Race Reflections

It’s been one week and I thought about my 5K race  a lot today.  Ironically, the weather this morning was as crappy as it was last Saturday, so I think that brought up some of my thoughts!  I was replaying the race in my mind again and trying to figure out what I could do to be better next time.  Yes, I think I just said…next time!  Oh no!  But, the more I think about it the more I see that I have to try it again.  I can’t got down like that with my first race – LOL! 

Seriously though, it’s not about competing with others.  I’m not a competitive person at all.  I would classify myself more like “everybody’s cheerleader”!  It’s more about how to be better for myself.  There are lots of things that went wrong and thinking it over, I realize that the main thing is that I did not train as hard as I should have.  I kinda took the attitude that if I ran 3.1 miles once, I can do it over again, no problem.  And yes, that is true mentally, but physically, I think my body needed much more practice than I was giving it.  I primarily backed off due to my hip.  I was concerned that training may damage it so that I would have to bag out of the race altogether.  So I backed off, but that ended up hurting me in the end because I realize that my legs weren’t ready.

Another thing I need to learn is how to manage the racing jitters.  I was so nervous when the start gun went off  and that threw my whole breathing pattern out of whack.  I was unable to focus at all.  Even my music did not help.  And my head was so filled with nerves and doubts that emotions took over causing me to really lose it!  I’m not quite sure what to do to help with the jitters, but I did do some research on training for a 5K.  I found some good articles on Runnersworld and Cool Running, so I think I’m going to try out the program and see if I can get myself to run stronger and faster!  I would love any additional tips from my runner blog friends, so please feel free to leave a comment or email me!

Well, that being said, I took the day off from exercise today –LOL!  So much for training, right?!  Seriously, I am planning on starting tomorrow!  I’m a bit apprehensive due to my bouts of dizziness, but my plan is ,as long as it’s not acting up, I’ll get in a run.  Today, I was still experiencing a little dizziness, so I just puttered around the house which was kinda nice!

I wasn’t especially hungry for breakfast and couldn’t figure out what I wanted.  I finally decided a smoothie sounded right.  Not any smoothie…a BLUE MONSTER!  Green monsters have been all the rage, but I’m going blue…

• 1/2 cup Silk Heart Health Vanilla Soymilk
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 ripe banana
• big handful of baby spinach
• 1/2 packet NuNaturals NuStevia

Loved it!

For lunch I made a ginormous salad…

• lots of romaine
• diced ham
• 1 lite string cheese, chopped
• 1 hard boiled egg white
• 1/2 cup pinto beans
• 1 hummus filled egg white (filled with Trader Joe’s Chipotle Pepper Hummus)
• Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch Dressing

and some tuscan crackers topped with asiago spread (from our Anniversary basket)…

I tried another Zevia this afternoon…

I didn’t like this flavor, so I tried another…

It was definitely better.  So far, I’ve only liked 2 of the flavors.  I think my affinity for diet soda has really diminished though. 

I felt like munching this afternoon, so I pulled out the Cheez-its!  I made sure to “control” myself…slightly, by putting them in a bowl instead of having my face in the bag :)  My cup overfloweth…

Dinner was random.  We were all in relax mode, so I just reheated some turkey meatballs for sandwiches and sliced up sweet potatoes for fries.  I went bunless but layered on the cheeeeese…

And ended the flop- around day with chocolate…

Running is definitely on the agenda tomorrow ;)

ONE GOOD THING:  While I was relaxing, I went through some magazines and pulled out some great new recipes to try this week.

Have a great day!!

Shaking In My Sneakers

I am freaking out a little.  I did something that I’m not sure I should have and I’m really nervous.  But, part of me is super excited.  Oh, sorry.  I guess I should spill it… I signed up for my first 5K race!  *insert collective screaming*  I know!!!  This is a huge deal for me.  I have wanted to do one for a long time, but wasn’t sure if I could with my hip issue and all.  But, it has calmed down a lot and the doc said if I pre-medicate with some Advil before the run, I should be fine.  I just feel like I have to do it.  I have to show myself that I can, push myself out of my comfort zone and cross this sucker off my bucket list.  So, I did it.  The date is October 17.  I will be totally flipping out the day before, so mark your calendars to come back for the entertainment!  More to come…

Needless to say, I was itching to get to the gym and run on the treadmill.  I fueled up before leaving with half of a banana (is it me, or does this look kinda pervie ?)…

I got to the gym, headed straight to the treadmill and huffed out a 3.1 mile run in no time flat.  Not really.  It took me 50 minutes!  50!  That is sucky, I think.  Will all the other racers be yawning and waiting at the finish line for me???  Aaaah!

It was errands galore after that.  Thankfully, I brought an after-run snack in the car.  Banana Walnut Breakfast Cookies are yummy.  Recipe to come in Jen’s e-cookbook…

I finally made it home for a late lunch.  I made up Salmon Toasts with 2 slices of Trader Joe’s Organic Spelt Bread, a slice of Laughing Cow Light Cheese and smoked salmon.  YUM-O…

And had a nice little side salad with Kraft Light Cucumber Ranch (not as good as the Three Cheese Ranch)…

Since I ate so late, I didn’t feel the need for a snack.  I made it to dinner without incident, even though I made No Pudge Brownies while the daughters were doing homework :)

I was on my own for dinner, so to speak.  The husband was working late and the daughters were thrilled with mac and cheese.  I was still in a fishy mood, so I dug out some shrimp from the freezer.  I had some zucchini that was calling my name, so I paired them together for  Shrimp and Zucchini with Tomatoes and Feta.  Couldn’t be easier.  I cooked shrimp in a skillet with a teaspoon of evoo and garlic – did you know you can cook shrimp frozen?  No need to thaw.  Just saute in a skillet until done.  When cooking from frozen it makes it easier to not overcook it.  No rubbery shrimp is a good thing!  After shrimp was cooked, I removed them from the skillet and set aside.  Then,  added the zucchini and cooked until golden.  I added the halved grape tomatoes at the end and put the shrimp back to warm through.  Topped it off with reduced fat feta cheese.  It was awesome…

Dinner in 10 minutes!  Try it, it’s so easy!

Before I go, I wanted to say a big thank you to Jenn of Watch My Butt Shrink (don’t ya love that?) for sending me this Honest Scrap Award a few days back…

 

The rules of this award are to tell 10 things about yourself that people may not know, then pass it on to 10 others.  Insane!  I cannot pick only  10 – I have 100 blogs in my reader and love them all.  I feel every hard working blogger deserves this award, so if you’re reading, consider this passed to you!  Feel free to tell10 things about yourself on your blog.  You can add the link to it in the comments, if you like.  I know I’m bucking the rules, but that’s how I roll ;P

Here’s my 10 things…snore…

1.  My whole life, people have mispronounced my name.  My name is said Ma-ree-sa, but everyone says, Ma-riss-sa.  it’s frustrating!  I’ve tried correcting people, but they still say it wrong.  Now, I just answer to anything as long as it’s not a curse word.

2.  BK (before kids), I had 2 successful and completely different careers.  After college, I became a paralegal for a senior partner in a large law firm.  Three years in, he encouraged me to go to law school.  As I was taking my LSAT’s, I had a change of heart.  I came home from the exam and told my parents I was going to beauty school!  I went on to open and operate a nail and skin care salon for 6 years.

3.  When I was 23, my brother(20) was killed in a car accident.  He was my only sibling.  It devastated me and my family for a long time.  The pain of his death has lessened for me over the years and I am able to think of him with a happy heart now.

4.  I met my husband on a blind date.  He was so silly, but intense and very loving.  I couldn’t help but fall in love.  He had me at hello:)

5.  I got pregnant with our first child (big daughter) 9 months into our marriage.  It was an easy pregnancy and birth.  She was and still is a dream!

6.  When big daughter was 18 months old, I became pregnant again, however, it resulted in a devastating miscarriage.  I had 4 more miscarriages before finally giving birth to little daughter 4 years later.

7.  Twelve hours after little daughter was born, she was transported to a children’s hospital for emergency intestinal surgery.  Recovery was long and hard, requiring a 3 month hospital stay in a surgical NICU.  The husband and I still have mental scars from that time, but we learned the value of family, health and prayer.

8.  I am petrified of public speaking.  Anytime, I’ve had to do it (i.e. oral reports/presentations), I sound like I’m hyperventilating when I talk.  So pathetic!

9.  I am extremely close to my family and in-laws.  They mean the world to me and as crazy as they are, I couldn’t live without them.

10.  My career for the past 11 years has been Child Rearing Specialist (aka stay-at-home mom).  It’s a great job, but pays diddly and frankly, I should have been fired a long time ago.  And believe me, they’ve tried ;P

Have a great day, everyone!

ONE GOOD THING:  I am really learning my body’s signals of hunger and satiety.  I think I’m finally getting this!!!!

The Heart Of The Home

Back to the grind!  We were up and at ‘em early to try and finish up the last painting touches and put the kitchen back together.  We had to make another quick trip to the Lowe’s,  but first some breakfast was in order.  I was in the mood for eggs, so I whipped up a Salsa Egg White Scramble (egg whites, spinach, salsa and light cheddar)…

Then, it was off to pick up our hardwares.  Since, Trader Joe’s was right around the corner, I talked the husband into a pit stop to pick up a couple items.  I scored a cool new (to me) hummus that I couldn’t wait to have with lunch…

I thought it would make a great topping for my Cuban Black Bean Patty on an Ezekiel hamburger bun…

It was perfect!  I liked the smoky flavor and the mild heat.  Definitely a keeper!

We finally finished up the last of the retouching and put the kitchen back in working order.  Only glitch was with the lighting over the table.  Seems our compact fluorescents were too big and stuck out above the shades.  I had to run back out and get smaller bulbs, but other than that, this repainting/updating job went pretty smoothly.  And the husband and I worked really well together, so no divorce papers needed to be drawn up after this project ;)

The daughters came home as we were finished and were so surprised at the change!  They loved it, though, which made me happy since the kitchen is the heart of our home and I want everyone to be comfortable in it.

I decided on an easy dinner.  I wasn’t quite ready to cook after the long, tiring weekend, so we fired up the grill and made some of these cool dogs I found at Trader Joe’s…

I haven’t had a hot dog in ages because of the high fat content of the regular ones and I found the light ones to be okay, but I question the “healthiness” of them.  However, I saw these Applegate Farms Organic Uncured Beef Hot Dogs and the “organic” and “no nitrates or preservatives” made me feel a little better about them!  Hey, it’s un-American to not eat a hot dog, right?!  Anyway, I was surprised by the nutritional information considering these are not touted as a “light” hot dog.  One dogger is 70 calories with only 4.5 grams of fat!  That’s impressive.  Can’t get away from the sodium though – 430 mg., but that’s how a hot dog rolls ;P  Speaking of rolls, I ate my dog on a whole wheat roll with a squirt of straight up yellow mustard along with a side salad and some baked fries….

I loved this hot dog!!!  Seriously good;  even the husband gave it a thumbs up.  Now, the fries…eh, not so lovely.  I bought these Alexia Yukon Gold fries and had high expectations…

The nutritionals looked good…

but the flavor was meh and some of the fries were hollow inside when you bit into them.  Somehow, the precooking process they do, cooks the potato right out of it!  Not a fan :(

All in all, a tasty dinner in our “new” kitchen.  Wanna see it???  Here’s a mini tour…

Looks good now;  I’m sure I’ll mess it up soon enough!

I ended the night with another Trader Joe’s find:  Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites…

A serving is 8 cookies for 130 calories and 6 grams fat.  They are made with whole wheat flour, oats and walnut meal.  Good ingredients and delicious!  I was satisfied with just 3 because they have such great flavor.   Just right…

Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend!

ONE GOOD THING:  I was able to enjoy cookies without feeling like I had to eat the whole serving or container for that matter- LOL!  I ate what satisfied me and put them away.

Question of the Day:  What room do you consider to be the “heart of your home” ?

Happy Birthday!

Saturday was the husband’s birthday!  His first gift was a beautiful day!  He really loves the outdoors, so it was nice that he got to enjoy most of his day outside.  I spent most of the morning inside getting things ready for his celebration dinner, but took a breakfast break to try something new… oats!  Well, it’s not really new to me, however, I’ve never been much of an oat fan, so it’s not a usual breakfast choice for me.  I’m always so inspired by other bloggers’ morning oats and various toppings, that I decided to give oats another chance.  I went with  Cranberry Chocolate Almond….

It was delish!  Of course, anything with dark chocolate would be!  I think what holds me back from oatmeal is the fact that it doesn’t really hold me over that long and the addition of lots of toppings also adds lots of calories.  But this mix did a good job and held me over pretty long which was a good thing because the husband had a “special” request for his birthday – flu shots!  I know that sounds like a strange request, but this has become a family tradition and a source of extreme fun for the husband and daughters due to the fact that I am scared of shots and get all screamy/giggley/weepy when I have to get one!  What makes it even more comical is that the husband and I usually go to a public venue (Target, Walgreens, Township bldg., etc.) to get our shots because it costs the same as the doctor’s office and easier since we don’t have to make it an appointment.  I usually make such a scene that the husband and daughters have been bringing a video cam to record my histrionics!  This year, I decided I would be stoic.  No freaking out.  I told the husband and daughters that this year there would be nothing to see.  They would be sorely disappointed. Yeeeaaah, riiiight was their response.  While the husband gave his pre-shot speech to the camera, I maintained my steely approach and told them to prepare to be bored.  I walked into the Walgreens, filled out the paperwork and sat in the waiting room, patiently and relaxed while waiting to be called.  We were called back to the pharmacy and the husband went first.  I made the mistake of looking at the GIANT needle, but quickly dismissed it and erased it from my memory because I AM NOT SCARED.  Nope.  Not one bit.  The husband ooooohhed and aaaaahed and winged and whined in an effort to try to break me, but I wasn’t budging.  Nope.  Calm, cool and collected.  That’s me.  Then, it was my turn.  The daughters set up, with cameras in hand, ready to record my behavior.  The technician began by asking me some questions…’did I have fever, diarrhea or vomit this morning’?  Yes, I told her.  Yes to all.  “Oh well, guess I can’t get the shot today” I said.  Unfortunately, she didn’t believe me and the husband and daughters outed me anyway, so out came the BIG, GIANT, MILE LONG needle and JAB…

Boooo!  Okay, it really didn’t hurt, but it’s just the whole anticipation of it all that gets me!  I did a much better job maintaining my composure this time and as I told the husband and daughters before we left…show’s over…nothing to see here!  They still thought my biting my lip and shaking was hilarious, though.  Warped, aren’t they?? 

The daughters took our picture outside after that torture was over…

By the time we got home, it was 1:30, so as I said, the oats did their job!  I knew we would be eating a lot later, so I made a mini turkey, cheese and spinach sammie on a piece of baguette with some carrots on the side…

I ate outside with hubs and soaked in the beautiful sunshine :)

Later, everyone came for the birthday celebration.  I started us off with a Hot Artichoke-Cheese Dip with toasted baguette…

I had about 3 of these…

After some yard bocce, it was on to dinner.  I made all the husband’s faves…

Ravioli…

Meatballs (regular and turkey- for the haters)

Salad…

Italian-style Squash…

Gram brought her Milanese Torte…

I tried to control my portions, but had a bit of everything…

also a half piece of the Milanese Torte and a few bites of foccaccia (not pictured).

The gang’s all here…

Later, we sang ‘happy birthday’ and dug into some cake and caramel apple pie…yeah, me too…

We finished with presents, a bonfire and board games.  It was a great day to celebrate my awesome husband!  He works so very hard that I’m so glad he got a chance to relax and enjoy all the things and people that he loves. 

ONE GOOD THING:  I have the best husband in the world!

Hope you all have a great day!

Question of the Day:  Do you get the flu shot?

Eat, Rush, Repeat

Boy, morning always comes so fast and I was starvin’ Marvin when I woke up!  No time to wait, I fixed up breakfast right away.  A wafflewich was calling my name…

I ate it so fast, I don’t even remember it!  I hate when I do that!  Note to self:  TAKE YOUR TIME.  Because right after I shoveled ate it, I had a craving for chocolate!  Why is the UNIVERSE torturing me??!!!  I mean, REALLY, do I have to fight morning cravings now, too??!!  I ran out of the kitchen and busied myself with getting the daughters off to school.

I had to skip the gym so that I could tidy up at home and prepare for my lunch guest, Rosemary and her little guy…

He is such a cutie pie!!!  I had fun snuggling him up and catching up with my friend!

We took a snuggle break and ate some lunch.  I had prepared an Italian Chicken Salad;  a great recipe from my girl at the Food Network…

I served it on lettuce with a side salad and a slice of Seven Grain Bread…

and some red pepper hummus…

Such a nice afternoon!

That was the extent of  quiet and relaxing;  the daughters came home and it was back to reality!  We had to head to religion class followed by an ice cream social which I had to help out with, so I decided to give everyone a quick Annie’s mac and cheese dinner with some veggies before we left.  The daughters were not loving eating dinner at 3:45, but I knew the ice cream would deter them from wanting ANY dinner at all later!  So, as not to be tempted  during my job as designated “scooper”, I ate a good snack before leaving, too – Chobani nonfat peach yogurt topped with Pecan Sticky Bun granola (* do NOT buy this, it is EVIL) and about 45 more handfuls of granola – GAH!

I scooped without incident.  A little while after getting home, I had a small bowl of dinner leftovers…

I’m realizing that I’m going to have to get better at pre-planning some dinner for these busy nights.  Can’t eat mac and cheese every time…actually, that wouldn’t be soooo awful ;P

Hope you all had a great day!

ONE GOOD THING:  The Pecan Sticky Bun Granola is almost gone :D