Trailing Ali

I love blogs.  I love seeing what people are up to, in pictures and words, whether it be baking, sweating, accessorizing, or just musing.  When I get busy, my time to read blogs shrinks drastically (since I try to prioritize things like reading my Bible and sleeping)...but there are a couple that I usually manage to squeeze in. 

Good start to a crazy day?  I think yes.

One of these crucial-to-my-happiness-especially-on-Thursdays blogs is Ali on the Run.  Ali's a working/running gal in NYC with a competitive streak and a killer sense of humor.  Recently she ran her first marathon, raising money along the way for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America.  Part of her fundraising efforts included these killer "I ♥ Sweat" tee shirts.  Since I'd been stalking her blog for months, I figured it was time to pay up and support a great girl and a great cause.

I was super psyched when the shirt arrived in time for the last long run of our half marathon training program!  We decided to do the Snoqualmie Ridge 5 mile trail run, which coincidentally was the day of Ali's marathon.  Obviously I planned to be a vital part of the long distance cheering squad.

It came!  Woohoo!!!

We had heard that you should test out any pre-race fueling ideas before you run the race.  This gives you a good sense of, "wow, that was gross" or "hm, not enough energy" or "crap, I've spent this whole run desperate for a bathroom" so that food won't crash your race-day party.

Being avid magazine subscribers and cooks (well, one cook and one hobbit - good team), we decided to test out Gesine Bullock-Prado's Long Run Cake (yup, Sandra Bullock's sister).

Tons of chocolate...and it's made with black beans.  Who knew?

Finally used the Twinkie pan my dad gave Jared

CAKE!!!

Good news:  This cake is super delicious and actually fairly good for you.

Bad news: If you eat it before a run, you will REALLY want to support anything to do with Crohn's or IBS or...anything, because you will spend most of 5 miles in the woods debating whether you'll last till the end of the race or have to hop off the trail and improve a porta potty out of  bushes.  I kid you not.

Race recap beyond the TMI above?  Sure thing, but be warned.  It gets gross.

It was chilly to start, but a beautiful clear morning.  There were only about a hundred runners, which made it kinda nice.  I could've kicked myself for not starting farther back...it's too easy to get caught up with the speedy starters and charge ahead...and then poop out towards the end.  Which is pretty much what I did.  Jared, being sweet, ran with me the whole race.  (Even held my hand at one point...I like that kid.)


Go Ali!!!

A few miles in, when I was enjoying not running on pavement, past office buildings, or breathing car exhaust, I smelled something very unpleasant.  Like a person who had not showered.  Ever.  Sure enough, this old dude passed me up, reeking of body order and clearly auditioning for the role of

"plumber" on some TV show.  He had the shorts down, at least.   Literally. 

I decided since we were running for fun and not to win, I'd let him get a good head start so as not to see him or smell him anymore.  About a mile later, Jared and I were climbing the tallest hill of the race...when we came upon the same dude, coming out of the bushes...and smelling worse.

This pretty much confirmed for me that however uncomfortable that cake had made me, I was definitely going to wait till the bathrooms at the finish line.  We tried to avoid breathing through our noses, but there's only so much you can do when you can still smell someone whom you can no longer see.  We sped up to pass him since clearly letting him go first had not worked out in our favor.  (Shoulda done that in the beginning...my time might have been better.)

As luck would have it, the last section of the course was poorly marked, so we and several other runners got a bit lost.  We figured it out and came back to the right part of the trail...just in time for stinky dude to catch us up.  Seriously?  Yes, kinda colored the experience a bit.

We finally made it to the end and I made a beeline for the bathrooms.  Then we took off since we had a pretty full day ahead.  I'd say, even with the stinky guy and the ill-fated long run cake, I enjoyed the beautiful course and had a fun time. 

Plus I got to wear my new shirt.  And Ali ran her marathon like a champ and raised $20,000.   Happy all around.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Purple cauliflower, anyone?

Yes, that's right.  Came in the good old CSA box.

One good/bad thing about getting produce delivered weekly is that you try all sorts of new things.  If you are like me, you prefer to model your life a little after Tony Shalhoub in Monk: "Never change anything.  Ever."

So, when you are forced to change things up, it's good for you.  Your body handles nutrients a bit like it handles exercise: it gets more out of variety.  Running is good for you, but if you only run and don't cross train, strength train, or work on your flexibility, your body won't be as fit and healthy.  Carrots are good for you, but if you only eat carrots, you are missing out on the plethora of other nutrients available to you.

However, sometimes it's hard to figure out how to eat certain veggies.  Especially those that look like they came straight out of a Dr. Seuss book.

When in doubt, make a smoothie. 

Jared boiled the cauliflower and then blended it up with frozen berries, protein powder, and milk.  Pretty darn tasty.  And looks much less weird:

Trail run, half marathon, and fall sweataway recaps forthcoming.

Blueberries for Sal

This summer, I had the delightful opportunity to pick blueberries with my mother.  While I stayed with her the whole time instead of going home with a mama bear, the experience recalled warm fuzzies about one of my favorite childhood books.

 We headed over to Bybee Farms in North Bend...and I loaded up with 10 pounds of berries.

Mount Si

Waiting to pay 

I'm so proud!!!

They provide buckets, you provide the picking power.  The extra cool part is they don't weigh you coming and going, so you can drop some in your mouth instead of your bucket while you're picking.

Then you can take them home and dump them in Greek yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, or freeze them for use at a later date.


OR you can use them to make muffins for Superman.



I made Caprial's killer recipe (with CSA blueberries, still almost as good as the ones I picked myself) and it was a big hit.  I don't put sugar on top, and I swap in protein powder and whole wheat flour, and add walnuts to make them healthier...this recipe is pretty flexible, so you can put your own signature touches on.

CSA berries!!!

I love baking on weekends!

Especially with Gregory Peck.

Try to use a vanilla or plain protein powder...
Cake Batter was a bit much.

Superman devouring the fruit of my labor.

Ker-plink, ker-plank, ker-plunk!

I Like To Eat, Eat, Eat, Apples and Bananas

...or basically anything else.  My coworkers think I'm weird because I am eating 24/7.
I kid you not.  Well, okay, when I'm sleeping I make an exception.  Other than that, I try to have food on hand at all times.

This is for one day at work.  One day.

For about a year now, I've been working to get my body fat down from 26% (!!!) to a more healthy number.  It's longer than I expected, but I'm finally almost at my goal.

One of my biggest allies in the war on body fat has been the change in my eating habits.  I used to eat breakfast sometimes as long as 2 hours after I woke up, and after that I probably only ate every 5 hours (3 or so times a day).  I never ate a ton of crap, but had no idea that the TIMING of eating could be so important.

Here's how things have changed:

1. I eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up
2. I eat every 2.5-3 hours
3. I try to include at least one serving of fruits/veggies with each mini-meal
4. I ALWAYS include protein - it helps with muscle building and keeps me full longer
5. I drink a TON of water
6. I try to eat or at least drink a protein shake within 30 minutes of working out

Here's some of the things I can be found shoveling down my throat:


Salad with shrimp and brie!



English muffins with peanut butter and purple carrots



Cashew butter when peanut butter gets boring

Basil and peewee tomatos for caprese!



Greek yogurt with donut peaches and walnuts

 

Water with fresh basil

Spinach, avocado, and walnut salad

 Do you want a super cool water bottle to put water and basil in?  Of course you do.  The Contigo bottles come in lime, pink, and blue.  I vote pink.

Eat up!!!

What I Wore This Summer

Obviously even in the Northwest there are more than 5 days of summer...but here's the set of outfits I actually managed to snap photos of:

Tee - American Eagle,
skirt - Express, leggings - Romy

Blue eyes - c/o my mom's great genes

Tee - Express, cami - Express,
skirt - GAP, sandals - Target,
clutch - Target, belt - Target

Earrings - World Market, scarf - gift

Always keep a lint roller in your closet, kids.

Sweater - F21, dress - F21,
tank - Costco, leggings - Target,
best sandals ever - Target

Necklace - gift, belt - Old Navy

Necklace - Target, top - F21,
tank - Express, skirt - Express,
clutch - Target

I LOVE braids in the summer

Shoes - Lauren Conrad for Kohl's

Jacket - Lauren Conrad for Kohl's



Sad face - Hubby was out of town for
two weeks on a medical mission trip,
shoes - Target

 

Necklace - gift, ruffle tank - Kohl's,
layer tank - Costco, scarf - H&M Italy
skirt - present from hubby's first trip to Samoa

FINE: 30 for 30 for 30

Or should that be finally?  Not sure...

So, I did it.  Sometimes by wearing two outfits in one day...but that meant I was doing two workouts, so I feel like it counts.  Ready for #21-#30?  Good, me, too:

#21 - Labor Day

 I hope you realize this is not a buffer,
short-haired, tall version of me.

This nice guy wanted to bike 11+ miles for Labor Day. 
He's cute, so I went for it.

#11: Tee - Nike, sports bra - Champion,
running skirt, Champion, shoes - Nike

Me looking sweaty and labored after the ride

#22 - Be prepared for a Castle-worthy use of irony.  I determined to train for a fall half-marathon since I felt a summer half would require running in the heat of summer and would not be too fun.  Ironically, this year was one of our (shortest and) latest summers.  Ever.  So the hottest week of the year coincided with the most intense week of my training.  I decided to be super awesome/stupid, and wore all black for one of these hot runs.  I felt REALLY slow (physically and mentally).

#12 - training run on the hottest day EVER;
black tee - Nike

Black Dry-Fit capris - Nike, shoes - Nike

#23 - Commuter/Recovery Run

Sports bra - Champion, tank - lululemon

Capris - Old Navy, shoes - Nike



Saw this on a bridge on my way home - cute!



And then I saw these.

"Recovery run" is obviously code for
"stop and eat a ton of blackberries
whenever possible"

 I had decided to have leftover beets as my final snack/meal of the workday...like an hour or less before the run.  Fiber is great, but sometimes it's really inconvenient.  Like when you are a ways away from your apartment on a run and realize you need to find a bathroom...five minutes ago.

I somehow made it to the clubhouse in our complex and dashed in to the restroom.  Good thing there were no small children in Pull-ups or pregnant ladies in my path. 

Then I decided that I could totally run a little longer...which worked out awesome since the clubhouse comes with a mini-gym.

Me feeling much better post-potty break. 
Note the fan cheering me on.

This was one of those "real life makes working out inconveniet" sort of days.  I'd had to stay later at work than I'd intended, and needed to clean the apartment (and my sweaty self) plus strength train all before a meeting for my musical theatre class.  (Yes, I'm uber-psyched to be teaching again.)

Somehow, I made it, using those killer sport wipes, and a quick 10 minutes of seriously challenging weight-lifting moves.  Obviously you are dying to know what I ate as well.  Protein, iron, whole grains, H2O, plus necessary replenishing of the salt I sweated away.  You're welcome.

#24 - Wicked Witch of the West

I cycled to and from work.  Which is impressive for me.  It's only a couple of miles, but somehow hills that I don't mind running are REALLY not cool on a bike.  I kinda wish I had the awesome evil theme music from Wizard of Oz playing while I rode.  It would motivate me.  Or turn my skin green.  One of the two.

It was kinda fun because Friday is date night, so I biked over to the mall after work and met the hubby, who had biked to work as well.  We went and used our Oh! Chocolate groupon and sat and talked...right near the bench where we first talked about the fact that our relationship was probably headed for marriage.  Fun walk down memory lane.  Then we biked home together (he went slow for me - that, folks, is true love).


Top - Nike, sports bra - Nike,
pants - Express, shoes - Nike,
bleary eyes - long week

#25 - Freakout Speedwork Run

We got home from work and I still hadn't done my training run for the day.  I was starting to panic because I had not followed the training plan from Fitness magazine ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY and since I'm a spreadsheets/planning/freakout kinda girl, I determined this meant I was in no way ready for the half and could never possibly be.  Ever.

My husband is a smart man and told me to go ahead and go for my run.  It's really nice being married to a personal trainer who knows how to handle crazy panicking women.  Or at least, me.

So, guilt relieved (I hadn't wanted to cut date night short) and the latest copy of Runner's World in hand, I went for my hour-long run on the aforementioned clubhouse treadmill and had a killer run.

Tee - Nike, sports bra - Nike,
shorts - Brooks, shoes - Nike

It's amazing how sometimes you need to just get out there and do the work.  Seriously, if I picked one run from the 10 week plan (well, 8+ weeks so far) that was a "game changer" for me, this might be it.  I did some leg strength training afterwards and some yoga and felt SO ready to tackle the half on October 1st. 


#26 - Weights and Wings

I LOVE Saturday workouts.  It's pretty awesome to sleep in and still get to start your day at the gym.  Everyone seems to be in a good mood, and a lot of folks are STILL sleeping in, so you don't have to share equipment and you can take your sweet time about it.  I did abs, back and biceps (my fave), the elliptical, and yoga.  SOOO relaxing.

Headband - lululemon, tee - Fall City Days 5k,
sports bra - Nike, capris - lululemon, shoes - Nike

The Huskies were playing that afternoon...so we ended up at Wing Dome.  Yes, you read that right.  We hardly ever go out to eat, but usually when we do, we try not to worry too much about being healthy.  If you eat well 90% of the time, you don't have to feel guilty about stuff like wings, drinks, and donuts.

I got some Peach Tea/vodka something or other. 
Perfect for a hot day.

The famous wings...not my thing, but pretty good

We balanced things out with our late afternoon snack at home: caprese with tomatoes and basil from our CSA!  (Thank you, Jefferson Davis!)

I would seriously eat caprese every single day.

#27 - Longest Long Run!!!

Jared and I don't usually get to train together, but we try to do our long runs together on the weekend.  We decided for the longest run of our training plan to head over to Redmond and run the Sammamish River Trail.  We like avoiding traffic and stoplights and car fumes, plus the trail is just plain gorgeous to run along...AND they have bathrooms and water fountains along the way.

We stopped at the Redmond Town Center Starbucks to fuel up...and carefully avoided too much fiber (see #13). 

Pumpkin cream cheese muffin and
yummy baby food fruit thing.

We filled up our water bottles with nuun and brought PUSH powder for later.

We warmed up pre-run with jumping jacks, body-weight squats, and walking lunges.  I hardly ever do a real warm-up, but whenever I do, I feel like it makes a big difference.  I should do it more.

Headband - lululemon, top - Nike,
Dry-Fit capris - Nike, shoes - Nike Free!

You may think this is almost the same outfit I wore for #2 of the 30 for 30 for 30.  You would be right, except I threw on the headband to throw you off.  Tricky, huh?  In all seriousness, this outfit is absolutely my favorite for a long run on a warm day, and since this would be the longest run of our training, I wanted to be as comfortable as possible.

We had a GREAT run.  It's a fun thing to do as a married couple, since Jared loves doing things together as a team and I love talking.  This way, we're both happy!  I'm also finally getting faster, so it makes me glad to know that Jared's actually getting a decent workout on our runs these days.  Our speed was totally on pace for our sub-2-hour goal.  Woohoo!


#28 - Yoga

Pretty chill...woke up and did yoga before a long day of work.  It's a stella way to get blood flowing and muscles working without getting all sweaty and gross.  It also gets your brain in gear and really starts your day off on the right foot.

Jacket - Everlast,
sports bra - Champion,
capris - lululemon

#29 - Rolling Hills

Another instance of cramming health and fitness into a tight schedule.  Worked late and had to really kick my butt out of the office and out onto the pavement.  The nice thing (or not so nice thing) about Bellevue is that you can run some serious hills without having to go out of your way.  At all.  It makes you really sweaty, but hey, at least you're outside and not staring at a computer screen.  In addition to hills, Bellevue is crammed with parks.  I did some speedwork at a tiny one, and then headed to the big pretty one near the mall for some additional mileage.  I finished up on the treadmill at work and then hit the weights for 15 minutes.  I keep reminding myself that something is better than nothing (especially when it comes to pushups).



Sweaty Meghan: tee - Nike, sports bra - Champion,
capris - Express, shoes - Nike

 This nice guy gave me a ride home, which was very helpful as you can tell from the stuff on the table that we had our quarterly sample sale at work, and I made out like a bandit.

Me and the nice guy

CONFESSION: I did buy one thing during the 30 for 30 for 30. 

I CAN EXPLAIN!!!

Since we are doing a lot of commuting by bike or on foot these days...and we are heading into the longest season of the year (rain), we realized we'd each need some sort of running jacket to fend of wind and drizzle.

We were admiring super cool, super pricing jackets at lululemon.  But it would've been the jackets or our kids' college.

We went with college and hit up the Nike outlet instead.  Jared actually ended up ordering his online since the outlet didn't have his size on hand.  Pretty cool though, right?

I haven't worn mine yet, but it's adorable and super light-weight...and cost about 1/4 of the lulu jacket.  $35 instead of $100 plus works for me.

See?  Tags still on!

#30 - What's All that Racquet?

My dad and I talked my mom into joining us on one of our racquetball dates.  She was a super good sport and surprised me with how well she played! 

To give you an idea of how good my dad is, my mom and I (as a team, getting 2 serves to our team for every 1 serve of his) only beat him one game out of six.  By two points.

Still, we had a killer time and I even ended up with a minor concussion from getting clobbered in the noggin by a rogue ball.  Now I'm obviously a serious player and other court-comers will be deeply intimidated by me.

Me and my cute mom!

I wore my "There Is No Finish Line" shirt and my Old Navy capris with my Nike Frees. 

This challenge really un-bored me with my current set of workout gear, and kept a tight watch on my budget.  I also got a good sense of what I do need next time I'm shopping for workout clothes/gear, and I stayed motivated to keep logging sweat.  All in all, I think this was a success.

Thanks for tuning in, and happy Monday!