running Archives - Page 9 of 10

A Day at the Dog Park

November 6, 2011 · by Ari ·

Hi friends! Did you check out the new “Who’s Who” tab up there? The “My Story” and “Recipes” are in progress and will hopefully be up soon! This morning began with a 3 mile run

So, here’s the thing. I am super happy with that time. I was sprinting my little heart out, so I’d better be happy with the time. Buuutttt, I REALLY wanted a 7:59 mile. Like it’s all I can think about lately. I want to see it happen and I have tunnel vision.

Mile 3–8:04

One day.

After my run, I ate a quick breakfast, then Steve and I grabbed coffee (obviously) and took Winnie and Clem to the dog park!! Clementine had never been and the weather is so perfect for spending time outside right now!

Winston! Go for a ride??

Winston LOVES running and chasing! Check out this dog in action!

Poor Clemmie was so scared of all the big dogs! She was having it a little rough until little Peewee came along! Cutest dog name ever. All it took was an other mini wiener and Clem was ready to socialize!

After the dog park, I had to head to rehearsal. Steve drove up with me so he could meet up with his mom and sister since they live even further than the 40 minute commute to rehearsal (When are you guys gonna move to the East Valley?! Seriously!). Today’s rehearsal was seriously amazing. In fact this weekend was the first time since Aladdin that I actually felt good at my job. I’m just kind of burnt out, so projects that I feel less passionate about are feeling really tedious, but Fiddler I am passionate about for sure and today it finally felt like everything started to come together. I got to really push some of my actors and saw some amazing results. I can’t wait to get this show into the theatre and really see it come together!

After rehearsal, Steve, Lisa, Ashleigh and I went to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. I have seen so little of my family lately it seems that it was nice to spend some time with them! I miss my little sister!

I just can’t wait until Thanksgiving (what?? me?? I know, you’re shocked. You had no idea I was so excited for Thanksgiving) when we can all be together for the whooollllleee day!!

Will the Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up?

November 4, 2011 · by Ari ·

I have been geeking out over the fact that we would be running a movie title for weeks now. I still haven’t watched the movie, but I have a new found desire to drop everything and curl up on the couch with the puppies and watch it with popcorn in hand. I even thought about creating an exclusively Eminem play list for the occasion. What can I say? I like themese 😉 But a home girl got busy and that never happened. I will give you this, my very fav Eminem song. I love love love it.

Now the part you’ve all been waiting for. Or the part that I’ve been excited to share!

Confession: At about mile 7, we did pause Garmi and go into McD’s for a glass of water. We also seemed to hit every single stop light on the last mile which I always pause Garmi for because it doesn’t seem fair to have my time ticking away while I can’t run! But I think those extra pauses made it a ~~little~~ lot easier to pick up the pace. Still, I feel Fing ecstatic about that time. I almost used the real word, I feel so excited, but keepin it PG for the kiddos up in here. Except I posted Eminem which is full of expletives. Whatev. I ran 8 freaking miles with an average pace of 9:54. And in case I haven’t bragged enough this post, I will show you my next favorite part…the splits!:

Nooooo silly, these splits!

Mile 1–11:06
Mile 2–10:40
Mile 3–10:20
Mile 4–10:00
Mile 5–9:58
Mile 6–9:44
Mile 7–9:11
Mile 8–8:16!!!!!!!

Ok, yes, mile 8 is where all the stars aligned and the traffic lights made my life easier, but I have never in mylife seen an 8:16 mile, so we’re going to pretend that was all me. And Kara. Kara even had serious achilles pain the last few miles and stuck it out and ROCKED it!!! There is no way I could do this without her!!

After our run I made us pumpkin pie smoothies (so yummy) and had to rush to my first physical therapy appt. I finally saw a dr for the pain in my hip and mentioned how my achilles pain is worsening and she recommended physical therapy–3x a week for 4 weeks., Oy! It wasn’t too bad. My right hip is def super tight right now and my range of ankle motion is pathetic. My right foot only barely gets to neutral which is not great. Hopefully this will help. There is nothing that I’m going to let hold me back. I am running this race!

Now I’m in my sweat pants and all I want to do is sit here and drink my delicious hot coffee

Fall is here, I think~~~ YAY!!!! Also, on my rush out the door, I realized this loveliness was waiting for me on the fridge

Most wonderful supportive husband ever. I’m so lucky 😉 I love that he knew the fridge was the place to catch my attention. Haha.

Okay, so here’s what I learned on my run today

1. No matter what happens, long runs are the BEST part of training. 2 out of 2 of us agree 🙂 Few things in life feel better than completing a long run!
2. The days of no food before a long run are no longer. I ate dinner at about 5pm yesterday and never eat before a run because I have to wait 30 minutes after I take my thyroid meds, and then the idea of waiting more time for my food to settle just does not work for me, but I have to figure something out. Today I actually felt myself run out of fuel at about mile 5.
3. The time to start mild carb loading the night before long runs is here (yay?). Nothing crazy, but if you see above, my dinner yesterday was not working for me this morning. I had eaten out at lunch and felt like my calories were probably pretty high so I had a lightish dinner (about 350 calories) which was long gone this morning.
4. I need to get that gu crap. I’ve been avoiding it because it sounds gross and I don’t want to carry it around, but I need the extra burst of energy to get me through now.
5. The time for ice baths is definitely here. I know for seasoned long distance runners, 8 miles is nothing, but before October, I had never run more than 3. Ever. This is an adjustment.
6. When we started, Kara and I both could only run 3 miles (repeat myself much?) leaving a total of 10 miles to train for essentially. Today we reached the half way mark in our training. The last of the half way marks and we really are almost there.
7. If I had eaten, and Kara hasn’t hurt herself today, we could have gone an other mile or 2. I had it in me. I can do this. I can do anything.

Well I guess I have to change out of my sweat pants to go to work. What’s up with dress codes? I can put them back on before I teach voice this evening 😉 The joys of working from home!

Today, I feel really good. I don’t feel overly exhausted. I feel excited and proud and capable. Annnnndddd my last piece of exciting news…!!!!

I’M FINALLY GOING ON VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!

Dec 28-Jan 2: Boston

Jan 2-Jan 4: NYC

I have 2 fabulous friends who have agreed to run with me in NYC–specifically Central Park 🙂 Anyone wanna run with me in Boston? I’m planned my trip around being able to get a long run in before I leave (judge away), but I could use a friend to get me through a couple 3-4 milers in the cold or help me not die of boredom on the treadmill. Let’s make that happen!

I hope everyone’s Friday is going as amazingly as mine!! Have a great weekend everyone!

Cardio, Cardio, But Not a Dumbell in Sight

November 2, 2011 · by Ari ·

Hi friends! Well, Winston had a pretty great 2nd birthday I think. He started his morning with a treat and ended it with a walk around the block. Walks are his favorite. All I do is say “Go for a walk?” and he starts actin a fool! I started off yesterday with an abs/upper body work out and Spin with my fav teacher Linda! Class was awesome as usual except for one thing! She got off her bike about half way through and started checking everyone to make sure they were at the gear she thought they should be at. She walked around and checked every single bike in the room except for mine! I’m in the corner and I just got skipped. Of course me being a total teacher’s pet wanted to raise my hand and say “Wait wait wait!! Check on me check on me!!! Validate me, my spinning, and my gear!!” But luckily I have some social grace and just kept spinning haha. I was always that kid in school raising my hand super annoyingly so I could get called on and show off how smart I thought I was 🙂 Anyway, I ended spin feeling really good and getting in some decent mileage.

Came home to some delicious oats in a pumpkin butter jar! Sooooo yummy

This morning I went on a 3 mile run all alone since Kara has a lame schedule today, but I maintained a pretty good pace!

Came home, dip 50 dips and called it a tricep work out. I really suck at the strength training lately. Someone please say something motivating so that I can get my butt back to the weight room! I was also surprised with a skinny peppermint mocha from my fabulous husband! I love surprises and coffee surprises are often the best ones! Off to drink more coffee because I’m addicted. Have a fabulous day everyone!

Massages Necessary

October 31, 2011 · by Ari ·

Whoo! Except for the recipe for Bethy’s cupcakes, I am finally caught up on blogging from my crazy weekend! I started this morning with a run around the lake–the one with the duckies–with Kara. I’ve felt pretty motivated to work on speed in these shorter runs lately, so check this out!!!

Hiiiiii YA! I felt pretty fantastic about that, aaaaannnndddd you may ask “What was your time on your last lap?” Or maybe I just want you to ask because it was 8:41!!! We had all negative splits and our first mile was the only one averaging above 10:00. Not sure if I’ll be able to make that happen again any time soon, but I’m glad it happened today!!

After our run, we hit up Sprouts because apparently my skeptic attitude about chia seeds has done a 180 and all the sudden I couldn’t imagine being out. Weird. Also, my amazing friend John told me that Sprouts had them $2 a lb cheaper than Whole Foods! Sweeeeeet!

Clearly, I have a problem. Look what else I found while I was there!

Same calories as a bagel thin, but they are thick and fluffy! And they have tons of protein and fiber! Score!

Then I grabbed an iced coffee and came home to the breakfast I’d been dreaming about for like 3 days since I used the last of my PB & Co cinnamon raisin swirl–oats in a jar!

After breakfast, I had an appt for a massage! I have a hard time making appts like this for myself because I get stressed out making time, but it was much needed. I’ve been experiencing pain in my right hip and left heel since my long run on Saturday, and I also get serious tension head aches usually at least twice a week. Turns out, the massage therapist agrees and I am a hot mess. She gave me some new stretches for my achilles tendons, worked the crap out of my neck and enlightened me as to why my right hip was probably bugging me–Uneven sidewalks! She suggested I switch up which sides of the street I’m running on and try going the opposite way around the lake to even things out. Apparently, my neck, right hip, calves and heels are kind of a hot mess. Oy. I will definitely be going back and trying to take more time to give my body the thank you it deserves for carrying me all those miles!

When I came home, I decided to try my new bagels out for lunch. Toasted, topped with sliced tomato and reduced fat muenster cheese then stuck it under the ~~burner~~ broiler until the cheese was melty. Delicious.

Now I’m off to my really annoying 2 hours of work (couldn’t I just have the ENTIRE day off??? Pleasssseee??) and then celebrating Halloween with Steve, Jason, Hermano and the puppies. I have an amazing surprise for you tomorrow. I’ll give you a hint: it involves really cute puppies looking extra cute in funny costumes. 😉

More Than Half Way!!

October 30, 2011 · by Ari ·

Let me tell you, Saturday was a CRAZY day! I didn’t get to bed until almost 1am on Friday after the Fez fiasco, and I really thought my planned long run was going to be ruined because of it. But I got my butt out of bed at 5:40 and told myself I was going to make it happen. I must say, having the blog is fantastic for keeping me accountable. I tell everyone about my long runs in advance. Anyone who reads regularly expects a long run/new distance recap at this point. I am a people pleaser, so I have that extra kick when I would really rather sleep in. And the thing is, I am ALWAYS happy I did it. Always.

By the end of our first mile, I was already happy we had gone out and feeling pretty good. Then we got to mile 4 and I thought “Really?! I still have 3 miles to go?! Uuugghhhh.” But then something amazing happened! Once we hit mile 5, my attitude changed, I pumped it into gear and thought “Two miles?! Pssshhh, I’ve got this.” And I picked up my pace! Then we got to mile 6, and I got so excited about the idea of being done that I picked up my pace even more! We finished at T.C. Eggingtons in 1 hour, 12 minutes and 23 seconds. I am totally good with that time!

So at this point my fabulous husband took all sorts of pictures of us and celebrating completing our mileage and our delicious food. And then my fabulous husband deleted said photos because he thought he had transferred them. He hadn’t. At first I was super disappointed when I found out this morning, but then I got creative, drove to Starbucks and insisted to Kara that we do a reinactment of the moment.

“Grrrrr, you deleted our photos!”

“Wheeee, we ran 7 miles and are much less sweaty this photo shoot!”

“We are sooo hard core!!!”

“Look at our time! Pretty sweet, right?”

“And in case you didn’t realize how awesome we could be on 5 hours of sleep, check out our last mile! Why yes, that is an 8 in front of that 59!”

Unfortunately, this was the first time I felt a significant amount of pain after a long run. My right hip was really hurting and so was my left heal. Plus my achilles are always sore after. I was really worried and limping a little. I downed some meds, iced EVERYTHING and forced myself to get waist deep in the pool trying to simulate an ice bath since apparently there is no stopper for our tub. The good news is, I woke up this morning feeling totally normal! I just need to continue to be really careful and take good care of myself!

After our run and breakfast, I showered (you’re welcome), cleaned up the house and was off to sing with Jacob at Superstition Springs Mall, from which I headed directly to the theatre for Aladdin! It was definitely my fav of all of the performances. A good day to have 8 people there for me! My mom, Hank, my dad, his girlfriend Janie, my grandma, Steve, Jason, Liz and Bethany all came out to support me! And as if a great run wasn’t enough, during the Q&A the kids totally embarrassed me by answering a question (which complimented my ‘ography!) pointing me out and talking about how great I was. Totally blushed and all kinds of shy, but also I love to be told I’m wonderful 😉

Steve got some more family pics.

Bethy’s birthday celebration followed pretty much immediately. Let me just say, this weekend I have consumed about a week’s worth of iced coffee, but it has been so worth it. I’m tired and a little cranky, and I forget what free time actually feels like, but I love my life. My husband, my family, my friends, my career, my puppies. All of it. Hope you all are feeling as lucky as I am this evening 🙂

Running for Donuts

October 26, 2011 · by Ari ·

Hello friends! This Wednesday started out absolutely perfectly! Well, maybe not started out, but within the first hour it got fabulous. Getting out of bed at 5:45 this morning was no picnic because I stayed up too late working on my running playlist on my ipod. I finally got out of bed, was running late and then my stupid GPS did not give me correct directions and my phone wouldn’t work and blah blah blah. But finally about 10 minutes late, I met up with Kara at Kiwanis Park. Can you believe I actually needed my GPS to drive there? For some reason, I have never actually been the driver when going and I don’t pay attention. Ever.

Kara and I started out on our run around the park and my legs felt tiiiiired. Like lead. Maybe it was my interval run Sunday, followed by Monday’s hike, followed by spin yesterday? Also, there were several small hills throughout the park and this girl is used to flat flat flat. Although our duck filled lake route has some small inclines, these were definitely steeper. Kara and I both acknowledged that today was seeming super challenging, but I gave us a little pep talk (which I needed just as much as her) and realized that we were actually making pretty decent time. I said “I have a surprise for you, but we have to rock the end of our run for you to get it!” When we finished, I showed her this amazingness

My previous (and the only time I had ever actually done 4 miles before) 4 mile time was 40:58. Almost 2 whole minutes off!!!!

And the best part, I didn’t realize until later

We ran our 4th mile in 8:57!!!!!! I don’t think I have EVER run a sub 9 min mile before!!! I almost cried. I know I will most certainly cry when I cross that half marathon finish line. I know I’ve said it over and over again, but I just never imagined that I would be able to do this. I was the kid in PE who walked at the back of the pack when we were supposed to run the mile. I told myself for so many years that I couldn’t do things. I so believe that it is all mental, and that we can do anything if we want it badly enough. I need a shirt for the race that says “I can do anything.” Nothing makes me feel better than those 4 words.

Now onto the super fun part (as much fun as wanting to do at a 9 min pace is, food is much more fun)! On our last long run, we ran by Bosa Donuts.

It smelled so freaking good that we wanted to just stop right there and get a donut before finishing our run, but we knew that ~~if we stopped, we would never stop again~~ that wasn’t a good idea. We did promise ourselves that eventually we would go try a donut though. I honestly cannot tell you the last time I went out for a donut. We walked in and I was so overwhelmed I didn’t even know where to start.

Today is Mona’s birthday (YAY!!! Happy birthday my amazing friend!! I love you!!!) so we were bringing a box of donuts to Starbucks with us. We carefully selected 12 donuts (who has a hard time choosing 12? Apparently us) including what ended up being my favs: blueberry cake and buttermilk. It smelled so freaking amazing. Kara in all of her excitement exclaimed “We’re going to be consumed by donut air!!!!!” And we were. We left with this

So excited we could hardly contain ourselves

When we finally got to Starbucks, I got an other delicious iced coffee with sf vanilla and sf peppermint. Just like yesterday.

And when the line died down, we dug into the donut box! We wanted to sample lots of them, so we got plastic knives and went to town!

I took pretty small tastes of several of them, probably totaling about a whole donut all together. I was trying to keep it closer to half a donut. Maybe we’ll just pretend it was more like half 😉 After we dug in, the box looked like this

Mona with her birthday (and not just any birthday–21!!!) donut

While I was there, I had an unexpected visit with an old co-worker, as well as getting to see Bekki and Amelia and one of my favorite student mom’s, Beth!! Beth has the three loveliest girls on Earth and it is no surprise because she is totally amazing herself and any time I see her, she always makes me smile! Plus I hardly ever get to see Amelia and she makes my heart happy, and Bekki I just love. Amazing morning.

I also helped Kara set up her new blog!!!! “Ranting and Running” Go check it out!!!

Skinnified Sunday: Pumpkin Raisin Pancakes

October 23, 2011 · by Ari ·

Today has been an almost perfect Sunday. A perfect Sunday would of course involve a day off, which I don’t get until Thanksgiving. Tired of my whining yet? It will continue. I hate to admit it, but it’s only fair to warn you. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around it will have been over 2 months of straight work, so you’ll just have to bear with me and accept that although I love what I do, this Fall has been a challenge mentally.

Anyway, I woke up at 5:30 to run with Kara. Unfortunately, after I was already dressed, I checked my phone and noticed a text from her saying she didn’t feel so hot. What’s funny is I had hardly slept either and I laid in bed debating canceling, but I figured I was already dressed, I better get my run on. I thought about taking Winston, but I haven’t focused on speed since before the Komen, and I knew I needed to use today to work on it. Unfortunately, my ipod running playlist isn’t finished and my phone isn’t doing so well on my runs so it was just me and the silence of 5:45 am. It was super dark out and I was a little scared, but it was nice to just be by myself in the perevt 65 degree temperature.

I did jogging and speedy run intervals up to Starbucks where I stopped for some water and a chat with some of my fav baristas, then was back on my way to continue. The second half I may or may not have had to take a stop and breathe break or 4. Yes, I paused my garmin so my “speedy” time I don’t feel super impressed with, but it was nice to at least work on speed.

A little while after my run, my appetite came on full force. It always takes a good 30 minutes for me to be able to consider food after a work out. Yesterday at Chompy’s, Hermano ordered pumpkin pancakes that tasted like heaven. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about them, so I woke Steve up to take me to Starbucks and the store. I’m an awesome wife. I got a delicious grande bold coffee with 2 pumps pumpkin spice, 2 pumps sf caramel and steamed soy with cinnamon sprinkled on top. I really miss hot coffee when it’s warm here. It’s still too hot, but if I REALLY want it, I will drink it and sweat. It’s really cute. I am the epitome of class.

Onto the most important part: The most amazing pancakes I have EVER made! Better than chocolate chip, better than any white flour crap. This is the real deal.

Pumpkin Pancakes

(theworldlink.com)

2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons. packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup cooking oil

My Swaps:

1/2 recipe (-temptation)
Whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose (+fiber, +protein)
Molasses and sf maple syrup for brown sugar (-sugar, -calories)
Unsweetened vanilla almond milk for reg (-fat, -calories)
Egg whites for whole eggs (-fat, -calories, -cholesterol)
More pumpkin (+yum)
~~cooking oil~~ who needs it?! Spray works just fine.
+ chia seeds (+fiber, +protein, +staying power)
+ protein powder (+protein-duh, +staying power)
+ raisins (okay, the more I add things, the less “skinnified” these sound…)
+ seasonings and extracts (+yum)

Skinnified Fluffy Pumpkin Raisin Pancakes

yielf 3-4 servings

1 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tbs molasses
1 tbs sf maple syrup
1/2 tbs baking powder
1 pinch salt
almost 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tbs chia seeds
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
dash cloves
dash ginger
1 tsp vanilla extract
dash maple extract
1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients.
Gently fold wet ingredients into dry until barely combined with some small lumps–DO NOT OVER MIX!
Pour pancakes onto sprayed nonstick pan or skillet.
Top with raisins if desired.
Cook over medium low heat until bottom is set and small bubbles form on top.
Flip, and cook on remaining side for 2-3 minutes until golden.
Enjoy!

Topping ideas:

vanilla Greek yogurt
sf maple syrup
granola
fig butter
nut butter
butter butter

Whiccchhhaaaaa!!!! I am the pancake master!!! No pancake stands a chance!

Ok, ok, I admit it! I am still in my sweaty run clothes. You can judge me if you want. ~~Sometimes~~ I’m lazy. Steve just topped his with sf syrup.

I topped mine with nonfat vanilla Greek, sf syrup, extra chia seeds and granola per usual, but also added a thin layer of TJ’s fig butter which was an excellent choice!

Yummmmmmm

I’m telling you, I always love every recipe I post, and I almost always at least like every recipe I make, but these pancakes were a different kind of out of this world amazing love. I admit that sometimes whole wheat pancakes are a little ~~brick-lik~~e dense, but these are light and fluffy like clouds or pillows. They are the perfect amount of sweet and the right amount of pumpkin. I could eat them again and again and again and I plan to. Do yourself a favor, make these pancakes. You won’t regret it.

My 100th Post!!!

October 21, 2011 · by Ari ·

HOORAY!!!! This is officially my 100th post since I moved on over to wordpress and my own domain. I started the Skinnified blog a long time ago, but it has only been the last 2 months or so that I began to take blogging seriously and told Steve “I want my blog to be something. I want to inspire people and I want to change people’s lives.” I have no idea if anyone other than me actually gets anything out of this thing, but I get a LOT out of it, so that’s something 🙂 Today I got up in the dark again for my long run. Kara met me at my house @ 6:15 and we set off. The first mile, I was really slow. I think I was nervous and trying to pace myself, but seriously I was like a snail, but we picked up on mile 2 and ended up finishing our 6 miles in 1:03.

When I decided to run the Susan G Komen 5K, I remember saying to Steve “By the end of the year, I want to be able to run an hour without stopping.” At this point 30 minutes still felt so hard. He said “It’s going to be hard, but I think you can do it.” Well, friends, today is October 21st and actually with my training schedule, it looks like by the new year I will be running for more like 2 hours. I didn’t just accomplish that goal, I stomped all over it and kicked it to the curb in place of a better one: 13.1. Sure the race is Jan 15, but that is basically the start of the new year and I plan to kick it off with a bang!

Our run ended at The Good Egg where I ordered whole wheat pancakes with oatmeal and blueberries cooked in and 2 scrambled egg whites. I could only finish the eggs and one of the pancakes so now I have a second pancake for later 🙂 We met Bethany and Steve for breakfast. I was feeling a little out of it at this point and desperately in need of iced coffee. After breakfast, I took Bethany to her mom’s because she leaves for her first cruise today! I’m so excited for her. She works so hard and deserves to have some FUN! Then I met Kara at Starbucks for the COFFEE. Most important part of my day, seriously. I started off with my usual sfc iced coffee, but then got a refill that was AMAZING! It’s not officially out yet, but this year sugar free peppermint has arrived!!! I made a skinnified version of a peppermint white mocha

Grande iced coffee

1 pump white mocha

1 pump sf vanilla

1 pump sf peppermint

soy milk

light ice

You’re welcome. All the rich deliciousness of my favorite seasonal treat with about 100 calories. Yes, please

I even got to write my own cup which made me feel super special. Kara and I hung out with Mona on her break and enjoyed out iced coffees, some sunshine, and the accomplishment of being finished with this week’s long run!

My joints are feeling it a little today, but we walked over to the gym for some stretching and foam rolling (I hate you foam roller) and I will spend lots of time icing this evening. I also plan on hitting up the ibuprofen bottle to hopefully knock out any pain that may be coming my way.

I feel pretty great about the way my training is going. I know there will be challenges and times I question why the f I would ever want to do this, but right now it is bringing me so much joy and every week I achieve something that once seemed impossible. Every week I affirm the fact that

I.Can.Do.Anything.

I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.

Okay, I promise the next post will include my new cookies and their recipe. But now I have to go to the tmobile store AGAIN because my stupid phone ate the new battery they gave me and now will not come back to life AGAIN. Annoyed.

In happier news, tonight is Opening Night!!!! So excited. Come see Aladdin!!!!

So Much Coffee

October 19, 2011 · by Ari ·

Every time I wake up early, Winston stays in bed and stares at me with the saddest longing eyes like he’s saying “Mom, please don’t go. Come back to bed and snuggle with me.” Yes, I legitimately cuddle with my dog in bed. You are free to judge me. It won’t stop me. I got up at 5:45 to meet Kara for an early morning run around the lake. I love this route. Each lap is almost exactly a mile, slight hills, adventurous travels through the apt complex, nice scenery and of course, the ducks!

This time we must have encountered them 3 or 4 different times and each time they angrily quacked at us like they were pissed that we were interrupting their important waddle time. Those ducks crack me up. We finished 3 miles with a 9:55 average pace. Whoot.

Mile 1: 10:45

Mile 2: 9:50

Mile 3: 9:13

Talk about negative splits! My first mile is always soooo slow. It’s like it takes my body the entire mile to get warmed up and ready to actually run. I need to work on that my next week day run. Tomorrow is a rest day because Friday we are running 6 miles!! Every long run makes me equally nervous and excited. New challenges, new accomplishments! After our run, we headed to Starbucks for water and iced coffee. I got my usual: Grande SF caramel iced coffee with soy, light ice (light ice=MORE room for coffee!) I also ordered Steve a coffee to take back to him, but then I got home and this happened

Second time in a week I’ve tried to surprise him with coffee and he had the EXACT same idea. Ironically there were no days in between where either of us got each other coffee. Steve laughed and said “We need to coordinate or something.” I don’t know, looks like we’re pretty in sync to me! Two iced coffees hanging out in my fridge, soon to become one 🙂

After our I showered and got ready, I met the other Kara (hair Kara) at Forever 21 for some shopping. The new-ish one in AZ Mills is HUGE and I’d been wanting to go. I got a pair of shorts that are about 10 years too young for me, a super cute emerald green shirt that I didn’t even try on because I loved the color so much annnnnnd, the most exciting part, an ALADDIN SWEATSHIRT!!!!! I saw it and new I had to have it since we open on Friday (get your tickets, peeps–these kiddos are amazing!) I will take pictures of the new clothes (including my super awesome pumpkin shirt I bought at Target for $10 to be festive) once I have Steve around to take actually good pictures.

After shopping I had to make a super annoying trip to the tmobile store because my battery full on died–like unable to be brought back to life died. Soon my over heating phone will kill this battery as well and then MAYBE they will give me a new phone that actually works. By the time I got home I was soooo hungry and wanting the fastest lunch possible, so I took out this frozen pizza I bought at TJs a while ago.

I jazzed it up with some crumbled red fat feta cheese and sriracha on top, but I was so hungry I didn’t want to wait for the oven to preheat. My oven seriously takes years. It’s annoying. So I set it to ~~burn~~ broil and cut the cooking time almost in half. Well the burn button did it’s thing and I ended up with a pizza that was cold in the middle and burnt on the outside. I’m an awesome cook, can’t you tell?

Well, like I said, I was ready to gnaw my left arm off hungry, so I put it in the microwave for 40 seconds and then ate it anyway. It was not great my friends, but not awful. It did the trick. I would buy it again for an easy meal, but even cooked correctly, I don’t think it would have been anything too fantastic. Alright, off to get some life errands done that I’ve been neglecting, then off to work. Have a good day everyone!

Technology Fail

October 17, 2011 · by Ari ·

Hi friends, happy Monday! Today is actually pretty fantastic because I thought I didn’t have to work until 2:40, but then I realized I don’t have to work until 5:30! Hooray!! I got up nice and early to start my run at about 6:15, but I had forgotten to charge my phone which meant I would have no music, so I stuck it on the charger, caught up on some blog reading for half an hour and then figured it should be ready. It was, but my Garmin which I had charged yesterday stilllll said low battery >:(

Uggghhh so frustrating. I tried to put it back on for a few minutes, but it was no use. I stared at it dumb founded for a good minute. Derrrrrr. What do I do now? I live in the 21st century and don’t know what to do with out fancy gadgets. Then I ~~had a stroke of genius~~ remembered that I actually am an intelligent human being and that I did actually run a few times before I got good ole Garmie. I remembered the 3 mile route I had been taking around my hood and set out feeling naked with no Garmin to keep track of my time or distance. It was hard to push myself at the end with out it, but I still covered a little over 3 miles in about 30 minutes. It was a good run, I just hate not knowing exactly, you know?

I came home and made the most delicious breakfast sandwich ever. I toasted a sandwich thin, spread 1 tbs almond butter on one half, and 2 tbs pumpkin and a couple drops of sugar free maple syrup on the other, then topped with lots of chia seeds and half a sliced banana. Yum

I always read blogs where they say they ate half a banana and I always wonder what happens to the other half? I tried to wrap mine back in the peel, but ended up eating the rest when I got back from Starbucks anyway haha, I spent a couple hours at Starbucks working on choreography and catching up on blogging. I still have so much more to get done, but honestly can barely find the motivation to do anything other than sit on my butt and eat. Yikes. This girl needs a vacation! Back to work on Fiddler ‘ography. Have a lovely day everyone!

5 miles? Yup, I can run that!

October 15, 2011 · by Ari ·

Whooohoooo!!!! 12 hour day work week is over and I survived! Last night in rehearsal, I started to feel it really catching up to me, but I came home, went to bed early, and feel much more ready to take on today! Let’s back track to Thursday morning. Up until Thursday, I had been doing all my training runs by myself, which I actually don’t mind, and I wasn’t expecting to enjoy running with anyone else to be honest. I was afraid one of us would slow the other down or I would feel self conscious, and it also seemed pointless being that I am not someone who really talks while I run. Regardless, I met Kara bright and early Thursday morning at a lake in Chandler to go for a run together.

The sun was just barely coming up and it was beautiful outside. I was surprised to REALLY enjoy the company! The route ended up being kind of an adventure. We were running, then all of the sudden the trail ended and we had to jump a couple low fences and run through this apartment complex. It was different, but it kept things interesting, that’s for sure! We discovered that 1 lap around the lake was about a mile, so we made three laps with all negative splits! Whoot! I believe it was something like 10:47 (it takes these legs about a mile to warm up, and I find that taking that first mile nice and slow makes a HUGE difference to me!), 10:20, 9:53. I could actually look it up in my Garmin for something more exact, but that takes actually getting up off my butt which is totally not happening right now haha. Our last lap, we encountered a flock of ducks just hangin out in our pathway that for some reason totally cracked us up. It is so nice to have someone to share the experience with and LAUGH with! Luckily, Kara and I are really at the same place fitness wise, which makes sense considering we have pretty much the same work out routine. I discovered that I don’t actually have to be a hermit with my running, and company is an amazing thing!

Yesterday, I grudgingly took the day off from working out. It’s been helping so much with my energy level and overall happiness to wake up early and get it finished. I feel more accomplished and productive during the rest of the day! But I knew that since I was running a new distance today, I needed the break. So yesterday, I slept in (well until 6:45 haha), went to work, had an amazing dinner break at True Foods with my assistant choreographer Tasha, and returned to the theater for our final rehearsal before tech. We had a great rehearsal and I am so excited for this show.

If you live in the Phoenix area, please please please, come see Aladdin Jr @ Greasepaint! We open this coming Friday and run for 2 weekends with Friday shows @ 7pm and Sat/Sun matinees @ 2pm. I’m really proud of the work the kids, and all of the artistic staff has put into this show. My harem dancers are rock stars and they impress me every single night!

Okay, onto this morning’s excitingness!!! So now that I am full on in half marathon training mode, it means that my long run every week is a distance I have never run before. Up until I began my training, the farthest I had gone EVER was 3 miles and it was NOT easy. 2 weeks ago it was 4 miles, last week was the 5K (not a new distance, but my first race!) and today was 5 MILES!! Kara arrived at my house at 6:30 this morning. I had planned our run to end at Great Harvest Bread Company which is right across the street from Seattle Espresso (best coffee EVER) and a cute little farmers market. I LOVE having something fun as the end destination of my run. It makes it all worth it!

I was pleasantly surprised at how great I felt during most of the run. We took it slow and steady and I didn’t start to really feel tired until about 4.5 miles. We are not the fastest runners out there, but today Kara and I ran 5 miles for the very first time!

We got close to negative splits, but no cigar. We did do mile 5 in 9:33, however! I am still so amazed by things I never thought I could do. It makes me wonder how many other things in life I perceive as unachievable, or out of reach, that I could actually accomplish. I am a very goal oriented person, and there is almost nothing that makes me feel better than meeting my goals. Today I feel awesome. After we finished, we enjoyed a delicious sample of pumpkin chocolate chip bread (OMG AMAZING!!!) and egg white and turkey sandwiches. I could only eat half–I just don’t have much of an appetite RIGHT after I run. Of course, now I’m hungry again. Then we walked across the street and I did something I have not done in a LONG time.

I used to be awful about my coffee drinks. I had no idea just how bad they were for me, and my very favorite was always Seattle Espresso’s White Russian Mocha. I haven’t one in well over a year, but today I treated myself to a 12 oz double shot non fat hot white russian mocha. It was like heaven.

Then, we walked around the farmers market a bit, I bought some cilantro and a butternut squash. Random, right? Well I ran into Dani and she mentioned a recipe for butternut squash cupcakes which sounded amazing so I had to buy one. After, you know, dancing around with it like a total freak. Can’t take me anywhere 🙂 Now I desperately need a shower and a snack, then I’m off to 6 hour tech rehearsal! Happy Saturday everyone!

Early run & long day

October 12, 2011 · by Ari ·

Today I worked literally 12 hours straight. When I wasn’t actually teaching, I was driving between jobs, which I can assure you, feels nothing like time off. The funny thing is that today was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. I started the day with a nice, slow run. Nice and slow? Yeah, I’m weird. After my experience during the Komen, I wanted to take things nice and slowly this morning. I am new to running. I need to take my time and be patient. Today, that is exactly what I did. Nothing spectacular, amazing or impressive, but I felt good the entire time, and felt like I could have gone further which makes me feel a little less scared for my 5 mile run I am planning for Saturday.

After my run, I got ready, made a smoothie to go and had a super productive day at work. I love when I finish everything I need to do and can add MORE! It never happens in my real life to do lists, so it’s a nice feeling of accomplishment when it can happen at work. Then, I went to job #2, and after a class at job 2, moved on to job #3 for the day–rehearsal! I had left my Wednesday rehearsal last week feeling slightly discouraged. Things just were not coming together the way they normally do and I felt like I had to spend a lot of time being the bad guy. I HATE that. I’m a pretty fun and silly teacher/director/choreographer and when I have to play tough guy, it makes me grumpy. BUT, and this is why I LOVE working with kids, today everything was different! It all finally came together and we felt like a team, a family, and I wanted to cry I was so happy. I put every single thing I have into my work and when my kiddos succeed, I feel like a success. When things go wrong, I take it to heart. Good or bad, I care immensely about what I do.

It’s funny, yesterday I said to John “I just want to quit. I want to choose a different career.” I was frustrated. I’ve been having a lot of frustrations that are more situational than anything else. But every time I start to feel exasperated and begin to think of other careers I could possibly pursue and still be happy–well first of all, I can never think of a single one, but second of all, something always happens that reminds me that I DON’T want to quit and that I absolutely love what I do. I just care so much that bad days are BAD days. Maybe one day I will chill the F out. Then again, this is me.

Well I have to be up in 7 hours to meet Kara for an other training one, so I guess that means it’s my bed time. I haven’t been sleeping well at all, and I’m not tired because I just got home less than an hour ago and I’m still all wound up from work, but maybe once I lay in bed, magic will happen and sleep will occur. Have a great night everyone!

PS: If you haven’t gotten a chance to read about my Whisked Away experience yet, it was pretty amazing and there are about a million pictures 🙂

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