Best treadmill run & giveaway results!

Lots to say this week! First up, I had my 11 mile run on Friday, & there was a minor shoe problem. It turns out the my shoes were too small, and after I warmed up & my feet expanded, my toes were bumping against the shoes. Three toes on each foot are bruised, swollen, & so mother freaking painful, it's unbelievable. The good news is that I finally went to a running store & got fitted. They bumped me up a size, and I waited a few days for the swelling to go down. (No running after the crippling 11 miles on Friday).

I ran 5 miles on the treadmill today (without stopping - which is HUGE for me!) & it was like running on cotton candy & sunshine, compared to the pain of Friday. A great workout on the treadmill, people! Life is so dang good! :-)

In other news, my 15K race is next Sunday (the 18th). Can't wait! I'm a super slow runner, so I always hesitate to set time goals. That said, here's what I'm thinking:

1. Only goal that I really care about - finishing the race.
2. Second goal - finish in under 1:50. This shouldn't be hard, barring a really horrific run, as I did 11 last week in just under that.
3. Third goal - finish in under 1:40. Maybe?
4. Fourth goal, and probably unlikely - finish in under 1:30.

I know, I'm slow. Feel free to giggle at my times. :-)

My nutrition has been . . . okay. Yesterday sucked. There has been a bunch of work drama on both sides (me + Michael) & that always causes me stress. I stuffed my face with a bunch of random crap yesterday, & guess what? It only made me more stressed. I need to find a better stress reliever.

Ugly bathroom photos make their return! I can't get my picture from today to upload, but it's just more of the same - boots, skinny jeans, & a sweater. It was snowing this morning. Groan. :-)

And, I have to recap my fabulous day on Sunday. We've been taking the boys (almost 5, and 6) skiing all season. There were potty accidents (being half way up a lift when someone tells you they have to go potty "urgently" is always fun), tears, days when we paid a boat load of money to ski one run, etc. It's a ton of work to go - all of the gear, the packing, the driving to the mountain, the MONEY. . . :-) But on Sunday, it all paid off. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. The boys were sun burned by the end of the day. And, everyone was on their best behavior. They listened, and my little guy skied a blue run without falling! And then, he skied it again & again. Sam, my six year old, bumped into a school buddy, and pretty soon I see them skiing over jumps & between trees. It was comical. He wanted me to take a video, but I'm sure I would have ended up on the snow if I had tried. Both of my kids are now officially way better & faster skiers than I am. At the beginning of this season, my youngest (Nick) wouldn't even ride the magic carpet or put his skis on, so this is serious progress.

This was the car ride home. :-)

Skiing is tiring for little boys. Check out the rosy cheeks, after a day in the sun.

Giveaway!
Christy, at My Dirt Road Anthem, you're the winner! Send me an email at runningikeagirl@gmail.com & I'll get you hooked up. :-)

Just my luck. . . and a giveaway!

Where does the time go? I've been sick with some sort of a cold/flu thing, & now I'm starting to panic about falling behind on my training plan. Luckily, I think I can add a week or two due to the race I signed up for, but I'm pretty Type A, and get all stressed out when I can't fit in my scheduled runs. Just ask Michael, who gets to suffer when I can't run.

And, speaking of not running, I had a series of unlucky events that interfered with my running last week:

• On Tuesday (Valentine's Day) - I had just enough time to get home, squeeze in a fast run, shower & make it to my son's Valentine's party at school. I was in charge of one of the "activity" stations. I got home, & discovered that my water bottle spilled in my gym bag, & my shoes were SOAKED. I only own one pair of running shoes. That clearly needs to be remedied. Anyway, workout #1 cancelled.
• On Wednesday - I went to the gym at lunch & started to run. Was feeling kind of light-headed & dicey, but pushed on. Made it to three miles, & was sweating like I just finished a marathon, & my hands were shaking. I got off the "mill", and had to sit on the ground for a few minutes to regroup. Drank a protein shake & ate a cheeseburger (I know - the combo of protein shake & cheeseburger just sounded right at the time) & it helped, but I still wasn't feeling great. Had to give myself a pep talk to change out of my running clothes. Actually contemplated returning to my office wearing my sweaty clothes, because just the idea of changing made me tired. Luckily, I did not do this.
• On Friday - all pumped up, because I had time to do an outside run. Still not feeling 100%, so I chose a run that wouldn't be too hilly. This is no small feat in my neighborhood. Got my run on, and noticed LOTS of police around, which is super unusual. Then noticed lots of closed roads. President Obama was doing a fundraiser in my neighborhood, & virtually all of the roads were closed. This ended up being no bueno for me. The park (aka my potty/water stop) was closed, which resulted in me having some bathroom challenges. And, all of the roads back to my home (save one) were closed. My run ended up being MUCH hillier and longer than planned. I did survive, but called Michael & almost had him come to pick me up. He offered, but I decided that I couldn't quite be that lame & finished up.

So, in summary, three of my workouts either sucked or were cancelled due to: water spillage, illness, & the unlikely but true presidential motorcade/secret service. Life was rough. :-)

I did get in a great run on Sunday, thanks to my sister's boyfriend. He convinced me to run & it was the only time I've ever run more than a mile or so with someone. It was nice to have someone to chat with - this reminds me that I really do need to find a running group. As a PSA - I do not recommend two cups of coffee + no water + a bunch of wine the night before as the best pre-run fuel. Yikes.

I've been eating a ridiculous amount of comfort food this week (bagels with peanut butter, grilled cheese, etc) & not a lot of nutritious food. I've also been sleeping twelve hours/day and still want to nap under my desk. This just means that next week is destined to be better, right?! I need to get on the scale, but I'm a little scared. I'm going to force myself tomorrow.

Once again, you can barely see the picture, but here goes.

Violet shirt - Loft
Purple tank - Banana Republic
Skinny jeans - American Eagle
Black wedge sandals - Tory Burch

No lunch time run today due to meetings, but I'm going to run 5 miles tonight. On the treadmill. Hope it's not as painful as I'm envisioning. :-)

With that, what is the most random thing that's interfered with your run?

Have you ever had to add weeks to your training plan? What do you do when your sick & can't run?

And, on to the giveaway!

I'm giving away 10 packs of Clif Shot Blocks (Black Cherry Flavor) + Victoria's Secret body lotion & a lip gloss. Maybe some random other treats thrown in there. All you have to do is be a follower on the blog & comment to tell me any of the above questions, or your favorite long run fuel. I'll pick a winner at random next week!

ETA: Bonus entry - mention this on your blog, & add a comment letting me know for a bonus entry!

Giveaway Winners

I'll be back with a regular post soon, but I wanted to get the winners announced via random number!

Prize #1 -rblanton22
Prize #2 - runningonwords
Prize #3 - Kara

Send me email at runningikeagirl@gmail.com and let me know where you want me to send your prize!

Blogger, you suck

I keep waiting for Blogger to restore my post from Thursday & retrieve the post I created with the giveaway info, but apparently that is not going to happen. I'll have the results/prize winners posted this afternoon.

**Edited to add, I just noticed that the last 4 entries have disappeared, likely due to Blogger's snafu. I'll keep the giveaway open until 5:00 PM Pacific Time for any final entries, and then choose the winners.** Blogger, this just keeps getting better. And, can I have my draft posts back, pretty please?

Lime green

I felt like wearing something bright & cheery (to perhaps counter Mother Nature, who is still determined to prevent spring from arriving in Seattle). I got these capris at Jcrew four years ago, and I think I've worn them twice. The color always feels too "loud", but today they put a smile on my face.

Outfit:

Details

• Jean jacket - Jcrew, circa 2000
• Cream sweater - Jcrew
• Cream tank top - Ann Taylor Loft
• Pearl & gold necklace - Jcrew
• Lime green capris - Jcrew
• Brown floral wedge sandals - American Eagle

Running:
Yesterday was my rest day. I was definitely feeling sore after my 10 mile run on Saturday, & painful 6 on Sunday. Running 10 miles on Saturday totally pumped me up & made me confident for the 1/2 marathon I'm running in July. Maybe one of these days I'll even sign up for a marathon! I know, crazy talk. I did get up this morning for my cross training workout, and it felt good to be moving again.

Food:
Yesterday was not a great food day for me. I was really snacky. Mondays are crazy, because the kids have swimming lessons at 5:45, which puts a serious wrinkle in our normal evening routine. I never really sat down and ate a meal, and as a result, had a bunch of worthless calories & didn't come anywhere close to my 5 servings of fruit/vegetables that I shoot for. Ahhhh, better luck next time. I have less than three weeks until I'm wearing my bikini (Las Vegas - woo hoo!), so I'm going to get serious about making healthy choices, cutting out the snacky junk, and sticking to my calories.

• Breakfast - 1/2 banana & coffee + skinny macchiato + feta spinach wrap
• Snack - 1/2 protein bar
• Lunch - 1 piece of cheese & turkey + edamame + frozen yogurt
• Snack - 2 servings of trail mix
• Dinner - handful of cashews + 1/2 a peanut butter & jelly sandwich + an apple.

Giveaway:
I did manage to take pictures of most of my giveaway swag, and there's still time to enter. If you want to win this fun stuff, go here!

Prize #1 ( NARS lipgloss set & Aquarium Gummies):
The set comes with five sheer shades from the NARS permanent lipgloss line — Easy Lover, Babe, Orgasm, Turkish Delight, and Misbehave.

Prize #2:

A Kate Spade bracelet (forgot to get a picture of it, but looks like this):


Plus two bags of yummy beach treats - Sour Trouts & gummy Hammerhead Sharks:

Why is it rotated like this, Blogger?!

And, finally, something running related!
Prize #3:

A plethora of bars to try, plus salt water taffy (super fresh - I saw them making it while we were there), and gummy/sour ducks.

I'll be drawing three winners via random number at the end of the day on Thursday, so don't forget to enter.

Michael picked out a gorgeous dress for me for Mother's Day. It's a little tight in the chest, so I'm hoping to exchange it for one size up, and have the rest of the dress taken in. I'm thinking this will be perfect for our upcoming vacation!

Questions for you:
1) What is your favorite kind of candy?
2) What is the best gift you've ever received? Michael got me a gorgeous ring for our 5 year wedding anniversary, so I'll definitely go with that.
3) If you use blogger, does it ever rotate your pictures? Is there a way to correct that?

Lady in red

Good morning, lovely ladies! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. I had a great Mother's Day yesterday, and spent it with my favorite people. We stopped by my mom and dad's house on our way home from the beach, and ended up staying for dinner. It was nice to have some unexpected time with the parents, and the boys love hanging out with their Nana and Papa. :-)
Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful Mom.

Outfit:

I tried on an old skirt from the depths of my closet, and lo & behold, it fit! That's always a good way to start off a Monday morning.

An awkward picture, but my memory card was full, so no retakes. :-)

• Black ballerina sweater - Jcrew
• Black tank top - Ann Taylor Loft
• Black drop necklace - Nordstrom
• Red skirt - Jcrew
• Black strappy sandals - Ralph Lauren
• Goofy expression - courtesy of a long weekend!

Bonus picture from the weekend:

Me with my little guy on the beach. Yes, those are pink cupcake rain boots. :-)

Food:
I ate pretty well over the weekend, with the exception of Friday. I was way too hungry & ended up snacking a bunch before dinner, which is never a good ideas.

Here's yesterday's recap:

• Breakfast - broccoli, feta, egg on a bagel thin + sliced fruit
• Lunch - turkey sandwich + pretzels & hummus
• Snack - mixed nuts & 5 cheese nips
• Dinner - 2 glasses of wine, a leftover hamburger patty, handful of baked chips, & 1/2 a piece of corn

Running:
Let's just say this about my six mile run yesterday - fear is a powerful motivator. I ran on a trail at a state park yesterday, even though it was pouring rain & unpleasant outside. I was about two miles in, when I saw this on the trail


Yes, that's a bobcat. To say that I was completely freaked out would be a huge understatement. I wasn't sure how old the bobcat was, or if an angry mama bobcat would be coming after me, so I decided it would be wise to put some distance between myself and the cat. I didn't really want to get eaten by a wild animal - it was Mother's Day, after all.

I ran a 6 minute mile. For those of you who keep track, I normally do a 10 minute mile, so I pretty much needed CPR when I got to the end of the trail. And, I threw up on the road on the way home. Good times were had by all, but I survived, so all is well with the world.

Giveaway:
I'm going to take pictures of my swag tonight, but here's what I'm giving away.

• A NARS lip gloss set + a surprise bag of treats I picked up at a cute candy shop at the beach
• A Kate Spade bracelet (similar to this) + a surprise bag of treats I picked up at a cute candy shop at the beach

• And, a collection of protein bars + a surprise bag of treats I picked up at a cute candy shop at the beach

How to enter:
1) Follow this blog and add a comment below (or tell me that you're already a follower)
2) For extra entries, do any of the following:
   - Post about the giveaway on your blog and add a comment below telling me that you have
   - Tell me your favorite flavor of salt water taffy in the comments.
   - Answer the questions below in the comments

I'll pick three winners on Thursday via random number!

Questions:
How was your weekend?
What's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you while you were running?
Can anyone identify the beach in the picture above?

I like shopping

Last night during dinner, my sons gave me the Mother's Day cards they made for me at school . Seriously, classics.

From Sam (age 5)

My Mom's favorite thing to do is. .. hug me, and make me dinner.
I love my Mom because. . . she tucks me in bed at night, and brings me to school every day.

From Nick (age 4)
My Mom's favorite thing to do is. . . gose (sic) shopping. Mostly at Costco.
I love my Mom because . . . she says I love you.

Love it!! And yes, my favorite thing in the world is shopping at Costco. ;-)

My favorite cutie pies at the beach Easter egg hunt a few weeks ago:

I believe Nick's expression is due to having a ton of salt water taffy shoved in his mouth. Like mother, like son.

Running:
Yesterday was another cross training (my plan switches back and forth between 1x/week and 2x/week). I did the bike for 40 minutes & then did some strength training (legs, abs, back) & stretching.

I mixed up my runs, and today is actually my 6 mile run. It's cold and rainy, but I'm going to give it my best shot!

Food:
I was dying for a beer & cheesy taco yesterday to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but I kept things in check and stuck to my calories for the day by having a tilapia taco instead, sans cheese. Here's how things went down:

• Breakfast - egg, broccoli, green pepper, tomato and feta wrap on a bagel thin + coffee & strawberries
• Snack - mini Luna bar
• Lunch - salad & smoothie
• Snack - 1/2 a protein bar from the gym + trail mix
• Dinner - handful of cashews + 1 fish taco + apple

Weekend plans:We're taking off after lunch today & driving to the beach for the weekend with friends. I wish the weather was looking better, but it should be fun. I'm planning to run with my 1/2 marathon training partner at the beach, and we all know beach running is da bomb.

What about you? Any big weekend plans? Any races or training runs?

Giveaway:
I'm picking up the last item for my giveaway at the beach, and I'll be kicking things off on Monday. Let's just say that it will include a beauty item (something from this brand), a fashion item (something from this brand), a few running related items, and some fabulous snacks from the beach. You won't want to miss it! :-)

Green breakfast

This morning I made a very green breakfast (not a smoothie) & Michael called it the Emerald City Surprise. (Seattle is known as the Emerald City). I keep trying to find new ways to incorporate vegetables into various meals, and Michael definitely has to suffer along with my "experiments". He's a total sport, and a veggie lover, so he rarely complains. He will occasionally throw out the time that I made him a broccoli smoothie, and beg me not to duplicate it, but other than that, he smiles and eats. What a keeper!

 

Today's breakfast: I sauteed a TON of spinach with diced broccoli and part of a bell pepper in a little olive oil & sprinkled it with garlic powder. When the vegetables were sufficiently cooked, I added two beaten eggs to the vegetables. I let the eggs cook on one side, flipped, and then added crumbled feta cheese on top. I served the Emerald City Surprise on a toasted everything bagel thin. It was actually better than expected, but there wasn't quite enough egg to hold everything together (we split this, so we each had a total of 1 egg). I either need fewer vegetables next time (sad face), or more eggs. The experiment continues. Next time I'll remember to take a photo.

 

Outfit:

I did actually take a picture of my outfit this morning, but you'll have to take my word for it. When I went to upload it, blogger and my memory card couldn't seem to make things work. I'm wearing a purple Ann Taylor Loft sweater, and Seven Dojo jeans, with black sequined ballet flats.

 

Running:
Today was my cross training day, so I got up at the crack of dawn (5:00) to squeeze in a workout at the gym before my kiddos woke up. I did 50 minutes on the elliptical + the gravitron (arms/strength training). It feels great to have my workout done so early in the day! And I have a ton of energy this morning. Double win.

 

Food:
I was STARVING yesterday. I consumed virtually all of my calories for the day by 2:00 pm. Maybe it was my big workout the day before, or something else, but I couldn't keep my hands off the food. I ended up coming in just below my calorie goal, but it took a lot of self-control in the evening.

 

• Breakfast - spinach, green pepper, egg & feta on 1/2 a bagel thin + 1/2 banana & coffee
• Snack - apple & 1 piece of cheddar cheese
• Lunch - cottage cheese, hummus + Dr Kracker & vegetables + turkey rolls with red pepper, hummus & 1 slice of provolone
• Snack - handful of trail mix
• Second snack - frozen yogurt
• Dinner - very small serving of homemade spaghetti

Giveaway!
I'm going to do a giveaway sometime in the next week. I finally hit 20 followers (yeah!), so I want to do something to thank you guys. You have no idea how much your comments (and blogs) inspire and motivate me.

 

Random pictures:
No post is complete without at least one picture, so here are a few.

 

I think my oldest son (Sam), looks so much like my husband. He also has a habit of falling out of his bed, and not waking up! We find him like this pretty regularly:

And lastly, here's a picture of me rockin' the beach style in December. Check out the long hair!

Details:

• Winter hat - Jcrew
• Blue ski coat - Helly Hansen
• Jeans - Joes
• Pink cupcake boots - Nordstrom
• Sunglasses - Coach
• Cruising the Oregon Coast with my little guy and a metal detector - priceless!