Category Archives: Bloggers

Delicious Dinner and Garmin Gripe

Posted on March 2, 2010 | 15 comments

Good morning – how is your Tuesday going? Mine has been pretty busy and productive so far. But first, let me talk a little bit about the dinner I went to last night.

Megan from the  Runner’s Kitchen organized a dinner gathering with a few fellow local bloggers and blog readers. We all met at Caravan of Dreams for what turned out to be a delicious meal. Our group of girls consisted of myself, Megan, Katherine, Liz, Irina, Jess, and Jacqui.  

Katherine and I traveled from the UES together and quickly realized that neither one of us is very good at navigating. We got ourselves a little lost and ended up showing up about 10 minutes late. Oops – sorry!

After we finally managed to point ourselves in the right direction and get there, we quickly settled in to look at the menu. Caravan serves organic vegan food and the menu was gigantic. I seriously experienced a slight feeling of panic because there were soo many things I wanted to order, I wasn’t sure how to narrow it down.

I settled on the: BURRITO MONOSKI with seitan, black beans, brown rice, sautéed vegetables, guacamole and salsa. I didn’t snack much yesterday, so I was ravenous and wanted something filling. We placed our orders and our salads arrived quickly – I pulled out my camera, turned it on and watched as it told me to change my battery pack. I’m a bad blogger. Seriously – everyone’s food looked amazing and smelled amazing. I’m sorry I can’t back that up with some nice photos. 😦

I chose the burrito monoski because it sounded great, but I was also interested in trying Seitan for the first time. So what is seitan?

Source: “Although it is made from wheat, seitan has little in common with flour or bread. Also called “wheat meat”, “wheat gluten” or simply “gluten”, seitan becomes surprisingly similar to the look and texture of meat when cooked, making it a popular meat substitute. Seitan is also high in protein, making it a popular protein source for vegetarians.”

I can say with all honesty that my meal tasted like a regular chicken burrito. Maybe even better. It was flavorful and large and had plenty of guac and salsa – what more could you want?

Caravan also has a diverse tea menu – yay! I ended up ordering the dessert tea, which had a delicious vanilla flavor and aroma.

Our dinner was very nice – I was at the end of the table, so I feel like I missed out on chatting with some of the girls on the other end, but overall it was great to talk about running, good food and more NYC restaurant recommendations than I can even remember. These girls knew their restaurants and I was trying to keep all the names in my head – no such luck.

Katherine, Liz and I headed back to the UES together and Katherine said she was game for a run the next morning. YAY!

So today my training plan called for a 7-mile run, but let’s be honest, with the way I felt after my Sunday 14-miler, there was no way that was happening. I was still sore and thought that a nice 4-5 mile run sounded manageable.

We met at the crack of dawn…actually pre-dawn, there was no sun yet, and set out for a run on the streets of NYC. I finally got to meet Katherine’s dog Bodhi and he was so adorable and such a good runner. I loved when I would have to run a bit behind him because there wasn’t enough room for the three of us on the sidewalk and he would look behind him every now and then to see where I was – like he was checking on me. 🙂

Last night, Katherine and I had been talking about running on the city streets and how she had heard from others that Garmins don’t work very well. I told her that mine worked perfectly last time and I thought we’d have no problem.

WRONG! Katherine was indeed correct – my Garmin seemed to have some problems locating us and ended up telling us we were running super slow, then super fast and then that we hadn’t run as much as we thought.

Katherine used www.mapmyrun.com to map out our route and it looked like this more or less:

It came out to be a 4.56 miles. Now, here is the Garmin run:

Look similar right? Well, when you zoom in a bit, things get a little funky:

It seems like we were zig-zagging and cutting corners left and right, but we really were not. At then end, I ran from Katherine’s apt to my apt, which added about .29 more to the total and according to Garmin the run only reached 4.29 miles. According to mapmyrun, when we reached Katherine’s apartment we were already at 4.56 miles.

So who knows what the precise mileage was, but I am a bit annoyed that my Garmin seems to have such a hard time when I run the city streets.

Has anyone else who lives and runs in a major city (with lots of tall buildings) experienced the same problem?

I like running on the streets when it’s too dark for the park or promenade, but guess I will have to settle for a general estimate of my mileage.

The highlight of the run though was most definitely when we saw the sun rise at 6:04 a.m.!!! So early!! Daylight Savings here we come! 🙂

15 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Restaurants, Running, Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

Busy Bee Me and a Break

Posted on February 26, 2010 | 5 comments

Good morning. I promised I would be back, but I’ve been MIA once again. Things have been so busy at work and then I’m so tired at home that I haven’t had much time to blog. Today I am working from home again because NYC got dumped on! I honestly did not think this snow storm would amount to much, but I woke up this morning to see mounds of snow outside. I contemplated heading into work, I even showered, ate breakfast and started gathering my things, but then decided to check with my boss to see if it would be okay to work from home. Thankfully she said yes!

So I’m working from home, but am actually showered this time! I feel so productive. Rather than recap all my eats for the past two days, I’m just going to highlight two that were particularly delightful.

On Wednesday morning I made Oats in a Jar! Oats with banana poured into my almost-empty peanut butter jar.

And now I will shamefully admit that I haven’t run at all this week. Between getting sick and having lots of work to do, I decided that a one week break from my training program might be okay. I am hoping I will return to the treadmill and road will more energy and excitement. But I have a 14 mile run planned for tomorrow and I don’t see that happening. I’m moving it to Sunday – maybe the Central Park road will be cleared by then.

I also wanted to post my Wednesday night dinner, which was pretty good.

This recipe was from Cookinglight.com: Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato-Mushroom Sauce.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 1/2 cup sauce)

Ingredients

  • 4  teaspoons  olive oil, divided
  • 4  (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 1/2  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
  • 2  cups  presliced mushrooms
  • 1/3  cup  finely chopped shallots
  • 3/4  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/4  cup  sun-dried tomato sprinkles (I used sun-dried tomato from a jar – cut up)
  • 1/4  cup  dry white wine
  • 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Reduce heat to medium. Add 2 teaspoons oil, mushrooms, and shallots; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in broth, tomato sprinkles, and wine; cook for 1 minute. Spoon sauce over chicken; sprinkle with parsley.

A few of the reviews online said it was bland, so I was testing as I was making it and found it was a little bland. So I added more wine then called for, as well as a few spices. I let it cook a little longer as well and I think the sun-dried tomatoes I used really added flavor. It came out pretty well and Hubby gave it a “good.” I also had a nice glass of red wine with my dinner.

So that’s my past few days. I also received an award from Katie at FittoWed, but haven’t had a chance to re-post and spread its joy yet. Hopefully tomorrow. I’ve been such a slacker on my blogging to-do’s. What I hope to get to this weekend:

  • Post and pass along the award from Katie
  • Post a book review of The Historian
  • Post the new book I’m reading…
  • Write a great post about my run on Sunday (which WILL happen no matter what)!

So that’s on my agenda, along with getting our taxes done tonight (if the tax guy doesn’t close because of the snow), cleaning the apartment in a big way, and relaxing a bit. 🙂

What are your weekend plans?

I said to my friend the other day, that I feel like I’ve been a bit of a slacker when it comes to my personal-life “to dos” lately. I’ve been so awesome about checking off my work to-dos that everything else has fallen to the wayside. But I am feeling sooo much better now and am really hoping that taking my short break from running with fill me with renewed enjoyment and motivation to run again.

Do you ever need to take a break from running or exercise to realize just how much you enjoy and miss it?

Have a great weekend all!

5 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Recipes, Running, Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

I’m a Terrible Liar

Posted on February 23, 2010 | 17 comments

Good afternoon. Sorry I have been so MIA. I feel so out of the loop, I haven’t been reading blogs or commenting in the past few days and I feel so lost. 🙂 I promise I’ll be back fully soon.

I am slowly coming back to life. Yesterday was a bad day. I came to work with absolutely no voice and clogged ears, so I really felt like I was living in a bubble.

And now I’ll jump into my antibiotic quandary…

I made a tough choice and filled the antibiotic prescription my doctor gave me a few weeks back when I first visited him. I had these same symptoms way back then – February 2nd. It seemed a little odd to me that I was experiencing all the same symptoms all over again and finally came to the conclusion that I quite possibly hadn’t really gotten better since then, my symptoms had just lessened, but never went away fully. This conclusion led to me think that maybe this was a bacterial infection and not simply a viral cold.

I very rarely consider taking or requesting antibiotics – I don’t think they are necessary in most cases and believe that people tend to think they are the easy fix. I don’t want my body to become immune to antibiotics or worse yet sick because of them. So I reluctantly made this decision.

Well, I filled my Z-Pack prescription yesterday afternoon (I ended up leaving work early because I had the chills and was exhausted), took my first dose and went to bed early last night.

And today – I can feel the congestion lessening. My voice is sort of back and my ears and nose are noticeably less clogged. Whether this has to do with the antibiotics or just that the viral infection had run its course, I’m not sure. But I’m going to finish off the rest of the Z-Pack to be on the safe side.  

So what are your thoughts on antibiotics? Do you avoid them for as long as possible, like I do? Or do you take them without any reserve?

My doctor was pretty unsure whether it was a viral or bacterial infection (p.s. – I’m also hunting for a new General Practitioner on the UES if you have any recommendations!), so he gave me the Z-pack prescription just in case my symptoms didn’t go away. I guess I’m just very wary of them.

So since yesterday was such a haze, I didn’t really take many photos. Instead, I’ll use the rest of this post to thank Chelsea for nominating me for the award below, share my requisite lies and one truth, and pass it along to some fellow bloggers:

Since I received this funny little award, I now have to use my creativity and come up with six outrageous lies about myself and one truth. So here we go, let’s see if you can guess the truth:

1. I love reading biographies and non-fiction books.

2. I’ve never had a cavity.

3. I have a strange obsession with feet – I love them.

4. My husband proposed to me on a mountain top.

5. I’ve been living in NYC for 5 years.

6. I can speak 3 languages.

7. I have 20-20 vision.

Can you guess which one is my truth?! P.S. – I am a terrible liar and this was soo hard for me. Now that I’ve listed my lies and one truth, I nominate the following ladies to do the same:

Once nominated, here is what you have to do:

1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth.
5. Nominate seven “Creative Writers” who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.
6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

That’s all for today folks. Stay happy and healthy!

17 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

Early Morning City Street Running

Posted on February 17, 2010 | 5 comments

Good morning – happy Hump Day! It’s 8 a.m. and I am already done with my run for the day – hooray! All my talk of being a “real winter runner” yesterday must have inspired me this morning. I was supposed to go for a 3-4 mile run with a fellow blogger (who shall remain nameless…but you should check out her blog 🙂 ), but she had to bow out of our run. So it was 5:30 a.m., I was awake and semi-dressed for a run and my choices were to: a) go back to bed, b) fly around like a maniac and grab all my stuff for the gym, or c) just go running outside.

I chose option c and did so very warily. I had a conversation with another NYC blogger last week about the potential perils of running on the streets of NYC during the early-morning hours before sunrise. I told her I’d never done it and was too chicken to ever attempt it. Apparently, I lied. I found some sort of courage this morning, or maybe it was just sheer desperation, but I went.

The Verdict: It wasn’t bad at all! (I swear Mom!!) Within the first 5 minutes of hitting the streets I encountered another female runner – with headphones (I was sans headphones and on constant alert). I ran down York Avenue to 61st Street and then started heading West and back up. I hit 79th street while still on 1st and then went all the way over to 5th Avenue and turned around and headed home. I was able to squeeze in just over 4 miles. Here are my stats:

Mile 1 – 8:24
Mile 2 – 8:35
Mile 3 – 9:00
Mile 4 – 9:26
.11 – 1:46
Total mileage: 4.11 in 37:14

Mile 4 was very slow because I waited for two red lights – grrr. Anyway – my entire run was very well-lit, and surprisingly, there were more people out at that hour than I expected. I saw doctors/nurses heading to work in their scrubs, a total of 3 other runners, doormen (one who was very nice and warned me about ice), store owners opening up, and plenty of cars driving around. I didn’t feel at all nervous or in danger. I will definitely entertain the idea of running the streets again in the future (and I always welcome running buddies of course!). But March 14th and Daylight Savings also can’t come soon enough!

If you live in NYC – have you ever run the street before sunrise? Or if you live elsewhere – how safe do you feel during early-morning, pre-sun runs? What precautions do you take?

As promised, I do have photos once again! Here is my recap of yesterday’s eats:

Breakfast was a delicious bowl of oats with banana and peanut butter.

During my lunch break I ran out to Borders and picked up Food Rules by Michael Pollan and a salad. I’m already halfway through the book. A  lot of it is common sense stuff, but I’m still glad I bought it. I used my 33% off coupon (for Borders Rewards members that coupon is good until the 18th), so it was a good deal. Borders also had a Buy One Get One Half Off Section and both of Pollan’s other books: The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food were on the table (I went to the Borders down near Wall Street).  So my lunch looked like this:

Sorry for the blurriness. My afternoon snacks were some Brown Cow Greek Yogurt (decently priced at $1.09 upstate) and an apple.

After work yesterday I headed to the gym. I had a 5-mile run scheduled on my training plan, but I figured since I’d be running the next morning, I would only do 4 miles (plus then no guilt about running for more than 30 minutes). I finished up 4 miles in 32:18 minutes, did some ab work, some arm work and headed home.

Both my mom and Hubby’s mom sent leftovers home with us this weekend, so we are set for a bit when it comes to dinner. I had some of the leftovers (wheat pasta, chicken, tomato sauce) and added in some broccoli to pump up the veggie quotient. I think Pollan’s mantra of “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” was in the back of my mind.

However, that didn’t stop me from having two of these bad boys for dessert.

I headed to bed early last night, but managed to sleep terribly the whole night. I’m sure I will crash later today.

And I totally forgot that today is Ash Wednesday. At least my run is done so I can head to our church after work for the 6 p.m. mass.

And lastly, an interesting health article in the news:

As Girls Become Women, Sports Pay Dividends – I definitely agree that there is a connection between playing high school sports and the level of confidence and/or success a girl (or anyone for that matter) has.  What do you think?

Have a great day all!

5 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Books, Running, Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

Beautiful Bulgur and a Worthy Cause

Posted on February 2, 2010 | 9 comments

Good morning – happy Tuesday. How is everyone doing this week? My week is much less hectic and I am very thankful. I was supposed to get up for a morning run at the gym today, but it didn’t happen. So hopefully the place will be desolate tonight and I can squeeze in a longer-ish run. Yeah right.

Before I get to Monday’s eats, I wanted to spread the word about a unique cause. My friend Rachael at Outdoorphins is an outdoor activity enthusiast and she sent me some information about her friend who is seeking support for her new non-profit organization dedicated to outdoor activities linked to raising money for charitable organizations. Here is her friend’s request:

——————————–

“Hey Everyone,
 
I need your help! As many of you know in April of 2009 I started a non-profit called Outdoors For A Cause (OFAC). Outdoors For A Cause is a non-profit organization which brings together outdoor activities and raising money for charitable organizations and causes. We believe that if people are given an easy way to raise money while doing the outdoor activities they enjoy, together, we can make a difference while maintaining healthier, happier lifestyles.  
 
I submitted OFAC to the Pepsi Refresh Project which gives grant money to new ideas that will have a positive impact! I am in the running for a $50,000 grant. Pepsi likes my idea but now it’s up to your votes to see who wins! If I win this grant money OFAC would be up and running in 4 months!  This organization will truly make a difference in the lives of those in need and all it will take is YOUR VOTE!
 
You are allowed to vote once a day, so vote as much as you can through the month of February!
 
YOU CAN START VOTING FOR OUTDOORS FOR A CAUSE BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW!
 
http://refresheverything.com/outdoorsforacause
 
As one becomes many and $1 raised becomes millions, Outdoors For A Cause and all of you that voted will be proud to say that we were part of a movement that promoted happier, healthier lifestyles while supporting those in need, saving lives, and making the world a better place for future generations to come.
 
If you like my idea, vote for it! If you REALLY like it, then help spread the word to everyone you know via email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc! 🙂 Pepsi has even created links to easily promote this idea, after you vote simply click on the social networking site you prefer and spread the word!!
 
Thank you very much!

Karen Lewis
Outdoors For A Cause

 

—————————————–

I think her organization sounds like a great idea and a unique way to stay healthy and fit while giving back to charities and groups that need the help. I always feel better about signing up for a road race and doling out sometimes upwards of $75, if I know the money is going to a charitable or needy organization. I’m very happy that the Poconos Marathon in May benefits The Red Cross, especially after all they’ve done in Haiti.

So I encourage everyone to check out the site and at least vote – voting is super easy and you will be helping someone to move one step closer to achieving their dream/goal.  And  I know so many of us out there have some amazing and important goals and can relate.

Now onto Monday’s eats:

Breakfast was Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with skim milk (no almond milk in the house) topped with blueberries, and with a side of light cranberry juice.

My mid-morning snack was a Larabar and I was ravenous for it by 11:00 a.m.

Not the biggest fan of the cherry pie flavor, but it probably would have been good combined with something else – for instance in my yogurt maybe?

Lunch was reduced Fat Triscuit crackers with Garlic and Herb Laughing Cow Light Cheese. YUM! And a side of carrots.

Afternoon snacks were Chobani yogurt with Kashi Go Lean cereal and a bag of green grapes.

After work I hit the gym for a quick run of 3 miles – I finished in 26:20. I definitely took it slow and steady. I’ve had quite a bit of congestion in my ears and nose lately and yesterday was particularly bad. I was glad for the easy run.

For dinner, I took some inspiration from Meg and made a meal with Bulgur. It’s been sitting in my kitchen cupboard for a while, but I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to make. Meg made hers with shrimp, but I decided to use chicken and I switched a few other things up. Here was my final recipe – thanks for the inspiration Meg!

Bulgur with Chicken and Spinach

 Ingredients
1 shallot – chopped
1 cup of bulgur
1 tsp. olive oil
2 cups of chicken broth
1/8 cup of cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of frozen spinach

Directions

Add chicken to skillet and sauté for 5-6 minutes or until nearly cooked. Add shallot and bulgur to pan – sauté with olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Add 2 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmered for 15 minutes.

While that is cooking, heat up frozen spinach in the microwave and add it to the skillet for the last 2 minutes. Add cheese for the last minute of cooking – allowing it to melt and stir.

Final result:

Up close

I added a little bit of ground Cumin at the end as well and it got a “pretty good” from the Hubby. So that passes in my book.

Have you ever cooked with bulgur? If yes, what is your favorite recipe?

After dinner, Hubby and I watched The Bachelor – I guess you could say we are now officially “regular watchers” no matter how much we want to claim we aren’t. I’m leaning towards thinking Tenley is going to win it. But I definitely thought he was going to axe either Gia or Vienna last night – I was way off.

And as I mentioned, this morning I was supposed to run, but instead I made a quick visit to my doctor just to be sure there was nothing weird going on in my ears. They have been clogged for almost two-weeks and it can be really frustrating. I feel like I am constantly yelling because I can’t hear what’s being discussed. I figured it would go away eventually, but wanted to practice the “better to be safe than sorry” idea.

Doc said it’s viral and that it should go away if I continue to flush out my nose to drain the mucus (this will in turn help my ears I guess). I’ve been taking Sudafed off and on, but he said I need to be strict with my regimen: Sudafed, Mucinex D, Nasonex and I need to try something called Salt-Aire, which is kind of like a netty pot, but with a saline solution. I’m sure none of you wanted all that info – but just in case you face a similar congestion issue – here’s the cure! He made a point to note that if I don’t do all this, it could turn into a sinus infection – eek!

So besides a longish run at the gym tonight – I’ll be doing all that – fun, fun!  Don’t you just love winter? Blah. Have a good Tuesday.

9 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Running, Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

Weekend Run and Wedding Fun!

Posted on February 1, 2010 | 4 comments

Sorry I was MIA all weekend! I was busy, busy from Friday evening on, so no blogging occurred. Everyone needs a little break once in a while right?

I’m just going to give a quick recap of the weekend and tomorrow will be back to the norm.

On Friday after work the Hubby and I drove up to Albany to my parent’s house. We left late, got there late and pretty much just went to bed. But not before my mom told me that I was absolutely not allowed to run outside the next day. It was supposed to be frigid and she told me she was “pulling the mom card” and telling me no.

So on Saturday I got up and we to my mom’s gym for a nice long treadmill run. Fun times. I generally dislike running anything more than 4 miles on the treadmill, but I didn’t really have many other options. Important note: it was 2 degrees outside!! I got to the gym and was shocked by how many people were there at 9:30 a.m. All the treadmills were taken, so I milled around for a bit until someone hopped off.

I hopped on and told myself that I was running at least 6 miles without feeling guilty. It was the weekend and people could wait. That being decided, I started my run and watched some t.v. After about 30 minutes I decided to do some incline work and raised it to incline 3.5 for about 5 minutes and increased my speed. I did this twice and it really helped move the workout along. I ended up running 7 miles in 61:30.  This week, my training plan called for a total of 22 miles, but after missing a few early-week runs, I only managed to get in 18 miles. I’m not beating myself up about it.

After my workout, I headed back to my parent’s house to do some stretching and relax a bit before getting ready for the wedding.

Kelly and Jerry’s wedding ceremony started at 4:00 p.m. in Schenectady. It was really beautiful and unique. I had never been to a Greek wedding before and I loved all the different rituals and ceremonies. It was a small and cozy church. After the ceremony we headed over to The Glen Sanders Mansion for the reception.

Hubby and I had a great time! I didn’t take any food pictures during the cocktail hour because I was focused solely on eating. 🙂 But I did take a picture with the bride!

Lauren, Kelly, me and Becky

We headed into the main ballroom following cocktail hour and then began the real eating! Hubby and I took our requisite “at the table” photo.

And then we ate! I had a salad for an appetizer (everyone else who got prime rib or chicken for their entrée had pasta as an appetizer). The salad was good, but went unphotographed. Then my main course was Rigatoni Pasta with a Butternut Squash Sauce. It was yummy and very rich.

It looks so bright! I had to use the flash – sorry. It was very good.

Then it was time for some dancing! And boy did we dance. The bride and the groom danced a lot as well! I love when the bride and groom are out on the dance floor enjoying themselves.

Then it was time for a little cake! The cake was great, but I was so full that I could barely eat any of it.

I had such a great time. Here is one last photo of me and Becky – we were table mates and crazy dance partners!

It was a great time, but also a late night and Hubby and I were pretty tired on Sunday. We didn’t end up heading back to NYC until early evening, which means we didn’t get home until basically my bedtime. I tried to stay up and watch The Grammys, but I was exhausted, so I headed to bed.

Tonight’s workout calls for an easy 3-mile run and for that I am very relieved. I wish I had one extra day of rest after weekends like this.

How about you – how was your weekend? Any fun activities – did you brave the cold?

Have a great Monday everyone!

4 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Running, Travel, Uncategorized

Tagged

Good Weekend, Great Race!

Posted on January 24, 2010 | 15 comments

Good afternoon – sorry for the lack of posting this weekend. It’s been a busy weekend and I’ve just now had time to take a break. Well, actually I’m currently doing laundry as well as blogging. I definitely want to share a recap of our great NYRR Half Marathon today (YAY), but let me do a quick run-through of Friday and Saturday’s eats – I’ll just give the highlights.

On Friday morning I made Tina’s 3- minute breakfast cookie for the first time and it came out great! I substituted raisins with dried cranberries and used Truvia instead of brown sugar.

It was a really yummy breakfast and something new to break up the monotony.

Lunch was my usual salad (not going to list all the stuff), follow-up by a Chobani yogurt with granola. I’m not posting pics in the essence of time and so as not bore you. But I did enjoy my afternoon snack, which was a KIND bar in a new flavor.

Mango and Macadamia Nut was amazing!

After work I skipped my 3-mile training run for two reason: 1) I knew I’d be running more than 9 miles this weekend (which was the required long run) so I would be making up the mileage, and 2) I wanted to go pick up our race packets. When I got home, Hubby was busy making some venison meatloaf. Yup, venison – in case you missed it – check out this post which talks about my Hubby’s hunting hobby and why I support it. The dinner was amazing.

After dinner, we watched Casino, but I fell asleep about half-way through (it’s a lonng movie).

Saturday was a busy day, with cleaning in preparation for Lauren’s visit and cooking. I started the day off with another breakfast cookie.

I made it larger than before and kept me well-filled throughout the day. For lunch, I had a Chobani yogurt with Kashi cereal, a few pickles (I know – gross combo) and some Triscuits. I didn’t document my lunch.

Lauren arrived around 7:45 and we searched for parking until about 8:15. Then we came home and had some pre-race dinner.

For dinner, I tried making this recipe, (Chicken and Broccoli Mac-N-Cheese) from a site my friend Jess emailed me. I changed a few things up and didn’t buy the pre-packaged broccoli with cheese, but made my own instead. It came out okay, maybe a little more bland then I would have liked.

I may try making another recipe from the site another night though. They had some good ideas. After dinner we just hung out, drank lots of water, watched the SAGs and went to bed early. And now for the NYRR Manhattan Half Marathon Recap:

NYRR Manhattan Half Marathon

I had a kind of restless night of sleep and was not feeling so optimistic about the half marathon the next morning. But, we left the house around 7:15, met up with Katherine, and took a cab to the start. After hitting the porta-potties, we found our corrals and lined up. It was about 38-40 degrees outside, but it still felt chilly.

Finally, the race began and it took us a solid 3 minutes to reach the start. The course was essentially two full loops – starting around West 63rd street and finished at the 72nd Traverse. Exciting and interesting the course was not. But at least you knew exactly how much you had left.

Overall, Lauren and I did very well. We stayed together the whole time and definitely had some ups and downs. Both of us experienced a rough patch around mile 10, but we powered through. The hills in Central Park felt especially large and never-ending today, and even the slighter “rolling hills” were excruciating. But I am extremely proud of our times, here are our stats:

Mile 1 – 8:08
Mile 2 – 8:13
Mile 3 – 7:52
Mile 4 – 8:16
Mile 5 – 8:26
Mile 6 – 8:00
Mile 7 – 8:20
Mile 8 – 8:16
Mile 9 – 8:09
Mile 10 – 8:23
Mile 11 – 8:38
Mile 12 – 8:02
Mile 13 – 8:05
.1 (which was actually .31) – 2:19
Total of 13.31 miles in 1:49:14

As you can see, we ended up running way more than 13.1 – the reason was because it was nearly impossible to keep to the inside of the course, so we were constantly passing and running around the outer edge, so we were running more than we needed to. My Garmin would beep a solid few seconds before we would hit each mile marker.

But overall, despite the extra mileage and cold, we had a great race. Now I’m off to finish laundry, relax, eat more (I’ve already eaten a ton of good stuff …more to come on that tomorrow), and read my book.

Have a great Sunday everyone – and Lauren thanks for a G-REAT race! 🙂

15 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, NYRR, Races, Running, Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

Saturday: Bachelorette and 9-Mile Run

Posted on January 16, 2010 | 4 comments

Good morning – happy Saturday! This going to be a quick post because I’m heading out to a bachelorette party for my friend Kelly at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut soon. I’m very excited!! It’s going to be such a blast.

I just got back from a 9+ run with Katherine in Central Park and despite the balmy 42 degree weather, it felt a little chilly while running. My nose was running so terribly. Here is our breakdown of the run:

Mile 1 – 9:56 (on our way to CP)
Mile 2 – 8:46
Mile 3 – 8:59
Mile 4 – 9:03
Mile 5 – 8:52
Mile 6 – 8:52
Mile 7 – 9:13
Mile 8 – 9:10
Mile 9 – 11:17 (on our way back from CP through the streets)
.21 – 9:57
Total of 9.21 miles in 1:26:18

This is actually more than my Marathon Training Plan called for for today – so that’s good – I’m right on track. Here’s yesterday’s recap:

For breakfast yesterday I had Kashi Autumn Harvest with almond milk and a side of cranberry and orange juice mixed.

Lunch was leftovers of Thursday night’s dinner and it was just as good.

My afternoon snacks were Chobani pineapple yogurt (my fave!) with granola.

And a handful of walnuts and raisins.

After work on Friday night I headed to the gym because my training plan called for a 5-mile “pace” run – meaning run it at the pace you would want to run at the marathon (for me that means to BQ). With my first marathon I usually took the night before a long run as a rest day, a light workout or cross training day. I decided to try and follow this new Higdon plan, but chose to run 4 miles instead of 5.

4 miles in 32:51

That was a pretty fast pace for me, averaging about 8:12 per mile, which is actually faster than what I would need in the marathon to qualify for Boston, but I was feeling good so I went with it. I must admit that running hard the night before a “long” run does not seem to work for me. I think I’m going to need to tweak Hal Higdon’s plan a bit to meet the needs of my body. I need more of a light, short run the night before a long run. I may move the “pace” runs toward the middle of the week.

If you’ve trained for any kind of race using a training plan developed by someone else, have you tweaked or changed it at all – how and why? Did it work out better for you?

After that I did some core work and some arm exercises with a 5-pound weight and headed home.

I decided to use up the remaining spinach gnocchi for dinner, since the package said to use within three days. They did not disappoint the second time around! Yum!

After dinner I also ate a handful of un-pictured chocolate morsels – they’ve been my obsession this week. Then I headed into read for a bit before bedtime (which was super early). I am totally into The Historian at this point and I’m only about 80 pages in, but I’m loving it!

That’s all for now folks – time to pack and get myself into party mode!! Have a great weekend everyone! 🙂

4 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Books, Running, Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

Running in the Dark

Posted on January 12, 2010 | 12 comments

Good morning – how’s everyone on this Tuesday morning? I’m doing pretty well. Things have been busy, busy at work and yesterday just flew by. Here’s a quick look:

Breakfast yesterday was a delicious honey wheat double fiber English muffin with peanut butter and topped with banana. And of course, a side of cranberry juice.

No mid-morning snack for me because I ate an early lunch at about 12:15 Lunch was simply leftover tomato-basil soup from Sunday night. And it was even better today – more flavorful.

Looks kind gross in that Tupperware and horrid lighting, but it was good. My late afternoon snacks included some Horizon organic raspberry yogurt with granola and a Larabar.

I flew out of work right at 5:00 because I was pumped to meet up with Katherine for a nighttime run. I can’t tell you how psyched I am that she lives so close, runs at my speed and, if her schedule allows – is always ready for a run. But the girl does have one busy, busy schedule.

Anyway – we started off our run around 83rd and York and headed to the East River. We headed south to 59th street and then turned around. This was a first for me – I’ve never run along the river or in Central Park when it’s dark outside. I always head to the treadmill, albeit with some notable frustration.

Running in the dark was very interesting. The East River Esplanade is actually pretty well-lit, but it has its dark spots. I was surprised to see that there were quite a few other runners out there, even some women by themselves. Katherine and I joked about telling one lone female runner that she could run with us and be our friend – I just don’t think I’d ever be able to get out there by myself in the dark.

Once we turned around, we continued north back past 83rd and all the way up to 107th. That’s about where it starts to get a bit scary for me. Altogether, we ran 5 miles and here is our breakdown (thanks Garmin):

Mile 1 – 9:22
Mile 2 – 9:08
Mile 3 – 9:11
Mile 4 – 8:48
Mile 5 – 9:00
Total: 5 miles in 45:31

I’ve got to also say that although my first 2010 race this past Saturday was technically in colder temps, last night’s run felt pretty frigid. I talked to my mom after the run and she made the good point that even though Saturday was technically colder, I was running in the sun,  so I may have felt some residual heat or warming. That’s probably why last night felt colder to me.

Do you run in the dark? If yes, do you run alone or prefer to have a buddy?

I also feel that city night running is much different than running at night in the suburbs. Even though there are more people generally out and about in NYC, there are also more potential sketchy peeps. Last night I was too nervous to run in Central Park, even with Katherine, hence we hit the river instead.

When I got back to the apartment I started dinner almost immediately, but I did snack on some raisins and walnuts to tide me over. I was ravenous.

Dinner was baked chicken stuffed with chopped apple and feta cheese, with balsamic vinegar drizzled over top. We also had a side of vegetable couscous. Hubby informed he is not a fan of couscous – of any kind. I forced some curry couscous on him a few weeks back and he didn’t like it, but I thought maybe it was just the curry flavor – apparently it’s couscous in general.

Up close

After dinner I also ate the rest of the apple with some peanut butter for dessert.

We finished dinner and started scanning the tube, and seriously, The Bachelor was the only thing on. We started watching it and it was getting on my nerves, so just as I was about to turn the channel they announced that some drama was going to happen in the second hour and one of the girls was getting kicked off. Those producers and editors are darn good, because then I just had to see what the drama was. And what happened next…I watched the whole two hours of the show!

I have to admit, that was a twist that was way better than any of the fake drama they could have planned or instigated. Ha! I’m dying to see this “staffer” that hooked up with Rozalyn. And what exactly happened between them… Oh the drama!

Sorry for getting a little sidetracked. I leave you with some interesting health stuff in the news:

Counting of Calories Isn’t Always Accurate

Healthy Aging, With Nary a Supplement

The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating

New York City leads drive to cut U.S. salt intake

Are you a salter? I salt a few things a bit, but nothing crazy. I know a few people who are salt obsessed and put it on EVERYTHING. Usually without even tasting the dish first.

That’s all for today – have a good Tuesday!

12 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Running, Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

Blogger Award and TV-free Tuesday

Posted on December 23, 2009 | 14 comments

It’s Hump Day! We are continuing to inch along.

I want to start off today’s post with some inspirational bloglife. We all have our favorite blogs we read on a daily basis, but let me tell you that I had one of the best feelings yesterday when Katherine passed along the “Beautiful Blogger” award to me. The award was initially passed to her from Gena. I’ve tried to trace the award back to its roots and so far this is what I’ve got: Katherine > Gena > Michelle & Lori > Robyn > Betty > Jolene > Taylor > CaSaundra > Kelly > Shannon > Brandi > Olga > Mica > Caitlin  > Missy > Fei >Louise > Jo > Sarah > Eliza … and this is where I gave up. My gosh – that was like tracing a family tree! Anyone know where this award originated? I think this is such a wonderful and inspirational idea. I love that this award has been making the rounds and want to give credit where it’s due.

This award asks me to share seven random things about myself with you all, so here it goes:

1. I’m an only child and for that reason, I’ve always secretly wanted about 5 children. I once shared this idea with my husband and he nearly fell over. We may compromise on two.

2. I have a not-so-secret obsession with John Irving – he’s been my favorite author for years. This fall, when I found out he was coming to NYC for a Times Talk event, and there would be a few tickets available at the door, my friend says I acted like a crazed fan trying to get into a rock concert and she was scared I was going to bum-rush the door. We got in – it was amazing.

3. I don’t like bagels. Yes, this makes me a bad New Yorker. I can eat a bagel if it’s all there is, but I would never willingly choose a bagel for breakfast.

4. I have some bad food obsessions: namely cupcakes and nachos. I once went on a cupcake excursion throughout NYC and for the first few years I lived in NYC I also hunted for the perfect nachos. (Favorite cupcake place: Sugar Sweet Sunshine on Rivington; Nachos – TBD)

5. I’m a Great Aunt at 27 (through marriage of course, since I’m an only chid – see #1). I think this is hysterical. Great Aunts sound scary and old to me.

6. I’m allergic to my cat. I take allergy medicine every day to cope since I refused to give him up. He’s my little musher.

7. I love white chocolate – this is one of the strange things my husband and I share.

Now time to pass the award along to seven other beautiful bloggers. I shall pass it to:

1. Tina
2. Becky
3. Rachael
4. Dori
5. Britt
6. Chelsea (I know you already got it!)
7. Megan

This award has been around for awhile (I traced it back to October), so who knows, more than just Chelsea may have already received it!

Now for yesterday’s eats:

Breakfast was oatmeal with smashed-up banana and pumpkin butter.

I was thrilled that there was some yummy pasta salad leftover from the previous day’s potluck lunch. My co-worker Tiffany made this (she’s shown up a few times on here before). The addition of artichoke to the salad was wonderful. Great idea.

Perhaps I should have just had this the day before?! 🙂 I also had some blueberry Greek yogurt with granola.

Afternoon snacks included a piece of fancy gourmet chocolate from my chocolate box I received at yesterday’s holiday lunch/secret santa, and two clementines. My clementine kick is back!

I ate the piece in the upper right with the chopped nuts on it. YUM!

Dinner was a quinoa dish. No real recipe on this, just 3/4 cup cooked quinoa with sautéed green peppers, onion, carrots and broccoli with soy sauce. It was very filling.

For dessert, I decided to finish up the cranberries in the fridge and make cranberry relish in the microwave again. I ate only a bit of it and saved the rest for later. I used 4 packets of Truvia and half a teaspoon of agave to sweeten it up.

The Hubby had his work holiday dinner, so I was in the apartment alone with Murphy. After dinner I vacuumed and tidied up a bit and then considered turning on the tube…but decided against it. I had a lovely t.v.-free Tuesday night and it was rather refreshing.

After cleaning, I grabbed my book and read from about 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. and then fell asleep. It was nice to turn off all the noise for one night. Plus, there really isn’t anything I’m much into right now on t.v.

How bout you – do you watch t.v. every night, do you take a break every now and then, or do you not watch at all?

14 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,