Sunday, February 28, 2010

Evil Ninja Kitty


The face you see here is just the picture of innocence isn't it. Don't be fooled. I have an evil kitten.

How evil, you ask. Well. She knows exactly what my alarm clock sounds like and if I hit the snooze button she knows she's not getting breakfast. So, she takes matters into her own paws. A short jump onto the night stand is all it takes for her to be in perfect lamp tipping position. She wouldn't!!! Oh yes she would, and she has. More than once.

She is the one who starts all the fights with Bentley. No joke. She's the one who slaps him from atop the chair. She's the one who ambushes is paws from under the bed. She's the one who jumps on his head while he's sleeping on the couch.

But what did she do to piss me off today? Well, here's the story.

I came back from the grocery store and set 4 full bags of groceries on the kitchen floor. After letting Bentley out of his kennel, I put in a load of laundry. I exited the laundry room to see a little black tail waving at me from one of the grocery bags. I pulled her from the grocery bad while yelling and screaming at her and found this: a huge gaping hole in the bread bag! She had also eaten the corners of the pieces she exposed.



She also sat on the rest of the bag in order to rip open the top, so she crushed most of the slices.

This isn't the first time she's done this. She has eaten/shredded bagels, doughnuts, and half a loaf of bread. Found that half-a-loaf shredded all over my kitchen at 5:00am while taking care of a sick dog. Not pleasant.

Well, there you go. The story of my evil kitten.

Almost as exciting as a Christmas list

Just found a huge list of area races:

http://www.rockfordroadrunners.org/Races/2010.html

It's mostly 5k's and 10k's.....which is right up my endurance alley!

I'm so excited that I almost want to go out for a run right now!

Friday, February 26, 2010

Giveaway!!!!! and Fundraiser!!!!!

Ok. So I have this amazing bloggy friend named Katye. She's a member of the TNT for the LLS. (I can't spell all those words so I shortened them.)

She's having an awesome giveaway! You can read about it HERE. Read her post and then enter to win the Road ID she's giving away. Or don't.....because I want it.

Also, she's having an awesome fundraiser! You can read about it HERE. She's acquired a bunch of Bondi Bands that she's selling to raise money for the LLS. I got mine in the mail last week and have worn it as part of my lounge gear at home. I also wore it on my run today and rocked it! Plus...I ordered 4 more this morning as gifts for my sisters. Check it out!

Guess who....

Guess who put their running shoes back on today? Me!

I had set up a running date with my sister-in-law for this afternoon. Around lunch time I got a text from my husband telling me that his sister wouldn't make it to the run because she had tripped and broke her ankle and was in the ER. She always finds some way to cancel on me :) But, no worries, the x-ray didn't show any breaks or fractures and it's just a bad sprain. Sorry if this brings back memories Lisa. She apparently tripped while walking. She's special like that.

My husband and I kept the running date anyway and did a nice 2 miler. He he. Look at me blogging like a real runner. A 2 miler. Ha! But seriously, we did run 2 miles. With the warm up, run, break, run, and cool down we did 3.13 miles total. He only kept time during our actual running.

I feel great! No pain! My lungs are sore from breathing the cool air and pushing my self for a mile straight which I haven't done since last May. Big steps for me today! I might actually be able to do the 10K on April 3rd instead of the 5K. :)

Monday, February 22, 2010

Subscriptions

One of my students earned $125 worth of gift cards for our classroom this weekend. Our school is doing some strange online shopping fundraiser and people can purchase gift cards for our classroom. I was so excited! I can do lots of damage with $125 for my classroom. I swear I only became a teacher to write on the chalkboard and order from supply catalogs.

Ok, back to those gift cards. After doing my happy-dance in the hallway I went to the directed website "for more information." I found out that I can only redeem these gift cards for magazine subscriptions. Seriously? Subscriptions? That's it?!?! Well...if that's what I can used them for, that's what I'll use 'em for.

After subscribing to 3 different kid-oriented magazines for my classroom, I had $25 left. Hmmm...what to do, what to do. Ooohh...a sports & fitness link? 12-issues of Runner's World magazine? Practically free subscription? Ok, why not. So I did.

Now, these will still be classroom magazines. After I'm done reading them, and tearing out articles and workouts, they will go into my magazines box. We use these magazines for various projects. So....I wasn't 100% selfish on this one. Just 80% selfish.

It's good to be the teacher.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

BRH: Week 4 Session 2


Run 2 minutes. Walk 2 minutes. Repeat 7 times.

Time: 28:00
Distance: 2.56 miles

This is what it looked like outside this morning. 28 degrees (wind chill was 21) with light snow. I was surprised that I walked down the stairs with no discomfort despite that terrible workout last night.






So I decided to go for it. Thanks to my lovely sister I now have a great Champion running jacket from Target. Pretty much everything from the waist up is Champion gear. Love that stuff! Anyway.....The run felt great! No pain! Ok, ok, a little twinge here and there, but overall it was great. I concentrated on keeping good form. I even managed a good speed. Forgot to check my watch a few times because I was so in the zone that I fudged my run 2/walk 2 program. Oops!

Glad I went out and did it.

Remember that scale I mentioned in the last post? Yea, it loved me today. Lost 2 lbs this week and 8 lbs since the beginning of January! I made my 5% goal! To celebrate I'm taking myself shopping in March. I have 4 weddings to go to in the next 4 months and will be in need of a new dress. WW really works if you do it right :) Only 2 lbs to go before I've lost 10 lbs total. No fudging on points this week. I want another sticker next Saturday!

Friday, February 19, 2010

All aboard the lazy train

(cue Ozzy music)

Alright. As of this moment I am lounging in my recliner wacthing my baby-boy devour a rawhide bone. He's laying in my workout space....well it would be my workout space if I was actually working out right now. I'm trying to ignore Jillian's eyes staring at me from atop the XBox... Boo, evil woman, stop staring at me.

I wimped out at the beginning of the week because it was too cold for me to run outside.

I was crazy busy on Tuesday and Wednesday with class.

Husband left yesterday for state wrestling tournament and baby-boy and I put in some extra hours in the classroom preparing for ISATs. (If you don't know what those are, be thankful. They are pretty much the government's way of ruining our children's lives.)

I checked out the Lightning Thief with a coworker after school and it was too dark by the time I made it home. Husband is still out of town (Won't see him until Sunday) and I'm enjoying the quiet.

Jillian continues to stare at me. I really enjoy the feeling of not being in pain and am enjoying how comfy my ass is in this recliner.

What I'm not enjoying is the number that will show up on the scale at my WW meeting tomorrow morning. I was good on food points this week, but I need some more activity points if i want a smaller scale number.

Why do we actually have to work to lose weight? Jillian has succeeded at making me feel guilty.

Off to put on the sexy spandex and work off that extra 1.8 lbs I need to reach my 5% goal :)

What the hell is my cat doing in the kitchen......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Post workout:

Jillian is an evil woman. I was so pumped to tell you about how well my workout was going at the beginning. I was able to do the first 3 circuits completely with weights. After the third circuit, I hit a wall. My legs wouldn't stop twitching and I felt like I was going to throw up. I drank two full glasses of water, took off my clothes to cool down, and made two trips to the bathroom.

Can you say FAIL?

I did finish however. For every episode I had I paused the DVD. I waited until I could control myself and then I continued.

Yuck.

Monday, February 15, 2010

No More Trouble Zones

It got cold here....again. And I hung up my running shoes...again.

After hearing back from my PT friend, she told me that I supinate like crazy. She also told me that I should hold off on running until all my pain is gone. When I posted my run on Thursday, I was pain free. The pain, if you read my post, didn't come back until about half-way through the run. I decided to rest it this weekend and was hoping to get out for a run today.

I wussed out on the run because of the cold. I did however put in my new workout DVD...No More Trouble Zones by Jillian Michaels. The ladies in my WW group keep talking about her 30-day shred. They also complain about how hard it is. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend money on a workout DVD that would end up collecting dust in our baskets, but her DVDs were only $10 at Target. I couldn't resist. That is how I settled on this one.

I did the workout for the first time on Friday with my sister. I didn't use weights because I couldn't find them. Actually, they were in a box in the basement and I was just too lazy to walk down the stairs to get them. Anyway, she kicked my ass. I had hopes for a run on Saturday, but I could barely get out of bed that morning, so I scratched it. The soreness went away yesterday afternoon and I dragged my ass out of bed to do it this morning. I also dragged my ass down the stairs to get the weights :)

I am so glad I bought it. I can really feel my "trouble zones" being worked. For those of you interested in trying it, there are a lot of squats. You pretty much end up squatting forward, backwards, and inside out! Everything from my waist down hurts! I hate DVDs that work a lot of abs from a crunch position because I cannot do a proper crunch to save my life. This DVD had just enough abs. My neck is thankful for that.

Overall, a good workout. I kept myself moving this weekend with going outside :) And I also got up and did Wii Yoga before the institute on Friday morning. Points for me! Literally....activity points for WW :)

Any bets on which day I will drag my ass outside to run this week?

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Olympics

I am a huge fan of the Olympics. Like HUGE! I had my students write down, "watch opening ceremonies" in their assignment notebook on Thursday!

After the 1992 summer olympics, my mother had to put my sister and I in gymnastics lessons because we turned the living room into a floor exercise arena. There is a crack in our foundation from all of the jumping we did! I wanted soooo bad to be an Olympic gymnast!

After the 1994 winter olympics, my mother had to put my sister and I in figure skating lessons because we wouldn't stop jumping and twirling around the house. There was a horrible ice storm that year and we could literally skate in our backyard. We played out the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding saga over and over with our neighborhood friends. I just knew I was going to be a gold-medal skater!

I never fulfilled any of those dreams. I did make it to a number of National competitions for power tumbling, though. Power tumbling is not gymnastics and is not an Olympic sport. Still, I will sit through every broadcast and cheer my heart out for those who made their dreams come true.

I was sooo disappointed when Chicago lost the 2016 bid. I live close enough to Chicago that my city would have provided practice facilities. You'd see me as the stalker outside! I would have sold valuable belongings to attend just one single event.

My heart goes out to the family and teammates of Nordar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger that lost his life on Friday morning. How terrible for such an athlete to meet his end just days away from his competition. May his Olympic dream live on!

Can you imagine how excited I was to find that I could add the medal count to my blog!?!?! This is going to be an amazing 2 weeks. My DVR will be backed up with recordings of speed skating, ice hockey, and figure skating.

I'm sure if you listen hard enough you'll hear me chanting "USA! USA! USA!" And, how hot is Apollo Ohno?!?!

Friday, February 12, 2010

BRH: Week 4 Session 1

Run 3 minutes. Walk 2 minutes. Repeat 8 times.

Distance: 3.81 miles
Time: 46 minutes

I couldn't believe the feeling I had when I got out there yesterday. I felt relieved! I realized that had missed running! I have never had that feeling before. It was amazing!

The pain didn't start until I got far enough into it to turn back. It wasn't terrible. The pain was slight to begin with. It was numb while I ran and tight while I walked. After set 7 is when things got more painful. Luckily I was one set away from being done.

I am having trouble breathing. The air is so thin and cold that I have to take deep, gasping breaths. I generate alot of spit and snot.....gross, TMI, I know. Hopefully it will warm up soon and I can stop breathing like a 50-year-old chain smoker.

I feel like I had a good week. Let's hope my weigh-in tomorrow supports my feelings.

Side note........GO USA!!!!!!!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Tasty Tuesday on Monday.....so I don't forget tomorro

Ok......I realize that my goal of having a "focused" blog went out the window a few weeks ago. But tonight I cooked something I feel is pretty good and wanted to blog about it before life got in the way and I forgot.

So...what did I make? Lasagna soup! I must seem to have a knack for finding main dishes that have been turned into soups considering that my last Tasty Tuesday was "Taco Soup."



Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
  • 1 lb. lean ground beef (90% lean) (I used ground turkey. I think it would be great with Italian sausage instead)
  • 1 large green pepper, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 cans (14.5 oz. each) reduced sodium beef broth
  • 2 cans (14.5 oz. each) diced tomatoes
  • 1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • 1/4 tsp. pepper
  • 2.5 cups uncooked spiral pasts (I used a gluten free variety)
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
(I know. That doesn't sound like any of the lasagna ingredients I use....but I didn't come up with this thing.)

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, cook the beef, green pepper, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

2. Stir in the broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn, tomato paste, Italian seasoning and pepper. Bring to a boil. Stir in pasta (I cooked the GF pasta before hand because it tends to make things mushy and thick if put in uncooked). Return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until pasta is tender. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.


Review:

Again, I didn't come up with this. This recipe came from my favorite magazine, Taste of Home. My husband thought it smelled delicious. He also thought it tasted delicious. However, he only ate 1 bowl. He usually does 2 bowls if it's really, really good. I would have to say that it was good. A little bland. But good. Like I said in the ingredients, Italian sausage might make it taste better. Or, possibly, it was the ground turkey that made it bland. Hmmm.....I will have to remake and update this one.

This also is supposed to serve 8 people. So, either make it for a family or plan on left overs. I'm not sure about freezing, but I'm sure it would work.

For those of you who want nutrition info, here it is. According the the recipe, for a 1 1/3 cup serving:
  • Calories: 280
  • Fat 7 g
  • 41 mg cholesterol
  • 572 mg sodium
  • 35 g carbs
  • 4 g fiber
  • 20 g protein
Weigh Watchers: 5 pts. per serving....give or take a point for using turkey instead of beef and GF pasta.

Training Update:

I still haven't heard back from my PT friend about my shins. She's going to get back to me some time this week, hopefully. I ran yesterday with my husband. If it weren't for him, I would have quit because of the pain. I probably should have quit, but I wanted to finish my second attempt at Week 3 Session 3. And I did it. I might be taking a break this week. It depends on the amount of snow we get and how quickly the pain comes back when I head out again. Fingers crossed things work out :)

Friday, February 5, 2010

BRH: Week 3 session......aw fuck it

Today's run = big fat FAIL.

I hurt so bad by the end of set 2 (around the 1 mile mark) that I decided to call it quits. Sadly it was a mile back home. Bentley and I did two more sets before we made it back to the driveway.

As I started running for each set everything felt good. About 1:30 into each set is when things started to hurt. I was huffing and puffing so bad by the end of my 3:00 run that my walk was practically a crawl. That 2:00 walk/crawl rest my drive and I kept pushing until we were back at my street and I couldn't do it any more. Total distance was about 2 miles.


I am currently on the sofa with my legs propped up and ice on my shins.

Ok...I know these are man shins...or the sins of a hairy woman....but the red spots are where my pain is. I'm e-mailing this photo to my PT friend in hopes that she will give me some advice...like if I should see a doctor or if I should keep icing/stretching/buy compression sleeves/buy new shoes. I would hate to by new shoes when my new ones are only 2 months old.

What do you think?

Doctor?
Suck it up and keep going?
New shoes?
Compression sleeves?

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

BRH: Week 3 Session 2

Run 2 minutes. Walk 2 minutes. Repeat 9 times.

Time: 35:00
Distance: 2.91 miles

Ouch! Shin-splint type pain and tight lower calves and achilles. I was hoping a rest day would help. Sadly, not so much. I have been stretching since I got home...stretched for 20 minutes after workout, stretched again 20 mintues later, and again about 30 minutes later. I have also been drinking a lot of water since I got home. Well...when I've been able to keep Doozer out of my cup. She's a water-loving cat and drinks by sticking her front pay in the dish/bowl/cup/bathtub/puddle and then licking it off her paw. Since I've gotten back, I've had to refill my cup 3 times because of paw-invasion and then she just knocked over a full cup onto the wood floors!!!!! If you hear about a cat being murdered tonight.....it wasn't me.


The run was great, despite the pain. No crazy dogs. The weather was even tolerable. It has snowed about 3+ inches since Monday evening. I'm a big snow fan, but I'm getting tired of it. Snow, you can go away now. I want spring! I want to run that trail!

Off to the grocery store so we can eat this week.....Happy running!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Best find ever!!!

Oh my gosh! I have been praying for one of these and I finally found one!

Ok Ok....what am I talking about?

A trail!!!!!

I have been reading about all the lovely trails my bloggy-friends run in California and Arizona and have been wishing for a trail of my very own. I've been limited to my boring ladder-shaped neighborhood since June. And can you believe it, thanks to Bentley of all things, I finally found one!

Why Bentley? No he didn't run away. I was taking him to doggie-daycare (yes, I'm one of those people now) and I crossed what seemed to be an old railroad crossing. As I looked down the tracks, I noticed that there weren't any tracks and were tons of signs indicating a trail/bike path. I remember seeing part of this path up by a local "watering hole" I frequent with my hubby. I was curious about it, but a little too tipsy to take much interest. Now I have found it again.

I checked it out on Google maps and found out where it starts, just up the street! And I found out that it runs for 20+ miles! This totally makes me wish I could just go out and run a marathon right now so that I could run this trail! But, baby steps I must take. I can't wait until it gets warm enough for me to run parts of this trail.

In case you want to check it out....here's the link : The Long Prairie Bike Trial/Stone Bridge Trial


So Freakin' Excited Right Now!