A chilly run, TMI & a pasta feast!

So, I've got the coldest run so far under my belt.  It was 12 degrees this morning!

Believe it or not, I had more determination to get out and run this morning than I have on other mornings.  I wanted to prove to myself that I could do this.  And I'm also terrified that if I skip a run, I will not be able to get back in the groove so I am doing my best to just keep on going.  Twelve degrees and all.

I wore lots of layers for my run, even more so than I initially planned.  Before I walked out the door this morning I snapped a picture in the mirror.

Before heading out the door and before grabbing an extra layer of pants :)

However, once I opened the door to step outside I was like, "Nope.  Need more." and turned back in for another pair of pants.  SO, my layers this morning included running tights, sweatpants, ski socks with running socks over it, a t-shirt, a dry whick long sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, neck warmer, hat, and mittens.  And I sweat through everything.  Good times.  This is going to be a season of LOTS of laundry with all the layers I am wearing every day.

Jess and I did 4 miles at a sub-10 minute pace, which, if I do that, feels like a great run to me.

Post 4-miles in 12 degree weather!

On the mornings that I run I always pack my clothes for work and shower/change at the fitness center at work (since we run close to work.)  So far I have done a pretty decent job of not having any wardrobe mistakes.  There was one day that I accidentally packed a stained t-shirt and had to call Dani to borrow one, but that's all.  Today however, I realized when I was changing that I forgot a bra.  Going braless is not an option for me, so I ended up using the blow dryer to dry the sweat off my sports bra and had to wear that throughout the day!

I was so self conscious with the smelly sports bra on and tried to keep people at a distance.  Sports bras just give that weird "uniboob" look and I just did not feel comfortable all day.  I was pretty happy to get home from work today and change in to my PJs and take off that bra!  Sorry if that is too much information, but I just figured I'd share.  Life of a runner, you know?

On that same topic (too much information... life of a runner...), I am pretty sure I am in the beginning stages of losing a toenail on my right big toe.  It's been painful for a few days now and feels pretty awkward.  It looks like there is a blister underneath it so I am watching it closely and trying to be careful with it.  I sort of feel like this is my initiation into the running club.  Right before marathon training begins :)

Today ended with a heaping plate of pasta at Johnny's in Schenectady as I got together with some of the current members & alumni of the program I did when I began my professional career.  It's a blessing when people that you work with are friends as well.  We caught up, laughed, and had a great time.  And the food at Johnny's?  So good!  Homemade pasta is amazing, amiright?

I agonized over what to order on the menu because I wanted something healthy.  I ended up with chicken cacciatore, which came with onions, peppers, mushrooms, and at my request, broccoli as well.  The dish isn't really all that healthy but it came with vegetables at least and wasn't just a straight pasta dish and didn't have a cream sauce.  I got some protein along with my carbs too.  I dove right in and didn't look back once it was in front of me.

The work gang at Johnny's tonight!

Hope you had a great start to your short work week!

Stuffed chicken breast recipe

Stuffed Chicken Breast Recipe

Serves 4 (or more!)

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 6

Ingredients:
1 package mushrooms
1 small onion
1/2 frozen spinach package
1 small tomato
4 cloves garlic
4 chicken breasts
Truffle salt
Poultry seasoning
Fat free hicken broth

Step #1:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook spinach according to package instructions.  I used one of those blocks of frozen spinach so I microwaved it covered for 6 minutes, stirred, and microwaved 2 more minutes.

Step #2:  Chop onion and saute in about 1/2 chicken broth (I would just pour a little into a pan and continue to add more as needed to keep the mixture on the stove liquid.  You could also use oil as a replacement but I was trying to keep this light.)  Chop the mushrooms and add to the onion and broth.  Once mushroom and onion are cooked, add garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant.  Add 1/2 of cooked & drained spinach, and tomato.  Cook the whole mixture until all chicken broth has evaporated (a tiny bit is okay... mixture should be moist.)  Add salt to taste.  Allow to cool.

Step #3: Split the chicken breasts in half, try to keep the as much of the outer ends together as possible and just cut in half so that you can stuff the breast.  Season the chicken on both sides with poultry seasoning and pepper.

Step #4:  Stuff the chicken breast with the cooked vegetable mixture.  Secure shut with toothpicks if needed.

Step #5:  Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with Pam cooking spray or olive oil.  Place chicken breasts in dish and cover with tinfoil.  Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

How did it get to be November 24th already?  Geez louise, this year has flown by.  Despite the fact last week feels like last December to me, I am feeling ready and excited for the holidays.

I am what you might call a Christmas freak.  I love the feeling of the holiday season. I love the music, the lights, the traditions. I love the gift giving, the cookie making, and the tree decorating.  Which, is exactly what I did today at my apartment!  Yup, my Christmas tree is now up :)

I just couldn't wait until after Thanksgiving, like I usually do.  I wanted my tree now!!  I love how cozy it makes my apartment feel.  Right now I'm curled up on the couch with the tree lights glowing, apartment smelling fantastic, and am just so warm and cozy inside.  I am just as excited for Thanksgiving as I am for Christmas, but I love how my the tree makes everything seem cozier.

This weekend for me was filled with lots of activity and fun times.  Friday morning was a chilly run in the rain with my friends, followed by coffee.  We've started a tradition of going for coffee after our Friday morning runs and I have to say that it is such a treat and something I find myself looking forward to all week long.  

Running with my friends in the morning has really been such a motivator for me lately.  I guess I haven't really written about it too much, but since July I have been meeting with a few friends at 5:40 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.  It is such a fun way to start the day and I love getting my run out of the way early.  I feel so accomplished before I even go in to work.  Running with friends makes it go by faster, pushes me harder, and holds me accountable.  I'm so thankful to have them!!

My weekend was full of lots of relaxing time with friends... watching a movie, catching up, running errands, doing crafts, eating out, and also getting in the Christmas spirit.  

In addition to getting my tree today, yesterday, I joined one of my running buddies, her husband, and two kids to go on the Polar Express train to "the North Pole."  It was such a cute family event I have heard about for years and because I am a big kid myself, jumped on the chance to join Jess and her family.  

We went to the local train station, where they were fully decorated for the holidays and boarded the "Polar Express."  The train itself was so festive and once we boarded and the train started moving, they served hot chocolate and cookies, read the book aloud, played the music from the movies, and drove through the "North Pole" which we watched from the windows and was full of lights and holiday magic.  The kids had a special treat as Santa was able to board the train and say hello to everyone!! :)

Santa!! I know him!

The North Pole

I love the look of excitement!

It was such a fun night and there was even some beautiful snow yesterday evening to make the night even more magical.

*sigh* I love the holidays.

I am pretty proud of some of the eating choices I made this weekend.  For example, on Saturday night we went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner where they give you free chips and salsa -- which I avoided completely!   I also didn't have any alcohol this weekend.  

I've been doing the Advocare 10-day cleanse, that I did previously in June and really tried hard to stick to the rules.  I cheated a bit on Friday with some popcorn, Saturday with some hot chocolate and a cookie on the Polar Express, and today when I ate lunch at a friend's for a party she was having.  However, I am proud of many decisions I made so I am trying to focus on that and finish off the rest of the cleanse as best I can.

To help with the next few days, I made a delicious meal tonight.  I fed myself and my friend Kevin who helped with setting up my tree for the 2nd year in a row.  We had chicken stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, onion, garlic, and tomato, along with baked sweet potatoes and asparagus.

I will be eating this for the rest of the week, so go right ahead and be jealous now.   As for exercising this weekend?  It was non-existent as I am trying to rest up before my training starts.  It will be one of the last weekends in months that don't include a frigid run.  Ugh, okay, go back to not being jealous anymore.  Wahhhh!

Hope you had a fun weekend as well and happy holidays :)

Time to be thankful.

Hi everybody, I hope that you have all been doing well.  I've meant to come here and write so many times and it is one of those things where the longer you stay away, the harder it is to come back.  So I'm sorry, mostly to myself, because I have not only lacked the discipline in writing lately, I've lacked the discipline in eating right and taking care of myself.  So that's something I am planning to work on nowadays and I am hoping to keep track of it all right here.

Also, one of my readers, Malory, posted over a month ago asking how my half marathon in September went and it made me so happy.  Every time I went to write I would think about that comment and it is one of the things that I thought about when I came back to the keyboard now.

So, for those who I haven't talked to... my half marathon back in September went great.  I had a PR of about 16 minutes, finishing the race in 2:03:41.  I really pushed myself hard throughout the race and started with a crazy fast pace that I was able to keep up for a while -- until the last few miles when I just DIED.  It was all I could do to keep my legs moving through the last 2 miles of the race, but I am so proud that I did.  Having such a strong PR felt great and really proved something to myself.  The other thing that made the race so amazing was having support from my family and friends.

Well, not that I didn't have support the first time around -- I know, that I could not have gotten through the Nashville race without everyone's support.  No, if anything else, I felt more of my own determination doing this half marathon, but this time around, I had a cheering squad!  My parents, siblings, and some friends all came to cheer and seeing them on the sidelines and having them to hug at the end made it so, so amazing.  I'm so grateful to everyone who has been with me throughout my journey over the past few years.

This past year has been incredible.  I ran TWO half marathons.  I completed TWO sprint triathlons -- one on my birthday.  And I did something else you guys.  I am officially registered for my first MARATHON.  Ahhhhh!!!!!!!

AND, that marathon is in Paris, y'all.  Woooo hooooo!

My training starts on December 1st.  It is going to be a long and cold winter and it is going to be terrible and I'm going to hate it and I'm going to cry.  But I'm going to do it.

So, if you're not feeling too abandoned by me so far, stick with me here.  Because there are some intense months to come!!

Thanks for everything, everyone :)

I can't stop running or eating.

What a week peoples!  The weather has been absolutely beautiful this week.  On Tuesday I did a 3 mile run after work, and was totally blown away at how gorgeous the sky was.

There is no filter on those photos.  Sometimes I feel like I am really lucky to live in Upstate NY.  I also have some great friends, whom immediately post run, I then went to dinner and ate this yummy salad.

It was delicious and just the right amount of spicy and coolness from the guacamole.  I ate the whole thing and half the french fries off of the plates around me.

This morning I got up early and met my friends for a 5 mile run that started in the dark.  We're going to need to head out with head lamps on pretty soon!

But, I should have run about a hundred more miles because for lunch I ate all of this.

Plus, I ate a bowl of soup and some bread and a hundred glasses of Diet Pepsi, which I don't even ever drink anymore but somehow ended up with.  Oh, and I stopped taking pictures because at the end of the day I just totally threw all hell out the window and ate some of the following:

• Marinated feta cheese
• Asparagus & brie grilled cheese bites
• Tomato, basil and mozzarella salad
• Chickpea flat bread with sweet potato hummus
• Wine

So, good thing I ran those miles.  Weight Watchers would be so proud.  Doesn't look like I'm going to be losing weight any time soon.

On to tomorrow...

It's officially September and I'm ready!

The rest of my Labor Day weekend finished off pretty relaxingly and full of friends, food, and exercise.  In retrospect, I would go for a little less food to make the exercise count for a little more, but I'm still happy with the weekend.

I wrote yesterday from a local coffee shop, Professor Java's, which is a really cute little coffee shop.  It was one of the goals that I had for myself for Sunday, September 1st.  You see, I realized on Saturday evening that I had the full day on Sunday with absolutely nothing to do and nobody to see.  Most of my friends were out of town for various reasons, and I decided to just make the day a "me" day and in addition to getting done lots of errands (pay bills, return clothes, send some e-mails I needed to send, etc.) I had a few things on the list I always say I am going to try.  One of those was to hang out for a bit with my laptop in a coffee shop, and another was to get a drink alone at a local bar.

Why get a drink alone at a bar when I live in a city with lots of friends and plenty of people to call?  Well, one of the things that I want to do more of lately is push myself out of my comfort zone.  Lately, I've been feeling very comfortable in my life.  I don't see any major life changes coming up in the near future and rather than be "content" with things, I want to keep challenging myself.  I continue to challenge myself physically -- running more miles and faster speeds.  But I want to also stay sharp emotionally and mentally.

Getting a drink alone at a bar is something that I end up doing a lot while traveling and I always end up meeting interesting and different people.  I have conversations on broad topics and interact with people I wouldn't normally on a day to day basis.  If I do this while traveling, what's to say that I couldn't do that in my own home town?  My friends and I often go to the same places over and over, which is fun to have a routine but there are plenty of great places in this town I've never actually been, so I'm going to make more of an effort to check them out and put myself out of my comfort zone to go to a bar by myself.  Yesterday I spent a great day with myself, having both coffee, and later a drink at a bar solo.  It wasn't too thrilling, but a liberating experience that I'll try to do again.

In between, I made myself a delicious meal with some of my CSA vegetables.  I stir fried some onions and green pepper in sesame oil and combined it with udon noodles and topped it all with soy sauce and some chopped scallions.  It turned out delicious and I was able to have make a few extra servings that I'll eat for lunch this week!

Today I woke up early and headed out to Saratoga to meet my friends for a Monday morning run (despite having the day off!)  It surprised me when I opened the door to pouring rain (yet again!) but headed out for the run anyways.  I've experienced this enough times that I know what I'm doing :)  Luckily, the rain died off by the time I got to Saratoga and we actually headed out on the run.  Jess and I did 6 miles this morning throughout Saratoga park and by the race track.  After we ran, we got bagels for breakfast and went back towards the race track to go inside and watch the horses warm up!

It was fun to see the horses run on the last morning of the track season.  I had never gone to breakfast at the track and it was definitely a fun experience and morning with the girls!  After cleaning up at home I headed out to a BBQ with some friends.  It was a fun day all around.

A few weird things that are on my mind though:

• GPS accuracy.  Every day when I run with my friends, I use my Garmin Forerunner watch, which I LOVE.  They all use their iPhones and the app RunKeeper.  When we do 3-4 mile runs, my watch generally tracks the distance as being .1 or so miles short of their distance.  It's become a little joke, because I'm always anal and keep running the extra distance to have my watch beep at the mile mark.  Since my watch is the one odd ball, I've always assumed it's my watch that is wrong.  However, when I wore it during a 5K recently, it marked the distance as exactly 3.1 miles.  Today, when we ran, my GPS was .4 miles short of what my friend's iPhone app said.  That was a lot for a 6 mile run!  I have no idea if it is my watch or their app.  Is there a way to test accuracy?
• Eating.  Why do I feel like on the days that I run I can just eat whatever I want?  I am doing Weight Watchers and counting my points, but I continue to just exceed them on the days I run.  It isn't even because I am hungry, but it is because I just have this mental block saying that I can eat everything I want if I run.  I really, really need to get that in track.

Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!

Live music and seeing progress.

Hey guys, hope you are having a good Labor Day weekend!  I have been having a great one so far.  I posted on Friday morning and spent the rest of the day having fun with my girl KO.  We spent the day at the Saratoga race track, for the last Friday races of the season, ate some delicious ice cream, Mexican food, and saw our long term favorite musician John Mayer in concert.

KO and I have been friends since kindergarten, and despite often 1000s of miles of separation and many changes in our life, we continue to have a great friendship that includes lots of silliness, long talks about everything in the world, and geeking out about John Mayer music.

I know that he isn't everyone's favorite, but JM has long been someone whose music just relates and speaks to me.  Maybe it is because I was a sophomore in high school when "No Such Thing" hit the airwaves and the pop-tastic lyrics about running through the halls of your high school and screaming at the top of your lungs spoke to me.  Maybe it is because I first went to one of his concerts at that impressionable time when every crush on a guy was like life or death.  Maybe it is because he aged as a musician much as I aged through puberty and life changes such as my parents divorce, college, first loves, and figuring out who I am and where I am going in my life.  But, for whatever reason, his music has always been able to accurately narrate whatever is going on in my life.  His songs have always comforted me or spoken to me and his voice has always been soothing.  It's hard to explain how intertwined his music has been with my life without seeming like a doting cheesy fan, but his music really means a lot to me.  I have a number of friends who are loving long-term JM fans as well, and KO is one of those.  We grew up together using John to explain how we felt when we couldn't find the words.

In fact, one time, during a particularly hard period of life, I wrote KO an email where every single line of the e-mail was a line from a John Mayer song.  Weird, but true :)

So, seeing this concert together was probably our 5th or so show, and was just as wonderful as all of those other times.  Perhaps even better, because due to an amazing friend, we were able to move up closer than our purchased lawn tickets.  Now, you might think, if we're such big fans, why don't we shell out the cash to get seats up front?  Well, honestly, that's never been that important to us.  We're fans of his music and not necessarily crazy fan girls for John himself.  We go to hear our favorite songs sung live, not to necessarily get a good view of him.  You can hear the music just as well from the lawn, and often there is more room to dance.  BUT, that being said, we were thrilled at the opportunity to move up and sit in Row W for the concert and experience the show up close.  These were the best seats I've ever had for a John concert and I am so thankful to my friend for getting us up there!!

The concert was great, the set was beautiful, and it was a great night all around at the show!  Saturday morning after running some errands, KO had to leave town but I'm so happy we had another concert to experience in our friendship together.

Later on during the day Saturday I met up with Dani to do our weekend long run together.  I had 10 miles planned and was a little nervous about them because I had taken a number of days off this past week due to being sick.  I knew it would be helpful to do them together and since Dani is training for a full marathon and had 14 to do, we decided to meet up.  We planned to drive together in one car to the location where my friends and I usually meet in the mornings and run from there to her apartment, which is about 10.5 miles.  Then we would drive back to get the other car.

It sounded like a good plan to me and the run was going well until we started to hear thunder about 4.5 miles in.  "Looks like we might get wet," Dani said to me.  And we kept running, figuring if it did rain, it would be a brief shower and sort of welcoming the chance to cool off a bit.

Well at about 5.5 miles in the sky opened up and oh. my. god. did it rain!!!  Literally, raindrops the size of buckets started falling and the sky started flashing with lightning and loud cracks of thunder.  We didn't really have a choice but to keep going since we were about 5 miles from either of our cars.  And we were laughing through most of it, but man, it rained heavy like that for the next 4 miles!!!  At first the lightning seemed pretty far off so I wasn't too worried but at one point it felt a little too close for comfort and I got really, really scared and nervous.  If Dani weren't there, I probably would have cowered under a tree for a while, but she encouraged me to keep going.  We were at a portion of the trail that was literally just in the middle of the woods and there wasn't much we could do but keep going.

Now that I'm writing, it's almost a metaphor for life.  When you're caught in a thunderstorm in the middle of the woods, there isn't much to do but keep going until you either get out of the woods or the rain stops!

When the storm died down, with about .5 miles left, we were completely drenched but still smiling and still running.  I finished my 10 miles and Dani kept going to finish off her extra miles.  By the time she finished and brought me back to my car and I got home to my apartment, I was SO ready for a shower and it was one of the best showers I've had in a long time!

I finished off my Saturday heading out to a friend's for a party at their gorgeous house in the country.  They had a number of bands perform and I was totally blown away at the passion and talent and the great show these guys put on.  It is not my normal style of music (more metal, hardcore punk) but I am always impressed by passion, which is the "professional fan" in me.  Plus, my friend throws one hell of a party and they had a full sound system, stage, drinks, food, smoke machine, fire dancers, and a freaking bounce house!

Despite heading to the party thinking I wouldn't stay long, I ended up sticking around until late in the evening because I was having such a good time.  It made me reflect upon the day that I did my 10-mile run while training for the half marathon I did in April.  I spent the rest of the day laying on the floor at my mom's house in pain, sore, and feeling sick.  This time, I was dancing into the night.

It's neat to see the progress that my body has made and how it has gotten used to the longer runs and built up endurance.  I'm really proud of myself and how far I've come.  It is definitely something to dance about if you ask me :)