Baton Rouge is atleast a 6 hour drive from Montgomery. In my opinion, this is the only way to travel for that amount of time with a 3-year-old:

Don’t judge.

We made it to Tim’s aunt’s house mostly without incident, and spent the night Friday night.

Saturday we spent the day roaming around Baton Rouge, starting with picking up our race packets and visiting the expo.

 
The expo was way too small, which made it way too crowded which made it kinda suck. But they had free beer, so word up on that!

Bonus points for the personalized race bibs though.

After the expo we drove around the race course just to get a feel for it.

The race started at the capitol building, went through the Garden District, through the city park and around the University Lakes. It’s probably the most beautiful race course I’ve seen yet. I was concerned about the narrowness of the roads though, with almost 4000 people registered I wasn’t sure how we were going to fit on these roads.

Loved the beautiful, scenic and FLAT course though!

Saturday afternoon after driving the race course, Tim, Lincoln and I visited the U.S.S. Kid.

I have to admit I’m not history buff, but Tim really enjoyed the history lesson, Lincoln enjoyed the guns … and I enjoyed finding these little trinkets …

 
Look closer …

Sex hygiene cartoon anyone? … how about some …

 
Titanic pose?

I can have fun just about anywhere.

Ok, ok … on to the actual race related stuff…

Saturday night we went to the Carb Supper to listen to Jeff Galloway speak. It was boring, the food was gross and there was no alcohol to be had. Lets skip that.

Somewhere along the way I decided that Tim and I should get a hotel room Saturday night downtown to be close to the starting line, instead of staying at his Aunt’s house 20 minutes away. Best decision EVER. Our morning was basically stress free. We met our friend Jessica in the lobby at 6:20 and easily walked to the starting line.

Loved the “Baby’s First Marathon” shirt and I’m with Awesome.

Got started right at 7:00, the first couple of miles were very crowded. Tim, Jessica and I just took it easy and tried not to get frustrated or separated. After the two mile mark the field began to naturally thin though and it turned out to not be a problem.

My goal for the race was to run it side-by-side with Tim. His goal was to beat his PR of 2:28. Jessica wanted to prove her awesomeness by finishing the first half marathon since her daughter was born only 2 months ago!

We ran the first 5 or 6 miles together and had a blast! I took pictures of the mile markers and posted them to Facebook as we went.

5 done! …

I probably did most of the talking, as usual, but we talked and laughed the entire time. My friend Kelly from highschool, who lives in Baton Rouge was planning on meeting us along the course to run a few miles. We couldn’t seem to catch each other at the right time though. I’m sure the people around me had probably never seen someone take 4 phone calls during a Half Marathon before. Don’t hate.

Before I knew it …

 
Tim started getting really tired around the 10-11 mile mark. I tried to be motivating without being a bitch. Apparently there is a fine line.

I sang to him, tried to make jokes, tried to speed up a little hoping he’d follow … “pick ‘em up, put ‘em down!” … “it’s only 1 more stupid mile", can’t you do it for one more stupid mile?!”… that man is unable to be motivated when he’s tired. Thankfully we had banked plenty enough time in the earlier miles that it didn’t really matter.

 
The finish line came into sight and I knew that he would make his PR, although it was close.

(source)

2:27:03!

And I finally got to see Kelly! Its been a long 10 years or so.

 
Crap expo, crowded start, beautiful course, awesome medal, lots of water stations/port-o-pottys. The after party looked like a blast also but we opted for breakfast in the hotel restaurant instead. Can’t wait for next year!

$35 early bird sign-up for the half and $50 for the full, already open. I might have to go ahead and make it official.

Wow, what a year! 2011 was a rollercoaster of a year, but thankfully they were mostly ups.

I ended my year with a great 10.5 mile group run yesterday morning and then dinner and a movie at my friend Drew’s house with the hubby and Lincoln.

We watched Unbreakable.

Running movie, pizza, alcohol … I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year. Except maybe actually running, while intoxicated, after eating pizza.

Oh wait. I did that too.

Running:

In 2011, I ran 1288 miles.

I ran 3 half marathons, the first being Mercedes in February.

The second was Centerpoint Challenge Half Marathon in March. This was actually my PR race, but my least favorite.

The third half of the year and the most fun was the Montgomery Half Marathon in October.

The absolute highlight of the year was completing my first full marathon at Rocket City in December.

I’ve never felt more accomplished as I did in that moment.

Heath & Eating:

I hit my Weight Watcher’s goal weight of 145 pounds in December of 2009. In 2011, I maintained that weight within 5 pounds.

Although I was a vegetarian for the majority of 2010, I fell off the wagon so to speak in October 2010 when we went on Disney World trip. I continued to eat meat after the trip was over. Finally this past October I got back on track and have held to a vegetarian diet since then. It is something that is important to me on many levels, but it’s never the easiest option.

Nothing great ever came out of taking the easy route.

Life in General:

Life in general has been good in 2011. I changed my full-time status at work to PRN (as needed) so that I can spend more time with my family. I’m currently working about 1-2 days a week.

Our family went on several vacations during the year including to Biloxi, MS and to see Tim’s family in Baton Rouge, LA. We spent some time at the beach in Panama City and the mountains in Gatlinburg, TN.

I became closer to some wonderful friends this past year who have made the year so much fun!

Those are the people that have truly made my year!

Some negative things have also happened in my life in the past year. I found out I was pregnant and had a miscarriage in late September and my last grandfather passed away in November.

“Life is full of ups and downs. The trick is to enjoy the ups and have courage during the downs.”

I’m excited to see what 2012 will bring! So far things are looking exciting.

Have a great year! Make it count!

I made some carrot juice to break it in. Carrots were the only thing in the house at the time.

Today I went out and loaded up on vegetables and fruit.

Tomatoes, carrots, kale, celery, parsley, ginger, lemon, oranges, apples, spinach.

I found a recipe online for the Mean Green Juice that is featured in the movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.

Mean Green

6 Kale Leaves
1 Cucumber
4 Celery Stalks
2 Green Apples
1/2 Lemon
1 piece of ginger

Earth Fare didn’t have any regular cucumbers. I feel pretty obscene buying this gargantuan thing, but I did it anyway …

I made orange juice this afternoon as well.

I even found a recipe to use the leftover orange pulp in muffins.

I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.

I always feel better when I start my day off with a Green Monster. It is the cure-all breakfast for post-drinking or binge eating nights. And with the holidays, I’ve had alot of those lately unfortunately.

If you have been reading my blog long enough you might recognize this picture. I’ve actually used it atleast 3 times on the blog.

I’ve actually been trying really hard the last few (ok .. 2, well just really yesterday) days to eat more healthy food choices now that Christmas is over. In general I do eat a very healthy diet compared to most Americans I suppose, but I struggle with my eating especially at night.

A few days ago I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead while walking on the treadmill and it helped remotivate me to eat healthier.

As you can see the documentary is about a man from Australia who went on a 60 day juice fast to cleanse his body and lose weight. I’m certainly not interested in fasting unless its between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner, but it did get me thinking about nutrtion and micronutrients vs. macronutrients. I may have even purchased a juicer, as if I need any more kitchen appliances.

It should be delivered tomorrow.

I’ve actually been intrigued and interested in juicing for a while for the nutrition benefits, and it helps (or doesn’t help, I’m still not sure which) to have a husband that is completely on-board as well. We tend to talk each other into doing things like spending $100+ on a juicer or $300+ on a certain blender.

I’m already making mental lists of juices I want to make. Apple + cucumber, carrot + ginger … so many options!

I had to get a little creative with lunch today. The only thing in my refrigerator is leftovers from Christmas breakfast. Cinnamon rolls and Christmas Breakfast Casserole didn’t sound appetizing or fit in with my healthier eating agenda so threw together some really random ingredients and created this instead.

In the mix: Pumpkin Ravioli from the frozen bins at Earth Fare, cannellini beans, a couple tablespoons of Classico pizza sauce, Roasted Eggplant dip from Tim’s stocking and capers.

A strange combination, even for me. But I have to say I really liked it! And I feel good that I ate something healthier than cinnamon rolls, which would have been the easy out. Still, grocery shopping is going to be a must very very soon.

A good 5-mile run this morning, a renewed motivation to healthy living, some good healthy food in my system and a nap coming my way. You’d think I had won the lottery.

Last night while Santa and I wrapped presents I put together a simple overnight crockpot casserole for a special Christmas morning breakfast.

Layers of hashbrown potatoes, diced red and green peppers, Morningstar Farm Veggie “Sausage” patties crumbled, cheese and egg.

We also sipped on this wine in the process.

Chocolate Shop – The Chocolate Lover’s Wine

Absolutely amazing! Probably the best wine I’ve ever had.

It was so nice to wake up to breakfast already prepared. The house smelled so good!

I think this is going to be a new Christmas tradition. So simple!

Lincoln slept so late I was beginning to think I would have to wake him up, but he finally rolled out of bed at 8:00. This was the first year that he really understood what was going on and was excited about it. It was so fun to watch him tear through his gifts.

We spent the rest of the day at my grandmother’s house visiting and eating a big Christmas meal with the family. I was craving a walk with my family all day, but the weather was dreadful.

I stretched out my legs and settled my belly by walking 3 lovely miles on the treadmill this evening. Lovely miles I say because I rigged up this contraption …

Tablet computer, treadmill, clothes hanger … life changing.

I watched part of Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix Instant while I walked.

A very merry and low key Christmas.

I started my Christmas Eve with a Half-Marathon distance run.

I met up with a few of my friends early this morning for a celebratory group run around Downtown Montgomery.

I think I finally feel like myself (almost) completely since the marathon two weeks ago today! The best part of this run was no pain!

Post-run breakfast was a Veggie Benedict at The Egg & I.

O.M.G worthy.

Merry Christmas and Namaste!

December 21, 2001

Palak Paneer, Vegetable Korma, Indian Rice, Vegan Dumplings.

I have to admit I cheated though.

After a lovely 45-minute Christmas themed spin class this morning at the Y, I headed over to Earth Fare to spend the coupon that was burning a hole in my pocket. $10 off of $50.

I picked up $105 worth of total randomness.

I love that place so much I don’t even care that its ridiculously priced. It brings me pure joy. If its wrong, I don’t want to be right.

So you see, lunch was all pre-packaged ingredients …

Maybe one day I’ll try my hand at making homemade Indian food. Until then atleast I know Earth Fare has my back.

While I was at it I threw some stuff in the crockpot for a quick dinner tonight. I absolutely love crockpot cooking!

Mmmm, Butternut Squash & Black Bean Chili.

Apparently I’m feeling spicy today.

Believe it or not the hubby and I have never run together before.

Our childcare and work schedules rarely align so that we could run together. We run very different distances and paces usually and I’m always training for something specific it seems like. He asked me a couple of weeks ago if I would run our upcoming Half Marathon in Louisiana with him at his pace. So I thought we better get used to running together.

We had a great time!

We ran 8 miles in 1 hour 25 minutes.

We jammed out to some music, talked and played a game of cat and mouse. I had to stop to use the bathroom and I told Tim to keep going and I would catch back up to him. He took off fast to get a good lead on me and I hit a 7:15 pace trying to catch him. It was fun!

After our run we had lunch together at Subway. I pretty much tore the face off my sandwich before I considered getting a picture.

Veggie on wheat with sweet onion sauce, pepper jack cheese, lots of olives, banana peppers, onions and pickles. And chocolate milk!

I can’t wait to have more Romance Runs! And I’m super excited about our upcoming race together now.

Yes please!

I finally buckled down and got a good chunk of my Christmas to-do list accomplished yesterday. I can breathe a little easier now.

I signed up for DailyMile’s Secret Santa this year. Somehow I missed out on this last year, so I was excited to get in on it this time.

I was matched up with a random DailyMiler to send a $15 gift to. Someone else will receive my information and so on. I checked out my Dailymile pal and tried to gain information on what a good gift might be for him. Guys are so much harder to buy for in my opinion!

This is what I came up with …

Runner’s World Wrist Wallet, Peppermint Bark, Gu, Sports Beans, Advocare Rehydrate Drink Powder and a keychain/bottle opener. I hope he likes it!

I’ve also tried to find a balance this week between staying active and allowing my body to recover properly from the marathon. Turns out I probably should have done some post-marathon recovery plan research. I found myself mentally lost and not knowing exactly what to do. I’ve been on a training plan for so long that it feels really weird to have no direction.

I’m still having some minor aches and pains, particularly in the top of my left foot and behind my left knee. Then I remember, it has only been 6 days after all.

My week looked like this:

Monday – 45 minute spin class

Tuesday – 45 minute elliptical, 40 min Yoga DVD

Wednesday – Ran 3 miles, 90 minute Hot Yoga

Thursday – 60 minute elliptical

Friday – Ran 5 miles

The plan is to rest tomorrow and then attempt a very,very easy 8-mile romance run on Sunday at the Hubby’s pace. (Sorry honey that I just called your pace very, very easy. You know I love you!)

or …

Whichever.