Trail mentality

I learned something interesting about myself yesterday: when I run on the road, I expect to run quickly, but when I run on a trail, I expect to relax the pace and enjoy my surroundings. I went on my first big group trail run yesterday and I realized that my "trails are for relaxing!" mentality is not a shared principle. The good news is that I got a really good workout trying to keep up and the dog just about died and went to doggy heaven. The only thing she likes more than trail running is trail running at a fast pace.

My first love is DIGGING!!

The trail run I did is called a "Pub run" because everyone meets at a pub and after the runners can get a beer. I don't know about you, but I can barely handle drinking a whole beer by myself when I haven't just run, so I'm in awe of people who can run and then drink and not pass out. They have it every week, but I can never make it because it starts at 4pm and my husband doesn't get home from work until 5pm and I can't take Faith in her stroller on the trails.

I could never hack it in a hash run

I remembered why I hate running with the dog sometimes: she pulls me right through stream crossings instead of letting me use the stones to step over. Other than that, Peanut is a great trail runner and can definitely out run me. She only protested when I wanted to walk up this one muddy hill. Did I mention that I was the only one who holds a strong belief in walking non-paved hills? I need to convert more people. Sure, we only ran 6 miles, but we need to practice the walking anyway just in case it turned into a 16 mile run. :)

I finished up 6.38 miles in just under 59 minutes (9:14 min average pace), which is a pretty good pace for trails. We did finish up on pavement, but it was super hilly. I was reminded why I generally avoid that section of Leonardtown. Yes, I am that lazy.

Mommy, I won't let you be lazy at home, I promise.

I don't know how afternoon/night runners do it. After a 4pm run, I was ready to come home, shower, stuff my face, and then pass out. There is no way I was going to be productive at all and it's a good thing we still had leftovers from Christmas dinner because there was no way I was going to cook!


Could you drink a beer right after running or are you a lightweight like me?


Are you a morning or evening runner?

Vacation is exhausting

As I mentioned earlier, my husband is off all this week from work. We're enjoying this time off, but my husband's idea of time off involves a lot more chores than my idea of time off. Don't worry, I'm not doing any chores, but it's exhausting watching him do all that work.

Daddy, this isn't level.

I make sure to interrupt my husband at least once a day and force him to take a break from his self-imposed "to do" list so I can go for a run. Aren't I a nice wife? Yesterday I was feeling really unmotivated for a run, but the dog really needed to get out and stretch her legs. She's gained a little holiday padding around her middle, but it's nothing that some runs and more careful measuring of her food can't fix. She gains weight so easily, I'd feel bad for her if she didn't have the sweetest life ever.

I can't believe you let that kid on MY couch

I stuck to the gravel roads in the woods since Peanut isn't a fan of cars, so we did 7.5 miles on mostly gravel and mud. Today I'm doing a trail run in the afternoon with the running club, so I'll get a chance to play in more mud. I'll bring Peanut for that too because I need to protect my image as the crazy dog lady in the running club.

I had three big rib bones leftover from our Christmas rib roast, so I decided to make french onion soup even though I have never made it before. I made the stock while I went out for the soup ingredients. My recipe said it would take an hour to make. Wrong. 3 hours later, we had a tasty soup, but I'm exhausted. So much stirring. :)

I feel like it should look fancier for the time it took to make

Expensive cheeeeeeese

This dish also required that I pick up a bottle of wine. I don't know wine, so I asked my husband for what type of red wine to get. He asked that I get this kind:

This was our Christmas wine too. Yes, seriously.

I couldn't find it in the stupid liquor store and I had to go up to the old Indian guy working the counter, while holding a squirmy toddler, and ask him where I could find "Menage a Trois". Yeah, that's not humiliating at all.

At least the french onion soup turned out really well and made all the hassle worthwhile and my husband was impressed with my culinary talents. This should balance out all those nights that I serve him frozen pizza, right?



When was the last time you were embarrassed by a purchase in a store? 

When Monkeys Fly

When I posted this picture yesterday:

I'm a high impact baby

I forgot to add why Faith got a helmet for Christmas. Behold the wonder of her shiny new tricycle!

Every kid needs a shiny red Schwinn!

So far her favorite part is ringing the bell, but she's already putting her feet on the pedals, so it won't be long before she figures the whole thing out. I just need to train her to have enough stamina to go for four miles so I can run next to her instead of pushing her in the stroller. #unrealisticdreams

Faith spoiled us yesterday by sleeping in until 7:45am, which was awesome until I realized that my dreams to run outside and stay dry were time dependent. My husband looked at the weather radar (he's such a radar junkie) and told me that a huge band of rain was close and there was freezing rain and heavy winds in that mix too. I still wanted to run outside, so I dressed for rain and headed right out. It was drizzling when I left and then it stopped. By mile 2, I was dying of heat in my Marmot rain jacket, but I didn't want to drop it because it wasn't cheap and I thought I'd need it soon. Before I had left, my husband said my chances of not getting rained on was the same as monkeys flying out of his ass, and I foolishly believed him. I sweat so much in that rain coat (even with just a short sleeve shirt under) that when I put my arms down, sweat poured out of the sleeves. I finished up 9 miles at an 8:46 average pace and it didn't rain at all during my run. When I got home, I had to ask my husband if he was having a hard time sitting on the couch with the monkeys flying out of his ass.

Even though I roasted in my jacket, it was still better than a treadmill run and it did start pouring rain soon after I got home. My husband had grad school work to do, so Faith and I hung out and practiced our animal noises.





Her owl noises crack me up every time. Also, I read that book at least 8 times a day and it bugs me every time that they have pictures of frogs and they say "Croak, croak". In my world, frogs say "Ribbit, ribbit" and toads say "Croak, croak". This is what happens when I repeatedly read a kid's book and start over-thinking it. I even thought about emailing the publisher, but decided to just tell Faith that those are water loving toads and that's why they say "Croak, croak". I just hope animal noises aren't on the SAT test in the future. :)


What's your favorite animal noise to make? If you know this off the top of your head, you're probably a toddler parent. I'm a big fan of a sheep "BAAAAA"

First things first

Even though Christmas is over, I'm still in vacation mode because my husband has off all this week. When he's home to take over some of the endless reading of the "Animal Noises" book, it's like a vacation for me.

Since I haven't blogged for a few days, let's start with the first things first: The Idiot's Half Marathon!

On Christmas Eve morning, I got up early and had the breakfast of champions:

Seriously

Don't worry, I had cold cheese sticks and a Coke too to round it out.

I drove over to Solomon's Island to meet up with some other people to run 10 miles before a small 5K. It was drizzling rain at the start of our run and really cold, but after about 4 miles, I was toasty and thought about dropping a layer. Then the wind really picked up and I was glad I hadn't done that, and the wind got even worse and no one could talk over the wind. We cut it close, but we made it back just in time for the start of the 5K. It was a very small casual 5K, so casual in fact that you could basically run whatever distance you wanted (one person ran a 2.38 mile race). I decided to stick with the 5K even though they had a 4 mile option, but that was a good choice because that meant I had great doughnut variety to choose from after the race. I ran the 5K in 24:33, which made my overall half marathon time 1:51:58 (8:32 average).

After I had stuffed my face with a doughnut and some homemade cookies, I got to pick out my awesome race prize from a table full of delightfully random items. I couldn't resist taking this one:

Mommy, why can't you get a normal trophy?

He's got his eye on you...and you over there too

The rest of Christmas Eve was full of family arriving at our house, church and then a big dinner. Faith really enjoyed her Christmas dress, but it was hard to get a picture. My father-in-law tried to wave at her to get her to look at the camera, but that backfired when she wanted to wave back:

The "Thriller" dance moves are actually very festive

Christmas day was pretty laid back and Faith had a ton of fun opening her presents. Her favorite ones were the ones that she could wear:

Does this make my head look big?

I squeezed in a quick 4 mile run on Christmas morning because the dog was being a pain in the butt. She gets too excited when we have guests, so taking her on a run really helps her chill out and stop getting in trouble.

I need my runner's high to be a good dog

I took today off from running because I covered 59 miles last week and I needed a rest day. I took a true rest day and took a nap during Faith's nap time. :) I'm excited for running this week since I don't have to run with the stroller if I don't want to and I don't have to run on the treadmill either. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, but I think the strong wind is going to stick around all week. Running against a strong wind is resistance training, right?

These boots were made for running, let's go Mommy!

How do you deal with running in strong wind?

I try to find a route that has trees to break the wind, but near my house I'm pretty screwed because it's mostly farmland next to the water and there is nothing to break the wind. I deal with it by complaining mostly. :)

Faith's Christmas 2011

"Idiot" is the Key Word

As I have said many times, the two key things you need to run an ultra marathon are stupidity and stubbornness, which is really good because I have both things in large quantities. This is why when I got an email inviting me to run "The Idiot's Half" tomorrow morning, I didn't even hesitate to agree to join. "Oh, you need to be an idiot to run this? You had me at idiot".

An Idiot's Guide to Running

It's actually not that idiotic because it's pretty warm here this week, but the basic idea is that a group of crazy people meet really early on a December morning and run 10 miles to finish just in time to run a 5K. This 13 mile run will actually be my longest run since the JFK 50 last month. I've been maintaining about 45 miles a week since the race (with the exception of the week after), but I haven't done a "long" run yet. I'm not training for anything specific at this point, so I haven't felt the need to squeeze in a long run just for giggles. Unless you called it an Idiot's Run, then I'd be game.

Speaking of running like an idiot, I had a fun experience on my run yesterday. To run with the stroller, I have to stick to this quiet country road that has almost no traffic. This is a farm road and for some reason, now that the crops are gone, the fields are always filled with birds. Faith likes to look at the birds and they never bother me, even though Alfred Hitchcock has fostered in me a deep distrust for birds. As I was running, I felt something on my knee (I was wearing shorts because it was 60) and I thought it was a huge beetle. I freaked out and started screaming "GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!!" and wildly slapping at the beetle. As I smacked it, I realized "Hey, beetles aren't normally this squishy" and quickly came to the realization that it was poop, not a bug, and now that poop was all over my hand too.

The biggest perk of running with a stroller is that you are basically running with a bag of supplies, so I had baby wipes to clean myself up. Even with the wipes, I was really grossed out and this isn't helping my opinion of sea gulls (rats of the air!). Twitter folks told me that it's good luck to get pooped on by a bird, so I need to buy a lotto ticket. Also, my email telling my husband about the bird poop pretty much made his day and he only wished it had happened to my "Badass" pants to make it more perfect.

When we got back (and after I showered), Faith helped me feel better about the poop by giving me a baby hug:

When Mommy thought it was a bug, it was hilarious

I hope everyone is having safe holiday travels!


Would you ever consider an "Idiot's Half Marathon"? 

Layers like an Onion

From reading this blog, you might think that I've always been a runner or that I'm naturally a runner. That's not true and I thought it would be fun to look back at what I used to do for a hobbies:

My first love was tap dancing. I took all the varieties of dance classes (ballet, lyrical, etc), but I loved tap the most. I even took a tap class in college to get my fine arts credit and I still enjoy the memory of how proud the teacher was of her "teaching skills" with me in her beginner's class (shhhh, don't tell).

Not my feet, but I had those same shoes.

I abandoned dance all together when I discovered horses.

One day, this will be mine

Once I started riding, it was all I wanted to do. Even now, if I was given a chance to have a horse of my own but I had to give up running, I'd do it in a heart beat. Sorry running, you just aren't the same.

I rode horses for years and mainly focused on hunter/jumper stuff, with some dabbling in dressage. If you don't know what dressage is, it's basically beautiful ballet done on a horse.

I love any excuse to wear a top hat

After the first year of college, I pretty much stopped riding because it was expensive and it took a huge chunk of time (since I had to drive a long way to the stables). I always planned on picking it up again one day. Currently, I'm just trying to condition Faith to love horses so we have to buy her a horse (that I will of course ride, to help her out). No ponies for us, I have ridden plenty and they just have way too much attitude in a little package. I'd rather Faith learn how to ride on a quiet horse than a spunky "Bite you when you're not looking" cute pony.

Yeah, just try to pet me.

Without horses, I needed a new hobby and I had been taking a kickboxing class at a Gold's Gym and the instructor (who was a black belt in Tae Kwon Do) talked me into trying out a Tae Kwon Do (TKD) class. I tried it out and I discovered that I really liked hitting stuff and I soon found myself at the TKD school most days of the week. My first TKD school went out of business, but I was able to switch over to another school that was close to home. I moved up the belt system pretty quickly and really enjoyed sparring, so I started doing tournaments. This is when I realized that girls are really mean. You might think the girls you know are mean because they're catty or whatever, but in a sparring match (especially if they had to cut weight) they fight dirty. My tournament training did teach me that a good strong scream in someone's face at the beginning of a fight is priceless. Try that in Target the next time you're battling for the last Rock and Roll Elmo toy. I did miss the weight class idea when I got to Kung Fu and realized that some girls can be as big as a man:

This is my "OH SHIT" face

Once I got to black belt, I wasn't allowed to test again for a year and I started to realize that I was really bored of TKD and tired of being treated like slave labor (I had to work for free, but thank them for the opportunity to do so).

I left TKD behind and switched over to kung fu and had to unlearn a bunch of TKD stuff, but it was so much more fun. Kung fu is great because there are different styles to learn and you also get to play with lots of different kinds of weapons. This is why I have things like a spear and broadsword casually leaning against the wall in my basement. Also, I did lion dance and kung fu demonstrations, which we performed at Asian culture fairs and for Chinese New Year.

Fair Oaks Mall in VA...yeah, be scared of that dude

Downtown D.C. for who knows what Asian festival

Those lion dance pants were hot...in so many ways

In case you were wondering, these are the lions...and Buddha

I love kung fu and all the kung fu people and if we hadn't moved away, I'd still be doing it now instead of running.

If I'm making running sound like a last choice activity, it's because I've always sucked at running. Growing up, I could barely complete the mile run in the set time. When I tried to play field hockey in high school, I got cut for being too slow. The coach told me to try track to get faster, so I had to suffer through a whole winter track season of not only running in the cold, but also being one of the slowest people on the team. I think the only people I could beat were the fat shot put guys. In case you were wondering, it didn't make me fast enough (but it did make me a little faster) and I still got cut again from field hockey the next season.

I only ever ran at the gym if the ellipticals were all taken or if I didn't have a magazine to read. When we moved to southern MD, I didn't have kung fu anymore, so I signed up for a half marathon because I thought training would be a good weekend activity. I didn't particularly enjoy training for that and I didn't enjoy the race either since I felt really sick and didn't know it was because I was pregnant. After I had Faith, running and walking were the easiest workouts to do and I soon met other women in my neighborhood who did twice weekly morning stroller runs. I really wanted friends, so I joined them and also started running with them on the weekends and I realized running didn't have to suck balls. The whole group wanted to run a 10 mile race on short notice and I signed up too even though I hadn't run further than 7 miles since giving birth. I ran the race and felt great and did much better than I thought was possible (1:27) and that made me think "Hey, I can do this running stuff!". Somehow that quickly snowballed into ultramarathons, but I think that's just my personality type. I like to go "all in" with my hobbies and given my love of hiking, it's not shocking that I'd be attracted to trail ultras.


So, that's the back story of how I'm not really runner, I just pretend to be one now...until I can get my husband to buy me a horse. :)



What was your favorite childhood hobby?

Sweating out some holiday cheer

I admit that I mock people who live in warm climates and complain that Christmas doesn't "feel like Christmas" because it's warm outside. My mockery is based in jealousy of wanting to live in a nice warm area and not freeze my butt off for half the year. I think not having to wear a jacket would help me feel better about no snow at Christmas. I think the feeling of "Christmas" isn't really weather dependent, but a nice chill in the air does help.

That dog wants out

Last night I went on a running club group run to see the Christmas lights on Solomon's Island and I do have to admit that sweating at 50 degrees in the dark does take away from the Christmas feel. It's my fault for over-dressing for the run, but it's hard when the weather keeps going from freezing cold to balmy over and over again.

I really wanted to be the "Ditto" house this year

This is what our house would look like if I was in charge of decorating

I did get to catch up with some of my neighbor friends and the 4 miles flew by and I got home just in time to eat the other half of my husband's frozen pizza. The best part of the holiday lights run was that some of the women brought snacks, so I had something to tide me over for the long 25 minute car ride home and I didn't have to eat Faith's car Goldfish crackers or gnaw on my arm.

Earlier yesterday, I did a fast paced 2 mile walk and a 7 mile treadmill run, so that contributed to my "Must eat NOW" feeling. I did the walk instead of my usual 4 mile run just because I didn't feel like running, so I didn't...well, until nap time. Sometimes I feel burnt out on running with the stroller, so I figure walking when I'm dreading the run is a good alternative and the dog can't seem to tell the difference between a walk and run.



Have you run at night to admire the holiday lights in your neighborhood?


What do you do if you're dreading your run?




From yesterday's post, your first world problems cracked me up and these were my two favorites:


Kelly said: Mine is when I have to drive my husband's honda vs. my lexus. His has a normal key which you know you have actually use to open the door and start the car rather than an electronic key.


Liz said: My cleaning lady is over today so I can't work from home.




Thanks for cracking me up!

The Midas Touch of Fail

Are you ready to hear all about my first world problems?

1. I used to run with the cheap $12 headphones that I've been using since high school (different pairs, but same model). Last year for Christmas I got expensive nice running headphones (Nike). About a month ago, the left side stopped working. It didn't really bother me until yesterday when the right side stopped working too.

I didn't realize that sweat would break my RUNNING headphones

2. I have a TV set up in front of my treadmill and I always watch DVDs while I run. Yesterday it wouldn't read a disc. Any disc. So instead of watching Buffy kick some vampire ass, I was stuck staring at the wall and thinking how much  I need TV to distract myself from the fact that I'm essentially running in place like a rat on a wheel. I still managed 4 treadmill miles, which brought my total for the day to 8 miles.

3. For my lunch, I wanted some macaroni and cheese, so I put a pot of water on to boil and went into the other room to read blogs since Faith was sleeping. After a while I starting to wonder why I wasn't hearing the water boil and when I went to check, I realized that I not only had the wrong burner on, but I had also ruined the pizza pan (which I had left on the stove).

I didn't even know this was possible

4. I went to Target during Christmas week. The schools are off all this week (and next) here, so it was just like a weekend, but with crazy people. I think some people think you need to horde paper products for Christmas, just like a hurricane. While waiting on a the longest check out line of all time, Faith left her "mark" on a Christmas gift for my brother, but hopefully he won't notice. No picture, it's a surprise gift. :)

Keeping with the theme of "First World Problems" I stopped by Subway after Target because spending so much money on groceries made me too tired to cook so I had to pay someone else to make me a sandwich for dinner. Faith worked her magic on the Subway lady and scored herself a free cookie. By magic, I mean she smiled and pointed at the cookie case and cried out "COCK!!" and the lady thought that was hilarious.

When I got home, I had a fun package waiting for me with a magnet to commemorate the ultimate day of First World Problems: The Hot Chocolate 15K. Thanks Emily!

So much better than that crappy jacket. 

I thought that we had made it through the day baby vomit-free, but right before bedtime she was running laps around the kitchen island after drinking a whole cup of milk when she paused, vomited into her hand, and then slammed it down on the kitchen floor and started rubbing it around...and I just mopped the whole kitchen yesterday. We don't really know what to do about her vomiting, I've been hearing this isn't abnormal but we will probably still call the doctor since she has a history of GI issues. It's not bothering her at all and her appetite is still great, so it's not really worrying us yet.

Let's hope that I have a little less disaster in my day today!


Share one of your "First World Problems"!


Examples:

   They make me use Internet Explorer at work and I'm used to Firefox.


   My cell phone doesn't have a data plan, so I can't check my email on the go and I'm forced to rely on texting. 

Birthday Parties and Baby Vomit

On Saturday, we all (minus the dog) traveled up to northern VA for my older brother's birthday party. We took the dog to the kennel on Friday afternoon even though we were only going to be be gone for like 8 hours on Saturday. She needs to get time sensitive medication for her epilepsy, so she goes the kennel anytime we're gone for a whole day. It is an added cost, but in addition to not having to worry about getting home in time to drug the dog, we also know she's doing this for a good part of the day:

Peanut believes she can fly

Faith was a perfect little angel for the 2 hour drive (meaning we didn't hear a peep out of her) and I can credit the Wiggles Christmas DVD for that miracle. It's funny to hear songs about it being hot at Christmas time, crazy Australians.

We had a good time at the party and Faith ate half her body weight in sweets, which I thought was probably not the best idea, but when there are grandmas around, these things happen. She was fine for the drive home other than some fussing for snacks (that kid is a bottomless pit). As I carried her upstairs for her bath, she burped once and then vomited a little bit. It was almost like spit up, but it was definitely vomit. She didn't seem bothered by it and went down for the night with no issues.

We let her sleep in on Sunday morning instead of getting up for early church (yes, we might have also enjoyed sleeping in too), and she seemed fine when she woke up. However, while I was out picking up the dog from the kennel, she screamed bloody murder for my husband for the whole time I was gone. Once I got home she cheered up, so we assumed it was just brattiness, not sickness. Faith and Peanut were really happy to be reunited:

Mmmm...did you have ham for lunch?

Since she gave my husband such a hard time when I was gone, I decided to wait to go on my run until she went down for her nap. This meant I left for my run at almost noon, which I never do. I didn't eat lunch before I left, but I did have a Coke. I thought it would be warmer leaving for my run that late, but it was still blustery and the wind was really bad when I ran near the water. I tried to run with music, but after 3 miles my headphones broke so I ran most of the way just listening to my own breathing and the wind.

Around mile 6 I was running through a waterfront neighborhood and I heard a loud BANG of gunfire really close by and I almost dropped to the ground. It turned out it was just a dude shooting cans in his backyard, but man, that sure scared me. I'm used to hearing gunfire from hunting when I run, but it's never that close. Shortly after that, I was chased by two loose dogs for a bit, but luckily they were lazy and didn't want to follow me for long. My husband laughed at me when I told him about the dogs when I got home and he asked "What kind of dogs?" and I had to answer "One was really big black one! And.....a Boston terrier." In my defense, I was more concerned about the big one, but that Boston terrier seemed pretty tough too. :)

By mile 10, I had a flare up of that really bad chest pain from my bronchitis recovery, so I headed straight home and ended the run at 12 miles instead of the 13-14 I was aiming to run. I finished up the 12 miles in 1:43 (8:38 average pace), which is pretty fast for me. I don't know why it was fast, so I'll just credit my pre-run Coke and the flat route.

After I got cleaned up from my run, I did exciting things like mopping and dishes and Faith was forced to watch football with my husband (oh the humanity!). She was still fussier than normal and she threw up again. It wasn't a huge amount, but it was enough that I cut out her dairy (per our doctor's recommendation for any stomach upset). As a result, I gave her peanut butter crackers for dinner and I remembered why I hate giving her peanut butter.

If you refilled my peanut butter, I'd only need one cracker

I guess I'll eat this soggy cracker after all

Peanut butter goatee!

I'm not sure what's up with the baby vomit, but I'll call the doctor if it happens again. Third time is the charm, right?

On a non-vomited related note, I have been branching out in the kitchen. During 50 mile training, I developed quite the pasta habit, meaning we had pasta for dinner at least 3 nights a week. My husband got really tired of pasta, so as a reward to him for putting up with it, I've been trying to only have pasta for dinner once a week (I still eat it every day for lunch, haha I have a problem). So this means I've been trying to make new dishes and so far, it's been fun! I don't really like cooking because I hate clean up, but I've been enjoying eating different dishes.

On Friday night I made lamp chops for the first time at home and they came out SO good. I freaking love lamb so much. I know a lot of people have a problem eating cute baby animals, but when it tastes that good, I'm ok with it. Last night I made my first chicken pot pie:

This is my idea of "Getting fancy" in the kitchen

I didn't even burn it!

I'm also getting crazy for Christmas because I didn't want to make another turkey (we just finished the leftovers and I can't take anymore turkey). I've ordered a standing rib roast and I have no idea how to cook that, but I trust Google will steer me (haha, steer....get it?) in the right direction.


What's the last "new" thing you cooked at home?

A Rant and a Rave

Rant:

Watching TV with me is fun activity because I don't idly watch, I usually yell at the news and laugh (usually at them, rather than with them) at reality shows. I don't really pay too much attention to commercials, but this one makes me feel stabby:




If you haven't seen it before, or can't watch the video, it's basically a woman driving herself nuts about wanting a doughnut, then eating said doughnut while hating herself, and then going back to her desk and feeling bad about eating a freaking doughnut. If only she had some sort of fake sugar product! Truvia (a plant based low calorie sweetener) has more than one commercial like this that capitalizes on women and their need to avoid desserts and how dirty we all must feel inside when we dare eat something with actual sugar.

There are already countless messages about how we should feel guilty about eating, especially around the holidays, and when companies use that guilt as marketing it really grinds my gears. Nutrigrain did a similar campaign and got a ton of flak for it, but I guess that didn't dissuade Truvia.

Eating a doughnut shouldn't be a source of guilt and if you want a doughnut, having something else "sweetened" with Truvia probably isn't going to cut it. I know if I want a cookie, I want a freaking cookie...not a "healthy" cookie or a rice cake. I want a cookie made with real butter and real sugar and when I eat that cookie, my cookie craving is satisfied. I really can't imagine that it would be satisfying to have bitter fake sugar instead.

Yes, I do yell at the TV when that commercial comes on that I'd eat her freaking delicious looking doughnut for her since she obviously doesn't appreciate it.


Rave: 

I discovered this show about a year ago and it is one of the best things I've even seen on TV: Mantracker!

The basic premise of the show is that the Canadian Chuck Norris who is an expert in wilderness tracking tries to catch two contestants (called prey) as they cover between 25-30 miles of the Canadian woods. They are given a map and a compass and they have to navigate their way to a finish point in a set time (and Mantracker doesn't know where they are trying to go). Sometimes the contestants have wilderness experience, sometimes they are in shape, sometimes they know each other, and sometimes they don't.

Mantracker doesn't sleep. He waits. 

The "prey" are given a head start and then Mantracker starts hunting them on horseback. Watching these people flee in panic as Canadian Chuck Norris gallops on horseback while his black duster blows in the wind is truly classic TV.

One of my life goals is to be on that show. Alyssa doesn't know it, but during our last trail run, I decided that she and I could beat Mantracker. When the prey is two girls they rarely win because they can't stop talking which defeats the purpose of hiding when Mantracker is near, so that would be our main obstacle. I know we could handle the running through the woods part. :)

I drive my husband nuts every time we watch this show because I'm constantly talking about how I'd do things differently or how much fun I'd have on that show (and there is some begging for him to do the show with me because he can actually use a compass). For some reason he keeps saying no! :)

So, who wants to run through the Canadian woods with me? Keep in mind that I can't read a map or compass to save my life, so you'll be in charge that. I'll be in charge of ass kicking and bringing fun snacks.


Do any commercials drive you nuts? 


Have you ever wanted to be on a TV show?

Running with a toddler is never boring

My kid has several toys that are "special" to her. It's hard to say why she gets more attached to some toys than others, but once it happens, there is no arguing with her. I try to make sure that none of her toys are irreplaceable, but if they are gifts, then it's harder for me to be sure I can get a replacement if something unfortunate occurs.

Faith has a special attachment to this little baby doll:

I will raise you to be my minion 

Yesterday, I had Faith and Peanut with me for our usual 4 mile stroller run. Faith was pretty insistent that the baby doll join us, so I let her since in the past she's held on tight the whole time. Around mile 1.5, she was fussing a lot. I don't always know why she's fussing (yes, even after over a year of experience, I'm still not an expert), so I just offered her things like her sippy cup and extra snacks while continuing to run. She would calm down for a bit but then start up again, so I figured something was really wrong, so I stopped and tried to figure out what was bothering her. I assumed it was a too tight strap or she was too hot or something logical like that.

As I tried to calm her down, I realized that the doll was missing. Crap. I didn't notice when she dropped it (or threw it), so I had to run up and down the stretch of road trying to push a screaming toddler and drag a confused dog who is used to running straight home instead of crazy zig zags. I finally spotted the sad little doll face down in the dirt and as soon as Faith had her again, she was as happy as a clam for the rest of the run home.

I need a Road ID for my baby doll

I may have picked up a little extra mileage looking for the doll, but I know I sure sweated a lot more than usual. Lost toys are stressful for the parent!

You're telling me! This poor baby doll needs to be tucked in extra tight now.

After that stressful stroller run (first world problems, I know), I was looking forward to a quiet treadmill run during nap time. I got 3.5 miles into my run when I heard a LOUD scream on the monitor. It sounded like the kid saw a ghost or something, so I hoped off the treadmill and sprinted up the stairs and saw this (we reenacted it later):

Help! Help! This blanket is eating me!

She was terrified, but once I took the blanket off her head, she calmed down. I didn't think she'd go back to sleep, but she surprised me and conked out again. Since she was asleep, I figured I might as well finish my run. I got back on the treadmill and ran 2.5 miles more which brings the total for the day to 10 miles.

So, there you have it: It took 3 separate runs and lots of toddler drama, but I still managed to get my run done and no baby dolls were (permanently) harmed in the process.

This is also why I really appreciate my weekend solo runs. Running 10 miles by myself, or even with the dog, is so peaceful compared to my weekday runs. Even my nap time treadmills are a little stressful because I never have a guarantee that I'll be able to finish before the monitor starts flashing at me (my monitor has lights because it's hard to hear it over the TV and treadmill).


Are your weekday runs more stressful than your weekend runs?


Did you have a special toy when you were a kid?


Also, happy birthday to my older brother Nick! He's 31 today, haha old man. 

The Real Cost of Racing

As 2011 draws to a close, you'll probably read countless "Recap of my year!" blog posts, but this one was actually more inspired by me creating a "Race PR" side bar thingy for my blog (it's on the right). My two takeaways from creating that sidebar were 1. Man, I need to find a new half marathon to run and 2. Damn, I've raced a ton this year.

I've seen other blogs do this, so I thought it would be fun to look how much money all of these races cost. For this year, I have 3 DNS (did not start) races, but I'm going to include them because I still paid.

Snapple High Cloud Half Marathon: $45.00 [DNS]

Lower Potomac River Marathon: $55.00

Run for St. Mary's Hospice 10K: $25.00

Capital Classic 10 Mile Race: $60.00 [DNS]

Warrior Dash: $55.00

North Face Endurance Challenge 50K: $80.00

Rosaryville 50K: $35.00

Annapolis 10 Mile Race: $10.00 [Only paid for a bib transfer, but the race was canceled due to a hurricane]

Pet Day 5K: $25.00

Annapolis Striders Metric Marathon: $5.00

Lower Potomac River 10 Mile Race: $35.00 [DNS due to stomach flu]

Baltimore Marathon: Free

Marine Corps Marathon: $80.00

JFK 50: $195.00

Hot Chocolate 15K: $65.00

Jingle Bell 5K: $30.00

Ok, this is painful to add up, but that makes the grand total for race fees for the year: $800

WHAT? Did you spend that much on cookies for the baby?

If you had asked me (or my husband) "Hey do you want to spend 800 bucks on racing this year?" I would have said "Uh, no". However, I don't really keep a tally of how much I've already spent and I'm like "Oooh only 30 bucks for a 5K? Sign me up!".

My typical routine for signing for a race is that I either see it online or someone suggests it to me and then I ask my husband if the date/time work for him and then I sign up. I do take cost into consideration and try to focus on the cheaper races and only have a few really expensive ones on my calendar. I wouldn't race if it caused a financial hardship on my family.

As long as we can still afford cookies, I'm happy

I'm used to paying for my hobby and my racing isn't more expensive than kung fu monthly memberships, testing fees, and new weapon costs. Martial arts is my only hobby comparison and so far, I haven't found anything that costs more than black belt degree testing for Tae Kwon Do.

Most of those races I feel were worth the money, other than the Hot Chocolate Catastrophe and the races I didn't attend. The Annapolis 10 Mile Race worked out pretty well for me because I still got a sweet jacket out of the deal, even though I only paid 10 bucks for a bib transfer. I did pass over a lot of races that I deemed too pricey. That's the main reason I didn't run a half marathon this year: I won't pay $100 to run 13.1. At least in my most expensive race (the JFK 50), I felt like I got a lot for my money and the cost per mile was still pretty low.

I'm not going to race like this in 2012, so that makes me feel a little better about the cost. My husband also feels better about not having a good idea for a Christmas gift for me because now he can just regift me all of my race medals. :)

Mommy, you should do yoga so you can put your foot on the table like this

I don't have many races on my calendar now, other than a Christmas Eve 5K (that supports a good cause which makes me feel good about paying) and a half marathon at the end of January.

I should also note that the above total is only race entry fees, it doesn't cover travel costs, new shoes, increased groceries, or whatever price you can put on my husband's free time spent tethered to a cranky toddler. 




Have you ever added up all of your race fees? Do you have a race budget for the year or do you just add races as you go like me?