Check it out! I WON something awesome =)

Saturday night I went to the Redline Running Club's bi-annual potluck and WON the ROTHY =) 

Redline Runner

Of

The 

Half

Year Award!!

I can't believe it.  I am not quite sure why they picked me.... but they did and it made my whole day! I won something and I have the totally awesome shorts to prove it.  I plan on putting these puppies on and debuting them shortly.... stay tuned.

Thanks Redliners. Our club is amazing.  The peeps I train with are super motivating, inspirational and very fun to be around.  We all share a total obsession with running and have been able to build a support system through this club.  We really are a team and I just couldn't be happier.  YAY to our coaches Josh,  Doug, and Kim for putting up with all my crap and making me realize that I can be better.

Below is a lot of my fellow Redliners right after our Predict a 5k workout.

For the predict a 5k workout each individual picks a time that they will complete the 5k in.  We are not allowed to wear watches, music, or anything else that might give us a sense of what pace we are running.  All we get is to listen to our breathing and hope that through all of this training our bodies can recognize what pace we have chosen.  We weren't allowed to pick our actual 5k pace either.  Seeing as how I have the marathon coming up in 1 week, I chose my marathon pace.  Some chose what they would consider there 10k pace and others just picked a pace they figured they could feel.  And so as results went, the person who was the closest to there designated pace won, and the furtherest away lost. It was way fun and I highly recommend doing one on your own every so often to see how in tune you are with what pace is what.  Great workout =)

Also, I'd like to give a HUGE shout out to my brother James.  I sucked him into coming coming to Lifetime with me for 1 week to show him how crazy hard the classes were. So because he loves me he agreed and although Barbell and Total Conditioning kicked both are A**'s (literally, these classes are tough) he ROCKED it.  I was proud to be his little sis. 

So James, you are joining right =) 

This Pic was taken right after Total Conditioning class.  We were wiped out. Apparently doing 150-200 pushups with variations that include loads of mountain climbers, bear crawls, jumps, lunges, leaps, turns, body bars, bands....and the list goes on and on will wear you out.

and P.S. my Friday Night BBQ chicken sandwiches were delish.  Sweet potato, watermelon and roasted green beans for sides.... I love food.

Anyone else out there in a running club?

If so, have you ever won anything as cool as these shorts!?!

Who else is running Grandmas? We'd love to meet up!

What is your favorite Carbo loading meal? and why?

Anyone have a gym class that is crazy hard?

I find they are few and far between but for some reason I am lucky enough to live right next to the Lifetime fitness that employs a lot of there regional peeps including instructors.  These people are the ones they send out to train all the others.  I feel lucky.

Happy Running - Jen

I was soo unmotivated...

Last week especially I was VERY unmotivated.  Here is what happened when I was feeling unmotivated....

I didn't cook dinner very often.... so we went out to eat a lot and one evening ate some yummy soup from an asian restaurant called Pho.  It was good I suppose, but I feel like the soup comes with lots of spices, veggies, sauces on the side and maybe I should have used them.....

My sons hair doesn't get combed...(but honestly I hardly ever comb it anyways, I just kinda like the crazy look).

One night I did actually end up making dinner but of course, didn't do the dishes.... When I woke up the next morning I came down and found this lovely Julia Child like jellied mess in my pot! YUK.  It was the fat from the roasted chicken jellied with broth.

And then there is the laundry.  These baskets were scattered throughout my house for the entire week.  Luckily they are all clean but only 1/2 are folded and the rest just heaped together.  I was so unmotivated that I didn't even bother to put the clothes away and what is folded, my husband did.  I had nothing to do with laundry so much this past week.

Also, last week I only ran 32 of the 50 miles I had on my schedule and luckily, my long run (22) was ok. The rest of them were nothing to write home about.

So what in the world happened here!? Personally, I blame it on being a girl, (it was that time of the month.....lovely), and the fact that this marathon training is just burning me out.  I was feeling burnt to the max. I didn't even care that I was sluffin' off my runs which is highly unusual for me. I am a pretty structured stubborn type and typically if something is on my running schedule, it gets done.

To combat the total loss of any energy I decided I was lacking iron and just some R&R. So after a few days of out of control nothingness I made myself a delicious high iron dinner with some lovely sweet potato carbs. I also bought myself some airborne and started taking it daily. I did this early on in the winter and felt it was helping me stay peppy so because I am in desperate need of some pepp, I stocked up =) (and I drank a diet pepsi....oopps, did I say that)

This week I am feeling much better and just starting to check all of the things off that I missed last week while trying to stay on task with what is on the Calendar this week.  So far so good.

How often do you feel unmotivated?

Me, not too often, but when I do get that way, it is like I crawl into a hole and disappear.

What do you do to come out of it?

Does it typically interrupt just your workouts and or home life?

Heres to staying motivated =) -Jen

The Sweet Potato Staple

The sweet potato isn't to be ignored. It has all the wonderful things in it that your body needs to keep running! I have tried to prepare it a few different ways but I am always looking for suggestions. So far, I have had luck baking it, putting it in a stir fry with zucchini (my personal favorite) and oven making oven fries.

The sweet potato is a simple starch food and is rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin B6. That sentence is straight from wikipedia and after reading it....whats not to like =)  So to all out there running, working out, eating healthy people.....EAT YOUR SWEET POTATOES!

This is a picture with my sweet potato stir fry! Don't pay attention to the monster sloppy joe next to it! I mean, a girl has gotta get her protein =)

OH, and one more thing, this is what I look like a lot lately after I finish running.......I think I have some Tendinitis going on next to my shin and because it is screwing with my calve muscles my plantar fasciitis or what have you has been acting up. ARGGGG, someone please tell me how to run pain free.  I am begging.

-Jen