Too lazy to post House Party photos

Oh man, it's late and I've got some MORE house cleaning/laundry to do. It never ends. It is for this reason, I will not (yet) be posting the House Party photos from my parents' Williams-Sonoma soiree this weekend. Mine, by the way, will be held on THURSDAY!

So instead, I'm going to tell you about something new I tried today. As I mentioned in my post race post, I had my first taste of Muscle Milk yesterday. This morning I tried another 1/3 of the bottle (bananas and crème) with a banana. It was a very banana-y breakfast. I think I liked it, but I'm not 100 percent sure, I guess :)

LUNCH

Then for lunch I tried two new items: POM light hibiscus green tea and Healthy Choice's Cafe Steamers, Chicken Pesto Classico. I've had TONS of POM drinks before, as evidenced by the following glass out of which I drank my lunch beverage:

I swear POM didn't pay me to write this post :) But if you work for POM, I wouldn't mind..... I don't usually buy POM since it's pretty expensive, but they were practically buy one get one free at Safeway last night. So I also got a Bossa Nova mangosteen passionfruit beverage. I've had floral drinks before and they're hit or miss. Either they're super flowery and remind me of drinking hand lotion, or they're subtle and delicious. This one was great! If it weren't so dang expensive I'd buy it again -- though I still have the other half of the bottle waiting in the fridge for another day.

Now on to the Healthy Choice frozen meal. If I don't make an abundance of dinner the night before, I'm pretty pressed for time come lunch. Enter the frozen meals. I've done a good job at cutting these down, if not out of my life entirely. But today, couldn't refuse. I think the idea of these plates is pretty neat: separated veggies and protein from a sauce, which you mix together at the end. I think this helps vegetables from turning into that nasty gloop they usually form in the microwave. Plus, it was kinda fun to assemble:

It wasn't bad, just could have used a bit more flavor. I suppose I could have added spices, but again, pressed for time. Then I threw an afternoon snack of honey Greek yogurt and cherries in my purse and headed back to the office. After someone got his lunch, of course. Only because he begged so pitifully for mine.

RUN

When I returned from work, I threw on the new outfit I bought at REI last night; this summer-like heat is getting to be intense already in the Valley. My friend Tori has been saying we should run practically all semester, so tonight we finally hit the streets. In all it was an easy 2.33 miles at a very mild pace, just to kind of unwind after yesterday's race. It felt great!

DINNER

After the run, I found J.D. hands-deep in making dinner -- for the second-straight night :) He put to work the new Calphalon grill pan I scored at the Williams-Sonoma dinner and spice-rubbed some chicken.

He had several burners going at once with quinoa and veggies tossed with garlic salt. It was at this point, I set to work on an appetizer for him, which could be called a post-run snack for moi. It was a caprese salad-inspired toast! I cut up a French baguette and then loaded it up with tomatoes, a slice of a mozzarella basil roulade and of course, olive oil and vinegar.

See the new dryfit tank top I bought!!! I love it, so cute!

I scarfed down my dinner while we watched The Next Food Network Star. Oh man, I love watching that show!! I wish I could be on a reality star show. That would be so awesome. If only I had fun talents someone would want to mold a show around.....

When that finished, I sliced an apple and dipped it in a little bit of almond butter and a little bit of dark chocolate almond spread. Then got to work French press-ing a soy latte. While owning Jeopardy!, well, if you don't count my answer on the final.

Ok, back to some more cleaning. And hopefully we'll know if we're moving or staying put tomorrow..... I'll keep you updated!

I DID IT!!!!

A personal goal I've had since I picked up running again is to get pretty close to my high school XC pace. Ok, that's not true, my first goal was to finish a 5K under 30 minutes and I kicked that goal's butt, so on to the aforementioned goal. Note: I only ran one year of varsity cross country in high school, only because a girl on my basketball team asked me since I was a fast sprinter (totally not the same thing btw). I didn't really want to, but eventually gave in. After summer-long and fall training, my fastest pace was around 22 minutes.

Today, I finished my 5K in 22:58 minutes!!! Crazy, I almost reached my goal!!! I think this means I'm definitely ready for a 10K race now, or at least am ready to kick the crap out of this current goal.

When we signed up the website advertised the top three finishers in each group would win prizes. I thought in the back of my head that I really wanted to finish in the top three of the women's 20-29 group. And guess what.... my 22:58 was THIRD OVERALL in my group!!! CRAZY :) Bring on the medal ceremony!

What I didn't know was that the top 20 finishers of each gender -- out of every age group (12 and under all the way to 60+ -- got shirts at the end of the race. I totally dismissed that idea in the back of my head, but again, though that would have been neat. Well, when I pushed through the chute, a purple sticker was placed on my bib as one of the top 20 female finishers. I'm so amazed at what I accomplished!!! In fact, I was the 12th female finisher in the ENTIRE race. Overall, I placed No. 52 out of over 400 runners. But what made this run even more special (other than the obvious fact that J.D. agreed to run with me to help motivate me), was the fact that this was my first race in over eight years. I'm so excited and ready to run in more races :)

What was INSANE about the race is how I felt during the entire time. My iPhone GPS doesn't work out in the middle of nowhere, so I had NO CLUE as to what my pace was. I knew what time we started and I knew that after 1.5 miles the course turned from pavement to dirt, so that was about the only thing I had to gauge my distance/pace. I felt like I was running about an 8-9 minute mile pace, but I ended up finishing at a 7:41-minute/mile pace!!

I felt spent at the end, because the temperature picked up to nearly 90 degrees in full sunlight. But I tried to stick with a pack of runners who seemed to be running quickly. Eventually, I passed them up and also passed about a 60 year old man who had been back and forth with me the entire way. Running back to the chute, I summoned everything I had and competed in a full-blown sprint. I saw the timer was under 23 minutes and I WANTED to make it under the tape before that mark. AND I DID! The only thing that bummed me out was that some 12 year old boy finished seconds ahead of me. I should have finished before him, haha.

The race took place at Wente Vineyards in Livermore and it was such a beautiful trail to run! The post race ceremony took place right next to the vineyards, overlooking the golf course at the foothills. This was my first time at that specific winery. I'd been to one Livermore winery before when I was a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding back in 2008.

Back to the post race events I guess. I went back to my car, grabbed my camera, and came back to the race in time to see this guy approach the finish line.....

I also lingered near the race for a while to await the 10K finishers and help cheer them on. It was really fun to see the top finishers in that race! I also lingered to say hello and thank you to all the firemen who volunteered and put on the race. All the money spent there went to benefit their fund for fallen firefighters -- something I was glad to contribute money to!

Post race, I also tried my first few sips of Muscle Milk. I have always been a bit wary of it, because a.) I never worked out enough to warrant consuming that high of a caloric beverage and b.) it really just scared me. But it was yummy! I drank about 1/4 of the bottle and then popped the rest in the fridge to maybe drink after another long race.

And now I leave you with a bunch of extraneous photos from this morning:

I guess I'll have to be saving my parents' dinner party post for tomorrow. Trust me, you want to see these photos! It was so awesome AND I was a good girl. I didn't stuff myself, I ate a half-sized dessert and I only sampled two wines, never had a full glass for myself. Guess it all worked out, eh?!

And as I write this, someone's making me a delicious-smelling dinner. Can't wait!

Last day in Stockton!

I just have my half day (plus interview No. 3) to clock in at work today before I head back to the condo, clean up and [pack my life away]. Not really, I'm only packing for two days, but I have too much stuff in tow pretty much my whole life.

J.D. and I are leaving tonight for the East Bay. Our first stop will be at Fleet Feet to pick up our runner's packets with free goodies, then it's off the the parents' house for two days. I'm definitely bringing my new swim suit and Atonement - because I still haven't finished the book in time for our June 1st date.... ooooops. At least I've seen the movie, twice. Except, the book really meanders from the film, or vise versa, since I guess the book came first.

Ready to tackle the last big day of the week before Sunday's race (5K this weekend, 10K waiting in the wings later this summer), I started the morning off with a refreshing and cool smoothie hybrid. I'm all about the hybrids this week. Could it be due to the fact that I want a Ford Fusion Hybrid? No. I'm just super ADD and can't make up my mind, so I love mixing things together.

The leftover melon and pineapple fruit salad I froze earlier this week was the basis of a tropical smoothie that came together this morning. Last night for dessert, J.D. and I attempted to eat and orange, but it dried out in the heat pretty quickly. Luckily, we were able to salvage a cup of juice, so into the smoothie it went.

I poured a heaping glass for J.D. and then went to work on my smoothie parfait creation. In the bottom of a parfait cup I added some plain Greek yogurt and then layered Special K lowfat granola on top.

On top of that went my smoothie -- which wasn't really chunky enough to pull this off, but still tasted legit -- before I repeated about three more times. I definitely need to work on my parfait layering and textures :)

The final addition to my parfait is something I've been searching for a VERY long time now. I think I first heard about it on Kath's blog. We don't have a Whole Foods in Stockton, and Trader Joe's doesn't carry this wonderful treat. Little did I know it was under my nose this entire time!! You heard my love for Nutella, the hazelnut chocolate spread, but now feast your eyes upon dark chocolate almond spread:

And if you can spot the other hungry member of my household, you win. Rest assured he didn't wind up with any chocolate this morning. On a more serious note, I desperately need to repaint my nails!

The final product (his and hers split again to show you the different ways J.D. and I prefer to eat/drink):

DELICIOUS and a great start to the day!! I'm still getting used to almond butter, it has a very distinct, chalkier taste than peanut butter. Nonetheless, I'll use any excuse to add chocolate to my meals. Fun fact, I enjoy reading all of your blogs in the morning before I head off to work :) Thanks for the daily entertainment!

Oh yeah, did you read about my Mexican meal last night??

Run girl, run!

After doing a little bit of this last night, I felt like today was a good day to really indulge in the "holiday eating" spirit:

I'm in disbelief at what I'm about to do....

What a way to celebrate my first minutes of freedom, huh?? All 16 of our Division I sports have wrapped up until the fall so you're now looking at a girl who DOESN'T HAVE TO WORK WEEKENDS!! I've pretty much been working games (sometimes two a day) every single weekend since August. I got three days off for Christmas break and Easter, then my boss gave me last weekend off.

About an hour after the last out had been recorded at our final baseball game, J.D. came by and we laced up our sneakers to tackle some hills! Our old football stadium is loaded with stairs and has a very hilly track around the stadium. I figured this would be the best way to prepare for this weekend's 5K race we'll be running. All of that was in anticipation of a big hilly section at the end of the race. After officially signing up today -- surprise, last day until the registration fee spiked -- I learned that the course is entirely flat!! What a waste of perfectly good energy ;) I ran about 2.5 miles of hills, then did the bleachers five times up and down, including sprints on the football field grass in between. All in all, a good effort, just not a useful way of training for this weekend's 5K.

Hellooooo, Stagg Memorial Stadium!

Given my gigantic use of energy last night, we hosted a "morning drinks party" at the condo this morning in celebration of a.) a day off from work! and b.) the first day of summer in our athletics department!!!!

So a few friends and co-workers stopped by for mimosas, tequila sunrises (my new favorite drink, btw!) and screwdrivers. Being the happy hostess that I am, I made 12 berry muffins to serve and a huge fruit platter - that no one other than yours truly sampled. Our guests brought over cinnamon rolls and oatmeal cookies while J.D. scrambled up some eggs and fried a little bacon. I ended up with a heaping plate of fruit, an egg white, piece of bacon, half a cinnamon roll and a muffin to go with my four morning drinks.... haha oops.

The brunch spread + my mimosa!

And by about 2 p.m. I conked out for an hour and a half. Great holiday if you ask me!

I didn't really eat lunch, so I don't think I went too far over my caloric intake goals. But it's ok, because I plan on timing a 5K simulation tomorrow, running three miles slowly on Wednesday and then a 1.5-2 mile run for Friday with lots of rest on Saturday the day before my race!

And now I am thoroughly exhausted. Talk to you all next time xx.

Question: How'd you spend your holiday?? Do you go crazy for special days during the year??

It was my first time!

...that's what she said. Oh wait, I really did.

That's because I tried two new products (well, sort of, I'll explain later) this week.

First if you haven't yet discovered this website, I think it's about time you take a peek on over there. Essentially, companies send you trial sizes of new products they're coming out with or reinventing. I've received a few samples already and some flat out suck (I'm talking to you, Lacoste, with your cheap "free sample" of your new perfume. I think the samples that come in magazines are larger. And it smelled horrible, btw), while some have been homeruns!

Enter the new South Beach Living bar: the Fiber Fit S'mores Bar.

Not only did they send me a free bar, but I also got a coupon for a free box at the grocery store! And, I know, I've had protein bars and fiber, cereal bars from South Beach before that either taste like cardboard or are loaded with yucky sugar alcohols. This one - as far as I can tell - fell into neither category.

For starters, it was DELICIOUS! The marshmallow coating on the top was so airy and light it made me want to smile for a ridiculously long period of time. Well, maybe not, but it was like a yummy party in my mouth. I'd definitely go and buy these again for a post-run snack (or maybe I should be eating fruit or something.....). Give them a try if you haven't already!

The other "new product" in my life as of this weekend is my Map My Run iPhone application. Yes, the one I've had a few weeks now. Turns out there's a feature on it I hadn't yet discovered. While you're running and tracking your run via GPS, you have the option of audio enhancement. You can decide how frequently a woman's voice will play over your iPod and tell you your current time, distance, speed, minutes per mile and miles per hour.

WHY HAD I NEVER PLAYED WITH THIS BEFORE?!?!?!

I am not a Garmin user (mostly, because I'm cheap and can't really afford one right now), so I've been playing with the iPhone GPS tracking to determine my pace/total distance. It's kind of like running blindly and checking my pace with fingers crossed at the end of every run.

Now that I'm in my final week of training for a 5K next Sunday, this is like a GODSEND. Every 0.5 miles, which today was about every new song that would play in my earbuds, the woman would tell me how fast or slow I was going. Kind of like a kick in the pants to pick up my pace! With this feature, I've run my fastest 5K pace since I've been back to running this year! I don't remember the exact time (so you math people can figure this out), but I finished just under a 7-minute mile!! My total run for the morning ended up being 4.56 miles which I ran in 35:09 - a 7:41-minute mile total pace!!

So I think for the next week I'll be training with this application and then I'm going to use it in Sunday's race. Wish me luck :) And happy free sample hunting!

Why does this amaze me?!

I know that this shouldn't, since I watch and do most of my yoga off of AT&T's On Demand programing, but I am AMAZED at how technology and workouts can be so seamlessly intertwined nowadays.

For example, today we pulled into our hotel in Bakersfield at about 5:30 p.m. I haven't had a whole lot of time to run lately, and I've been taking it kind of easy since my knees really hurt after that seven-mile run earlier this week. I'd done a tiny bit of yoga and lots of walking just fine, so I felt like today was a good time to get back into my running routine.

Once I checked into my room, I got dressed for a run and went to check out the workout room (since the weather in Bakersfield is mid-80s and super dry... I don't plan on running much outside here). There, I did a 5K on a treadmill in about 27:37 - which is a good mark to be at after less than three weeks of training from zero activity! I'm still pushing for that 22-minute mark goal. Still hoping I'll be able to do the 5K at the beginning of June, but if not, I'll find another one not long after.

Well, post-run, I felt ready to tackle some stretches. And then I remembered lots of people talk about how yoga is good for post-run stretching.

With that tip in mind, I whipped out my iPhone (which has been providing me music and GPS tracking on my runs, and is also helping me keep track of my calories taken in and my calories burned from workouts). I opened the Youtube application and did a search for "post-run yoga.

That's when I found, and followed, this video:

Yeah, it's a bit cheesy, but it worked! And I think I'm going to continue looking up post-run yoga stretches every time I run now. Oh yeah, I was also a good girl and iced the heck out of my knees when I came back up to my room :) Hopefully, this helps them calm down a bit more after running long distances.

Either way, I'm going to give them a break tomorrow when I've got spare time and head down to the gym for a good cycle or elliptical sesh. I'll be tweeting about it!

Why do I find it so fascinating that we have access to ALL of this technology within seconds at our fingertips?? It really is changing the way people work out!

Puppy Update: Four Months

Woodstock has two major milestones in his puppy life this week:

His puppy training classes at PetSmart begin today! And he's starting to lose his razors baby teeth! I wouldn't have actually known about that, except walking around my living room barefoot yesterday, I stepped on one. I thought it was a small rock from outside that either he or we had tracked in, but when I picked it up, I realized it was the smallest tooth I've ever seen! Complete with roots and everything.

Working through the biting, I finally was able to pry open his mouth only to realize he's just got his front teeth and the molar equivalents left (don't know what kind of teeth dogs have, besides canines... har har). So I'm hoping the ridiculous biting will stop being a problem in the near future!!

This probably explains why he's been waking up so early crying in the mornings. We usually could feed him at 6 a.m. and keep him in the kitchen where he'd go back to sleep. Now, he barks and cries and cries and cries at about 6:15 and won't go back to sleep upstairs in the bed. Instead, he runs around like a maniac biting everything he can sink his little teeth into. It kind of hurts.

So the past few days I've been waking up between 5:30 and 6 a.m. to try and either occupy him, or make him sleep. So far, we've gone on several morning walks and I'm able to stretch in the mornings and make breakfast! Yesterday I made my own oatmeal with lemon curd and craisins, today I had an egg and bacon sandwich with pineapple cottage cheese on the side. Yum :)

The stretching part's a big deal because yesterday I partook in Running Tuesday, wansn't that big of a deal. I ran around my neighborhood, past a local park and down the Delta water path for a total of 4.01 miles in 38ish minutes. Like I said before though, I'm still trying to get back on the running kick, so my pace per mile will only get better with time. I'm glad my start time is under a 10 min/mile though, so that's a good place to begin.

I also did yoga for about 25 minutes last night and took Mr. Woodstock for three total walks on the day. All in hopes of him learning to go potty outside... I'd say 20 percent of the time, if I make him, he'll go out there. Otherwise, he's strictly paper trained. And I can't seem to wean him off of it. Hopefully the people at PetSmart will help with our training in the ways of his crying and lack of potty training. Wish me luck :)

Oh and, Happy Cinco de Mayo ;) Enjoy a margarita for me. I'll be too busy with the dog and house stuff tonight to go out and have anything fun.

Wow, 4 posts away from 500!

I don't know if I've told you guys or not, but the 3rd of every month is a special date in our little condo. I'm sure you can guess why ;)

Well, anyways J.D. and I have been trying to have a special, pre-planned date night once a month and it's usually around the third of the month. When we're really busy with work and sports in full swing (i.e., baseball season still has about a month left), we try to fit in something quick. A big favorite of ours in the ways of restaurants is something called Famous Dave's, about 20 minutes west in Tracy.


I've been really hungry lately - I'll get to that later - so this sounded like the perfect idea for our date night! Disclaimer: we don't always do something cheesy and silly, but sometimes it's fun! We've been to the Melting Pot fondue restaurant and went to a winery restaurant in Lodi after a full day of wine tasting back in October, so we can class it up or down, depending on the mood :)

Anyways, F.D. is a really messy, delicious southern BBQ place that serves gigantic portions of meat, your choice of two sides, corn on the cob and corn bread muffins. I went for the tri-tip/Georgia pulled pork combo plate and got fire cracker green beans and red skin garlic mashed potatoes. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS and I had enough left over to make me a repeat lunch today :)

And then afterward we had fun hanging out in the nearby Target allowing ourselves plenty of time to digest because...... we grabbed some frozen yogurt in Stockton! I opted for raspberry pomegranate blended with mango tart, topped with blackberries, kiwis and strawberries. YUM!

So why have I been so famished lately?!

That's because I ran FIVE MILES in 47 minutes on Saturday morning before our baseball game at 6 p.m. (which I had to arrive and prep for at 3 p.m.). Oh man it was crazy, I was only a little sore, but not too bad. However, I've been developing quite the healthy appetite. So I took two days off and I plan to get back at it tonight with at least a 20-30 minute run. I hope to become a better runner (like I was in high school), but know that my all-time longest run was between 6-7 miles back when I was full steam running cross country. So five miles isn't bad at all for someone who just decided to get back into this about two weeks ago :) In fact, I'm excited about it! Even though I ran about a 9:50 mile pace, it's still a good start! And something to certainly improve on.

With this new mindset in place, I'm ready to sign up for the Fleet Feet Women's Fitness Festival held in Sacramento on June 6th (or is it the 7th?) with my sister. She did a half marathon last year and I think at some point in the next year, I'd like to make that a goal of mine as well. So just say the word, Aimeé, and I'll sign up for this!

Baby steps! 5K first, then we'll talk about a longer race :)

Accomplished and exhausted

Remember in January how instead of making an over-arching resolution, I challenged myself to 101 goals in 1,001 days?? Well, today I knocked down my 20th goal, with 888 days still remaining.

The 55th goal I made for myself in January (and what I've been actively aiming for, without actually trying) is to run a 5K (just over three miles) in under 30 minutes. Back in my prime high school days I used to run cross country. At my best, I finished at 22 minutes. Mind you, I only ran to get in shape for basketball so I wasn't really a distance runner, but I do like running.


Over the past few months I've been wanting to get back there, but haven't really put forth the effort in order to attain that result. Well, the past few weeks I've been trying to run again, adding on a half mile each time. So as you can imagine, my first run started around the block, my second was to the nearby park, then a 1.5 mile loop in that park and before today, I worked all the way up to 2.15 miles. My hopes this afternoon was to run over three miles so that running three miles would be easier the day I actually try to hit the under 30-minute mark.

Once I finished the path I envisioned in my mind, I checked my iPhone's GPS (ps, Map My Run is such a SWEET application!), and I was at 3.25 miles, feeling EXHAUSTED. So I decided to take my warm-down lap. And then checked my phone only to see that I had run my 3.25 miles in.......



.......26 MINUTES!!!!

What?! I wasn't even trying to hit the mark, but I made it! So my goal now is to try and keep that pace and not feel like death the next time. Eventually, I would like to get close to that 22-minute mark. Maybe I could even run a 20-minute 5K??? :)

In case you're curious, other goals I've accomplished include: losing 5 lbs, learning my blood type (O+), blogging every day for a month, becoming a dog owner and begin language courses (after becoming fluent in French and studying Spanish in high school, I'm now learning Swedish because J.D.'s family is Swedish).

Super exhausted. But I feel super good and can't wait to get better!!