Well well well...

I didn't do any outside fall running like I mentioned in the last post. Lack of motivation and taking 11 credit hours in school are my excuses. But really, no excuse is a good excuse. I am super excited to say that I'm doing the South Beach Diet starting the day after Christmas. I would like to lose about 10 lbs. before our cruise in February. Eeek. I have The South Beach Diet Book, The South Beach Diet Cookbook, and two other South beach Diet books on hold for me at the library. I made black bean soup and froze it so I can grab and go when I haven't prepped my lunch. I plan on making Quiche cups for my breakfasts and freezing them for breakfast on mornings when I'm in a hurry. I have been slowly gathering almonds, allowed desserts, etc. so I'm not overwhelmed all at once with my South Beach Diet shopping list. The only thing I'm really nervous about is that I will be on a road trip helping my friend Ashley move right smack in the middle of the two weeks of Phase 1. I think I can do it but it's so easy to grab a slim jim, some chips, and a soda for snacks when you're stopped at a gas station. I'm hoping to find some packaged veggies, light string cheese, and maybe even some hard boiled eggs at stops along the way. An omelet would be a good choice when we stop for food. I do need to do a little more research to find things that will be easy to get on the road trip. I have never dieted, so I'm excited for the challenge! Goodbye carbs, I will see you on the cruise! ;)

Life is good!

So Dave and I gave in and signed up for Gold's Gym. He has been going basically every day since we signed up. I did cardio and weights on Friday with Dave, Water Aerobics on Saturday, and more cardio on Sunday. I have been so sore! I think my body is just now recovering. We get free tanning too and I am definitely loving that part. We are going on a cruise in February and we will definitely be hitting the tanning bed....and the gym......hard core before the cruise. I'm also happy that it's fall and it's time to run outside!! I love fall and spring running in the cool breeze!

Excuses, excuses

So I haven't ran in over 3 weeks. I was only used to running about 4-6 miles at a time. For some reason I feel like it won't take me too long to get back to those 4-6 miles when I start back up again. Running doesn't intimidate me like it used to. Am I up in the night with this concept?
I have 11 credit hours this semester, plus full time work. I'm inky used to having about 8 or 9 credits. It has been very stressful and u find myself using my lunch breaks for homework rather than running. It's just kinda what I gotta do until I get a better groove going with scheduling everything I have on my plate. Will update again soon. Bye!

Jessie, meet peanut butter. Peanut butter, meet Jessie.

Wow. Where have I been? Have I been clogging my arteries with hydrogenated oils??? That's what my co-worker told me the other day when she brought me a gift of organic peanut butter. I am not one to look at labels. I don't like to know what I'm doing to my body or stress about calories. Now I feel like I'm dying slowly but surely from clogged arteries. Yuck. YUCK. I am happy though, knowing one of the main ingredients I depend on for strong running, is now something that's actually good for me. Here is a picture of what I did the moment my friend gave me the organic peanut butter...


This organic peanut butter was quite the experience for me at first. You know the old talk about peanut butter sticking to the top of your mouth and needing a full glass of milk to get through a pb&j?? Yeah, I never got it either. The peanut butter I was used to was never like that. Now I understand. Peanut butter, in its natural form, is totally sticky. Like I-can't-answer-the-phone-and-make-sense-sticky. I love it though. After I eat it I have like a peanut chunk here and peanut skin there. It's liker I'm eating real ground up peanuts. Strange, I know. So, the lesson to be learned from this post is to throw out your Jif, or anything else that has loads and loads of artery-clogging substances and switch to something natural or at least closer to natural. These days we think it's normal to eat corn that's been sitting in a tin can for 6 months. That is not normal. And not ok. Our fresh produce at the grocery store already has enough harmful chemicals in it without being stuffed in a can for a year.
Trust me, I'm no wiz when it comes to what is healthy and what is not but I do have pretty good common sense working for me. Here are some changes I have made in the past few years, food wise...
1. Margarine. So, I am not a fan of margarine but it is MUCH easier to deal with than cold butter when you're making a grilled cheese sandwich, garlic bread, etc. Now instead of using pure margarine when I do use it, I use Brummel and Brown made with yogurt.


2. Cheese. I figure with cheese, the more convenient it is, the more processed it is. I'm talking about pre-cut slices, grated cheese, etc. I always buy a big old block of cheese and when I need grated cheese, I do what we did back in the good old days.......I GRATE IT! Imagine that!

Vs.

3. Oatmeal. My oatmeal is very important to me. I have oatmeal almost every morning for breakfast. Instead of taking the cheater route with the quick oats, I always get the old-fashioned Quaker Oats. I should probably go with the steel cut oats, but at least I'm not getting the quick one-minute oats.

4. Wheat bread. White bread is of the devil. There aren't many nutrients in it at all. I don't even feel very good after I eat it because it's just yucky. With so many people on a 'health craze' and switching to wheat bread, there's a lot of fake wheat bread out there too. When you pick out bread, you should pick one that has the first ingredient listed as whole wheat. This should also be the only flour mentioned in the ingredients. Look for bread that says '100% whole wheat.' This is my favorite bread (but usually a little too expensive for me, unless it happens to be on sale)...5. Rice. This is not real rice...
This is real rice...That is all.

6. Low fat. Low fat can also mean 'more chemicals' or 'more processed' or 'more un-natural.' I don't go for things just because they say low fat. I actually try to steer away from these things. They usually only have less fat in them because they have chemically altered it just so they could claim there was less fat in it. So, itt is harming your body in other ways rather than fat. For example, ice cream. I love me some ice cream. When I pick it out though, I get regular. Then I don't have two bowls in one sitting. The rule is to control your portion size. Just because you got low-fat or fat-free ice cream doesn't mean you can eat as much as you want and not gain weight from it. Confusing, I know ;)

WTF? The low fat Fat Boy. Wow. If this doesn't show why American's are obese....I don't know what does. Ok, that's all for me now. I hope my non-expertise helps give someone some insight on smarter grocery shopping.

Finals Week- yuck!!

So last week was finals week. I feel like I'm cussing when I say the words 'finals week.' It was pretty bad. I was stressed all week, cramming. I don't feel very good about how they went either. Oh well. I don't think I'll have to take anything twice. That's what counts, right?? Ha ha. Ok ok, that's not all that counts. I do want good grades. Anywho, what does this have to do with running you ask? Well, I put off running all week because I was studying every free minute I had. I haven't run in about a week and a half. No good! I did do Yoga yesterday though, and golfed. Oh, and did a river run with Dave and some friends. It was so fun. I'm not sure if my abs hurt from all the laughing or from the physical exertion. I will be back to the gym tomorrow though. Yay!
I just found out there is a mini-tri that you can do called a novice. It is only like a mile and a half run. This is much more likely to actually happen with my school schedule. Sweetness!

Back on the band wagon....sort of

I am back to running after running Ragnar. Yay!! My ultimate goal is to get back to running every M W F but lately I have been doing M W and pooping out by Friday. I have been doing 4 miles in 37 minutes. 9 minute miles. Hey, I'll take it. It feels good to see this on the treadmill when I'm done running...
I might be a wuss but running outside is a no-go for me right now. It is just way too hot. I'm hoping it will cool down by the end of August but it seems like we are having longer winters and longer summers the past couple years, so who knows when it will start cooling down. I'm not complaining though, I have been thoroughly enjoying my time at the pool, the lake, and the golf course. I have been swimming laps at my chiro's request. I have tense muscles between my neck and shoulder and he says swimming will help loosen those muscles. This weekend I am going to the lake with my family to soak up the sun.
As far as running goals go right now, I have another mud run in September that I'm hoping I can find someone to do it with me. It was so much fun last year! Here is our team picture from the finish line last year...We were disgustingly muddy. i love it! Running 6 miles through swamps with mud squishing around in your shoes is quite the experience. The next running goal is a half marathon. My friend Katie and I want to meet up in TX to run a half next spring. I am way excited and I hope it happens!!
I'm going to say it.......once you say something it officially makes it a challenge you take on with yourself. Here it goes........I want to do a mini triathlon. I remember being nervous to say i was thinking about Ragnar. Now I'm nervous to say I'm thinking about a mini tri. This will be especially difficult because it takes some intense training. You not only have to train in the three areas of running, swimming, and biking but you have to train the transitions from one to the other. I have heard that's the hard part. When you are biking intensely, your muscles are so focused and working so hard then all of the sudden you want them to run and use different muscles and they are sitting there going "WTF??" Then throw in the swimming. I do need a bike first but I think I can just borrow one from someone. A mini tri isn't all that long so you don't HAVE to have a bike that fits you perfectly. I might just borrow my mom's mountain bike for it. Anyways, I am busy with work and summer school right now and adding 11 credits for school in the fall so I think it will be a while until I have time to train for it. It's definitely something I have been thinking about a lot though. Ok, well wish me luck on my run today! TTYL! =D

I love food!

I keep putting off posting on this blog because I planned to do a Ragnar post. I wanted to post pictures and tell everyone all about Ragnar and why they should do it. I haven't been able to get the pictures off my camera. I don't know where the cord is and I can't find my memory card converter. Oh, my life is so hard! Lol. It's really not. I just haven't made it to Wally World for a new converter. So.....let me just tell you that ragnar was AMAZING! I shouldn't have been scared at all. So silly. So the most I had ran before Ragnar was probably 6.5 miles. My three legs for Ragnar were 3.4m, 7m, and 6m. My first run was hard because it was super hot. The second wasn't too bad, but super long! It was in the dark so I had a head lamp on and just jammed out to my music. The moon looked amazing that night, so that made it more enjoyable. I have a funny confession. My favorite song that came on while I was doing my night run was Don't Take it Personal by Monica. It's an old song but I was seriously lovin it. You need to YouTube it. My third run was the next morning at about 9am after having about 45 minutes of sleep. I think that's what made this one so hard. It got pretty hot towards the end of it too. I made it though and I cried a little when I finished. I felt so good about what I had accomplished plus I was exhausted so I got a little emotional. The girls who were in my van were just so much fun. We dressed up like Snooki from the Jersey Shore. The first day, we all had Snooki 'poofs'. Lol it was hilarious. It was so cool to see how everything worked out. I think hearing about how it would all work was just a little overwhelming so I didn't really understand the logistics of it all. The worst part was not sleeping, the second worst part was that our SUV was so packed with everyone's shiz that there wasn't much room at all to try and nap. There was much more to it than I have time to write about but pretty much it was amazing and I hope to be able to do it again next year. It is already sold out but I'm hoping that someone will need a runner for their team before then. My best friend Katie and I are also planning to do our first half marathon in Texas in March. Yikes!!

It may be sad, but one of the things I'm most excited about in life right now is food. I don't have any on-campus classes this semester, only online ones, so I have had a little more time to try out recipes. One of my new favorite bloggers is The Peanut Butter Runner. She loves food too and has tons of recipes that I am totally digging so far. She also blogs about fitness. I tried her Incredulada Enchiladas two weeks ago...

They were soooooo good! I had never made enchiladas before. I wasn't ever the biggest fan of them. But these were mmm mmm good! I got ingredients two nights ago to make Bacon Ranch Potato Salad and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars. I'm so excited! I will have to post pics and let you know how they turned out. Oh, one more recipe from her site...Yesterday I tried, for my first time, The Green Monster. I love it! You can't taste the spinach, and it is so good for you!

I have been looking for a long time now for something I could have in the morning besides oatmeal or Cheerios that would give me energy and keep me full for more than an hour. I finally found something to help mix it up! I was getting so sick of my everyday breakfast. Blah. Green Monster, try it! Thanks so much for introducing me to this great blogger, Katie!

I'm always careful what I eat the morning before a run. I can always tell if I ate something I shouldn't have (candy, a donut, etc.) while I'm running. I am running today on my lunch break and I'm totally pumped about it. This morning I had a Green Monster, an apple, and just now I ate the awesome pre-run snack...

Avocado, cheese, and some Kashi crackers. One of my favorite running snacks. I always also have a banana and peanut butter about an hour and 15 minutes before my run. This is only my second run in the past three weeks. I have been slacking since Ragnar!! It's hard because my next race isn't until September (The Dirty Dash) so I feel like I can slack off on running, but I shouldn't!!! Anywho, I will try to get some Ragnar pictures up soon! I hope my post didn't make anyone too hungry! =P