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!!

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?