St. Michaels Half Marathon Recap

May 232013

Hey there! How are ‘ya?

For my part, work is still crazy, but I’m doing my best to try to keep up with a good work/life balance. Sometimes work can really bring you down, but it’s never something that friends, family, a boyfriend, a dog, and a chilled glass of white wine at the end of the day can’t fix right?

Anyway, I promised you guys a recap of my first half marathon so let’s get to it!

Before the race

As I mentioned on Monday, Fabio and I woke up super early on Saturday morning to head over to the race. The race officially started at 7:30 am, but runners were encouraged to line up by at least 7:00. Since my grandparents’ house where we were staying was still a good 45 minutes away, we made sure to leave plenty of time to get there.

The traffic was pretty bad (there is only one road into St. Michaels, MD, where the race was) but we still arrived with plenty of time to spare. My dad dropped us off and went to park the car while Fabio and I headed over to the starting line. At this point, butterflies were doing some serious jumping in my tummy.

Gahhh, so nervous!

We stood around for a little while and people-watched while everyone else lined up.

In the meantime, we ran into our friend Angela, who was running the 10K with her mother-in-law-to-be (is that a real phrase?) and although I didn’t know it until afterwords, two of my sorority sisters, Emily and Macey, were also running the race.

Lots of runners!

Eventually my dad came and found us in line and wished us one final good luck. My dad was a real trooper and brought Jack with him to spectate, so we were able to have the comfort of our best K-9 friend right before the run began

He was our good luck charm for sure

My dad snapped a couple more pictures of us before he stepped out of the runners line and walked back into the crowd of spectators.

…he also got a lot of outtakes like the one below haha.

Oops! It was hard to get Jack to look at the camera, obviously.

See ‘ya later, dad!!

Once my dad stepped away, we only had a few minutes to go before it was time to get moving. Eventually the gun sounded and we were off!

During the race

As soon as the race began, I realized I needed to pee.

I had of course realized this earlier, but I thought it was just nerves (I always have to pee before presentations, performances, etc.). Unfortunately after running the first couple miles, I realized the feeling was not going away (not that you’d know it from my goofy photobomb pic around mile 1.5, below!)

This dilemma was totally my fault, since I drank half a water bottle in the car before the race (I was trying to be extra prepared) and didn’t bother waiting in the long line for the porta-potty before the race began. Stupid.

At this point I was getting really annoyed with myself and was trying to ignore my urge to use the restroom, but it was getting in the way of my concentration and I just felt really off. Eventually around mile 5 we spotted a lone porta-potty, and I made my way over to use it.

(P.S. Fabio took most of these pictures; I was NOT coordinated enough)

I absolutely hated stopping during the race (having everyone pass me was the worst), and unfortunately two people were in front of me in line (wasting even more time), but I felt so much better after that it was 110% worth it. Sometimes nature calls!

Now I know not to drink water before a race. Lesson learned!

Once we got back on the road, I really got into my groove.

I actually thought stopping to use the porta-potty helped me pick up my pace afterword. I really wanted to try to catch up to the people we were running with before, so I had something concrete to look for in the crowd (e.g., I have to catch up to the girl in the Rock-N-Roll half marathon shirt that we ran with earlier!! Oh yay, we caught up to the woman in the hat with the underwear shorts! Haha, these were the thoughts going through my head).

The rest of the race really flew by. I wish I had more specific comments about the run itself, but it was actually kind of uneventful. I was hoping the route would be along the water (which was one of the main reasons I chose this race) but unfortunately a lot of it was just on the highway or in neighborhoods. The course was totally fine though; it was nice and flat and I was able to just zone out and enjoy my run.

Going into the race had one real goal: run without stopping to walk. I sort of had another goal, to run the race under 2 hours, but I hadn’t done any calculating and didn’t want to focus too much on it in case it was unrealistic and I burnt myself out.

At around mile 11 I started to get really tired (I had never gone past 11 miles before) but Fabio asked if I wanted to pick up the pace to try to run the race in under 2 hours. I said I would try, and I did the very best I could!

We picked up the pace and I felt like we would never get there. The last two miles kind of wound around a park, so every time we rounded a corner I expected to see the finish line and then get disappointed when I saw more of the trail in front of us. Come on finish line…where are you??

Those last two miles were definitely the toughest part of the whole race.

Eventually we rounded one more corner, and I noticed there were tons of spectators. They were all cheering and clapping us on and I knew we must be almost there!

Just a little further!!

Aaaaaaaand, we did it!! Woohoo!!

After the race

At this point we immediately walked through a huge mud pit (ew) to pick up our medals.

Aren’t they cool?

Mine is now hanging up in my cube at work

When Fabio and I crossed the finish line, we thought we saw a digital clock reading 01:59: and then some numbers next to it that I couldn’t read, so I assumed this meant we finished in 1 hour in 59 minutes.

I was pretty excited to have finished in just under 2 hours, but when I looked at my RunKeeper app (which I had on the whole time) I thought something must be amiss; my app said 2 hours and 3 minutes.

…and I had paused my app during the trip to the porta-potty, so I figured there was no way we finished in one hour and 59 minutes.

Either way I was just super excited that we finished the race and better yet, we didn’t stop to walk!! That was my number one goal the whole time, so I was really proud of achieving it (the two hour thing was just kind of something I had in my head, it wasn’t a real goal).

I later got an email indicating that I finished in 2:08:04.1 (that accounts for the porta-potty time), my overall place was 569/1182, and I placed 14/52 in my age group. Not bad, right?

I was really happy and couldn’t wait to meet up with my dad in the runner’s village.

The runner’s village had a ton of picnic tables, live music, beer, and snacks for the runners. We didn’t stick around too long because it was pretty crowded, but it was really fun to hang out in such a positive atmosphere.

Right before we left, a woman approached Fabio and me and told us that we were her strength during the race. She was using an interval technique where she would run for a minute and then walk for about 30 seconds, and I remember seeing her a bunch of times during our run.

She said that during her intervals she would spot us going at such a strong and steady pace (I think this was around miles 8-10) and that we really helped her to keep going. I was so happy to have helped someone that I honestly got a little teary-eyed when she told me this. I guess my emotions were a little wonky after the run, but I was seriously so touched by her words. It was a great end to the race-day experience.

And as I mentioned on Monday, after the race we went out to eat and celebrate with my grandparents and had a lovely restful weekend!

Final Thoughts

I’ve been trying to corrale some final thoughts on this half marathon, and here are some things that have been bouncing around in my head:

I was way more sore and tired after the half marathon than I was after any of my long training runs
I definitely want to run another half marathon and strive to get under 2 hours (this should totally be doable)
I think I’d like to run a bigger half marathon, since this one was relatively small
My dad wasn’t really able to position himself along the course without losing his parking spot, and I would have really liked to have a spectator there, so next time this might take some planning ahead
DON’T DRINK WATER THE MORNING OF A RACE! Haha. Oh, and thank the race coordinators for porta-potties. Seriously.

Question of the day: What did you think after your first big race? Did you have any key takeaways?

I ran a half marathon!

Weekend Recaps, Workouts 8 Responses »

May 202013

Guess whaaaaaaaat?

I did it! I ran my first half marathon!! It went really well and I accomplished my goal (WOOHOO!). But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s rewind to Friday night.

Friday

After work on Friday, Fabio and I quickly packed up our bags and headed over to my grandparents’ house, since they live about 30 minutes from St. Michaels, Maryland, where the race was being held. They were super generous to let Fabio, Jack, and I stay there before the race, and I was excited to see them and get the weekend started.

The weather on Friday was beautiful, so Fabio and I rolled down the windows and blasted some fun music on our drive down.

Once we hit the bay bridge we knew we were almost there!!

It wasn’t long before we arrived at my grandparent’s house!

We said hello to my dad, grandma, and grandpa, and then headed inside to drop off our stuff in the guest bedroom that my grandma made up for us.

My grandma decorates her house beautifully (it’s the perfect mix of comfy and cute) and I was so happy to be staying there There’s nothing like the comfort of a grandmother’s house!

Once we dropped off our stuff, we let Jack play outside with my grandparent’s black lab, Cindy. Can you tell them apart in this Vine video?

Looks like I messed up the video at the end there. Woops!

After letting the dogs play outside for a while, we headed inside for dinner. On the menu was salad, pizza, and my grandmother’s homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert

Yummm. Talk about carbo loading before a race!

After dinner, we watched a great family movie called Hachiko, which was really cute and definitely a tear-jerker, especially for all of us dog lovers. Relaxing and watching a movie with my family before the race really helped calm me down and prepare me for the day ahead. It was great!

After the movie we all headed off to bed, and I set my alarm for a 5:30 am wake-up call. Yikes!

Saturday

When my alarm went off on Saturday morning, I was ready. I didn’t hit snooze at all and I bolted up with energy/adrenaline. I was feeling pretty nervous about the race, so I felt wide awake (even if I didn’t look it, haha! Look at my sleepy eyes!!)

The weather was actually pretty perfect for a run, warm (but not too hot) and cloudy (it probably got up to about 65 or 70 degrees once it was race time).

Before the race we stopped for breakfast at 7-11 where I purchased a blueberry Chobani, a banana, and a Kind bar. My grandparents had a bunch of breakfast food at their house, but it was mostly sugary stuff (e.g., danishes and donuts) which I didn’t think would be smart to eat right before the race. I wound up being pretty full after the yogurt and banana, so I saved the Kind bar for later

Then my dad drove us over to St. Michael’s for the race!

I won’t go into too many details about the race in this post because, as with my Bike New York post, I think it deserves a whole recap post to itself. I have a lot of thoughts that I want to share with you guys about it, so you’ll have to wait for another day (hopefully tomorrow, but no promises).

Sorry, Charlie!

I will say that the race was awesome and I enjoyed every minute of it

After the race, we headed back to my grandparents’ house to shower and change before heading to the Crab Deck for lunch!

The Crab Deck is usually one of my places to eat, since it’s right on the water and we can take the boat up and park on the dock. Unfortunately the weather turned pretty crummy by lunchtime, and we had to sit inside. Boo.

At least we were still able to see the water a bit from our table.

Although the weather wasn’t great, I had a great time celebrating the completion of my first half marathon with my grandparents, Fabio, and my dad. Everyone seemed really proud of Fabio and me, and it was so nice to just bask in the enjoyment of having completed something major.

Oh, and getting to eat whatever I wanted to without worrying about the calories was pretty nice too, obviously

For my lunch I chose a crab-cake sandwich with french fries, and it did not disappoint. YUM!

Lunch was wonderful, and my dad and grandpa treated Fabio and me to a free meal What great guys!

After lunch Fabio and I headed back home (with Jack, obviously) and then immediately crashed on the couch. I think we napped for three hours or something crazy; we were wiped!

We didn’t do much for the rest of the day, except walk to Safeway to pick up a frozen pizza, ice cream, and two Redbox movies. Yep. It was that kind of Saturday night.

Perfection.

Sunday

Sunday was a little more productive than Saturday, and Fabio and I spent the day cleaning the apartment, doing laundry, and running errands.

A trip to Costco:

And Trader Joe’s:

Check out all that wine! As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Fabio and I want to get more into wine, so we bought a bunch of cheap (read: under $5) bottles at TJs yesterday. I can’t wait to try them out!

After running all our errands, we settled down to watch a movie (we rented Argo and Life of Pi from Redbox and loved them both- even though I’ve already seen Life of Pi!).

While Life of Pi was on, I worked on a cooler that I’m painting for Fabio. I actually started this cooler last year, but when I didn’t finish it in time for a beach trip Fabio took with his friends, I put it aside and never finished (womp womp). I’m trying to pick it back up again so he can take it with him on a beach trip this year, but I still have a ways to go!

The bottom portion is Fabio’s favorite alcohol (Kraken, Patron, and Captain Morgan)…

And the top portion is from Fabio’s favorite Vineyard Vines bathing suit!

Here are some photos of the real thing so you can compare…

…and now I just want to go back to the Caribbean. Oh well. At least I have a trip to Italy to look forward to!!!!

So guys, that was about it for my weekend! I am already itching to give you more details about my race, but you’ll just have to wait…

Questions of the day: Are you good at arts and crafts? What do you do after a long race; are you active and busy or do you rest all day like we did? Do you like my cooler? Haha.

Busy Mother’s Day Weekend

Weekend Recaps, Workouts 4 Responses »

May 132013

Hello there! Hope your week is off to a great start!

I had a pretty great weekend around these parts, so here’s a little recap of what I was up to!

Friday

Fabio went back up to New York this weekend (two weekends in a row- crazy!) for Mother’s Day. He had a random day off from work that he was going to lose by the end of this month, so he decided to go up early Friday morning so he could work a little bit.

What? That doesn’t look like work to you? Haha!

Fabio used to be a ball boy/bat boy for the Mets and the Yankees when he was in high school, so every now and then he will help out with a game again (for free) so he doesn’t lose those relationships. You never know when a connection will come in handy! Plus, you have to admit it’s a pretty cool “job.”

All weekend he was sending me pictures like this one…

Pretty cool, huh? At least I think so

Anyway, after work on Friday I headed home to quickly change and walk Jack before my friend Sam came over to go to the National’s game (hi Sam!!). Sam just finished her first year of PT school and was ready to celebrate at the Nats game

Sam and I planned to metro to the game, but unfortunately we got super caught up in our conversation and missed our metro stop twice. Oops. Guess that’s what happens when you don’t see your friends very often; you get wrapped up in a conversation and make rookie travel mistakes! Haha!

After we found ourselves on the wrong metro line for the second time, we decided to cut our losses and take a cab. We wound up at the Pentagon (annoyingly close to where we started) and found an abandoned taxi stand. We had to call a cab ourselves, and felt quite sheepish that we were so late to the game. Woopsieeee!

Eventually we arrived at the Bull Pen bar right outside the stadium where the rest of our friends were waiting for us. The Bull Pen bar is a lot of fun and I always make it a point to stop there before the game. The live music, corn hole games, and cheap beers provide quite the fun atmosphere!

Waiting for us at the Bull Pen were my friends Bianca, Daria, Ashley, and their respective dates. Since Fabio was out of town and Sam’s boyfriend was working, we decided to be each other’s dates It kept either of us from feeling like a seventh wheel haha!

Bianca took this picture with her phone, which unfortunately turned out blurry.

Drat! It would have been so cute!

By the time we arrived at the Bull Pen it was already pretty late in the game, and Bianca confessed that she hadn’t been able to buy tickets online because of a computer error. She suggested we buy tickets at the gate, but since it was already more than halfway through the game, none of us really wanted to pay for tickets.

In the end we decided to ditch the idea of the game and go to another bar, which seemed silly but cost-effective. Unfortunately we took way too long to come to this consensus (plus we were busy catching up again) and before we knew it the game had ended and we were still in the Bull Pen. Aghh!

Once the game ended, everyone and their mother seemed to need a cab, so we walked a few blocks to try to avoid the crowds. We wound up going into a nearby hotel and asking them to call us a cab, but then we heard the bartender at the hotel bar say there were free wings for anyone who stayed to buy a drink.

Free wings? Sign me up!

Me and Bianca in the random hotel bar

Free wings!

We wound up staying in the hotel bar for about an hour before we gave up on our plans for the night and all headed home. It was a lot of fun, but a pretty random evening. I’m not sure we’ll be trying that again anytime soon haha! But hey, at least we got free wings, right?

Saturday

On Saturday morning I didn’t set any alarm, which felt glorious. I woke up at around 9:00 am, walked Jack, and then headed out for a 5 mile run. I ran along my favorite path, the Mt. Vernon trail, which is always so pretty.

I love running along the water and getting a nice view of the monuments. It’s such a great route!

It also seems like I run a bit slower when Fabio isn’t running along side me.

Even though my pace was a bit slow, I didn’t mind too much and was just happy that I completed the run

Around lunchtime, my friend Shaun came over. Although I saw her briefly during Halloween, it had been years (literally) since we actually hung out one-on-one and caught up.

We had plans to walk around Georgetown and then take a yoga class at 4:00 pm, so she came over around 1:30 and then we walked into Georgetown.

First up, we stopped at SweetGreen for some lunch. I chose the Chick-pea salad with falafel, which was awesome.

SweetGreen is always so delicious!

After lunch we popped into a few stores including Anne Taylor LOFT, ZARA, Cusp (new obsession), and Paper Source (we needed some Mother’s Day cards). We had a lot of fun and I wound up with a new brightly colored floral spring scarf

Eventually it was time to head over to yoga, and I was feeling a bit nervous. The yoga class was at the brand new CorePower Yoga studio in Georgetown. I had heard about CorePower Yoga from my coworker (who said she was sore for days after) and then read about it again on Anne’s blog (funny- she went to SweetGreen in her post too!).

The class we took was called Sculpt, and is basically a heated yoga class with various strength exercises (think lots of squats and a bit of cardio) with weights. It was pretty tough on its own, but once you added the element of heat, I was struggling quite a bit. It was no joke!

Moment of truth! Once we opened this door, it was hot!

Here’s my mat, towel (so I didn’t slip- I got sweaty!), and weights (I used a combo of 3lb. and 8lb. weights).

Shaun right before the class!

Shaun and me after the class. Yikes! I was a sweaty, red mess. It was a great workout!

New members get one free week of classes, so I’m going to try to take another class this week while it’s still free. I highly recommend taking a class at CorePower Yoga if you have a studio near you!

After yoga, Shaun and I walked back to my apartment and then Shaun headed home. I quickly showered and then ran some errands, including a trip to Target where I bought a bunch of stuff I didn’t need (typical), in addition to my mom’s Mother’s Day gifts.

I spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home and hanging out with Jack. I debated going out with some friends, but it was pouring rain and I was tired from the run and intense yoga class. Staying in and reading my kindle while cuddled up and listening to the rain sounded great to me, and I fell asleep at around 9:30 pm. No joke!

Sunday

On Sunday morning I took Jack for a quick 2.5 mile run, which is just about as far as he can go without getting tired and lagging behind. Unfortunately I messed up my RunKeeper app mid-run (I meant to hit pause at a red light, but it didn’t register. Then when I hit resume, it actually paused. Bummer.) but I think I was running about a 9 minute 45 second pace. It was nice, easy, slow run, which was perfect for allowing my body to recuperate from the day before.

After my run I showered up and headed over to my mom’s house for Mother’s Day! Her azaleas are all in bloom and looking lovely

My mom was prepared with snacks, of course!

The weather was beautiful and my mom, stepdad, and I spent the afternoon outside sipping on white wine and talking about our upcoming trip to the Amalfi coast in July. It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon!

Jack had fun playing with my mom’s dogs, of course.

My mom started getting the pool ready and it should be swimmable (I made up that word lol) soon! I think Jack is ready now haha!

Soon it was time for our early dinner

My stepdad was hard at work at the grill! BTW- look how many plants my mom has around the grill haha. It looks like a jungle (but a pretty one, of course).

Soon the food was ready- we had ribs with homemade BBQ sauce (my mom’s specialty) and corn.

Everything was great! It makes me really excited for more summer BBQs at my mom’s house

For dessert we had homemade orange blondies that my mom whipped up. Deeeeelish.

After being at my mom’s for a while, I headed over to my dad’s house (about 10 minutes away) to celebrate my sister’s birthday! Nicole is turning 8 years old today! I can’t believe how big she is getting. We will be having her full family celebration this Saturday (after the half marathon) and her official birthday party later in the summer, but it was nice to go over yesterday to see her open my dad’s gift.

Just look at what she got…

Yep, my eight year old sister has an iPad. I don’t even have an iPad!! It’s crazy, haha!!

At any rate, she seemed super excited and my dad definitely hit this year’s gift out of the park. Here’s hoping she doesn’t break it/lose it!

After watching Nicole open her gifts, I picked up Fabio (his sister who lives in Baltimore drove him home from NY and we met at a half-way point) and then headed home. Fabio and I tried to watch TV for a little while, but we were too sleepy. Even Jack was exhausted, haha!

All in all, it was a great Mother’s Day weekend!

Question of the day: What did you do for Mother’s Day?

Have you ever been to the Amalfi Coast of Italy? Do you have any recommendations?

TD 5 Boro 40 Mile Bike Tour

Random, Workouts 3 Responses »

May 092013

Hey there folks! Hope your Thursday is going well!

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I had a fantastic weekend in New York filled with a fun brunch date with my aunt, a Yankee game on a beautiful afternoon, and a great time at the bar with my friends. However, the real reason I went up to New York, of course, was to participate in a 40 mile bike ride around New York!

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may remember when I decided to sign up for the bike ride back in January. It was not initially something I was interested in, since it was pretty expensive (around $90 I believe) and I wouldn’t be able to train for it much since I would be spending so much time on my half marathon training (the bike ride was on May 5 and the half marathon is going to be on May 18, so training for both would have been tough). I also didn’t have a bike, so the idea of doing a 40 mile bike ride so close to my half marathon wasn’t even something I thought about.

Then I got an email from my dad saying he had signed up for the ride. I know I’ve mentioned this on the blog before, but my dad is a bit overweight and I am always trying to get him in shape. I have suggested Weight Watchers and told him I would do the program with him, but I know ultimately it has to be something he wants himself. No amount of me pushing (or gently nudging) will do the trick.

That’s why I was so excited to hear that he signed up for the bike ride. I immediately registered myself (goodbye, $90) and asked Fabio if he wanted to join too. Fabio invited his dad along as well, and the four of us planned to ride as a team. Fabio and I each bought bikes (a lengthy process, which I should probably go into detail about sometime) and rode some bike trails around DC. While we were in no way “training” for the bike ride, I think we felt as prepared as we needed to be and were excited for the ride.

Then a couple of weeks before the race, my dad called to say his knees were bothering him. He has always had bad knees, and has had more than 30 surgeries on his knees in his life, including two knee replacements. I have to admit I wasn’t too surprised by this news, but I guess I just thought my dad wouldn’t have signed up unless he was sure he would be able to ride. I thought maybe his knees were doing better and that he’d be fine (which is, I think, what he thought too), but after completing just a few spin classes and riding about 4 miles with Fabio and me on a weekend when we had nice weather, I think it became clear to all of us that the ride wasn’t going to happen for my dad.

So, Fabio and I went up to New York by ourselves last weekend for the race. Of course I missed my dad and wished he’d been able to come, but his safety, of course, came first.

The morning of the race arrived, and Fabio, his dad, and I woke up at 6:00 am. We donned the matching bike jerseys that my dad got us as a good luck gift and got ready for the day!

Sleeeeeeeepy eyes! Jack cheered us on too!

We ate a quick breakfast of toast and eggs, and then piled our bikes onto the back of my car and drove to Citi Field to park and hop on the subway.

Let me just tell you that taking bikes on the subway is not easy! You have to carry your bike up and down different flights of stairs, and try to hold them still while the train is moving. Phew!

Fabio and his dad helped me out

Soon we arrived in Manhattan (the race started all the way downtown) and had to walk quite a distance to the starting point (I think about 1.5 miles). The race had 32,000 people (!!!) and it took us forever just to get where we needed to be.

Here’s my Vine video from the starting point(ish).

FYI I’m saying, “Bike ride!” at the end in case your sound is off

On our way to the starting line, we passed the new building to commemorate the World Trade Center. It’s being finished up right now, but is already quite impressive! The last (and only other) time I did this bike ride was in 2002, and I remember we rode past Ground Zero which was still a big hole in the ground littered with teddy bears, candles, and flowers. It was nice to see that in the 11 years since my last ride, they have progressed so far. It was great to see!

Soon they played the National anthem, the bike ride began, and we were off! [Source]

The first few miles were spent going uptown in Manhattan, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was cool to be in the middle of the street and not have to stop behind a million cabs. It was smooth sailing and the sights of the city were awesome.

After about three miles, we made it to Central Park, which was lovely. This part of the ride was all pretty familiar to me, as I’ve spent a good amount of time in New York City over the years (including one summer where I lived there!).

Once we started getting further uptown, the familiar sights disappeared and I enjoyed seeing a brand new side to Manhattan (I think we were in Harlem). I was expecting it to be sketchy and dangerous-looking, but we actually went through some really cool neighborhoods.

Then we popped into the Bronx for literally five minutes, and came back out. I thought it would have been cool to explore the Bronx a bit more, but I guess the people who planned the route had other ideas, haha.

At this point we approached the first rest stop, where we decided to take a break to use the restroom and switch bikes (Fabio’s dad had a low-angled mountain bike, which would have been great for trail rides but was not so ideal for the city. They switched bikes periodically so neither of them got too tired).

The rest stop was awesome and had energetic music, water refill stations, bathrooms, and free snacks! Hooray for KIND bars!!

We also made sure to snap a few group photos Hooray!

After our pit stop, it was back on the road; this time to head downtown along a highway on the East River that was pretty familiar to me, on our way into Queens!

My favorite moment of the whole ride was right around this point when we all had to go through a tunnel and everyone started cheering and yelling. I’m not sure who started it, but it was as if everyone was feeling super excited and just couldn’t contain themselves anymore.

Of course I joined in the cheering, and rang the little bell on my bike a few times. It was awesome to hear so many people yelling all around me, while the sounds reverberated off the walls. Awesome!

Shortly after this, our ride came to a crawl and we thought maybe there was a security checkpoint ahead. There had been a few other incidents where we had to slow to an awkward walk-your-bike/try-to-keep-riding-slowly-and-not-fall situations, so we assumed something like that was happening again. Fabio took the time to make another Vine video, obviously.

Haha, I’m convinced Vine is going to be the next Instagram!! They’re just so much fun

Anyway, we eventually came to a complete stop and realized this was not just a random bottleneck congestion issue like before, but something that was causing a serious backup. At first I found this to be pretty annoying, but then I got out my phone and saw a text saying that my good friend Hana was stationed nearby to cheer us on.

Because we were at a complete standstill, she was actually able to come over and chat with us for a bit! This worked out perfectly because if she had been positioned anywhere else along the route, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have been able to say hi to each other.

Yay for spectators!! I was so glad to have a friendly face cheering me on and instantly felt happier Thanks for supporting me, Hana!

While we were waiting around and wondering what the holdup was, Fabio’s phone started ringing. Then my phone rang. Then everyone’s phones rang. We soon realized it was the bike organizers sending an alert that the ride was being suspended due to a medical incident. What a fantastic alert system! I was super impressed.

Unfortunately, we later learned that the medical incident was a 51 year old man who suffered a heart attack on the Queensborough Bridge and died. Apparently this type of thing is pretty common for the ride, especially when there are 32,000 people involved, but it definitely shook me up a bit and left me feeling sad. I was also incredibly grateful that my dad wound up not doing the race, because frankly he’s not in very good shape himself and I’m not sure his heart could have handled it. That’s some scary stuff.

Anyway, eventually the incident cleared up and we were back on our way. Bye, Hana!

When we crossed the Queensborough Bridge, I felt like I was in heaven. We happened to be riding next to a guy with a stereo on his bike, so Bob Marley was blasting just as we were crossing the bridge and gazing over the beautiful view of Manhattan. I wish I had captured a picture, but I wasn’t coordinated enough. Too bad.

Thanks to Fabio, for this photo!

The rest of our ride was pretty uneventful, and we continued on our way through Brooklyn. We passed a ton of cute restaurant and bars, and even went through a neighborhood where all the little kids came out to cheer us on. It was awesome!

We bypassed the next two rest areas before finally stopping at one just 9 miles from the finish line. The views at this stop were incredible.

We’ll have to get some of those framed for sure!

The remaining 9 miles of the ride went by pretty quickly and then, before we knew it, the Verrazano Bridge was in front of us. I remembered from the past that this bridge was incredibly difficult to tackle, but I was determined to bike up the whole thing without stopping.

It was super intimidating when we were at the bottom, but when I focused on making it to the area right in front of me I was able to keep going.

I pedaled and pedaled, and said a little mantra in my head, “Keep going, Keep going, Keep going…” and it worked! Eventually I made it to the top of the hill and I didn’t have to stop to walk! Woohoo!! It felt like such a great accomplishment since I saw tons of other people getting off to walk (just look at that photo above!).

Then I flew down the hill at what felt like lightning speed, and saw the festival and finish line to my right. Awesome!!

We did it!!

It only took us 5 hours and 4 minutes (with the delay from the medical incident) and I burned 1,609 calories. Nice!

The festival was really fun for a while and they had a live band and free samples of tons of goodies. We planned to stay to grab something to eat, but the lines were so long that we decided to wait until we got home.

I guess that’s what 32,000 people looks like?

Once we decided we had enough of the festival, we left, hopped back on our bikes, and rode three more miles to the Staten Island ferry (I would like to point out that no one told me we had to get back on our bikes after the finish line. UGH!).

The lines for the ferry were ridiculous…

And we waited for about an hour to get on. Ugh x2.

It was quite the scene once everyone boarded.

Back to Manhattan we go!

Luckily we were seated by a window and saw some awesome views.

(The windows were filthy…)

But it’s a great view, right?

After we got off the ferry, we headed to another subway station and took the train back into Queens. Then we hopped in my car and immediately grabbed a celebratory dinner. It was an awesome day, and I’m so proud we were able to finish! Woohoo!

Question of the day: What makes you feel proud?

Favorite Things Friday: Vacation Edition!

Favorite Things Friday, Workouts 4 Responses »

Apr 122013

Hi all! Thanks for all your kind words on yesterday’s blogiversary post (yes, that’s an actual word and not one that I just made up, which is what Fabio accused me of doing, haha). You guys are the best and I’m so glad to hear you are liking my little corner of the internet over here. Please don’t ever hesitate to send me a suggestion if there’s something else you’d like to be seeing!

So since I just posted my favorite things from last week, I thought I’d switch things up a bit today and make this a vacation-themed post. In case you forgot, by this time next week I’ll be sitting the sand with a drink in my hand! Can you tell I’m just a wee bit excited haha?

By the way, I’ll be looking for some guest posts to put up while I’m away, so if you’d like to write a guest post for me please email me at ChelseaEatsTreats@gmail.com

Favorite Chore

Packing! This weekend I hope to get started on packing for my upcoming trip. Since checking a bag costs extra money and we will only be there for five days, I’m going to try to fit everything into a carry-on bag.

I don’t think this will be too difficult since it’s all going to be small bathing suits and dresses anyway, but I normally bring shampoo, conditioner, face wash, sunscreen, aloe, etc., and I’ll have to make sure I bring some small containers. Yikes!

I also tend to pack way too many shoes (oops) and bring things I don’t really need like my hair dryer (but what I want it???) and make other typical (female) packing mistakes. Given all this information, I’d say it’s a good thing I’m planning to start packing early, haha!

Favorite New Purchases

I always like going shopping before a vacation. I usually try to have at least one new thing because every time I use it afterwords I remember that vacation. For example, one year I went to Cancun with my family and I had just bought a brand new Elizabeth Arden perfume. I waited until we were in Cancun to use it, and now every time I spray it I remember how fun that vacation was. Maybe that’s just me, but it’s a little tradition I love!

For this trip, I decided to buy two new bikinis and a bathing suit cover up, since I didn’t buy any of those things last summer. I generally find that swimsuits last while, but sometimes they get dingy from too many times in the pool or the elastic starts to wear out.

After trying on all my bikinis, I decided to bite the bullet and get some new ones! I found these cuties at Target, along with about a million other bathing suits that I wanted. I also looked around on Victoria’s Secret, but they were all so expensive! The Target ones were just as good in my opinion!

I’m also happy about this cover up, which is a nice teal shade in person. Can’t wait to wear it!

Favorite New Experiment

I used to be a pretty tan person. Both my mom and my dad have pools, so growing up I was just naturally tan. Then came the real world, with long work hours an no time for the sun. Weekends help, but I’m usually pretty busy running around doing other fun things and don’t have that much time to hang out in the sun anymore. Booooo.

Last year before I went to Jamaica, I went to a tanning bed a few times. That is not typically something I would do, but I had been a couple of times in high school and thought it would be nice to be tan for my trip. I also didn’t want to burn to a crisp since it was the beginning of February, and I thought that would help.

It did help (I didn’t burn), and everything was fine, but to be honest the tanning bed kind of freaked me out for a couple of reasons…

Has anyone seen that Final Destination movie when the two girls get in the tanning bed and then the glass breaks and they die? Well, that image is kinda seared in my brain and I always think of that! Haha!
More importantly, skin cancer is a huge concern for me.

To me, being in the sun is one thing. You can wear sunscreen and romp around and get tan and it’s natural. But sitting under those glaring UV lights just makes me nervous and I always felt guilty after tanning like I had done something awful (probably because it was awful for my body).

This year I’m trying a spray tan, and I am super nervous about it. I’ve heard mixed opinions about spray tans, but I will be going to Fit To Be Tan, which had rave reviews.

It’s also a custom air brush spray tan, so someone will be actually looking at my skin to make sure it looks natural (images of Ross Gellar getting a bad tan from a machine definitely freaked me out a bit). It will be a little awkward for sure, but it will be worth it if I can feel confident (read: not pasty white) in a bathing suit without risking skin cancer.

What do you guys think? Have you had a spray tan before? How was it?

Favorite Run

While I’m away, I’m supposed to complete a few runs including a ten-miler. I’ve already checked to see if RunKeeper can create a map/route in Punta Cana, but I’m thinking it will be easier and safer if I just run up and down the beach by the hotels. I’m sure the gym will have a treadmill, but running in scenic locations is definitely one of my favorite things to do on vacation so I doubt I’ll be in the hotel gym. I’m not sure if I’ll logistically be able to get a ten mile run in (I’m struggling to manage my priorities here) but I’m going to try my best!

Do you guys have any tips for running on the sand? Do you wear sneakers or go barefoot?

Least Favorite Goodbye

Although being on vacation will be really fun, I’m definitely going to miss my boys!! I’m sure they’ll have lots of fun/get into trouble without me (I’m imagining Fabio will order a lot of junk food and leave his stuff all over the apartment) but I’m sure they’ll be thinking of me the whole time haha! Riiiiight.

Alright kiddos well that’s all I have for today! Happy Friday!

(Clearly having a productive day at work today…)

Questions of the day:

Have you ever run on the beach?
Have you ever had a spray tan?

My Half Marathon Training Plan

Workouts 14 Responses »

Feb 052013

Hey there friends!

I have some news today that I am not looking forward to sharing with you all. First of all the news is not very good (for me) and second of all it’s slightly embarrassing (also for me). Before you keel over from worry (mom!) let me say it’s nothing truly bad. It just sucks a little.

Sooo remember when I sprained my ankle? And then remember when Sam told me it was still a bit swollen but I was tired of resting it so I started working out again anyway (OMG Sam please don’t kill me when you read this…)?

Dr. Sam inspects my swollen ankle. Jack helps.

So, I think I have tendinitis in my knee now. My left knee. All because I didn’t rest my right ankle enough after my sprain. Ugh! I could die. It’s all my fault. I should have listened to everyone! I shouldn’t have started running again so soon! Three weeks after an ankle sprain seemed long enough, but I guess I was wrong. Here’s what happened…

As soon as I started getting back into my workouts I was feeling great. I was loving being back in the game and was pushing myself extra hard after so much time off. The runs and workouts felt so good and I was reminded why I love exercising in the first place.

Me right before my favorite run ever- in Rome, Italy!

After a few days of this, I started noticing that my left knee was hurting when I kept it bent for long periods of time. Being the doctor-fearing weirdo that I am, I sort of ignored it. It wasn’t bad at first and it went away whenever I straightened my knee, so I didn’t do anything about it.

Eventually the pain started getting worse and worse (all within a week or two) and by the end of last week it was so painful that I couldn’t keep my leg bent during a one-hour meeting and I was waking up in the middle of the night to straighten out my knee from the pain. Not good.

At this point I called my dad who is the resident knee expert in my family after having more than thirty knee surgeries (yes, thirty). I told him what was going on and asked him which type of doctor I should go to, since I was in so much pain and needed to get better before my half marathon training starts at the end of February.

The conversation then proceeded as follows:

Dad: “Well, didn’t you just hurt your right ankle?”

Me: “Yeah…”

Dad: “And didn’t you just start running again?”

Me: “Yeah…”

Dad: “Don’t you think there’s a chance you weren’t ready to put all your weight on your right ankle yet so you therefore favored your left leg, giving yourself tendinitis in your knee?”

Me: “Oh. Yes.”

DUHH! I’m the biggest idiot on the planet! I should have waited just one more week for my stupid ankle to heal before I started running again. Ugh! And you know what my dad’s advice for my knee is?

More. Rest.

Are you kidding me? I could die, I’m so mad at myself.

So, this week I have been back to resting and icing my knee instead of my ankle this time. Because only a big idiot like myself would give myself another injury from not letting the first one heal. Doh! Oh well, live and learn, right? I will never make this mistake again, that’s for sure.

You can expect this week’s workouts to be pretty much ‘nil (mostly strength training, kettle bell swings, and a lot of low-impact mumbo jumbo that feels a lot like nothing) so that my knee can actually heal.

It’s actually feeling a lot better already, so that’s good. I’m just so annoyed with myself. Ugh.

Half Marathon Training Plan

Since I can’t really talk to you about any workouts I’m doing right now, I can at least share my Half Marathon Training Plan with you all. I spent a lot of time looking for a good plan, and I think I finally settled on this great one from Fitsugar:

Mondays: Rest to prevent injury. (<– haha the irony!)
Tuesdays and Thursdays: Warm up, then run at a moderate pace for the designated mileage.
Wednesdays: Rest on rest days. On run days, after warming up, run at a comfortable pace for the designated mileage.
Fridays: Do a cross-training (CT) activity (biking, swimming, elliptical trainer, etc.) at easy to moderate effort for 30 to 45 minutes. If you’re feeling tired or sore, then rest.
Saturdays: Run the designated mileage at an easy, conversational pace.
Sundays: Recover on this day with easy runs to loosen up your muscles.

Week	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Friday	Sat	Sun	Total Miles Run
1	Rest	2 miles	Rest	2.5 miles	Rest	3 miles	2 easy miles	9.5 miles
2	Rest	2 miles	Rest	3 miles	CT or Rest	4 miles	2.5 easy miles	11.5 miles
3	Rest	2.5 miles	2 miles	3 miles	CT or Rest	5 miles	2 easy miles	14.5 miles
4	Rest	3 miles	Rest	4 miles	CT or Rest	6 miles	3 easy miles	16 miles
5	Rest	3 miles	3 miles	3 miles	CT or Rest	7 miles	3 easy miles	19 miles
6	Rest	4 miles	3 miles	4 miles	CT or Rest	8 miles	3 easy miles	22 miles
7	Rest	4 miles	Rest	4 miles	CT or Rest	9 miles	3 easy miles	20 miles
8	Rest	4 miles	3 miles	3 miles	CT or Rest	10 miles	3 easy miles	23 miles
9	Rest	5 miles	3 miles	4 miles	CT or Rest	11 miles	Rest	23 miles
10	3 easy miles	4 miles	Rest	3 miles	CT or Rest	12 miles	3 easy miles	25 miles
11	Rest	4 miles	Rest	3 miles	CT or Rest	5 miles	2.5 easy miles	14.5 miles
12	Rest	2 miles	20 minutes	Rest	20 minutes	Race Day! 13.1 miles	Rest	15.1 miles + 40 minutes

I wanted a plan that used miles instead of minutes for the short runs since most of my runs are completed outside and it’s easier for me to mentally keep track that way. I also wanted a plan that had the long runs on the weekends (which almost all of them do) and incorporated CT/Rest days which I will use to start training for the Bike New York five borough ride that I am also doing in May.

I should also clarify that although I will be doing a 40 mile bike ride two weeks before my half marathon, it is definitely not my priority. I will be doing that ride with my dad and am not at all worried about or focused on getting a good time. I just want to ride and have fun, so I won’t be training too hard (just enough that I can finish the ride comfortably).

So there you have it! There’s the training plan I have decided on! I will begin training on Monday, February 25 (only a couple of weeks away!) and cannot wait to begin. I better make sure to rest up before training starts so I can make sure body is fully healed. Wish me luck!

Question of the day: Have you ever given yourself a stupid injury?

Let’s Talk Half Marathons

Workouts 15 Responses »

Jan 152013

Hey guys! How’s everyone holding up on this dreary Tuesday? I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but it is cold and rainy over here in the Nation’s capitol. Gross!

So before I dive into the half marathon talk, I wanted to give you all an update on my sprained ankle. It appears that even though I was a good patient last week and did all the right things to let my ankle mend (I iced it, I elevated it, I soaked it in epsom salts, I wore my ankle brace, and I didn’t do any high impact workouts at all) my ankle is still a bit swollen and bruised. Still! Ugh!

I really thought that if I took it easy last week my ankle would be back to normal by now. Unfortunately it seems that this sprain must be a particularly bad one since it’s still not healed I did try running with Jack yesterday morning, and although we made it through our normal one-mile route, I felt uncomfortable and was favoring my left leg the whole time.

[Source]

After work I told Fabio about my concerns and he made me do some exercises with my ankle (e.g., picking up small objects with my toes, moving my ankle around in circles, using my toe to “draw” the alphabet in the air, etc.).

Unfortunately a lot of the exercises were pretty difficult for me (it seems like I can move my ankle forward and backward fine but side-to-side is pretty hard) and he thinks I shouldn’t run on it for another week. UGH!!

I got so frustrated about this because I just want to get back into my normal routine! However I really don’t want to injure my ankle further (that’s the last thing I need), so I’m going to heed Fabio’s advice and stay off of it for another week . I debated going to the doctor for a professional opinion, but for now I’m going to skip it. If it’s still not better by next week I will probably wind up going to the doctor (can you tell I hate the doctor? Lol). We shall see.

Looks like I’ll be continuing with my strength training over the next few days…so annoying.

In order to cheer myself up last night about this stupid ankle situation I decided to get serious about running this half marathon that I mentioned in my goals for 2013. So, let’s talk half marathons!

Half Marathons

I’ve been wanting to run a half marathon for a while now, but every time one comes up I shy away due to the expensive entry fees. As you probably remember, one of my other goals for 2013 is to save money, so these two seem to contradict each other.

After expressing this dilemma to my uncle (who completes triathlons BTW and thinks of half marathons as no big thang) he suggested that if I could find a half marathon in NYC by the New York Road Runners Club he and my aunt would not only run the race with us, but they would pay for our entry fees since they are members. How incredibly sweet are they??

Unfortunately I’ve looked at the New York Road Runner’s Club website and it seems that their one and only half marathon for the year is already sold out (drat!). I was originally hoping that they were going to have another one in the fall, but there’s nothing on the calendar yet so I think I’m out of luck on that front.

[Source]

Sooo with this new piece of news, I decided I’m going to suck it up and pay whatever race entry fee there is so that I can make this goal happen in 2013. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make!

With that being said, here are a few of the races I’m considering:

1. St. Michael’s Running Festival

When: Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 a.m.

Where: St. Michael’s, MD

Cost: $75

Notes: St. Michael’s is a quaint little town on the Eastern Shore with gorgeous views of the water. I would have to get a hotel the night before (or have my dad drop me off early in the morning by boat from my grandparents’ house, which might be cool). It would be a little more costly to get a hotel, but it might be worth it to run somewhere fun.

2. Alexandria Running Festival

When: Sunday, May 26 at 7:30 a.m.

Where: Alexandria, VA

Cost: $50 before January 31

Notes: This race is convenient because I wouldn’t need a hotel and the entry fee is only $50!! So cheap! However, I’m already pretty familiar with the Virginia landscape in this area and would love to run somewhere I’ve never been.

3. Annapolis Zooma

When: Saturday, June 1 at 7:00 a.m.

Where: Annapolis, MD

Cost: $105

Notes: This race is a bit more expensive and I would need a hotel the night before. No bueno. I do love Annapolis (so pretty!) but I am already pretty familiar with the town and wouldn’t be running anywhere new-to-me. However, Tina from Carrots N Cake is coming down from Boston for this race (I think) so it would be a great opportunity to meet her!

4. Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon

When: Sunday, October 6, 2013 (found here; no info on main website for 2013 yet)

Where: Alexandria, VA

Cost: TBD?

Notes: Since there is so little info available on this race, I will probably cross it off my list. I’m also not too thrilled about running through Alexandria, as I mentioned above.

To come up with this list I looked at every single race for 2013 that was posted on HalfMarathons.net and these were the only ones I could find in my area that aren’t too soon or already booked

Questions of the day: Out of the races on this list, which one do you think I should choose? How do you find out about races in your area? Do you know of any other races occurring in the DC/MD/VA area in 2013 that aren’t already sold out?

No More Excuses & Diet Coke Brownies

Recipes, Workouts 6 Responses »

Jun 192012

I have a confession to make. A shameful, horrible, confession. My diet and exercise goals started slowly slipping away from me last week. You see, to keep me motivated I need a date. I need a benchmark. I need to be able to say, “Yes, I completed my goal on time!” Most recently that goal was Memorial Day Weekend, where I knew I was going to see all of my friends and would be bikini-clad for the entire weekend. Before that it was a trip to Jamaica with my family. Before that, it was other trips or events or parties. But now? There is nothing in my future.

No parties. No trips. Nothing to motivate me and keep me going. I mentioned this last week and said I was trying to keep my motivation up by planning a trip somewhere, but no one wants to actually commit to a vacation so it’s still up in the air. I needed some help. Like serious, inspiring, motivational help.

I tried looking at Pinterest. I browsed through tons of motivational quotes and pictures, but nothing was picking me up.

Source: Pinterest

Don’t get me wrong, I was doing just fine. I wasn’t putting on weight, I wasn’t eating junk, and I didn’t skip all my workouts; I just wasn’t doing as well as I could have been.

I went from doing five Insanity workouts in a week to doing maybe two. I still ran every morning with Jack, but sometimes I would take a shortcut through my neighborhood so it was only a 3/4 mile run instead of the full mile. My typically small dessert portions were growing bigger and bigger, and I didn’t even care.

I think that’s the hardest part; that I would see myself doing these things and I knew I was going down a slippery slope, but since I had no deadline and no quantifiable goals, I didn’t do anything about it.

Until yesterday. Yesterday I talked with my friend Catrina (who I’ve mentioned in my weight loss story) about this issue. She admitted that she, too, was having similar issues with her diet. She admitted to me that she had somewhat fallen off the wagon since Memorial Day. It amazes me how we are so similar even when we are hundred of miles away from each other and only catch up a few times a week.

We made a pact, right then and there, to hold each other accountable for our actions. No big trip coming up? It doesn’t matter. No event where I will see everyone I know? Not a problem. Catrina is there, in New York, and if she’s going to work hard for me then I’m going to work hard for her too. If I don’t feel like exercising all I have to do is think of her, working her tushie off for me, and I will be motivated to do the same. Sometimes all we need is someone there to support us, and that’s definitely what Catrina is for me.

Workout

Inspired by this new motivation, yesterday evening when I got home from work I busted out an Insanity DVD and did the whole thing from start to finish and you know what? It felt excellent. I loved it. I felt strong, I felt my muscles burning, and I felt proud! Proud that I got out of this slump and stopped it before it became a real problem. Sometimes, taking the first step can be the hardest.

Recipe

So while I’m getting started with this revitalized healthy lifestyle, I have to post this last bad-for-me recipe. While it’s not exactly horrible for you, it’s not the best either. I’m talking like zero nutritional value. But, sometimes you gotta indulge yourself and eat a sweet treat, especially one that is chocolatey, gooey, and low in calories. But be careful of this recipe, it can be dangerous because it is so good, and it’s lightened up so you think, ok, what’s one little bite going to do to me? Well if you keep taking little bites, before you know it the whole thing will be gone and you’ll be on a slippery slope like I was. In fact, I wound up throwing the rest of these away last night because I decided I no longer need tempting desserts sitting around. So for now, I will file this recipe away for a future day when I’ve been working really hard and deserve a little reward. But not before sharing it with you fine people

Ok so, this recipe is really, really easy. And delicious. In fact, it only involves these two ingredients:

Diet coke and brownie mix. Yes, if you browse Pinterest at all I’m sure you’ve seen this a thousand times, but last week when I was in my lazy funk I decided to try it out and let me tell you, it was great! I was skeptical at first because it sounded so weird but after reading posts from a bunch of people who had tried it, I gave it a shot. Wow! You won’t be disappointed. While they don’t taste exactly like regular brownies, they do taste great. They are very moist and just taste more like a fat-free brownie. Which is still a-okay in my book

Anyway, you can use whatever kind of brownie mix you like (I bought this one at CVS so they had a limited selection but Low Fat would have been great!) and you can either use a bottle or a can of any diet soda you want. I chose Diet Coke but Diet Cherry Vanilla Coke or Diet Root Beer would have been interesting!

First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees, which was the temperature recommended on my box. Then I dumped the brownie mix into a large bowl. Next I poured 1 cup of diet soda into the bowl. I read a bunch of different reviews online which recommended various amounts of soda (such as 12 oz. or 6 oz.) so I decided to go with 8 oz. (1 cup) just to play it safe.

Then, I used a whisk to mix everything together until there were no bubbles and everything was well incorporated. Then I poured the mixture into a greased brownie pan.

Next I baked the brownies in the oven for the recommended time (25 minutes) plus an additional 5 minutes, until a toothpick came out clean. I let the brownies cool before cutting them up and serving them with a nice cool glass of skim milk.

Yumm. They were soo good! Plus since the Diet Coke was zero calories, the brownies came out to 118 calories each.

Diet Coke Brownies

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Chelsea @ Chelsea Eats Treats/Pinterest

Prep time: 2 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 32 mins

Serves: 18 brownies

These two-ingredient brownies are simple to make and are only 110 calories! Plus they are moist and delicious.

Ingredients

8 oz. diet soda
1 package brownie mix

Instructions

Preheat oven according to brownie box directions.
Pour brownie mix and 8 oz. diet soda into a large bowl. Whisk until well-combined.
Pour mix into a greased brownie pan.
Bake in the oven according to package directions, but expect to add a few minutes to cook time (about 5 minutes for me) until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the brownies cool before serving.

WordPress Recipe Plugin and Microformatting by EasyRecipe

So, now that that recipe is posted and out of my mind (and kitchen) I feel ready to tackle all my fitness goals again. No more snacking on dessert treats (unless I work hard for them and feel I can eat them without feeling guilty) and no more slacking. It’s time to buckle down.

How do you guys spark your motivation? Do you rely on a friend? The Internet? Yourself? I’d love to hear your tips!

Running with the Roosters

Workouts 2 Responses »

May 072012

This week I’m experimenting with a new workout schedule and so far I’m loving it! I’ve decided to start waking up an hour earlier so that not only can I go on my mile-long jog with Jack in the mornings, but now I can also cram in an Insanity workout before I hop in the shower! This way I can get my workout out of the way early and spend the rest of my evening doing things like cooking, blogging, watching TV, etc. Smile So far I am really enjoying it, but I’ll keep you posted if my mood changes.

One of the reasons that I’m trying this new workout schedule is because Fabio’s friend Max just moved here from NYC and he likes to work out early in the day. I always thought this was a good approach and often tried to wake up early to work out, but sometimes it’s difficult to get up by yourself to go run when your boyfriend is snoozing away for another hour. Anyway, now that Max is here Fabio has been getting up at 6:00 a.m. to go to the gym. This was great for me this morning because I was able to hop out of bed and jump right into an intense workout. It was all going smoothly until my Insanity DVD started skipping after the warm-up and I had to pause the DVD. After this I couldn’t get it to go back on (it was skipping entire repetitions of the circuits and I was getting annoyed) so I switched to my Pilates DVD instead. The moves were really intense and my core was feeling the burn!

After work Fabio and I decided to jog with Jack up to the dog park. Because I had already done Insanity in the morning, I didn’t feel guilty at all about taking my time during the jog. Jack definitely missed our jogs to the park (we have been driving recently) and he was overjoyed when I put on my running shoes for the second time today and grabbed his leash.

We had a great time jogging to the park and chose a route that runs through a pretty residential area near us. It looked so beautiful with everyone’s manicured lawns showing off their immaculate floral displays. On the way back we walked for a few minutes and Fabio and I stopped to enjoy some beautiful roses.

After our jog we headed home and I whipped up a yummy dinner. Unfortunately after dinner we had to drop off my car at the mechanic so I won’t have time to post the recipe tonight, but here’s a sneak peak of the treat you’re in for tomorrow:

Doesn’t that look yummy?! Any ideas as to what it is?? I’ll give you a hint…it has similar flavors to some of the food I ate this past weekend Winking smile Happy guessing!

Ten Minute Trainer DVD Review

Workouts 3 Responses »

Apr 262012

Hello blog world! I hope everyone had a fantastic day! My day was super busy and I didn’t leave work until late again. Leaving work late really throws a wrench in my routine. Oh well, nothing to be done about it; it just teaches me to rework my priorities to fit everything in. I’m sure as annoying as it seems now, I’m probably learning valuable life lessons about being flexible…or something like that.

Tonight I decided to save time by not cooking dinner and getting a quick sandwich from Corner Bakery. I chose a chicken panini on whole wheat bread with basil, spinach, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese. It was a nice treat!

So, while I didn’t make dinner tonight and don’t have a recipe for you right now, I did make myself a little dessert involving peanut butter and nutella, so stay tuned for that recipe tomorrow Winking smile

Workout

Despite having a limited amount of time today to workout, I made sure to fit it in. Summer is rapidly approaching my friends! I want to make sure I keep up my workouts as much as possible so I can be in good shape for the beach (I’m wondering how that peanut butter and nutella dessert fits into this picture…hmmm).

The day started out with my typical one-mile jog with Jack. It was quite dreary this morning and I bundled up in my rain coat. Jack didn’t mind; he bounded out the door as fast as usual. Some mornings he is my only motivation for running in the morning. If you ever want to be forced into working out the solution is to get a dog! Seriously! Those sad faces will kill you…

Anyway, after work I was stressing about how I was going to fit in the second half of my workout since it was already late, when I saw this little baby had arrived:

Remember last weekend when I said I ordered a new workout routine? Well it came! I ordered the Ten Minute Trainer DVDs from Beach Body, the same company that makes my favorite Insanity DVDs. I figured these would be perfect for those days when I run to the dog park and just want a little extra cardio. Ten minutes of a quick workout on top of my afternoon runs? It sounded perfect!

Here’s what was in the box:

The set came with a container of free vitamins and shakeology protein powder. I haven’t decided if I’m going to try either of those out yet or not. They are “free” for now but I need to return the container (even if it’s empty) back to Beach Body if I don’t want to get charged. Kind of annoying.

The program also came with a calendar that shows which DVDs to use each day:

From this calendar I learned that the program recommends combining three 10-minute DVDs each day for a complete workout. This made sense to me because I was wondering how they could claim such amazing weight loss results with just a 10-minute video. In my experience if it sounds too easy, it probably is.

So the program is really more of a 30-minute program divided into three 10-minute segments. That’s ok with me, but I bet that made a lot of other people mad who really did just want a 10-minute workout. The first day, for example, you are supposed to do the upper-body workout, the cardio workout, and the core cardio workout. I really like that you can mix and match the DVDs based on the muscle group you want to work out.

I didn’t really take the time to review the instructions or anything, I just popped in the first DVD for the upper body routine. I encountered my first problem when I realized you needed to scroll down on the DVD menu to select the right workout. Upper body was all the way down at the bottom, and I lost my DVD remote months ago. This means my only options for the DVD are currently play, pause, and stop.

Luckily the DVD had a “Play All” button so I chose that! Total Body Workout II? Why not?? (Another note to self: buy DVD remote)

Mistake number 2 occurred when the workout started up and I realized the instructor was using a resistance band attached to the door. I had the resistance band but it was not attached to any doors, nor are there any doors near my TV to attach it to. Grrr. After a few minutes of struggling to do the routine by holding the resistance band myself and attempting to attach it to chairs that (obviously) fell over the second I started pulling on them, Fabio was a trooper and came out and held it for me. Now that’s my kind of guy!

After Fabio stepped in to help the workout was pretty good and worked out my muscles in ways that aren’t normal for me so I was feeling the burn! Despite the door issue, I really liked Total Body Workout II! When it came to the Core Cardio workout though, I was kind of bummed. I know I’m used to Insanity which is so intense, but this “cardio” barely had me sweating. I didn’t even reach for my water once. Hmm. Looks like maybe I’ll be using these DVDs for strength training and stick with Insanity for cardio. That’s fine with me though! I just have to figure out that door situation…

What workout routines do you guys follow? It seems like every time I try a new workout DVD I am disappointed that I don’t get as good of a workout as I do with Insanity. Does anyone else feel that way? Let’s chat.