Category Archives: Races

The First Tuesday of 2010

It’s the first Tuesday of 2010, which means we made it through the first Monday of 2010!! Hopefully this week will fly right by. But that means my first race of 2010 will be here before I know it. Eeeks!

I’m running the NYRR Fred Lebow Classic 5-miler in Central Park this Saturday and am a bit nervous because of the frigid temperatures predicated and my lack of recent good runs. Is anyone else out there running it as well?

I’m going to try not to think about it or worry about it too much till Saturday. So let’s recap yesterday’s eats:

Breakfast was boring old Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with almond milk and a side of light cranberry juice.

I was pretty busy at work on Monday considering the amount of vacay time we’ve had lately, so I squeezed in a mid-morning snack of a Coffee-Nut Scone around 11 a.m.

I got pretty busy and then all of a sudden at 1:35 I remembered that I had a phone interview scheduled for 2:00. That wasn’t going to leave me much time for lunch, so I decided to eat my snacks first.

I had a strawberry Chobani yogurt with granola and some carrots.

Then around 2:45 I was finally able to have lunch and I had leftover venison chili.

After work I hurried over to the gym to try to beat the after New Year’s rush of people. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too bad. However, they were giving a lot of tours, which tells me the onslaught is coming soon. I hopped on the  treadmill and ran the following:

4 miles in 35:05

Definitely not my fastest, but I was still a little stuffy in my nose and congested in my chest.

Then I did some abs: 75 crunches; 50 twist crunches; 15 leg lowers

I stopped at the store quickly on the way home to pick up a few things for dinner and was overwhelmed by how busy it was. Note to self, Monday is not a good grocery-shopping day.

For dinner I adapted this recipe for a Crustless Spinach Quiche. The red text and cross-outs show where I added or made changes:

Crustless Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

3 ounces reduced fat free cream cheese, softened
1 cup fat-free milk
1 cup egg substitute
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 ½ cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
½ cup of frozen broccoli, thawed and well-drained
½ cup of grape tomatoes, halved
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup of fresh mushrooms, sliced

Directions

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese. Add milk, egg substitute and pepper; beat until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients. Transfer to a 10-in. quiche pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

The result:

My first piece – I had two pieces in total.

The recipe was very good, but I used a smaller dish than recommended, so it took longer to cook, which was annoying because I was hungry. But all in all, a good dinner.

And then dessert was another Coffee-Nut Scone, but Hubby suggested maybe adding some frosting to the remaining scones. I gave in and it wasn’t too bad actually.

The rest of my night was very quiet, I read a bit, watched part of a football game Hubby was interested in and I’m ashamed to admit I also watched part of The Bachelor. I had to turn it off at one point because it was so awkward and the girls were terrible. It was kind of funny at the same time though.

Health in the news…

Sleep loss may affect health by curbing exercise – Better get that rest to keep up your workout schedule.

Five ‘eating better’ foods to slip into your diet in ’10 –  A lot of this is common sense stuff, but it does remind me that I need to drink more green tea.
 
Study Says Women With Mate Get Heavier – Essentially the study found that women living with a man (married or not) gained weight after co-habitating, and if they had a child, their weight went up even more. I’ve heard from people that they gained weight once they got married (although I don’t think you can state this is the norm), but this sentence made me laugh out loud:

“This does not explain the still larger weight gain in women who became pregnant.”
 
Did they not get the memo that a woman’s body changes after she has a baby?
 
I don’t put much stock in these kinds of studies, but it does raise some interesting questions:
 
Has your eating changed at all since living with a significant other (either currently or in the past)? What about after marriage?
 
I can tell you that I weigh less now than I did when I met my husband. I think I’ve actually started to eat healthier foods and exercise more since we’ve been together. It helps, of course, that he is an active person who also eats well. I wonder if things would be any different if he weren’t that kind of person. Food for thought…
 
Have a great Tuesday everyone!

An Official New York Road Runner

Good morning blog world! It’s Tuesday – we made it through Monday – yipee! I was pretty darn tired yesterday and was still wondering if I was actually going to get sick. I woke up yesterday feeling a little bit better and hoped it was just a nasty allergy attack.

For breakfast I had 1/2 cup of oats, tsp of pumpkin butter, handful of raisins and a splash of milk.

It was really tough to get moving and get out the door on time. I had to stop and grab a coffee to help keep me sane and awake. Monday mornings at work are typically pretty busy for me, so I knew the coffee would help.

I was surprised that the day actually moved along pretty quickly. I ate my morning granola bar at 11:00 and then the one or two new projects I started to work on kept me occupied and before I realized it, it was 1:45 and I hadn’t had lunch yet!

I trudged out in the rain and got a salad from across the street. The usual stuff: romaine lettuce, peas, carrots, cheddar cheese, walnuts and craisins.

My camera was a little off, so pics are looking blurry. :-/

After lunch, I went onto the New York Road Runners site and browsed some races. I decided I wanted to sign up for two in January. And then I just bit the bullet and became a member. It’s about time I started running races in NYC and not just upstate. I typically try to run all my races with my running buddy Lauren, but as my hubby said yesterday, “she’s not always going to be able to run with you.” Sadness. So I signed up for these two races:

NYRR Fred Lebow Classic (5M)
NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix: Manhattan

Lauren WILL be able to run the Half Marathon with me!! YAY!! I will tackle the Fred Lebow 5 miler on my own – just call me Miss Independent. Unless my hubby surprises me and decides to run it as well. 😉

Any other NYC bloggers planning on running either of these?

I am generally NOT a winter runner, but this will be my attempt to keep running strong throughout the winter. If you’re a runner, do you still race in the cold weather?

My co-worker tells me that she actually runs better in the cold. Not me.

Later on in the afternoon yesterday I had some Greek Yogurt with granola and oats and two clemetines (gotta get that vitamin C to stay healthy!).

BTW – today at noon you can sign-up for the NYC Half Marathon Lottery .  Can you tell that I have racing on the brain after my Turkey Trot? It’s an addiction.

I didn’t work out last night after work for a few reasons: 1) I was tired, 2) I’m going away on Wednesday morning for a business trip and needed to run some preparatory errands, 3) I haven’t actually hung out with Bill in a while, 4) I was tired.

So I left work, picked up some traveling necessities and headed home. I made this quick and easy dinner:

Here is my made-up recipe for it.

Asparagus Chicken with Roasted Red Peppers

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup chicken broth
  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1/3 cup of diced onion
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 6-8 stems of fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
  • 1/2 (7 ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup chopped grape tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, or to taste
  • 1/3 cup shredded parmesean cheese

Directions

  1. Heat the broth in a large skillet over medium-high heat with the garlic and onion. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and place in the skillet. Cook 15 minutes, until chicken is almost done.
  2. Place asparagus and red peppers  in skillet. Continue cooking 10 minutes until asparagus is tender. Place tomatoes in skillet during last 2 minutes of cook time. Sprinkle with vinegar. Top with parmesean cheese and serve.

It was yummy and the husband rated it as “pretty good.”

After dinner I had a small piece of the white cake with white frosting that Bill’s sister Christine made for his birthday and brought to Thanksgiving dinner. I was shocked that Bill was willing to share his cake. But then he told me that Christine made him promise to share with me – figures! It was great.

The rest of my night was quiet and I went to bed pretty early. However, Murphy decided to try to wake me up pretty much every two hours during the night, so I’m a bit tired again today.

I’m starting to get a little nervous about traveling tomorrow. I’m one of those people who is always afraid of missing a flight or forgetting something important or losing my luggage. Generally – just not a very relaxed traveler. Hence, I start prepping 2-3 days in advance.

Are you a good traveler – what are some of your helpful tips or tricks?

I AM excited about the possibility of running while we’re training in L.A. The weather there is looking nice and warm. I could certainly use a nice West-coast run. 🙂

Last note – I want to say congrats to my friend Becky for starting her new blog: Write On!! I’m so happy she is proactively seeking new creative outlets and will be able to share her passion and wonderful insights with others. Becky is one of the people in my life that I always “talk books” with. We typically like the same books and are ALWAYS asking each what the other is reading and for recommendations. Now I can just check out her blog and see that, as well as her feedback and reviews. I’m so excited – so be sure to check it out. She’s also on my Blogroll! 🙂 Love ya Becks!