According to Berni

It’s hard to believe that one week from today I will be running my very first Half Marathon!!!   eeeek!

This morning bright and early I met my sister at the trail for our final ‘long run’ before the Half.  Being our taper week we had a 7 miler planned.   Only 7 miles Ha!  I think it’s quiet funny how when I see 7 miles on the training plan I am RELIEVED.  I still vividly remember the day I could not make it one single lap around the high school track (1/4 mile) without stopping.  Believe me when I say, consistence is key.  Just keep showing up and doing your workout and you will see results, I promise.  There were times during this mornings run that I wanted so badly to stop and walk,  there were some strong internal dialogues going on that’s for sure!!   I kept telling myself if I couldn’t do 7 miles without walking there was no chance I was going to do 13.   Not that I won’t walk during my 13.1 miles next week, I mean if I have to I have to, but my goal is to run it without stopping.

Sooooo, I did my push up challenge “initial test”.   Yeah.   I got down on the floor in regular push up position, lowered myself down and then collapsed in a heap and laughed.   I could NOT get back up.  Nope, couldn’t even do ONE regular push up!!   So I tried them ‘girlie style’ on my knees and could do 12.    Now trust me, I debated with myself and even tried one regular one another time to see if I could squeeze out just one, nope.   I really thought I could do at least one regular push up but apparently my arms are in worse shape than I initially thought.   If I can’t do even one regular then there’s no chance I can even get thru the first workout doing them regular style.  Girlie style it is, at least for me.  I will start the program tomorrow and figure once I get finished with it I can always do it again with regular push ups if I want right??

For any of you that are dog lovers and really, who isn’t???   Go check out Fitfeat, there’s a sweet doggie over there that needs your help!

Well,  Grammy’s are on tonight and this girl loves her some music awards so I’m off to feed the kiddos and sit my sweet patootie on the couch to watch!!

Have a wonderful week my friends!!

xoxo

Yeah baby…rolling like a big shot  Mama’s got a new pair of kicks!!

Same shoe, new version Asics GT2150

I didn’t realize I was even due for new shoes until my knee started SCREAMING after last weeks 10 miler.   After experiencing some pretty bad pain I realized that the 2 pairs of shoes I have been running in were over a year old!!   Given that I ran 375+ miles last year I’d say they were ready to be retired.   The general rule of thumb is 300-500 miles or 6 months for a pair of shoes.  After doing some research I found it is not uncommon for someone who is running regularly to feel knee pain after about 250 miles on a pair of shoes…   I felt lucky that I had been able to get over a year and many more miles out of my shoes.  With less than 2 weeks before my first Half Marathon I figured I better get some new kicks and break those puppies in!!

and the GOOF is off!!

I headed out for their Inaugural run and planned on doing an easy 3 miles.  Right before I hit the one mile mark my knee started hurting so I debated on turning around, continuing on the 3 mile route or making a turn to cut it short and do a 2 mile run…   I opted for the latter and made a turn.   As I kept on running my knee pain started to go away,  I would have stopped running if it had gotten worse but it went away and by the end of the 2 miles it was fine.  Just for good measure I am going to ice it and rest it for a few more days and hope that by Sunday I’ll be good as new for my 7 mile taper run which will be our last longish run before the Half.

2 miles in 20:42 with a couple stops for drivers on cell phones and a train...I'm happy

In other exercise news…  I promised my friend Cindy that I would participate in her Pilates Challenge this month.  Yeah.  Not so much.   At first I just couldn’t squeeze it in, then I found myself with some extra time on my hands and figured now was as good a time as any… I got a Pilates DVD for beginners at the library,  the lady bugged me and I couldn’t get thru the 1st workout, something about her voice I just couldn’t get past.  Not ready to give up so quickly I went to Youtube and found another video.   I gave that one a whirl and only lasted about 10 minutes.   I think I just DO NOT like working out in the living room, on the floor all alone.  I was bored and not enjoying it.   I’m pretty sure that you should be able to relax and at least enjoy the workout-  I wasn’t.

On to the next challenge!!   In my one woman attempt at rushing Summer I thought I’d do my small part and get my arms and shoulders ready for TANK TOP SEASON!!    I’ve decided to make February my 100 push up challenge month!!  The 100 push up challenge actually goes for 6 weeks and is kind of the Couch to 5k for push ups.  I am going to do my ‘initial test’ this weekend to determine where my push up fitness level is and I will begin my challenge on Monday.  I’m thinking of adding a page to the blog for this challenge with some dreaded before and after pics… arms I can do, abs not so much.  Stay tuned!

Remember at the beginning of January I challenged myself to use my re-useable grocery bags on EVERY shopping trip??   Well, I am happy to report that it was a HUGE SUCCESS!!   I was very good about returning my bags to the car after every trip to the store and taking them in with me on all but 1 trip to the grocery store AND even Target!!   I managed to make it thru the entire month and only used ONE plastic grocery bag!!  ONE I say!  It’s kind of a funny story with that ONE bag…. had I been paying attention I would have not even used that ONE bag.   I ran in the store to grab eggs.  Nothing more than eggs.   As I was checking out my phone rang and I answered it….  the bagger put my eggs in a bag and I walked out with it.    Had I been paying attention I would have done what I intended to do and just take my carton of eggs with no bag but I wasn’t paying attention and there I was with my ONE plastic bag.  BOO!   The moral of the story here my friends is BE AWARE.   That’s all I have to say about that.

So,  do YOU have any fun challenges going on for the month of February??  I’d love to hear about them~!!

I hope your all enjoying your day!!

xoxo

I read this somewhere… and found it to be perfectly suited for today.

“People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  When you figure out which it is, you will know exactly what to do.”

Today I  had a perfect day!!   I never in a million years would have thought that this blog would produce a REAL life friend but it has and I consider myself Lucky.

So, as my luck would have it Cindy and Hubs were going to be in my area today and since I happen to have some free time on my hands these days, we had the perfect opportunity to meet for lunch!    We met at my favorite restaurant Rutabegorz, which is the cutest little place and has some amazing vegetarian friendly food!

Her little guy is THE cutest and so so sweet!  And her hubs was just as awesome as she was!!

I have a feeling there will be many more get togethers with them,  a couple hours just was not enough!!   We couldn’t have been more lucky with the weather either, it was slightly chilly but still nice enough to sit on the patio and felt good to be outdoors!   The second I got in my car, sprinkles were falling on the windshield- Whew!!!

Yay for new friends!!!

I am most certainly looking forward to the next time I see this lovely lady-  we are going to need alot more time than we had today!

Here’s to MANY MANY MANY years of friendship!!!

xoxo

Warning: The following post may be a bit depressing, but it is REAL.

Webster’s dictionary defines sabotage as “any undermining of a cause”.

Simply stated, my ’cause’ is the Half Marathon I’ve been training for over the past 12 weeks.  My poor eating habits and lack of water intake is my ’sabotage’.    I have not met my daily water requirement once this week but have drank enough coffee/tea to float a boat.  I have eaten more than enough chocolate chip cookies and meals that involved red meat to make my performance this morning less than ideal.  Much less.  At mile 5 I knew I was in trouble.  No wait that’s wrong,  I kinda knew I was in trouble before my run started….   my head was NOT in the game.   Mile 9 was walked while fighting back tears.

Something happened this week,  a story that is not uncommon these days.  We hear about it on the news or know people that have been personally affected but most times it’s ‘them not us’ and we go about our day.   This past Tuesday it became ‘me not them’ and I lost my job.  The sole provider for myself and my 3 children and I find myself out of work.  I have mixed emotions about this as I have been in the Mortgage industry for 25 years now.  I started when I was 19 by accepting a good paying job and figured I’d do that until I figured out what I wanted to do….. that day never came and I just kept on doing what I knew.  Never really happy with that career and working for a poorly run company that didn’t care one single bit about me or any other employee I prayed daily for an out.  Well, that day came.   Because my prayers were so specific “get me out” I have to believe that this was an answer to that prayer, while at the same time I feel scared.  Scared because I know I cannot go back to that.  But that is all I’ve ever done.  Now I need to figure out what I really want to do and make that happen… finding yourself isn’t any easier at 44 than it was as 19.

I haven’t cried but at mile 8 today I felt the need to cry… I think I will feel better if I do but at the same time I feel like I need to be strong and put on that happy face.  It’s hard.

So with all that said.  Today is the day that I will plan for my week and get my diet/water in check.  This I can control and I will.  I will break out the ole Thrive and bury my nose in it and refresh my memory.  This I can handle.

I apologize for the depressing post, I honestly thought that maybe it would be better saved for the Journal…but the emotion and the words come out quicker on a keyboard and I really needed to get them out…. for those that are still reading, Thank you.

Onwards and upwards my friends….

xoxo

What’s a girl to do when she’s been rained in???

Drag out the ole knitting bag and begin a project or two or three!!

So, me and my best girls took advantage of a break in the storm to make a run to Michael’s for some yarn.   Some people spin their own but I am not that patient talented, so off to Michael’s I went…

And look at the loot  we came home with!

5 skeins of yarn, new needles and some Knifty Knitter Looms

I was eyeballing a new project that looked fun and thought I’d give it a whirl.  It’s a ‘Cowl” which is basically a tube like scarf.  I had forgotten how theraputic and relaxing knitting is!!   I can’t put it down and will probably be done with it tonight.  Good thing I got more yarn!

The girls also started projects,  Jessica is making a beanie and Makenna a scarf.  They’ve been busy little bees all afternoon, nice warm cozy girls knitting quietly-  it just doesn’t get any better than this on a rainy day!

So that’s what we’ve been doing while on rainy day schedule….

I did head out for a 1.5 mile run yesterday during a break in the rain,  the intent was to do 3 but I realized quickly I had on too many layers and was still coughing too much to get my breathing rhythm down.  It was a good thing I cut it short because 5 minutes after I got home the sky opened up and POURED unbelievably hard!!!   There’s a 10 miler on the schedule for this Sunday-  our last LONG run before our Half on the 7th!!   I pray that we don’t have rain on Sunday and that I feel as good during this 10 miler as I did the last.

Stay dry my friends and if you must go out you should probably take the canoe!

xoxo

That is what got me thru this mornings 9 mile run… Squid juice and sheer determination FO SHO!!!

Last night was a rough one,  girlie coughed ALL NIGHT and when girlie don’t sleep- Mama don’t sleep.  I doubt I got more than 3 hours sleep in all.   Then to top it off, I woke up with a tight chest and a cough- really??  What gives?

Oh how easy it would have been to send that text and say “not today sister” but I didn’t because with the Half a mere 3 weeks away I don’t have time to put off  a 9 mile run, so coffee in hand, out the door I went.

Thanks to the girls over at pure2raw I had a new sports drink with me to try out.   I cannot stand Gatorade or those sugary type drinks, I find them way too sweet.  Normally I would just have coconut water in my water bottle but Michelle & Lori had posted about their Spirulina drink that they used when they ran the Disney Marathon last weekend.  So I asked for specifics and they were very helpful!   They did say that it was based on one of the sport drink recipes in Thrive (my FAVE!) so I was game!

I love the simple 4 ingredients:

coconut water, spirulina powder, lemon, agave nectar

I mixed:

• 10 oz coconut water
• 1 tsp Spirulina powder
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tsp Agave nectar

I mixed it together in a jar and have to say I was SHOCKED when I saw it.   My son was watching me and freaked out saying “Oh my god, I cannot believe you are going to drink that!!!”   and honestly it was kinda scary but I stuck a straw in it and OMG OMG OMG  it was SO GOOD!!!   The weirdest thing, it had NO ocean taste whatsoever and the lemon could not be detected at all either.  If I had to give it a ‘label’ I’d say it tasted like grape juice.  I think the next time I would even cut the Agave back just a bit more as I really don’t need the sweetness but for todays run it was great!

This is what it looked like:

Squid juice!

I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a healthy sports drink option!  Don’t be afraid!

I’m sure my Squid juice played a big part in my survival of that 9 mile run this morning,  I felt good till mile 5 and then it was sheer determination.  It was HARD.

After my run I grabbed my girl and headed over to Urgent Care because I suspected some antibiotics were needed for this little one.  She isn’t a complainer so if she’s up all night with an earache it’s something… Sure enough 2 1/2 hours later we had our prescreptions!    I hate giving her antibiotics so tomorrow we are heading over to Trader Joes for some pro-biotics to try and keep her belly healthy!

Yesterday we took some of our juice pulp and made our first attempt at pulp crackers that are all the rage…

What started out like this:

Added some flax, seasonings and water and mixed well….  it had the consistency of meatloaf  when we were finished.

rolled out thin, addes some Himalayan Pink Sea Salt & some Dulce flakes to the top,  scored it and popped it into a 350 oven for about 10 min.  Then I turned the oven off and let them sit in there to dry out while we ran some errands….

The verdict???

BLECH!!!!    I don’t even have a picture of the finished product as they were HORRIBLE!   Even delicious Hummus couldn’t cover up the horrid taste.    If anyone has any pointers on making these good- I’d love to hear it.

Well, I’m off to relax… I am forever grateful that tomorrow is a holiday and I can sleep in…

xoxo

Ok so maybe that’s just a tad dramatic.

But yesterday morning as I’m getting ready to head out the door into the cold dark morning for my 3 mile run… I try to turn on my Garmin to set on the porch – DEAD.   Dead I say!   I keep it on the charger at all times if I’m not using it so at this point I have no idea what is wrong with it and I gather up my ipod, gloves and hanky and realize my iPod has very little charge in it.  Never fear, I have a back up iPod…   that one was DEAD.   GEEZ, I just gotta get out and run so I take iPod #1 and head out.   All is well except that I’m worried about my million dollar gadget that I’ve had for 3 months being broken and just about mile 2 the iPod gives up.   I had to laugh at that point because I was just missing the whole point of being out there!  It wasn’t about how fast or how far I was running, it wasn’t about Lady Gaga singing Bad Romance in my ear,  it was about being ALIVE!!   I was outdoors running on a glorious morning.  I enjoyed the last mile of my run and was kind of sad it was over,  if I didn’t have this thing called ‘work’ to go to I would have been out there for another hour.

After my glorious run, I made a batch of juice.

It could have fooled me with the looks of it (sorry for the blur)…it sure looks like coffee to me!  But alas it is a combo of:

• 2 stalks celery
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/2 bunch of parsley
• 1 orange
• 1/2 cup cranberries
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 head romaine

it didn’t really have a strong flavor, I think the celery and romaine may have stood out the most but it was very light and refreshing!

Well my friends, I’m off to help a very special boy (my nephew/godson) celebrate his birthday!!

Have a Wonderful dry Saturday!!

xoxo

It wasn’t long ago that a certain Mama told us about a Free glass with every jar.  Well I finally got my free glass!!

So tasty too!!!

And what might this beautiful juice be???  That would be carrot, apple & cranberry thank you very much!!   It also had a handful of spinach thrown in because you can never have too many greens…  I still don’t think I’ve gotten my juicing legs yet because I still feel a little chicken to stray too far away from carrot/apple & either orange or cranberry.    I have done some romaine with carrot/apple and that was good too but the time I tried adding ginger- WOW!  I didn’t really like that one as much.   Tonight when I put the spinach in the juicer it kinda flung around and I’m not really sure how much of it actually became juice.  I think I will save my spinach for smoothies.

My kids laugh at me and my juicer-  they think I’m funny.  It turns out my girls can be bought though.  They both have agreed to take cold hard CASH in exchange for them taking a drink of my juice.  The boy on the other had will not.  It may or may not have something to do with this excerpt I read to him from The Juiceman’s Power of Juicing book:

“Beet juice is potent stuff.  Never drink it solo.  Always dilute it with a milder juice such as apple, carrot or cucumber.  Pure beet juice-from the bulb or the greens-may temporarily paralyze your vocal chords, cause you to break out in hives, increase your heart rate and give you alternating chills and fever.”

Even I had to laugh at that one!!!

So, me and my best girl did some shopping yesterday.  She had a giftcard burning a hole in her pocket and I will use any excuse under the sun to go to Barnes & Noble so off we went.

This lovely lady managed to stay within her $20 gift card budget…. mommy on the other hand swiped the old debit card like I wasn’t even breaking a resolution.

I’ve given myself a deadline of the 15th to get the “budget” buttoned down and from then on out I will be on a self imposed “cash only” basis… to avoid the old debit card swipes that I don’t give a second thought to.

I also got this DELICIOUS tea while at B&N

pretty darn tasty….

Over the past few days when I’m not out running around swiping my debit card like it’s going out of style, I’ve been thinking about my resolutions.   It may also be that I’ve been reading alot about resolutions and goals this week too…some of us are doing Green Smoothie Cleanses,  but I’ve been thinking (uh oh), that while the list I’ve made is purely personal and really only I will benefit from them, it might be fun to do a monthly challenge that will benefit anyone BUT myself.

So, this month my monthly challenge is for me to take my re-useable cloth grocery bags with me on EVERY single shopping trip.  No more leaving them hanging on the kitchen doorknob, no more leaving them in the trunk of my car…No more plastic bags in the landfill from ME this month… I declare January RE-USEABLE shopping bag month.

Wish me luck!

xoxo

and in with the new.

Happy New Year my friends!!!

There’s something about the New Year that gives me mixed feelings of hope and sadness.  I am ALWAYS hopeful that the new year will bring a much better year than the one before but at the same time I’m a little sad for the time that is past.  It seems as though each passing year goes so much quicker than the previous year and before you know it another one will be gone…  but let’s not jump ahead.

My New Years Eve was spent at Knott’s Berry Farm with the little one AND her dad.  Most people would say I’m crazy for spending it with my EX.  Most people would be correct.   It was my turn to have her for this holiday and when asked what she wanted to do she asked if we could go to Knott’s, the THREE of us.  I won’t go into details but I will say that I’m still nursing an emotional hangover because of it.

I really need to drink more…

She didn't even make it out of the parking lot...

Out with the old…  no more making myself crazy in the name of LOVE for my child.  No more.  The new year will be about boundaries, self preservation and GROWTH.

Ok so, I’m a list maker, that fact has already been established.  But what you don’t know is that I also have ADHD (self diagnosed of course).  This is why my list appears to be so long….   because if I don’t put it in writing I forget I ever wanted to do it .

Now that confession time is over let’s talk about Goals and Resolutions!

1. Save for and purchase a new Refrigerator and Sofa.
2. Set up a monthly budget and stick to it.
3. Complete a Half Marathon (Surf City Feb 2010)
4. Run a sub 30 minute 5k
5. Run a 2nd Half Marathon with a new PR
6. Run 500 miles
7. Begin training for a Full Marathon  (Surf City 2011)
8. Travel to a place I have never been to
9. Clean up my diet (Go Vegetarian with emphasis on raw)
10. Be nice.   Think of others instead of focusing on myself.

So there you have em.  Some are self expanatory others may have you scratching your noggin but all are personal to me.

Alot of running goals I know, but running has given me SO MUCH.   It’s the one thing that I’ve done for myself that I’ve gained the most from and I want to make sure that I continue with it.

The Budget, well I am really good bad at whipping out my trusty debit card and not thinking about what I’m spending.  I could be saving a whole lot more than I am if I’d just be more aware.

Diet-  my diet has changed ALOT in the past 3-6 months but there are still changes that need to be made and I notice that I feel better when I don’t eat meat.  The problem is I love me some BEEF.  Gross to some, I know but it’s the truth.  I don’t really crave it but if I’m cooking it for the kiddos and see/smell it then I want it.  I also want to cut WAY BACK on my sugar intake so my goal is to “Clean it up”.   Baby steps.

Be nice.  Well, let’s just say there’s always room for improvement.

So, here’s to a year filled with new friends, new experiences and lots of LOVE…  I have thoroughly enjoyed these past few months of blogging and getting to know each and every one of you and I look forward to treading new paths with you all.

Happy 2010 my friends!!!

xoxo