Takin' it Easy....

Yeah, okay, I admit it. I am slacking.  (With regard to both blogging and running.)  But I'm tired! :)

This week was an okay one; nothing much to report.  Work was crazy as usual.  I used the crockpot pretty much every day to make our meals - thanks to this site (well, to be more specific, the book that was created out of the site, called Make It Fast, Cook It Slow by Stephanie O'Dea.

Here's a  list of the delicious, fool-proof (no, seriously, fool-proof) recipes I have tried thus far using my slow cooker:

•  Basic chili
• Vegetarian "No-Noodle" Lasagna (eggplant and yellow squash slices act as "noodles")
• Chicken and dumpling soup
• Pork stew with peppers and eggplant
• Cranberry beef
• Korean ribs (aaamaaaaaazzzzing!!)
• Pineapple pork tenderloin
• Pomegranate beef

Here are some pictures (I didn't capture all of them, but here's a sampling).

Vegetarian No-Noodle Lasagna

Cranberry Beef

Pineapple Pork Tenderloin

Pomegranate Beef









So, that's been making me really happy over the past few weeks.

Recipes on tap for this week include White bean and turkey sausage soup and Buffalo Chicken Lasagna.  Nom nom!!

In other activity-related news, I've been doing a lot of yoga lately.  It's suiting the winter blues just fine.  And running is still happening, just on a lesser scale. The weird thing is that I think I still haven't recovered physically from the marathon in November, not necessarily only because I trained hard and it was a tough course.  I realize that I have never truly taken a break from running, even when I knew it was best.  So it's not just this past race that has me all tired, it's years of running without a set period of recovery.  Hence, recurring injuries and overtraining blues. 

I am also finding myself, for the first time in the winter, without a gym membership (well, if you count the "fake gym," I guess I do), and it's forcing me to come to terms with the limitations I naturally want - need? to put on my body this season.  I have said this before, but I think that in the past I have never taken time off at all because I was always nervous that I would "lose it" and that I would never come back.  Well, I know better now.  But I'm still taking some time off from heavy training.

Hope you guys are having a great end to the weekend! :)

Winter Warriors of the Human and Auto Kind

Today, my husband and I did something amazing.  We both went out for a three-mile run in the snow!!!!

I say this is amazing because...a) we did it before 9 am.  b) we BOTH had the motivation and desire to get dressed in our warmest clothes and go out. and c) neither one of us complained the entire time!

In fact, we were going to do only 2 miles, because it was really coming down and the trail hadn't been cleared.  However, we went an extra half-mile or so in, making it 3 total.

I must admit that I have been really bad about exercising this week.  REALLY bad!  In fact, I kept thinking that I started the year off on a bad note by not running on January 1st.  However, I have been thinking lately that I always push myself, and never really give myself a "vacation" from running.  I've only ever been sidelined because of injury, not because I chose to take it easy for a month or two.  Not only that, but I have always beaten myself up about it.  I am trying not to do that anymore.  At first, I used to get worried that if I strayed from running for a few days or a week, I'd "lose the urge."  That's just not true.  I may lose fitness -- and I am prepared to deal with that while I take January as an easier month -- but it's finally hit me that I will not lose the runner I've become, because it's too important to me now to ditch!

The other VERY EXCITING NEWS...we got a new car yesterday!!  It was kind of unexpected.  We didn't really think we were going to drive it out of the lot, either!  But we did.  Of course, we're really going to have to cut corners now, but it's worth it because first of all, having only one car, in a city where you NEED to drive everywhere sucks.  Secondly, our Ford Focus, Sheila, is awesome and I love her, but only when the weather is nice.  I get a little frightened driving a small car like that in midwestern winters.  Derek and I have been saying that the next time we get a car, it'll be either an all-wheel drive vehicle, or at least a bigger car more equipped to handle snow and ice.  So....here it is!

A 2010 Toyota Rav 4!  As you can see, I am really excited.

And here I am getting nice and friendly with our new buddy.

2010 rocks so far.

Running Quote of the Day

Great article by John "The Penguin" Bingham in January's Runner's World.

The article discusses how runners sometimes become as obsessed with running as they had been with some old addictions they conquered when discovering the sport (such as smoking, overeating, etc.). He says that throughout his running lifetime, he has often had to "start again" because he didn't listen to his body and pushed himself to injury. Here he talks about how he has adjusted his view of what it means to not give up:

The great lesson that I learned from running--because I wanted to run for the rest of my life--was that I had to accept the limits of my body.  I had to adjust my goals to match the reality of my abilities. I had to understand that if I wanted to run forever, I might have to not run today. Taking a day, or a week, or a month off, if necessary, might be hard, but it wouldn't mean giving up.

For someone who has quit jobs, left relationships, and often quit when the going got tough, running has been the exception. I haven't quit. I'm not going to quit, even if I take a break. And in that I take enormous pride.

I think this speaks to me, and to a lot of us who are either easily injured, are too hard on ourselves for taking time off, or both.

Just something to ponder. As I always say when I am injured, "Do I want to run for this next month, or for the rest of my life?" We put a lot of pressure on ourselves as runners--some of which is necessary to keep moving--but much of which is just another excuse to punish ourselves for not doing enough. I know I do this, and it's counterproductive. Don't we already have so much to worry about? Let's remember that running is suppose to be a release from all that madness, not another cause for worry.

Thoughts?