mile 2 marker is and I will look forward to it! 

PS Running with your sister is hilarious.  We are very different people.  The kind of sisters who get along for general purposes, but – well, we discussed this morning how terrible something international travel would be with just the two of us!  So we got up this morning and had said “out the door by 6:15?” – and it was 6:21 when I was actually ready, so I had to hear about that.  Then I asked her which route we were taking.  She said she “didn’t know”.  Well, we get to a point where she wants to turn around, but I want to keep going.  Causing a ruckus at 6:30am!  Good times

Any stanky confessions of your own?

Can you exercise or even get along with your siblings? J

The Good, The Bad, The Annoying

Sorry I've been gone for a while - my non-blog/workout/weightloss life blew up big time.  There was no crying, but there may have been much pleading to God to make it not all fall apart :)  Here's a brief recap of what's been goin' on in my blog related life:


The good:  Biking has gotten SO much better!  Last week I realized during a ride that I didn't feel fearful the entire time.  Which is an amazing feeling!  I had an amazing ride at a state park last Friday evening, it was super fun and refreshing for the soul.  I did that same ride last year on a too small bike and 40 lbs heavier.  I wrote about it briefly here.  We had our annual family gathering last weekend and I got lots of great compliments on my fitness/weightloss.  I wore a dress that I actually wore to Thanksgiving...no one complimented me at Thanksgiving, but they were ALL about it last weekend.  The bike riding freedom made me feel on top of the world, so I took some pics afterwards, if you all will indulge me a bit :)

Biking outfit

Goober

Dirty legs

Trying my best not to be awkward

The bad:  My brain and stomach have a problem where I can know I'm full and be full and I'm fine.  But the point of being just full to OMGICAN'TSHOVEANOTHERBITEIN is a large, large gap. I've been battling that this week. I went to a kid's bday party today and I just wanted to eat and eat and eat, I did get some seconds on things, but I didn't go nuts.  PS kid's bday party on a Thursday night with plenty o'liquor - fun!

The annoying:  I was with SwimTot at the YMCA the other day while daycamp was going on (which she usually goes to) so we were in the locker rooms changing and so were the 4-6 year old girls.  They all knew her and were saying hi to her, it was super cute.  This one girl (who was larger for a kid herself!) comes over butt naked and starts talking to SwimTot all while poking my arm fat.  I tell her to go get dressed.  So the girl goes over and puts some bottoms and comes back and talks to SwimTot and starts poking my stomach (I'm still in my swimsuit at this point).  I tell her to go away and get dressed.   So she puts a shirt on, comes back, stares at my stomach and says "You know, I think that may be too small on you".  Oh boy.  I said "Thank you for your opinion, but I think it fits just fine" in a less than nice tone.  That finally got the counselor's attention that was standing 5 feet away and she got her to leave the locker room. But really....  I had been feeling soooo good about myself and especially in that swimsuit, which I was wearing last year at about 40 pounds heavier.  I have been becoming a little more self conscious about my arms looking deflated-ish, so that didn't help.  Bottom line:  not affecting my self-image, just super annoying!

On the horizon:  5K in a week - haven't ran in like 2 weeks, yikes!  I had been hoping to run the whole thing, but who knows if I will be able to or not :)  I will take it mile by mile!