Randoms

*Here is a life changer.

Frozen chopped onions. Some people may think it is silly. Others may think it is a waste of money. Yes, buying an onion and chopping it myself would be cheaper, but 91 cents isn't going to bankrupt us. And this way I don't cry. And the house doesn't stink like onions.  And none of it goes to waste. I've never eaten them raw, but if I have used them in taco meat, chili and stuffed peppers and I couldn't tell a difference.

*Meanwhile in the kitchen:

Do you use a potato masher to cook ground meat? I got the idea from Rachael Ray and it works great to break it up into little crumblies.

*I started the Couch to 5K program again after the first of the year with a friend of mine. I did it a few years ago and it was awesome. I even went on to run a marathon and a couple of halves. It's been awhile since I ran, and I am definitely out of running shape. We just finished week 2 and I am feeling pretty good about it. I've also been going to Zumba pretty regularly.

*Running outside in January sucks. Its cold. And sometime it snows and is icy. Yuck.

*This woman in New York posed as one of the Sandy Hook victim's aunt to raise money for the family. It was a scam. When Anderson Cooper asked her about it, she said she was framed by an enemy she has in the crafting community. Enemy in the crafting community. Yup, those people who craft, they are some evil geniuses.

* And you are welcome:

Pictures of people being blown with a leaf blower

What's going on with you lately??

Another post on the Olympics

I am sitting here watching the Women's Olympic marathon, because you know, it's hot as balls outside. Once upon a time (in 2010) I made the dumb decision to run a marathon. I don't regret it, I am super proud of myself for doing it, but I am 99% certain I will NEVER DO IT AGAIN. That 1% is a part of me that would like to get a better time, and maybe not do it in pouring down rain. Anyway, watching this marathon and thinking back to my own, a few thoughts popped into my head...

1) The announcers just said that the runners were keeping a "comfortable 2:25 pace." That would mean running the ENTIRE marathon in under the time it takes to watch Hunger Games (plus a couple minutes of previews.)

2) 2:25 is NOT a comfortable pace. That is a 5 and a half minute mile. I can't even do one mile in 5 and a half minutes, much less 26.2 of them.

3) Its raining in London today. It was raining in 2010 in Portland when I did my race. That's like the same.

Me after the 2010 Portland Marathon

4) Each runner had bottles filled with "their own concoctions" at each water station. Would it be against the rules to have a crystal light/vodka in the water bottle?

5) The women are essentially running in bikini bottoms and a sports bra.

Source

Chaffing much? I guess if you have -3% body fat you don't have to worry about your thighs rubbing together.

6) The winner just took a victory lap, holding the Ethiopian flag above her head. (She was from Ethiopia so it wasn't weird or anything.) When I finished (in 6 hours 10 minutes) I could barely walk to the car, much less hold anything above my head.

7) Does anyone else think they should give more than 3 medals in the marathon? How is it fair that these athletes who are running 26.2 MILES get the same number of medals as the athletes running 100 meters. Yeah, they run those 100 meters super fast, but come on, even the slowest person was still done in under a minute.

The Olympic athletes are continuing to amaze me. The runners, the gymnasts, the swimmers- all of them. The Mister is less than amazed. Equestrian was on earlier, he watched it for a few minutes and then announced "This British rodeo is boring." (I kind of agreed. But the show jumping is fun to watch.)


Are you still watching the Olympics or has it lost it's luster? Would you run a marathon?

Fourth of July Adventures

Yikes! It is already the end of the 6th, and I have yet to share the my Fourth of July holiday with you all. First off, you have to realize that I live in a town called Independence, therefore, Independence Day is a big deal around here. Every year, my town (and the neighboring town) host two festivals, a parade and a "mini-marathon" for the holiday. We take this holiday very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that people set up their chairs for the parade at least 24 hours in advance.

This is a shaded spot, but there were chairs lined up on both sides of the road.

Right before the parade is the mini-marathon, a 2.6 mile run along the parade route. People are already in their chairs cheering for us, and cooling us off with squirt guns, hoses and sprinklers. I don't have any pictures of the run, but here is what I wore to run in.

In true fashion blogger style, I am not looking at the camera. My friend Kim and I made these matching tutus a couple weeks ago for the run, but like a dummy, I don't have a picture of us together. Boo! 

If you haven't had the pleasure of attending a small town parade, these pictures will give you a glimpse into the big event. Please remember, people put their chairs out a full 24 hours in advance for this.

There were plenty of tractors.// And a giant stretch truck thing. (Complete with a man singing on the top)//This was a float by one of the churches. It made the Mister uncomfortable.//Mini pony inside a van.

Carpet Hero is at every parade//Lots of horses. The mayors and city managers of the two towns act as a "clean up crew" at the end of the parade.// These are local violin students. One year a kid fell off the float. I laughed. Then felt bad.// See, we have some fancy floats.

The trike bikes//A tricked out lawn mower. My guess it will be used at the lawn mower races in September.//Yes, that is a man in a motorized wheelchair pulling a trailer.// Landscapers have floats too.

There were also the Shriners, a bunch of tricked out cars and classic cars, the cable company van, the towing company's trucks and more, but this was the highlight of the parade for me:

She wasn't part of a business, or a church or a club or anything. Just an old lady wearing red, white and blue, riding on her motorized wheelchair, with a curly cue horn. 

After the parade we walked down to the festival to eat a healthy lunch:

Tacos al pastor, hand dipped corn dog and apple pie fries. Yummy!

Gus wanted to get in on the Fourth of July festivities. And really, I wanted to do this to him since I made it:

That was pretty much it. The heat(all 78 degrees of it!) combined with the crummy food and not enough water was enough to trigger a migraine. Boo. After a nap and some Advil, I was still kind of out of it. Since the Mister had to work the next day, we opted out of the fireworks and watched some on TV like 70 year olds.

Does your town do anything for Independence Day? Do you dress your pets up? I can't be the only one!

How I Became a Runner

If one of your New Year's resolution is to exercise more, or run a 5k I have a tool to share with you.

If you had asked me 5 or 6 years ago if I would ever run a marathon (or even a half marathon) I would have laughed at you. While I loved to go to the gym and take step or go 30 minutes on the elliptical, I was sporadic at it at best, and I definitely did not like to run. I kind of wanted to run. I was always jealous of the people I see jogging outside on a nice day, in their cute running outfits (seriously, I LOVE workout clothes!) but I never knew how to start running. Running was hard for me, I would try to go out and do a mile or two around the track at a local high school, but I would get tired quickly and have to walk. Then I would get discouraged and then negative thoughts would start to creep into my head and I would give up.

Then somehow I came across the Couch to 5K program. I honestly don't know how I heard about it. But when I checked it out, I thought "I can do that." It is a series of 30(ish) minute workouts that lasts 9 weeks. Each workout starts with a 5 minute walk to warm up and ends with a 5 minute walk to cool down. The first week alternates between a 1 minute jog and a 1 1/2 minute walk. You do it 3 times a week, and each week increases the jogging time. At the end of 9 weeks, you are jogging 30 minutes, or 3 miles. There is an app for the program that uses your own music, and a "coach" tells you when to walk and jog.

Here is somethings that helped me when I started:
*It is really easy to quit. I told a friend of mine (who I consider to be a running superstar) what I was doing, and she suggested made me sign up for a 5K race that would be around the time that I was scheduled to finish the program. She also signed up for it. It kept me motivated to do it knowing that I had already paid for the race AND that my friend was counting on me to do it with her.
*Speaking of friends, find someone train with. For me, my iPod was fine for the C25K program. But when I decided to train for a marathon, I needed to have a person with me. An hour or two is a long time to keep yourself motivated.
*It's NOT about speed. Who cares if you are slow? I know I am not going to EVER win one of these races I sign up for. But that's not why I do it. One thing that I loved about the Couch to 5K was that it was about jogging for the time, not about trying to reach a certain distance. I still am not fast. If you do sign up for a race (which is the fun part!) make sure you check out the details. Many of the races have a minimum speed, usually around a 15 minute mile. Most races I have seen have "sweepers" that means you have to run on the sidewalks and obey traffic laws after a certain time at a certain point on the course. Others will actually make you get on a bus and drive you to the end if you don't make it. (The Disneyland/World Half marathons do this)

If you want to do a longer distance, I highly recommend Hal Higdon's schedule for a half marathon. He also has a marathon training schedule. They are for novices, and I have used both. he does recommend that you are able to run 3 miles to start with.

Let me know if you have any questions! I am no expert, but I have been through this. The hardest part is getting started and staying motivated. I would love to help you in any way I can! The more people you let know about your goal the better!

***I wasn't paid or compensated in any way by any company I mentioned here. I just really believe in these programs and wanted to share with everyone!***

My weekend: a little Christmas, a LOT of Running

This weekend the Mister and I headed up to Portland for an overnight adventure. Even though Portland is only about an hour away, we rarely go up there outside of holidays with my family, so this was a fun little treat for us.

Saturday we started by dropping the dog off at his hotel- or the local kennel. This time he seemed happy to be there, which is good I guess. Usually he pulls and tries to leave with us when we drop him off. I guess our little boy is growing up.

Then we headed up to Portland to pick up my packet for the half-marathon I signed up for on Sunday. The running store is in a cute little neighborhood so we walked around and found a yummy Hawaiian place for lunch/early dinner. I didn't take any pictures but this pretty much sums up our meals.

Source

Then we checked into our hotel. Portland has a great mass transit system, and neither of us really like to drive, especially in traffic that is more than 5 cars, so we decided to hop on the MAX train and head down to the zoo. WAIT just a minute, it is December and it was well after lunch time so what is the point in going down to the zoo at night? ZOOLIGHTS!

Every year the Portland Zoo decorates for the holidays with tons of lights. The pathways are lit up, the trees are covered in lights, they have wintery themed decorations and they have tons of lit up animals (not the real ones). It is so fantastic. I have only been a couple times, and this was the first year that the Mister had ever been. He liked it well enough, except the wait to get on the zoo train. We waited over an hour. Boo.

So, our photography could use some help, but I think you get the idea.

The next morning we headed over to the Adidas campus and I got ready to go.

There were over 1900 runners signed up for this race. 1900 cold runners! The high while we were running was somewhere between 30 and 32 degrees. But, it was such a fun race! There were tons of costumes and tinsel and jingle bells and elves and Santas. So much fun!

Much like my Zombie Zumba outfit, I went for a Christmas shirt with my running clothes.

This was after mile 13, when the Mister found me. Yes I am smiling, because I was actually having fun!

The back of my shirt says "believe." I hope it gave some inspiration to runners behind me. (I just read that sentence again and I am not trying to say I was the fastest or even close to the fastest person in the race. I just think we all need some inspiration in a 13.1 mile run!)

I was running near a group of 6 people who might or might not have been 3 married couples. They were older than me, and it looked like they were having the best time. They were in Christmas-y outfits and I would see them stop in different places (like a bar, with a spectator holding a sign that said "you are all Kenyans" a group of carolers etc) and pose for pictures.

One of my favorite parts of big runs like this happens at the finish line. When I crossed the line, the announcer said my name. It just makes you feel like you won the race (even though I was well over an hour and a half behind the winner). It's just such an amazing feeling!

This is me after the race. (Cute right? ha!) Instead of medals, they gave us these silver bells commemorating the race. It was so cool to hear all the finishers ringing their bells at the finish line and at the after party!

The stats for this race (because you are dying to know):
Overall finish time and average per mile time- 2 hours 49 minutes (12:59 mile)
Overall place- 1705/1948
Age group place (females 25-29 my last race in this age group!) 177/196

There was a 72 year old man and a 70 year old woman that both beat me. You know what I say to that- you go old people. I hope I can still be doing these half-marathons when I am in my 70's!

One of the best parts of these races are the different inspirational shirts people make to run in. One that really kept me going was a woman's vest that had this phrase (or something really close to this) on it: "There will be days you don't think you can run a marathon. But there will be a lifetime of knowing that you have." So true.Two years ago I wouldn't have considered myself a runner, and it's still hard for me to say I am a runner, but I set a goal to finish a 5K and then I did it. Next up, I did a half marathon and a full marathon (NEVER AGAIN!!). Crossing the finish line is such a great feeling!

Are you a runner? Have you ever wanted to run a race? What is stopping you?

#2: Run Another Half Marathon

Found this little gem on Pinterest today :)

I have never been a runner. In middle school and high school PE, I dreaded mile day. I wasn't fast and I couldn't run very far without losing my breath. I hated it. During my first term of college I took the ultra-hard class "Jogging and Walking." In that class we had to do a mile and a half. I hated that even more. About three years ago I found The Couch to 5k running program. I looked through it and decided I can do a 1 minute jog and a 3 minute jog. This seems so easy, I can do this. So I did. I downloaded a couple podcasts that would tell me when to jog and when to walk, and I wrote out my schedule on a calendar. And I took it one step further, I actually went out and did it. I signed up for my first 5k with my teaching buddy E, and I was ready to go. She is such a champ (seriously she's a super runner), and stuck with my slow butt the whole run, and I finished in about 34 minutes. I was so proud that I had accomplished running 3.1 miles. Then I kind of stopped running.

Me & E After the Run Like Hell 5K

Early Spring 2010. I decide I should start running again. I download the "Bridge to 10k" program from iTunes and get on the treadmill at the gym. Somehow  I decide it would be a good idea to run the Portland Marathon in October 2010 (10-10-10 to be exact). I then con a couple girlfriends into running it too. the marathon was the hardest thing (physically and emotionally) that I have ever done, and I cannot see myself doing another full marathon ever again. I did finish it however, in 6 hours and 10 minutes.

Since the marathon last October, I went running exactly 2 times: one 3 miler with my running buddy, and the 2.6 mile 4th of July Mini Marathon that my town puts on every year. Last year at this time, I was nearing the end of my training for the Portland Marathon. If I haven't blocked out the whole memory, I believe this was the weekend that I had to do a 20 mile training run. What a difference a year makes.

Me with my space blanket after the Portland Marathon Last year

#2 on my 30 before 30 list is to run another 1/2 marathon. I signed up for The Holiday Half in mid summer, but last week was my first week of training. I had to do a whole 3 miles on Tuesday and Thursday and 2 miles on Wednesday. Those 3 miles kicked my booty.

I have found, for me, it is much harder to motivate myself when I am running alone. My running buddy, K, who I did the marathon with got herself knocked up (from her hubby) so she is out of the running business and I am doing this thing solo. I did ask if the Mister wanted to do it with me, but he did not seem one bit interested.  Last year on a long run day, K would show up at my house at 6:30 or 7 am and we would be of for a 6+ mile run like it was no big deal. Right now I feel like I have to bribe myself with a cookie to do 3 or 4 miles.

Replace the carrot with a cookie and it might work

Let's get something straight, I don't really like the act of running. What I like is the feeling of accomplishment when I finish a race or a long training. I am hoping that I find my motivation, otherwise this is going to be a long 12 weeks.

Here is the training schedule I am using, if you are interested.