Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
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Lincoln Half Marathon recap
This weekend I completed the Lincoln Half Marathon – it’s my 8th half marathon, and my 18th race. As you may remember, I was coming off an abysmal race at the Go! St. Louis Half three weeks ago.
I think at the Go! Race, everything that could have gone wrong did – whereas at the Lincoln Half, everything seemed to go smoothly.
Race congestion was one thing I didn’t mention in my last post – I think I take it for granted how packed the St. Louis half is. The St. Louis half had 6,000 more people in the half marathon alone, and not enough space on the race course to accommodate us. At the start, I was packed in so closely that I could not kneel to adjust my shoelaces.
The Lincoln Half was a breath of fresh air in that and many other respects, and I did not need to weave in and out of people. My Garmin reflected that too, since it told me I ran 13.17 miles – damn close to the measured course.
I’m getting ahead of myself!
Let me back up. My parents live in Lincoln Nebraska, and were planning to walk the Lincoln Half, so I decided to join them.
The morning’s weather was fantastic for an endurance event – it was going to be about 50 degrees. (I often remind people that they have actually done studies to determine the ideal distance running weather – and most of them say about 50 degrees.)
Anyway, a picture says a thousand words, so here are my splits:
Around the 6 or 7 mile mark, I was pacing with the marathon 3:55 group. I thought if I could keep up with them, I could PR. But they took off quickly and I wasn’t able to keep up. However, if I hadn’t stopped for a potty break at mile 4 or fussed with my shirt during mile 11, maybe I could have… Coulda, Woulda.
The end of the race was really fun – it was on the football field – the place is kind of a big deal in Nebraska.
While waiting for my parents to finish, I got a massage. A reporter from the local paper ended up taking a picture, and putting it in the paper. Here it is:
In conclusion, it was an awesome race and I had a great time. Congrats to Mom & Dad for doing so well in their races and finishing strong!! They really had a blast and I think they understand my race addiction a little bit better – in fact, I think they are getting the bug, too.
What’s next? Well, I don’t like that I have done 8 halfs (halves?)… if I do 2 more, I’ll have 10 in the bank by the end of the year. I just need to find a couple
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Sage and Apple Pork Loin (and other things)
I don’t even like Justin Bieber.
But I thought it was funny at the time.
My friend Tabitha had her 30th birthday at Fast Eddie’s (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAB!) and when I looked at my neck the next day, it was a lot less funny. Thankfully, the tattoo came off easily with makeup remover. FYI.
St. Louis weather has been awesome. Last night Mark and I grilled outdoors.
We kind of winged it and made Sage and apple pork loin with asparagus.
First, I marinated the pork for about an hour and a half (not very long, I know) in apple juice, spices (sage + garlic + salt and pepper), and cider vinegar.
Then Mark did his thing on the grill.
Meanwhile, I chopped up one braeburn apple and an onion. I chopped the onion very finely – nearly a mince – and added it to a pan with oil. Then I added sage and thyme. The spices filled the air.
After the onion had cooked for 3-5 minutes (and was just brown), I added the apple. I cooked it for another 5+ minutes. I didn’t want the apples too soft, but also not too crisp.
Voila.
Mark asked me if I used a recipe to come up with this, and I didn’t. I initially came up with the recipe when I saw a spice packet for “sage and apple pork chops” and I thought – I don’t need a spice packet, I have that stuff at home. Lots of times when I cook things, I check around to see if there is anything like it to get a sense of what flavors will work together or if I’m off my rocker. Or, I get some inspiration from something I saw in a cooking magazine, cooking show, or of course, a blog.
I found a lot of recipes that involved apple, sage, and thyme and just hoped for the best. A lot of them were stuffed pork loin or pork chops and I just didn’t feel like stuffing them.
Brag time
This weekend I had one of the best long runs in a long time. 10 miles on the treadmill in 88 minutes. This is a lot faster than I normally run – usually I do around 9:20-9:30 minute miles for my long runs. In fact, it felt easy and I kept bumping up my speed and incline at the end to make it more challenging. This is crazy but I must be doing something right! I think part of it is that I have really been pushing myself speed-wise. I will just bottle this feeling and try to remember it when I have a bad run.
Now I’m off to the Tivoli to watch Oscar nominated animated shorts. See ya!
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Bacon at the spa, and your potential
This post is a few days late, but better late than never, right?
I’m in this awkward transition between a PC and a Mac. I’m using my husband’s old Macbook Pro, but I have a love affair with Windows Live Writer and Microsoft Office. For Valentine’s day, Mark put Microsoft Word on my Mac. True love.
And I got flowers. ;)
So anyway, I’m currently using MarsEdit which SUCKS compared to WLW but the reason is that I’m using RAW format on my pictures and my PC hates RAW (formatting them is a real pain). I’m in the in between! The awkward in between of PC and Mac world. Things were easier back when I used my Powershot, jpegs, and WLW. Oh the olden days.
I’ll drink to that. Ok – I know that green concoction looks weird but trust me. That Key Lime Cream Liqueur is pretty incredible. I mixed it with club soda and Malibu banana rum. It’s like a key lime banana pie. I thought I was drinking coconut rum. Until I looked at this picture 4 days later and that is definitely not coconut. Whatever, it was GOOD.
I know there are some boys reading this thinking “frou frou girly drink,” but my husband is a warm blooded manly man and attests to the goodness of my girly mixed drinks. He will also attest to my craziness … but he married me so it can’t be that bad. Right?
Right?
The glass is a toast to Boston Legal! (The only TV legal series that I have ever watched and not wanted to kick the screen)
Oh yeah, so here is where I explain that I drank that drink and made this meal a few days ago – Friday to be exact, when my friend Robin came over.
Brace yourselves: Bacon lies ahead.
Asparagus wrapped in bacon.
The asparagus looks like it’s wrapped in little bathrobes of bacon. It’s like a spa retreat for asparagus, and instead of choosing the seaweed wrap, the asparagus chose bacon.
Maybe asparagus is onto something.
On the side… Er… Rather, the main course was spaghetti squash with coconut encrusted tilapia.
I dunked tilapia fillets in coconut milk and then pressed it into a bowl of curry + shredded unsweetened coconut. Then I pan fried it until the coconut browned. I came very close to burning it (that frou frou girly drink has an effect on my attention span).
It was super yummy. I recreated the coconut curry ensemble a day later with shrimp. It’s a classic combination that works well with white fish and shrimp, but I bet I could get it to work very well with chicken too.
Look, Robin is hanging out with Jemaine and Bret! Robin asked me who my favorite is, and it’s definitely Jemaine.
Don’t tell Mark! (Isn’t Robin beautiful?)
Running Stuff
I’m excited to tell you all about how great my running has been the last few days. My half marathon plan is pretty aggressive and challenging. Just looking at last week’s workouts intimidated me:
4 x 800m @ 7:15 pace
4 miles at 8:08 pace
8 miles at 8:53 pace
Really, anything under a 9 minute mile scares me. My 9 minute mile is my comfort zone. Hell, I feel fine doing 8 minute mile paces for repeats.
But you know what? The last time I was sore from running was probably a year ago when I was running 18 -20 mile training runs for my marathon. It’s not good to get TOO comfortable. And that’s why I’m glad I chose a challenge for this training plan. I did the long run of 8 miles this weekend and was just barely sore. That tells me something – I’m training where I’m only SLIGHTLY uncomfortable and that’s great. But it also tells me that I could be so much stronger, so much faster, if I just keep pushing myself. I just need to keep telling myself that.
Really, if you think about it, our strength is a function of our current strength plus an unknown amount: Strength = Known strength + unknown increase
We can always be stronger, and faster. The question is, how much? Not knowing where my potential ends is exciting. Hell, not knowing where Michael Phelps’ potential ends is exciting. Isn’t that why we watch the Olympics?
You will never know how strong or fast you can be until you try. Just trying to complete the workouts above was fun for that fact – but even more fun was discovering that I could complete them. I was stronger and faster than I thought.
I bet you can surprise yourself, too.
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Just Do It
I learned a couple of things about motivation yesterday:
1. Just writing about how I lost my groove made me feel better.
2. Sometimes just putting one foot in front of the other is what you have to do. Jillian Michaels posted a video of her podcast production on her Facebook wall facetiously, but Janice has a point. “Don’t wait to feel better to go to the gym, go to the gym to feel better.” Just do it (as Nike says).
Today, I put one foot in front of the other, over and over, on the treadmill and did 5.5 miles. Running means a lot of things to me, but one of the best parts is how it erases my self-doubt and increases positive thinking. There is nothing that so instantly helps my self image and body image the way a good run or workout does.
I came home the other day and saw this book laying on the table:
Mark hadn’t mentioned that he was looking into this or wanting to buy it so I was really surprised. It turns out, his employer just gave it to him.
It’s quite the volume. (my iPhone to show how fat the book is)
On first glance, I assumed this was a book about some kind of diet plan. Inside, however, is quite the mixed bag.
The book starts with some chapters related to fat loss, nutrition, and working out. Then there is a section called, “The 15-Minute Female Orgasm,” “The Sex Machine.” The book then dabbles in injury prevention, ultramarathoning, breaking lifting records, learning how to swim in 2 days, and even holding your breath under water.
I have no idea why the book is called “The Four Hour Body” right now. I guess I have some reading to do.
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A Case of the I Don’t Wannas
Lately I avoid writing a blog post when I’m moody. This is probably why you haven’t seen much of me in the last month!
I am feeling moody and unmotivated when it comes to eating well and working out.
Well… I care, but apparently I don’t care enough? I can’t really figure out what my deal is, or how to get my groove back. I have a major case of the I-Don’t-Wannas. I don’t want to make my lunch for tomorrow so that i have something healthy to eat. I don’t want to cook a healthy dinner. I don’t want to go running. I don’t want to track my food intake. However, I do want to eat ice cream. I do want to sit on my butt and watch tv. This is fine for a day or two, but we’re going on a week now.
Emotional eating is in full force and I really related to this post. Emotional eating isn’t about feeding anything other than feeding feelings. And emotional eating doesn’t help anything, it actually just makes things worse.
On another note, you all know how I feel about artificial sweeteners, (or maybe you don’t, so to summarize: I’m ambivalent) but I keep getting assaulted by information telling me that artificial sweeteners are bad. And, once again, I’m back on the sauce, but all the negative information has motivated me to stop consuming artificial sweeteners again. I stocked up on some of this:
It’s just water and natural flavor. No sweetener. I used to think it was disgusting but now I like it. Strange. Anyway, I’m hoping it helps.
I’m also hoping that you can help me. How do you stay motivated?
About Me
My name is Michelle and I like to write about running, food, and fitness in general. Check out my About Michelle section for more!
