Day 2 of #RunWithKara

We were up bright and early to go check out a house this morning.

I took a couple of pictures of the outside, but my phone apparently decided that I didn't need those anymore, because I can't find them anywhere. I was too distracted by the maze-like layout, low ceilings and slanted floors to take pictures of the inside.

Not a contender. Which is a bummer, because the location was good and the outside looked really cute.

After that disappointing house, we went back for another look at one of the houses that we've checked out a couple of times.

Tom did some exploring in the yard and discovered grape vines absolutely everywhere. Apparently, the owners used to make wine in the garage.

We really like that house (obviously, since we keep going back to look at it). It needs some work, and a kitchen, but it's a definite possibility.

I got another run in toward my marathon challenge. It was later in the day than I usually do a run outside, but since treadmill miles don't count, I headed for the trails.

It was chilly out and I actually started out with an extra layer on, but by the time I hit mile 3 I had to lose it. I can't even remember the last time I tied a sweatshirt around my waist. Fortunately, it was lightweight so it didn't bug me too much.

I'm up to 13.1 miles - halfway through the challenge and halfway through the miles!

Tom has been cooking up a storm lately, which is awesome.

Last night we had chicken, butternut squash (with bacon crumbled in), and roasted cabbage. We ate an obscene amount of squash and I ate it too quickly to take a picture.

The other night it was shrimp scampi with spaghetti squash and kale.

And this chocolate mug cake made with almond flour - which we covered in cookie butter. That's healthy, right?

Tonight is sweet potatoes, cod, and asparagus.

Excuse me while I go eat some more. :)

I can't feel my face

The other day on a whim I signed up for Kara Goucher's Marathon Challenge on Strava. The idea is to run 26.2 miles between today (10/30) and Sunday (11/2) in honor of the NYC marathon this weekend.

Since I have no training plan right now, I figured I shouldn't turn down a chance for some extra motivation.

Then I was really disappointed to learn that treadmill miles don't count.

Then I was happy that the challenge made me go outside, because it was a beautiful day, and we probably don't have too many more of those in the near future.

I roamed the Rockefeller Preserve for 6.5 miles and tried not to die on the rocks that were hidden by leaves. A lot of my favorite trails are side trails that aren't maintained as well as the carriage trails (because the Rockefellers still have horse-drawn carriages that they try to run us peasants over with), so they were a little tricky. The leaves covered rocks and sticks and made things a bit slippery. They also made it feel like I was doing high-knees.

I tried to stick to the main trails after a while, high knees are exhausting.

Then I was off to deal with the dentist and get my floss-damaged tooth fixed. Fortunately, it was small enough that they just had to do a filling and not a crown. As an added bonus, the rest of my x-rays looked good. They did force me to make an appointment to go back for a cleaning though. I hear that's good for you.

This is what happened when I tried to smile when I got back to my car.

I still can't feel my face.

New treadmill spot

I spent the morning on the phone, not one of my favorite things. It took calls to three dentists and two calls to my insurance company, but I finally got an appointment to get my chipped tooth looked at. One dentist didn't have any openings until February! Ridiculous.

It's been a long time since I went to the dentist, so I'm not looking forward to it.

We moved my treadmill to the unfinished part of the basement to make the theater room look bigger/cleaner when people come to look at the house. Fortunately, we had an extra tv laying around, so Tom built a shelf and set it up for me this morning. This way I still have Netflix. The treadmill with no entertainment would be a lot less pleasant.

I am so spoiled.

It was such a good run today, too! 5 miles at a nice pace (8:55/mi average) and feeling awesome. Other than when I'm doing planned speedwork, I almost always end up doing progression runs on the treadmill. I start off fairly slow to warm up and gradually bump up the speed as I go along. It keeps me entertained, and it also keeps me from zoning out and falling off the back (this hasn't happened yet, but there have been some close calls).

We have been trying to eat less junk food lately (mostly Tom, pesky good influence). We are usually pretty good, but may have acquired some excessive ice cream and cookie habits recently. :)

We had this fancy spread for dinner last night (and lunch today):

Broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas, carrots, cheese, sausages, tzatziki, hummus, and sriracha to make the hummus extra tasty. Snack-a-thon!

If you ever need doggie snuggles you just need to come sit on my floor. Buddy will help you out.

Pile on the Miles, a new app, and the dangers of flossing

Before I forget, I wanted to make sure you knew about RunEatRepeat's Pile on the Miles challenge for November. It's all about being active and staying active during the holiday season. You can set any fitness goal you want for yourself (my goal is to run 80 miles in November), and you can win some cool prizes!

Check it out HERE

I was weirdly productive around the house today.

I finished a crazy-boring online defensive driving course. In NY you can get a discount on your insurance (for 3 years!) if you take the course.

While I was on hold for the dentist (story below), I dusted around the house and cleaned the coffee table. We're trying to keep the house mostly clean so we don't have to clean like mad when people set up appointments to come see it.

I actually did yoga again! I felt less like a robot and my muscles were already less shaky than they were on Sunday - success!

I'm trying out a new (to me) app. It's called 30 Days and it sets up fitness challenges for you. There are a bunch of different options - I'm doing the push-up challenge and the plank challenge.

It has you do a starting test to see how many or how long you can do a particular exercise and then builds your challenge off of that. It has rest days built in too. I'm only on day 3, but I like having a set plan and a way to keep myself accountable. Otherwise I just sit on the couch and think about how I should probably do a plank or something. :)

And now, I have a mildly gross tooth story for you, so if that's not your thing, go ahead and stop reading now.

Last night I was about halfway through flossing my teeth when the floss got stuck. I was using one of those floss pick things, so the only option was up and out (I realized this morning that I probably could have tried to cut the floss, but I didn't think about it at the time). A minute of tugging later, the floss was free...and so was a chip off my tooth.

It might have been a filling (I don't remember where they are), or maybe I crunched too hard on a popcorn kernel, but either way, there's a chip out of one of my molars. On the bright side, it doesn't hurt and it isn't sensitive (to hot/cold) at all.

Sooooo I'll be going to the dentist soon. Hopefully it isn't anything terribly painful and expensive. Fingers crossed!

There's no pleasing me

I know I'm not terribly flexible. All running and no stretching will do that to a person. But I was a little surprised to find that a half hour of yoga made my half marathon killing leg muscles shake.

Turns out running fitness doesn't carry over to yoga.

I found some yoga workouts on Runners World that actually seem pretty basic. Most of the time I have tried yoga, it starts out easy and then suddenly the instructor is bent into some kind of impossible pretzel shape and I don't want to play anymore.

My new weekly workout plan has 3 days of either strength work or yoga, so I'm interested to see how I will feel with cross training in the mix. I hear it's good for you ;)

The guys and I went to the park this afternoon. Tom and Buddy walked around while I ran. I alternated between feeling awesome and wanting to stop. I'm not back to where I was before the race, and it's frustrating. I've been here before though, so I know I just need to suck it up, get my miles in, and I'll be feeling stronger soon.

Tell me I'm not the only one who instantly plugs my Garmin in to pick apart my run when I get home.

I have been trying to decide if I want to cut my hair. It's been driving me insane lately. My usual pattern is to let it get really long and then I get it chopped off to about my chin. And then I love it. For a day or two. And then I want it long again. 

There's no pleasing me.

I couldn't find Buddy earlier.

He was following the sun and found a spot in the bedroom.

Crazy, sun-obsessed dog.

Apple Toffee Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe

I was inspired by Janae's apple dip the other day and decided to make cookies this morning.

Apple Toffee Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Adapted from THIS RECIPE

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins
1 granny smith apple, peeled and diced
1 cup Heath toffee bits

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. 

Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. 

Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats, raisins, apple and toffee bits; wish you had a bigger bowl; mix well. 

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. 

I had to experiment with bake time a little. The original recipe says 8-10 minutes, but mine ended up taking around 15 minutes per tray. I think it's because of the extra stuff I added, but it could also be that I made my cookies a little bigger because they're better that way. :)

And now we have way too many cookies for two people. 

There are worse things.

I hope your Sunday is off to a good start!

Back at it

I haven't had an alarm set for a while. 6:45 was really early this morning.

Cold and early.

And whiny.

Mostly, I was whiny.

But then I got my butt out the door and met up with the group. It was a smaller group than usual with the Marine Corps Marathon this weekend and the NYC Marathon next weekend. A lot of people are doing one or the other, so we only had about 8 runners today.

It wasn't an amazing run. I felt slow and got a stitch in my side, but I did it. Sometimes I have a hard time getting back to working out after big races.

I also sort of put together a workout plan for the week. We'll see if I stick to it and I'll let you know how it goes.

Buddy will lay/stand in some of the weirdest ways just so he can be in the sunshine.

Now that my Mom vacation is over it's time to start thinking about work again. I hate being between jobs, but I definitely needed a change. Decisions are not my strong suit.

Happy Birthday Tiny!

Today is Tiny's Birthday!

Happy birthday to my partner in crime - it's a lot harder to cause trouble when we live so far apart! I miss you - come see me!

Today was also the last day of Mom's visit - boo!

We had our first showing of the house - yay!

We got to relax for most of the morning and then did a quick clean/vacuum.

All four of us (Mom, Tom, Buddy and me) piled into my car and went for a walk around Rockefeller Preserve while strangers wandered around our house.

The guys are so cute.

Luckily the weather was much better today, so we had a nice walk.

Buddy was a little tired when we got home.

Then we had to take Mom to the airport. Did I mention - boo!

I have been pretty lazy since my race/while my mom was here. It was really nice. Tomorrow I'm back to my usual Saturday morning group run.

Since I don't have another race coming up and am training plan free (a place I don't really like to be), I'm going to work on my own plan. I may even work some cross-training in there somewhere. We'll see...

Rainy day in NYC

We finally got our act together and did some of the things we have been talking about doing. It's about time too, because Mom is leaving tomorrow night. 

Yesterday we went to the Captain Lawrence brewery for a few samples.

We also got a couple of growlers filled to go with our dinner.

This morning we convinced Mom that she couldn't come all the way from Alaska and not go into NYC, and took the train into the city.

She liked the train ride.

We had lunch at Lombardi's.

 And Tom taught Mom how to correctly eat NY pizza (for those not in the know - fold it!).

We stopped by the 9/11 Memorial, which is beautiful and extremely sad at the same time.

And checked out One World Trade, which disappeared into the clouds.

Our last stop was the Holiday Shops at Bryant Park. They just opened this week, so we had perfect timing!

We had fun looking through the shops, and I got the waffle I was thinking about all day. If you go to the Holiday Shops, look for the Wafels & Dinges cart and get a Liège waffle. Tom and I get ours plain, but they have all kinds of toppings you can get too. 

So good!

After the waffle Holiday Shops, we walked back to Grand Central for the train home.

As a continuation of our super healthy eats for the day, dinner is going to be Chinese takeout. What? We're on vacation or something. ;)

Have you been to NYC? Do you like big cities?

Buddy's sad eyes and a new race photo

This is pretty much how I start every morning.

He just sits there while I make coffee and practices his sad eyes until I fill his food dish.

My mom pretty much only gets her hair cut when she's visiting me. We are both pretty laid back/lazy about our hair (I haven't gotten mine cut since about March...of 2013).

So this morning we walked to our little downtown area for her appointment. I sat and looked properly disheveled - with hair that really needed washing - in their fancy lobby area while she got her hair cut.

I tried a little side braid action to try to make my hair a little more presentable.

I kept waiting for someone to suggest that I should also make an appointment, but they were much too polite for that :)

We had  to re-inflate Mom's air mattress last night (we had put it away for realtor pictures) - Buddy was his usual helpful self.

And did I mention we had shrimp tacos for dinner? I would eat them every day. For real.

And I got my official race photo from the finish line - I took a picture of it because I'm too lazy to scan it.