Negative Nine

What do you snack on after a horrible 9.25 mile run?

A handful of almonds and 4 Ibuprofen.

Yesterday was my 2nd long run of my current half marathon training. I started the program way late for my half marathon on February 13th. Last weekend I ran an awesome 9 miles! This week I was suppose to run 11. I was dreading it from the get-go.

I had worked three 12 hour shifts the previous nights, slept only 4 hours and tried to run 11 miles. I also ran in a new (and unfamiliar) area. I felt uncomfortable from the start.

About 2 miles into the run I ran up on a pitbull in a yard with no fence. I immediately turned around and started back the opposite direction. The next 2 miles back were long steady uphill climbs. It was miserable! I even had to stop and walk some. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve walked during a run. Actually … this is probably only like the 2nd time.

I stopped at 4 miles, went to the bathroom, stretched, drank some water and started again. This time I ran back and forth down my mother in law’s road. Its about 1.3 miles long from end to end. Booooring!

I thought seriously about calling it quits at 7 miles, but decided to push through. My feet were starting to hurt. Apparently my socks ($14 running socks) were too thin because my shoes felt like sandpaper rubbing against my feet. At 9.25 miles I was back infront of my mother-in-law’s house and I decided I couldn’t take it anymore. I was disappointed, but I knew with all the negative factors I faced I did the best I could at the time.

I finished my 9.25 miles in 1 hour 17 mins. Strangely, faster than the awesome 9.15 miles I ran last week. Hmmm. Weird.

I came home, showered and made myself comfort food. Breakfast for dinner … and lots of it.

2 pancakes, chicken sausage, and a mushroom and onion omelet.

Is it weird that I put salsa and sour cream on top of my omelet? ‘Cause it was deeeelicious!

Back to the Mill

I’ve had a lovely 8 days off of work, but I have to go back to the mill (or baby mill as we lovingly call it) tomorrow night. I decided to celebrate my last night of freedom for the week I would cook a special dinner tonight.

Tim and I (mostly I) have been really focusing on spending less money lately. My goal is to eliminate all of our debt and save up one year of my salary. So far we have paid off all of our debt except for my student loan (which seems silly to worry about at less than 2% interest) and our mortgage. We’ve been able to successfully put all of my income into savings since my gallbladder surgery in June!

One way we’ve been able to save money is by using coupons and stockpiling items when they are on sale so that we don’t ever (hopefully) have to spend full price.

This was my loot on my couponing trip today:

I spent $51.50 on all this and saved $75.11!

This total includes a few high priced items and splurges including 2 packs of diapers and this (which cost almost 30% of my weekly grocery bill):

Our special dinner tonight was Grilled Bourbon Salmon fillets, warm arugula salad with caramelized onion, toasted pecans and balsamic reduction, and roasted new potatoes.

It didn’t turn out quite as pretty as I would have liked. The fish stuck to the grill some even though I thought I oiled it up well, I guess I’m still getting used to cooking meat again. But O.M.G it was gooood! And still way cheaper than going out for a nice meal at a restaurant.

It was just the fancy dinner I needed after a hard 5.5 mile run on the treadmill tonight.

Better Late Than Never

I just decided, within the last 2 weeks that I want to run the Mercedes Half Marathon again this year on February 13th! Less than 4 weeks away, like almost 3 weeks away! Aaack!

I always feel better when I have a plan, even this late in the game. Atleast it makes me feels like I attempted to prepare. One might say I prepared to prepare.

As usual I am loosely following Hal Higdon’s Intermediate Training Plan.

I can’t lie, when I mapped out the plan and realized that my first real week of training called for 9 miles, I was scurred! With my knee injury I hadn’t run more than 6 miles at one time since the Montgomery Half Marathon on October 2nd.

I forced myself to get up early Sunday morning (I’m usually an afternoon runner) and get it out of the way first thing. I wasn’t feeling too optimistic after my awesome 5K on Saturday. My body was tired! But I forced myself to atleast attempt it. This would be the run that would determine if I should go ahead with the training or if it was just “too much, too fast” for a half marathon next month.

I headed out to my favorite running spot equipped with my iPod, which I have been leaving behind on my non-treadmill runs. I figured I could use the extra incentive that day though. I made up my mind that I would run easy and not worry about my pace or how long it took and I set my iPod to my “chill music” playlist which is basically my “anything but rock or rap” list.

Before I knew it I had already run 7 miles! I was absolutely amazed that I had already been running for an hour. I wasn’t tired, my body wasn’t aching, I wasn’t cold (or hot) even though it was 27 degrees outside. I felt awesome! I didn’t even feel like I was exerting any energy at all. I finished up my 9 miles with no problems.

I, of course, immediately updated my Facebook status to say “I feel pretty badass!”

There is nothing like a great run under your belt to make you feel on top of the world.

It was almost the perfect run except that I lost my favorite running hat along the road and was never able to find it. I tucked it between my Spibelt strap and my body and the next time I looked down it was gone. I drove up and down the road a couple of times searching for it, and even sent Tim out to search for it a couple of hours later to no avail.

R.I.P buddy.

Cruising the Creekwalk 5K – 2011

So forget all that silly stuff I said yesterday. Holding back doesn’t really fit my personality … ask my husband. Maybe I’ll try next time.

It was a chilly 30 degrees or so at the start of the Cruising the Creekwalk 5K. I never know how to dress in that weather. I’m freezing cold the first 10 minutes or so and then I get boiling hot, it happens to me every time.

The cold weather didn’t seem to keep anyone away though. There were over 400 registrants for the race which is only in its 4th year.

Can you spot me?

I ended up running hard, but unlike some other races I’ve done it felt (mostly) good. I still felt like I wasn’t going to make the last 1/4 mile, which I guess means I did my best and held nothing back.

My splits were – 7:08, 7:30 and 6:56!

As far as I know this is the first time ever that I’ve run a sub-7 minute mile! I swore that one day I would, and it happened today. Funny thing is I didn’t even see it on my Garmin when it beeped. I actually didn’t realize it until on the way home.

After the race I ran the 1 mile fun run also just to stretch out my legs a bit. They were feeling crampy after the 5K.

We all headed in to the award ceremony and filled up on food. Unfortunately I didn’t win a door prize this year. Boo! 😦
Last year I won one and Tim won one which more than covered our registration fees. I was hoping to do the same again this year.

I managed to will myself to stay away from the doughnuts and pizza and filled up on fruit instead.

I was HANGRY again by the time I got home and made a big taco salad with black beans and corn. I didn’t even pause to take a picture.

I’m scheduled to do a 9 miler tomorrow. Its been since October when I’ve run more than 6 miles so I’m a little nervous about it. I’m trying to decide if I can be ready to run another half marathon in February. Tomorrow will tell alot.

First Time Doing it Twice

Confusing title, huh? What I mean by that is that tomorrow will be the first race that I have done twice. The Cruising the Creekwalk 5K is tomorrow morning and it will be the first race that I’ve done 2 years in a row. 🙂

From the emails I’ve gotten the course has changed a bit since last year, they took out Gin Shop Road. Gin Shop Road is a steep hill that most local runners are familiar with. Cruising the Creekwalk is actually my current PR for a 5K at 22:45.

You’d think with the change of the course I’d be in a good position to set a new PR. I don’t think so. Actually, I’m almost 100% positive that won’t be the case. I don’t even want to.

I know that sounds crazy, but lately I’ve decided that I’d rather have fun and enjoy myself than run at an all out sprint for 3.1 miles (or whatever the distance may be).

With this realization and the fact that I have several factors working against me, including:

1. Gained a few pounds since this time last year.
2. Knee and hip pain (now the other knee is hurting!!)
3. Will be wearing brand new shoes

I’m just looking for some fun!

Now don’t get me wrong, I still want to do well. And I’m not the type that can just sit back and not give it a decent go. I’m just hoping that “the girl that always beats me” isn’t there. Cause then it might just have to be ON!

Me and “The Girl”

Split Pea & Cabbage Soup

Cooking (and eating) is one of my favorite things to do. I wish I could be one of those people that eats solely to fuel their bodies, but I mostly eat because I love food, everything about it.

I stayed home from work last night to spend some time with my family and process the huge blow that hit us yesterday. I needed something productive to do … productive and calming. Cook.

I’ve had a bag of dried split peas hanging out in my house for months that I haven’t had a clue what to do with. I went on a kick several months ago where I discovered dried beans were the best thing on earth and I bought a bag of every kind I could find. I’ve never even actually eaten a single “split pea” in my entire life … but I bought some.

I ran across this picture on Food Gawker a couple weeks ago and something about it appealed to me.

(source)

Since I had the time I made my version of this soup for dinner last night. (Original recipe)

Ingredients:

7 cups water
1 cup dried split peas
2 baking potatoes
2 stalks celery (sliced thin)
1 onion (I used purple)
minced garlic
4 cups broth
1 carrot (I got creative and used Honey Glazed frozen carrots)
1/2 head of cabbage, chopped to bite sized

1. Boil split peas in 7 cups water for 10 minutes. Add cubed potatoes and boil another 20 minutes.
2. Sauté onion, celery, carrots and garlic in olive oil in seperate pot.
3. Add broth to onion mixture and warm.
4. Pour the 2 pots together into one and blend using an immersion blender (or puree half in a food processor or blender). I left a few big chunks.
5. Add cabbage to soup and boil gently until cabbage is soft, about 15 minutes.
6. Season with salt, pepper, and whatever spices you like. I used some italian seasoning as well as chicken bullion.

I had some of this sausage that I got on sale at Publix last week for $.74 each, I added it to the mix and OMG!

(source)

The sausage is a must in my opinion!

I served it with homemade buttermilk cornbread from what I am convinced is the best cornbread recipe EVER!

Soup and cornbread makes everything just a little bit better.

 

How a Day Can Change Things.

Last night I was ecstatic to watch the Auburn Tigers win the National Championship and everything seemed right with the world. This morning I woke up to find out my Dad has what appears to be very advanced cancer. Now I’m questioning everything. Its crazy how in less than 12 hours everything in your life can be flipped upside down.

The first thing I wanted to do was go for a run to be alone and process everything. I was hoping that I would find some kind of answers or have some kind of ideas of what to do for my dad, myself and my family. I tried to force myself to think the situation through, but no matter how hard I tried my mind was completely blank.

I keep going back and forth between feeling numb and having breakdowns.

One thing this situation has definitely made me understand is how important your health truly is. Its so much more than a number on a scale, it is every aspect of your life. It dictates how long you will live, what your quality of life will be and affects everyone around you.

Bedtime. My head hurts.

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

I might not have the Christmas decorations packed away yet, but atleast I finally got rid of the fall decor. I decided earlier in the week since it was January I should probably go ahead and get the pumpkins off of my front porch. I started to throw them away and on my way to the trash I changed my mind and decided I’d turn them into dinner instead.

I found this recipe on All Recipes for Pumpkin Black Bean soup and thought I’d give it a try. Once I googled how to cook pumpkin I was on my way. In hindsight, next time I’ll just use the canned pumpkin that the recipe originally called for.

I cut my pumpkins into big chunks and baked them in the oven at 300 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours.

 

Yes, one of my pumpkins had Lincoln’s name on it 🙂

After a long baking session they looked like this:

I washed and saved the pumpkin seeds to roast as well. I found it easiest to throw everything in a colander and then rinse off the pumpkin guts.

I roasted the seeds in a mixture of butter, garlic powder and Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning.

It really is great on everything!

Back to the soup:

I used dried beans (rehydrated and cooked) to make the soup super cheap!

Puree one can of chili-ready tomatoes and 2 cans-worth of black beans (I used the tomato can to measure) in the food processor.  Mix in to a large pot with one can of black beans, sautéed onions, pumpkin puree, and broth (I used vegetable). I forgot to add the vinegar that the recipe called for and it was definitely missed. I ended up adding lime juice straight into my bowl.

I added in plenty of extra spices: cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper and garlic.

It turned out awesome! I’ll definitely make this recipe again, but I think next time I’ll splurge and use canned pumpkin instead of real pumpkins. Its definitely worth the extra money because cutting a pumpkin into to chunks is much harder than it sounds!