Category Archives: Uncategorized

I Am Soo Over The Snow!

Posted on January 27, 2011 | 10 comments

I live in the northeast, so I understand that I need to expect and tolerate a certain amount of cold weather and snow. And really, I try not to complain about the snow and slippery conditions at the start of the season. I try to enjoy its beauty and appreciate the season for what it’s worth.

However, there comes a time when I say, “Enough is enough.” I am over it. It’s not pretty enough to make me appreciate 15 inches of snow! This is now what the fifth big storm of the season? Enough already! Not only am I going to have to run 7 miles on the treadmill this evening, but I may also find myself running 14 miles on the treadmill this weekend. Absurd!

And you know, it really isn’t fair to dump this on us after we’ve had few somewhat mild and tolerable winters in the past few years. Just as I was getting used to more rain than snow during the winter, the 2010-2011 season rolls in and just keeps dumping snow on us.

Sorry for my little rant. I will say that despite me having to leave super early for work this morning in 15 inches of snow, I did find a few things comical:

  • When a person can move faster by walking than a cop car can because it’s stuck sideways across the street.
  • Following a 1-foot path down the sidewalk makes me wonder who was the brave soul that started said path in the first place…and thank you.
  • This one isn’t funny – but just a huge thank you to the business owners or buildings that actually shovel and snowplow in front of their building. You have no idea how happy I get when I see a nice clearing up ahead.
  • Watching a golden retriever puppy eagerly eat and attack the fresh snow on my way to work. Wish I could be that happy about it.
  • Women have it way better in the snow – we can wear tall boots and galoshes. I feel so bad for the poor men with their pants covered in snow and slush up to their knees. I say buy a pair of galoshes guys and start a new trend – I’ll support it!

And lastly, this really made me giggle as I walked into work today…

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Sunday Football and Food

Posted on January 26, 2011 | 1 comment

So this post is a little bit late, but here it is anyway. Sunday was an uber productive day for me. After the race on Saturday, I pretty much just vegged. So Sunday was go time.

I started the day with a nice breakfast….

Then I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom while jamming out to the music channel (Party station). I finished cleaning in decent time, so then I thought I’d try bringing our laundry to the laundry mat. Usually Hubby brings the giant bag over because there’s so much laundry between the two of us, I can barely carry it. But I only packed the essential stuff to wash and waddled myself over there with our giant bag.

I was feeling pretty darn proud of myself as I loaded the clothes into the washers. However, the feeling quickly turned to utter embarrassment when I realized the machine to refill the wash card only accepted cash and I only had my credit card. I stood for a moment contemplating my options and then reluctantly took all our clothes out of the washers, repacked the bag and trudged back home. At first I was just embarrassed and then it quickly turned to annoyance and then anger at myself and the laundry mat. I huffed and puffed around the apartment and cursed our broken dryer in the basement. Then I cursed the guy who was supposed to get it fixed. And finally I decided I needed to go for a run.

I threw on some warm running clothes and headed out in the 20-degree weather. And you know what, within the first half mile I felt better. I was releasing my tension and anger and working through the issue as I ran. I ran a short three miles along the East River and headed home. And when I entered our apartment, it was like I was a new person.

Do you ever use running as a source of therapy or stress relief?

So instead of pouting, I ran out to the store to get a few things I needed to make dinner. Hubby was away for the weekend and requested “something snacky” for dinner. We had planned to watch the Steelers vs. Jets game at night because Hubby is a HUGE Steelers fan.

So I made a veggie platter to snack on, along with some tostitoes and salsa.

And then I made a Broccoli and Cheese Soup adapted from this Cooking Light recipe.

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Total: 33 minutes
Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 1/3 cups)

Ingredients
1  cup  chopped onion
2  garlic cloves, minced
3  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1  (16-ounce) package broccoli florets
2 1/2  cups  2% reduced-fat  skim milk
1/3  cup  all-purpose flour  wheat flour
1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
8  ounces  light processed cheese, cubed

Preparation
Heat a large nonstick saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add broth and broccoli. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.

Combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in pepper. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.

It’s not the lightest soup ever, but it was delicious! I won’t make that everyday, but on a cold winter night, it was just perfect.

And while eating dinner, we watched the Steelers kick butt and secure their spot in the Superbowl!

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NYRR Manhattan Half Marathon Recap

Posted on January 22, 2011 | 7 comments

Let me start by describing this race in one word: freezing! When I woke up at 6:15 this morning and checked the weather, I knew it was going to be a tough race. The temperature was hovering around 14 degrees and it was only supposed to climb to about 17 degrees by the end of the race.

While this sounds absolutely ridiculous to most people, I had run 12 miles in less the 5 degrees the weekend before, so I knew that a) it was not impossible to run in 15 degrees and b) it wouldn’t be too painful if I dressed appropriately.

Running attire for the race: my Sugoi arctic tights (these thing are freaking fantastic and I highly recommend them to any and all winter runners), compression socks (first time wearing them), Nike base layer, Under Armour long-sleeved shirt and then another long-sleeved zip-up over top, gloves, a hat and a neck warmer. Again – can not stress what a major help the neck warmer is. I pinned it to my hat again and it covered my face and mouth for the majority of the race.

I left the apartment around 7:30 and got to my corral just as they were shutting them up. I hopped in the back and jumped around a bit, waiting for the start.

Finally the race began and I started out at about an 8:27 pace. I started to pick things up in the next two miles and then, true to form, I went up and down in pace throughout the race. Those rolling hills in the park really mess with my pace.

I had a few tough spots during the race. Around mile 5-6, I felt a little dejected by the amount of miles I  had left and my legs felt heavy. After passing the mile 6 marker I had a burst of energy that carried me for a bit. But, by the time I hit around mile 9 at the very north part of the loop and I knew that the huge north hill was coming my way, I experienced some major fatigue. I made it up the hill, but watched as almost everyone passed me. It was kind of disheartening.

After making it up the last major hill, I gained a little momentum back. However then miles 10-12 happened and it hurt. I slowed down quite a bit. As I was reaching the 12 mile mark I started to pick it up again and was able to run the last mile faster than the previous few.

I finished and looked down to see icicles/frost/snow on the tips of my gloves, as well as some tiny icicles on my eyelashes. I grabbed two gatorades and then ran a cool-down home. It was FREEZING! Once my pace slowed and I was jogging, I felt the cold chilling me to the bone.

My official time was 1:49:12 (my time last year was 1:49:17). Here are my splits:

I got home, stretched a little, rolled out my legs, hopped in the shower and then headed to Yorkville Creperie for some well-deserved crepes with Kelly.

We recapped our respective races and tried to warm up over some delicious crepes and coffee. I had the country crepe with banana, strawberry and nutella. It was delicious and I ate it in about 15 seconds.

And now I plan to watch Easy A and relax for the rest of the night.

How has your weekend been? Did you brave the cold for a run?

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Boston Marathon Training – Week 5 in Review

Posted on January 18, 2011 | 3 comments

Hello blog world! How was your long weekend if you had one? Mine was very good. Just the right mix of busy and relaxation. Before I get into that, I want to do a quick recap of my fifth week of training for the Bostom Marathon because I felt as though I made it over a mental and possibly physical hump this week.

I had a rough start to training. My first two weeks, I could only summon the energy to run 14 and 17.5 miles in total. Not ideal and not how I wanted to start this training process.

Things started to get better in week three – for weeks three, four and five, I hit my weekly mileage total and ran five days a week. And then finally, last week I started to hit a groove where every run didn’t feel so tedious and running five times a week was almost actually routine. Here’s how my training is looking so far:

Last week, I ran 3.5 miles at the gym on the treadmill on Monday; 6.12 miles outside in Central Park on Tuesday morning; 4 miles at the gym on Thursday; a frigid (I’m talking under 5 degrees) 12 mile long run with Lauren on Saturday; and a 5.29 mile run outside again on Sunday.

I’m finding that mixing the treadmill with outdoor runs is keeping me from becoming bored with either one.

A quick word on the 12 miles run upstate this weekend. That was officially the coldest weather I’ve ever run in. Lauren and I took the cold weather VERY seriously and bundled appropriately. I wore my arctic tights (the warmest things ever), ski socks under my tights, a Nike base layer, a really warm hooded sweatershirt, a hat, gloves and a neckwarmer that I actually pinned to my hat so that it would stay up and cover my face. We looked fabulous:


We may have looked ridiculous, but I was very warm and toasty with alll of this on. The neck warmer covering my face was crucial! I was so happy I brought it and thought to pin it up.

For any people training from spring marathons out there – what are your winter running tips and tricks?

I’m feeling like winter is looking particularly messy this year and I can’t seem to remember how I made it through training last winter. I’m taking it week by week and coping with each weather set-back as necessary. I will say that winter training definitely makes you appreciate it when the spring weather finally rolls around. 🙂 Happy winter running all!

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Help My Friend Run the Boston Marathon in 2011!

Posted on January 13, 2011 | 3 comments

We’ve made it past hump day and through the toughest part of the week!! Thank goodness! As usual, this week has been a pretty busy one. Here’s a bit of recap

Rangers vs. Canadiens Game
On Tuesday, Hubby and I went to the Rangers vs. Canadiens game at Madison Square Garden. I bought him tickets for his birthday. He is a big Canadiens fan, so we got some dirty looks as he rocked his sweatshirt proudly. We had pretty good seats, only a few rows back from the ice, which made for great viewing, but also kind of chilly.

When we got there, we grabbed a not-so-healthy, but oh so expensive dinner at MSG. The game was really good. I’m not a huge hockey fan, but I think being closer to the action helped me to be able to keep up with what was going on. In the end, the Canadiens won 2-1 and Hubby was very happy. Everyone else around us, not so much.

Boston Marathon Donations Needed!!
While we were at the game, I got a message from my best friend that sounded a little bit stressed and worried. I started thinking about all the horrible possibilities and then soon found out that she was worried because she had gotten into the 2011 Boston Marathon through a charity program and was worried she wouldn’t be able to raise the money.

Phew – I thought it was something terrible. But this was GREAT NEWS, I told her!! If you recall, she tried to qualify for Boston back in October and missed it by only a few minutes. Deep down, she still really wanted to run.

So a few weeks ago, she began applying to every charity possible that claimed to still have room–by the way, that was very, very few. Even the charity spaces filled up super fast this year.

When no charity responded, we both finally gave up on the idea of her running it with me. Sadness. 😦

But then…she heard back from the American Liver Foundation’s (ALF) Run for Research Team – she was in! The really interesting part is that this was the one group I insisted she apply to because the ALF is very close to our hearts (Hubby and I). We try to support the ALF however possible because a close family member had a successful  liver transplant in 2000. We understand how important research is and are so thankful that the transplant was possible and successful.  It seemed almost a bit like fate that the ALF miraculously had a spot open for Lauren.

So now the real fun begins – raising $3,250 in donations by April 18th! Time for me to beg on Lauren’s behalf. If you’ve ever raised money through a charity program, you know it can be a bit stressful if you don’t get the donations you need. So please, please consider donating to help my friend reach her goal! I thought, what better place to ask than the blogosphere, where so many people understand what it’s like to dream of running Boston, and at the same time raising money for such a worthy cause. I hope that you will consider donating! Visit: http://go.liverfoundation.org/goto/LaurenBeaver and click on the “Click here to Sponsor Me” button above the status thermometer. Your donation would be so greatly appreciated. And don’t feel weird about donating to someone you don’t know because I check her donation status daily (okay hourly) and fill her in whenever anyone I know donates.

So there is my unabashed plea for money. 🙂

The rest of my week so far involved some running, work, snow and a movie. So coming soon…my review of Black Swan and some details about the book club I joined! Fun stuff.  Have a great Thursday!

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Juggling it All…

Posted on January 10, 2011 | 2 comments

Hello Monday evening – I’m so glad that the day went by like lightning. Well that’s good and bad because there was definitely more I could and should have gotten done during the day. But, in keeping with my 2011 goals, I’m not stressing out about it. 🙂

Hubby and I just finished a nice healthy dinner of baked tilapia, broccoli and brown rice.

Confession: I’m not a huge fan of broccoli on its own. In a casserole, with cheese and chicken, in a stir-fry – sign me up. But as you can see, I’ve sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top of it here. All by itself, it just doesn’t taste great to me. I’m trying to learn to like it sans toppings, but, does anyone have any healthy suggestions to spice up your broccoli?

And now I’ve got to finish blogging quickly, do the dishes, shower (I ran 3.5 miles at the gym after work), prep my running stuff for the morning, make my lunch for tomorrow and then finally, I’ll settle down and paint my nails while watching The Bachelor before passing out.

Do your evenings look similar to this?

I’m constantly trying to find more hours in the day to squeeze in more activities. And God forbid I drop anything – I just can’t. How am I coping? The only option left…getting up earlier. 😦 EEk! Yup – I’m shooting for morning runs 2-3 times this week so I can get more done in the evening and perhaps even have some free time to read the three books I’ve got started right now.

Yup – full disclosure. I’m being a pretty bad book floozy. Switching back and forth from book to book. It wasn’t intentional, but now I don’t want to give one up. I’m almost done with 50/50 by Dean Karnazes; but I started the last book in the Stieg Larsson triology before buying 50/50 and now feel guilty putting it off; and lastly, my friend organized a book club and we have to read The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa, by February 3rd. I’m going to attempt to power through them all.

Gee, do you see a trend here? Taking on too much? Who me? Never. Haha. 🙂

How do you juggle it all? What are your tips and tricks?! I could certainly use the best ones right now.

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Running, Racing and Baking!

Posted on January 9, 2011 | 6 comments

Hello all. It’s been a few days since I last checked in. So here’s a brief recap of my week:

Things started off reasonably calm on Monday at work and then proceeded to progress to crazy and hectic by Friday. I had dinner with some girl friends on Wednesday night at Galway Hooker. I thought the space was really warm and friendly, unfortunately the waitress not so much. She was kind of cold and seemed like she really didn’t care about whether we were happy or not, and didn’t really want to be there. The food was also just meh – nothing to write home about. I turned a salad into a wrap and it was just okay. They were also changing all the beers out, so my craving for a Blue Moon went unmet. I had wine instead.

On Thursday night, I headed to O’Hara’s for a goodbye happy hour for my supervisor. Her last day is next week, hence some of the recent hectic days and higher levels of stress. This bar did have Blue Moon available, so I fulfilled my craving a day late. However, after having three Blue Moons without any dinner, it was definitely time for this lightweight to head home. Thankfully Hubby met me out and drove my tipsy butt home.

Finally, on Friday Hubby and I headed to Wicker Park, a local bar in our neighborhood for a 1-hour free happy hour. My friend who lives upstate had won the happy hour a few weeks ago when he was in town and wasn’t going to be around to take advantage of it, so he passed it on to me (thanks Neil!). So we met up with a few friends for some free drinks and made it back home around midnight.

On Saturday, I picked up my race packet, cleaned the apartment, watched the news about Tuscon, made dinner and made cookies (more on those below).

Running Week in Review
I’ve also been pretty successful with running this week, despite all the craziness. On Monday and Tuesday,  I hit the gym for a quick 4 mile run each day on the treadmill. On Wednesday morning I ran another 4 miles along the city streets (which stunk, literally, because of all the huge piles of garbage), on then on Thursday morning I ran 6 miles pre-dawn with Kelly and Megan. I was supposed to run my long run on Saturday, but because of the snow forecasted, NYRR changed the race from Saturday to Sunday.

Race Recap: Fred Lebow Class – 5 Miler
On Sunday morning I woke up around 6 a.m. and began my prep process. While the race was going to be 5 miles, I wanted to run a total of 11 miles for the day, to stick with my training plan. So I headed out around 7:15 to get a few miles in beforehand as a warm up. I got in about 3.5 miles, met up with Kelly, and we headed into our corral. It was COLD. Once we stopped running, all my warm-up quickly slipped away. We jumped around to try to stay warm and then finally we started.

Kelly and I managed to stay near each other for a few minutes, but then the crowds engulfed us and we were split up. My legs felt a bit heavy throughout the race, but especially between mile 2-3. It seemed to take forever. At one point, I also could not manage to get away from a man who was grunting and snorting like an angry dog. It was sort of distracting.

I don’t really have my splits because I left my Garmin running during my warm up miles and the race, so things were a little off. Mile 3 felt slower than normal and mile 4 was rough. However, then all of sudden we were almost done! So  I tried to kick it in harder and power through the finish. According to NYRR’s results page, I ran it in 38:49, which is a 7:45 minute mile average pace. I just can’t seem to get below a 7:41 average pace!

How have you increased your speed? Or what do you tell yourself during a run to make yourself push harder?

After the finish, I caught up with Kelly again and we ran a few additional miles. My total mileage for the day was 11.16 miles. Total weekly mileage was: 29.29 miles. Hit my target again!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Rewind just a bit…on Saturday night, while Hubby watched the Jets, I decided to make some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I used this recipe, but  substituted white flour for wheat flour.

They were very chewy and yummy. I actually almost ate one as pre-race fuel, but waited until after the race. 🙂

How was your weekend?! Do you run outside during the winter or do you stick to the treadmill?

Hope you had a great one!!

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I’ve Got Gas…In a Good Way!

Posted on January 3, 2011 | 7 comments

Any of you that have read my blog even sporadically over the past few months, a) thank you – I probably would have stopped altogether in December when I was such a lousy poster; and b) you obviously know how excited I am to have our gas back!! I must have mentioned my frustration with our lack of gas…oh just about every other post for 6 months.

I thought it only appropriate to welcome our oven/stove back into the family in a manner which adequately expressed how much I missed it… by baking muffins!

I used this recipe and made Banana Nut Muffins after being inspired by Ashley’s muffins. I used Truvia instead of white sugar and they tasted great. I only made about 6 muffins, but I must say that it was a brilliant start.

No longer will said oven/stove gather dust in the kitchen corner. No longer will I fake my way through dinner on a hot pot. No longer will the microwave play a significant role in my daily life. I vow to bake casseroles, muffins, bread, chicken and dessert like there is no tomorrow.

Anyone got some good recipes to send my way for an amazing reunion with our oven? It’s almost like a long-lost friend has finally come home.

Oh and btw – I know it sounds absurd that we did not have gas in our apartment from umm July 2010 – January 3, 2011, but we live in a co-op. Do you know what co-op really means…Do It Yourself. Oh yes. There is no management company to blame or landlord I can shake my fist at. Our apartment is self-managed. Meaning that the  14 other apartments and hubby and I are responsible for initiating repairs to the building. I haven’t been too involved in the whole gas issue, our co-op board and hubby have been handling it, but from what I hear it’s pretty tough to find good contractors in the city and we had some extensive work that needed to be done. At this point, I’m just happy it’s back at all!!

Eleven is my lucky number and I’m thinking that surely this is just the start of good things to come in 2011!

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Some Late 2011 Goals

Posted on January 2, 2011 | 12 comments

Happy second day of 2011! As promised, I’ve come up with a few 2011 goals. These are just a few things I’d like to focus on this coming year. They aren’t things that really need fixing – I guess they are more about taking a slightly different approach to some things in life this year.

1. Blog 2-3 Times a Week: I went from a once-a-day blogger to about once-a-week, if it’s a good week. The end of 2010 was pretty hectic with events and a very heavy workload. In 2011, I’d like to find more balance and be able to blog about 2-3 times a week.

2. More Balance and Less Stress: As I mentioned above, I found myself stressed out toward the end of 2010. A lot of it had to do with work changes – a new boss and lots of changes at work left me scrambling to get things done, pick up the slack and transition at the same time. I think I let it take over my life a bit and affect my overall balance. In 2011, I’d like to regain some work/life balance and not put so much pressure on myself at work. Mistakes will happen, sometimes deadlines are missed and projects don’t always work out as planned. I hope that in 2011, I can go with the flow a bit more and deal with the pressure and changes better. It’s just work – it shouldn’t rule my life.

3. Live in the Moment: I’m a thinker and a planner. I always have been. At times it serves me very well. We got to see and do soo many things in Ireland because of my research, planning and preparation. However, sometimes I find myself trying to plan the next 5-10 years of our life and that can become frustrating. There is no way of knowing what lies in store for us over the next few years, so in 2011, I’d like to try to live more in the moment and less in the future. What will be will be, right? I’d like to try to appreciate what is happening now and focus less on the future.

4. Run the Boston Marathon: Qualifying for the Boston Marathon was one of my goals for 2010. Done! Now in 2011, I’d like to run it! I’m not putting any time pressures on myself. I’ve heard it’s a tough course – one of the most challenging there is. So my goal is to run it strong and consistent. My last marathon was totally inconsistent with a very fast start and a much slower finish. I’d like to run Boston much more consistently and hopefully feel decent at the end.

5. Back to Healthy Eating: Supposedly, our gas is going to be fixed by tomorrow and with it, I’d like to fix some of my less than stellar eating habits. Not having an oven or stove forced me to use the microwave and toaster oven a lot more than I would have liked. In 2011, I’d like to renew my focus on healthy eating, especially as I train for Boston. When I’m reunited with my oven/stove, I’ll strive to be more creative and heathy in my cooking. The “eat” aspect of this blog has certainly suffered from the longterm loss of our apartment’s gas.

6. Make Morning Running More of a Norm: I’ve never been a very good morning runner. I’d like to make a very concerted effort to run at least 2-3 times a week in the morning. It will allow me to get more done in the evening and not stress about trying to fit my run in if I have to work late (although work-life balance goal should help with that as well).

So those are my goals for 2011. I had a whopping 10 goals last year and that felt like a bit much. This year I think a solid six is more realistic.

Oh and on the running front, I ran 5 times this week and managed to hit my Boston Marathon Training mileage of 26 miles. Hurray! Let’s hope this is the start of some good training for a successful spring marathon!

Have a great Sunday all!

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Well Hello There 2011

Posted on January 1, 2011 | 4 comments

I honestly can’t believe it’s 2011 already. The 2010 year literally flew by. I’ve decided to really think hard about my 2011 resolutions before I put them down in print. So those resolutions will be coming a little bit late.

My New Years Eve wasn’t as exciting as expected. Hubby and I were toying with the idea of going to Times Square since it was a balmy 45 degrees outside. However, the cold and congestion that Hubby had been dealing with for the past few days finally made its way to me and the thought of standing outside for hours with a million people – being trapped inside barriers became more terrifying than appealing. So we ended up lying low and I coughed my way into 2011. Thanks for going with the flow Hubby and welcoming 2011 in a low-key way with your sick wife.

I’ve been promising a book review, so here it is. My book review of Ultramarathon Man – Confessions of An All-Night Runner.

Ultramarathon Man
Confessions of An All-Night Runner

By: Dean Karnazes

At a work happy hour earlier in December, a few of us were talking running and running books, and several people told me to read this book. They were pretty persistent, so I decided to check it out.

I was not disappointed. This book was both interesting and inspiring. It’s a non-fiction book by and about Dean Karnazes. Dean was a runner in high school, but then abruptly stopped running altogether for years. On his 30th birthday, he takes a hard look at his life and tries to figure out what is missing. After a night of drinking and celebration, he puts on a pair of old sneakers and heads out for a run…a really long run.

And from there he just does not stop. The man runs and runs and runs. He starts by running about 5 miles a day and then hears about a 100 mile race. He sets his sights on that goal and trains like a maniac.

The reader tags along on his journey for adventure and excitement. As a runner, you’ll want to be running alongside Dean. His stories will fill you with awe and inspiration. After reading about Dean’s 50-100 mile jaunts, I felt like a pretty big wimp complaining about having to run 30-40 miles a week for marathon training.

Dean is not a complainer – he is a doer. He sets his goal and he doesn’t let anything stand in his way.  And just when the reader thinks that he has tackled his biggest challenge, Dean will find a more intense and insane challenge. It’s what he lives for.

I’m pretty sure I read this book in 2-3 days. I just couldn’t put it down. I wanted to know what he would conquer next and I wanted to absorb some of his strength through the pages. I then passed the book along to my running friend and she flew through it in 2 days as well. It’s good and it just may renew some of your vigor and drive to run and train harder than you ever have before. Because if Dean can run 100 miles, surely I can run a measly 26, right?

—–

Hope you all had a great NYE and start to 2011! What are some of your New Year goals?

The number 11 is my lucky number, so I’m hoping this year is a lucky one for us. 🙂 Last year wasn’t awful, but we did have some major ups and downs – so I’d really love to have a great 2011. How was your 2010?

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