Monthly Archives: October 2010

My Realistic Half Marathon Plan

Posted on October 15, 2010 | 5 comments

I’m going to be completely honest on this one – I am not in the best shape for this half marathon. I made a training plan, but then really only ended up running 2-3 days a week. So I decided that I need to be realistic in my expectations for the Sun Half Marathon this Sunday in Lowell, MA.

Taking a look at my past two half marathons, I ran a 1:49:14 and a 1:46:00. That is about an 8:20 and 8:05 pace respectively. That’s simply not going to happen for this one. I am surmising that I might be able to run a consistent 8:30-8:35 pace (please note, even this could be too fast for me). So my goal time for this upcoming race is between 1:51 – 1:55. I’ll be using it more as a training run than anything else. I want to slowly work my way back into marathon training mode, so when I officially start training for Boston in December my body won’t be shocked.

Also, I wanted to share the pace band I created for Lauren.

I laminated the strip of paper and then you wrap it around your wrist and tape it. So while most of the time, you’ll be watching your Garmin or stop watch, you can then look quickly at the pace band to see where you are supposed to be and adjust accordingly. Like I said, I didn’t really use my band until around the 22 mile mark.

So – does anyone know someone else running the Baystate Marathon this weekend?

We are leaving tomorrow around 11-12:00 p.m. to head out that way, hit up the expo, drive the course, find the start and finish, and then have some pasta dinner. It’s time to get pumped up!! I’m not even running a marathon and I’m psyched!

Hope you all have a good weekend! And goodluck to any other marathoners out there running this weekend. 🙂

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Attacked By A Mosquito in October

Posted on October 14, 2010 | 6 comments

Good morning. Thank god it’s Thursday. At least I’ve got that going for me.  Today did not start off well at all. I was  woken abruptly at 5:45 this morning by a buzzing sound very near my ear. I freaked out and started swatting blindly around me. Of course, I completely missed what I have now determined to be a mosquito.

How do I know it was a mosquito? Because about 5 seconds later I noticed something funny going on with my lip. It felt strange. I laid in bed for 10 more minutes and then got up and headed to the bathroom. I was met in the mirror by a girl with a giant Angelina Jolie lip on only one half of her mouth.

Panick set in. I had to go to work. I looked hideous, deformed, grotesque. Panick rises. I wake Hubby up, screeching about mosquitoes and giant lips. He looks at me briefly through sleep-filled eyes and goes back to sleep. I ice my lip. I look in the mirror again. It looks bigger. And now I’ve noticed a second bite on my cheek.

I give up on the staring and hop in the shower. I decidedly avoid the mirror when I get out and simply apply some cortizone cream to the attacked areas. I eat and get dressed and then stare hard at my make-up bag. We had some serious work to do. Normally, I wear little-to-no make-up to work. Today I brought it all out: cover-up, powder, concealer, bronzer, and I went to town. Here is the result.

Not too shabby right. I almost look normal. But then here’s my lip up close…

See the difference up close? The left side (if you’re looking at it, it’s on the right facing you) is swollen and puffy. I asked one of my co-workers and she said she really could not tell, so I’m just going to keep re-covering up all day.

But this evening it’s on. I am tearing the house apart and vacuuming and cleaning that mosquito out! I will Lysol his little flying biting butt to death.

I should really be used to this by now. Mosquitos absolutely love me. For the record, I wasn’t wearing any perfume or lotion yesterday. There is just something in my skin or blood that draws them in. I’m like the Sooki Stackhouse to their mosquito vampirish ways.  I’m too delicious to pass up. If I sit by a camp fire for a mere 5 minutes without bug spray on, I will be devoured. Hubby can sit there all night and they won’t even throw him a passing glance.  And what makes it worse is that I have pretty severe reactions to their bites. Big giant welts that take forever to disappear. Fun times.

I apologize for this little rant, but you can’t imagine what a frustrating morning I’ve had. And then a little boy on the bus was staring at me and whispering to his mother and I thought for sure he was telling her he was afraid of the ogre-like woman with bloated lips sitting across from him. What a lesson in humility that was. Never again will I EVER look too long at someone with a birth mark or any other noticeable physical abnormality.

I guess it also made me think about what effect my physical appearance has on my confidence. And while I like to pretend that I don’t judge people based on their looks, I’m sure I do. I think I will make it a point to do less of that in the future. After all, they too could have been savagely attacked during a peaceful slumber.

I guess the upside (I’m really still struggling trying to find one) is that now I kind of know what I would look like with a collagen injection. And I think it’s pretty safe to say that collagen is not in my future.

Have a good Thursday all. Yours truly – “Angelina For a Day”

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Frustrating Four Miles & A Book Review on Hump Day

Posted on October 13, 2010 | 11 comments

Good morning all. Happy hump day. Here’s to hoping it flies right by.  I don’t know about you, but I am READY for the weekend. And to think that I have a half marathon coming up and I’m still pumped for it to get here.

Yesterday was a busy Tuesday. My only noteworthy eats were my leftovers from dinner on Monday night. I had a nice big tupperware of Stir Fry for lunch and it was yummy.

I also ran out on lunch and laminated a pace band for my friend Lauren for her marathon on Sunday. Are you sick of me talking about her marathon yet? I’m just so excited because if she qualifies for Boston during this marathon, then we get to run Boston together next April!! So anyway – about this pace band. It was a lifesaver for me in my last marathon when I BQed. I didn’t really pay attention to it all that much until about mile 22. At that point I assumed that I wasn’t on target to BQ, but happened to look at my pace band and see that I could still make it. Thank goodness for that little band or I might not have kicked it in enough to squeeze in under 3:40. I made my pace band over at www.marathonguide.com under Running and Training Calculators. They also have a list of the Biggest/Best Boston Qualifiers by year, showing the percentage of people that qualified in each race. Right now, my Pocono Marathon is ranked second for 2010, just under Boston.

Have you ever used a pace band? I’ve seen them as tattoos as well!

Frustrating Four
So as my title indicates I had an interesting four mile run last night. It started out all wrong right from the beginning when I went to put on my Garmin and found that my band had broken! 😦 Sadness.

I was able to wear it with half the band still working and I thought that would be the last of my issues. Next up was the creepy man on the bike who made lewd comments to the girl walking right in front of me. He proceeded to  continue to ride on for a bit and then turn around and head back her way. It was a high-traffic area, so I wasn’t too worried about her. But what a creepo!

I kept on trucking and then groaned with frustration when I saw a huge crowd of kids jog down the entrance-way just up ahead. I had to run alongside them for a few seconds…awkward! I finally passed them, but then had to worry about them coming back up and passing me. Embarrassing!

Finally, as I was finishing up the last 1.5 miles, a woman on a bike and her little dog rode up next to me. And stayed there. For a few minutes. If I thought that running next to the kids was awkward before, this took awkward to a whole new level. We trotted on side-by-side for a good 1-2 minutes, which doesn’t sound like a lot…but it felt like super slow-mo. And the little dog’s bell was jingly jangling the whole time. I finally managed to pull away and prayed to make it back home without any other strange encounters. I made it back unscathed, but a bit worse for the wear. And here are my stats:

Mile 1 – 8:43
Mile 2 – 8:43
Mile 3 – 8:31
Mile 4 – 8:43

Have you experienced any strange incidents on any of your runs?

And finally, I will leave you with another little book review. I read this one super quick and highly recommend it.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

I’ll spell it out for your right upfront on this one – loved it! I wasn’t sure about this book when I first opened it up, what with the strange name and the fact that it appeared to be written as letters the entire time – I was skeptical. And you know how rarely I’m skeptical. J

But I pushed on into the letters and quickly found myself engrossed in the story and in love with the characters. I found myself wanting to live in their little society.

Oh yes, I should probably give some sort of plot overview. The book is narrated by a single, 30-something author Juliet Ashton who has recently written a more humorous book about the war. She receives a letter from Dawsey Adams who found her name in a used book he purchased. They begin writing back and forth and Juliet becomes interested in the “literary society” Dawsey and a few of his neighbors created during the war and German occupation of their Island, Guernsey. And from there Juliet’s next book idea is born and the other society members begin writing to her and sharing literary society stories.

Once I became accustomed to the letter style, I was hooked. However, I did have to remind myself to always look at who the letter was to and from, otherwise things could get confusing.

The story is very unique and the characters are immensely enjoyable. Their letters are quick-witted and, at times, hysterical without meaning to be so. This book tells about the war in a very different way and allows the reader to both enjoy the people and appreciate their difficult situations.

I think some people could read this book and consider it trite or transparent, but I think it’s the lighter approach that makes the book more engrossing and authentic. I enjoyed the tone and the approach.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. I hasten to say that I think it is probably tailored more to females, but who knows – anyone might enjoy it. It is definitely a quick read as well, so not too much of a time committment.

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A Weekend of Exhausting Fun!

Posted on October 12, 2010 | 3 comments

Good morning all. Happy Tuesday. How many of you had to work yesterday? I did and I felt like I was the only one! And there was even a fair happening in the street outside my office – talk about torture!

So I’ve been MIA for a bit because I’ve been so crazy busy. On Friday, I headed upstate for my friend Jess’s bridal shower and bachelorette activities.

On Saturday morning before all the events started, Lauren and I ran 8 miles together. Her last long run before the Baystate Marathon the 17th. I still felt like I was slowing her down a bit (don’t kill me for writing that Lauren – she gets so mad when I say it), but I at least felt better for this run and not so exhausted. Here are our stats:

Mile 1 – 8:55
Mile 2 – 8:54
Mile 3 – 8:46
Mile 4 – 8:36
Mile 5 – 8:28
Mile 6 – 8:23
Mile 7 – 8:48
Mile 8 – 8:54

Total mileage – 8.06 in 1:10:17. Average pace – 8:42 minute miles.

So I got some decent pacing into that run and felt pretty good afterwards. I haven’t trained as strictly as I would have liked for the half marathon I’m running in conjunction with Lauren’s full, but this run made me feel a little better.

After our run, we headed to our friend Jess’s bridal shower at Apertivo Bistro in Schenectady. She got a ton of great stuff and I really enjoyed their food. I chose the chicken maria for lunch.

It was very good. Others at the table had the personal pizza and that looked amazing as well.

After the shower, we all headed to our respective homes to freshen up and I might have taken a little nap. I had to be rested for the evening activities! And we had so much fun – good thing I napped.

Her MOH did such an amazing job with everything! Look at this spread:

And here are some of our girls with the bridey…

We danced the night away and finally called it quits at about 2 a.m. and headed back to our friend’s apartment for some snacks and bed.

On Sunday I headed back to NYC, feeling less than stellar and possibly like a cold was coming on. I think I’m wearing myself out. The month of October has been, and will continue to be, pure mayhem and my body feels like it’s revolting. I just need to make it through this Sunday though – I don’t feel like running a half marathon with a cold.

So that brings me to Monday. I went to work (and scowled at the people enjoying the street fair outside my office), and then forced myself to go for a run after work. I swear I don’t think it’s actually a cold – I think it might be allergies. But whatever it was, it was all located above my neck, no coughing or respiratory issues, so I felt it was okay to run.

And actually, running really helped last night. I think it cleared out some of the junk that was in my nose (sorry I know that’s really gross). My stats from Monday night’s run:

Mile 1 – 8:53
Mile 2 – 8:39
Mile 3 – 8:38
Mile 4 – 8:49

Total mileage – 4.03 miles in 35:12. Average pace – 8:44 minute miles.

Not too bad considering my stuffy head and runny nose. After my run, I made dinner (stir fry – yumm!), vacuumed, did the dishes and then promptly passed out fell asleep at 9:45. My body just gave out.

And now it’s Tuesday already. How was your weekend and your Monday off – if you had it off?

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Things I Will Accomplish Today!

Posted on October 7, 2010 | 5 comments

I don’t know about you, but I feel like my days and weeks are flying by at lightning speed. How did it get to be 7 p.m. last night and I was still at work? How did I not cross as many things off my to-do list as I had planned? Can we please hit the pause button? Or give me just a few more hours in the day? Not to mention that I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. last night! Hubby was actually making fun of me. But I couldn’t help it.

So – to start Thursday off with some strategy, I’ve devised my list of things I want to accomplish today. It’s just a short little thing. Haha. 

  • Writing this work article that has been hanging over my head (and a bazillion other things I need to get done at work today)
  • Leaving work at the appropriate time today (5:00 p.m.!)
  • RUNNING no matter what the weather or how tired I am
  • Unpacking my weekend bag from last week
  • Packing my weekend bag for this week
  • Making dinner (yet to be determined what – likely something super easy…maybe even soup)
  • Vacuuming (you could probably make a sweater with the Murph hair on his favorite chair)
  • Watching Grey’s Anatomy and Jersey Shore (yeah I admitted it)
  • PASSING OUT!

I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to do all this…but I’m giving it a shot. I figured if I wrote out a nice little list and got to cross things off on the blog (such fun), then they will be more likely to happen. 🙂 In my extended 26 hour day, I’d also like to paint my nails and finish reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (say that 10 times fast) because it’s turning out to be a great book – but let’s not get crazy here.

And lastly, the other thing I’m doing today is posting my book recap of Bel Canto! Here it is – have a great day! What’s on your to-do list?

Bel Canto

By: Ann Patchett

I’m still not sure about this one. Have you ever read a book where you are a bit wary of where things are going the whole time? I wondered with this one. I kept waiting for the story to really start, but little did I know that it had already started and I was fully immersed in it.

So what’s the plot overview, you ask? Well, it takes place somewhere in South America. There is a party at the home of the country’s vice president. The party is in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. They have invited Mr. Hosokawa’s favorite opera singer, Roxanne Coss, to sing at his party—meaning he cannot refuse the invite. They are hosting this party because they want the Japanese business man to invest in business in their country.

From there, the story really begins when a band of rebel fighters invades the party and holds the entire group hostage. They thought the president of the country was to be in attendance, but he was not. From there, the rebels’ plan goes awry and they have to revise their strategy.

I can’t say too much more than that about the plot because I’d be giving away the highlights of the book—although at the time, I didn’t realize they were the highlights.

This book was different from most other novels I’ve read. I really hadn’t a clue where this was going. I mean there were a few different scenarios running through my head, but I was pretty off. It is a story that really focuses more on how the people cope in this situation than it does the situation. The situation plays a big role, but that’s not the point.

I won’t lie to you and say I loved this book. It had its slow moments. I did not fly through it. And I found myself frustrated with the pace at times. But I think that is sort of what Patchett wants you to feel. She is trying to bring you into the hostages’ world and how slowly it moves.

Maybe I would have gotten into this book if I had connected with the characters more. For some reason, I just didn’t absorb and click with their personalities. However, it’s not for lack of personality. The main characters certainly had them. Perhaps that was the reader’s flaw in not opening up enough to them.

Lastly, I want to warn you about the ending. I didn’t like it. I actually got to the end and kept double-checking that I hadn’t missed pages or that there weren’t more somehow hidden. That couldn’t be the ending I told myself. It was. And I was not happy. Not that I need a “happy ending” by any means. I just need an ending that makes sense to me. This one did not. Maybe that was Patchett’s goal—to have the reader asking “how did that happen?” But it also left me saying: I won’t be running out to buying another book written by Ann Patchett. Sorry.

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What is Wellness to You?

Posted on October 6, 2010 | 1 comment

With all the drama and discussion going on in the blogosphere about what is healthy living, I thought I’d take a minute to talk about wellness – which I think is a little different. I think sometimes when we say healthy living, our minds automatically think of organic food, exercise and maintaining the right weight.

The company I work for actually started a Wellness Fits program here (hurray!) for our employees. The goal of the program is to make “wellness fit” into your life, no matter how busy you are. I was tasked with writing an article about the program for our employee newsletter and so I asked some of the employees to give me quotes about what wellness means to them. And while some people did talk about food and weight, some other terms popped up like: balance, spirituality, sense of self, etc.

Being that I asked them to tell me about wellness, I decided that I should look at what wellness means to me. What I realized is that it sort of changes quite a bit for me. There’s no standard equation to my day that will make me feel like I’ve practiced or accomplished complete wellness. Some of the factors that influence my personal wellness seem to be:

  • Exercise/Fitness: Big one! Getting exercise 3-5 times a week helps keep me happy and well. 
  • Food: Eating natural, real food as opposed to processed foods and eating the appropriate amount for my body.
  • Relationships: If there is unrest or arguments going on in any of my relationships, things just don’t feel right.
  • Creative Balance: For me, this means reading a book, blogging, enjoying a good movie, etc. I need some of this everyday to feel balanced.
  • Work Success: I know this isn’t part of it for some people, but if I feel like I’ve had a bad day at the office, not accomplished much, failed at a task, etc., my overall wellness feels off.
  • Overall Health: Visiting doctors for yearly check-up, recognizing when I’m sick and in need of care, etc.
  • Rest: If I get less than 7 hours of sleep at night, I can tell the difference in my body and behavior the next day.

So that’s a very quick peak into what wellness means for me. And I know what many people will say when looking at this list – what about the spiritual side? My answer is: that is still something I am working on personally to determine how it impacts my wellness, so I didn’t want to include it here just yet.

So what about you? What does wellness mean in your life?

And lastly, I’ll leave you for the day with some health in the news…

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Blog World Drama on a Dreary Day

Posted on October 5, 2010 | 11 comments

YAY – we made it through Monday. Mine felt like an especially rough one. How was yours? I think this dreary weather isn’t really helping things out either.

I feel like after weekends where you really don’t get any rest, heading back to work on Monday feels especially difficult. I needed some time to ease back into the grind, but that simply was not an option.

I did manage to browse a few blogs and was reading about the Marie Claire article “The Hunger Diaries” that basically bashed six popular healthy living bloggers. I read Caitlin’s blog (Healthy Tipping Point) and Tina’s blog (Carrots N’ Cake) frequently. Tina’s blog was the first healthy living blog I discovered and played a big role in inspiring me to start my blog. She even chatted with me on the phone and gave me tips for starting a blog. I was shocked by the article. For more details and their responses, you can visit their blogs (they are also on my blogroll).

I was once a journalist, so I understand the draw of a controversial story. Journalism is a hard business to be in these days–hence my move into communications. But you can’t slant the truth in order to make a story controversial or compelling and that’s what I feel like this reporter did. Part of me also thinks she might be jealous because healthy living blogs have become so popular and possibly even put a dent in the traditional women’s magazine/health magazine readership.

Whatever her motives – she failed in her duty as a reporter, in my opinion. The article seemed totally one-sided and disproportionately negative. I wanted to comment on the Marie Claire Facebook page, but I didn’t want to have to “like” them in order to do it. I just kept thinking – wow, I would feel so awful if that article was written about me and my blog. But the blog world is so supportive that I think this will become a distant memory very soon.

If you have a blog, have you encountered negative criticism? How did you deal?

So far, I haven’t had any negative comments (knock on wood). But my blog also isn’t well-known or have very high traffic. Ahh , thank goodness for the small concessions of being less popular. 🙂

So anyway. Yesterday was busy, but it was also a rest day for me after my 12-mile run on Sunday. So I headed to my friend Katie’s house after work to have some dinner. She just moved into my neighborhood, about 15 blocks away, and I am super excited!!

We started off with some crackers, brie cheese, apple and gourmet jam.

Then Katie and her roommate Ali made some delicious spaghetti with sausage, diced tomatoes and onions.

It hit the spot!!

We relaxed, watched a bit of Dancing with the Stars and then I walked home. It’s so awesome when someone lives so close that you can walk home from their apt. And it’s so rare for that to happen in NYC.

Today is yet another dreary day. I think I’ll be heading to the gym for my run after work today. I  also hope to have a book review of Bel Canto coming you way soon! Have a great Tuesday!

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5K Race, 12 Mile Run & A Baby Shower

Posted on October 4, 2010 | 8 comments

Holy busy weekend. It went by so fast that it left me spinning. The next two weekends will be more of the same I think.

On Friday, I took the train home, hung out with my parents a bit and then went to bed early. Saturday morning was the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 5K run in Albany. A bunch of my girlfriends and some of their family ran or walked the race. We took the requisite group shot at the race.

I’m the one with my face hidden in the shadow! It was soo sunny outside that day. I was a little nervous about this race because I haven’t been running all that much. And I know how competitive I am. I want to PR in every race and sometimes that is just not possible.

We started the run going up a hill and already I knew that it was not going to be a fast run for me. My legs were very heavy. The first mile felt okay. The second mile felt like it took 10 years and then finally there was only 1/2 a mile to go. I finished with a time of 24:36 and was not entirely pleased with that. However, I have no one to blame but myself for not training more.

After the race, I headed back to my parents house to quick shower and get ready for my friend’s baby shower. It was held at the Century House in Latham, NY. She got a ton of stuff!!

Our group of friends gave her a Jeep running stroller and a maternity massage. That way she can get back out there running with us and bring the baby along! The food was really good, but unfortunately I totally forgot to take a photo. But here is a group shot of our girlfriends.

Wow – I am soo short! The shortest in this photo with the gray and black dress on.

Saturday night I went out to dinner with a few friends to Mexican Connection in Saratoga. A friend of mine bartends there, so we hung out with her and ate some delicious food.

Then on Saturday morning, I met up with said bartending friend (Lauren) to go for a 12 mile run. Lauren has been training for the Baystate Marathon (Oct. 17) and so this was the start of her tapering. I was nervous going into this run that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with her. And indeed, it was pretty tough.

Have you ever run with someone and you just know you are holding them back?

Well that was this run. I had to ask her to slow down a few times. And I could tell the difference in our breathing and exertion of energy. I was really struggling and Lauren was just out for a nice easy jog. It made me feel completely out of shape. And made me nervous for my half marathon in two weeks. Although I can always use the half marathon as a training run to help me get back into shape for marathon training coming up in December.  Anyway – here are our stats from the run:

Mile 1 – 8:19
Mile 2 – 8:42
Mile 3 – 8:40
Mile 4 – 8:39
Mile 5 – 9:04
Mile 6 – 8:52
Mile 7 – 9:12
Mile 8 – 8:45
Mile 9 – 8:56
Mile 10 – 8:59
Mile 11 – 9:10
Mile 12 – 8:51

Total mileage – 12.01 in 1:46:17. Average pace 8:51 minute mile.

I’m sure this is much slower than Lauren has been running. She is trying to qualify for Boston so we can run it together next April and I know she has been working really hard and working on her speed. But I’m telling myself that it’s her taper time and me slowing her down a bit won’t really make a difference at this point. We are running 8 miles together this coming Saturday, so I’m mentally preparing myself now.

After our Sunday run, I took the 2 p.m. train back to NYC and then did laundry and passed out fell asleep early.

And then all of  a sudden it’s Monday and I’m wondering where the heck my weekend went! I have a feeling that the month of October is going to leave me exhausted!!

How was your weekend?

P.S. – I can’t tell you how excited I’m getting for the NYC marathon runners (and for my friend running her marathon on the 17th)!!!

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