marathon training, Recipes, weekend wrap up

Running long, cooking slow, and Lily Trotter sock review!

Movin' it with Michelle

As most of you know, I had 19 miles on deck this weekend for my week 13 of marathon training.  While I normally prefer to run my short runs by myself, the thought of running 19 miles solo was not giving me peace of mind.  Add in the forecast of 50-60% chance of thunderstorms and you could say I was nearly dreading the miles.  I didn’t sleep hardly a wink Friday night, but had my rain poncho and gear all set.  I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and was out the door by 5:15.  The first few miles were VERY wet, and I was thankful for my poncho despite it’s lack of comfort.  If you read my mini recap on my FB page, you saw that I accidentally ‘dismissed’ my first 3 miles of running when I ‘paused’ to take off my poncho. Damn.  Thankfully I knew were I was and had just looked down at my watch.  Here we go with more runner’s brain math, ack, lol.

 

Soggy, yet smiling!
  
I was lucky enough to run into my friend Melissa around mile14!
 The miles ticked by, and something happened out there that even surprised ME.  I was…HAVING FUN out there, running between raindrops, enjoying the trails, and listening to music. I COULD run solo, no matter the mileage, and this made me smile.  It was liberating to be out there on my own, with claps of lightening in the distance to cheer me on.  And even when it started to POUR cats and dogs, I smiled.  I took cover briefly to fuel, but when I realized it wasn’t letting up I continued on for a good 3 miles in some pretty hard rain.  And I do believe, I was smiling from what I’m told from friends who saw me out on the trails that morning.  I felt/feel nearly renewed.  My legs hurt, my knee ached, and my ITB yelled at me the last few miles, but nothing was going to bring me down.  YAY for a good long run.

5-17longrun

I was contacted by Lily Trotters a couple months ago to try out their compression socks.  But I received the socks, on the very day of my daughter’s accident and honestly forgot about the review.  Saturday seemed to be the perfect day to try the socks out after my long run to aid in my recovery.  Here’s what I thought:

Loved em!!!
Loved em!!!
1. They were very easy to put on, unlike some other compression wear that you have to tug and pull to get on.

2. The colors were really fun, and I loved the polka dot print.

3. They were SOOO comfy, and I actually slept in them last night and woke up with happy legs.

All in all, I loved them and will use them in the future.  I am particular with my socks, but am hoping they will make sleeves too so I can run in them as well.

In my attempt to eat healthier and lose 10 lbs. I decided to make crock pot pork carnitas for dinner so I would have yummy left overs for lunches this week.

Pork Carnitas

Pork roast, boneless-pat dry and season with kosher salt and pepper

1 large red onion, roughly chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

3 small red chili peppers, chopped

The juice of 1 large orange, 3 small limes

Spice Rub

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tbsp. dried oregano

Drizzle the roast with extra virgin olive oil, and liberally apply the rub.  Place in your crock pot with the fat cap up, and add your onions, garlic, and peppers.  Drizzle over the juice of the oranges and limes, and cook on high for 4-6 hours, or low for 6-8 hours.  Remove the pork, and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.  Pull apart with two forks, and place in a bowl.

5-17porkcarnitasfork

Drain the liquid from the crock pot, and add the strained liquid back in to the pork to keep it nice and juicy!!  I served it over a salad of mixed greens with black beans, corn, and avocado.  No dressing needed, just drizzle a bit of the drained juice over the top!

Dinner is served!
Dinner is served!
Weekly mileage-27 miles, a few miles short but my knee is happier

Core fitness-6 days=600 sit-ups

Lb.’s lost-NONE…but I blame it on girlie crap this week.

Did you run long or race this weekend?  Have any good crock pot recipes you love?

Published by Movin' it with Michelle

My name is Michelle and I am a retired Air Force Master Sergeant. I have found a passion for running, cooking, writing, photography and all things that move my love for life! I've ran 3 full marathons, with a PR of 4:25, and 17 half marathons with a PR of 2:00:11 (yup-missed sub 2 by 11 seconds, lol). Thanks for joining me on my journey!

40 thoughts on “Running long, cooking slow, and Lily Trotter sock review!”

  1. I am going to agree with you and the concept of your blog – some of my band players were happy to read and learn about your running / marathon contest…way to go…

    The food you indicated – just healthy!

    bravo

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. My favorite alone time was running long distances along the trails.- just me and my thoughts. It’s pretty amazing! Now that I converted the hubby into a runner I don’t go solo as often but do love it when I do. Sounds like you had a great time. Enjoy training and good luck!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Great job! I love running alone, but I find that on the long training runs I need some backup from about mile 16 on. Usually my husband will join me for a couple of miles at that point. Thankfully, I’ve never had to run a huge miler in weather like you did, but if I ever do, I’ll be thinking of this post! 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  10. Nice job on your solo 19 miler! I usually rely on a group to push me. I know I can do the distance solo but I usually hold a faster pace with a group. I’ve been having a lot of success over the past two months running solo and pushing myself. I’ve taken pride in that same thing lately. I have a bunch of good shredded meat type crock pot meals and I usually serve them on a salad, cauliflower “fried rice”, or on a homemade paleo “wrap” (I don’t do gluten on a regular basis!). I’ll have to try your pork!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. Wow, sounds like you had an amazing long run out in the rain! It’s hard to not let the wet weather put a damper on things so that’s really impressive 🙂 It’s nice that you ran into a friend on the way.

    Like

    Reply

  17. Way to go Michelle! I’m so glad you enjoyed your solo run – you’re amazing and so strong!! You have some great places to run too 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.