But dammit, it's ok!
In fact, Lorelei's pediatrician told me the other day, at her 2-month appointment, that "Mom should get some more rest." It's funny--this doctor is EXCELLENT--but she has this quirky way of talking to me through the baby. Examples:
"So little one, are you eating every 2 to 3 hours throughout the day?"
"Are you letting your parents get any sleep these days?"
"Are you smiling and cooing now?" (Uh, do I let her answer, or....)
And the latest one: "You know, lots of people expect mommies to just get back out there and into the swing of things, especially around the holidays! Yep! But you should tell mommy to just rest in bed because then she'll be able to be happier."
Ok, as long as Lorelei approves....!
So that's what I've been doing the past two days. Not resting in bed, but just lounging in PJs without feeling guilty about it. It definitely helped that we had a huge snowstorm on Wednesday so that was a no-brainer. And yesterday, I could have gone out...but that would have meant scraping off the car...nah.
Today though, I do have an appointment at 2pm, so I am going out! I'm dropping Lei (one of our nicknames for her--her initials are L.E.I.) off with Derek at work so I can get a full hour or so to myself. Then it's off to Target to get some stuff for Christmas cookies (Derek's sister Becca is coming this weekend so we'll be a-baking) and to get Lei a little dumb holiday dress for Derek's office party. Blah.
Happy face!
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, October 1, 2009
And the countdown begins....
Just thought I'd check to say...ONE MONTH 'TIL THE MARATHON!
WOO HOO!!
Did another strong six-miler today...felt great. Hey, maybe there IS something to say about the PowerBar, as I had one today and yesterday before my runs and felt really energetic. Hmm.
Also - I watched The Hills and The City on DVR today! Yess! I love those shows.
That's about it for now. Dinner with Rob and Claire tonight at Prosperity. Oh, and I made banana nut muffins again because I am apparently obsessed with baking. Here's a pic of those and of the buttermilk biscuits from last night.
One more thing...I made a "pact" with myself to have no alcohol for a full month leading up the marathon. But I want sangria! At Prosperity! Tonight! Boo. I guess we'll see how my willpower holds up.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Recap
Ok, once again, sorry for being out of the loop.
Some recent news:
1- I got an offer to tutor kids after school part-time. Yay! Still looking for more work, but at least this is a start. First training session begins October 10.
2- Sent an email to a principal in the area offering to volunteer at her elementary school. I figure it's a good way to get exposure, help out, etc.
3- Also sent volunteer requests to Shoes and Clothes for Kids as well as Team in Training (alumni)...should be great!
4- Been baking/cooking even more now that mom got me that Martha Stewart cupcake book...good thing I'm marathon training!
5- Signed up for yelp and have been writing lots of reviews. I'm trying to figure out how to link them directly here, but until I do, you can click on the right-hand side of the page on that little yelp map and you can read the reviews. I've done mostly Cleveland places, but I did touch a bit on NY pizza places and one place in Madison so far.
I also started reading New York Magazine's "The Cut" Blogs again, now that Gossip Girl, as well as the Hills and the City, are back in full force. You may keel over laughing if you read this article about last night's Gossip Girl!
What else?Not much.
Training this week is as follows:
Mon 9/28 - 4 miles, Towpath Trail @ Canal & Rockside
Tues 9/29 - pilates
Wed 9/30 - 6 miles, Steelyard Path
Thurs 10/1 - 6 miles, TBD
Fri 10/2 - Off
Sat 10/3 - 20 miles!!!!!!!!!!!! Last one!!!!!!!!!
Sat 10/4 - Off or an "easy 3" (By the way, love those T-shirts that say "On the seventh day, God did an easy 3.")
And then, thankfully, the taper begins. I felt so strong today though, and I am ready to conquer 20 once again. And then 26.2 in exactly 4 weeks from Sunday!!!
Also, next weekend (Oct. 11) I've decided to run the Towpath Half Marathon with Claire. Good times!
Kristin came to visit last weekend, which was wonderful, and we went apple picking at Heavenly Hill Farm in North Royalton. Here are some of our photos:
On a final note: made some buttermilk biscuits with this recipe by the Food Network's Tyler Florence....one thing: there MUST have been a mistake on the recipe because it calls for a full tablespoon of salt. Blecch! I am annoyed that these were pretty much ruined...but still fun to make. :)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Let the River Run
Ok, so, remember all that complaining I was doing? It was stupid. Why? Because I just ran the best half-marathon ever! So, here's the race report for the Cleveland Clinic River Run...
Claire and I ran this one together, which was great, because even though we didn't really chat during the race, it was great to have someone there going through it with you. We are about the same pace, so there was no "pressure"...although we agreed that if one or the other needed to run ahead or fall back, it was o.k.
She picked me up at around 7, and we got to Wallace Lake in Berea by 7:15 or 7:20. This was a point-to-point course, so we both signed up for the shuttle that would take us from the finish (Memorial Field in Rocky River) back to the start where we parked. I was excited to run this race, because I had recently discovered (thanks to Claire) the Rocky River Reservation, part of the Cleveland Metroparks, which is spectacularly beautiful. Plus, I read online that it was a net downhill course, and that it was fast -- and I had never run a course like that for a half-marathon...or any race, for that matter, other than the Patrick Joyce 5k in August.
The start was "cute"...by this I mean that it was small, and they kind of rang a little bell when the race began. They did, however, have mats and the new "shoe tag" technology. Started off a little fast for my pace, but we were at the WAY back of the crowd and I would have felt a bit embarrassed going any slower. So I said to myself, "you held the pace for the 5k, and this isn't that fast, you've done tempo runs before, just do it, it'll be good practice." I was thinking for quite a while that the McMillan Calculator didn't quite work out with me...that I could hold an ok pace for a bit, but that once I got past the 5 mile mark, I just slowed and slowed. Therefore, 10ks, halfs, and the one marathon I did were MUCH slower than they should have been according to this calculator. So I said to myself, "you've been training really hard, and maybe you just haven't been trying as hard as you could during those longer races to maintain that 'comfortably hard' threshold pace in order to get the most of your training." And you know what? I DID keep the pace today, and it worked!
I'll break this race into thirds. The first third's splits were as follows:
Mile 1 - 10:08
Mile 2 - 10:16
Mile 3 - 10:05
Mile 4 - 11:13 (hmm, a bit slower)
Mile 5 - 9:49 (that's why!)
At this point, Claire and I had been running pretty much side by side. But then she had to use the bathroom, and ran up ahead to do that, and said she'd hopefully catch up with me. The next few miles are the "solo" ones:
Mile 6 - 10:35
Mile 7 - 10:57
Mile 8 - 10:48
Mile 9 - 10:15
It was around this mile when a huge-ass hill presented itself...I was prepared because Claire told me it was coming. Speaking of Claire, just as we were climbing the hill, she caught up to me. We supported each other throughout the last part, which is always kind of the hardest. (Actually, for me, the "Rodney Dangerfields of running" -- the middle miles -- are the worst.)
Mile 10 - 11:04 (by the way, cumulative time at this point was 1:45, the fastest ten miles I have ever run!)
Mile 11 - 10:18 (can't believe I am STILL under two hours! Wow!)
Mile 12 - 10:42 (OMG, cumulative time is 2:06, I can't believe it!)
Mile 13 - 10:12, and the last .1 - 52 seconds.
Finishing time: 2:17:12 -- a new PR by over ten minutes!! Wow!
So the moral of this story is...even when you feel disgusting and that nothing is working...TRUST YOUR TRAINING :)
Got water and a banana - was "proud" of myself for not partaking of the pizza and ice cream they had in abundance...I say that in quotes because to be honest, I thought I would be sick at the thought of it. :) But I really did feel great afterwards, not delirious like the last half in Madison, and I hardly even got that "brain drain"/gross fatigue that sets in during these races. I guess running 18 miles the previous weekend puts things a bit in perspective :)
Anyway, on to other things...tried two new recipes this weekend: Eggplant Parmesan last night, and Tea Cakes with Jam in Citrus Glaze (!) today. (My mom recently got me this book by Martha Stewart on the art of making cupcakes.) Speaking of which, I've got to go make and glaze my cakes. Pictures to follow. :)
Claire and I ran this one together, which was great, because even though we didn't really chat during the race, it was great to have someone there going through it with you. We are about the same pace, so there was no "pressure"...although we agreed that if one or the other needed to run ahead or fall back, it was o.k.
She picked me up at around 7, and we got to Wallace Lake in Berea by 7:15 or 7:20. This was a point-to-point course, so we both signed up for the shuttle that would take us from the finish (Memorial Field in Rocky River) back to the start where we parked. I was excited to run this race, because I had recently discovered (thanks to Claire) the Rocky River Reservation, part of the Cleveland Metroparks, which is spectacularly beautiful. Plus, I read online that it was a net downhill course, and that it was fast -- and I had never run a course like that for a half-marathon...or any race, for that matter, other than the Patrick Joyce 5k in August.
The start was "cute"...by this I mean that it was small, and they kind of rang a little bell when the race began. They did, however, have mats and the new "shoe tag" technology. Started off a little fast for my pace, but we were at the WAY back of the crowd and I would have felt a bit embarrassed going any slower. So I said to myself, "you held the pace for the 5k, and this isn't that fast, you've done tempo runs before, just do it, it'll be good practice." I was thinking for quite a while that the McMillan Calculator didn't quite work out with me...that I could hold an ok pace for a bit, but that once I got past the 5 mile mark, I just slowed and slowed. Therefore, 10ks, halfs, and the one marathon I did were MUCH slower than they should have been according to this calculator. So I said to myself, "you've been training really hard, and maybe you just haven't been trying as hard as you could during those longer races to maintain that 'comfortably hard' threshold pace in order to get the most of your training." And you know what? I DID keep the pace today, and it worked!
I'll break this race into thirds. The first third's splits were as follows:
Mile 1 - 10:08
Mile 2 - 10:16
Mile 3 - 10:05
Mile 4 - 11:13 (hmm, a bit slower)
Mile 5 - 9:49 (that's why!)
At this point, Claire and I had been running pretty much side by side. But then she had to use the bathroom, and ran up ahead to do that, and said she'd hopefully catch up with me. The next few miles are the "solo" ones:
Mile 6 - 10:35
Mile 7 - 10:57
Mile 8 - 10:48
Mile 9 - 10:15
It was around this mile when a huge-ass hill presented itself...I was prepared because Claire told me it was coming. Speaking of Claire, just as we were climbing the hill, she caught up to me. We supported each other throughout the last part, which is always kind of the hardest. (Actually, for me, the "Rodney Dangerfields of running" -- the middle miles -- are the worst.)
Mile 10 - 11:04 (by the way, cumulative time at this point was 1:45, the fastest ten miles I have ever run!)
Mile 11 - 10:18 (can't believe I am STILL under two hours! Wow!)
Mile 12 - 10:42 (OMG, cumulative time is 2:06, I can't believe it!)
Mile 13 - 10:12, and the last .1 - 52 seconds.
Finishing time: 2:17:12 -- a new PR by over ten minutes!! Wow!
So the moral of this story is...even when you feel disgusting and that nothing is working...TRUST YOUR TRAINING :)
Got water and a banana - was "proud" of myself for not partaking of the pizza and ice cream they had in abundance...I say that in quotes because to be honest, I thought I would be sick at the thought of it. :) But I really did feel great afterwards, not delirious like the last half in Madison, and I hardly even got that "brain drain"/gross fatigue that sets in during these races. I guess running 18 miles the previous weekend puts things a bit in perspective :)
Anyway, on to other things...tried two new recipes this weekend: Eggplant Parmesan last night, and Tea Cakes with Jam in Citrus Glaze (!) today. (My mom recently got me this book by Martha Stewart on the art of making cupcakes.) Speaking of which, I've got to go make and glaze my cakes. Pictures to follow. :)
Friday, September 11, 2009
Ugh.
Ok, just so that nobody thinks I'm dead, I thought I should update the blog a minute. Ok, done.
Just kidding...sort of.
The truth? I have been super unmotivated and kind of down lately. Still can't find a job. Been applying everywhere under the sun and I am so frustrated. But I don't really feel like elaborating at the moment.
Also, the training has been fine - did my 18-miler last weekend and this weekend plan to do the Cleveland Clinic River Run with Claire. But I am feeling really tired, with leaden legs (and now my left leg is actually bothering me quite a bit and I haven't been able to get a good run in since Saturday). Did some cross-training this week, but it isn't the same, and I just feel gross. Also, been trying to eat a bit better, which is working and is actually making me feel better with more energy (had been partaking in the pizzas, chips, and ice cream a bit too much, resulting in sugar highs...and lows...and grease-hangovers. Not good for running!). But, I don't know. I need to be lifted out of this funk.
I guess it doesn't help matters that today is the 8-year anniversary of the Twin Towers attacks. I just miss my city so much, and I want to be there with my family and friends. Cleveland is fine, actually better than fine, but I need my support network. I am so grateful for Derek, and for the few good friends we have here...but I miss everybody else. :(
Anyway, this made me feel a bit better. Also, Derek and I booked our flight for marathon weekend! We are getting in Friday night, October 30, and leaving at 4:15 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2. Thinking about the marathon, and my opportunity to pay tribute to my city, makes me feel so strong and proud. So much so that I am (temporarily) willing to suck it up and cut back a bit on the mileage right now in order to not totally mess up my chances of running in November. I am annoyed that I haven't been able to get in my quality miles this week, but I have learned from experience that a couple of days of will not only aid healing, but it will also not derail all the good training I've put forth thus far. So, yeah. Good chat, self.
On another note, you (and I say "you" meaning..who? I think only my mom and maybe one other person ever reads this) might have noticed that I have been posting more pictures of food lately. I have really been cooking and baking up a storm. So I might just send MMS messages to the blog ('cause I have it synced up to the phone) of what I've been doing. For example, this morning, I baked some homemade banana nut muffins. Hmm, maybe I'll send a pic of those after I post this. Or wait - maybe I will send it now, so it will arrive on the blog first, thus, right after this paragraph...? Anyway. Take care for now. I will try to do the same.
Just kidding...sort of.
The truth? I have been super unmotivated and kind of down lately. Still can't find a job. Been applying everywhere under the sun and I am so frustrated. But I don't really feel like elaborating at the moment.
Also, the training has been fine - did my 18-miler last weekend and this weekend plan to do the Cleveland Clinic River Run with Claire. But I am feeling really tired, with leaden legs (and now my left leg is actually bothering me quite a bit and I haven't been able to get a good run in since Saturday). Did some cross-training this week, but it isn't the same, and I just feel gross. Also, been trying to eat a bit better, which is working and is actually making me feel better with more energy (had been partaking in the pizzas, chips, and ice cream a bit too much, resulting in sugar highs...and lows...and grease-hangovers. Not good for running!). But, I don't know. I need to be lifted out of this funk.
I guess it doesn't help matters that today is the 8-year anniversary of the Twin Towers attacks. I just miss my city so much, and I want to be there with my family and friends. Cleveland is fine, actually better than fine, but I need my support network. I am so grateful for Derek, and for the few good friends we have here...but I miss everybody else. :(
Anyway, this made me feel a bit better. Also, Derek and I booked our flight for marathon weekend! We are getting in Friday night, October 30, and leaving at 4:15 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2. Thinking about the marathon, and my opportunity to pay tribute to my city, makes me feel so strong and proud. So much so that I am (temporarily) willing to suck it up and cut back a bit on the mileage right now in order to not totally mess up my chances of running in November. I am annoyed that I haven't been able to get in my quality miles this week, but I have learned from experience that a couple of days of will not only aid healing, but it will also not derail all the good training I've put forth thus far. So, yeah. Good chat, self.
On another note, you (and I say "you" meaning..who? I think only my mom and maybe one other person ever reads this) might have noticed that I have been posting more pictures of food lately. I have really been cooking and baking up a storm. So I might just send MMS messages to the blog ('cause I have it synced up to the phone) of what I've been doing. For example, this morning, I baked some homemade banana nut muffins. Hmm, maybe I'll send a pic of those after I post this. Or wait - maybe I will send it now, so it will arrive on the blog first, thus, right after this paragraph...? Anyway. Take care for now. I will try to do the same.
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