Toys for Tots Weekend: Part II - 12ks of Christmas

Hello and Happy Christmas!  (It always makes me feel very British and Dickens-y to say "happy" instead of "merry."  Maybe I should actually read "A Christmas Carol" - I'm a huge Dickens fan, but that's one of his that I've never actually read.  Possibly a sad result of having seen at least 3 film versions of the tale.)

Sporting my race shirt - I wore
this to work the day after the run.

Last Sunday, Jared and I marked one of our favorite annual traditions: running the 12ks of Christmas in beautiful downtown Kirkland.  This year, we added to the fun by swindling our family members into the affair!  You may recall I was starting to have significant pain in my left knee (suspected IT Band and Hamstring as culprits) in the final two weeks before the race. 

Some of the post-run brunch gathering

I am far and away more sentimental than competitive.  I ran two half marathons this year, one in May and the other in October, and even though I was proud of myself for training and all that, my most eagerly anticipated race this year was probably the 12k. 


It pleases me to say I did not meet my foreboding injury with typical Megha-Hysteria.  (Generally this involves an all or nothing attitude like "Stick to the Plan or Die Trying" or "Quit Now.  No More Running.  Ever" and heaps of crying.  Cute stuff.) 

I eased way off on my runs, sticking with only one or two a week as the race approached, and added lots of foam rolling, while continuing Crossfit to keep my cardio fitness up. 

Well, my time was not faster than last year.  I decided to give up on having a time goal and try not to be injured.  My non-time goal was to beat Santa.  Which I did, passing him and his fit wife around 10 or 11k.  As you can see from our times, the hubby and I did not run together this year.  He and my baby brother (who was quite the track and cross-country competitor back in high school) stuck with me for the first mile or two, and then headed of at my encouragement.


And I actually had a great time.  There are always so many folks dressed in costumes, and one house in the first mile always has Christmas playing as we run by.  This year even included a tent of carolers singing the 12 Days of Christmas, with little kids standing out front offering high-fives.


Honestly, my greatest disappointment was the fact that I forgot my camera and consequently broke down and bought official race photos.  Pricey, but I've never actually bought any before...and for my favorite race, I think it was worth it.



Jared & his Grinch shirt



Me with furry socks!!!

After the run(s - most of the family did the 5k while we did the 12k), everyone headed back to our place for some brunch with additional family.  Jared made these amazing pinwheel pastries, and my mom brought a killer breakfast casserole.

Delicious!!!

Jared's mom brough satsumas to share and his sister and brother-in-law brought makings for mimosas.  Our families know how to eat well.

After everyone left, we were on to our final dinner of the Men's Health: Shop Once, Eat for a Week plan.  Steak plus yummy salad.

We subbed in different sorts of kale for the arugula in the salad.  Technically we should have had leftovers from Tuesday's hero sandwiches, but we'd put it in eggs and on other sandwiches throughout the week, which was good as it would have been wilty by Sunday night (we didn't do the dinners 5 days in a row).

All things told, I'd highly recommend the dinner plan (except do chicken breasts instead of roasting a whole bird)...and I'm now in physical therapy for the aggravated IT band.  Oops.

You tell me: Have you ever had injuries that you decided to "run through"? What strategies worked for you?  How did you stay in shape while taking time off from running or other activities?

Toys for Tots Weekend: Part I - Stoneway Crossfit

After a week of insanity (and by that I mean me being stressed out and turning psycho), I was SO looking forward to a weekend of nothing but working out and relaxing.  Sunday was, of course, the long awaited 12k run, but first, Saturday was a field trip team WOD out to Stoneway Crossfit to benefit Toys for Tots!

Saturday:

Jared and I stopped at Urban Coffee Lounge in Juanita before picking up the race packets for Sunday at Everyday Athlete nearby.  Such a treat!

Jared's gorgeous Irish Coffee

My Ginger Molasses Latte...and my latest book from KCLS!

Tangent Alert: Currently I am working on being more timely - you wouldn't expect it since I freak out about plans and schedules and put anything I can into Excel...but I'm the gal who is always running behind when we are trying to get out the door. 

One thing that has helped me is to always have something to read on hand.  I hate wasting time, but I love to read.  So I bribe myself to try to be early so that I can chill and read for a bit.  Often it just means I'm actually on time, but sometimes I really do get a few minutes to devote to my latest book. 

Urban Coffee Lounge is gorgeous

Currently I'm enjoying Mile Markers, by Kristin Armstrong.  It's a lot more touchy-feely than the other non-fiction I've been reading lately.  Much less "how to" run and much more "why we" run.  However, it's engaging and well-written, and a nice change of pace for me.  Heehee.

After coffee, I toodled over to pick up toys to bring as our buy-in for the Stoneway Crossfit Team WOD, and then met Jared at Everyday Athlete.  We were there pretty early, so it wasn't too crazy, and Jared had already gotten our bib numbers to make things easier...since we were getting packets for 8 people.

I had forgotten that the 12k's of Christmas was also fundraising for Toys for Tots - good thing I bought a few extra toys!  We were able to leave our toy donation with the packet hander-outers, and then we headed on to Crossfit!

Shirts and packets and pins for 8

Remainder of our Santa goodie-bag

There's not a whole lot I miss about living in Seattle, frankly, but on certain days, the views are just unbeatable!

Heading across the soon-to-be-tolled 520 bridge

Space Needle

I'd never been to Stoneway Crossfit, but a bunch of their folks came out last month to Mercer Island for a food bank fundraiser, and they seemed a pretty cool group.  I had no clue what the WOD would be...and sometimes that makes it more fun!

Jared with his awesome MICF hoodie

Thankfully we did not roll any tires

We were some of the first to show up, which gave us time to drop off our toys, put down our excess gear, and get all signed in.  And of course, take very necessary blog photos.

All set up for farmer walks!

They broke us up into teams of five.  You had to have at least 2 of each gender on your team, and at least 2 strangers.  The WOD had 4 people moving and 1 person resting at all times.  We did as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of the following rotation:

Run 200 meters

Burpees

Farmer Walks

Squat Hops

Rest (or if your team was in a different heat, cheer on the other teams)

We counted the total reps of each movement...and at the end they told us which movement designated the winning team (to prevent people from purposely saving energy on the "unimportant" parts of the WOD).  Our team ended up placing 2nd.  Woohoo!

At the end of the WOD, they did a raffle and of course, group photos:

Raffle time

All participants...with toys!!!

Mercer Island Crew

And my favorite team...

After the killer workout, we headed home and ate and read and chilled for a bit.  Then we headed to the mall to work on some Christmas shopping...of which we got done exactly nothing.  But we ran into Jared's sister and her husband, so we spent a lovely hour or two catching up with them at Starbucks. 

When we parted ways with Lauren and Stephen, Jared and I went to the movie theater to catch the next showing of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  Fantastic film!  This fall I've been listening to all the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories, and I loved recognizing the different characters or catching lines from the books.  Highly impressed...and going to see it again.

Post movie we still had to go grocery shopping for the post-run brunch we were hosting on Sunday.  For two kids who usually go to bed around 9, we were sleepy, but at least we were making food!

Jared worked on brunch preparations and the sausage for dinner while I focused on the pasta, broccolini, and tidying up.

If you end up doing the Men's Health: Shop Once, Eat for a Week plan, be sure and cook the spaghetti sauce long enough.  I didn't and it was a bit like spaghetti soup.  Oh well.

12k's recap forthcoming...

You tell me:  How was your weekend?  See any movies?  Do any great workouts?  Eat broccoli because it's good for you even though you don't like it? 

Giveaway Winner! AKA Dinners We Ate

Drumroll, please...

 The winner is Paj!

Paj said...

I'm in the middle of the memoir How to Love an American Man by Kristine Gasbarre, which is pretty good.

December 13, 2011 9:43 AM

Email me at themeghamix@gmail.com and I will get your book sent off to you!

Thanks everyone for participating, and a special thanks to Tina for helping me get the word out about her wonderful book!


In other news, I'm sure you are all DESPERATE to know exactly what Jared and I have been eating for dinner this week.  Well, have no fear.  You have come to the right place.

We are continuing our way through Men's Health: Shop Once, Eat for a Week.

Monday we roasted a chicken...and the leftovers played into meals later on in the week.

Tuesday - Holding Out for a Hero...or two. 

We used the leftover veggies from Monday, cooked up some delicious spicy mango jalepeno chicken sausage, and tossed some arugula on top.

Whole wheat heroes, of course!

Jared, being a growing boy and all, ate two.  I ate one.  For those of you who can do math, this left enough food for me to take one to work for lunch on Wednesday.  Yeehaw!

Wednesday we got home late and had snacks and went to bed...no official dinner.

Thursday - Taco Time!!!

We used the leftover chicken from Monday...and I actually used a brief window of freetime on Wednesday to blend up the adobo sauce for Thursday.  We were STARVING by the time we got home from Crossfit, so it was nice to have everything be quick and easy!

I love cilantro!!!

Once again, there were leftovers...we had a team lunch at work today, but I intend to enjoy more taco goodness tomorrow!

You tell me: are you pro-leftovers?  I'm a big fan and the hubby isn't.  Works out since I get to take them all to work...

Shop Once, Cook for a Week

If you are like me, you find it hard to think of nutritious and interesting meals for the week and shop accordingly.  You just buy random meat and produce and hope to be inspired...after work...in the midst of chores...five nights in a row.

This week, we tried something new, courtesy of Men's Health: a pre-written meal plan, complete with shopping list!

Our week at a glance

We had a fun time shopping together for the groceries over the weekend, and Jared was brave enough to make the chicken last night.  He made the chicken "talk," since it grossed me out.  "I never wanted this!"

Lest you think I never actually do anything besides dishes, behold my sou chef skills!

Crying from cutting the onions - my makeup ran!

It took WAY longer than we expected to cook the chicken, and even then, there were a few parts that weren't quite done.  We weren't the only ones to find this out...apparently Tina and Mal are doing the same meal plan this week.  However, the final product was downright delicious!

You eat half the chicken and veggies on Monday...the remaining veggies will appear in tonight's dinner, and the leftover chicken will show up tomorrow.

In other news...only 5 days left until my favorite race of the year!!!

That's right - the 12ks of Christmas is this Sunday!

I'm partly excited because Jared and I missed our most recent race...I had our super cool outfits for the Pineapple Classic all ready to go (we were the Lava-Lava Lovebirds)...and put it on our calendar for a Sunday instead of a Saturday.



All dressed up with no race to run...

I'm EXTRA excited because we have begged, threatened, and offered bribes to get our family members to run, too!  This will be the third year in a row that Jared and I have 12ked our way through beautiful downtown Kirkland, and we intend for it to be a longstanding tradition. 

I'm a little nervous, because my left IT band has started acting up...I did some foam rolling last night which helped, but I'm going to need to do a lot more this week.  Other than that, training has been a blast, especially the long runs on the weekend. 

Me, post run this Sunday evening -
boy were the lights in Kirkland GORGEOUS

What about you?  Do you have any Christmas races in your area?  How about good advice for a tight IT band? 

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!  You have till Thursday at midnight to leave a comment for your entry.