Great Eight!

After my overindulgence at dinner last night, I decided to have a simple breakfast this morning. An Egg Beaters Garden Vegetable omelet with sauteed red onion, spinach and red bell pepper and half a grapefruit. I like dipping my omelets (or eggs in general) in ketchup, is that weird?

About 10:00 I started getting really hungry again and when I typed in my points for breakfast and realized I had only eaten 1.5 points for breakfast (about 150 calories) I realized why. I normally eat about 5 points or 250 calories in the morning. Tim and I were getting ready to go running and I didn't want anything very heavy on my stomach so I had a chocolate graham cracker with 1 Tbsp of reduced fat peanut butter on it.

The peanut butter actually sat really heavy on my stomach and I felt like I had a rock in my belly the entire time I was running. I won't do that again! Stupid PB!

I've run 8 miles before, but only once so I feel super accomplished today. It was a really good run other than the heavy tummy. I wore my knee brace and I didn't have any pain. The weather was nice and the road was flat. We ran an out and back route (x2). On the first trip out I was feeling really good but I kept thinking, "Yeah, you feel good now, but you still have 7 miles to go!" Luckily the good feeling stuck around.

Mile 1 - 8:49
Mile 2 - 8:56
Mile 3 - 8:57
Mile 4 - 8:57
Mile 5 - 9:05
Mile 6 - 9:10
Mile 7 - 9:12
Mile 8 - 8:49

While I waited on Tim to finish up his run I made sure to stretch really well, so that hopefully I won't be too sore tomorrow.

I was really suprised to see how late it was after we finished running. It was already 3:00 and we hadn't had lunch yet. I'm never very hungry after I run for atleast 2 hours, so I decided we'd just skip lunch and eat a huge dinner. I made Shake N Bake Chicken, sauteed onions and squash, steamed cabbage and cheesy potatoes. It sounded like a really good idea at the time, but it turned out really .... yellow. Yellow and delicious! I ate an enormous plate and finished every bite.

It really bother me when the food on my plate isn't colorful enough. I never think about the color of things before I cook, but once I plate it up I make sure not to put things of similar color beside each other. Weird? Yes? No? The funny thing is that I almost made corn on the cob instead of the cabbage. What a yellow mess that would have been! That would have been almost unbearable.

Dont forget to make sure you switch to my new blog Eat to Live, Live to Run. I'll be double posting for a while, but not long! Have a great night! I'm off to watch a movie with the hubby.

The Plan

Happy Saturday! It feels so nice to be at home with the family on such a beautiful day. Lincoln even let me sleep until almost 9:00 this morning which is highly unusual, we are usually up by atleast 7:30.

For breakfast this morning I decided to have just a simple bowl of cereal. Quaker Oatmeal Squares with Almond Breeze Vanilla Milk.

I bought Almond milk a few days ago because I've been wanting to give it a try. I'm definitely not vegan (or even vegetarian) nor am I allergic to milk, but I love trying new things so I figured why not? I think it is now one of my new favorite things on earth!

There was a 5K this morning that I thought about running in, but I decided against it for a couple of reasons. I'm running in one next Saturday and didn't really feel like getting up super early two weekends in a row, and I have an 8 mile run scheduled for tomorrow so I thought I'd give myself a break today. I'm planning on going to the gym to do the elliptical today for a change of pace. I miss the elliptical sometimes.

As of right now the plan for the day is:

1. 1 hour Elliptical
2. Buy fresh fruits and veggies (we have none!)
3. Make BBQ pizzas for lunch with leftover chicken.
4. Take Lincoln to the zoo or the park.
5. Clean and organize pantry.
6. Fold and put away about 4 loads of laundry.
7. RELAX!
8. Make Spaghetti Squash with meat sauce for dinner.
   

What are your plans for the day?

Manic & Boring Monday

I woke up this morning at 6:20 in a panic because my husband's alarm was suppose to go off at 5:00 am for his business trip today. Oops! Lucky for him he was driving today instead of flying so he didn't have to worry about missing a flight.

I made a yummy Green Monster for breakfast.

Yep, I've used that picture before ... so sue me! I love Green Monsters, but one thing I don't like about them is that they don't keep me full until lunch. I snacked on some semi-stale Kashi Heart to Heart crackers around 10:30.

I ran around my house cleaning like a mad woman for about 2 hours after breakfast. I always get really behind on my housework when I work several 12 hour shifts in a row. I had about 4 loads of laundry backed up. I actually have a housekeeper that comes every two weeks on Monday and does the deep cleaning stuff, but I'm so self conscious that I pre-clean for her. I know I'm crazy! I just don't find it fair to make her do 4 loads of laundry and pick all my things up off the floor, so I do most of that stuff before she comes.

Lincoln took a nice long nap this morning, so I was able to run on the treadmill while he slept. I just did an easy 3 miles today. I swear I would rather run 7 miles outside than 3 on the treadmill anyday. It is soooo boring! But it comes in handy on days when the weather is bad and when I don't have anyone to keep Lincoln while I run.

For lunch I made a yummy homemade pizza. Its really becoming a staple around here. Yep, I've used this picture before too ...

It was really quiet and boring around the house without Tim here today, so Lincoln and I decided to go to the playground to work off some of his "energies". The poor little guy really took a beating at the playground. He fell several times and then went down the slide on his face. Before we left I pushed him on the tire swing for a little while and I made the mistake of grabbing his sides while I was pushing him (he's incredibly ticklish) and he let go of the chains and fell flat on his face ... again. He looked like he had been beaten by the time we left, but he had so much fun he never cried once.

For dinner tonight I decided to make one of my E-Mealz recipes. This one wasn't actually a Weight Watchers friendly recipe, but I altered it to reduce the points value as much as possible. It was called Italian Casserole. I used 96% Lean Ground Beef, Light Sour Cream, 2% Mozzarella cheese and Reduced Fat Crescent Rolls, but it still came out to 7 points per serving. But it was worth it! I definitely recommend checking out E-Mealz if you haven't already, their recipes are really simple and delicious.

Does anyone recognize a theme? Yes, I had spinach for every single meal today. I think I've definitely met my green leafy quota!

World Run Day 2009

Today was World Run Day. If you aren't familiar with World Run Day, it is basically a day to bring the world together in running for charitable causes. I decided to dedicate my run to my son Lincoln and I chose The National Children's Advocacy Center as my charitable organization. If you would also like to donate to their cause please click on the link and donate online.

Tim chose the American Diabetes Association as his charity. He was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes a couple of years ago, since then he has lost over 70 lbs and has completely cured himself of Diabetes through diet and exercise.

I worked the last three nights from 7pm to 7am, and when I woke up this afternoon I really wasn't feeling like going to run, but I knew that the cause was important and I felt like this was really something I needed to do. I had commited to running 6.2 miles, and Tim commited to running 7 miles. I decided that because he was going to run 7, that I would also and it also fit into our Half Marathon Training program. So we got dressed in our World Run Day tshirts and headed out to the park.

The run went pretty well. As you can see from the picture I'm wearing a knee brace on my right knee. It has really been achey and sore lately after my runs. My last 7 mile run really did me in, and I bought the knee brace that day. My knee felt great today with the brace on. Unfortunately my right hip is starting to hurt also though, and it bothered me some during the first few miles but felt better after about the 4th mile. I ran 7 miles in 63 minutes.

I'm really glad I got up this afternoon and decided to fulfill my commitment to myself, World Run Day, and the National Children's Advocacy Center even though I was tired and didn't really feel in the mood because I felt so refreshed and invigorated afterwards.

Did you participate in World Run Day today?

My Early Birthday Present

My birthday isn't for a little over 3 weeks, but I was in desperate need of a new iPod. I actually have two iPod Classics, but they have really been acting up lately. The first one randomly dies and says it has no battery power left when it has been charged in for hours. The second one started giving me a strange error message that I can't get rid of. I probably could have sent them back to Apple to have them fixed, but I figured this is a good excuse for me to get a new model.

I give you my new iPod Nano ...

My favorite colors are pink and purple, but I see those colors around all the time. I wanted something different so I chose green. I had read that the new 5th generation iPods had FM radio and video cameras built in, but I forgot about that until I bought mine. Super cool features I must say.

Caitlin over at Healthy Tipping Point wrote a blog earlier today about people who listen to podcasts while running instead of music. Several of her readers said they prefer podcasts for various reasons to music while running, so I thought I would give it a try today. I downloaded several different podcasts. One I was really interested in trying was called 4 Feet Running. I also downloaded The Biggest Loser Fan Podcast as well as a couple others. I started off my 5 mile run trying to listen to the 4 Feet Running, but I found the sound quality so bad that I couldn't deal with it. I don't know if it was just that specific episode, or if that is the way that all of them are but I had to turn it off. I ended up listening to the Biggest Loser podcast. It was pretty interesting commentary, the actual recap of the episode was boring because they are discussing the show from 2 episodes ago. I might start listening to podcasts more often if I can find some really good ones. I get bored with my music so quickly it would make for a nice change.

We planned to grill out BBQ chicken breasts tonight for dinner, but I'm still really confused with the time change and before we could get out to cook it was completely dark. Instead we made homemade pizzas. I've made these several times before, but they are always delicious. Tonight we didn't have any goat cheese since we ate it all last night, so we used regular ol' mozzarella instead. We had spinach salads with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and apple slices on the side.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my 9 days off, but its almost time to go back to work. I have to work Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week. So I'll see you guys on Sunday! In the meantime ... what are some of your favorite podcasts to listen to? I need some ideas.

Day 2

I'm too exhausted tonight to write much, but I took some great pictures that I wanted to share. We went to the Smoky Mountain National Park today as I mentioned in an earlier post, these are some shots I got.

Tonight for dinner we decided to stay at the cabin and cook out on the grill. I was pretty nervous after seeing the 4 bears earlier this evening on the back porch but they decided not to join us for dinner thankfully. We made: BBQ chicken breasts, grilled mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes and pineapple, creamed corn and leftover rolls from the steak place last night. It was delish! It was just exactly what I wanted and it was much cheaper and more nutritional than going out to eat.

After dinner I was craving something sweet so we drove down the mountain to Downtown Gatlinburg to find something to satisfy my craving. There were all kinds of fudge shops, ice cream shops, candy stores, and bakeries. I almost decided on a funnel cake, but at the last minute I changed my mind and we ended up at Ben & Jerrys. I've been craving pumpkin lately and Ben & Jerrys had Pumpkin Cheesecake Icecream.

It was heavenly! Now if I could just figure out a way to make myself not feel guilty for eating it. I keep going back and forth through my mind between "You are on vacation, relax! You can work it off next week" and "You don't need that and you are not hungry. Have you learned nothing?" I wish I could find a better balance.

I still haven't found any good running spots. I guess I'm gonna be doing some trips up and down the staircase tomorrow to get my cardio in if I don't figure out something quickly. I'd really hate to miss my long run for the week on Sunday, but if I can't find a place that I can safely run with a baby stroller then I'm just gonna have to put it off until I get back home.

But for now ... I'm going to retire to the bedroom with a good book. Goodnight!

Bears!

Hot Tub + Sangria = Heaven.

Seeing 4 bears where you were just relaxing with your Sangria = super scary but super cool.

I had just gotten out of the hot tub and was drying off when I looked up and saw that! A momma bear and her 3 babies. They came really close to the porch and I was able to get a few decent pictures.

We went to The Smoky Mountain National Park today. We were planning on riding our bikes around Cade's Cove, running our 3 miles for our 1/2 Marathon Training and having a picnic in the park. Things didn't work out exactly as I had planned though. Turns out the road around Cade's Cove where bicycles are allowed is very narrow and its also a road shared with cars ... very slow moving cars. There is no way we could have had fun biking around at 2 mph pulling Lincoln in the bike trailer. It also wasn't a very good place to run for the same reason.

We ended up driving through the park and then heading to the picnic area. We ran laps around the picnic area to complete our 3 miles. I have to say that I was very disappointed. I really thought there were going to be lots of great places for biking and running in the park. I felt like everyone was staring at me the entire time I was running and it was really awkward and uncomfortable. I don't know what I'm gonna do tomorrow when I have another 3 miles to run and then 7 miles on Sunday. We aren't having much luck finding any runner friendly places around here, I'm sure there are some ... I just don't know where to look.

What do you do to find places to run when you are out of town?

What's Going On?

I don't know what the deal is lately, but I have completely lost my willpower when it comes to eating. Thankfully so far it hasn't caught up with me on the scale yet, but I'm sure my day is coming. Lately I have been eating anything and everything in sight, especially at work. I was doing so good at being strong and resisting temptation but all of a sudden I've been chowing down on cookie cake, Halloween candy, Chex Mix (OMFG the Chex Mix!!), and pretty much anything else I can get my hands on. I wish I knew what the problem was.

I wonder if I'm subconsciously sabotaging myself because I'm so close to my goal. Hmmm ...

Thankfully I've still been doing great on exercising. The 1/2 Marathon training program is going great so far. Today I did another 4 mile Fartlek, actually it was really only about 3 miles of Fartlek and 1 mile of easy running. I cut myself a break on that one though because I feel mentally and physically exhausted from some situations that I have been dealing with the last couple of days and not sleeping well, and I know thats why I tired out in my run so quickly.

The good news is that fall vacation begins NOW! Tomorrow we will be packing and preparing for our trip to the mountains. I couldn't be more excited! I can't wait to relax in the hottub with a glass (or bottle) of wine, picnic in the Smoky Mountain National Park, run in the mountains, grill out, and just spend time with my family without any other worries.

I don't have any food pics today so I'll leave you with this picture of my son and I snoozing in his crib together. Isn't he the cutest thing you ever saw? I love that boy!

This is Dedication!

Getting up at 6:45 on a Sunday morning to go run 6 miles in 40 degree weather = dedication.

I tried out a new route today. I've been getting bored with running in the same neighborhood all of the time, so I thought I'd try something new. I parked my car at my mother in laws house and ran in her neighborhood. I drove the route in my car first to see it if would be safe and I saw that it was a little hilly, but nothing I couldn't handle. There was one stretch that was on a moderately busy road, but it was only about 1/4 of a mile or so.

I don't think I'll do this route again, atleast not anytime soon. The hills were hillier than I previously thought and really wrecked my knees, I got chased by 2 packs of dogs, and there was more traffic than I was comfortable with. I guess its back to the drawing board!

I like to think of my runs as being in one of three categories:

1. I could have run much longer.
2. I couldn't have taken one more step.
3. I could have gone farther, but I'm glad I didn't have to.

Today was definitely a 3. I could have gone farther, but I was really happy to stop also. I've never had knee pain before while I was running, but I think those days are over. For the past week or so my knees have been very achey, not excrutiating but just uncomfortable. I thought maybe its time for me to start icing my knees after my runs.

I wanted something really filling to eat for breakfast this morning and I've been really craving oatmeal (specifically oatmeal with pumpkin puree, but I haven't bought the pumpkin yet). I made 2 packets of Maple and Brown Sugar oatmeal and added 1/2 a banana, Agave nectar and 1 Tbsp of chunky peanut butter. I think it was the best thing I've ever put in my mouth! (It was 9.5 points though).

I'm going back to work tonight for 3 more nights, and then we are off on Thursday morning for our fall vacation to Gatlinburg. I'm so excited!!!

Great Pumpkin Race Recap

My alarm went off at 4:30 this morning and I REALLY didn't want to get up. I stretched my legs in bed for a few minutes, and then the next thing I knew the alarm was going off again. I fell back asleep! Thank goodness Tim set his alarm clock also. He didn't want to get up at 4:30, so he set his for 5:00. If he hadn't done that we would have probably slept right through the race.

We got ready and drove the 45 minutes or so to where the race was located. We ended up getting there way earlier than we needed to. It was freezing cold and barely light outside. We picked up our race packs and headed back to the car to warm up before the race started. When it got close to starting time we jogged up and down the road to get the blood flowing and posed for a picture by the Spinners Park sign. Unfortunately we didn't have anyone to take our picture together so this is the best we could do.

This was both mine and Tim's first 8Ks. We were both really excited and nervous. I knew I could run the distance (5 miles), I just didn't know if I could do it in a decent time. Its funny how my thought process has changed over the last couple of months. When I ran my first 5K in September my goal was just to finish, now I want to beat my personal times. My personal goal that I set for myself before going into the race today was to try my very best to maintain a 8 minute mile pace.

Just before the race started we met up with a few friends that we know from Spin Class at the Y. It was nice to see familiar faces.

The gun went off without any warning and caught me off guard. The race route took us through downtown Prattville. There was one monster hill right where the 8K split off from the 5K, but for the most part the course was nice and flat. My only complaint about the course was that there were a few spots where the directions weren't very well marked, and I kept getting confused. At one point there was only one guy I could see infront of me and no one behind me. I started to wonder if I was still running the right direction, and just then the guy infront of me stopped and started stretching his legs on the curb. I pulled out my earphones and asked him if we were going the right way, he didn't know either. Thankfully we were.

I came across the finish line and made a conscious effort to try to notice the time on the clock. As best as I could tell it said 40:54 or something close. Of course I forgot to stop my Garmin again, so my information is a little off from the official race results (as usual), but here's what I got:

Distance - 5.17 miles (Not sure where the extra distance came from.)

Mile 1 - 7:55
Mile 2 - 7:54
Mile 3 - 8:04
Mile 4 - 7:58
Mile 5 - 7:56

After the race Tim and I walked around the Arts and Crafts Show and looked around until the Awards Ceremony started. It was a really good thing that we didn't bring any cash with us because there were Funnel Cakes, Gyros, Kabobs, Roasted Corn on The Cob, Boiled Peanuts and every other treat you can imagine being sold. Normally we don't stay for the awards ceremony but for some reason I thought there was a possibility that I might win an award today. I doubted I would, but I secretly hoped so.

Turns out I did win an award, I placed 2nd in my age division! Yay for my first award!

I've been needing some new running shoes for quite a while now. I bought a pair online a couple weeks ago and ran once in them and just really felt like they weren't for me, so I sent them back. Unfortunately we don't have a running store in my city, but I have heard that McClendon Sports has a very knowledgable staff when it comes to running shoes. I decided to treat myself and go check it out today.

I was very impressed with the woman who was helping me. She looked at my feet, asked me a few questions and brought out 2 pairs of shoes for me to try. I tried them on, she felt on my feet and watched me run across the store and back. The first pair I tried was Brooks Ghost 2, I loved them! My current shoes are Brooks and I have always loved them also, but they run small and I bought a 1/2 size smaller than I should have. The 2nd pair I tried on were Mizuno's. They were bright orange and I really loved the color and the way they looked. I tried them on and they felt weird, but I thought maybe I could make do since I liked the way they looked so much. I ran halfway across the store and knew I couldn't buy them. They felt horrible on my feet.

They aren't the prettiest thing in the world, but meet my new running partners:

Sundays are going to be my long run days with my new training program that I started, and tomorrow I'm scheduled to run 6 miles. I can't wait to break these babies in!

My First Fartlek.

What is Fartlek? Well, I'm glad you asked ...

"Fartlek" is Swedish for "speed play" and consists of bursts of speed in the middle of a training run. Essentially, it's an unstructured interval session, the track without the rules. Fartlek gets your legs used to a variety of paces and in the process gives you an enhanced awareness of your ability to keep up those paces at various distances.

I finally started a half marathon training program, like I have been threatening to do for a few weeks now. I found one that I am much more excited about than the previous one I talked about. My program can be found here. I'm adjusting it to fit my work schedule and to add in a couple days of crosstraining a week.

The first run I did was a 4 Mile Fartlek session. Basically you warm up, then run fast intervals and recovery intervals. Its not a structured interval though, no set distance or time. I'd just run easy, and then sprint to the next telephone pole, or to the next mailbox or whatever. I have to say it kicked my butt! I was getting pretty tired by the middle of the 2nd mile, but I was able to stick it out and finish the 4 miles.

My splits were:

Mile 1 - 7:51
Mile 2 - 8:13
Mile 3 - 8:20
Mile 4 - 8:18

I need to find a new place to do my long runs that will be coming up. I get tired of running the same route over and over again, and especially doing multiple laps on the same route. I live on a main road though and there aren't alot of safe places to run on the road near my house. I need to do some exploration for new locations. It just seems silly to drive across town to go running.

This weekend I will be running my first 8K race. I know I can do it, but I'm a little nervous about it.

On a different note: Chex Mix is the devil! I made some homemade Chex Mix a few days ago to get rid of some stuff I had in my house and I cannot stay out of it. I really shouldn't be allowed to have it in my house. I have no self control when it comes to Chex Mix.

Oysters Rock My World!

Today we took my mother in law to lunch for her 70th birthday celebration. We went to Wintzell's Oyster House. I have debated for several days back and forth about what I would order when we went. Part of me wanted to try to be really good and get some grilled fish and vegetables or something of the sort, but most of me really wanted the Oyster Sampler Platter.

Ultimately I decided to compromise and order oysters, but to order only 6 instead of 16. I started with Sauteed Crab Claws. I thought I was doing good by ordering sauteed instead of fried crab claws, but I totally wasn't thinking about the fact that sauteed most likely means it will be sitting in a pool of butter. So one strike against me already! I tried to just eat the meat and stay out of the garlic butter.

Then I had a side salad with Light Ranch dressing on the side. Yes, of course it was covered in shredded cheese, but atleast it didn't have bacon or croutons.

For my entree I order a half dozen Oysters Rockefeller with a side of broccoli. I forgot to take a picture of my broccoli, but it was also sitting in a pool of butter. I was really disappointed, it didn't say anything about butter on the menu. I guess thats what I get for not asking.

The oysters were awesome! I definitely could have eaten 16 of them if I had let myself. All of that stuff would have probably been fine if I hadn't eaten about half of my son's fried shrimp and french fries that he wouldn't touch. Oh, and garlic bread ... my god, the garlic bread!

This was the real "the world is out to get me" moment though: Tim went to the restroom and while he was gone my mother in law ordered herself and him Bread Pudding. I told her I didn't want any. Well, when he came back he stopped by the counter and asked the waitress if we had already ordered dessert and she told him yes, that we ordered 2 bread puddings. So he told her to put in an order for him one too! So to my suprise she brought 3 HUGE servings of bread pudding to the table. Talk about a test of willpower! I failed!

This afternoon we took Lincoln over to my grandmother's house to visit with my mom, sister, Aunt and cousin that were in town to celebrate my Aunt's birthday. Of course there was cake and icecream! On the back of the lunch we had, it was really easy to say no to the cake and icecream though. I wasn't even tempted in the least, which I'm pretty sure pissed my grandmother off. She is one of those types of people that takes incredible offense if you don't eat what she provides.

Instead of eating we dumped Lincoln off on the family and decided to go for a run around my grandparent's neighborhood. I intended to run 7 miles, but I kept saying "I'm going to try to run 7 miles". I wasn't convinced that I could actually do it, even though I've done it once before ... especially after that big lunch.

I actually ended up running 8.16 miles! A new personal distance record. I intentionally made myself run at a slower pace than normal so that I could stretch out my run. It also helped that I got absolutely and utterly lost in the neighborhood. I just kept running until I found my way back.

I had planned on not eating again today, but after such a long run I really felt like I needed something. So I made what I'm gonna call "Boca Taco Pita". Basically it was a pita stuffed with a Boca Burger, lettuce, green onions, salsa and sour cream. I also had a side of baby carrots and Fat Free Ranch Dip. It wasn't very photogenic, but it actually tasted really good!

What is your favorite thing to do with a Boca Burger?

Its Finally Fall!

Thats right, its finally fall in Alabama! I walked outside this evening and it was a chilly 55 degrees. This is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love everything about it: the cooler weather, football, sweaters, pumpkin pie, the colors. Its all wonderful! I think I'm even generally in a better mood in the fall than I am any other time of the year.

To make matters even better there are only 12 days left until our Gatlinburg vacation. I can't wait to get up in the mountains and see the beautiful scenery, relax in the hottub with some wine, eat some good food and just have a great time. I really need it!

Tomorrow morning is the Chili Trot 5K. I've got my playlist all ready and all my clothes layed out. The only thing left to do is figure out exactly where I'm suppose to go.

My friends Nicole and Kelli are running with me this time, and my husband Tim of course. I'm not looking to set any personal records this time, just hoping to have some fun. After the race there is a chili cookoff. I haven't decided yet if I will participate in the judging or not. I had a few weak moments with some Oreos at work the other night that I'm still trying to repent for.

Tomorrow night we have the Fall Festival at the YMCA. I'm not sure what all will be involved but I'm excited to dress Lincoln up in his Halloween costume! Oh ... we also get to go tomorrow to pick up the proofs of our family pictures that we had made a couple weeks ago. I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Sunday we are taking my mother in law out for lunch for her birthday (which was actually today). We are going to Wintzell's Oyster House. I'm absolutely infatuated with oysters. They are one of my most favorite things on earth. I still haven't decided if I'm going to make an honest effort to "be good" or if I'm just gonna say F it. I really want the Oyster Sampler, but I'm sure it will set me back about 1000 calories or more.

The fair is in town this week, but we have decided instead of going to the fair and spending a bunch of money that we don't really need to, that we will forgo it. Instead we are going to take Lincoln to Zoo Boo on Sunday night. Another Halloween costume opportunity! Yes!

So the question of the day is ... should I be good at Wintzell's or should I go all out with the Oyster Sampler? Take a look at the menu and tell me your vote for my entree.

Goals for The Week

First of all, there is something that has been on my mind that I want to discuss. For all you Biggest Loser fans, last night on the episode when they had to order all of their food out, did you notice that they said to make sure their fruit didn't contain any: bananas, melons, or grapes? I keep thinking that maybe I misunderstood what they were saying. Surely they don't have them on such a strict diet that they can't eat certain fruits! Or do they?

My personal philosophy on fruits and vegetables is that, I didn't get fat eating them and they aren't going to make me fat now. Unless of course, you fry them or saute them in butter. I don't normally count points for fruits and vegetables that I eat raw or cooked without additives.

Every week I like to set a couple goals for myself. My weeks start on Monday (as far as weigh-in goes), so I'm a little late blogging these but thats ok. My goals for this week are:

• To only weigh on weigh-in day.
• To track everything I eat on Weight Watchers and Spark People.

I signed up for Spark People several months ago, but I stopped using it because I felt like it was too time consuming and redundant to track my food on both Weight Watchers and Spark People. One thing I did like about Spark People though that Weight Watchers doesn't have is that you can track all of your nutrients. You can actually see a breakdown of your calorie, carb, fat, and protein intake and measure it against the recommended daily amounts. You can track any other nutrients you are interested in as well.

Lately I've been really interested in not only losing weight, but also healthy living. By this I mean that I'm more interested in the nutritional value of what I'm eating than the Points value. So that is why I wanted to start using my Spark People account again. So far I'm doing really good at staying in the correct ranges for calories, carbs, fat and protein.

My other goal for this week is to only weigh on Monday. When I was younger I was completely scale obsessed; I would weigh when I first woke up, after I went to the bathroom, after I ate, after I exercised, anytime I went into the bathroom. You get the idea. I think this stems from growing up in a househould with someone that had eating disorders. My mother struggled with anorexia and bulemia when I was a child. For that reason its really important to me not to be scale obsessed anymore. I usually want to weigh myself every morning when I wake up, but I realize that there will be normal fluctuations from day to day and that weighing on a weekly basis is much more reliable.

My eats for today included:

Kashi GoLean Crunch with Vanilla Oikos Greek Yogurt


A Gala apple, my fave!


Leftover spaghetti squash with meat sauce, and a side salad.


1/2 of a Green Monster (Yep, thats yesterday's pic again)


Steak with mushrooms, green beans, roasted cauliflower, and
a twice baked potato.

I also had a handful of Quaker Quakes Mini Rice cakes, a Crab Delight snack, and a piece of garlic toast. It really seemed like I ate alot today, but I came in at 1450 calories.

I ran 6 miles this afternoon, and it was extremely hard for me today. I don't know if it was because I ran in the afternoon and I normally run in the morning, or if I was just having an off day. I literally felt like I couldn't have taken one more step though, and I felt all weird and dizzy afterwards. I think my body needed the extra calories tonight because I felt much better after dinner.

Capitol City Half Marathon & 5K

Tim and I got up at 4:30 this morning to get ready for the Capitol City 5K. I slept pretty good last night though. After all the mexican food, two beers, and a sleeping pill ... I was ready for bed at 8:30 pm.

We drove downtown this morning as the sun came up to meet my friend Nicole and her mom who were running in the race also. It was very confusing with all the one way streets and the roadblocks, but we eventually all got where we were suppose to be.

The Half Marathon started right at 7:00 am, and the 5K got underway about 15 minutes later.

Poor Tim, he mistakenly had his iPod on "shake to shuffle" and kept wondering why he would only hear 10 seconds of a song before it switched. He didn't figure it out until more than halfway through the race. He got so frustrated that he actually threw his headphones away at one of the water stations.

I however, didn't have any iPod issues today. The race went great! I felt like I paced myself well, yet I ran as fast as I possibly could without overdoing it. I didn't get any side cramps today, and the hills that I worried about really weren't an issue at all. I actually wished I could have kept running. I was super jealous of the half-marathoners!

Of course I forgot to stop my Garmin when I came across the finish line again today. But these are my times according to my Garmin (the official results haven't been posted yet):

Mile 1 - 8:55
Mile 2 - 8:45
Mile 3 - 7:44
0.1 Mile - 7:06

My time according to my Garmin was 26:28, more than 2 minutes faster than my previous 5K time!

My father in law caught this shot as I came in to the finish line:

Tim came in a few minutes after me and we got a good shot of him right under the finish line.

After the race we went to the post-race party where they had Jim & Nicks BBQ, free beer, live music and massages!

I won't know my official results until tomorrow morning, they are suppose to be in the newspaper. I'm really glad to have my second 5K under my belt though, and I'm more than pleased with my time.

Tonight at dinner I asked Tim, "who would ever have thought that we would be runners?". Which brought up the conversation of "are we really runners?" What makes a runner? How far do you have to be able to run to be a runner?

What is your opinion? What makes a person a runner?