kind of a big deal

After watching the amazing runners over the weekend, I got to thinking...

I used to run events all the time. (I prefer to call them events as opposed to races)

Why did I stop?

I can't exactly tell you why.... but if I'm being 100% honest, I think I just got caught up in the competitive side of things. I was constantly feeling bad about my performance, and as much as I don't want to say it, I kinda sorta put a little blame the blogging community for that.

Let me attempt to explain.

There are so many fabulous, strong, talented atheletes in the blogging community. They are fast. Much faster than me. Much faster that I will EVER be. I will read their race reports filled with envy, only to feel discouraged at my own times in comparison to theirs.

That being said, both blogs and running are personal. It was completely unintentional by each blogger... although I will say it stings a little when I read the words "slow" and anything that starts with "2:0_" in the same sentence.

My last half marathon was absolutely horrible. You can read about that here. I was so ashamed of myself after that race. I remember being incredibly embarassed about my time, and even more so because I ran using my dear friend Cathy's bib. I didn't talk about my time after that race... well you know what? I ran it in 2h40 and I'm friggin' proud of myself for each and everyone of those 21 kilometres.

Now that I'm older and wiser, I've come to embrace that I will likely never ever in my life run a sub 2 hour half marathon. And you know what? I'm absolutely ok with that.

I can run. I am strong. And I can finish anything I put my mind to.

All that to say, if you're looking for me on September 18th, you can find me here running the half marathon.

Best part? (read: I HATE HUMIDITY) I get to train all summer in the heat and humidity. If I survive the training, that alone will be a miracle.

It's on. And I'm friggin' pumped!

How to save $5.74

My addiction to coconut mocha's is getting out. of. control.

Mostly due to the fact a grande costs me $5.74!

I took matters into my own hands yesterday and created a caffienated masterpiece.
Tools involved: K Cups in milk chocolate and half caff, 1/4 cup steamed milk, 2 tbsp coconut syrup and my milk frother.

I brewed both K Cups, added the syrup and topped with the steamed/frothed milk.

Satisfying. Delicious. Cheap.

What's your favorite Starbucks drink?

Ottawa Race Weekend

For the first time in quite a few years, I didn’t run during race weekend.

But today I was a spectator and I couldn’t have been more proud.

I didn’t take many pictures because the weather was absolutely miserable for a spectator, but I suspect all the runners were loving the rain.

 

Observations:

• I saw lots of runners wearing Vibrams
• I even saw one guy running barefoot
• I saw 4 people running while talking
• I was able to see the marathon winner come in at 2:09
• I saw the lead half marathon blow by me at the 18k mark
• This is going to sound LAME but spectating is rough. Standing for almost 5 hours is hard on your back.

      

This is Robin, a very dear friend of mine. She ran her first marathon today for Team Diabetes in honour of her Dad who passed away just over a year ago.

  

I shed a tear or seven when she crossed the finish line. So proud!

Robin and her hubby Justin – my spectating partner in crime today.

  

It was such a great day, shitty weather and all.

I was so inspired and motivated. Maybe even motivated enough to sign up for a fall half marathon…?? :)

I can’t wait to read Marie and Cathy’s race reports!!

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone that ran this weekend. You inspired me.

Blog Worthy Salad

I don’t get too excited for salad. Ever.

But this salad is blog worthy.

I’m calling it Taco’ish salad.

 

In the mix: Iceberg lettuce, curly lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red/yellow pepper, cucumber, avocado, and topped with taco’ish mix.

What is taco’ish mix? 

Chicken thighs, corn, black beans sautéed and mixed with cumin, chili powder, paprika, red pepper flakes and a little S&P. I like it spicy!

And the dressing? Probably the best combo ever. Hot sauce and ranch dressing. The flavour is amazing and the best part? A little goes a looooong way!

 

Lots of people frown at bottled dressings, but I eat them… and like them. But I also drink diet pepsi, so I’m weird like that.

Have a great Saturday, and if you’re planning on making salad, MAKE THIS ONE!

Pootch

  I have a problem.

I wear my pants like it’s the 80’s.

Wait, what?

Wearing my pants like its the 80’s = Hiking them up over my pootch.

Pootch = my belly, not to be confused with my Pootch-ie, Jersey!

You see, if I wore them like I was supposed to… the would sit below my belly button. Perfect for a normal person, but not so perfect for someone who has lost a significant amount of weight.

I know right? Gross. There is stuff everywhere.

99.5% of the time I wear a camisole under EVERYTHING to try and smoothen out my look, but you can only do so much to camouflage my pootch and muffin top.

And it’s not even like my pants are too small. I’ve got lots of extra inches. I have to buy my pants a little bigger to fit my thighs, which are also mostly loose skin.

What exactly is the point of this post? Well, I’m not sure.

But I can tell you, I’m happy the weather is warmer so that I can soon ditch my gramma-pant-wearing ways in favour of skirts. I swear, I look 30 lbs lighter in a skirt vs. pants.

Note: It’s verrrrrry hard to take a picture of yourself with a SLR.

           

Also note: I hate my pootch. A lot.

One last note: Please don’t mock my white skin.

PSA: I can’t believe I posted my pootch on the internet. Be kind. Please.

EDITED TO ADD:

I’m wearing my pants at my hips today and it actually looks ok. Love the short sleeve blazer for camo purposes. Such a cute casual Friday-look if I must say so myself!

  

Coconut-Nation!

I went to Body Pump and Body Step tonight.

Pump was great. I took it easy on my legs, but focussed on torturing working my upper body HARD by upping all my weights.

Then came Body Step. I kind of wanted to kill myself. I consider myself to be pretty athletic, and in pretty good shape. It never fails though. Step class just about KILLS me. It sends my rate rate through. the. roof. To boot, there are 2 leg conditioning tracks that had my poor little quads screaming for mercy.

Good news is, I survived.

Bad news is, I may not be able to walk tomorrow.

I stopped by Starby’s my way home for an iced coffee with 2 pumps of coconut. DEEELICIOUS.

I have a serious addiction to the coconut syrup. I own several bottles of Starbucks syrup, so I thought I’d just buy one.

When I asked, the man at the counter told me it was seasonal and that for that reason he could not sell it to me.

My lip started to quiver, and my eyes filled with tears. Add to that, I was all sweaty and disgusting from my workout. I think he felt sorry for me. He went to check his stock, and came out of the back room holding this.

I just about hopped over the counter and dry humped him.

THAT’S how addicted I am.

Thank you Mr. Barista at Starbucks. You totally made a sweaty girl’s day.

I can’t wait for all the coconutty drinks in my near future.

Jersey’isms

My dog Jersey is all kinds of awesome.

Not to mention model-material.

Confession: I write a lot of blog posts in my head when I’m walking with my girl.

Last night as we were walking, I was thinking about what to write about when this drove by:

Jersey’s head perked up, her tail was wagging happily, she started to pant, and she got all excited!

Why? Andrew drives a red Honda Civic and she thought it was him…. but it wasn’t.

Jersey’ism: She gets excited every time she sees a red Honda Civic in the hopes it might be her poppa.

Other notable Jersey’isms:

• If there are fireworks, she hides under the kitchen table
• She’s not allowed on the furniture when we’re home, but every night the couch is warm when I get home from work
• Whenever we go to the dog park, she looks for squirrels under the car. One went under there last year, and if we park in the same spot she somehow remembers that day.
• She eats her breakfast when I get home from work. Separation anxiety much?
• She is deathly afraid of Samuel, yet tolerates his constant attempts for affection.
• She loves to swim, and will attempt to swim in any body of water. Including pools. Ooops.

 Does your pet have any ‘isms?

Comfort

Yesterday was a long day.

I didn't sleep well the night prior. I suspect it was because of the iced coffee I had at 6pm. Note to self: Just because it's cold dosn't mean it's not full of caffeine.

I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill while watching Oprah. I cannot tell you how many times I bawled. At least the beads of sweat running down my face were masking the tears.

By the time I got home it was late and I had absolutely no desire to cook. I had some ground turkey that needed to be cooked, so I whipped up my ultimate comfort food.

Yes, this looks like garbage.

1 box whole wheat pasta, 2 cans of tomato soup, 1lb ground turkey breast and about a cup of shredded cheese.

Best part? Tons of black pepper and hot sauce as toppings.

So easy, cheap and comforting. Best part? About 6 days of leftovers.

I started out with a modest 1 cup serving. I went back for a second serving. And there might have been a third too.

I blame Oprah.

Redemption Workout

Yesterday was a holiday and I treated it as such.

I woke up at 10:00. I watched 4 episodes of Felicity. I ate breakfast at 1:00. I took a 2 hour nap. I ate a cream egg. You know the kind of day?

I could only handle so much sloth, before the feelings of guilt came over me. I changed into workout clothes and made my way to the gymbo for a quick, yet sweaty workout.

I hopped on the spin bike and did 30 mins of HIIT. I cued up my "You're not going to die" play and sprinted my little heart out. I'd base my climbs/sprints/recovery on whatever music was playing. It was awesome, like my own little spin class.

Side note: Thank you Goodlife for having actual spin bikes in your cardio section.
I still had some juice in me afterwards, so onto the hamster wheel I went.

2 miles of 1 min sprint, 1 minute jog, 30 secs walking. INTENSE.

It was a great way to get in a quick workout, that was fun AND challenging. I'll be doing this more.

....and I was proud of myself for getting off the couch. :)

Mango Overload

The mango situation is a bit out of control at my house. I bought a case of them last week at Costco, which was more than enough, but they were also on sale at the grocery store for $0.59! I bought 4 more. 

The long weekend has left me feeling a little unhealthy, so a salad in a glass was definitely on the menu. A perfection solution to reduce the insane amount of mangoes in my house, AND make me feel healthy and green.

Water, spinach, frozen banana, a spoon or two of greek yogurt, and mangoes! It was tropical and delicious.

Served with the first watermelon on the season…. also on sale for $3.99. I absolutely refuse to pay anything over that. I’ve seen them for $7.99! That’s just pure crazy.

Not much else on tap today, except for some kitty snuggles, dog walking, spending 7 hours a the gym, a coconut mocha (addicted!), chili making and maybe watching a little Felicity, Season 1. Yes, I’m 16.

Best part is, I’ll be able to smells lilacs whilst doing it. We might have stolen borrowed some from my cousin’s neighbour to help stage the house. All in the name of real estate.

 

In case you’re wondering, yes.. I blogged that the house was sold. The deal went quasi bad. We’re still conditionally sold but nothing firm as of yet.

Happy Holiday Monday!

Odd question: How much is watermelon in your neck of the woods?

19 years ago…

May 21st,1992 was hands down the worst day of my life.

It was the day I lost this incredible woman.

My beautiful Mom.

I’m not usually a big fan of Oprah, but admittedly I’ve got sucked into her final season hoopla. I saw this story this week, and it completely moved me. I sobbed on uncontrollably, at wished that I had grown up with my Mom.

She never got to teach me about make-up. She never got to give me advice about choosing a husband. She missed all of the milestones in my life. And that makes me so sad.

But, I  like to think that I have made her proud of the woman I have become.

I write this post with tears in my eyes, but today I’m going smile and enjoy the wonderful life that I have. That’s what she would want. I’m certain of it.

It’s been 19 years, but I miss her every. single. day.