Take5 Tuesday #8

5 things you do every morning

1. hit the snooze button at least twice
2. drink 3 drops droppers of Green Tea Extract (thanks Martha -- it is 3 droppers, sometimes I get up to 6 depending on the day)
   
3. feed the dog
   
4. call my sister on the way into work
5. read celebrity gossip pages

5 things you look forward to each year

1. Halloween
2. Fall Premieres of my favorite TV shows (it's like Christmas in September)
   
3. Survivor
   
4. The Amazing Race
   
5. my birthday

5 things you’ve recently watched on TV

1. Academy of Country Music Awards
   
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (gotta see all 3 Indiana Jones movies before I see the 4th one on Sunday night -- started to watch Temple of Doom last night, but I fell asleep)
   
3. Desperate Housewives (will next season really be 5 years in the future?)
4. The Spectacular Spider-Man
5. Law & Order episode from March (still trying to catch up)

5 things you’ve read recently

1. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
2. Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman
3. It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life by Denise Jackson
   
4. When Death Comes Stealing by Valerie W. Wesley
5. Love Kills by Edna Buchanan

5 of your favorite restaurants

1. Logan's Roadhouse
2. Chili's
3. Chevy's
4. Mike's Diner
5. Hooters
   

Take5Tuesday

The Day After

I'm gonna definitely have to put off that half marathon. (Leslie, you're right -- it needs another name.)

I can barely walk correctly today. I am so frickin not right. The sides of my knees are still bad and I knew my calves would be sore. But for some reason, I'm also sore in my upper back and shoulders. WTH???

After doing some Internet research, I think I might have Iliotibial Tibial Band Syndrome. That's the pain on the outside of the knees. So the motrin and ice and rest if what's best for that, but once it's healed, I need to make sure to make my legs stronger. They are definitely weak and that's the reason for being sore and stiff.

I've been researching all day and I know what to do to get my legs stronger, so I'll start that this week. I need a new plan of action anyway, so I'll work in leg strengthening exercises too. And the weight HAS got to come off. Plain and simple.

It's Done

Bib #20120
Age 30
1:33:39
Race Pace - 12:34 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Overall Finishing # 11766
Place in Females Category #4715

You could say that I am pretty frickin proud of my time and my race. I cannot believe I ran the WHOLE thing, including Hayes Street Hill. That thing was a monster of a hill and I honestly didn't think, after that, that I could finish 5 more miles. Fortunately, my friend Keith ran with me the whole time. He didn't have to, but he did and he's the one who kept the fast pace for me. My first mile was around 12:30, then in mile 2 the hill came which felt like forever. Miles 5 and 6 and 7 were all 12:30 miles. That is fast for me!!! I sprinted at the end and Keith even let me finish in front of him. He's an amazing friend and I'm so glad I did the race with him. Thanks Keith!!!

As you can see, Hayes Street Hill is at the front of the race. Seriously I can't believe I made it up that thing WHILE RUNNING. It was a slow run, but dammit, I did it and I passed people too. I stole this picture from the Internet, but this is what it looks like:

11% grade and even when I thought I was at the top, I wasn't. Keith told me just to look at the socks in front of me, and I did, except for 3 times. I was checking to see how far I had to go, and I wish I hadn't looked up. Man. But I did it.

After the race which ended at the ocean, we walked to pick up our shirts and then I hopped on a Muni bus which took me to BART, which got me back to my inlaws' house. I was a little stiff on the ride home, but the only thing that is really bad is the sides of my knees -- I'm thinking the tendons or the ligaments. I'll have to do some research because that's where I get sore the most whenever I run, but some ice, motrin, and beer is really helping at the moment. I expect my calves to be sore when I wake up, but that will be it.

Could I possibly be insane in thinking I can do a half marathon? Holy Moly. What has come over me?

anyhoo

So yeah, it's been a while. Lots going on, none of it fitness-related. Why NOW is it so hard to juggle everything? I've done it before, but can't seem to get a handle on my life at the moment. I'll figure it out soon, I hope. I'm pretty much back in my size 12s and I really really really hate that. I need to go back to the basics -- workouts, water, fruits/veggies. As separate entities, those are quite easy ...... put them all together and I get all mucky-muck.

Anyhoo.

This Sunday is the Bay to Breakers 12K (7.46mi) run in San Francisco. I'm a bit nervous to say the least. First of all, I have never run that distance before .. my farthest was 5 miles. And I haven't run in over a week. I guess I could say that I'll have fresh legs for race day.........

I'm also a little bit nervous about what to do on race day. How do I carry my sweatshirt (need it in the morning before the race), lil bit of cash, identification, power bar, and water? I need all that before the race, but what do I do with it during the race? I'll be getting to SF via BART so I won't have a car. It's all so weird since the race is so far from home.

Thankfully Keith has done the race before (many times) so he at least knows how to get there and where to go when we do get there.

Anyhoo.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

That was all written yesterday and I guess I forgot to hit publish.

Today is hot -- 102 degrees. We actually had to turn the AC on last night at 10:00. I don't mind the heat right now, but tomorrow's t-ball game is at 3:00 in the afternoon. It's gonna be really hot for that. Ugh. We had t-ball practice last night and fortunately, it was mostly shady and there was a slight breeze cooling us off, but it was still hot.

I stayed up too late last night watching the 1st Indiana Jones movie, so I'm a bit tired today. I hate to admit this, but I have not seen the IJ movies, so I'm watching the first 3 this weekend and next week, so that I can go see the 4th one with hubby when it comes out.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Playing a Tourist

Brian's 1st Hit

In Brian's 4th or 5th t-ball game (sheesh I've been to so many that I can't even remember how many games it is), they start pitching the ball to the kids. Brian was up in the 2nd inning and I'm so proud of the little guy. He listened to the coaches and got a hit on the 3rd pitch.

Plan for early tomorrow morning is to run 5-1/2 miles. Then it's off to church and back to the Bay Area for my sister-in-law's birthday party.

Then it's back to the Bay Area on Tuesday night for Em's egg donation. I am so having chili in a breadbowl. I've been waiting months for that.

Ok, dinner is ready (3-can chicken casserole) and then I need to finish cleaning the kitchen. Got the living room and family room done, all that is left is the yucky yucky kitchen. And 1 or 2 loads of laundry left.

Take5 Tuesday #7

5 podcasts you listen to

• My iPod is broken, so I don't listen to them anymore. When I did have one, I downloaded a running one, but that was it.
  

5 things you’ve found interesting recently, (they can be websites, or anything else.)

1. Medieval Times is really expensive and I don't think we are going to do it when we go to Disneyland in June.
   
2. Is Disney done with Miley?
3. Fox considers starting American Idol in Hollywood with auditions as flashbacks only - (realityblurred)
   
4. You can't just go to the Sterling Winery in Napa to look around ....... noooooooo, you have to pay $20 to take the gondola up the mountain and then you HAVE to taste 5 different wines.
5. Brian really enjoyed watching Taekwondo last night -- we stopped by a place to have a looksie and he loved it. He really wants to do it, so after t-ball ends, I think that will be his next sport.
   

5 of your favorite JellyBelly/jelly bean flavors.

1. watermelon
2. watermelon
3. watermelon
4. watermelon
5. pear

5 of your least favorite JellyBelly flavors

1. buttered popcorn
2. cappuccino
3. jalapeño
   
4. licorice
5. earwax (Harry Potter gift box)

5 things you’ve looked up recently, (either on google or any other search engine, or on Wikipedia)

1. Sopranos Season 3 cast
2. Pier 1
3. release date for stimulus checks
4. Jelly Belly flavors
5. UK Football Scorers (for a daily trivia game that I play)

Take5 Tuesday

5 Miler

So I did my 5 mile run on Sunday morning. Tried to fit it in on Saturday, but time got away from me and it got too late and then too hot. We actually had to turn the sprinklers on for the kids since it was so hot.

So on Sunday, I woke up at 7:00 and did my run. It was the perfect temperature and there was no one out on the roads, so I was pretty much by myself.

The 1st mile sucked ass, but then I got in a groove and kept it going. I had misplaced by watch, so I had no idea how long it was taking, and was very surprised when I got home 1 hour and 6 minutes later. I can't believe that I ran straight for that long. Definitely my longest run by far!!! I didn't have any twinges or problems during it which made me get these crazy thoughts in my head -- like I could go longer (gasp!).

I got stiffer throughout the day, mainly because we drove down to Napa for a wine tasting birthday party with 2 other couples. It was a lot of standing, sitting, walking, sitting, standing, sitting, walking, and at around 4:00, I hit my wall. Still had to muster through the rest of the evening so I opted for some strawberry gelato and that helped!

No workout this morning since I didn't get home until 10:00 last night. I'm thinking of skipping preschool night class (or at least ½ of it) so that I can get in an upper body workout. Or hell, I might just go home and sleep. I am zonked today. I really want to get to the point where I can do a long distance run on one day, followed by a shorter distance the very next day. But right now, I can't. One day soon though.

Fine

All is well in my neck of the woods. Woke up early for the past 3 days and worked out. Upper body on Monday (triceps still sore), abs/elliptical on Tuesday (starting to get sore), and lower body today (not sore yet, but I think I will be tonight). Tomorrow is upper body again, then rest on Friday, and a 5 mile run on Saturday.

That's the plan at least. My weekend, so far, doesn't look to be too crazy. We are going to Napa for a birthday party picnic at a winery. So I know that I definitely need to fit my run in on Saturday. After the t-ball game and before it gets too hot. Main problem is finding someone to watch Brian so that I can run outside. Hubby is at work until 4:30, so maybe Em can do it for me?

Food is not too bad .... not majorly stressing about it, just getting in as many good meals as I can.

It should be noted that every time I've eaten out in the past 2 weeks, I've ordered Iced Tea. Thanks Laurie for challenging me to do that.

holy moly

Saturday

• get up at 7:00 with Brian
  
• eat breakfast, take shower
• get to t-ball field at 8:30 (1st ones there)
• game starts at 9:00 (Brian got to be last hitter in the 1st inning so he got a home run, which basically means he got to clear the bases)
• game ends at 10:00 but we had to stay until about 10:20 so Brian could do the slide at the park right next to the field
• get in car and drive to mall where we need to buy 2 birthday presents
• find one at sports store (don't tell anyone that I purchased Yankees memoribilia -- ew. And what's worse is that Brian wanted a helmet and he was holding up a Yankees one. I told him that his dad would divorce me if I bought that.)
• after that, it was off to the toy store for the 2nd present.
  
• and Brian can't leave the mall without visiting the food court so we sat at the kiddie tables and shared a pretzel
• got a frantic call from Emily on the way to Wal-Mart .... her red velvet cake was not working and the birthday party was about to start.
• got wrapping paper at Wal-Mart (shockingly, I was in and out of Wal-Mart in 5 minutes)
• headed to Safeway to buy cake and beer
• got to Em's and then we left to buy a grill since she returned mine when they moved (now it's 12:40 and the party starts at 1:00)
• BBQ is being put together when Em realizes that she forgot to buy lettuce/tomatoes/cheese/onions for hamburgers -- off I go to store
• party was fun -- indulged in way too many chips
• took kids to park
• found out that I would have the kids before church in the morning, so I drove to my parents' house to pick up the van
• got home and crashed by 9:00
  
• no time to run 4-½ miles

Sunday

• up at 6:30 for shower
• drag Brian out of bed at 6:55, plop him on Em's couch at 7:00, and then wait for all kids to wake up
• finally wake Sarah Kate up at 8:30
• drive to parents' house so that Em's house is empty -- she had to work all night which is why I had the kids -- she needed to sleep
• finally used wrapping paper to wrap the 2nd gift
  
• take kids to Jesus school, while I go to church
• drop Matthew and Sarah Kate off at parents' house, switch cars
  
• get gas in car
• rush to birthday party
• freeze butt off at party since it was at a park and the wind was blowing like crazy
• after the party has ended, we walk to the car, and lo and behold, I have a flat
• call hubby, he comes to save the day
• drive to Costco to have tire repaired while he fixes my brakes (long overdue, very much needed)
• mow front yard
• drink 1 beer
• go to bed by 8:30
• no time to run 4-½ miles

I really couldn't control a lot of what happened this weekend, so I'm not beating myself up about missing the run. I definitely could've eaten better though, my mind just wasn't in the right place for planning and executing.

Today is a new day. I did get up early this morning for an upper body workout. w00t.

Lesson

For Monday, I forgot to add my chocolate myoplex lite into FitDay. Remembered that on my drive to work .... you know, after I had gotten up early this morning and worked out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday's Journal can be found here.

Instead of taco-pasta salad (what was planned) which would have involved a trip to the store and time was running out to make it, I opted for salmon, lil bit of stove-top, and lots of broccoli. After t-ball, I was so ready to eat bad ... even told hubby that I couldn't decide what to cook since it was almost 8:00. Then I realized that anything, even bad food, would take a while to make, so I just opted for the salmon and was eating by 8:15.

I also managed to do 1 load of laundry and unloaded/reloaded dishwasher.

I did do laps (.35mi x 4 of running and 1 lap of walking) at t-ball practice and 5 sets of 50 crunches. I learned a valuable lesson -- I shouldn't run after a long day at work ... my shins were killing me. It could've been the concrete (I usually run on asphalt), but holy shit. They hurt right after I got done and no amount of stretching helped. Woke up pretty stiff this morning, so after my lower body workout, I did the elliptical.

I won't run again until Saturday. That will be a 4-½ mile run and I need to make sure my shins are cool with that.

We are going out to lunch today for my coworker's anniversary. I'm ordering iced tea and having 2 bites of the calamari. And then I'm going to be strong and order something good for me, split it into 2 meals, and continue with my day. I don't want to wreck my workout.

Plan for Today

5:30 - lower body workout, elliptical, 40 min

6:30 - choc myoplex lite

8:00 - 3 egg whites, 1 egg, ½ c oatmeal with 1 packet of splenda

11:00 - anniversary lunch

3:00 - turkey burger with mustard, asparagus, grapes

6:00 - taco-pasta salad, broccoli

9:00 - strawberry shortcake

Take5 Tuesday #6

5 things you like about spring

1. blooming crepe myrtles
2. open windows and screen doors
   
3. driving with the windows down, wish I still had a car with a sunroof
   
4. running outside (who said that? did I say that?)
5. TV shows coming back after the strike!!!!!!!!!!
   

5 things you plan to do this summer

1. watch Emily graduate from college
2. take Brian to Disneyland for the 1st time
3. Fourth of July fireworks
4. get another tattoo ?????????
5. teach Brian how to swim and maybe have him join the swim team
   

5 of your favorite sports to play

1. running (who said that? did I say that?)
2. golf tennis (Brian invented this when we only had a golf ball and we were at the park next to the tennis court)
   
3. is lifting weights a sport that you play?
   
4. lap swimming
   
5. t-ball
   

5 board games you like to play, (or played as a kid)

1. Scrabble
2. Chutes and Ladders
3. Operation
   
4. Cariboo
   
5. Candy Land: Castle Game
   

5 sites you visited today

1. Scrabulous
2. MySpace
3. People
   
4. Pink is the New Blog
5. CMT Music Awards
   

Take5Tuesday -- anyone can play!!!!!!
normal KatieFeldmom post below this one

S T R E T C H I N G

Stretching does a body good. After my run on Saturday, I did 15 minutes and felt pretty good for most of the day. Around dinner time, the outside of my right knee got really sore and I felt like I hit a wall. So I came home, took some ibuprofen, and iced my knee off and on for an hour. I might also add that I fell asleep before 9:00 while watching The Transformers Movie from 1986. I'm not at all upset that my life has turned into kids' superhero movies.

Anyhoo, on Sunday, I woke up feeling great. No calf soreness. No shin splints. A little bit of stiffness, but I'm always like that. STRETCHING is key.

The best part of the weekend was not eating everything in sight like I did the weekend before. I was really thinking the whole time that I didn't want to wreck the good run. And I kept up that good eating too. Yesterday was spot on. Today I opted for a bagel for breakfast and almost faltered at lunch, but I stayed strong and had tilapia, asparagus, and ½ orange.

And I also got up early yesterday and worked out. I did an upper body workout, followed by 10 min cardio intervals on the treadmill (no iffiness, no soreness, felt good). And then I stretched.

I was always a good stretcher, not sure why I let it go by the wayside. But I'm back to doing it, cause, dammit, it works.

Tonight I'll do abs and the elliptical. Well, I was planning on being home tonight, but the t-ball coach just informed me that there *IS* practice tonight. So......................... I guess I can do something at the field. Laps. And my dishes still won't get done. Or will my laundry. Dammit. I slept in an extra hour this morning cause I knew I would be home! Argh.

And it's official as of 10 minutes ago. I *am* running the Bay-to-Breakers race in May. I was secretly hoping that if I didn't register, it would fill up and they wouldn't have room for me. But Keith learned of my secret desire and told me that they will always take registrants regardless of how many. So I registered and paid the money, so I guess it's official: I'm almost a real runner.

Good Run

4 mile run outside completed in 52:43
average speed: 4.55 mi/hr
average pace: 13:10 min/mi

This run was pretty good, except that I decided not to bring any water with me and I really should have. It was a bit hotter than last week and I was really dragging at the end. I was able to find 4 water fountains at the two parks I past, but it just wasn't enough.

The good thing about the water is that I barely stopped ... I pretty much ran the whole thing. And it felt good. My calves got sore at about mile 3, but that was it. My shins and my knees didn't hurt at all.

I got to hang out with Keith (Bay to Breakers buddy) last night after the River Cats game and I told him that it took about a week to recover from last week's 3-1/2 mile run. He told me that I need to stretch more, so that's what I did. Before the run, I walked on the treadmill for 5 min and then stretched for 10. And after the run, I stretched for 15 min. And then did even more stretching at the t-ball game.

I'm going to stretch as the day goes on, and then tomorrow decide if I need to do a walk/run or if I should just hop on the elliptical.

Take5 Tuesday #5

5 of your favorite recipes, or things to cook/bake

1. Brownies out of the box
2. Tie-Dye Cupcakes using a box
3. Sweet Potato Souflee
4. Baked Chicken Parmesan (Eating-for-Life cookbook)
5. Rice-A-Roni (cause it brings a smile to my hubby's face)

5 habits you would like to break

1. biting my nails
2. drinking Mountain Dew
3. thinking I need more than 7-8 hours of sleep
4. changing lanes on the freeway
5. getting shin splints

5 windows open on your computer right now

1. Outlook Express Inbox
2. creating this post
   
3. Scrabulous game against Laurie
4. Windows Media Player - watching Season 2 of Nip/Tuck
5. Yahoo! Messenger conversation with Laurie

5 of the best gifts you’ve received

1. Wedding Ring
2. When Brian and I were dating in 1995, he gave me my dream prom dress for Christmas (the correct size and everything). I wore it to my senior prom in 1996.
   
3. KitchenAid Mixer
4. my now broken 30GB iPod *sadface*
5. Canon PowerShot camera
   

5 of the best gifts you’ve given

1. Diaper Cakes (for Sarah Kate, Genevieve, and James Gordon)
   
2. Matthew's 1st Year Picture Frame
3. Giant Poster of Brian's silhouette at Avila Beach (to Sadie)
4. The Departed DVD (to Uncle Roger ... it's so hard to buy presents for my husband's uncle, so when we found this, we weren't sure if he would like it or not. But he was so happy to get it and we were so stoked to FINALLY find something for the man who has everything.)
5. Books to every kid whose birthday party I have attended.

Take5Tuesday