Ari's Menu

Little changes making a big difference.


Archives for January 2012

Celebrations and Such

· by ·

How do you celebrate running your first half marathon? Well, with lots and lots of food and beer, obviously. 😉 After the race, we headed over to Chompies for brunch. I figured I should celebrate with my people, you know. Actually, it was just one of the few breakfast places close to home with a full bar, and I LOVE their food! I enjoyed a fantastic celebratory brunch with my dad, Hermano, Hank, Charlie, my mom, Steve, Kara, Mona, Nicole, Carolyn and Lance. It was after noon by the time we got seated and breakfast had been at 5:30, so most of us were ready for some food! Although, my stomach never felt quite right yesterday and while I usually feel ravenous the day after a long run, I just felt kind of blech and not even that into food all day long which was a total bummer! Regardless, the company was fab and I was just happy to be out celebrating!

Team lava--these ladies totally rocked their relay! I am so proud of them and their awesome times and PRs!!!

Kara didn't even know she got a medal when she signed up--she was totally stoked about this added bonus!

I totally planned on ordering a celebratory glass of champagne, but ended up sticking with water, eating a whole wheat blueberry pancake with an egg and turkey sausage. No pictures of the food, but it was delicious as always. After we ate, Steve took some awesome post race photos for us!

Singles of everyone

Nicole

Carolyn

Kara

Obviously, I take my post race photos very seriously.

And lots of pictures of people together. I’m so descriptive.

Team lava!

Not very fast (except, you were), but pretty damn hot

Blog friends, turned super amazing real life friends!

Running buddies!!!

Hermano e Hermana

+ el padre

We went home after breakfast for some much needed relaxation, but before we knew it, it was time for food celebration part 2 at The Yard House! There must have been about 20 of us that got together to celebrate the run and drink delicious beer!

A yard of delicious dark, sweet beer!

Don't worry, I didn't drink both of those myself. Kara and I split them, although the second one was more like 80% her, 20% me. I was just ready for bed haha.

The runners, oh and me 😉 I still feel so weird calling myself a runner!

There is no doubt that January 15 2012 will go down as one of the happiest days in my life! It doesn’t get much better than big accomplishments and big celebration!

 

 

 

 

RnR AZ 1/2 Marathon Race Recap

· by ·

Honestly, it’s hard to even know where to begin. Yesterday feels kind of like a blur. I got into bed the night before at about 10:00, finally kind of fell asleep after about 45 minutes, and then proceeded to wake up about every hour until my first alarm went off at 4:40 am. I had a “take your pill” alarm and a “yo b, get yo booty outta bed and run this half marathon” alarm, but I knew after the first one went off, there was no way I was falling back asleep, so I got up and started getting ready. I still felt about the same sick level as I had Friday and Saturday, but was grateful not to feel worse and knew that it would be annoying, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t push through.

Kara and Mona arrived at about 5:40, Kara and I drank some iced via (which was delicious and did everything I wanted it too—HOORAY! Why have I NOT been drinking coffee before my long runs until now???) and ate our pre-run breakfast of Ezekiel bread with sunflower butter and banana.

Just like what every other blogger out there eats. So yummy and almost always sits well and fuels well!

Then, we took some pictures and were on our way!

“Even though it is the butt crack of dawn and the sun is not up, I am really excited to run this half marathon!”

“We’re ready!!!!” Mona is sleepy. Good friends wake up at 5am to watch you cross the finish line 🙂

We got to the start/finish area of the race (loop course) pretty quickly and were amazed that traffic really wasn’t bad and we found parking immediately. After a quick stop at the porta potties, we made our way to the starting line just as they were setting up the corrals.

As soon as I saw this, I got a little emotional. I couldn’t believe after 3 1.2 months of training, this was finally it,

Pretty soon after we got there, we met up with Nicole and Carolyn.

Of course we had to take an action shot. You know, just getting warmed up 😉 Ok friends, my face is flat out ridiculous–feel free to laugh at me!

Steve took a picture of my shoe with my time chip. I don’t know why.

Pretty soon, it was time to start heading to our corrals. I handed my sweat shirt off to Mona and Steve, wished Nicole and Carolyn good luck and set out to find lucky number 13. Steve headed over to the starting line and caught the first people to take off.

That guy in front was the frst to start and the first to finish in a ridiculous time of 1:02. Holy amazing.

He also got pictures of the dragon. You know the one that I passed later on in the race 😉

And he caught Nicole too. Of course, she had made a friend in her corral and was talking her ear off haha.

Go team lava, go!!!

We had to wait quite a while (almost half an hour) before finally starting due to delays with the light rail and just being back in such a high corral. I was so antsy! I kept saying to Kara “I want it to be my turn!!!” like a 5 year old. Finally, we were off and running through Mill Ave. It was a pretty neat area to start out, and I was really grateful for some new scenery. We saw Steve and Mona pretty quickly. Steve took a lot of pictures of me and I learned the lesson that I should never put my arms in the air for these pictures because I look about 40 lbs heavier than I am in most of them, but I figured I had to post one, so I picked the least unflattering of the bunch haha.

Awesome arm pit sweat and everything. Running is the most attractive sport ever.

From there, Kara and I just kept on truckin’. I was super annoyed by my ipod because I had spent all of this time putting my perfect playlist in the perfect order, but I couldn’t get the stupid thing not to shuffle. I messed with it for a while, and then just decided it was okay and I still liked all of my music, so it was fine. The day before at the expo, Kara and I had picked up these temporary tattoos that have your goal time on the bottom and where you need to be at each mile to reach that. They didn’t have a 2:20, so we grabbed the 2:15.

This was so unbelievably helpful. We took the first mile as a warm up at 10:24, and then every mile after was under the 10:18 needed to finish sub 2:15. I had told Kara she was in charge of making sure we started out slow, but honestly we were both too excited and I know that I was feeling really great, and so we didn’t go out speeding, but we went out with the intention of following the tattoos. We ran through Tempe, and pretty quickly got into Scottsdale. I was so excited that we had made it into a different city! My dad and Hermano were supposed to be in Scottsdale–my dad was all nostalgic about meeting me right in front of where my high school used to be–so I looked for them, but never ended up seeing them. I was a little bummed because I thought maybe I had just not seen them, but figured they’d understand and I’d see them at the finish. Turns out they had some directional confusion haha.

Before I knew it, we had reached the 10K mark and I still felt like we were passing people left and right! I love passing people. Is that bad? I definitely felt like the motivation to get in front of people pushed me to go faster. Just after the 10K mark, I took my first Gu. Not long after that, Kara and I lost each other. This race was packed from start to finish (my only maybe not so favorite thing about it) and I thought she was right behind me, but I turned around and she was gone. I kind of started to panic, and didn’t know what to do. Do I wait? Do I keep going? I slowed down a bit, but eventually I just went for it. I knew I’d see her at the finish and I was so grateful for being able to run the first half side by side, but I knew I just needed to focus on my goal at this point.

Right around this time, I saw a man in pink compression socks running the entire race backwards. I also so him run into a gate. It was pretty entertaining and took my mind off how quickly I was starting to feel tired. By the time I got to mile 8 marker, I was no longer feeling like I could run forever, and I started to wish for the finish line. It’s funny that the tattoo says “lucky mile 9” because mile 9 was my least favorite of the entire race! I had to start taking walking breaks, I was exhausted and I just wanted to be done. I really hoped I wouldn’t have to walk during this race, but I got 8 miles without walking (except for water and Gatorade), and I knew I needed to take breaks if I was going to make it to the end. I was still right on track with my time goal though, so I just kept pushing and running hard so that my walking breaks didn’t kill my time.

Once I got to mile 10, it started to get real. I was going to finish this race. I was going to complete my first half marathon. I was exhausted, my feet hurt, and I wanted to lay down on the side of the road, but I was going to make it. Most of the end was even downhill!! Excellent choice, map people. Seriously, thank you. I took my second Gu and tried to soak up the energy from the crowd. One thing I will say, is there was so much crowd support! I don;t think I went through a single section where there weren’t people on the side lines cheering, and several people called me out by name which was awesome! Having a shirt with my name on it was more than worth it for that extra support!

Finally, I realized I was crossing the bridge back to the finish line. I saw the building I had pointed out to Kara when we arrived and said “When we see that, we’ll know we’re almost to the finish line!” and that’s when the emotions started, but even more than the emotional idea of finishing, I was so focused on my goal. I knew I had to keep pushing if I wanted to make this new goal of sub 2:15 (I’m so glad there was no 2:20 tattoo!!!!). I was meticulously checking my Garmin, and I knew it was possible, but I had to focus. Just before I got the mile 13 mark, Defying Gravity came on my ipod and I started to cry a little. “I’m through accepting limits cause someone says they’re so. Some things I cannot change, but ’til I try I’ll never know.” Seriously, it’s like the musical theatre kid’s anthem and the words are so fitting.

I crossed the finish line, stopped my Garmin and realized that now Proud Mary was playing and even with my stupid ipod shennanigans, I finished to it after all. And then I cried more, and took my medal and just kept walking, overcome with emotion. I took my phone out of my spibelt and it was ringing! I answered the phone and Bethany asked where I was and I said “I’M AT THE FINISH LINE!!!! I DID IT!!!!” She told me how proud of me she was. I can’t think of a better person to talk to right away than my best friend who has been there through the last 13 years of my life, has seen me at my very worst and understands just how far I’ve come.

Once I got off the phone with Bethany, it didn’t stop ringing! Hermano and my dad were trying to find me, then I had to meet up with Team Lava and Steve was at the finish line still trying to get pictures of Kara. I found myself a little area, sat down and just tried to stretch a little and soak it all in. Before I knew it Kara was right in front of me! I was so happy to see her!! I honestly don’t know if I could have done all of this without her.

Steve got some more super attractive photos of me just before the finish. Haha, it was like a series of unfortunate pictures, but here we go 🙂

I actually don’t hate this one!

That face! Hahahaha. “GET ME TO THE FINISH LINE!!!!!’

And he got one of Carolyn crossing too!

Whooo! Go team lava!

Okay, now the part you’ve all been waiting for (unless you’re my friend on facebook or follow me on twitter)….

OFFICIAL CHIP TIME: 2:13:58!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5K–31:47

10K–1:03:09

10 mile–1:42:18

Average pace–10:14

Although, according to my little garmin

My least favorite part of racing is when my Garmin tells me I’ve finished the distance, yet I’m not across the finish line!

My average pace was 10:07 😉 I like the sound of that much better!

Regardless, my goal was sub 2:20, and I beat it by 6 freaking minutes!!!!!! I had signed up for updates to go to some friends and family so they would know where I was in the course. Steve told me that when he got the final message that said 2:13:58 he even got a little emotional knowing I had beat my goal.

After I graduated college and got married, I thought all of my major life events were behind me at 26 years old. I felt like I already had my big moments, and there was a sense of sadness that came with that after our wedding. I’ll be honest, I am a person that thrives on making others proud and feeling supported by the important people in my life, and of course they always support me, but there are moments in life where you realize just how amazing your life and the people in it are.

Almost exactly 4 years ago, I reached my breaking point. Something shifted in my mind and I wish I could explain how it happened or why or pass that shift on to others I know who are struggling with the same issues I was and continue to struggle with. I knew I wanted to change, and I loved the feeling I got every time someone said “Wow, you’ve lost so much weight!” I knew I wanted needed to lose weight for my own health and well being. I never expected any of this. My waiver for the race had a spot at the bottom that said “signature of athlete” I looked at my friends and said “Who am I going to find to sign this? I need an athlete.” Me? An athlete? A runner? ME?!

I spent so many years of my life believing I couldn’t do things, believing I wasn’t good enough to perform, to run, to have friends, to be likable. So many years spent telling myself every reason why I couldn’t do things and living in too much fear to take risks and try. More than anything, I want every single person out there to know that you can do anything. And it is so freaking worth it to do the things that matter to you, that make you feel proud. Nothing worth accomplishing is easy, but good lord is it rewarding. In 3.5 months, I went from barely being able to run 3 miles, to running a half freaking marathon–A HALF MARATHON!!!!

The only time I can remember feeling this proud of myself is after I did my senior recital, but the best part is, this isn’t the last time I will feel this way. This is just the beginning of accomplishing new things, proving to myself that I am strong and capable, and crossing finish lines both literal and figurative.

Lastly, in the longest blog post ever. I want to say thank you to everyone for the amazing support I received during this process. All of the texts, comments on facebook, phone calls, and especially to Steve, Bethany, my dad, Hermano, and Mona for showing up at the race to support me, Nicole and Carolyn for making the whole experience amazing and all of your kind motivating words, and most especially Kara–you’re friendship has changed my life and I am so grateful to have you as my friend! I don’t know how I scored the most amazing people on the planet to all be my friends, but seriously every single congratulatory message I got meant so much to me and I am beyond grateful. I don’t know what I did to deserve all of you, but I do know that I am beyond grateful.

Carbo Loading Cooking Fail

· by ·

After a long afternoon at the race expo, I invited Kara, Nicole and Carolyn over for a pre race carbolicious dinner. Or so I thought. You see, I’m not actually a real cook. I make simple food. I can make delicious healthier versions of most staple dishes. I can get creative and even create recipes with desserts, but there are some things I should not cook. Apparently, gnocchi is one of them. First of all, delicate foods that require a soft touch and attention to detail are not my thing, but the recipe looked easy enough to I told them I would make sweet potato gnocchi.

"Welcome to my house. I will obviously cook you delicious food. I write a blog about food and recipes so I promise I know how to cook!"

Confession, I was super nervous to cook for Nicole anyway. Have you checked out her blog?! She is AMAZING! Her food is ridiculous and beautiful and she could seriously have her own bakery if she wanted! Me? I just got into cooking because I wanted to eat cheese burgers, but not be fat 🙂 Obviously, it wasn’t long before I got down on my knees and begged asked her nicely for a hand.

"Oh good job Nicole, you just cook dinner and I will pose for pictures and pretend like I made it."

I should have known the recipe was fishy when I got the 3 lbs of sweet potatoes it called for, but then had to measure out 3.5 cups and was left with more than twice as much leftover sweet potato puree! Good thing sweet potatoes are pretty much tied with cilantro for my favorite food!

We did have fun with the whole process of getting the gnocchis in the water.

First, transfered the dough to a bag without spilling it all on the floor. This was my biggest success of the night.

This was the fun part. Minus the 3rd degree burns from the splashing boiling water. Sorry about that Nicole. You are welcome to be my guest any time.

Obviously I couldn't leave all the dangerous gnocchi dropping to her. That's just rude. Don't worry mom, I wore long sleeves!

At one point it even appeared that dinner might be awesome.

Not too bad yet, right?

But then it turned into something more like sweet potato mush. Nicole tried to save the dish, but it was a goner.

"Can I PLEASE just mush it all together?!?!?!"

Nicole was very anti mush, but finally when I proved that the dish was beyond real salvation, she caved.

Mush.

Luckily, Steve grilled some seriously amazing chicken, and I didn’t have a total evening of failure.

Asparugus sprayed with olive oil + s&p baked at 400 for 20 minutes. A winner every time. Thanks for that, Heath!

And then there was this baby that I can’t wait to break into today!

Double chocolate peanut butter cheesecake brownies. I had to make Kara and myself a congratulations treat!

Luckily, the company was top notch and they all ate my weird sweet potato mush without complaint. Good friends, I tell ya. After dinner, we all called it a night pretty early because we all had early morning (4:40 for me!) wake up calls. I spent the next few minutes laying out everything I would need for the next morning.

Clothes, new sparkly green headband made by Nicole (LOVE IT!!!), spibelt, Gu, head phones, chapstick. Garmin and ipod were charging, and bib was in the car. Whoot.

Ready to not sleep 🙂

RnR AZ Race Expo

· by ·

Well, it is going to take me so much more than just one post to cover the entire experience of this weekend. It all seems like a blur, but I will give you a tiny spoiler, and say that I am a very very happy girl today 😀

Yesterday, Steve, Kara, Nicole, Carolyn and I met up to go to the race expo, and let me tell you, I was amazed!!! I mean, this is only my 4th race and it really is my first big one, but I just couldn’t believe how much there was. We ended up staying for over 3 hours! There were even real life cartoon characters!

LOOK!!!! It's like Disneyland!!! Actually, Peanuts characters would be Knott's Berry Farm, but it's like a THEME PARK where kids (of age and heart) can get their picture taken with the REAL CHARACTERS! Don't crush my dreams,

As soon as we walked in, I was totally pumped! I mean, even before I saw all the free stuff. I was getting ready to run the first big race of my life with my 3 favorite running ladies!

Kara, Me, Nicole, and Carolyn

My favorite--the real life, totally running (at like 7 min pace obviously) action shot. Can't you just feel our speediness?

We got in, got our bibs and Nicole and Carolyn got their super awesome relay drumsticks! I would love to do a relay if I get a drumstick!

Fancy.

They even had some of the medals displayed–it just made it all so real.

Mine looks like this, only blue and it says 13.1, not 26.2. Maybe next year mine will look like this???? 😉

Then, the most amazing thing happened! I found out via facebook a few days ago that my friend Becky was running the race too. Let me tell you a little bit about Becky, because she is honestly one of the kindest, most incredible and inspiring people I have ever met. She was my ballet teacher in high school and at a time where I often felt really low and badly about myself, she was a constant source of inspiration. I don’t know if she realizes just how much she has meant to me, but she is one of those people who has left a really big mark on my life. Anyway, she lives in Tucson and I haven’t seen her in years, and it was looking like I wouldn’t even be able to see her at the expo, but then I heard someone call out my name and there she was!

This is Becky. She is one of those people that is ridiculously pretty and talented, but so nice so you can't even hate her!

We didn’t get to chat for too long, but it was so amazing to get to see her even briefly and I’m sure she rocked it today!!! We’ve gotta plan ahead for the next one and run it together! 🙂

Next we made our way through all of the running gear and bee lined to all of the free sample stations (obviously). We even saw the dragon!

Apparently, it's the year of the drago. 8 people dressed as the dragon and ran the race. I passed them. Take that, dragon! HiiiYA!

There were also lots of other RnR medals to drool over and even the possibility to sign up for some races! I *almost* signed up for the Disneyland half marathon in September. I picked up the pen, but then decided I needed to make sure my honeymoon plans were in place and it wouldn’t conflict first, but as long as I can do it, you better believe I am there. Chase, you in??? I’ll be on your turf!

Nicole even got a chance to see the medal she’ll be getting when she does her Disney World half next month!

Nicole, I cannot wait for you to PR and get that beautiful Tinker Bell medal around your neck! You are gonna rock it!!!!

Finally, we made our way through the entire thing just in time as it was closing! Holy stuff—I could have emptied my bank account in there. The only thing I ended up buying was a 13.1 sticker for my car. I can’t wait to put that baby on today!!!!

More to come, friends!

 

 

 

 

Apparently, I’m Nuts

· by ·

Okay, not apparently. Let’s be honest–we all knew I was crazy right? Well, I woke up this morning with a freaking cold, so I think for the first time in my entire adult life I called in sick to work. My amazing, pretty, lovely, talented friend and boss Emily was so sweet and helped a sister out so I could sit at home and baby myself and make sure I get better before Sunday. I’m trying not to freak out. I spent about $40 on supplies and I have no regrets. So far today I have drank two Emergen-Cs, taken a handful of echinacea, 3 or 4 Zicams, drank about 4 cups of tea and approximately my body weight in water. Dear sickness: you cannot ruin this for me. Nice try. Love, Ari.

So apparently now that I sat around the house all day (how do people do that?! I was so bored!), I have a ridiculous amount of pent up energy that I have focused into obsessing, freaking out over, and talking non stop about the race. Is that normal? I used to be one of those people you didn’t want to be around because I would constantly analyze the calorie content of every food and couldn’t keep myself from talking about food and calories like word vomit. Now, I can’t not talk about this race. Why is anyone friends with me? Seriously. I have this crazy one track mind and when it focuses on something, it’s like the rest of the world ceases to exist.

So far tonight I’ve read about 10 different half marathon recaps, done a whole lot of number crunching, and thanks to my amazing friend Nicole, discovered this super amazing site! Basically, you put in your goal finish time and then it creates a bracelet that you can print out and wear during the race that tells you where you need to be for every single mile to ensure meeting your goal! I need to be right around 10:30. The only thing that makes me nervous is that I think stopping for street lights gives me a lot more time to breathe than I realize. When the light says don’t walk, I also do not run, but since I’m not running, obviously I pause little Garmie. That’s the garmin’s nickname. Judge away. Anyway, I wonder without those little street light breaks, if I will still be able to maintain my pace.

Really, more than anything, I’m actually excited. I worked hard for this. I ran over 200 training miles, I cross trained, I foam rolled, I felt less guilty about eating bread–I mean that was the best part 😉 I’m ready. And it’s my first time so if I don’t meet a time goal, the important thing is I finish. When I signed up, my only goal was to cross the finish line. I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t wait!

Half Marathon Playlist

· by ·

This morning I woke up at 3:30am convinced today was Sunday. The good news is, I woke up excited and happy and pumped. Then I realized it wasn’t Sunday and thought it was Saturday. Then I realized it was only Thursday, was totally bummed and went back to sleep. I actually ended up getting my first decent night’s sleep in days and it felt so wonderful! I spent a good portion of my morning being lazy before heading out for my last training run.

Two miles is a weird distance. I started, and then it was time to turn around. I felt so confused. I felt good, but not like yesterday where I felt fantastic. I’m nervous. Did I mention that? Taper week is weird. I know they say “trust in your training”, but how do I know that my training is trustworthy? I mean for the most part, I made it up, and this is my first time at this so perhaps my training totally sucked. Or on the other hand, perhaps I am so unaware of how amazing it was and I will bust out my half marathon in record time! Hah. Positive thoughts, right? 🙂

Last night, I spent hours took no time at all creating the perfect half marathon playlist. Seriously, record time. I am so fast at everything these days 🙂 I tried to be smart and figure out how to import the list to my blog, but that’s a little too high tech for me, so now I will–in record time!–type it all out instead. You can judge my music. It’s okay. Sometimes I do too,

  1. Rockin’ Robin by Michael Jackson
  2. I Want it That Way by The Backstreet Boys
  3. Fighter by Christina Aguilera
  4. Sisters are Doin’ it for Themselves by The Eurythmics (suggested by Sylvi)
  5. Paper Planes by M.I.A
  6. Summer Girls by LFO (to remind me of camp, Mac and Sylvi)
  7. Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root
  8. Dirrty by Christina Aguilera
  9. MmmBop by Hanson (to remind me that I have awesome taste in music)
  10. Empire State of Mind by Jay Z and Alicia Keys
  11. 96,000 from In the Heights (suggested by Heather)
  12. The Story by Sara Ramirez
  13. Foundations by Kate Nash
  14. Baby by Justin Bieber (to remind me that I’m really mature)
  15. Jen Doesn’t Like Me Anymore by Less Than Jake
  16. It’s Your Wedding Day from The Wedding Singer
  17. Kiss That Girl by Kate Nash
  18. Come On Eileen by Save Ferris (to remind me of Bethy)
  19. Stand Out from A Goofy Movie (suggested by Heather and Megs)
  20. Born This Way by Lady Gaga
  21. Let’s Hear it for the Boy from Footloose
  22. Defying Gravity from Wicked (because I don’t actually hate it as much as the musical theatre snob in me pretends to)
  23. Turn Me On by David Guetta and Nicki Minaj
  24. Life’s a Happy Song from The Muppets
  25. Aint No Mountain High Enough from Sister Act (how could this playlist NOT include Sister Act?!)
  26. The Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga
  27. Brand New Day from The Wiz
  28. La Vie Boheme B from Rent
  29. 121 from A Goofy Movie (suggested by Heather and Megs)
  30. Blackout from In The Heights
  31. Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
  32. Set Fire to the Rain by Adele
  33. Proud Mary by Ike and Tina Turner (to remind me of my favorite spin teacher who is 50, ran a marathon and 2 days later taught spin–I want to be her when I grow up!)
  34. Footloose from Footloose
  35. ABC by Michael Jackson

That’s about 2 hours and 22 minutes (whoa lots of 2s!) of music. The hope is that I will finish to Proud Mary because how awesome would that be? But Footloose is my fav running song, so that one would be pretty good too. I do not want ABC to play. I put it there because I like it, so if I do happen to get to it, maybe I won’t be totally bummed, but I do NOT want it to play.

Okay, I know my goal should just be to finish, and originally it was. Then I was like “Okay, I just want to finish in under 2:30. I can totally do that.” Then somehow I got totally stuck on this goal of sub 2:20. Not super fast by any means, but still something that I feel not too sure of. I will be happy to finish regardless, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t start to get a little competitive with myself.

Now for a kind of embarrassing question. If you would rather go the rest of your life without reading (not in a ton of detail–I promise) about my running and bathroom trips, then please stop reading now. It’s okay–no hard feelings!

Runner friends, I need help. Almost every single time I run, I have to go to the bathroom between mile .5 and mile 2. It almost always happens in the very beginning, but it isn’t like a mild I’ll go when I can, it’s like “Where the hell is the nearest bathroom?!?!?!” Whether I eat, don’t eat, take my thyroid meds, wait to take them (yes, I tried not taking them to see if it would help), or whatever I do, I just have to go. Thank goodness it has not happened during any of my races so far. That seems like a miracle, because anyone I’ve run with has experienced waiting outside while I go into sketchy bathrooms. Please oh please, tell me how to make sure this doesn’t happen during this race and tank my finish time!!! Do I drink some coffee and jog around the block to make sure it happens before? Do I just wait and hope for the best? Do I pack TP and squat behind a tree? Yes, that is a legitimate question. I do not want to waste time in bathroom lines. Please, oh please, help!

 

 

Inspired

· by ·

I just read the best blog post. Seriously, you need to read it. Kathleen talks about something that I very clearly hearing over and over in Kelly Q’s class–opening yourself up, being vulnerable and letting others in. This could not have come at a more important time, and I felt so inspired by her post that I wanted to write about it too.

In the past month or so I have noticed the way I react to kindness. Someone tells me “Good job!” or “Wow, you’re running a half marathon? That is so impressive.” and I immediately jump to “Oh thanks, if only _____ had been better…” or “Yes, but I’m really slow, so it’s not really that big of a deal.” What the F, self? What is that? What am I afraid of? I sit and reflect for hours on every piece of negative criticism I receive, but push away so many attempts at kindness. I get so uncomfortable when people compliment me. I feel like I don’t know what to say and like I owe them some kind of epic reaction to thank them for their kind words. Well, that’s stupid. I don’t expect anything when I compliment others. Is it so terrible to think that I might actually be kind of awesome and people have no motives for their compliments other than to be a part of my life?

There’s been some life challenges that have popped up recently that I don’t feel comfortable getting into detail about–really with anyone for that matter. But today instead of crying alone in my car on the way to my work meeting, I called my beautiful, amazing friend Lisa and told her that I needed to talk to her, but essentially couldn’t tell her anything. She just listened and made me feel important and like my feelings mattered and by the end of the conversation, I felt a million times better. If I hadn’t opened myself up and let her help, I’d probably still be feeling super crappy. It’s easy to forget how wonderful we all are and how many people in our lives would jump at the opportunity to be whatever we need them to be, if we could only be brave enough to ask, because we all know that actually telling someone what you need can be downright terrifying, but even more so rewarding.

This morning I felt totally blah. I was wide awake at 6:30 and had plenty of time to go for my scheduled run, but I layed in bed and tossed and turned and then was late to a meeting. Normally I have this complex where if I don’t get my workout–especially a run–done first thing, then I completely let go of the whole idea and move on with my day and it never happens, but today I came home and the weather was perfect and I didn’t have anything that I couldn’t put off for 30 minutes, so I laced up and went for a beautiful run around the lake at 11am. Let me tell you, this whole running at an easy pace for taper week is awesome! I felt great the entire time, and it just felt so relaxing–exactly what I needed! And actually–this is probably the only time in my life I will ever use this sentence—I meant to run slower. I thought an easy pace for me was like a 10:30-10:45 min/mi, but 10:00 felt easy! Yay!! Now to finish an other 10 at that speed… 😉

Now to get some choreography done and audition Bravo! kiddos tonight. Then I have a date with a super cute boy who is making me dinner 🙂

Food for thought: What makes opening up to others scary for you? What amazing payoffs have come from it when you did?

 

What If…?

· by ·

Well, life didn’t seem to waste any time getting busy again. I thought this week was going to be super mellow, but already I feel slightly behind–whoops. Yesterday I did get to spend some time on my to do lists at Starbucks.

Look at all of those tasks checked off! I love checking things off. It's one of the best feelings ever. So now that I said that, I kind of wonder how I have any friends when my greatest happiness is making check marks...

I actually got quite a few of this new list checked off too. Yesssss!

And I still found time to cook a seriously awesome dinner.

Today was filled with spinning, working (including an AWESOME rehearsal that I am feeling fab about!) and family. Busy busy busy, but all good stuff.

So here’s what I’ve been feeling confused by: Eating healthy and eating carbs. I mean, I eat carbs. I love carbs. I know that whole grains are healthy. However, this week I’ve been trying to clean up my diet a little for several reasons (PF Chang’s, post holiday blah feeling, post vacation blah feeling, etc.), but when I begin to think of healthy meals–especially dinner–my mind focuses immediately on lean protein and veggies. Then I have to remind myself to eat carbs so I choose sweet potatoes instead of green veggies and call it good. I wish there was just a clear cut plan: The Entire Week Leading Up To Your First Half Marathon, If You Are 26 Years Old, Slow, Mildly Funny, and Jewish You Should Eat _______. Can someone create that for me please?

Also, I realized one more reason why I am so freaking nervous. My 3 previous races, I was running a distance I had already conquered. 3.1, 6.2. I knew I could complete those distance. I know can’t is not an option, but I can’t help that nagging piece in the back of my mind that wonders what if…?

Okay, but for real, it’s going to be fine. It’s going to be better than fine. It’s going to be amazing. I just wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have a little anxiety about it 😉

Barbecue Ranch Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

· by ·

You know those barbecue bacon cheeseburgers that you can order at all those greasy hamburger restaurants, and then you smother ranch all over it and it’s even more delicious? This is like that. Only healthy 😉

When I was in NYC, we ate at a restaurant called Chelsea Grill per Mac’s suggestion. On the menu they had “Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf”. Now, I am not the type of person that orders that at a restaurant. Lots of healthy eating folks could, but knowing I could make it so much healthier at home would stress me out. So instead, I did just that and oh my gosh, it was so amazing. I would make it again and again and again. The cheese on top got the perfect amount of melty and the bacon on top got perfectly crispy. It was just like the type of cowboy burger you’d order at a restaurant. In fact, if you made it as a burger, it would also be healthy and delicious!

I made 2 meatloaves for 5 peoples plus roasted sweet potatoes and there wasn’t a single bite left at the end of the night. I was totally looking forward to leftovers this week, but I’ll take the lack thereof as a compliment about my awesome cooking!

Barbecue Ranch Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

yield 4-6 servings

  • 1 1/2 lbs extra lean ground beef/turkey (at least 93% lean)
  • 1/2 cup egg substitute
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 2/3 cup raw oats
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • generous pinch each of salt, garlic pepper, and your favorite burger seasoning
  • dash ranch reasoning
  • 1/4-1/3 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
  • 3 slices center cut or turkey bacon

For the sauce:

  • 3/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
  • 3-4 tbs barbecue sauce
  • 1 1/2 tsp ranch seasoning

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with nonstick spray.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together egg substitute, almond milk, and seasonings. Mix in onion and oats.
  3. Add meat **this is the fun part!!** and use your hands to thoroughly combine. (Note: you may add the cheese at this time if you wish. I didn’t, but I imagine it would be especially delicious if you mixed it in and put it on top 🙂 )
  4. Using your hands, remove meat mixture from bowl and make a loaf shape on your prepared cookie sheet.
  5. Top with cheese, then bacon slices.
  6. Bake for 1 hour, or until cooked throughout.
  7. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients. Heat in microwave for 45-60 seconds when meat if ready.
  8. Serve meatloaf and top with barbecue ranch sauce.

To be fair, I made 2 different kinds of meatloaf. Obviously, this is the one on the right 😉

I discovered through the picture process that meatloaf is, in fact, kind of an ugly food. Sorry about that. But I promise you it tastes delicious!

Perfect Sunday

· by ·

What a perfect Sunday. I don’t remember the last time Steve and I both had the day off with no pressing plans. It was amazing. After I got back from spin, we hung out for a little bit before heading out to the dog park. It’s funny, Winston and Clementine always get so excited to go to the park, but then we get there and Clementine is terrified and Winston doesn’t leave our side. Actually, sometimes if dogs get too close and Winston feels threatened, he started to get a little aggressive and it really worries us 🙁 Does anyone have any good advice for a dog that doesn’t always do well with other dogs? We really want him to be social! He did play a little bit though today.

Winston really just loves to run. If you run, he will chase you. He takes after his mama 😉

The two of us ran around the park a little bit together.

Check that out! Steve actually caught my feet mid air!

Clementine on the other hand is so boring at the dog park. She just hides. There were some dogs on the other side of the fence that seemed a little safer 🙂

After the dog park, we decided to invite my mom, Hank and Charlie over for dinner to thank them for watching Clemmie while we were on vacation. I had tons of fun cooking.

Thanks for the awesome gift, mom! I will wear these babies any chance I get!

I had the “I played with my food and now my hands are a hot mess” thing going on which, apprently, was horrifying.

Meatloaves. Yes, plural. They were delicious. Recipes coming soon!

Happy Sunday, friends 😀

Half Marathon Week & Movie Thoughts

· by ·

It feels a little surreal. In case I haven’t beat this thought into the ground, in October I could barely run 3 miles. I had given up the idea of running because I was so sure I couldn’t do it, but inspired by training for and completing the Susan G Komen 5K, I nervously signed up to run my first half marathon. Every night before a long run I would toss and turn all night long because I was so nervous that I wouldn’t be able to complete my mileage the next morning, and it wasn’t until I hit double digits in my first solo long run, that I finally started to believe that I can do this.

So here we are. The race is exactly 1 week away and I am filled with nervousness, anxiety, excitement, and anticipation. Yesterday Kara and I completed out last “long” run in our training.

Check out that time! That is speedy for me!!

It felt really good. I’ve been feeling so slow and sluggish, and it was really nice to prove to myself that I could still maintain a decent pace. I almost feel like I don’t know what to do with myself this week. I know I’m supposed to cut back on my mileage, but it just feels so weird. I started today at the gym with Kara doing some upper body/abs and an awesome spin class with Linda my favorite spin teacher!

My plan for work outs for the rest of the week is this:

Monday–3 miles (hopefully I’ll take my favorite furry running buddy with me!) + physical therapy (Yes, my physical therapy is a legit work out. I get all kinds of sweaty.)

Tuesday–Linda’s spin class

Wednesday–Sentimental 2-3 miles around the duckies with Kara

Thursday–Yoga. I found a nice looking studio right by the duck lake, so I’m hoping to find a easy class to take that will get me nice and loosened up.

Friday–Long walk with the puppies

Saturday–Off

Sunday–Holy crap.

 

Anyone have any brilliant thoughts or advice on that plan?

In other news, I’ve been staying on top of my award season movie list! In the past week, I’ve seen:

The Descendants

source

I absolutely loved everything about this movie. I laughed, I cried, and I was engaged the entire time. I was also really impressed with how human and vulnerable George Clooney was the entire film. I’ve never been his biggest fan, but I loved him in this movie. If you like movies about humans/life/relationships, then this is a must see!

50/50

source

I almost couldn’t believe that after seeing The Descendants, I was seeing something equally incredible. I don’t know if a movie has ever been so equally hilarious and moving at the same time. I laughed so loudly, then 10 minutes later I was a sobbing mess. I really appreciate how both of the last two films have found the humor in movies that could have been just depression city. Life is funny, and even life’s tragedies are sometimes funny. If you like movies at all, see 50/50.

Moneyball

source

I liked Moneyball. It’s not a typical “Ari movie”, but I did enjoy it. I thought the whole statistical concept was interesting, and surprisingly found myself with an emotional connection to Billy Beane at the end of the film. If you like sports movies, you will probably like Moneyball more than me, but I enjoyed it and was glad I saw it.

Also friends, the dollar theater is where it’s at! Even though it doesn’t cost $1 anymore, Steve and I saw two movies yesterday and paid less money all together (4 tickets) than we paid for one ticket to see The Descendants. Thank you Tempe Cinemas! Too bad your seats are super uncomfortable, but I guess that’s what you get for $3 a ticket 😉

 

 

New York City

· by ·

I wanna be a part of it–New York, New York!

Me: How long until that gets old?

Jason: 5 minutes ago.

I ♥ NY, it’s true. I don’t go to NYC to see the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. My time usually consists of great friends, shows, Steps and BDC. I didn’t take a single dance class the entire visit. Sniffff. I did get to experience the city with Steve for the first time, see some of my favorite people in the world including Mac, Sylvi, Jen, my uncle Mark, Sara, and Michael. I never did make it for a run in Central Park like I wanted–it was sooooo cold. At one point it was 9 degrees plus wind chill. Brrrrrr. But I had an amazing time and ate so much great food. Here’s a look through pictures 😉

Steve got some artsy city shots

"That's pretty badass" That's what I say, right babe? Not ooohhh or ahhh?

Sylvi and I had a deep conversation about what this graffitti meant. I deciphered it to say "not mutant" rather than "nut mutant" and I thought that perhaps it was referring the immigration and being referred to as an "alien". Thoughts?

We really liked the zip tie art. But seriously, we did.

Check out the view from my uncle's office!

I saw lots of people I love that I don’t get to see to often. And I get to see Mac again in 2 months!!! EEEE!!!!!!

Sylvi, Mac and Me

"What face should we do?" "Disgusted!"

"Okay, do sexy" "I don't do sexy" "Then do silly sexy" "Okay...."

And because we're attention whore theatre kids, we took full advantage of our free photo sesh and also did Brady Bunch! Mac and Sylvi, what am I going to do this summer without you?!?! Seriously.

Michael, Jen, Me, Mac. Awesome friends courtesy of theatre camp.

This is my awesome pretty dancer friend named Sara. We went to college together and took lots of crazy dance classes together last time I was in the city.

That's my uncle. He has a fancy job and a fancy office that made me feel like I should have gone shopping for a special outfit just to drop by his office.

Yes, you're right! That IS my bff Melanie Amaro. Okay, so I just met her that day because she happened to be dropping by my uncle's office, but if she had a chance to get to know me, we would totally be bffs. In case you didn't know, she just won The X Factor, which is not like American Idol because talent is actually required.

I love this guy. He's pretty annoying, but I would never want him to spend his days annoying anyone, but me 😉

Oh yeah, and the food!

La Bota--Spanish food--holy yum. It's in Greenwhich Village and you should eat there.

Reason 1 you should eat at La Bota

Reason 2 you should eat at La Bota. In case you couldn't tell, this was my favorite meal of the entire trip.

Not only was the food delicious, but that was like a 3 hour dinner and we ordered tons of different things and all shared and spent lots of time hanging out and talking. Perfect atmosphere + delicious food + not emptying my bank account after paying the bill = YAY!

And then there was this…

Oh Crumbs, you are oh so tempting.

Steve and I shared the Elvis cupcake. The frosting was a little too sweet for me, but the actual cake part was sooooo delicious.

We also shared the most delicious black and white cookie from Junior’s that somehow disappeared before anyone thought about a camera. “Look to the cookie, George!” Name the TV show that quote is from—Ready…GO!

It was a great trip. I’m definitely happy to be home, but I am so glad I got the chance to get out of Phoenix and spend time with people I love for a whole week!

 

Featured Here

Member Of…

FitFluential Is Fitness Found
AZ Bloggers Network
az 150 photo az150_zpsfb093d32.gif

Archives


Image Map