Woke up this morning after a highly successful day yesterday! On Monday, I had lots of issues with waiting around for the cable guy (long story short, I had to sit in my apartment for eight hours while they kept telling me he was on his way and not to leave) so I didn't get to finish my arms workout at the gym, or go for a run. I made up for that yesterday by hitting the gym early to take care of some weight lifting, and I'm impressed with how much stronger I am already.
On the rowing machine, I can now sustain a level of rowing that equates to 900+ calories burned per hour. I wish I could put that effort into "distance per minute" terms, but I always forget to push the button to change the display to show distance before I start rowing, and then I don't want to stop rowing to reach out and switch it.
On the triceps machine, I did 15 reps of 40 pounds, 15 reps of 50 pounds, and 15 reps of 40 pounds again. Last year, when I was at my fittest, I think the most I ever did was 30 pounds and I thought I was hot stuff for that.
My biceps and lats are still pretty weak, but I'm working on that. Still, I'm pretty proud of those strength gains in less than a week! Just goes to show what an intense schedule and regular exercise can do :)
On the food front, I did a pretty awesome job yesterday. For breakfast, I had an egg, a pear, and some steamed mixed veggies. For lunch, I treated myself to a falafel pita at Mamoun's - but got it without the tahini sauce. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually liked it much better without the sauce - I could taste the flavors much more distinctly AND it didn't drip all over me. I walked to a lot of my errands yesterday instead of taking the subway - I'd guess I walked about 3 miles in total. My errands included stocking up on healthy food at Trader Joe's (lines were ridiculous - I think everyone else was taking advantage of vacation to stock up as well). I'm now set for meats and fish for a few months (I buy them cheap at TJ's and then toss them in the freezer when I get home), as well as frozen veggies, so the only groceries I need to buy are perishables, which are pretty easy.
TJ's is right next to a Tasti D Lite, but my new rules is that I won't treat myself if I'm alone - there are plenty of opportunities to treat myself when I'm out with friends, and I'd rather indulge in the company of others so I don't feel deprived. So no Tasti for me - I didn't really need fro yo anyway.
My Hannukah party got cancelled because almost no one could make it, but my friend Josh came over for dinner and we caught up. I haven't seen him in months, because he worked at Lehman in their investment banking division (which was crazy busy enough even before all the problems), and now works his tail off at Barclay's trying to keep his job (110 hour work weeks are standard). However, with the slowdown of the holidays he's working much shorter hours, so it was great to finally see him. I cooked dinner - Middle Eastern chicken pot with butter nut couscous - and kept myself super healthy by only eating the chicken/vegetables and not serving myself any of the butter nut couscous (I wasn't that hungry anyway). With that and a few glasses of the delicious shiraz he brought over, I was set! For dessert, I defrosted and heated up the last of the leftover apple crisp from Thanksgiving, and gave that to him while I enjoyed a plain old apple, which was great. I really didn't feel deprived at all, but I knew I had saved hundreds of calories just by avoiding the couscous and apple crisp.
As for my weight loss numbers:
Day 0 - Starting weight
Day 1 - Did not weigh in
Day 2 - Loss of 0.9%, cumulative loss of 0.9%
Day 3 - Loss of 0.5%, cumulative loss of 1.4%
Day 4 - Loss of 0.2%, cumulative loss of 1.5%
Day 5 - Loss of 0.3%, cumulative loss of 1.8%
Day 6 - Loss of 0.5%, cumulative loss of 2.3%
Looks like I'm on the right track! I miscalculated numbers before, but I'm shooting for a cumulative loss of 2.3%, which I think I can hit. However, we'll see what damage New Year's Eve does tonight...
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Healthy Meal: Gumbo Z'Herbes with Red Beans
I knew I wanted soup for lunch. I also knew I wanted to use up the rest of the collard greens in my fridge. Searching on Food Network, I found a yummy-sounding recipe from Gourmet Magazine for Gumbo Z'Herbes with Red Beans.
I had no interest in making 10-12 servings of this, so I used the recipe just as a guide for flavors while I made up my own proportions. My directions went as follows:
Boil about 4 cups of roughly collard greens in a pot of water (didn't measure the water). In a frying pan, mix 2 tbsp olive oil and about 1/6 cup whole wheat flour. Ignore the directions to cook for 45 minutes while stirring constantly, and cook it for a few minutes until you get bored. Add 4 stalks of diced celery, 1/2 spanish onion (diced), and 1/2 green bell pepper (also diced). Cook for about 10 minutes or until the pan is fairly dry and you're afraid the veggies will start scorching. Because you already chopped the collards, leave them in the pot and just dump in a can of red kidney beans (using canned beans means they're a bit saltier, but you cut an hour of cooking time from using dried beans). Stir. Add a few tablespoons of pre-chopped garlic (why chop it yourself when Gristedes sells jars of it in water with no preservatives?), and stir again. Next, dump in the veggies and roux from the other pan and stir again. Finally, add a few tablespoons of worcestershire sauce, a few teaspoons of hot sauce, and some black pepper. Stir one last time and cook for about ten minutes. Makes three servings.
Nutrition stats:
293 calories per bowl (original recipe here, my modifications above)
Review: 3/5 stars
This was decent, but not amazing. The lack of spices other than pepper, garlic, hot sauce, and worcestershire sauce made it just a bit boring... though I suppose I could have kicked it up a bit with some more hot sauce. Also, it should be noted that the original recipe called for an option tablespoon of file powder. Since it was optional, I didn't worry about having it... but then when I looked it up on Food Subs, I realized that probably would have given it more of a unique flavor. You're supposed to serve this over rice, and I was concerned that omitting the rice would make this too light, but the soup alone was extremely filling. I only got about halfway through my bowl and I was already satiated - the beans and the veggies add a ton of fiber and the warmth of the soup also makes you feel pretty full. I'll most likely make this again, but next time I'll try to find some file powder to add another dimension of flavor.
I had no interest in making 10-12 servings of this, so I used the recipe just as a guide for flavors while I made up my own proportions. My directions went as follows:
Boil about 4 cups of roughly collard greens in a pot of water (didn't measure the water). In a frying pan, mix 2 tbsp olive oil and about 1/6 cup whole wheat flour. Ignore the directions to cook for 45 minutes while stirring constantly, and cook it for a few minutes until you get bored. Add 4 stalks of diced celery, 1/2 spanish onion (diced), and 1/2 green bell pepper (also diced). Cook for about 10 minutes or until the pan is fairly dry and you're afraid the veggies will start scorching. Because you already chopped the collards, leave them in the pot and just dump in a can of red kidney beans (using canned beans means they're a bit saltier, but you cut an hour of cooking time from using dried beans). Stir. Add a few tablespoons of pre-chopped garlic (why chop it yourself when Gristedes sells jars of it in water with no preservatives?), and stir again. Next, dump in the veggies and roux from the other pan and stir again. Finally, add a few tablespoons of worcestershire sauce, a few teaspoons of hot sauce, and some black pepper. Stir one last time and cook for about ten minutes. Makes three servings.
Nutrition stats:
293 calories per bowl (original recipe here, my modifications above)
Review: 3/5 stars
This was decent, but not amazing. The lack of spices other than pepper, garlic, hot sauce, and worcestershire sauce made it just a bit boring... though I suppose I could have kicked it up a bit with some more hot sauce. Also, it should be noted that the original recipe called for an option tablespoon of file powder. Since it was optional, I didn't worry about having it... but then when I looked it up on Food Subs, I realized that probably would have given it more of a unique flavor. You're supposed to serve this over rice, and I was concerned that omitting the rice would make this too light, but the soup alone was extremely filling. I only got about halfway through my bowl and I was already satiated - the beans and the veggies add a ton of fiber and the warmth of the soup also makes you feel pretty full. I'll most likely make this again, but next time I'll try to find some file powder to add another dimension of flavor.
Chia, stop paying off Boyfriend to sabotage my weight loss
Yesterday I planned to go on a long run in the morning, ending at Boyfriend's place where I could enjoy the Westin Heavenly Shower I got him for Christmas. His phone was on vibrate across the room, so he didn't hear me calling and didn't give me a call until 5 PM, when it was already dark out.
Last night, I planned to go to a free pilates class at Lululemon Athletics. I haven't taken pilates in years and I used to hate it, but my core is stronger now than it was then, and yesterday was my day to work my core anyway, so I figured it would be cool to try something new. But because I hadn't seen Boyfriend during the day, he wanted me to come over for the evening.
I was a little bit annoyed about these things, but not actually pissed off - the first one was an accident, and I didn't discuss the pilates class with him yesterday when I agreed to come over, so he didn't know I was skipping it to see him.
But the fact remains - I skipped workouts to see Boyfriend. To make things even worse, he tried to cheer me up by going on a special outing... to Magnolia Bakery. It's bad enough that he lives only one block away, but to go there and inhale the deliciousness and try to be good... that is tough. Boyfriend inhaled a vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting, and debated whether he should follow it up with some banana pudding (they make the best banana pudding of anywhere, and my vegan banana pudding is certainly good... but not that amazing). Meanwhile, I sat and tried not to lick my lips as he ate.
While I persevered last night by managing to avoid touching both Magnolia and the takeout Boyfriend got from Dallas BBQ (I even managed to avoid the pina colada, preferring to save my alcohol calories for the shitshow that will be New Year's Eve), it's definitely tough to be in a relationship while trying to lose weight. Boyfriend is so fantastic and is so nice to me, constantly telling me that I'm beautiful... but that kind of permissiveness is not really what I need when I struggle to drop the last 5 pounds. I don't need him to tell me I'm fat (I realize that would probably lead to a complex, as it did when my father constantly joked about the slight belly pooch I had as a teenager... I would give anything for that body now!). However, a little kick in the pants can be a good thing.
This morning, I opened my Google Reader to find a post on Cranky Fitness called, Boyfriends and Husbands: Health Hazards? I immediately thought "yes, yes, yes, they are!" and clicked through to read the article. In it, Crabby reviews Jenna Bergen's book Your Big Fat Boyfriend: How to Stay Thin When Dating a Diet Disaster, and also discusses her own thoughts on staying healthy with a partner. Crabby's post is really interesting, and it sparked a lot of discussion in the comments section that also intrigued me.
I think what's frustrating about the whole thing is exactly what others complain about: not only does Boyfriend eat tons of crap, but he rarely works out... and yet is still in ridiculously hot shape. To steal from my comment:
"Living in New York, a lot of people eat a lot of takeout, but I make a really strong effort to cook 95% of my meals so I can eat better and control what I'm eating. Not only does he get takeout, but he'll get the most unhealthy foods you can find on a takeout menu. At Dallas BBQ, he'll get an order of barbecue fried chicken AND an order of chicken fingers. At the Chinese restaurant, he'll get sesame chicken and throw in a few egg rolls. When we order pizza, he'll eat most of the pie (at least it keeps me from eating more than a piece or two).
What I REALLY don't get, even more than the eating, is that he works 80-90 hours/week (he's one of the "lucky" survivors in investment banking). This means he not only doesn't have time to go to the gym anymore, but he's also sitting at a computer 15 hours/day and getting no physical activity. And yet, his chest/arms are still totally cut! Meanwhile, I have two weeks off from work and am working my butt off at the gym and eating healthy... and I'm struggling to even get any definition in my muscles."
Anyone else have issues with trying to lose weight and stay healthy with a partner or family who makes it difficult? How do you deal with it?
Last night, I planned to go to a free pilates class at Lululemon Athletics. I haven't taken pilates in years and I used to hate it, but my core is stronger now than it was then, and yesterday was my day to work my core anyway, so I figured it would be cool to try something new. But because I hadn't seen Boyfriend during the day, he wanted me to come over for the evening.
I was a little bit annoyed about these things, but not actually pissed off - the first one was an accident, and I didn't discuss the pilates class with him yesterday when I agreed to come over, so he didn't know I was skipping it to see him.
But the fact remains - I skipped workouts to see Boyfriend. To make things even worse, he tried to cheer me up by going on a special outing... to Magnolia Bakery. It's bad enough that he lives only one block away, but to go there and inhale the deliciousness and try to be good... that is tough. Boyfriend inhaled a vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting, and debated whether he should follow it up with some banana pudding (they make the best banana pudding of anywhere, and my vegan banana pudding is certainly good... but not that amazing). Meanwhile, I sat and tried not to lick my lips as he ate.
While I persevered last night by managing to avoid touching both Magnolia and the takeout Boyfriend got from Dallas BBQ (I even managed to avoid the pina colada, preferring to save my alcohol calories for the shitshow that will be New Year's Eve), it's definitely tough to be in a relationship while trying to lose weight. Boyfriend is so fantastic and is so nice to me, constantly telling me that I'm beautiful... but that kind of permissiveness is not really what I need when I struggle to drop the last 5 pounds. I don't need him to tell me I'm fat (I realize that would probably lead to a complex, as it did when my father constantly joked about the slight belly pooch I had as a teenager... I would give anything for that body now!). However, a little kick in the pants can be a good thing.
This morning, I opened my Google Reader to find a post on Cranky Fitness called, Boyfriends and Husbands: Health Hazards? I immediately thought "yes, yes, yes, they are!" and clicked through to read the article. In it, Crabby reviews Jenna Bergen's book Your Big Fat Boyfriend: How to Stay Thin When Dating a Diet Disaster, and also discusses her own thoughts on staying healthy with a partner. Crabby's post is really interesting, and it sparked a lot of discussion in the comments section that also intrigued me.
I think what's frustrating about the whole thing is exactly what others complain about: not only does Boyfriend eat tons of crap, but he rarely works out... and yet is still in ridiculously hot shape. To steal from my comment:
"Living in New York, a lot of people eat a lot of takeout, but I make a really strong effort to cook 95% of my meals so I can eat better and control what I'm eating. Not only does he get takeout, but he'll get the most unhealthy foods you can find on a takeout menu. At Dallas BBQ, he'll get an order of barbecue fried chicken AND an order of chicken fingers. At the Chinese restaurant, he'll get sesame chicken and throw in a few egg rolls. When we order pizza, he'll eat most of the pie (at least it keeps me from eating more than a piece or two).
What I REALLY don't get, even more than the eating, is that he works 80-90 hours/week (he's one of the "lucky" survivors in investment banking). This means he not only doesn't have time to go to the gym anymore, but he's also sitting at a computer 15 hours/day and getting no physical activity. And yet, his chest/arms are still totally cut! Meanwhile, I have two weeks off from work and am working my butt off at the gym and eating healthy... and I'm struggling to even get any definition in my muscles."
Anyone else have issues with trying to lose weight and stay healthy with a partner or family who makes it difficult? How do you deal with it?
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Healthy Meal: Portuguese Sausage and Greens Soup
For this weight loss challenge to work, I can't just exercise; I need to make sure I'm eating healthy as well or all those hours spent in the gym will be for naught. I'm trying to stick to a mostly low-carb diet (I'm still eating plenty of fruits and veggies, but avoiding potatoes, grains, etc). For lunch, I pulled up my Food Network Recipe Box and found a soup recipe I had saved in November 2007 (yeah, I'm about as caught up on my Recipe Box as I am on my Google Reader).
Having neither chourico or kale, I substituted Trader Joe's Italian Chicken Sausage and some collard greens that have been in my fridge forever. I also cut the potatoes, primarily because I didn't want the starchy carbs but also because I didn't have any in my fridge and was too lazy to go to the store.
Therefore, with the substitions the recipe goes like this (proportions are for one serving):
Lightly spray a pot with olive oil (I use my Misto for this) and heat, then add 1/4 white onion (diced). Once the onion browns, add a few cloves of minced garlic, two bay leaves, 3 cups of chopped greens, and a cup of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans). Cook this for a few minutes, stirring as the greens wilt down, then add 1/2 cup diced tomatoes, 1 cup broth (I use a cup of water + 1 tsp Herb Ox Sodium Free Chicken Broth powder). As this heats up, dice one link of chicken sausage and add it. Sprinkle the pot with a bit of black pepper, then stir and let simmer for about ten minutes.
Nutrition stats:
443 calories for one bowl (original recipe here, my proportions above)
Review: 4/5 stars
This came out pretty salty, which really surprised me given the fact that I used sodium-free broth and no-salt added tomatoes, and I didn't add any salt of my own. A look at the nutrition facts for the chicken sausage reveals that one link has 450mg sodium (19% of your RDA), but the soup was still saltier than just that. It wasn't salty in a bad way, but I'm a little confused as to where the saltiness came from, as not wanting extra sodium is a big reason that I typically make food myself instead of eating out.
However, the flavors were really delicious together - the tomatoes provided a sweet tanginess, and it contrasted nicely with the spicy and salty sausage. The collard greens and garbanzos made the soup really filling, especially for a broth based soup, though the garbanzos did make the calorie count a bit higher than I anticipated. I'll definitely be making this again.
Having neither chourico or kale, I substituted Trader Joe's Italian Chicken Sausage and some collard greens that have been in my fridge forever. I also cut the potatoes, primarily because I didn't want the starchy carbs but also because I didn't have any in my fridge and was too lazy to go to the store.Therefore, with the substitions the recipe goes like this (proportions are for one serving):
Lightly spray a pot with olive oil (I use my Misto for this) and heat, then add 1/4 white onion (diced). Once the onion browns, add a few cloves of minced garlic, two bay leaves, 3 cups of chopped greens, and a cup of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans). Cook this for a few minutes, stirring as the greens wilt down, then add 1/2 cup diced tomatoes, 1 cup broth (I use a cup of water + 1 tsp Herb Ox Sodium Free Chicken Broth powder). As this heats up, dice one link of chicken sausage and add it. Sprinkle the pot with a bit of black pepper, then stir and let simmer for about ten minutes.
Nutrition stats:
443 calories for one bowl (original recipe here, my proportions above)
Review: 4/5 stars
This came out pretty salty, which really surprised me given the fact that I used sodium-free broth and no-salt added tomatoes, and I didn't add any salt of my own. A look at the nutrition facts for the chicken sausage reveals that one link has 450mg sodium (19% of your RDA), but the soup was still saltier than just that. It wasn't salty in a bad way, but I'm a little confused as to where the saltiness came from, as not wanting extra sodium is a big reason that I typically make food myself instead of eating out.
However, the flavors were really delicious together - the tomatoes provided a sweet tanginess, and it contrasted nicely with the spicy and salty sausage. The collard greens and garbanzos made the soup really filling, especially for a broth based soup, though the garbanzos did make the calorie count a bit higher than I anticipated. I'll definitely be making this again.
Sunday Weigh In
For once, I didn't set an alarm... and I woke up at 11:30 after going to bed at midnight! Guess I needed some sleep :)
I woke up feeling a bit sluggish and not wanting at all to work out (see: 24 hour motivation), but I plodded into the bathroom to weigh in. I'm trying to do it every day, but some days I stay at Boyfriend's where there is no scale and then I drink coffee and eat breakfat before going home, so by the time I get home, the scale won't be accurate. A bit of background: for this challenge, we're reporting in percentages so no one has to feel embarrassed about posting their weight. My goal is to lose 2.0% by the end of the challenge.
Day 1: Starting weight
Day 3: 0.9% lost
Whoo hoo! Almost halfway to my goal and it's only the third day - I'm so psyched (though yes, I realize there is a lot of back and forth in weight and while I may numerically be halfway to goal, it might not be exactly half the effort/time/etc). Unfortunately, I'm still not motivated.
Why is going to the gym/eating right such a struggle? Why do I have to work so hard each day to motivate myself? I'm getting results - that should pump me up, but instead I'm just thinking, "well, I'm halfway there... maybe I can take today as a lazy day... ahem I mean a day for my muscles to recover." However, that logic doesn't work because I'm working different muscle groups each day - my abs haven't been worked in two days so they're already recovered.
Last year, going to the gym was just part of my daily routine - I went every day without really being motivated because it was like brushing my teeth. It was something I had to do before going to sleep that night. That habitual feeling carried with me even when I started traveling, so it seemed natural for me to bring my workout DVDs and use strange hotel objects for my workouts.
Can I get that habit back again?
I woke up feeling a bit sluggish and not wanting at all to work out (see: 24 hour motivation), but I plodded into the bathroom to weigh in. I'm trying to do it every day, but some days I stay at Boyfriend's where there is no scale and then I drink coffee and eat breakfat before going home, so by the time I get home, the scale won't be accurate. A bit of background: for this challenge, we're reporting in percentages so no one has to feel embarrassed about posting their weight. My goal is to lose 2.0% by the end of the challenge.
Day 1: Starting weight
Day 3: 0.9% lost
Whoo hoo! Almost halfway to my goal and it's only the third day - I'm so psyched (though yes, I realize there is a lot of back and forth in weight and while I may numerically be halfway to goal, it might not be exactly half the effort/time/etc). Unfortunately, I'm still not motivated.
Why is going to the gym/eating right such a struggle? Why do I have to work so hard each day to motivate myself? I'm getting results - that should pump me up, but instead I'm just thinking, "well, I'm halfway there... maybe I can take today as a lazy day... ahem I mean a day for my muscles to recover." However, that logic doesn't work because I'm working different muscle groups each day - my abs haven't been worked in two days so they're already recovered.
Last year, going to the gym was just part of my daily routine - I went every day without really being motivated because it was like brushing my teeth. It was something I had to do before going to sleep that night. That habitual feeling carried with me even when I started traveling, so it seemed natural for me to bring my workout DVDs and use strange hotel objects for my workouts.
Can I get that habit back again?
Saturday, December 27, 2008
How long does motivation last? 24 hours.
After a dinner of two mini-bags of microwaved popcorn (Orville Redenbacher Naturals Italian Herb and Olive Oil - delicious!) and 1/2 bottle of Pinot Noir, I woke up this morning with the best of intentions. Rousing Boyfriend at 7 AM, we set off to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center. I've wanted to go all winter, and thought this would be a nice outing for us that a) didn't involve eating b) required more physical activity than watching House or The Office.
But alas, this plan was not meant to be. Last week Boyfriend overslept and then his subway car got stuck at the station one stop from his work. Thinking quickly, he decided to get off and run the four blocks (read: 2/10 mile) to his office. In running the distance it probably takes me to cross the starting line at a big marathon, he managed to develop some combination of achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis. It flared up on our way to the rink, and while Boyfriend tried to insist that he'd be fine and that skating would be probably be fine, I pointed out that he could barely walk and kating would probably only be worse.
Instead, he took me to brunch - at Popover Cafe. I'm not sure if I've written much about Popover Cafe before, but it is the best brunch in New York. You get delicious popovers with strawberry butter and apple butter as your appetizers, and it's incredible. I tried to be at least somewhat conscious of our challenge, and ordered the Health Watch Egg White Omelette ("With jarlsburg cheese, diced fresh tomato, scallion, fresh basil & lightly sautéed mushrooms served with a low-fat chicken and apple sausage"), but I couldn't resist getting the roasted rosemary potatoes with it, and dousing my popover in the strawberry butter. So much for motivation, though I have a niggling feeling Chia somehow paid Boyfriend off to entice me with such delightfulness.
I slunk out of Popover Cafe practically with my tail between my legs. I had organized a great weight loss challenge and only managed to stick to it for about 24 hours before caving... and now you all would get to find out my most embarrassing moment (trust me, it's bad, and I really would rather not share it on the blog). My stomach was bloated and I felt a little sick from the grease I had so easily inhaled. Boyfriend went home, I went home, and I was on my own to figure out what to do. I had two choices:
1) Say screw it and spend the day eating my leftover Christmas cookies and making more treats. Boyfriend would love me for this one, as inevitably I'd come to my senses and he'd get all of them.
2) Work out hardcore and eat well the rest of the day to make up for it.
Believe it or not, I chose option 2! After lazing around for a half hour, I did 40 minutes of workout DVDs (the leg and butt segments of 30 Minute Fitness and Tank Top Arms, Bikini Belly, Boy Shorts Bottom). The best part was near the end of Boy Shorts Bottom when I tried to pick up my ten pound weights for bridges, and had a lot of trouble picking them up to put them on my stomach for added resistance. Looks like my arm routine yesterday was a success!
Later tonight, I'm hitting the gym to use the machines to get my legs and butt even more, and if I don't get together with Boyfriend tonight, the plan is to watch a movie and play the drinking game... but do leg lefts instead of drinking. Absolut-ly fit, I tell you! While I didn't have time today to go for a run, tomorrow is supposed to be 60 degrees, so I'm thinking an early morning long run will finish off the attack on my leg muscles.
For the ten days, I'm opting for a three day cycle of core, arms/chest, and legs, which means tomorrow I'm mainly going to be concentrating on my core. That's going to be interesting considering right now my abs are so sore from Thursday night's routine that the only way for me to get up from lying down is to roll over onto my stomach and push myself up with my arms. I'm hoping by tomorrow my stomach muscles will be functional again, as I fully expect that my arms will be out of commission and that method of getting up will no longer work.
But alas, this plan was not meant to be. Last week Boyfriend overslept and then his subway car got stuck at the station one stop from his work. Thinking quickly, he decided to get off and run the four blocks (read: 2/10 mile) to his office. In running the distance it probably takes me to cross the starting line at a big marathon, he managed to develop some combination of achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis. It flared up on our way to the rink, and while Boyfriend tried to insist that he'd be fine and that skating would be probably be fine, I pointed out that he could barely walk and kating would probably only be worse.
Instead, he took me to brunch - at Popover Cafe. I'm not sure if I've written much about Popover Cafe before, but it is the best brunch in New York. You get delicious popovers with strawberry butter and apple butter as your appetizers, and it's incredible. I tried to be at least somewhat conscious of our challenge, and ordered the Health Watch Egg White Omelette ("With jarlsburg cheese, diced fresh tomato, scallion, fresh basil & lightly sautéed mushrooms served with a low-fat chicken and apple sausage"), but I couldn't resist getting the roasted rosemary potatoes with it, and dousing my popover in the strawberry butter. So much for motivation, though I have a niggling feeling Chia somehow paid Boyfriend off to entice me with such delightfulness.
I slunk out of Popover Cafe practically with my tail between my legs. I had organized a great weight loss challenge and only managed to stick to it for about 24 hours before caving... and now you all would get to find out my most embarrassing moment (trust me, it's bad, and I really would rather not share it on the blog). My stomach was bloated and I felt a little sick from the grease I had so easily inhaled. Boyfriend went home, I went home, and I was on my own to figure out what to do. I had two choices:
1) Say screw it and spend the day eating my leftover Christmas cookies and making more treats. Boyfriend would love me for this one, as inevitably I'd come to my senses and he'd get all of them.
2) Work out hardcore and eat well the rest of the day to make up for it.
Believe it or not, I chose option 2! After lazing around for a half hour, I did 40 minutes of workout DVDs (the leg and butt segments of 30 Minute Fitness and Tank Top Arms, Bikini Belly, Boy Shorts Bottom). The best part was near the end of Boy Shorts Bottom when I tried to pick up my ten pound weights for bridges, and had a lot of trouble picking them up to put them on my stomach for added resistance. Looks like my arm routine yesterday was a success!
Later tonight, I'm hitting the gym to use the machines to get my legs and butt even more, and if I don't get together with Boyfriend tonight, the plan is to watch a movie and play the drinking game... but do leg lefts instead of drinking. Absolut-ly fit, I tell you! While I didn't have time today to go for a run, tomorrow is supposed to be 60 degrees, so I'm thinking an early morning long run will finish off the attack on my leg muscles.
For the ten days, I'm opting for a three day cycle of core, arms/chest, and legs, which means tomorrow I'm mainly going to be concentrating on my core. That's going to be interesting considering right now my abs are so sore from Thursday night's routine that the only way for me to get up from lying down is to roll over onto my stomach and push myself up with my arms. I'm hoping by tomorrow my stomach muscles will be functional again, as I fully expect that my arms will be out of commission and that method of getting up will no longer work.
Friday, December 26, 2008
New Year's Countdown!
With Feast-mas over, I now have 10 days of vacation until I go back to work on January 5. My plans for that time? Working my tail off at the gym and eating well so I start the new year right. If I wait until January 1st, I'll probably get slowed down at the gym by all the new year's resolutioners. It's so easy to give up when all the machines are taken and all the lanes in the pool are closed. None of this for me! I have ten days to get the gym and cooking and eating healthy into my daily habits before I get sent off to who knows where for my next project.
Happily, Chia has decided to join me on this bootcamp journey, and we're having a little contest: whoever loses the highest percentage of weight between now and January 5 (weigh in will be that morning) will have to post their most embarrassing moment publicly on their blog.
EEK.
So, after weighing in this morning, I hit the gym. And when I say I "hit the gym", I mean I hit it hardcore. Today was arms day and my plan was to go all-out. (Okay, maybe not all-out, but pretty all-out considering how I've barely worked out at all except for marathons for the last few months). I intended to do 15 minutes of rowing, but did 5 and was getting exhausted... so I decided to mix it up and do three sets of 5 minutes interspersed throughout the rest of my workout. That kept my heart rate up and kept me breaking a sweat throughout the workout - I think I like that! Plus, 5 minutes of rowing is totally doable and not monotonous, whereas after that, I get a bit bored.
For all my sets of lifting, I tried a new technique I just read about on someone's blog (I can't remember whose and I can't come up with good keywords to search my Google Reader for the post, so please let me know if it's you and I'll give you full credit!). Basically the idea is that your muscles will get bigger faster if you spend more time on the lowering part of each exercise rather than the lifting part; the way I incorporated this was by lifting to the beat of my iPod, and either doing 1 count up and 3 counts down or 2 counts up and 6 counts down, depending on how fast the music was. It definitely added an extra challenge, as well as forcing me to go much slower than I normally go. My arms were seriously sore, especially after the shoulder sets.
After lifting/rowing for almost an hour, I headed back upstairs to eat a yummy protein-filled lunch. I've seen so much about how people who eat after exercise see greater benefits than those who don't eat after... but how eating carbs seems to reverse that. Therefore, I went with a nice piece of grilled fish sprinkled with some herbes de provences, and some french cut green beans (yes, I know those are carbs, but I wanted something to go with the fish and I figured as long as I avoid the flour-y kind of carbs I'm okay). Took me about 5 minutes to make all of this - just sprinkled the spice on the fish, grilled it on my Foreman, and boiled the green beans while the fish was cooking. Easy peasy! It's not a real recipe, but I'm going to post the pic anyway because I think it came out pretty when I plated it up! Please note that it is in fact one filet but it was a large one (I'd guess 8 oz or so) that broke and looks like two.
Anyway, now it's time to see what I have in my arsenal of exercise DVDs to further punish my arms. I am so weak these days it's pathetic... but that is going to change!
Anyone else have pre-new year's resolutions?
Happily, Chia has decided to join me on this bootcamp journey, and we're having a little contest: whoever loses the highest percentage of weight between now and January 5 (weigh in will be that morning) will have to post their most embarrassing moment publicly on their blog.
EEK.
So, after weighing in this morning, I hit the gym. And when I say I "hit the gym", I mean I hit it hardcore. Today was arms day and my plan was to go all-out. (Okay, maybe not all-out, but pretty all-out considering how I've barely worked out at all except for marathons for the last few months). I intended to do 15 minutes of rowing, but did 5 and was getting exhausted... so I decided to mix it up and do three sets of 5 minutes interspersed throughout the rest of my workout. That kept my heart rate up and kept me breaking a sweat throughout the workout - I think I like that! Plus, 5 minutes of rowing is totally doable and not monotonous, whereas after that, I get a bit bored.
For all my sets of lifting, I tried a new technique I just read about on someone's blog (I can't remember whose and I can't come up with good keywords to search my Google Reader for the post, so please let me know if it's you and I'll give you full credit!). Basically the idea is that your muscles will get bigger faster if you spend more time on the lowering part of each exercise rather than the lifting part; the way I incorporated this was by lifting to the beat of my iPod, and either doing 1 count up and 3 counts down or 2 counts up and 6 counts down, depending on how fast the music was. It definitely added an extra challenge, as well as forcing me to go much slower than I normally go. My arms were seriously sore, especially after the shoulder sets.
After lifting/rowing for almost an hour, I headed back upstairs to eat a yummy protein-filled lunch. I've seen so much about how people who eat after exercise see greater benefits than those who don't eat after... but how eating carbs seems to reverse that. Therefore, I went with a nice piece of grilled fish sprinkled with some herbes de provences, and some french cut green beans (yes, I know those are carbs, but I wanted something to go with the fish and I figured as long as I avoid the flour-y kind of carbs I'm okay). Took me about 5 minutes to make all of this - just sprinkled the spice on the fish, grilled it on my Foreman, and boiled the green beans while the fish was cooking. Easy peasy! It's not a real recipe, but I'm going to post the pic anyway because I think it came out pretty when I plated it up! Please note that it is in fact one filet but it was a large one (I'd guess 8 oz or so) that broke and looks like two.
Anyway, now it's time to see what I have in my arsenal of exercise DVDs to further punish my arms. I am so weak these days it's pathetic... but that is going to change!Anyone else have pre-new year's resolutions?
Attention NYC Bloggers!
TK from Pigtails Flying and Julie from Races Like a Girl are organizing a running blogger meetup at the end of January. Go here to cast your vote for a date!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
My Christmas Philosophy
With the economy being a bit down, I've been cutting back on my present-buying and instead trying to give gifts of time and thoughtfulness. This has always been key for me for Christmas. One thing that drives me nuts is when my mom, a last minute shopper, runs out the door two hours before the stores close on Christmas Eve and calls on her cell phone to ask, "what do you want for Christmas?" At that point, there isn't anything she can get me that I'd really like. As corny and trite as it sounds, my favorite gifts are the ones that showed the giver really thought about what the recipient would like. I could care less how much money is spent, or even IF any money is spent (this year, my mom regifted me with a foot spa I had given her a few years ago... absolutely perfect for my post-marathon recovery!).
Another example: I got my dad, stepmom, and little sister each a book I thought they'd like (I put a LOT of thought into that part), and a ceramic mug. Next, I wrapped up a big can of gourmet cocoa separately in order to link the three presents. When I was little, my mom and dad and I used to sit by the fire and read the newspaper on Sunday mornings, and I thought this would be a nice way to encourage them to spend time with each other and do something similar. See? A thoughtful gift, but certainly not expensive.
Anyway, I know I'm not really expected to get something for all of you, but I have a special gift anyway: the gift of readership and comments :) My Google Reader currently shows 968 posts unread (ouch, I have been totally slacking since my vacation). By tomorrow night? It will be down to zero, and you will all find magical comments from Santa on your posts :) Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
P.S. For any of my Jewish readers: I'm hosting a small Hannukah party on Tuesday night, mostly because I want an excuse to make/eat latkes. I'm having it on Tuesday (the "ninth" night) specifically so it won't interrupt any real Hannukah celebrations. My plans right now are latkes, red wine, hamantashen baking, dreidel, possibly some old school cutting-out-strips-of-yellow-and-blue-paper-and-making-paper-chains-with-a-stapler like I used to do in elementary school, and the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack. Any other thoughts to make it fun and festive?
Another example: I got my dad, stepmom, and little sister each a book I thought they'd like (I put a LOT of thought into that part), and a ceramic mug. Next, I wrapped up a big can of gourmet cocoa separately in order to link the three presents. When I was little, my mom and dad and I used to sit by the fire and read the newspaper on Sunday mornings, and I thought this would be a nice way to encourage them to spend time with each other and do something similar. See? A thoughtful gift, but certainly not expensive.
Anyway, I know I'm not really expected to get something for all of you, but I have a special gift anyway: the gift of readership and comments :) My Google Reader currently shows 968 posts unread (ouch, I have been totally slacking since my vacation). By tomorrow night? It will be down to zero, and you will all find magical comments from Santa on your posts :) Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
P.S. For any of my Jewish readers: I'm hosting a small Hannukah party on Tuesday night, mostly because I want an excuse to make/eat latkes. I'm having it on Tuesday (the "ninth" night) specifically so it won't interrupt any real Hannukah celebrations. My plans right now are latkes, red wine, hamantashen baking, dreidel, possibly some old school cutting-out-strips-of-yellow-and-blue-paper-and-making-paper-chains-with-a-stapler like I used to do in elementary school, and the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack. Any other thoughts to make it fun and festive?
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Race Report: Hartford Marathon
This race report took place on October 11, 2008. I suck at posting race reports in a timely fashion.
After publishing that disaster of a post on Friday, my bus got in to Hartford at 10 PM. After a happy reunion with my mom, we jumped in the car and headed off to search for food. I was pretty cranky - it was 10 PM, I had marathon the next morning, and I was starving. After a few wrong turns (my awesome sense of direction meaning that we were never lost - just veering off the basic path for where our hotel was), we found a Carrabba's Italian Grill, and I decreed that that was what I wanted for dinner. I got my favorite pre-race dish - pasta with marinara sauce and a mix of various shellfish - and also scarfed down a ton of bread. Carb-loading, right? (In case you couldn't tell, I make that excuse for basically everything I eat pre-race). Finally, we headed to the hotel.
Checking in, the woman working the front desk apologized and warned us that there would be a race in the morning that would go by the hotel and make it impossible to drive anywhere. The hotel's solution? They parking in a lot a few blocks away, and would have golf carts ferrying guests between the hotel and the parking lot all morning. Hilarious! I assured the woman that it was fine, and that I was actually one of the crazies who would be running in the race. With that, we went up to my room, I laid out my race clothes, and went to bed - at midnight. Not quite the ideal pre-race bedtime, but I was hoping that my decent amount of sleep on Thursday night would help.
Saturday morning dawned bright and early, and I woke up feeling pretty good. We got dressed and headed down to the lobby, where we saw a lot of runners milling around. It seemed like they were waiting for something, so we asked if there was a shuttle, but everyone replied no. However, we found one guy who had been planning to walk to the start (it was about a mile away) and offered him a ride. Have to keep the running community cordial and helpful!
Arriving at the civic center where packet pickup was, we pulled up to a no-parking zone in front that was perfect. Had there been legal parking, we never would have found a spot, but with illegal parking, my mom could sit in the car and be ready to move it anytime. I followed the crowds to the basement, where packet pickup was held, and found mass chaos. The organizers did not seem prepared for so many people to be picking up morning of, as there was a woefully inadequate number of volunteers at the tables, and long self-formed lines of runners everywhere. I asked around to find the right line (there were also lines for a half-marathon, relay, and 5K), and finally picked up my packet about 15 minutes later. The volunteer handed me my number and then told me I needed to get in another line to get my t-shirt, and still another line for my chip. What?! Terrible organization, ING! The lines were all weaving into one another (because ING hadn't set them up - they were just formed impromptu as more and more people kept coming), and it was always hard to tell if you were in the right or the shortest line for what you wanted to do. Finally, around 7, I left the center and my mom and I went to go find parking and the start.
We found a great lot just a few blocks from the start - it pays to be early! I donned my Portland Marathon space blanket, because it was pretty cold, and we walked into the park to find it a bit of a mess. There were tents everywhere, but no volunteers seemed to be able to point us in the right direction. Finally we spied an information tent, and studied the map to figure out where bag drop was. In an interesting twist, the bag drop was sponsored by UPS and our bags were being loaded onto trucks - only to sit in one place because the start and the finish were in the same place! I didn't mind, but found it a bit odd that they were taking the trouble to load things onto trucks when they didn't need to go anywhere. After that was done, they started calling runners to the start, directing us to Elm Street.
I headed off with the masses to where I had seen Elm Street, and found that Elm Street was actually the beginning of the course - the start was at the intersection of Elm Street and another street. The problem was, by coming from Elm Street where the announcer had told us to go, we were facing the start, where all the elite runners were already lined up, and where even if they hadn't been lined up, we couldn't just go straight in because we'd go over the chip mats and our timing would commence. However, there were crowds already packed to the sides of the course. Volunteers were trying to funnel runners back along the start corrals single-file, but with the crowds of spectators, the lines were barely moving. I made it through a bit, but then found myself completely stuck right next to the elite corrals and an opening in the gates. There was a volunteer there insisting that no one go through this way and that everyone just keep filing through to join from the back of the pack, but with only a few minutes to go before the start, we were all getting pretty nervous. Finally, a bunch of us made a break for it, figuring the volunteer couldn't stop all of us, and we were right. Once in the elite corral, we headed upstream and made it to the "regular people" area. The last thing I wanted was to slow other people down; I just didn't want to be in the crowd on the sidelines when the race start. Packed in like sardines, we watched other people doing what we had just done, but the more people that did that, the less able they were to come back into the regular area, and I think a lot ended up starting with the elites. However, I kind of can't blame them. I place the blame on ING for 1) telling us to approach the start from the wrong side and 2) not having some kind of clearance on the side for runners to actually head back to the right area. This was my first race sponsored by the "hpros" (ING does the New York City Marathon as well as a lot of other big races), so I thought they'd be good at organization, but judging from the packet pickup and the start, I guess not.
I made small talk with the people around me, and they all seemed pretty impressed with my goal to run in each of the 50 states, as well as with the fact that I had done marathons the previous two weekends and was still planning to go all-out for Hartford. After some Star Spangled Banner action, there was no need for the usual push to the starting line - we were already packed in as close as we could get. The gun went off, and off we went. I kept my Portland space blanket wrapped tightly around me even after beginning to run, as it was still pretty chilly. However, within a few minutes, I balled it up and tossed it to the side of the road, narrowly missing some spectators as I did so. They looked shocked that I would be throwing part of my outfit away - clearly they hadn't been at the start of a marathon before!
I forgot to mention that through all the walking to the start and standing around, my knee was a bit stiff. I didn't tell my mom, not wanting her to worry, but I was a little afraid that I'd have to pull a Wyoming and walk most of the course. In the first few minutes, my knee was still noticeably stiff, but within 1/2 mile it loosened up, never to bother me again for the rest of the race. So bizarre!
Though it had been cold at the start, once I was running, it turned out to be a fairly nice day for a marathon. The air was brisk and clean - very typical New England fall weather. The sun did heat things up later in the afternoon, but it wasn't really that hot for running, and I thought it just made for a nice comfortable (instead of cold) finish. We wound through the streets of downtown Hartford and up a slight incline as we crossed a bridge that led out of the downtown area. Shortly after, we came to my hotel. I kept my eyes peeled for the golf carts shuttling guests to their cars, because I thought it would be a funny sight, but the only people I saw were lots of spectators (most likely runners' families) who had come out of the hotel to clap and cheer. I guess the hotel had underestimated how many of their guests would be there just for the marathon and therefore wouldn't be inconvenienced by the impassibility of the roads :)
The course took us to some more residential areas, and while there weren't constant spectators like in Akron (except for the Towpath section), there was still a good show of support. The race organizers had commissioned a lot of different musical acts, and several families also took it upon themselves to blast music on stereo systems from their house, which was nice. There were quite a few families having picnics on their lawns, making me very jealous of the ability to stay home and watch a marathon go by. (I wanted to live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for just this reason, but I do love my apartment on the Upper West Side and it has the advantage of being only about three blocks from the NYC marathon finish. Boyfriend lives even closer, and I think we may be able to see the finish from his roofdeck, a theory I will certainly test out.) There were the usual parties with beers being passed, and I got extremely jealous when I again saw mimosas at one family's party. One of these days I will get up the nerve to ask for a drink during the race.
Eventually we got on a long out-and-back section. I had always professed to hate out-and-backs, because you don't get as much change in scenery, but I actually think I've changed my opinion on this. At both Portland and Staten Island, it was a lot of fun to see other runners coming toward me and get to see who else was running. I didn't know many people running Hartford, but the one person I did know was running Hartford was Brian of Crazy Bandana. When I saw him coming, I got so excited to recognize someone! He was almost three miles ahead of me (just call him Mr. Speedy Gonzales), but I gave the loudest "Go Crazy Bandana!" I could muster and got a smile out of him :) I then set to the task of cheering for every Maniac who went by (even though I didn't know them). I also made it a point to cheerlead for the frontrunners, especially the lead women. I was a little disappointed that when I yelled "come on everyone, let's give these frontrunners a cheer for how awesome they are!", everyone around me ignored me and averted their eyes like I was a homeless person back in Manhattan. Later in the race, I was admired by some people around me for having the energy to cheer for those around me, but I'll let you in on a little secret: I find it actually gives me more energy when I cheer for other people. Whether it's good karma or positive endorphins or what, I don't know, but to borrow a quote from Avenue Q, "when you help others, you can't help helping yourself."
By mile 16, it was getting hot, and I was getting tired. I was sucking down as much Gatorade as possible at each water station. I can see how Hartford made a great decision to have the race in October - it wasn't too hot because of the fall weather... it was sunny and warm enough to kind of annoy us, but not enough to cause any serious problems or really make us drip with sweat. In the middle miles, I was getting to meet a lot of interesting people while I was running. There were a group of people from France, with whom I tried to speak French for a while, and a great guy named Rick who I ran with for a while - he had done the Cox Providence Marathon in May, which I had done as part of my back-to-back half marathon weekend. We chatted about various other races in the northeast, and I tried to explain how to spell my blog URL ("absolutly... without the e... like the vodka") so he could later get in touch with me. I vowed to carry business cards with me in the future, even though I knew I'd be pretty dorky handing them out.
Around mile 19, we finally turned off the course from the out-and-back, though there was a small bit of cross-over with the old course as we headed back toward downtown Hartford. Mile 20 had a bit of uphill, but by then I was just getting myself psyched up to see my mom, who was supposed to be at mile 21. Sure enough, she appeared under a bridge screaming "go Laura!", and I was so excited. I slowed to a walk and tried to pretend that that I was graciously doing this so she could walk with me for a bit. About a hundred feet later was a water station and an uphill, so I would have been walking for both of those anyway. I took what I thought would be my last gel, and then handed my fanny pack off to her. It's made of neoprene and I swear I don't keep that much stuff in it, but I felt pounds lighter when I took it off, and when she left me midway up the on ramp to the bridge, I even found the energy to jog to the top instead of walking like so many people around me.
We headed back across the bridge, which had been mile 1.5 on the way out. I knew logically that I was only at mile 21.5, but it was still a disappointment when we had to turn right to make a big loop instead of just continuing straight to finish in a mile. I took some more gels from spectators, and was glad I did - mile 22 featured a bridge over some railroad tracks that made us go up and over a bridge. It was the up that was the problem. Fortunately, there was a great DJ blasting music and cheering right at the top of the bridge, and as I went over, he was pounding out Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back. I sang along as I ran, while the DJ got on the mic and announced to everyone that "this girl IS bringing sexy back! You go girl!" Inspired, I hit the downhill after the bridge at a slightly faster clip, and decided that now was the time to put on my Power Songs playlist, starting with Britney Spears' "Stronger." I was stronger than yesterday, and I started getting in a great mood to hit the finish.
Turning a corner at the end of the loop, there was a guy with sort of political sign. I can't quite remember the exact wording, but it was supporting one of the presidential candidates AND THEN saying something about how he was cheering for those runners who were also supporting that candidate (can't remember which candidate either - I want to say Obama but I could be wrong). I was really pissed when I saw that sign. Races are not the places to make political statements, and spectators should be cheering for ALL runners, not just the ones with their same political beliefs. One of my favorite things about running is how it brings together so many different people of different backgrounds and beliefs, and this guy's sign just really flew in the face of that. I was really tempted to spit on the sign as I ran by, but I'm not quite that juvenile :) I've seen a lot of spectator signs in my marathons, and I have to say, my favorite political sign on a course was definitely the one that said "Obama? Bush? The only race that matters is the one you're running right now - GO FOR IT!" I loved that one!
At mile 23, we went under an overpass and then through a pleasant park. The path was pretty narrow, but the runners were fairly spread out at this point so I didn't mind. It was pretty to run by the water, and it almost helped me not to notice the incline back up to street level at mile 24. Almost. However, I was completely into my power songs at this point, and Britney Spears' "Gimme More" propelled me to the top, because I knew I had not yet reached my limits. Bring it, Hartford!
As we circled back toward the finish, I passed a turn around 25.5 that I recognized from the night before when I was coming into town - the bus had turned a corner and I saw the signs indicating that this road was part of the marathon course. I felt a sense of familiarity bringing me home, and I tried to pick up the pace, knowing my mom was just a little over a mile away at the finish. The crowds of spectators lining the course grew larger and larger, until almost before I knew it, I saw the small park in front of me where we had started, and I knew I just had to circle that to get to the opposite side and I'd be done. My all-time favorite running song, Rascal Flatts' "Where You Are," came on, and I got a huge smile on my face as I picked up the pace just a bit. The crowds were cheering loudly, and when I saw the 26 mile mark, I started to really push it. We turned a corner and had to go over a small bridge (just a teeny incline, but of course, we really felt it!) to see the finish straight ahead. There was a huge video screen showing runners coming up to the finish, and almost right when I passed it, I heard my mom's familiar "GO LAURA!" somewhere off to my left. I was trying so hard to smile, but I could also tell that my face was contorting into some twisting deformed state. I gritted my teeth and sprinted for all I was worth, knowing that I was ruining any race pictures that might be taken of me but not caring - I had energy to spend and I was going to use it to shave off every possible second!
I crossed the finish line under a glorious stone arch, stopped my Garmin, and felt - nothing. I wasn't dying. I wasn't in pain. In fact, I wanted to keep running! I knew I wouldn't be able to find my mom in the massive crowd, so I made a beeline for the bag check where I could get my phone and call her. Around me, I saw thousands of people doing the post-marathon shuffle, but I felt super, with nary a limp in my step. I swapped my sneakers for flip flops and dialed my mom, meeting up with her right after the food tent.
Most of my race reports typically end at the finish, but one of the best parts about Hartford was the finish food - I could write an entire race report just about that! It was catered by Whole Foods, and everything was delicious. There were piles of the best cookies I've ever had (oatmeal cranberry), cups of delicious four-cheese-and-truffle macaroni and cheese (TRUFFLED, I tell you!), cups of cinnamon raisin and walnut quinoa, cups of apple crisp, and of course the more usual foods like bagels and fruit. But the gourmet stuff was just incredible - it was all very harvest-y and autumnal, and I just can't say enough about how good it was. My mouth is watering as I write this and I would consider running it again just for the chance to eat more of that delicious food!
After getting a fully loaded plate, we headed over for the bandshell, where I spent some time dancing around to "Sweet Home Alabama" while people stared at me, wondering if I had done the 5K or maybe the half-marathon instead of the full. Nope - I ran 26.2 miles and I'm running another 13.1 tomorrow and I'm going to dance if I want to! I felt gloriously happy and successful - this was by far one of the best marathons I've done. What a beautiful, fantastic race :)
Race stats:
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 4:23:23
Pace: 10:03
Overall place: 12203/1894
Gender place: 370/687
Age group place: 37/63
After publishing that disaster of a post on Friday, my bus got in to Hartford at 10 PM. After a happy reunion with my mom, we jumped in the car and headed off to search for food. I was pretty cranky - it was 10 PM, I had marathon the next morning, and I was starving. After a few wrong turns (my awesome sense of direction meaning that we were never lost - just veering off the basic path for where our hotel was), we found a Carrabba's Italian Grill, and I decreed that that was what I wanted for dinner. I got my favorite pre-race dish - pasta with marinara sauce and a mix of various shellfish - and also scarfed down a ton of bread. Carb-loading, right? (In case you couldn't tell, I make that excuse for basically everything I eat pre-race). Finally, we headed to the hotel.
Checking in, the woman working the front desk apologized and warned us that there would be a race in the morning that would go by the hotel and make it impossible to drive anywhere. The hotel's solution? They parking in a lot a few blocks away, and would have golf carts ferrying guests between the hotel and the parking lot all morning. Hilarious! I assured the woman that it was fine, and that I was actually one of the crazies who would be running in the race. With that, we went up to my room, I laid out my race clothes, and went to bed - at midnight. Not quite the ideal pre-race bedtime, but I was hoping that my decent amount of sleep on Thursday night would help.
Saturday morning dawned bright and early, and I woke up feeling pretty good. We got dressed and headed down to the lobby, where we saw a lot of runners milling around. It seemed like they were waiting for something, so we asked if there was a shuttle, but everyone replied no. However, we found one guy who had been planning to walk to the start (it was about a mile away) and offered him a ride. Have to keep the running community cordial and helpful!
Arriving at the civic center where packet pickup was, we pulled up to a no-parking zone in front that was perfect. Had there been legal parking, we never would have found a spot, but with illegal parking, my mom could sit in the car and be ready to move it anytime. I followed the crowds to the basement, where packet pickup was held, and found mass chaos. The organizers did not seem prepared for so many people to be picking up morning of, as there was a woefully inadequate number of volunteers at the tables, and long self-formed lines of runners everywhere. I asked around to find the right line (there were also lines for a half-marathon, relay, and 5K), and finally picked up my packet about 15 minutes later. The volunteer handed me my number and then told me I needed to get in another line to get my t-shirt, and still another line for my chip. What?! Terrible organization, ING! The lines were all weaving into one another (because ING hadn't set them up - they were just formed impromptu as more and more people kept coming), and it was always hard to tell if you were in the right or the shortest line for what you wanted to do. Finally, around 7, I left the center and my mom and I went to go find parking and the start.
We found a great lot just a few blocks from the start - it pays to be early! I donned my Portland Marathon space blanket, because it was pretty cold, and we walked into the park to find it a bit of a mess. There were tents everywhere, but no volunteers seemed to be able to point us in the right direction. Finally we spied an information tent, and studied the map to figure out where bag drop was. In an interesting twist, the bag drop was sponsored by UPS and our bags were being loaded onto trucks - only to sit in one place because the start and the finish were in the same place! I didn't mind, but found it a bit odd that they were taking the trouble to load things onto trucks when they didn't need to go anywhere. After that was done, they started calling runners to the start, directing us to Elm Street.
I headed off with the masses to where I had seen Elm Street, and found that Elm Street was actually the beginning of the course - the start was at the intersection of Elm Street and another street. The problem was, by coming from Elm Street where the announcer had told us to go, we were facing the start, where all the elite runners were already lined up, and where even if they hadn't been lined up, we couldn't just go straight in because we'd go over the chip mats and our timing would commence. However, there were crowds already packed to the sides of the course. Volunteers were trying to funnel runners back along the start corrals single-file, but with the crowds of spectators, the lines were barely moving. I made it through a bit, but then found myself completely stuck right next to the elite corrals and an opening in the gates. There was a volunteer there insisting that no one go through this way and that everyone just keep filing through to join from the back of the pack, but with only a few minutes to go before the start, we were all getting pretty nervous. Finally, a bunch of us made a break for it, figuring the volunteer couldn't stop all of us, and we were right. Once in the elite corral, we headed upstream and made it to the "regular people" area. The last thing I wanted was to slow other people down; I just didn't want to be in the crowd on the sidelines when the race start. Packed in like sardines, we watched other people doing what we had just done, but the more people that did that, the less able they were to come back into the regular area, and I think a lot ended up starting with the elites. However, I kind of can't blame them. I place the blame on ING for 1) telling us to approach the start from the wrong side and 2) not having some kind of clearance on the side for runners to actually head back to the right area. This was my first race sponsored by the "hpros" (ING does the New York City Marathon as well as a lot of other big races), so I thought they'd be good at organization, but judging from the packet pickup and the start, I guess not.
I made small talk with the people around me, and they all seemed pretty impressed with my goal to run in each of the 50 states, as well as with the fact that I had done marathons the previous two weekends and was still planning to go all-out for Hartford. After some Star Spangled Banner action, there was no need for the usual push to the starting line - we were already packed in as close as we could get. The gun went off, and off we went. I kept my Portland space blanket wrapped tightly around me even after beginning to run, as it was still pretty chilly. However, within a few minutes, I balled it up and tossed it to the side of the road, narrowly missing some spectators as I did so. They looked shocked that I would be throwing part of my outfit away - clearly they hadn't been at the start of a marathon before!
I forgot to mention that through all the walking to the start and standing around, my knee was a bit stiff. I didn't tell my mom, not wanting her to worry, but I was a little afraid that I'd have to pull a Wyoming and walk most of the course. In the first few minutes, my knee was still noticeably stiff, but within 1/2 mile it loosened up, never to bother me again for the rest of the race. So bizarre!
Though it had been cold at the start, once I was running, it turned out to be a fairly nice day for a marathon. The air was brisk and clean - very typical New England fall weather. The sun did heat things up later in the afternoon, but it wasn't really that hot for running, and I thought it just made for a nice comfortable (instead of cold) finish. We wound through the streets of downtown Hartford and up a slight incline as we crossed a bridge that led out of the downtown area. Shortly after, we came to my hotel. I kept my eyes peeled for the golf carts shuttling guests to their cars, because I thought it would be a funny sight, but the only people I saw were lots of spectators (most likely runners' families) who had come out of the hotel to clap and cheer. I guess the hotel had underestimated how many of their guests would be there just for the marathon and therefore wouldn't be inconvenienced by the impassibility of the roads :)
The course took us to some more residential areas, and while there weren't constant spectators like in Akron (except for the Towpath section), there was still a good show of support. The race organizers had commissioned a lot of different musical acts, and several families also took it upon themselves to blast music on stereo systems from their house, which was nice. There were quite a few families having picnics on their lawns, making me very jealous of the ability to stay home and watch a marathon go by. (I wanted to live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for just this reason, but I do love my apartment on the Upper West Side and it has the advantage of being only about three blocks from the NYC marathon finish. Boyfriend lives even closer, and I think we may be able to see the finish from his roofdeck, a theory I will certainly test out.) There were the usual parties with beers being passed, and I got extremely jealous when I again saw mimosas at one family's party. One of these days I will get up the nerve to ask for a drink during the race.
Eventually we got on a long out-and-back section. I had always professed to hate out-and-backs, because you don't get as much change in scenery, but I actually think I've changed my opinion on this. At both Portland and Staten Island, it was a lot of fun to see other runners coming toward me and get to see who else was running. I didn't know many people running Hartford, but the one person I did know was running Hartford was Brian of Crazy Bandana. When I saw him coming, I got so excited to recognize someone! He was almost three miles ahead of me (just call him Mr. Speedy Gonzales), but I gave the loudest "Go Crazy Bandana!" I could muster and got a smile out of him :) I then set to the task of cheering for every Maniac who went by (even though I didn't know them). I also made it a point to cheerlead for the frontrunners, especially the lead women. I was a little disappointed that when I yelled "come on everyone, let's give these frontrunners a cheer for how awesome they are!", everyone around me ignored me and averted their eyes like I was a homeless person back in Manhattan. Later in the race, I was admired by some people around me for having the energy to cheer for those around me, but I'll let you in on a little secret: I find it actually gives me more energy when I cheer for other people. Whether it's good karma or positive endorphins or what, I don't know, but to borrow a quote from Avenue Q, "when you help others, you can't help helping yourself."
By mile 16, it was getting hot, and I was getting tired. I was sucking down as much Gatorade as possible at each water station. I can see how Hartford made a great decision to have the race in October - it wasn't too hot because of the fall weather... it was sunny and warm enough to kind of annoy us, but not enough to cause any serious problems or really make us drip with sweat. In the middle miles, I was getting to meet a lot of interesting people while I was running. There were a group of people from France, with whom I tried to speak French for a while, and a great guy named Rick who I ran with for a while - he had done the Cox Providence Marathon in May, which I had done as part of my back-to-back half marathon weekend. We chatted about various other races in the northeast, and I tried to explain how to spell my blog URL ("absolutly... without the e... like the vodka") so he could later get in touch with me. I vowed to carry business cards with me in the future, even though I knew I'd be pretty dorky handing them out.
Around mile 19, we finally turned off the course from the out-and-back, though there was a small bit of cross-over with the old course as we headed back toward downtown Hartford. Mile 20 had a bit of uphill, but by then I was just getting myself psyched up to see my mom, who was supposed to be at mile 21. Sure enough, she appeared under a bridge screaming "go Laura!", and I was so excited. I slowed to a walk and tried to pretend that that I was graciously doing this so she could walk with me for a bit. About a hundred feet later was a water station and an uphill, so I would have been walking for both of those anyway. I took what I thought would be my last gel, and then handed my fanny pack off to her. It's made of neoprene and I swear I don't keep that much stuff in it, but I felt pounds lighter when I took it off, and when she left me midway up the on ramp to the bridge, I even found the energy to jog to the top instead of walking like so many people around me.
We headed back across the bridge, which had been mile 1.5 on the way out. I knew logically that I was only at mile 21.5, but it was still a disappointment when we had to turn right to make a big loop instead of just continuing straight to finish in a mile. I took some more gels from spectators, and was glad I did - mile 22 featured a bridge over some railroad tracks that made us go up and over a bridge. It was the up that was the problem. Fortunately, there was a great DJ blasting music and cheering right at the top of the bridge, and as I went over, he was pounding out Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back. I sang along as I ran, while the DJ got on the mic and announced to everyone that "this girl IS bringing sexy back! You go girl!" Inspired, I hit the downhill after the bridge at a slightly faster clip, and decided that now was the time to put on my Power Songs playlist, starting with Britney Spears' "Stronger." I was stronger than yesterday, and I started getting in a great mood to hit the finish.
Turning a corner at the end of the loop, there was a guy with sort of political sign. I can't quite remember the exact wording, but it was supporting one of the presidential candidates AND THEN saying something about how he was cheering for those runners who were also supporting that candidate (can't remember which candidate either - I want to say Obama but I could be wrong). I was really pissed when I saw that sign. Races are not the places to make political statements, and spectators should be cheering for ALL runners, not just the ones with their same political beliefs. One of my favorite things about running is how it brings together so many different people of different backgrounds and beliefs, and this guy's sign just really flew in the face of that. I was really tempted to spit on the sign as I ran by, but I'm not quite that juvenile :) I've seen a lot of spectator signs in my marathons, and I have to say, my favorite political sign on a course was definitely the one that said "Obama? Bush? The only race that matters is the one you're running right now - GO FOR IT!" I loved that one!
At mile 23, we went under an overpass and then through a pleasant park. The path was pretty narrow, but the runners were fairly spread out at this point so I didn't mind. It was pretty to run by the water, and it almost helped me not to notice the incline back up to street level at mile 24. Almost. However, I was completely into my power songs at this point, and Britney Spears' "Gimme More" propelled me to the top, because I knew I had not yet reached my limits. Bring it, Hartford!
As we circled back toward the finish, I passed a turn around 25.5 that I recognized from the night before when I was coming into town - the bus had turned a corner and I saw the signs indicating that this road was part of the marathon course. I felt a sense of familiarity bringing me home, and I tried to pick up the pace, knowing my mom was just a little over a mile away at the finish. The crowds of spectators lining the course grew larger and larger, until almost before I knew it, I saw the small park in front of me where we had started, and I knew I just had to circle that to get to the opposite side and I'd be done. My all-time favorite running song, Rascal Flatts' "Where You Are," came on, and I got a huge smile on my face as I picked up the pace just a bit. The crowds were cheering loudly, and when I saw the 26 mile mark, I started to really push it. We turned a corner and had to go over a small bridge (just a teeny incline, but of course, we really felt it!) to see the finish straight ahead. There was a huge video screen showing runners coming up to the finish, and almost right when I passed it, I heard my mom's familiar "GO LAURA!" somewhere off to my left. I was trying so hard to smile, but I could also tell that my face was contorting into some twisting deformed state. I gritted my teeth and sprinted for all I was worth, knowing that I was ruining any race pictures that might be taken of me but not caring - I had energy to spend and I was going to use it to shave off every possible second!
I crossed the finish line under a glorious stone arch, stopped my Garmin, and felt - nothing. I wasn't dying. I wasn't in pain. In fact, I wanted to keep running! I knew I wouldn't be able to find my mom in the massive crowd, so I made a beeline for the bag check where I could get my phone and call her. Around me, I saw thousands of people doing the post-marathon shuffle, but I felt super, with nary a limp in my step. I swapped my sneakers for flip flops and dialed my mom, meeting up with her right after the food tent.
Most of my race reports typically end at the finish, but one of the best parts about Hartford was the finish food - I could write an entire race report just about that! It was catered by Whole Foods, and everything was delicious. There were piles of the best cookies I've ever had (oatmeal cranberry), cups of delicious four-cheese-and-truffle macaroni and cheese (TRUFFLED, I tell you!), cups of cinnamon raisin and walnut quinoa, cups of apple crisp, and of course the more usual foods like bagels and fruit. But the gourmet stuff was just incredible - it was all very harvest-y and autumnal, and I just can't say enough about how good it was. My mouth is watering as I write this and I would consider running it again just for the chance to eat more of that delicious food!
After getting a fully loaded plate, we headed over for the bandshell, where I spent some time dancing around to "Sweet Home Alabama" while people stared at me, wondering if I had done the 5K or maybe the half-marathon instead of the full. Nope - I ran 26.2 miles and I'm running another 13.1 tomorrow and I'm going to dance if I want to! I felt gloriously happy and successful - this was by far one of the best marathons I've done. What a beautiful, fantastic race :)
Race stats:
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 4:23:23
Pace: 10:03
Overall place: 12203/1894
Gender place: 370/687
Age group place: 37/63
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
I'm famous!
Around mile 16 of the Hartford Marathon, I met and ran with an awesome guy named Rick. He had run in the Cox Providence Marathon in May, which I had done as a half. This was back when I thought I would never in a million years be able to do a full (a few weeks later, I ran my first marathon!).
Hmmm, I never did finish and post either of those race reports, did I...
Anyway, Rick e-mailed me yesterday with some exciting news: the Hartford Marathon has come out with their promo video for 2009... and guess who's featured in it? Check out 1:08.
Question: why do we put our hands into the air at the end of a marathon? I guess V for victory and all that, but I happen to think I look pretty stupid with my arms in the half-hearted V I make when I'm too exhausted at the end of a race to do much more than stumble to the water station. And I've noticed that my best race pictures have been ones where I've just been running and ignoring the camera and not bothering to wave my arms around (actually, my best is often the Vanity Ignore).
Speaking of race pictures, I actually got what I think is my best race picture ever in Honolulu. I look normal, fast, and happy! Amazing, especially since it's somewhere in the second half of the race.
However, I still haven't written my Honolulu race report. Noticing a theme here?
I'm on it.
Hmmm, I never did finish and post either of those race reports, did I...
Anyway, Rick e-mailed me yesterday with some exciting news: the Hartford Marathon has come out with their promo video for 2009... and guess who's featured in it? Check out 1:08.
Question: why do we put our hands into the air at the end of a marathon? I guess V for victory and all that, but I happen to think I look pretty stupid with my arms in the half-hearted V I make when I'm too exhausted at the end of a race to do much more than stumble to the water station. And I've noticed that my best race pictures have been ones where I've just been running and ignoring the camera and not bothering to wave my arms around (actually, my best is often the Vanity Ignore).
Speaking of race pictures, I actually got what I think is my best race picture ever in Honolulu. I look normal, fast, and happy! Amazing, especially since it's somewhere in the second half of the race.
However, I still haven't written my Honolulu race report. Noticing a theme here?I'm on it.
Friday, December 19, 2008
A great big 'poor me' complaint that you'd probably be better off skipping
I'm pretty down since getting back from Hawaii. I mean, I know Hawaii is way more exciting than New York... but it's not just that. I've always been more of a suburban girl, but with all my friends in the city and seemingly all the high-powered high-status jobs here, it would feel like kind of a downgrade to move elsewhere. I hope that makes sense and doesn't sound too snotty.
But then I get comments like this while talking with one of my friends who works in banking: "I'm off work today. 'Off work,' even though I've already been called three times and worked for an hour and it's only noon. That's why I'm glad I'm going to Peru. It's a third world country, so there's no way I can check my e-mail." Boyfriend has said something similar - one time when he needed a break, he told his boss he was going camping in the mountains where there was no electricity. Pathetic, huh? It's so true though - we live to work instead of vice versa.
Lately I just feel very lonely. I work long hours, and when I'm not working, I'm trying to see Boyfriend during the few hours he's not working. My friends have kind of fallen by the wayside - when I was traveling, I was only home a weekend or two a month, so we didn't get into a regular schedule of getting together. When I was home, half the time I just wanted to lie around and be lazy, so I'd cancel whatever plans we did make. Now, I'm just at the point where I really hate calling people, because I don't want to harass them. Stupid? Yes. My fault? Yes again.
I know you're all going to point out that I run marathons, but somehow, it just seems like I don't really do much. I work. I cook and eat. I watch crappy TV shows or read. I go to sleep. Even working out has kind of fallen off my radar, except when I have a marathon planned, and then it's 4-5 hours of cardio and nothing more until the next one.
When I was little, I was highly scheduled. Not because I had a pushy mom at all (on the contrary - she was often trying to convince me to take a break from my activities), but because I loved being busy. I would go to school, stay after for whatever club meeting was that day, go straight from there to ballet class or my voice lesson, eat dinner in the car on the way to rehearsal for whatever play/musical I was in at the time, do my homework in my downtime at rehearsal, and get home with just enough time to change my AIM away message to "sleep" before doing just that. (In those days, I was a compulsive away messager, putting up my entire list of activities for the day so you always knew where to find me. Today, I shudder to think that kids might be posting their lives online like that). Anyway, I loved it. I've always been so much happier when I'm busy and highly scheduled, and right now I'm just not. And my lack of activities/to-dos has made it harder for me to get done even the few things I do have to do.
The end of December is always a time for reflection for me as I start to think about goals for the new year. In 2009, I really want to transform my life, and I've decided to set one goal for each of the major areas of my life. My ideas aren't fully fleshed out yet, but here goes:
1. Family - call my dad at least every other day. My mom and I have always been very close - I usually talk to her multiple times a day - but my dad and I speak very infrequently, which I know makes him sad. We've had our differences in the past (actually, I stopped speaking to him from November 2007 to May 2008 because of a major blowout), but I want to strengthen our relationship now.
2. Friends - haven't figured out the specifics around this, but something about staying in better touch with people and making an effort to see people more often. I'd really like to quantify this with a 'get together with at least one friend a week' sort of thing, but with the unpredictability of consulting, it's hard to do that. Will keep thinking.
3. Boyfriend - this is going to seem strange, but I actually want to try to see him less. Our relationship is going very well, but I'm finding myself relying on him more than I think I should. He's always the first or second (sometimes it's my mom) person I call with any news, but I've been abandoning my friends partially because I'm so content with him. That's a must-fix.
4. Work - there is a lot I want to fix here, but I haven't decided on specific goals yet. Today is my mid-year consensus meeting (all the senior practitioners sit around and assign ratings to the junior practitioners), and I'll be speaking with my counselor in a few weeks about my strengths and development needs, so I'll prob wait till then to figure stuff out.
5. Running - run 1000 miles and complete as many marathons as necessary to stay on track to run all 50 states by my 25th birthday (July 10, 2010). I'm going to be sure to log all my miles (yeah, see that status tracker in the right sidebar that hasn't been updated in eons? That's not happening in 2009), and also try to run more frequently during the week so I don't get injuries from never running and then suddenly doing 26.2.
6. Working out - in 2009, I'm going to get some form of intentional exercise in at least 6 days a week. That gives me one day of leeway for when things are really tough. But otherwise, there is no excuse for me not to even drop and do 10 pushups before bed or wakeup and do a quick round of 8 Minute Abs. I think if I just make it a requirement to do some form of exercise, hopefully the intensity and duration will follow.
I actually feel a bit better after writing that. And then I glance out the window, and see the snow coming down, and want to call my friend Barry and tell him I don't feel like going to my company holiday party anymore (it's tonight, and I invited him as my guest). And I want to e-mail all my girlfriends and tell them I don't feel like hosting the holiday baking party I had planned for tomorrow afternoon that was my attempt to reconnect. And I just want to lie around and watch TV and be a hermit and do nothing.
I suck.
But then I get comments like this while talking with one of my friends who works in banking: "I'm off work today. 'Off work,' even though I've already been called three times and worked for an hour and it's only noon. That's why I'm glad I'm going to Peru. It's a third world country, so there's no way I can check my e-mail." Boyfriend has said something similar - one time when he needed a break, he told his boss he was going camping in the mountains where there was no electricity. Pathetic, huh? It's so true though - we live to work instead of vice versa.
Lately I just feel very lonely. I work long hours, and when I'm not working, I'm trying to see Boyfriend during the few hours he's not working. My friends have kind of fallen by the wayside - when I was traveling, I was only home a weekend or two a month, so we didn't get into a regular schedule of getting together. When I was home, half the time I just wanted to lie around and be lazy, so I'd cancel whatever plans we did make. Now, I'm just at the point where I really hate calling people, because I don't want to harass them. Stupid? Yes. My fault? Yes again.
I know you're all going to point out that I run marathons, but somehow, it just seems like I don't really do much. I work. I cook and eat. I watch crappy TV shows or read. I go to sleep. Even working out has kind of fallen off my radar, except when I have a marathon planned, and then it's 4-5 hours of cardio and nothing more until the next one.
When I was little, I was highly scheduled. Not because I had a pushy mom at all (on the contrary - she was often trying to convince me to take a break from my activities), but because I loved being busy. I would go to school, stay after for whatever club meeting was that day, go straight from there to ballet class or my voice lesson, eat dinner in the car on the way to rehearsal for whatever play/musical I was in at the time, do my homework in my downtime at rehearsal, and get home with just enough time to change my AIM away message to "sleep" before doing just that. (In those days, I was a compulsive away messager, putting up my entire list of activities for the day so you always knew where to find me. Today, I shudder to think that kids might be posting their lives online like that). Anyway, I loved it. I've always been so much happier when I'm busy and highly scheduled, and right now I'm just not. And my lack of activities/to-dos has made it harder for me to get done even the few things I do have to do.
The end of December is always a time for reflection for me as I start to think about goals for the new year. In 2009, I really want to transform my life, and I've decided to set one goal for each of the major areas of my life. My ideas aren't fully fleshed out yet, but here goes:
1. Family - call my dad at least every other day. My mom and I have always been very close - I usually talk to her multiple times a day - but my dad and I speak very infrequently, which I know makes him sad. We've had our differences in the past (actually, I stopped speaking to him from November 2007 to May 2008 because of a major blowout), but I want to strengthen our relationship now.
2. Friends - haven't figured out the specifics around this, but something about staying in better touch with people and making an effort to see people more often. I'd really like to quantify this with a 'get together with at least one friend a week' sort of thing, but with the unpredictability of consulting, it's hard to do that. Will keep thinking.
3. Boyfriend - this is going to seem strange, but I actually want to try to see him less. Our relationship is going very well, but I'm finding myself relying on him more than I think I should. He's always the first or second (sometimes it's my mom) person I call with any news, but I've been abandoning my friends partially because I'm so content with him. That's a must-fix.
4. Work - there is a lot I want to fix here, but I haven't decided on specific goals yet. Today is my mid-year consensus meeting (all the senior practitioners sit around and assign ratings to the junior practitioners), and I'll be speaking with my counselor in a few weeks about my strengths and development needs, so I'll prob wait till then to figure stuff out.
5. Running - run 1000 miles and complete as many marathons as necessary to stay on track to run all 50 states by my 25th birthday (July 10, 2010). I'm going to be sure to log all my miles (yeah, see that status tracker in the right sidebar that hasn't been updated in eons? That's not happening in 2009), and also try to run more frequently during the week so I don't get injuries from never running and then suddenly doing 26.2.
6. Working out - in 2009, I'm going to get some form of intentional exercise in at least 6 days a week. That gives me one day of leeway for when things are really tough. But otherwise, there is no excuse for me not to even drop and do 10 pushups before bed or wakeup and do a quick round of 8 Minute Abs. I think if I just make it a requirement to do some form of exercise, hopefully the intensity and duration will follow.
I actually feel a bit better after writing that. And then I glance out the window, and see the snow coming down, and want to call my friend Barry and tell him I don't feel like going to my company holiday party anymore (it's tonight, and I invited him as my guest). And I want to e-mail all my girlfriends and tell them I don't feel like hosting the holiday baking party I had planned for tomorrow afternoon that was my attempt to reconnect. And I just want to lie around and watch TV and be a hermit and do nothing.
I suck.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Interim Post
Aaron left a hilarious comment that reminded me I'd forgotten to post afterward. "OK, creepy, I know, but I needed to see how she did, so I worked my way through the results until I found a Laura from New York... :) Time (4:48:39)(if that's you) looks good to me with all the travel and drinking. Hope you're happy with it!!"
I was about to write a response back to him, but figured I'd post it publicly and thereby gain another day or two of procrastination on my race report. First response to his comment: HAHAHA! I've totally searched results before for my running blogging friends and always been too scared to admit it for fear people would think I was a stalker. For anyone else out there, it's time to come out of the closet - we all do it, and it's exactly what the blogger deserves for not providing an update themselves! :) Anyway, I'm sorry to keep you all in such suspense about how the marathon went. Yeah, I've been MIA, but come on, I was in Hawaii! I really can't say enough about what paradise it was for Boyfriend and I. Seriously, THE most romantic and relaxing place on earth.
Anyway, the answer to how the marathon went? It went. I came in with one of my worst times, but the weather was pretty nasty so I'll blame that. In truth, there was some laziness on my part too... but that's a story for my forthcoming race report where I'll be honest and admit to my sloth. For now, I'm calling shenanigans on the tropical-storm-like-rain and hot sun (yes, there was both).
Though the race wasn't my best, after the race came the best vacation I've ever had. It wasn't all that sunny (in fact, it rained a lot), we didn't really do any sightseeing (unless you count going to California Pizza Kitchen not just once but twice), and we spent a lot of time just lying around reading and catching up on back episodes of House/Grey's Anatomy (Boyfriend thinks he's now qualified to be a doctor). But it was sheer bliss. Best part: two hour ridiculously strong massage on Tuesday night before we left for just $90.
More to come, probably tomorrow when NYC gets hit with a ridiculous snowstorm and the power goes out and no one else can go online to work except for me because I have a super duper 6 hour battery on my laptop. (We've been getting e-mailed warnings about that all day).
I was about to write a response back to him, but figured I'd post it publicly and thereby gain another day or two of procrastination on my race report. First response to his comment: HAHAHA! I've totally searched results before for my running blogging friends and always been too scared to admit it for fear people would think I was a stalker. For anyone else out there, it's time to come out of the closet - we all do it, and it's exactly what the blogger deserves for not providing an update themselves! :) Anyway, I'm sorry to keep you all in such suspense about how the marathon went. Yeah, I've been MIA, but come on, I was in Hawaii! I really can't say enough about what paradise it was for Boyfriend and I. Seriously, THE most romantic and relaxing place on earth.
Anyway, the answer to how the marathon went? It went. I came in with one of my worst times, but the weather was pretty nasty so I'll blame that. In truth, there was some laziness on my part too... but that's a story for my forthcoming race report where I'll be honest and admit to my sloth. For now, I'm calling shenanigans on the tropical-storm-like-rain and hot sun (yes, there was both).
Though the race wasn't my best, after the race came the best vacation I've ever had. It wasn't all that sunny (in fact, it rained a lot), we didn't really do any sightseeing (unless you count going to California Pizza Kitchen not just once but twice), and we spent a lot of time just lying around reading and catching up on back episodes of House/Grey's Anatomy (Boyfriend thinks he's now qualified to be a doctor). But it was sheer bliss. Best part: two hour ridiculously strong massage on Tuesday night before we left for just $90.
More to come, probably tomorrow when NYC gets hit with a ridiculous snowstorm and the power goes out and no one else can go online to work except for me because I have a super duper 6 hour battery on my laptop. (We've been getting e-mailed warnings about that all day).
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Update (Night before the marathon)
In the process of trying to get Boyfriend drunk enough not to sign up, I had some pina coladas myself. Neither of us got drunk, but it probably wasn't the smartest thing to have the day before a race! Whatever - how many times do I get to race on a tropical island?
Though we didn't succeed in getting him drunk, Boyfriend did not sign up for the race. He's instead totally psyched to see me at the 5.5 mile aid station in front of our hotel, and then at the finish. For my part, I am totally psyched to have him finally get to see what I can do. I want to try to run faster tomorrow to show off, but the course is notoriously hot and hilly. Then again, my current PR was set at one of the hilliest marathons I've done so far - San Francisco - so who knows what will happen.
Plan for after the race is to immediately get as drunk on fruity tropical drinks as possible. Can't wait!!
Though we didn't succeed in getting him drunk, Boyfriend did not sign up for the race. He's instead totally psyched to see me at the 5.5 mile aid station in front of our hotel, and then at the finish. For my part, I am totally psyched to have him finally get to see what I can do. I want to try to run faster tomorrow to show off, but the course is notoriously hot and hilly. Then again, my current PR was set at one of the hilliest marathons I've done so far - San Francisco - so who knows what will happen.
Plan for after the race is to immediately get as drunk on fruity tropical drinks as possible. Can't wait!!
And now there are two of them
I've already told you all how my roommate is running the Honolulu Marathon with very little training (she's done one thirteen mile run and one eighteen mile run, but otherwise never over 6 miles). She swears she will run/walk and stop if she gets hurt, but I'm still worried.
This morning, Boyfriend and my roommate and I went to the expo to do packet pickup, and Boyfriend got into the spirit of the marathon. Not the movie - I mean he really got into the marathon spirit. He wants to do the last-minute signup today and run it. He does not run. Like, at all. At the gym he does weights, and he's run maybe a mile max a few times in the last year. And he wants to do the marathon tomorrow. I keep telling him what a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea that is... but he's so excited about it, and I hate to break his spirit.
We're going to the beach right now in hopes of getting him drunk and distracted for the next five hours until signups close. I hope this works...
This morning, Boyfriend and my roommate and I went to the expo to do packet pickup, and Boyfriend got into the spirit of the marathon. Not the movie - I mean he really got into the marathon spirit. He wants to do the last-minute signup today and run it. He does not run. Like, at all. At the gym he does weights, and he's run maybe a mile max a few times in the last year. And he wants to do the marathon tomorrow. I keep telling him what a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea that is... but he's so excited about it, and I hate to break his spirit.
We're going to the beach right now in hopes of getting him drunk and distracted for the next five hours until signups close. I hope this works...
Paradise
No words, just pure heaven. Last night we slept with the doors to both balconies open, listening to the waves crashing against the beach. This is the most romantic place I have ever been and I am just so happy - this is exactly what we both needed.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Oh happy day
Work sucked last night but it is time to put on my happy face. And I currently have good reason to do so - work is done and I am FREE for the night! At 6:30 PM! How unbelievable.
I don't even know what to do with myself. Should I cook? Should I go to the gym (I have not worked out one stitch since the Atlanta Marathon on Thanksgiving... oops!)? Should I go to a bar and get wasted? Should I just go to bed? The possibilities are endless.
However, the most exciting thing: tomorrow I go to HAWAII! No matter what else I do tonight, one part of my plans is digging through my drawers to pull out my summer skirts and sundresses, my bikinis and my tank tops, and several pairs of sunglasses. Oh yes, and some racing clothes for the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday.
Another part of my plans for tonight is planning my trip. I know where I'm staying (thank you, consulting clients, for giving me points to make my hotel stay free, and thank you, Starwood, for upgrading me to a suite to make the occasion super nice for Boyfriend and I!), but I have no idea what I'm doing yet other than the marathon. I'm thinking it would be nice to get a massage after the race - I've always wanted to get a long massage right after, and Boyfriend and I have been wanting to get a couples' massage, so this is a good chance to do both. I've also been told that climbing Diamond Head is fun, so I'm thinking we could do that on Monday to help recover from the marathon. Horseback riding up in the wild North Shore sounds like a lot of fun, and of course I want to get in all the beach time I can take! (No repeats of Charleston though - I am going to be fully sunscreened so I tan and don't burn). Somewhere in all there I'll get to meet Frayed Laces and Single in San Diego (she's no longer in San Diego, in case you were confused) - I love blogger meetups! If anyone else is in town, for the race or otherwise, please let me know.
What else makes me excited besides Hawaii? How about December vacations in general? I've taken only two days of vacation since I started with my firm about 18 months ago, and now I have a lot of time that's about to expire, so I have to take it. Therefore, my schedule for the next few weeks:
12/12-12/17: Vacation (Hawaii)
12/18-12/19: Working
12/20-12/21: Weekend
12/22-12/24: Vacation
12/25-12/26: Firm holidays
12/27-12/28: Weekend
12/29-12/31: Vacation
1/1-1/2: Firm holidays
1/3-1/4: Weekend
Did you catch that in three weeks I'm only going to be working for TWO days? I mean I know that doesn't count all the time that I'll be technically on vacation but actually working, but still. STILL! Three weeks where I technically have no responsibilities!!! I suppose I'll have to think of something productive to do with my time...
I don't even know what to do with myself. Should I cook? Should I go to the gym (I have not worked out one stitch since the Atlanta Marathon on Thanksgiving... oops!)? Should I go to a bar and get wasted? Should I just go to bed? The possibilities are endless.
However, the most exciting thing: tomorrow I go to HAWAII! No matter what else I do tonight, one part of my plans is digging through my drawers to pull out my summer skirts and sundresses, my bikinis and my tank tops, and several pairs of sunglasses. Oh yes, and some racing clothes for the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday.
Another part of my plans for tonight is planning my trip. I know where I'm staying (thank you, consulting clients, for giving me points to make my hotel stay free, and thank you, Starwood, for upgrading me to a suite to make the occasion super nice for Boyfriend and I!), but I have no idea what I'm doing yet other than the marathon. I'm thinking it would be nice to get a massage after the race - I've always wanted to get a long massage right after, and Boyfriend and I have been wanting to get a couples' massage, so this is a good chance to do both. I've also been told that climbing Diamond Head is fun, so I'm thinking we could do that on Monday to help recover from the marathon. Horseback riding up in the wild North Shore sounds like a lot of fun, and of course I want to get in all the beach time I can take! (No repeats of Charleston though - I am going to be fully sunscreened so I tan and don't burn). Somewhere in all there I'll get to meet Frayed Laces and Single in San Diego (she's no longer in San Diego, in case you were confused) - I love blogger meetups! If anyone else is in town, for the race or otherwise, please let me know.
What else makes me excited besides Hawaii? How about December vacations in general? I've taken only two days of vacation since I started with my firm about 18 months ago, and now I have a lot of time that's about to expire, so I have to take it. Therefore, my schedule for the next few weeks:
12/12-12/17: Vacation (Hawaii)
12/18-12/19: Working
12/20-12/21: Weekend
12/22-12/24: Vacation
12/25-12/26: Firm holidays
12/27-12/28: Weekend
12/29-12/31: Vacation
1/1-1/2: Firm holidays
1/3-1/4: Weekend
Did you catch that in three weeks I'm only going to be working for TWO days? I mean I know that doesn't count all the time that I'll be technically on vacation but actually working, but still. STILL! Three weeks where I technically have no responsibilities!!! I suppose I'll have to think of something productive to do with my time...
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Unhappy birthday
It's my blog's birthday. One year ago today, I went to blogger.com and hit "create blog." 381 posts later, "Create a post" on Blogger is prominently listed in my favorites on iGoogle, and I have over 173 favorite blogs in Google Reader that I (try to) read daily. Blogging and running have become such a huge part of my life in the last year... but I'll save most of that reflection for some December 31st posts. I don't really feel like posting much more today, because today pretty much sucks.
Boyfriend's company is laying off another 10% this morning. Last time they finished all the cuts by noon, and he texted me to say he was okay. But I haven't heard from him yet, and I'm really worried he's going to be in that 10%.
In other awesome news, my company is going to be cutting 10% in early January (apparently 10% is the arbitrary number every company picks). I'm working my butt off (on Sunday, I worked 1 PM to 3 AM) to make sure I'm not in that 10%, but it doesn't really matter - it's a lot of politics, luck, and factors out of my control.
These are rough times.
Boyfriend's company is laying off another 10% this morning. Last time they finished all the cuts by noon, and he texted me to say he was okay. But I haven't heard from him yet, and I'm really worried he's going to be in that 10%.
In other awesome news, my company is going to be cutting 10% in early January (apparently 10% is the arbitrary number every company picks). I'm working my butt off (on Sunday, I worked 1 PM to 3 AM) to make sure I'm not in that 10%, but it doesn't really matter - it's a lot of politics, luck, and factors out of my control.
These are rough times.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
I think I'm cured of clean plate club-ism
I'm at the office, and we just ordered dinner from this Italian place. I confirmed several times with the person on the phone that everything would be a single serving and wrapped individually. She told me that the pasta fagioli soup only came in one family size to serve 5 people, but the partner said he wanted it anyway, and we all agreed to pitch in to help him eat it. The rest of us got various pasta dishes, salads, etc. One of the senior consultants and I ordered the zuppa di pesce, which was supposed to be linguini with various types of seafood.
When the food came, there were lots and lots of little bags and boxes, and then two huge catering-size trays (like 1 foot wide by 2 feet long). We assumed those were the salads, and wondered why they had put them all together (since I had specified we wanted everything wrapped individually), and also why they were hot. When opening them, we discovered... about 10 pounds each of linguini, shrimp, clams, mussels, and FOUR whole lobsters. That's supposed to be my "individual" dinner.
There is no way I am going to clean my plate tonight.
When the food came, there were lots and lots of little bags and boxes, and then two huge catering-size trays (like 1 foot wide by 2 feet long). We assumed those were the salads, and wondered why they had put them all together (since I had specified we wanted everything wrapped individually), and also why they were hot. When opening them, we discovered... about 10 pounds each of linguini, shrimp, clams, mussels, and FOUR whole lobsters. That's supposed to be my "individual" dinner.
There is no way I am going to clean my plate tonight.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Pop quiz time!
You're at Laguardia Airport. You spent the car ride over here with the windows rolled down completely in an attempt to stop sweating, while you alternated between feeling you were going to vomit and feeling you were going to pass out. All this while trying to sound on a conference call like you are fine and not sick and a good sport. You make it through security without incident, and are now at the food court. You want to find something that will fill you up, provide nutrition as it is your only dinner, and soothe your stomach. Nowhere is chicken noodle soup sold. Where do you go?
From left to right:
a) McDonalds for chicken McNuggets. Hey, if you can't have chicken noodle soup, fried chicken is the next best option.
b) Mex and the City. Maybe if you get enough refried beans you can flush the sickness right out of you.
c) Joey's Pizza. If you're going to throw up anyway, go for the greasiest treat!
d) Papaya King. The smoothies may be full of sugar and nauseatingly sweet, but maybe the cold will numb your throat.
e) Sky Asian Bistro. Chicken and broccoli is healthy... oh wait, you can't have broccoli. All right, new choices are egg drop soup or sweet and sour soup. Please note that both of those make you sick even when you're in the best of health, and there is no wonton soup on the menu.
f) Cibo Bistro and Wine Bar. Hey, if you're going to throw up, it might as well be due to some delicious alcohol.
g) None of the above. Starving is your best option.
h) Any of the above. It doesn't matter what you pick because you're going to be using your barf bag on the plane anyway.
From left to right:
a) McDonalds for chicken McNuggets. Hey, if you can't have chicken noodle soup, fried chicken is the next best option.
b) Mex and the City. Maybe if you get enough refried beans you can flush the sickness right out of you.
c) Joey's Pizza. If you're going to throw up anyway, go for the greasiest treat!
d) Papaya King. The smoothies may be full of sugar and nauseatingly sweet, but maybe the cold will numb your throat.
e) Sky Asian Bistro. Chicken and broccoli is healthy... oh wait, you can't have broccoli. All right, new choices are egg drop soup or sweet and sour soup. Please note that both of those make you sick even when you're in the best of health, and there is no wonton soup on the menu.
f) Cibo Bistro and Wine Bar. Hey, if you're going to throw up, it might as well be due to some delicious alcohol.
g) None of the above. Starving is your best option.
h) Any of the above. It doesn't matter what you pick because you're going to be using your barf bag on the plane anyway.
Just call me carrot girl
Back from the doctor's, and hurray! I am neither pregnant nor dying. My bloodwork was almost all back - there were a few things that weren't quite ready, but she said they were extremely rare and she doubted they would come back positive, but she'd call me if they did. Anyway, I'm negative for just about everything, with the exception of some silly stuff. For example, mono came up, but there are a few different levels they test, and the old level came up showing that I had mono when I was younger, but the current level shows I'm fine now.
However, she did find what we think is the problem: my beta carotene level is through the roof, and apparently high levels of beta carotene can cause fatigue. I don't mean just a little bit high - I mean the normal range is 4-30 mcg/dL, and my level is 114.3! For the next two weeks, I'm supposed to stop taking my multivitamin (I checked it and it's actually a perfectly reasonable level), and also avoid foods high in Vitamin A. This means no asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, milk, liver, peaches, pumpkin, red peppers, spinach, squash, or sweet potatoes. Unfortunately, most of my favorite winter veggies are included in that list! Of course I've been overdosing - that's like my entire diet right there. After two weeks of the beta carotene detox, I can start reintroducing those foods gradually at least, but no more Vitamin A binges like I've apparently been having.
All I'm saying is you try to do good for your body... and what does it get you?! No fair. At least there's a simple solution...
However, she did find what we think is the problem: my beta carotene level is through the roof, and apparently high levels of beta carotene can cause fatigue. I don't mean just a little bit high - I mean the normal range is 4-30 mcg/dL, and my level is 114.3! For the next two weeks, I'm supposed to stop taking my multivitamin (I checked it and it's actually a perfectly reasonable level), and also avoid foods high in Vitamin A. This means no asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, milk, liver, peaches, pumpkin, red peppers, spinach, squash, or sweet potatoes. Unfortunately, most of my favorite winter veggies are included in that list! Of course I've been overdosing - that's like my entire diet right there. After two weeks of the beta carotene detox, I can start reintroducing those foods gradually at least, but no more Vitamin A binges like I've apparently been having.
All I'm saying is you try to do good for your body... and what does it get you?! No fair. At least there's a simple solution...
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
To elliptical or not to elliptical?
Ready for the list of maladies? Here it comes.
Sunday I started getting a sore throat, and then I didn't get that much sleep Sunday night, so yesterday I woke up with it much worse. It hurt to swallow, and I just felt achy and tired.
I did some pretty intense weight lifting on Saturday while I was waiting on things in the oven. I didn't stretch properly, and it was also the first time I had really done weights in a while, but on Sunday my arms were sore, and by Monday, I couldn't straighten them! They're easing up now, though it's still hard to let my arms hang at my side. Note to self: stretch after lifting in the future!
Last night I was an absolute mess. Boyfriend and I wanted to get together both Monday and Tuesday nights, since I have a business trip planned for Wednesday through Friday and then a friend coming to stay till Sunday. However, last night he didn't get out of work until 2:30! I had gone to bed around 10, leaving my phone on so he could wake me up with a call when he finished, but when he called...oy. My head was throbbing, my throat was burning, and my nose was stuffy. A good night's sleep helped resolve the headache and the throat, but I've spent the day in bed (ah, the joys of working from home) building a mountain of tissues on the floor. I really should get up and move the garbage can over here...
Anyway, tonight is the Biggest Loser on TV, and I'm dying to go watch. But going to watch means going to the gym, and two hours on the elliptical? I don't know. They say that as long as your symptoms are above the neck (which they are right now, minus the sore biceps) you're fine to work out. Still, something (read: all your comments for the last few weeks) tells me that a little R&R might be necessary.
I originally thought my plan not to sign up for cable in my apartment was great. I can watch shows on the network websites using my computer and my S-Video cable if I really want to, but in order to watch things live, I'm forced to go work out. Good motivation, I thought. Now I'm sorely (pun intended) disappointed. Silly sickness.
Sunday I started getting a sore throat, and then I didn't get that much sleep Sunday night, so yesterday I woke up with it much worse. It hurt to swallow, and I just felt achy and tired.
I did some pretty intense weight lifting on Saturday while I was waiting on things in the oven. I didn't stretch properly, and it was also the first time I had really done weights in a while, but on Sunday my arms were sore, and by Monday, I couldn't straighten them! They're easing up now, though it's still hard to let my arms hang at my side. Note to self: stretch after lifting in the future!
Last night I was an absolute mess. Boyfriend and I wanted to get together both Monday and Tuesday nights, since I have a business trip planned for Wednesday through Friday and then a friend coming to stay till Sunday. However, last night he didn't get out of work until 2:30! I had gone to bed around 10, leaving my phone on so he could wake me up with a call when he finished, but when he called...oy. My head was throbbing, my throat was burning, and my nose was stuffy. A good night's sleep helped resolve the headache and the throat, but I've spent the day in bed (ah, the joys of working from home) building a mountain of tissues on the floor. I really should get up and move the garbage can over here...
Anyway, tonight is the Biggest Loser on TV, and I'm dying to go watch. But going to watch means going to the gym, and two hours on the elliptical? I don't know. They say that as long as your symptoms are above the neck (which they are right now, minus the sore biceps) you're fine to work out. Still, something (read: all your comments for the last few weeks) tells me that a little R&R might be necessary.
I originally thought my plan not to sign up for cable in my apartment was great. I can watch shows on the network websites using my computer and my S-Video cable if I really want to, but in order to watch things live, I'm forced to go work out. Good motivation, I thought. Now I'm sorely (pun intended) disappointed. Silly sickness.
Monday, December 1, 2008
A time to be thankful for the little things
Shoutout to my amazing friend Becca, who just sent me the following adorable e-card from someecards.com:
Hurray for no heart attacks! With my luck with my health lately, that's definitely an accomplishment - today's malady is a sore throat that makes it really hard to swallow. But I get to go to the doctor in less than 48 hours!!!! Can't wait.
Hurray for no heart attacks! With my luck with my health lately, that's definitely an accomplishment - today's malady is a sore throat that makes it really hard to swallow. But I get to go to the doctor in less than 48 hours!!!! Can't wait.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
