Livin' the Dream in Lima

Many awesome things happened today. First, I received a special package in the mail from a giveaway I won at meals & moves ... four bags of Nature's Path granola! I am so excited. There is even a chocolatey flavor. I cannot wait for breakfast. Second, I ran my long run this afternoon. OUTSIDE! The goal was 16-18 miles. Here are some observations: Getting ready to run, I couldn't find my iPod anywhere. (Don't tell my Business Man. I'm hoping it will turn up somewhere.) So, I decided to take my phone with me and listen to Pandora. Which is pretty much the best thing ever. The only down side is that I had to carry my phone. But then! I realized I had facebook access and email access at my fingertips for the whole run. And camera access. Hmmm...... It was 48*F today! And sunny! And so I wore shorts outside and it was so liberating. About 2 miles into the run, I encountered a nice little lady on a scooter. She was driving up behind me (going much  

Highest mileage training week so far, check! I've been dealing with a bit of foot pain this week (on the side of my foot). It's very strange - it hurts right when I wake up, for the first 2 or so hours of the day. And then the pain completely wears away. By noon I don't feel anything!  So I have been running in the afternoons most days. On Saturday I ran in the morning around 9am, and definitely felt pain, but it went away about 20 minutes into the run.  Other than that, training has been going AWESOME! I actually got in three quality sessions this week - a 9 mile GMP run, my first 20 mile long run, and a 4-mile tempo, with 58 miles total. Last week, I was lacking motivation, but this week I was on fire and ready to run each and every day. Even today, which was my rest day. (Which is unusual... typically when I rest, I rest . As in sit my bum on the couch all day.) Instead my Business Man & I took a beautiful walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the sunny 40*+

The day after last week's 15-mile long run, I went for a little bitty shake-out run. We were on the coast of Michigan for a little getaway weekend and planned on spending the day walking outside, shopping, doing the typical tourist thing. About 1.5 miles into my run, a horrible, awful, no-good, very sharp pain appeared on the outside of my right foot. I hobbled back to the B&B where we stayed, found some ice, and started googling symptoms on my phone. And subsequently freaking out. "Is it a stress fracture? Is the pain in my bone? Is there even a bone on the side of my foot where this hurts? Is it something else? I don't have experience with other injuries, really... what could it be?!?" Needless to say, walking around that day was painful. I had pain in every step. In the back of my mind, thoughts were racing. "Am I going to have to take time off? Will I have to throw in the towel for my spring marathon ? I've got a 20-miler next week! Training

Yesterday I had the day off school... gotta love celebrating the little holidays. (Yay for our Presidents!) So I spent the day how all days off should be spent - baking . I have had this cupcake idea in my ahead for quite awhile now, and finally got to test it out! Introducing... the Monster Cookie Cupcake !   Monster cookies are one of the best cookies in the entire world - peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips, M&M's. Yum. (Would you believe there are people in this world who have never even heard of a monster cookie? Cough cough, my Business Man.) These cupcakes start out with an oatmeal-M&M cookie base, then a vanilla cake layer loaded with mini chocolate chips. Then they're frosted with peanut butter buttercream, and topped with a sprinkle of sea salt. It's like the best combination of chewy cookie, fluffy cake, and lightly whipped peanut butter goodness. You start with the cookie dough base. (One of the best parts of this re

I guess this is the new trend, to recap two weeks at once, haha.  Two weeks ago... was supposed to be a cut-back week. But it wasn't.  I ran six days for a total of 54 miles, including a 19.2 mile long run and a 6-mile tempo (6:42 avg). I felt super strong this week, which is great. It was really cold  this week... and I ventured outside several times which is rare for me when it's under 15*F. It definitely helps when you have friends to run with! Weekly Rundown 2.6.2012-2.12.2012 Mon - Rest Tues - 7.5 miles easy Wed -  6-mile tempo run @ 6:42 avg; 8.5 miles total Thurs - 6.6 miles easy Fri - 19.2 miles LONG (7:57 avg) Sat - 4.3 miles recovery Sun - 8.1 miles easy Total - 54.2 miles And then last week... was a cut-back week for sure . I intended to run 45 miles but only squeezed in 41. I had a good 8x800m workout on Thursday and a 15 mile long run on Friday. After the long run Friday, I felt a little bit of pain on my outer right foot but didn't rea

This weekend, my Business Man and I had the pleasure of returning to the B&B where we honeymooned for a little bit of rest and relaxation! I had a four-day weekend from school, and February is usually just BLAH , so we planned this trip well before Christmas to have something to look forward to. We spent the weekend at Castle in the Country in Allegan, Michigan. It's about 30 minutes away from several cutesy towns, the perfect location to get away and relax. We weren't sure if it would be as fun in the wintertime (with not as many activities to do), but we definitely kept busy! We stayed in the Crowning Suite - which was absolutely gorgeous!  We are already plotting and planning on how we could turn our attic into a suite like this someday, skylights and all. Totally do-able, right? Gotta love a king-size bed. Doorway to the bathroom suite. We were treated to delicious, gourmet breakfasts both mornings of our stay. Such a nice change from my usual insta

Today I freakishly woke up at 4:30am with no alarm. I had planned on getting up at 5:15am to run, but when I woke up naturally at 4:30am... I decided to roll with and get a start with my day. Instead of an easy run, I now had time for SPEEDWORK! So off to the gym it was. I had never been to the gym that freakishly early before... good thing it' s 24-hour gym. That is 5am, not 5pm. I had mile repeats on the schedule for this week, but after seeing a couple people on Daily Mile with 800m workouts recently, I decided to trade up my 4x1600m w/ 800m jog for 8x800m w/ 400m jog. Basically the same thing, right? Goal pace of 3:10/interval. Since there is really nothing on TV at 5am, I brought along my phone so I could jam out to some ridiculous pop music with my newest app - Pandora . Too bad my headphones decided to flake out on me after one song... Lady Gaga's Poker Face. (Maybe that's a secret message? Don't listen to Lady Gaga?) So, then I stared at the wall.

Happy Valentine's Day all! Hope everyone is having a lovely  day... I woke up to a fresh blanket of snow and a 2-hour delay, which has since turned into a SNOW DAY!!!!! (What a way to celebrate!) On to today's recipe... I have a bit of a confession to make. Sometimes I can be a baked goods snob. If I am offered something is not homemade, it's likely that I won't even want to try it. Why waste the indulgence on something pre-packaged, full of preservatives, and probably not that good anyway? But to be honest, whenever I have seen the Lofthouse cookies at potlucks, school, etc... I have such a strong desire to eat one. You know which cookies I'm talking about! The brightly colored soft sugar cookies sold in grocery stores everywhere .  So when I found a recipe at Annie's Eats for a homemade version, I knew I had to try it. And I'm so glad I did! These cookies are pretty much fabulous. And without all the preservatives. I claim to be a c

Have you ever watched the TV show Minute to Win It ? It's a game show where the contestants have to complete random tasks with household objects in less than 60 seconds. It can be pretty entertaining. It's even more entertaining to play the games yourself. So, last night we had some friends over for a little  Couples' Minute to Win It competition. We played eight of the games from the show, and kept score as we went. What a fun (affordable) date night activity!  We took it pretty seriously - with team names and all. Complete with coordinating costumes. My Business Man & I called ourselves the "Run-Ballas" and decked out in some of my running gear. I told him since he wore running tights all night that he was obligated to run with me the next morning. Yea... that didn't happen. Here are a few pics from the games we played... "Stack Attack" - stack 36 cups into a pyramid, and then re-stack them all into one stack. (Harder than

So this whole Valentine's Day coming up soon is definitely just an excuse for me to bake ridiculous things. Case in point: Red Velvet Cake Donuts . A few weekends ago, my Business Man and I visited the new Tim Horton's here in the Bean Town for the first time. I'd never set foot in a Tim Horton's before, and was pretty much enamored with all the flavors of donut holes, or "Tim Bits". Instead of just having to settle on one  or  two  donut flavors, I got to pick 10 different flavors for each of the Tim Bits in my 10-pack. (Well, I don't think they had 10 flavors... maybe only 6 but you get the idea.) They came in such a cute little package too! (Yes, I am a marketer's dream...) While I went the Tim Bit route, my Business Man went the traditional route - with an old fashioned sour cream donut. And then he went the not-so-traditional route... with a Red Velvet Donut!  And he said it was absolutely amazing. (I had a bite, and thought it w