Toughening Up!

Posted on June 22, 2010 | 4 comments

Good morning all – we made it past Monday. Mine was a busy Monday – how about yours?

I started the day off with a lighter breakfast – whole wheat English muffin with cinnamon raisin PB and grape jelly.

My morning sort of flew by. For lunch, I had triscuits with laughing cow cheese and some carrots and grape tomatoes.

I’m loving the grape tomatoes right now, and the latest Cooking Light magazine has a bunch of great grape tomato recipes that I want to try.

Then my afternoon snack was Chobani with granola.

I ended up staying a little bit later at work than I expected and it was soo hot out after work, that I gave myself the night off from running. Plus, after my tough race day on Sunday, I think I needed the rest.

I came home and threw together a quick salad for dinner.

Field greens with apple, walnuts, cheddar cheese, grape tomatoes and beets with Sesame Ginger dressing. Yum!!

After dinner, I happily finished up some dessert that Hubby made on Sunday night.

A piece of pistachio pudding pie. I was iffy about the pistachio, but I actually really liked it. Thanks Hubs!

The rest of our night was low-key, we finished up some laundry and then I’ll confess that I watched The Bachelorette. There was nothing else on. Really. And sometimes it’s just funny to watch the crazies on there. 🙂

What is your guilty pleasure summer t.v. show? I’ve been watching The Bachelorette and So You Think You Can Dance. 🙂

I’m going to attempt a run tonight after work. I’d like for the predicted rain to hold off and for the temps to drop a little, but I’m not sure that is going to happen. I’m running the Wall Street American Heart Association 3-Mile Run on Thursday night, so I’d really like to get a run in today as well. This is me forcing myself to get back on track.   

I have to say that after reading Gracie’s comment on my blog post yesterday, I need to be thankful for the tolerable heat we have in NY. It’s nowhere near as bad as down south and I need to remember that, and quit being such a baby and toughen up!

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Posted in Running, Uncategorized

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Running Up Against the Heat

Posted on June 21, 2010 | 4 comments

How is it Monday already? Seriously the weekends are non-existent lately. Our weekend was pretty busy with visiting friends and a race. I’ve been such a terrible picture-taker lately. I am going to make a concerted effort to be better about that this week.

So I have to just take a quick poll and ask how many people out there are True Blood fans?

I wasn’t all that excited about the first episode last week, but I thought this week’s was soo much better!! I wanted to watch it again right after.

I digress – I just really love that show. Anyway – as I mentioned in my last post, my race on Sunday was not very good. The humidity was ridiculous and people around me were even commenting as we were running that it was really difficult. I would have joined in the convo, but I was already working hard enough to just breathe. I suspect that I wasn’t the only one who had a less than spectacular race yesterday.

This led me to thinking about running this summer and what my biggest issues are, and what other people’s issues might be and how they cope.  Here is my list of summer running do’s and don’ts.

Do

  • Hydrate like crazy! I don’t think I hydrated nearly enough the day before Sunday’s race. I think the day-before hydration is almost as important as the day-of hydration.
  • Run early. I wondered why Sunday’s run was at 8:30 a.m., which is actually later than most NYRR races start. They typically start at 8:00 a.m. I would have been happy with a 7:00 a.m. start to be honest. I plan to do a longish run this coming Saturday and will be out there running by 7:00 a.m. or earlier.
  • Let it breathe. I wore a hat during the race. Probably not the best bet. I was primarily thinking about shading my face, but I think that hat kept a lot of my heat in. A visor would have been the better option. Along the same lines – breathable clothing with wicking technology is the smartest option for those summer runs.
  • Find some shade. This one is tough. My running routes in NYC are limited. But if I know the sun is going to be blazing – I’ll opt to run in Central Park where there is infinitely more shade than along the East River Promenade. So if you have a particularly shady route to run during those sunny summer days, I say choose that route.

Don’t

  • Underestimate your hydration needs. I’d say it’s better to carry more water than less during these hot summer days. Yes, carrying a water bottle or strapping on a water belt makes your run more cumbersome, but you’ll be happy when your mouth starts feeling like the Sahara and a water fountain is nowhere in sight. Plus, you can’t always count on water fountains to be working. Having control of your hydration will ultimately pay off in the end.
  • Force it. If you’re late, rethink running. So I know we’re all pretty adamant about getting a run in. But if you can’t get out the door in the early morning, I think it’s smart to rethink your run for that day. I can tell you first-hand that running from 11:00 a.m. to about 4:00 p.m. can be downright unbearable when the temps and humidity are high. I’ve cut runs shorts and felt miserable after runs done too late in the day. They take so much out of you and really end up frustrating you sometimes.
  • Forget the sunscreen! I’m bad at this one sometimes. For my marathon in May, I applied sunscreen diligently on my face, but then completely forgot about my arms and legs. The result was a pretty bad burn on my shoulders. Be liberal in your application and apply it early so it has time to sink into your skin.

So those are just some of the things I’ve been thinking about recently with the increasingly warm weather. What summer running tips do you have to offer?

I’m really going to try to go to bed earlier so I can get some early morning pre-work runs in throughout this summer. Today it’s supposed to be 88 degrees outside and the thought of a post-work run in that sounds just awful.

Have a good Monday all and stay cool!

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Father’s Day 5-Mile Prostate Cancer Race Recap

Posted on June 20, 2010 | 4 comments

Good afternoon all – happy Sunday and Happy Father’s Day! Love you Daddy!

How is your father’s day going? Mine started bright and early this morning with a race in Central Park – The Father’s Day Prostate Cancer 5-mile Run. The last time I ran a 5-mile race was in early January and the race conditioners were 100% different than today. The race started at 8:30 a.m. and in all honesty, I wish it had started a lot earlier. The heat and humidity were intolerable! Here was my race-day appearance.


It was already 80 degrees by the time I headed out of the house. I jogged to the start, hit the porta-potty and found my corral. As I stood in the corral waiting for the start, I began to think that this wasn’t going to be my best race. And I was right.

The race began and already I felt like I was struggling. We headed north along the West Drive and man did that first mile take forever. I kept checking my Garmin and being amazed by how little I had run. We hit the first mile marker and I managed to pick it up a bit from mile 1 to mile 2, but it hurt.

I struggled up all the hills and my breathing was a lot more labored than usual. Plus, choosing to wear a hat to shield my eyes also ended up making me hotter, I think. As we reached the third mile marker I hit up the fluid station for a much-needed guzzle of water.

From mile three to mile four I struggled again and watched the mileage slowly tick by on my watch. Finally we hit mile four and I knew there was only one to go, but man was I feeling it. The heat, the humidity, the crowd – it was all taking its toll.

Finally I spotted the finish area up ahead, but it was really a struggle to get to the end. I did not kick it in like usual – I basically threw myself over the finish in pure exhaustion. Here are my stats:

Mile 1 – 7:59
Mile 2 – 7:40
Mile 3 – 8:07
Mile 4 – 7:59
Mile 5 – 7:58

Total mileage: 5.06 miles in 40:12

So technically, this was a PR for me at this distance, but I ran the 10k in April much, much faster – so I’m not totally satisfied with these results. However, I have no one to blame by myself. Since the Pocono Marathon in May, I’ve enjoyed quite a running hiatus, so I am not in great shape right now. I’ve got some major work to do before the Boilermaker 15k in July.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

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Posted in NYRR, Races, Running, Uncategorized

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Book Review: Cutting for Stone

Posted on June 17, 2010 | 2 comments

Okay guys – I finally have that book eview for you! Here it is. This is a good one, check it out! 🙂 BTW – All my book reviews are also accessible on the right side of the page under “Pages.”

Cutting for Stone

By: Abraham Verghese

Let me start this review off by saying that I wasn’t that into this book at first. It took me some time to become involved in the story and the characters. For whatever reason, I was a little standoffish. I think part of it might have been because it seemed a little bit like John Irving’s The Cider House Rules at first. A poor hospital where a baby is born (in this case two babies), but has no mother to care for him. And of course, the talented doctor who runs the show.

At the time, I don’t think I knew that’s why I was hesitant, but looking back, I think these similarities played a part. I love Irving and simply thought no story could compare to Cider House, nor should it even try.

But, I’ve digressed. Cutting for Stone is completely different from Cider House. Besides the details I described above, everything is different. Once I realized things weren’t going the same way, I settled in and enjoyed the story. This book spans generations and continents.

It starts with a nun going from India to Ethiopia and meeting a doctor on her voyage. She ends up catching up with that doctor again and then works alongside him at Missing Hospital. I don’t want to give away too many details, but years later – that nun gives birth to two children and dies in the process. The twins are named Shiva and Marion and their story takes over from there. The reader watches as they grow up, which is narrated by Marion. They live through a lot of political turmoil in Ethiopia and it shapes their lives and destinies.

Don’t be fooled though, this is not a political novel. Marion recounts some of the political happenings throughout his narration, but remains very removed and distant from it all.

Overall, I thought this book was wonderful. I felt I came to understand and love all the characters, even the ones that maybe I wasn’t supposed to. The end of the book was very emotional and I found myself crying at numerous points. Typically, it takes a lot to make me cry in a book – so be prepared if you decide to read it. I highly recommend this book – tears and all.

P.S. – Interesting sidenote is that Verghese took John Irving’s writer’s workshop. So perhaps my feelings of similarity are not completely unwarranted.

2 Comments

Posted in Books, Reviews, Uncategorized

A Running Rut

Posted on June 16, 2010 | 12 comments

Good morning all! I’m back and a little less stressed finally. The big meeting on Monday went very well. And then yesterday was a busy day full of follow-up stuff related to it.

But I did get out for a run last night, although it was kind of pathetic. I only ran 3.5 miles and not at a very fast pace. I pretty much feel like I am starting at square one with training for the Boilermaker on July 11th. Plus, I’m signed up for a 5-mile run this Sunday and I have a feeling it’s going to be tough for me.

What I thought might help inspire me and get me back into running mode a bit was to review some of my marathon training runs I did from Jan – April.

January

February

March

April

May

So I know that totally just bored you, but it was a good exercise for me. We all have ups and downs with running. It really helps me to see the progression of my training, see that it wasn’t perfect, that I had some tough spots and recognize that this little struggle I’m having right now will also pass.

I’m a runner and I think I’ll always be a runner, but I need to understand that I’m not always going to be the most motivated runner or always have awesome runs. I may go through ups and downs, but that’s okay.

So – I’m taking my latest stinky runs in stride (no pun intended) and am going to run however I feel comfortable and not worry too much about measuring myself against my previous times or feelings, or other people.

Do you ever get in running ruts? How do you deal?

Ok – moving on! There seems to a consistent color scheme to my foods lately.  This weekend I had some delicious fruit – kiwi and apricot.

And then for dinner last night, I made this:

Do you see the green and orange them? A little weird.

This recipe was simple – brown rice cooked in water and chicken broth. Chicken with cooked veggies, including corn, peas and carrots. Then I sprinkled some shredded cheddar cheese into the pan and cooked it all together a little while longer to make it creamy. One of my favorite easy recipes!

I think I’m taking tonight off from running, especially since rain appear imminent. And I promise that a book review for Cutting for Stone is coming – I swear!!

Have a good hump day all!

12 Comments

Posted in Recipes, Running, Uncategorized

Lessen the Stress!

Posted on June 13, 2010 | 7 comments

Happy Sunday afternoon! How is it Sunday already? Sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days, but the work stress reached a new level on Thursday and Friday. Both days are sort of a blur because I was going, going, going all day, and ended up working late both nights. This weekend has been me catching up on some much needed rest and house-work.

I don’t have any new runs to report. I plan to get back into the swing after this big meeting on Monday.

As far as eats, I made a different dinner on Wednesday night that I liked, but Hubby did not.

Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, chicken sausage, and apple in a white wine, lemon and butter sauce. Like I said, I thought it was good, but Hubby did not.

On Thursday night, I finished Cutting for Stone and it was amazing! Seriously, it was so good. I was crying hysterically for the last 100 pages though – just a warning. The glass of red wine that I had in conjunction with finishing it probably increased the waterworks. I hope to have a review coming soon.

Friday was work and more work and then Saturday was some much-needed rest. I also whipped up a few cookies from my family’s “Bump Cookie” recipe. I halved the recipe below:

Bump  Cookies

1 stick of butter
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of milk

Mix together in a saucepan over moderate heat.  Once it comes to a boil, boil for approx 2 1/2 minutes.  Take saucepan off the burner, add 3 cups of Quick Oats and 5 Tablespoons of cocoa and 1 tsp. vanilla.  Stir quickly until is combined and starts to come together.  Quickly drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper to cool and set.

These cookies get their name from my childhood – whenever my aunt would make these, I’d call them “bump cookies” because they looked so bumpy. The name stuck. They aren’t the healthiest cookies, but they are really good.

My last noteworthy eat from the weekend was my breakfast this morning, which really hit the spot. I haven’t been craving oatmeal lately, but today I was and this banana and peanut butter bowl was delish.

Yummy and I loved the light.

The rest of today is cleaning up the apartment a bit, making some steak for dinner and then watching True Blood at 9 p.m.!! I’m soo excited.

Tomorrow is going to be crazy hectic, so I likely won’t be posting. But then Tuesday will be back to normalcy and hopefully back to me running a lot more. Also, my friend Lauren starts her marathon training tomorrow! I’m excited for her and am hoping that her training will inspire me to run more as well.

How was your weekend?!!

7 Comments

Posted in Books, Dessert, Recipes, Uncategorized

First Post Marathon Run!

Posted on June 9, 2010 | 16 comments

Well all, I finally did it! I ran my first post-marathon run last night after work. The weather was perfect – about 70 degrees and sunny. I set out just after I got home  and my overall feeling is: I should not have taken a complete 100% break from exercise for 3 weeks. :-/ Duh, right?

My initial reaction when I first started running was – Wow this feels so great! And in truth, the entire run felt really great overall, but I can tell that I’ve lost some of my cardiovascular strength and endurance and maybe a little speed. I think a break from running was definitely needed for me, but I wish I had been doing some other cardio exercises, such as using the eliptical or biking.

My next race is the 15k Boilermaker in Utica, NY on July11th and I feel like I have some training to do. Anyway – here are my stats from my run:

Mile 1 – 8:14
Mile 2 – 8:14
Mile 3 – 8:34
Mile 4 – 8:28
.5 – 4:12

Total mileage – 4.5 miles in 37:44. Average pace – 8:22 minute mile.

So it wasn’t terrible, but I definitely felt like I was working, whereas before the marathon, those split times might have felt pretty comfortable. And my toe felt completely fine!! YAYA!

I am considering running the Women’s mini 10K this Saturday in Central Park, and possibly the 5 mile NYRR races the next two weekends, but I haven’t completely decided yet. I think racing a bit would help me increase my speed for the Boilermaker – my goal time is under 1:17:00!!

In other good news – I was selected to participate in my work’s Leadership Development Program!! Only 16 people from the entire company (over 1,900 employees) are picked each year to participate in this 5 month program. The America Management Association comes in and hosts 2-day classes once a month for 4 months, we do assessments, and get career coaching and guidance. The official announcement went out yesterday and I’m so excited!

It’s nice to be selected for something like this, especially after I’ve poured so much into some of my recent projects.

I’m skipping my meal recaps for the past two days. They weren’t all that exciting. Except for perhaps the use of this on my English muffin the other morning:

Mmm I love PB&Co.’s peanut butters, but I was reluctant to try this one. Something about the cinnamon with the peanut butter sounded less than appealing to me. But my mom had this PB at her house and I was kind of forced to try it a few months ago and fell in love. So she gave me a jar as a gift the last time I stopped home. Thanks Momma! I also think I need to make a trip to their sandwich shop in NYC – located in Greenwich Village. 🙂 Which may just be the mecca for PB lovers like myself. Plus I like that this PB is all natural and the company uses “packaging and sales materials are 100% recyclable, and start with recycled materials whenever possible.”

P.S. – I’ve also decided to run The Sun Half Marathon, that is in conjunction with the Bay State Marathon that my friend Lauren is running in October. If you remember – she is trying to qualify for Boston so we can run it together next April. The half marathoners start with the marathoners and run with them for about 3 miles, so I’ll get to help her start and find a good pace to ensure she gets that BQ!! Anyone else running that marathon or half marathon? It’s supposed to be a pretty flat and fast course for anyone out there trying to BQ!

What races do you have lined up for the summer and fall?!

16 Comments

Posted in NYRR, Races, Running, Uncategorized

The Customer is Always Right!

Posted on June 7, 2010 | 3 comments

Good afternoon. I’m writing a lunch-post for the first time in a long time. How was everyone’s weekend? Was it as crazy fast as mine? It flew by in a hot second.

What’s not so hot anymore – the weather finally! Yesterday evening it totally cooled down and became really comfortable and breezy.

I started off my Sunday with a yummy breakfast of Van’s organic waffles with banana.

After breakfast I bopped over to CVS to use the two coupons I had: one for 20% off Sat/Sun only and one for $4 off. And I checked beforehand that they could be combined. When I went to checkout, the cashier informed me that my 20% coupon had already been redeemed. I explained that, no this was my first time there today, and he looked at me skeptically and then waited – like I was just supposed to say “oh okay” and pay the full price.

Um – no way. I specifically waited to buy a bunch of stuff in order to use these coupons. I am all about getting a deal and I wasn’t about to just shrug my shoulders and dish out more dough. So I calmly explained again that “no, it hadn’t been redeemed yet.” At this point, the cashier looked downright frustrated and annoyed with me, and begrudgingly told me he had to call his manager.

So he did, the manager came over, used some special code and poof – magic, I got my 20% discount.

I share this story because after this little incident, I realized that I’ve definitely changed a bit in the past few years. In the past, I probably would have been so embarrassed and felt so bad that I was holding up the other customers, I would have just said okay. But I was actually very irritated that CVS sent out this coupon that was valid for two days only and then had the nerve to say I couldn’t use it!!

Call me a pain if you want, but I’m happy I stood my ground and got my discount! I’m a loyal CVS customer and I deserved it!

Have you ever had an experience like this? How did you handle it?

After my CVS debacle, I came home and cleaned a LOT and then ate a random lunch.

After lunch, back to cleaning. And more cleaning. We’ve been busy and away for a few weekends, so the apartment needed it.

After cleaning, I threw together a little grilled chicken over salad for dinner.

My salad had romaine lettuce with cabbage and carrots, cheddar cheese, apple, walnuts and raisins. Yummy!

As I mentioned last week, work is going to be a bit crazy this week. But my toe is feeling a lot better and I’m hoping to do a short run either tonight or tomorrow – FINALLY!!

Have a great Monday all!

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Is it Seriously Sunday?!

Posted on June 6, 2010 | 3 comments

Wow – where did this weekend go? It’s already Sunday evening and I’m not looking forward to the start of the work week.

Saturday was a really nice day. We woke up a little later than usual and headed to Marlboro, NY to visit some friends who just had a baby a few months ago. By the time we left the apartment around 11:30 a.m., the weather was already pretty hot. We got to Marlboro and met the new little babe and then we headed to Newburgh, NY for a late lunch and drinks.

The area we went to was right on the water and I’m kicking myself for not taking more pictures. We went to The Blue Martini on Front Street. It’s a sushi bar, but they also offer sandwiches, salads, wraps, etc. I started off with the Over the Moon Martini.

I don’t remember exactly what was in it, but I think it has some pineapple juice and peach juice. Yum!!

We started the meal off right with a cheers…

I ended up ordering the California Chicken Wrap, which has grilled chicken, avocado, bacon and tomato – but I completely forgot to take a picture. It was very good though. I dove right in.

After linner (lunch/dinner), we headed back to our friend’s house to play some Wii and have a few more beverages. We didn’t end up leaving until almost 10:30 p.m., so we got back home pretty late. I think that may led to our SUPER late rising time today – almost 10:00 a.m. Granted, I woke up at 7, 8 and 9, but then went back to bed.

How was your weekend? What was the highlight? How did you beat the heat?!

Have a great Sunday night all!

3 Comments

Posted in Restaurants, Travel, Uncategorized

Getting Some Saturday Sleep

Posted on June 5, 2010 | 2 comments

Good morning all! Happy Saturday. I had some grand plans to get up early this morning and get some necessities from CVS, but I slept in until 9:00 instead! And it felt nice. What’s with me and needing some extra sleep lately?

As I mentioned yesterday, I totally slept in on Friday morning by accident. I forgot to set my alarm and the Murph didn’t wake me up. So I flew out of bed and headed to work without breakfast. I made it there on time, but had to create a make-shift breakfast.

A Gnu Bar, a banana and an iced coffee. I have been a coffee fiend lately – I had an iced coffee Tues-Fri of this week and am enjoying a hot coffee right now!

My work day was busy and things are a bit stressful. A few of my co-workers convinced me to grab some lunch out in the sun to lift our spirits. I was very hungry – my breakfast did not tide me over. So I ordered myself a big Turkey Reuben sandwich.

This was huge and I could only eat one half of it…and the fries. Yes, it was not such a healthy day.

The rest of my Friday back in the office was busy. I will forewarn everyone that next week is going to be a busy and stressful week. We have a major meeting coming up and next week will be the final prep for it, so I expect to be working some longer hours than usual. It sort of started yesterday because I ended up staying at work a little later than I wanted to get some stuff done. I was planning to go to a happy hour after work, but was just too exhausted and maybe a bit grumpy. I decided heading home was the best idea.

Hubby and I ended up watching Crazy Heart and I snacked on random things for dinner. And then I fell into a hard, much-needed sleep.

Today we are heading to Marlboro, NY to visit some friends who just had a little baby boy, who we have yet to meet. It’s supposed to be a lovely day and I think we’ll get to spend some of it outside! Can’t wait – looks like it’s going to be a great weekend!

What are your plans?!

Have a great weekend all!

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