Today I am linking up with Mar,Cynthia, and Courtney for my first Friday five link up! Please head over and check out their blogs!
I’m super excited!!!
Today’s topic is a day in the life…my life is pretty routine, so please bear with my monotony. The key to the excitement is that any deviation from my routine truly throws me off…ack! LOL
My alarm goes off promptly at 6:03 a.m. every week day for work. If my husband is in town, I allow myself 2 snoozes because I am only in charge of getting myself ready, and taking my oldest to school. After the second snooze, I roll out of bed and stumble to the bathroom. I put in my moisture eye drops (I have terribly dry eyes), turn on my curling iron and hot water (it takes several minutes to heat up) and then use the restroom. After which I get dressed quickly (my clothes are set out the night before-always), put on deodorant, brush my teeth and wash my face. I shower at night…Then it’s quick make up, throw my hair up and I’m ready to go. All in exactly 15 minutes flat.
Just can’t delete my MC audition alarm, lol
Next I grab my Starbucks refresher which has been my BFF since my insomnia resurfaced. I gave up most caffeine quite a while ago, but this has become a necessity to function. I like it because it’s cheaper than going to Starbucks, and has WAY less sugar/crap in it I’ve found. Here’s my favorite flavor!
Yes please and thanks!
My day then becomes rather boring. Monday through Friday, and every 5th weekend I am working. My job is foreign to most, but I supervise an Anatomic Pathology laboratory and although it’s not my life passion I have really grown to love the people and place I work.
My workouts depend on the day/my schedule. Normally Monday is rest/light weights, Tuesday/Thursday running, Friday light weights, and Saturday or Sunday are my long run days with the other day used for walking/rest. My youngest accompanied me on my 4 miler yesterday. It was sheer bliss seeing her smile from ear to ear and giggle for 1.2 miles.
Can someone BE any cuter? Talking about my youngest of course…lol
My evenings are normally filled with kids homework, chores, cooking, etc until about 8 p.m. where I shut down and allow myself time to blog, fb, do SOMETHING I enjoy. We deserve a little down time, right?!
LOL
So that’s my Friday fives!!! So excited to link up this week, and hope you enjoyed!!
What does your daily routine look like? Are you a planner? What do you do for enjoyment?
If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you know of my love hate relationship with the Treadmill. While yes, I am truly thankful I’ve had it for yet another winter in Chiberia, 99.9% of my runs on the ‘mill have been downright painful. But I won’t keep playing that broken record, because in all honesty I am tired of that tune as well.
Sorry y’all…lol
So tonight, as I walked out of work I had a well devised plan to pick up my youngest from after school care, my oldest from Badminton practice, and get home to change clothes QUICK and run outside. The temps were darn near perfect with the sun peaking through the fog and temps at a balmy 52 degrees. SCORE. And even though my hour commute home between the drive home from work and kid taxi’ing had a temperature drop – I was RUNNING OUTSIDE darn it.
A little sun would have made these conditions PERFECT!!!!
And so I did…I laced up my shoes, stepped out of the front door, and abruptly stopped. I hadn’t run OUTSIDE in nearly 4 months. Would I remember how to do this? I wasn’t sure…
The first mile was tough. My ankles hurt, my heels felt weird, darn it was my right shin acting up? I had to smack myself to shut up and I made my way around my neighborhood loop I have mapped out. The first mile was clocked in at a 9:06 mm. I stopped briefly to check my phone as I thought I heard it beep and wanted to make sure the kiddos were ok. As I turned I saw my hubby driving past me on his way home and he cheered me on. It was just what I needed!! The second and third mile were nearly effortless and I felt my legs get an extra spring in their step as I took off…It was just me, my music, my hood, and my miles…and suddenly I was reminded why I do this. Why I take so much time out of my life to train…because I LOVE the feeling you get when you are no longer running, and you begin to fly. My splits were 9:06, 9:11, 8:50 and 8:38 for the last tic. I feel like a new woman, honestly.
Sheer…bliss!
Today at work everyone kept asking me why I was smiling even more than I usually do…and I just smiled some more.
“I am running outside, tonight,” I said.
But I didn’t really run…I flew. And my soul is truly in a better place.
My take away is that although yes, my treadmill runs were tough this winter I truly believe they made me a stronger runner mentally. While I’ve always taken pride in my mental strength when it comes to distance running, that strength was tested over the last several months.
And I am happy to report…I passed!
How did you deal with less than optimal conditions when it comes to running? What is your favorite temperature to run in?
Here’s to week 4 of marathon training!!! Today is my rest day, but I walked a couple miles at work today. Our hallways our vast, and give plenty of room for some good leg stretching during breaks/while running errands. It all counts, right?
But I’ll admit. The first three weeks of marathon training I truly struggled to find my happy place ‘pace’ so to speak. Being forced to stay indoors has sucked the passion I have out of my feet and heart, and 95% of my runs have been forced because they were on my schedule. Other than my 10 miler with Janel, and a couple I better run or I’m going to pull my hair out because my teenage daughter is going to sass her way out the door runs, they’ve all pretty much sucked. I may or may not be going crazy…
pretty much…lol
Yet as I walked out of work this afternoon to the sun shining, the birds singing, the snow melting AND the temps at 52 degrees I swear I felt a tear well up in my eye. Although I couldn’t run today due to my youngest daughter having ballet, I knew tomorrow’s miles would be logged…wait for it…OUTSIDE. WINNING! Can you feel the giddiness (is that a word? well it is now!) in my voice? It’s been nearly 4 months since I’ve ran outside and I’m ready.I’m ready to get back on the streets of my hood, and the trails I love so much. I’m ready to run, and be able to run off a bad day or a fight, I’m ready to run towards greater goals and finish lines. I’m ready to run and have an outlet to let go of all the stuffs. Cuz Lord knows I have a lot of stuff. Running truly is my happy place besides the kitchen. It’s a place that no one can take away, control, or tarnish.
No matter how I look, I’m sure going to feel like THIS! Pic: veganstrong@blogspot.com
It’s mine…and I can’t wait to get back at it…It’s time. Running makes me a better me…
What is your greatest motivator when it comes to running/fitness? How are the temps where you live?
As most of you know, my mantra is ‘keep movin’ forward.’ I may not always succeed in this mantra, but I start each day anew with the same goal. To live each day to the fullest, and to live each day with positive energy.
But daylight savings time truly kicks my butt. There. I said it. I honestly can’t lose ANY MORE SLEEP. So this is a weekend I dread. Profusely. Profoundly. And all the other Pro words that I am probably misusing missing.
So what do you do when you dread something? You distract yourself, of course. I spent the weekend shopping, eating, spending time with my daughters, and today I got my hair done!!! WOOP WOOP! I also scored some new shoes for work, as well as a few shirts to welcome spring.
Where else can you get two awesome pairs of shoes for less than 50 bucks! Thanks, TJ Maxx!
My 8 year old got her ears pierced Friday….and is still smiling. I swear my face hurts from smiling because SHE is smiling so much. Yeah, life is good.
She’s still smiling. LOL
Other than a gazillion pushups and hours of shopping, I didn’t work out Saturday…but that’s ok, I can’t feel my arms. I made the mistake of posting this to my fb fan page. LOL!!!
My updated hair do! Feelin’ like a million bucks I must admit!!
Today was my sucktastic long run on the Dreadmill. I woke up late due to daylight savings (no surprise there), and all of the groups I knew that were running were probably sipping coffee as I poured myself out of bed at 8:30 am.
So this is all I had. And it was painful, let me tell you.
Miles are miles!
Last week I had 2 strength work outs, and 4 runs totaling 14 miles which ended the week 3 of marathon training strong.
I finished up the day with our traditional Sunday Supper. The hubby returned home tonight, tired, coming down with a cold and plain worn out. I hoped this would help recharge his batteries.
Baked Cod, twice baked spaghetti squash and Brussels sprouts with bacon wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese. YUM!! I’ll post the recipe soon!
Bacon makes everything better!!!Sunday Supper!
How was your weekend? Did you get any miles logged? What’s your favorite “re-charge” food?
Here are some things/stuffs I am loving/living this week.
1. First, and foremost. My Brooks Launch 2’s. I love them. They are like clouds on my feet and I wish I could sleep in them…ok….maybe a bit much but still.
Brooks Launch 2’s
2. I chew gum when I run. Some question folks who can talk and chew gum at the same time. I MUST run and chew gum at the same time or my cadence is completely OFF. Brand? Extra, of course. Orange or Watermelon are my go-to flavors.
3. As I near my 1 year anniversary at work, I find myself almost waiting for the other shoe to drop. I am so in love with my job (minus weekends, holidays, and the occasional snarky person) that I keep shaking my head. Every day is better. Every day I feel like I am making a difference with the best crew I’ve ever supervised. Someone. Pinch. ME. now.
4. Single parenting is tough. We’ve discussed this before. But sometimes we surprise ourselves and realize we CAN do it alone. Going on the better part of the month, alone and – WINNING.
I may have served 20 years, but I still have years to serve as a spouse.
5. Dreadmill runs are extremely difficult for me. But as I ran tonight my virtual RBFF texted me continually telling me I COULD do this. Thanks, Maria.
pretty much…
So at the end of the day, I am living, running, moving, and loving EVERY single step of my life.
We’re in week 3 of marathon training, and so far, so good…I’ve been using a modified version of Hal Higdon’s Novice 2 training plan and am admittedly happy that this weekend is a cut back week for my long run. His plans have a progression of miles for 2 weeks, and then a slight cut back on the 3rd week. This gives my weary legs time to rest which is exactly what this middle aged runner needs. My knees have been a bit achy this week, and I’ve yet to determine if it’s the weather, or just the increasing mileage. Regardless, I am thankful my long run is only 6 miles this weekend. I haven’t decided if I’ll go back to the track, or try and knock it out on my treadmill. We shall see!!!
Hal Higdon
Time:
I often hear people tell me that they don’t have time for this or that…”I don’t have time to run like you,” is probably the best one I’ve heard. We all have busy lives between work, family, maintaining a home etc. But it’s a choice we EACH make to MAKE time, or make excuses. I choose to make time for things that are important to ME. Running happens to be one of those things. I have no need for snarky comments on how I make the time, either. Thank you very much. 🙂
Trust:
This one is near and dear to me, as I don’t trust very many people with my heart. Be it friends, family or coworkers, the people I chose to spend my time with are held very dear to my heart. But sadly sometimes that trust is broken. And it hurts. The snarky comments from people when you’ve repeatedly given of yourself, well, hurts. I suppose no matter how hard you try, it never is enough for some. So be it, right? It’s all about movin’ forward. THAT is something I’ve got no TIME for. Ha!
Questions! Do you use a training plan? Do you hear snarky comments about how you make time for things, and if so how do you deal with them? What are you thoughts on trust, and forgiving past hurts repeatedly?
So after finishing my temper tantrum from the weekend, I decided this morning to pick myself up and start over today. Despite struggles, single parenting, and normal teenage drama I needed a clean slate. So here….we….go….
truth.
This morning I woke up on time, and allowed myself an extra snooze. I smiled as I cuddled my dog, and I took my time getting ready since I only had ONE child to tend to this morning. And it felt great. This is a new day.
Work was great, and I had time to organize and file a lot of paperwork that had been collecting dust on my desk. YAY to organizing, right?!
My hubby offered to take our youngest to ballet even though it’s something I normally do, stating, “You need a break.” He’s right… I do.
Can I get an Amen? Pic: veryfunnypics.eu
So I cooked the family dinner after work, and jumped at the chance to run. My legs are still very tight from Saturday, so it felt GREAT to stretch ’em out on the ‘mill. WAIT…did I say that out loud? A dready run that wasn’t so dreadful. Winning.
quick dready run that wasn’t so dready…
After my run, I ate dinner, showered, and have been sitting quietly at my computer working on the recipe section of my blog for about an hour and a half. Have you checked it out yet? It’s just a start, but I’d love for you to try some of my favorite recipes! You can check it out here! Feedback, comments, and ideas are always welcomed!
It felt great despite laundry duty to give myself a couple hours to do something JUST for me. Running. Writing. And cataloging recipes. Does it get better than that?
How do you spend your down time? Do you allow yourself time to just do YOUR thing at least once a week? If not, I highly recommend it. I tell ya what…my uninterrupted shower tonight was off. the. chain. LOL
Thanks, y’all! I look forward to hearing from you!
First off, I finished my second week of marathon training strong! My first 20 miler week is complete and I am quite pleased. A couple of the miles were walked, but the majority were spent running and I even finished my first double digit run of TEN miles on the indoor track in a neighboring suburb on Saturday. 8 laps equaled ONE mile, so yeah…you can imagine how this MIGHT have felt. But it went surprisingly fast mostly due to my awesome friend Janel providing me with great conversation as well as keeping track of the miles with a clicker. I set out for 8 miles, but felt so good I did an even 10 miles for the day. I don’t do a mid week long run, so often times add a mile or two to my weekend long run. All in all-WINNING. (My only set back for the week was missing my yoga work out, but I made sure to foam roll and stretch today to help with the soreness. I also took a 25 minute Epsom salt bath tonight to help ease my sore muscles).
Runner love right here!!
I came home to be informed that although my hubby had returned from his 3 weeks of travels just this past Friday, that he would be leaving again on Wednesday and suddenly my runners high was deflated. First I got mad, then I cried, and then I decided to just take a hot shower and try to move forward with my weekend.
As you all know, his travels are a bitter chip that resides more times than not on my shoulder. I wish I could kick this chip’s butt, but darn it the anger sure seems to win most times as I tackle the single parenting gig. Keep in mind I have a job too, kids that are in school/have activities to be taken too and a house that needs tending to…after a while, any normal person would break, right? Please say this is normal…lol
So this morning I awoke after FINALLY sleeping most of the night for almost 9 hours and I felt…better. It’s Sunday, and with Sundays in our house comes Sunday Supper. We decided to have a chopped challenge as well, and my 5 ingredients were:
Beef round roast
Tomatillos
Beets
Mangos
Mussels
So here’s what I came up with:
Appetizer
Mussels steamed in white wine, garlic and saffron with red pepper flakes served with a salad over tomatillo dressing.
For the tomatillo dressing, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, husk and rinse your tomatillos and quarter. Dice 1/4 onion, 2 cloves of garlic and add in the tomatillos. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Roast for about 45 minutes. Transfer to your food processor or blender, and liquefy the mixture. Strain for seeds, and set aside.
For the mussels, in a stock pot melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter and extra virgin olive oil, and add in 3 cloves of minced garlic, a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes and a pinch of saffron. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, and add in 3/4 cup of white wine, and a splash of water. Bring to a boil. Add in your previously cleaned mussels and cover the pot, shaking every minute or so. Cook for 4-6 minutes or until the mussels open. Pardon my spelling error…
This was…divine! .COM
Main course
Beet and chipotle pepper soup serve with braised beef.
First, season your roast with your favorite Mexican spices. I used cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Sear on all sides, and transfer to a crock pot or dutch oven. Add 2 cups of beef broth (unsalted), 1 cup of red wine, and a large onion that has been sliced. Let simmer for 2 hours.
Secondly, for your soup…
In a soup pot that has been preheated to medium high heat with extra virgin olive oil add:
1 onion-diced
3 cloves of garlic-minced
4 large beets, peeled and chopped
1 chipotle pepper with adobo sauce
Sauté for about 5-6 minutes until just tender
Add in 3-4 cups of unsalted beef stock and bring to a boil. In a separate cup, add a teaspoon of corn starch to cold water. Mix well, and keep the soup at a boil for a couple of minutes. Reduce to a simmer for about an hour.
Puree the soup, and just before serving add a couple of tablespoons of greek yogurt. Mix well, and serve! Don’t forget to check for seasoning! I sliced the beef thinly, and served with the soup!
Gosh, isn’t it pretty? ❤
Desert
First off. I don’t bake. I hate to measure, and baking makes my crazy. But I decided to use the mangos in a desert type style, trying to keep with my Mexican type theme of cooking.
I peeled and chopped the mangos, and added them to my food processor. I added in brown sugar, cinnamon, and a splash of water and mixed well. Set aside.
Take 2 sheets of puff pastry dough and roll out. Cut 8 circles out, spoon in the mixture, and pinch the edges tight. Crimp each tart with a fork, brush each tart with a fork and sprinkle some more brown sugar over the top. Back at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
In my defense I only half of one, and skipped the vanilla ice cream but YUM!
So at the end of the day, I’ve trained, I’ve cooked, and I’ve shed a few tears. But I’ve kept moving forward.
How was your weekend? Did you cook? Are you training for any races? How do YOU deal with stress?
Today I am linking up with Marcia’s Healthy Slice for some good ‘ole Runfessions! This is my first time participating, so sit back, and relax for my monthly confessional in regards to running and all it entails.
Winter has officially killed my love for running, temporarily I know, but enough to give me a heavy heart. No matter how blessed I SHOULD feel for having a treadmill and access to indoor running, I found myself in tears again last night after my 2.5 miler on the ‘mill. Why is it so hard for me to enjoy a good dready run? I’ll tell you…
Running is my escape from the real world. I wouldn’t say I am running away from life. On the contrary. I am running towards a better me. Because running outside allows me to clear my head, and leave the work stress, parental drama and chaos in general BEHIND me.
Yet when I am running in the basement of my own home, on a hamster wheel treadmill with the dog clawing at the basement door or perched happily on the couch staring at me the entire time, I find it hard to ‘let go’ of all my stressors. Oh, and the kids fighting upstairs usually can be heard around the block, so the basement is of little escape or solitude.
BUT…I keep reminding myself that despite the snow and sub zero temps in the 7-day forecast spring IS on it’s way…
Eventually…
RIGHT?!?!?!!
Oh…and my new Brooks Launch 2’s are the BOMB. They feel like I am running on clouds, and I can’t wait to take them for an 8 mile spin on the indoor track tomorrow with my friend Janel!! We haven’t ran together in ages, and this will be my first long run on the track! Wish me luck!!
What runfessions do you have this month? What is your longest run indoors?
My day started out like any other. My alarm went off just before 6 a.m. although I had been up since 3…WHY? I had terrible nightmares of being tortured and I kept trying to scream for help, yet my scream wouldn’t develop in to any sort of sound. So I kept trying to scream until I woke up in cold sweats and had to walk around the house for a few minutes to calm myself down. Where do these dreams come from? You just never know, I suppose. I maybe fell back asleep for a few minutes, but as I reached over to push the snooze button and peaked down the hall to my eldest daughter’s bathroom I realized she had overslept. Crap…there goes my 8 minutes of snoozing (like it really matters, right?). I got up, woke her up, and prodded down the hallway to wake up my youngest. She’s always smiles in the morning, but something was off today…I asked her several times if she was ok? “I’m fine, Mommy.” We got ready, had breakfast, and did the routine of drop offs as we’ve done for the last 3 weeks.
This…the happiest girl in the world even when she is sick.
And then I got the call from my neighbor who takes my youngest to the bus. She had developed a fever, had the chills, and I needed to come pick her up. I of course had just made my last turn before arriving to work. I pulled over, called the lab and my boss letting them know I needed to stay home. Thankfully I work with amazing and understanding people. So after my 30 minute commute back home, I picked up my youngest and we spent the day on the couch watching Disney movies. Her fever broke around noon and her appetite came back briefly. We settled back in to our movie watching with my worry alert brought back down to normal and I found myself daydreaming a lot, and thinking even more about this whole thing they call life.
Since retiring from the Air Force in 2011 after 20 years of service I have fought to search for my niche in life. I think I have found it between all my hobbies of running, writing, cooking and photography but still find myself just another 40+ year old woman that is trying to reestablish herself. We tend to lose ourselves in our kids, our marriages and our careers but what really makes US, well, US? Having had been through a lot in my life and overcoming more than can be even put in to words I created my FB page that stems from this blog. I have spent the last 2 1/2 years posting, reaching out to others to remind them they are #more and #worthsomuch and to always #keepmovinforward. It was MY way to give back to the world because I know…I know what it means to hear those words, read that story or hear that song that touches you RIGHT at the VERY MOMENT you need it to. I know.
But since the changes of FB algorithms my reach is down to nil, and the time I spend “talking” to others trying to inspire with my every day life has fallen on deaf ears. I’ve collected the data, studied the stats and compared the amount of time I spent posting anecdotes, quotes, work outs and recipes to my page. And WOW…the numbers are truly nuts. I will stand by the fact that if I can touch ONE life, help ONE person, my goal is complete. But I can’t do this when FB hides the posts of everyone who refuses to pay to promote. Out of nearly 11k followers on FB, I am lucky to ‘reach’ even just 100 people. And this number continues to decline.
Yet for the better part of 2 1/2 years I didn’t blink an eye at getting up early to post something to start people’s days, another lunch time post normally and after work I would try and motivate with my work outs or an inspirational post. At the end of the day there would be a real life adventure, or a truth post, and I would bid everyone goodnight. And it made me happy, every, single, day to reach people.
Pic credit: Pinterest
But with the changes, I can’t keep spending that much time in a venue that doesn’t value my posts ‘worthy’ of being seen. So tonight I posted my last longish truth post letting everyone know I was still there, but that they can find me here. I have a lot to offer, I think…I believe. I just have to find the right outlet. I just want to help people…I want to be that voice that says, YOU CAN. Don’t give up.
So I’ll be blogging more, and FB’ing a lot less…because I know I have things to say and share.
Here’s my day in photos….Thanks for being here, y’all.
For dinner, shrimp over romaine hearts, avocado, cucumbers, radishes and cherry tomatoes!1:3 interval training, ran one minute hard, 3 at a steady pace for 21 minutes.
Movin' it with Michelle 