Off to the "Races"!

Well, today we're off to Cowtown! I'm thinking of it as more of a "fun run" than a race, with no specific goal time in mind (truly, I'm really thinking this). My goals for the weekend are to:

1. Have many laughs with our best buddies.
2. Get across the finish line in one piece (I heard the course has a lot of turns and elevation changes).
3. Kiss and hug on my cutie pie nephew, Brody Parker.
4. Tell stories and giggle with his big sisters, Brileigh and Kamryn.
5. Go on a run with my sis (Sunday before church, Sis?).
6. Not overeat and undermine the good week of eating I've had so far (but at the same time, enjoy a few indulgences).

Adios!

Birds Eye Steamfresh Vegetables

Have y'all tried these? I love them! A couple of reasons why:

1. They're tasty.
2. They're not expensive.
3. They take just minutes to heat (in the microwave).
4. No clean up! (I just cut the top and serve right out of the bag---unless we have guests, of course!)

See all their products here.

I know I can buy fresh vegetables and steam them in Zip N Steam bags by Ziploc (which is another really cool product), and I do like to do that. However, sometimes, I want a medley of vegetables without buying a ton of them (ya know--the corn, the asparagus, carrots all together!). And if I'm just in a plain hurry, I don't want to have to wash and dice them all. These Birds Eye products are great when you are truly in a crunch and don't have time to do fresh.

Recipe: Lemon Chicken

This recipe is from Ellie Krieger. It's quick, has very few ingredients, the ingredients are something you usually have on hand, it's tasty, and delicious!

Lemon Chicken

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (I buy boneless skinless breasts at Sam's. I cut 2 large breasts into halves so I had 4 pieces)
1 lemon
2 t olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper (my pepper grinder is broke so I just used plain old black pepper)
Coarse salt (I just used regular salt)

Heat oil. Pat chicken dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook chicken in oil over medium heat until done. Juice lemon over chicken while in pan, heat 1 minute, and serve. (Don't forget to drizzle with pan juice.)

It's tangy and delicious! I served it with brown rice and steamed veggies. It would be good with an angel hair pasta, too. Yum!

Picture You at Your Goal Weight (Virtual Model)

I found this new thing I thought was pretty neat! You can create a "virtual model" of yourself. There are several sites that do this, but I like Land's End. Their purpose is to enable you to virtually try on their clothes. I'm using it for a different purpose...

I created pictures of me at my current weight...

And pictures of me at my goal weight (shedding just 10% of my body weight)...I'm using them for motivation! I'm going to Kauai in April (because I have the most generous sis ever!!), and I'd like to shape up before then!

You should try it. You can customize hair color, style, etc. Kinda quirky, but fun nonetheless!

Week 4 of 5: Cowtown 10k (Now 5k) Training Report

T: 3m (did 1 mile on elliptical, 1 mile on treadmill, and biked for 10 minutes + strength)
W: Strength (nope)
F: Strength (ran 2m on the treadmill + strength)
Sa: 8m (uh-uh)

As you can see, running just wasn't on my priority list this week. I had a lot of evening activities this week, and I just didn't prioritize getting up in the morning. Not much else to say other than that!

In other news, I signed up for a free trial of Weight Watchers this morning. I've done it before, but I'm trying again. I say "I want to lose weight", but at the same time, I'm not very deliberate about what I eat. I figure this will give me something to shoot for each week. I'm better when I follow some sort of plan/rules. We'll see. I'll post about it each week and see where it leads. Maybe the "shame" of posting will hold me accountable? (Yeah--b/c that worked so well with running this week!)

And the Winner Is...

The 5k! I'm going to enjoy a "fun run" instead of a "race" and enjoy a great weekend with good friends!

Maybe I am a Runner!

We were at a Friend and his Wife's house last week, when the following conversation took place:

Jonathan and I begin chatting with new Man and Man's Wife. Man and Jonathan begin talking about tennis.

Jonathan: "I haven't played much lately."

Friend: "They're all into running now."

Man's Wife to Mindi: "You're a runner?"

Mindi: "I run, but I'm not a runner."

Friend's Wife: "She runs, and no one's chasing her."

Man's Wife: "If you're running and no one's chasing you, you're a runner."

Hmm...if that's the standard, I might just be a runner!

Week 3 of 5: Cowtown 10k Training Report

T: 2m + strength
F: 2m = strength
Sa: 5k (ditched)
Su: 7m (did 6 w/ hills)

I didn't exactly get ALL my runs in this week, but I did do better than the previous weeks. I also did my first "long" run since the Houston half marathon. And surprisingly...it felt good! We went out to Wildcat Bluff and did the 6 mile out and back run. There are lots of hills. I'm always surprised how much "faster" I run when I run with Jonathan and when I run outside instead of on a treadmill. We kept a great pace for the first 3 miles. It was gorgeous outside. I planned to walk a lot on the way back, but I didn't need to. Hurray! All in all, a great run and a great day to be outside.

I feel like I've been having a lot of great runs lately. Makes me wonder if I've crossed the threshold on this running thing. I'm sure just as I say that, I will have a humbling run this week to remind me there are lots of bad days to be had. It sure is nice to have some good ones though.

I'm actually toying with only doing the 5k at Cowtown. Can't decide. I'll mull it over this week.

Happy Valentine's Day

My gift to myself was to ditch the 5k I signed up for today! This is the first race I've signed up for and skipped, and frankly, it felt quite good. Instead of getting up and running, we stayed in bed a bit longer than usual, hit the hot tub, and caught up on our DVR backlog this morning. Ahh...it was nice!

Online Personal Shopper

Okay, this is cool. I don't get out much to "real shop". I do a ton of shopping online, however. Big Mama posted about this personal online shopping tool, and it sounds genius! I just set my account up today! (If you need a new blog to stalk, I highly recommend Big Mama. She's laugh out loud funny, has "fashion Friday" posts each Friday, is a Texas gal, and as if that weren't enough already...she's an Aggie!)

You can enter your favorite brands, your sizes, and it will send you an e-mail (however frequently you tell it to) which notifies you when your favorite brands are on sale and where you can find them. Love it! I randomly browse my favorite sites to see what's on sale in my size, but this will take the guesswork out of it! The site is called ShopItToMe. You can enter in kids' brands and sizes, and men's, too. I looked, and lots of fitness brands are on there: Nike, Asics, Adidas, North Face, Marmot, and more.

And...don't forget to go to RetailMeNot and see if there's a coupon code with a discount or free shipping for the site you buy from!

Viva Las Vegas

We had a great time away last week! I was so ready for some time away after scurrying for a week at work to get ready to leave. Sometimes I wonder if getting away is worth it with all the stress to get things done at the office, but the week reminded me...it is worth it. I worked a little while I was away, but mostly I just enjoyed the days.

Wednesday was the day I arrived, and the weather was gorgeous! We met for lunch at P.F. Chang's and ate on the patio, then we took a long nap. Wonderful! We grabbed a quick bite to eat, watched the Ags get beat by OU (but the unranked Ags took No. 2 OU to the wire so I can't be too hard on them), then went and saw a funny hypnosis show.
Thursday I worked in the morning, had a conference call with the office, then grabbed a bite . I hit the gym after lunch. I did a 3 mile run and lifted. There's just something about working out somewhere new that makes it a little better! After my workout I met the hubby at his conference to see what the hoopla was all about. He was at the World of Concrete. Nope. I didn't just make that up. For as far as the eye can see, construction materials, equipment, and men salivating over it. He loved it, and I love him, so I guess you could say I loved the World of Concrete? Well, not really...

We played a bit afterwards. I have this dollar slot I love---pinball. I won on it my very first trip to Vegas with my mom, and I always look for it when I go back. The only ones I can find are at Flamingo. I lost my $20, and decided I'd quit, but Jonathan insisted I play again and picked another machine. I got to play pinball twice! I was thrilled! We capped the night with dinner at Nobu, the sushi restaurant that's a hype in magazines and such (I'm a sucker for those places). We heard it was pricey, and when we got there a couple was leaving and said, "I hope you brought your money." We didn't find it too unreasonable for the sushi rolls, which is what we ordered. It was $2-$3 more a roll than the sushi place we go to here, but considering the name and the ambience, and the gorgeous presentation, it seemed fair. Now the other stuff on the menu (the more creative dishes) were pretty pricey, but our bill was about what we expected. I even tried something new...white tuna. It was delicious! The presentation was so neat that I asked the people we sat by at the sushi bar if I could snap shots of their food.
I worked a bit on Friday morning then rented a car and picked Jonathan up from the conference. We grabbed a bite at the famed In-N-Out Burger, and frankly, it was as good as we'd heard...and cheap! We both had a burger, fries, and coke for $9.83!

Then we did our favorite thing of the trip...saw Hoover Dam. It was nice to leave the strip, and we really enjoyed the tour. They're building a bridge, and Jonathan loved seeing all of the construction (I must say that I was rather impressed myself ). After seeing the Dam, we enjoyed some black jack then turned in.
A nice few days away for sure! Viva Las Vegas (but glad to be home)...

Week 2 of 5: Cowtown 10k Training Report

M: 3m

W: 5m tempo (nope)
R: 2m & strength (did 3m & strength)
Sat: 7m (didn't quite get this done)

Uh...another FAIL week. I was afraid this would happen. I'm not that scared by the 10k distance now that I've completed 2 halves so I'm less motivated to get the workouts in (especially the long runs). I will say that I worked crazy hours last week on Monday and Tuesday since I was going out of town Wed.-Sat. so to even get the Monday workout in was a surprise.

The good news is that what I'm lacking in quantity, I'm making up for in quality! My runs felt so good last week! Now that doesn't mean they were easy; I just felt good doing them. I didn't feel that horrible "I'm-jogging-against-the-current-in-a-wave-pool" feeling. I've changed my schedule from what I initially posted. I just cannot do a 5m tempo run (even if the first and last mile are supposed to be slow). I can only manage 1-1.5m at a faster pace so my mid week run is only ending up at 3-3.5m. My workout in Vegas went really well. There's something about doing your workout in a different place that's nice--changes it up a bit.

We had a great time in Vegas--pics and trip report to follow! My goal this week is to get all of my runs in. I wasn't planning on a long run this weekend because we're running in a 5k on Saturday, but since we've skipped so many long runs, we're going to get one in (or that's the plan anyway).

Week 1 of 5: Cowtown 10k Training Report

M: 2m + strength
W: 5m (ran 3m on Thurs.)
R: 2m + Strength (nope)
Sa: 7m (oh, no)

Okay, so the first week back didn't go so well. Monday's workout went great. I really enjoyed the strength training. I was excited about Wednesday's tempo run, but...it was hard. Really hard. I was supposed to run an "easy" warm up for a mile, run a "fast" 3 miles, then cool down at an "easy" pace. I did the first mile fine, but I only made it 1.5 miles at the "fast" pace. Yikes. It was so hard. I was dying. I could only do a 1/2 mile cool down I was so pooped.

There was something I kind of liked about pushing myself at the "fast" pace though. I'm going to keep at it and not worry about the specific mileage; I'm going to warm up, try to build up the time I run at the "fast" pace, then cool down.

Now I was looking forward to the long run. It was going to be in the 60's on Saturday--perfect for the long run I thought. But...alas, it was windy (of course). 20-30 mph winds on Saturday and Sunday. No thank you. I'm not weathering those winds for a 10k. I'll try again for the long run next weekend.

I'm going to Vegas with the better half next week. I'm planning to get the runs in though. We'll see...