‘shore part deux

Picking up from where I left off, PR high in full force, I met Nate at the finisher’s area after running the Bayshore 10k. There were plenty of goodies for all the runners, including cookies, muffins, GU Chomps, bananas, orange slices, energy drink and ice cream! Mooner’s, a TC local favorite, was giving out ice cream to all the runners. I think I may have just fallen in love with a race sponsor.

I didn’t get any pictures of the ice cream (for some reason, it disappeared really fast… ), but I did get some freebies for future training runs:

After I stretched and walked it out a bit, we headed back to the hotel so I could wash my hair & shower. How many of us plan our long runs around when we have to wash our hair next? Just me?

We checked out and  headed into the downtown area, to the Green Cafe, where I ordered a breakfast fit for a runner who’d just PR’d:

breakfast of a running god wannabe

This amazing concoction is called an eggs neptune- it’s like an eggs benedict but over crab cakes instead of Canadian bacon (most of you know I don’t eat pork, so this was perfect for me). What’s funny is that I normally don’t like hollandaise (too fatty and I’m not a big heavy/white/creamy sauce kinda person), but I absolutely devoured this meal. It was amazeballs, in a word. If you’ve never had one before, please order it now. You’ll thank me later.

After my stellar breakfast and slamming several glasses on NUUN filled water, we drove the 30 minutes to Nate’s family cottage, where I got some quality time in with this special girl:

I didn’t feel sore at all, but a little tired.  This picture pretty much describes the rest of my evening activity-

add a couple Oberon’s and that was my night in a nutshell

Except I didn’t sleep out there (although I could have, sans mosquitoes.) We actually ended up staying at a cabin a couple miles away from Nate’s family cottage. I was a little apprehensive at first (I’ve never gone camping or anything) because of how Nate described it- “2 bunks and no bathroom”. But it turned out to be quite quaint.

(ps. there was a bathroom about 20 ft away)

I think my favorite part about sleeping here was that I got to have a new sleeping companion:

We usually crate the girls at night, but with Kenna at my aunt’s and Rylee ‘on vacation’, we decided to spoil her a little. Looks like she had no trouble adjusting.

I didn’t mind the ‘camp out’ experience, but I think I’m more apt to camp this way in the future:

seen on Pinterest

The next day, we headed back to TC once I heard there was a huge sale at Running Fit. Everything in the store (except Bayshore material) was 20% off. They also had pictures of people from the race all over the store that were free for the taking. I didn’t see any from the 10k which was kind of disappointing, but I guess they got a little caught up with the half & full marathon pictures (priorities….)

Of course I didn’t walk out empty handed:

tried & true flavor, and a couple newbs

and since I recently hit in the 300′s (!!!!) on my Pegasus’ it was time for some new shoes:

Saucony Ride 5

I’ve been having a little bit of toe pain in my left foot, and think the wider toe box will be exactly what I need! I’ve ran in them 3 times and absolutely love them.

I was so glad I got to experience Bayshore, and also met some more cool Tweeps of mine the day before- Matt & Janet! I’ve Tweeted with them a zillion times and may or may not have made Matt my unofficial running coach (shhh) so it was really cool to meet them IRL. Janet ran the half and Matt did his first full, both had awesome times! Just sad I didn’t think to get a picture with them or see them at the actual race!

My whole experience at Bayshore was really positive- in fact, the more I think/talk about Bayshore, the more I absolutely love/d this race. The course was beautiful (is there really anything better than a lakefront course?), there was great crowd support, and the finisher’s area was amazing. Everything was also really well organized. Traverse City Track Club puts on the race every year, this year being the 30th anniversary, and let’s just say it’s kinda a big deal: the race attracts over 7,000 runners and brought an estimated $5 million in revenue to the Traverse City area.  This was definitely the biggest race I’ve ever done.

So, if you’re ever looking for a fun and scenic race with a flat course and lots of good organization, definitely check out Bayshore. So glad I got to do it!

Talk to me:

What’s the best breakfast you’ve ever had?

What’s your favorite race currently?

Are you big into camping?

Back from the ‘shore!

I’m back from Bayshore! On Friday, we headed up to Traverse City for some fun in the sun, family time…. oh and that little race I signed up for last December.  At the crack of noon, we headed out.

It was this girl’s first road trip:

We dropped Rylee off at Nate’s family cottage about 40 minutes away from Traverse City and then headed into town. I had no idea how big this race was, and how many people come from all over to run it. The expo was packed, but well organized, so we were in and out.

After checking into the hotel, we decided to walk to Red Mesa Grille, a cute place nearby. This marks a huge pre-race mistake:

1. Eating something totally different the night before the race

I guess I should have guessed by the name, but when the basket of tortilla chips & salsa started flowing, I realized this was Mexican restaurant. Spicy, beans and jalapenos do not a good race performance make. I ended up getting this amazing quesadilla with grilled pineapple, chicken and smoked Gouda cheese. I only ate half and a million few chips with salsa.

I also fully participated in happy hour:

…. with an iced tea, heavy on the Splenda.

Since Nate wasn’t racing, he decided to start this vacation off right:

Cheers!

Pre-race jitters had kicked in hardcore by the time it was bedtime. I tossed and turned, dreamt about the race and tried mapping out every medical tent in the radius. You know, normal pre-race routine.

A short time later, it was time to get up. Nate ran to the store to grab some things while I got ready, which makes pre-race mistake number 2:

2. Never let your ride leave in a city congested by racers with limited time to run errands & hit the race on time. 

Okay, so he wasn’t gone too long…. but it felt like an eternity. We were about 3 miles from the race, but traffic was already backing up, and there was no way I’d have enough time to walk there. I thought about running, but felt that might defeat the purpose a little bit…..

Luckily, he was back quickly and got us to the start line with enough time for me to make 2 porta-potty stops. Once outside, I noticed that it felt much chillier than the forecasts had been claiming all week & even in the last 24 hours. I was actually pretty cold. Marking this, pre-race mistake number 3:

3. Bring one race outfit

As displayed in this picture at the starting line, I was clearly dressed for higher temps.Since I get cold easily, this was a dumb move on my part. I could only hope that the 30 minutes I had before starting the race would make the temps go up a little bit.

Nate was supportive, but tired:

Too many Shandy’s, I assume.

I had nerves up the yahoo, but when it was time to start, I prepped myself mentally.

just some of the 7000+ runners

I slid myself in the 9min pace corral and hoped I could manage doing 9′s for the whole race. The race started, and I immediately noticed it feeling warmer, which made me happy.

This course is an out and back, and the whole way you are running along the water and beautiful Traverse City houses. Lots of people were outside cheering the runners on, and some were even passing out beers along the way. I declined on the beer, but did hit up the water stations whenever I saw one.

See how much I love you? I take photos while running!

This was the first race I listened to music for during, because I was that nervous. Usually I like to enjoy the natural sounds around me, but this time I really wanted to focus. It felt like I was going to fast because I was passing a lot of people. It worried me because I didn’t want to get burned out, but I didn’t feel tired or out of breath so I just went with it.

This was a really pretty trail. I felt warm, but not hot, and there was a good breeze going. When we hit mile 3, I mistakenly thought there was a water station, so I started to take a GU.

I realized there was no aid station until the 4.5 mark, so I had to take the GU without water, which was not pleasant. But I made it and downed water like nobody’s business once I got some of it.

I looked at my clock and realized I had a pretty good chance of PR’ing if I kept my pace up. My goal was really to just enjoy the race and use this as a training run…. but in all seriousness, who doesn’t want to PR? I stepped up my speed and really pushed it for the last 1.5 miles. Even though I was feeling a little tired, I could taste that PR and wasn’t about to let anything stop me.

Finished!

My chip time was 51:07….. 3 minutes and 4 seconds faster than my last PR at Martian!

Check out these splits:

Mile 1: 9:11

Mile 2: 8:25

Mile 3: 8:08

Mile 4: 8:06

Mile 5: 7:51

Mile 6: 7:39

I don’t know about you guys, but in my mind I felt like an Olympian out there. Bad assery.

When I called Nate to figure out where we could meet, he thought something happened to me because no way could I have finished that fast! Oh Nathaniel….

I’ll do a race review & after the race post shortly.

 

Talk to me:

Did you race this weekend? How did it go?

Do you still get pre-race jitters?

What are some pre-race mistakes you’ve made before a race? 

 

 

Pre-made Smoothies

Trying to add more fruits & veggies in my diet has gotten me to experiment quite a bit and try new recipes. It’s been a constant struggle trying to find ways to incorporate these in a creative way…and keep it going. Never one to quit, I tried a new method this week- prepping smoothies & freezing them for the week:

mine didn’t look this cool so I borrowed this from Google

Part of the reason why I went with pre-made smoothies is because I’m lazy it’s easy and convenient to pull out of the freezer the night before, and have them completely ready in the morning. I also am a huge fan of smoothies because you can sneak things in that you might not eat individually, and not taste them as much in the mix.

Like these bad boys:

EEESssh. Just looking at them makes me shudder.

Beets have a TON of health benefits associated behind eating them. WHFoods says ‘Beets are a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains. Betanin and vulgaxanthin are the two best-studied betalains from beets, and both have been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support.’

Basically that means beets are good eats. I just do not like them at all! So the smoothie was the only way to go.

I created 4 pre-made smoothies on Sunday (since this is only a 4 day work week) and included this in the line-up:

-canned beets

-raspberries

-blackberries

-canned peaches

-canned pineapple

-greek yogurt with honey

There was really no rhyme or reason for why I chose these ingredients (besides beets). I just strolled the aisles at the grocery store and picked what sounded good at the time. I made the first 3 smoothies with all the ingredients, and the last one with just peaches, pineapples, and greek yogurt + honey. I figured after 3 days of beets, I’d readily welcome a ‘fun’ smoothie.

So….. how did it go?!

I’m a beet-liever!

I will never add beets to my salad or sandwich, or eat them plain… but I can do them in a smoothie. And I really loved knowing the good stuff I was putting in my body. Between the smoothies and the 2+ servings of baby carrots I took with me to lunch, I was able to get 5 or more servings of fruits/veggies everyday!

Plus, it was way cheaper than buying Naked Juice or some other natural fruit smoothie drink for a weeklong span. Needless to say, I am definitely planning to incorporate this into my routine.

Talk to me:

What is one fruit or veggie you absolutely cannot stand? 

What are your favorite things to put in smoothies?

Beet-liever or beet hater?

my first sponsored race!

how was everyone’s weekend?! mine went really well, just too fast (as per ush!)

on Thursday, I got offered a sponsorship from Renewal by Anderson to run Girls On The Run 5k in Ypsilanti, this Sunday (today!!)

There were three pretty cool things about this race- 1. I LOVED the cause behind it 2. It was on my alma mater campus (EMU) and 3. I got sponsored to run it (read: free race!)

With temps scheduled to be in the 80′s, I knew going in that this was not going to be a PR race for me. As much as that sucked, I decided to just have fun with it and enjoy running a race on my old campus. Plus, I finally got to meet my Twitter friend, @watchmegorun!

Megan, Brandon (from Renewal by Anderson) and me

Megan and I have Tweeted a zillion times so it was pretty cool to actually meet her IRL. She’s running the Bayshore Marathon next weekend, so she was planning to make this a fun run also. We set out at the start and waited for the race to begin!

At the starting line

The race started at 10am (the latest start for a race I’ve ran ever!), and it was around 80 at that point. HOT HOT HOT. We took off and had to dodge and weave a bit, but it started to thin out after the first mile. It was HOT! We were sweating just waiting at the start so I knew we were in for a doozy. We did pretty good though, and only had to take a brief walking break near mile 3. We ended up finishing in just under 31 minutes- not bad considering the temps!

Happy to be finished!

Even though I could’ve done without the heat, I had a blast getting to run a race for an awesome cause! I also felt like a legit running star getting sponsored to run this race. If any of my Michigan friends are looking to get sponsored, Renewal by Anderson will be sponsoring runners all summer! All you have to do is ‘like’ their Facebook page and check out their next races!

Enough about me, let’s talk about you:

Did you race this weekend?

Do anything else fun??

Who doesn’t love free stuff?

So not too long ago, I found out that Target has a samples page to try out some of their new products! All you have to do is click on the categories and select what you are interested in trying. They ask you a few simple survey questions, and then you get them mailed to you:

I selected the Beauty Bag and got this cute little bundle in the mail! Products included:

Nivea Extended Daily Lotion

Neutrogena visibly bright daily facial cleanser

L’Oreal Paris Magi Lumi Light Infusing Primer

Simple cleansing facial wipes

Pantene Color Preserve Volume Shampoo

Boatload of coupons

I was really impressed by how much came with in the bag, and how cute the little pink and purple striped bag was. Hello, new travel make up carrier!

Of all the products in here, my favorite is hands-down the Neutrogena cleaner. I’m very picky when it comes to facial cleansers (probably as a result of going to cosmetology school) and usually use products for sensitive skin or with gentle ingredients (irritated skin is never a good look), but those types of cleansers can often feel too lotion-y and hard to tell if you got it all off your face (like conditioner- does anyone else have that problem too?!)

This cleanser felt gentle on the skin, but I could tell when it was washed off. My skin did look brighter and I really enjoyed the clean feeling I got from it.

I also really like the Simple cleansing wipes because their products are tailored to sensitive skin and they have no alcohol, oil, perfume or dyes in their product. I could easily use up a whole box of these from working out alone, and love how you can still get that clean, crisp feeling on your face without  the risk of getting all of your hair wet or messing up a hairstyle that washing your face can cause.

I enjoyed getting to go through all of the products in this basket, and am feverishly stalking continuing to check back on the Target website for when they release more sample categories. Definitely worth checking out!

 

What are some of your favorite skin care products? 

 

Mother’s Day Brunch

Happy Monday to you all! Hope your day is getting off to a rockin’ start!

Mother’s day is always an important celebration in our family, simply because my mom is so awesome:

My mom and I on Christmas, with McKenna photobombing

This year, my family and I have celebrated a lot of holidays by having a brunch, so I thought hosting the brunch in honor of my mom on Mother’s Day would be very fitting.

These recipes are very easy to follow, the ingredients are pretty inexpensive and the end result is majorly delicious so I wanted to share them with you!

Cinnamon Roll Cake

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but all I can take credit for is the picture. I  got this recipe from Chef-in-training and it was delicious! My mom loves the cinnamon swirl coffee cake from Starbucks, so I was hoping to imitate that idea with this cake. I honestly think it tasted better!

Cheese, Egg, and Chicken Sausage w/ Apple Quiche

I have been making quiches for years, and they are always a big hit. What I love about a quiche is that the ingredients are so interchangeable, you can have endless possibilities! Here is the recipe I followed for this one, but you can always subsitute the meat for veggies or other types of meat, different cheeses, etc:

Ingredients:

5 eggs (I used egg beaters)

8 oz of cheese (I used Mexican mix)

1/2 cup milk

2 chicken w/ apple sausage links, diced

Pie crust

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients, pour into pie crust. Bake for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

 

Strawberry Kiwi Bellini

These were so easy to make and just added a classier touch to ordinary champagne! You can also substitute the fruit for other choices, but I really think the strawberry kiwi was perfect.

Ingredients:

Strawberries, pureed in food processor

Kiwi, pureed in food processor

Champagne (We used pink and white Korbel- you don’t need to get an expensive bottle because you’re mixing it)

Directions: Layer the kiwi puree underneath the strawberry puree and pour champagne over it.

 

Enjoy!

What did you do for Mother’s Day?

Any must have brunch recipes you would like to share?

Cake and burn out week

how is your weekend going thus far? mine has been pretty swimmingly!

Yesterday, Nate and I went out to Mitchell’s Fish Market to celebrate our 1 year anny:

I cannot believe it’s been a whole year! It was nice to reminisce on all the things we’ve been through in our first year of marriage. What could be better than that? Oh, here’s an idea:

The bakery that made our wedding cake gave us an anniversary cake, same batter as our wedding (mint chocolate chip)! Mmmm

After all the festivities, I went to sleep pretty late but got to sleep in (til 8:30) so I felt pretty up for my run. This week, I’ve felt a little burned out from running; think the past few 20 miler weekly totals may have been a bit much. Physically my legs feel fine (compression socks FTW), but mentally I just haven’t really wanted to run.

I even skipped a 3 miler the other day and opted for the bike. I thought that and taking a day off would be enough, and I modified my long run goal today (last weekend I ran 9.1- today my goal was 6-7). We got a later start in the day because Nate wanted to study first, so by the time we got out there it was around 70 degrees and felt really muggy.

My pace was fine, I felt a bit fatigued (thinking it was because of the heat and muggy-ness), but I kept myself hydrated and took a GU around 4.5 miles. I just wasn’t feeling it mentally at all.  I had  mild freak out during my run- what if I’m too burned out to keep up my training? What if something is really really (really) wrong with me?! I quickly quieted those thoughts and finished the run just around 1 hour, 6.3 miles total.

After the run, I spent some time thinking and noticed that I have a pattern of hitting a ‘burn out’ week every few weeks or so. I’ll go from being all ‘I lurrrrve running, run run run and run some more!’ to ‘ugh run again? today? meh’. It seems to go away after about a week, but noticing the trend did help me realize that maybe it’s just a natural part of being a runner to experience mental burn out.

Do you ever have burn out weeks? What do you do to combat them?

How did you celebrate your 1 year anniversary?

Anything fun going on this weekend you’d like to share?

One year ago….

Happy First Anniversary, Nathaniel. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Fun with Greek Yogurt!

For the past couple months, I’ve been incorporating Greek yogurt into my meals, mostly in smoothie form. While Greek yogurt has many health benefits- often double the protein and half the sugar of other yogurts, live bacterial cultures and calcium, its taste can be less than desired. I generally opt for Fage Total 0% because that’s what Costco carries, but it’s a good brand and product also. Adding it to a smoothie is a pretty easy way to get more Greek in your diet, but I wanted to figure out other ways to mix it in as well.

 

Here are a couple different recipes I’ve used successfully to make tasty Greek yogurt treats:

Greek Yogurt Dip

About 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil (I use Tuscan Olive Oil, infused with herbs)

Pepper & Salt to taste

2 tablespoons of Feta cheese

Mix together until well blended. Perfect for burgers or dipping vegetables.

 

Greek Yogurt Muffins

 

Greek Yogurt Sugar Cookies

These cookies were more cake-like than your average sugar cookie, but still delicious. I topped mine with a bit of Nutella and was in love!

What are some ways you get more Greek yogurt in your diet?

Do you hold yourself back?

Have you ever felt like this:

 

‘I’m not living up to my true potential’

‘I want to do more with my life’

‘I am afraid of trying my big dream/idea/venture because of…..’

‘I could never live the life I really want/have the body I really want/etc because of…’

‘I feel like my life is passing me by’

?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, you are not alone. These are called self limiting thoughts, and unfortunately, we are trained to have them in our lives from pretty much day one. These questions can hold you back from making the income you want, having the body you’d like, running the marathon of your choice, be with the spouse we’d like, or any other big dream that you may have. The reason these thoughts creep into our sub-conscious is because we know there is something better out there that we want, but we are afraid to go after it.

Doesn’t that sound silly? You know there is this great alternative to your current situation out there, and you could have it (just as well as anyone else could), yet you don’t? Why not? It’s because we let these limiting thoughts create obstacles that we deem insurmountable. But let’s dig even deeper: why do we allow these obstacles to exist? It’s because of fear.

Fear can come from many other avenues than just scary movies and monsters. Fear of stepping outside of your comfort zone, fear of being different, fear of failure, and fear of being alone in your quest are all many ways that we excuse not pursuing our dreams wholeheartedly.

I have trouble with fear too. Currently, I spend a lot of time thinking about my impact on the world; what I want to do and how I want to do it, only to come up short. I have a lot of ideas, but the self limiting thoughts creep in: ‘Alexis, you don’t have time to add that to your schedule- you’re busy enough!’, ‘How are you going to make a living doing that?’ and ‘it’s not enough to make the impact you’d want, so you shouldn’t do it anyway’ are many of the self limiting thoughts I experience.

Just last summer, I remember staring blankly at my computer screen, which showed a registration confirmation for my first 5k. I was completely panicked. ‘How are you going to make running a part of your already busy schedule? You could get hurt, you could not make your target goal (which at that point was to not walk during the race), you will miss out on time spent with friends and family’. The self limiting thoughts were endless.

But you get to the good stuff when you embrace your fear, feel it, and do it anyway. I started slow, running just barely a mile a couple times a week. Soon this progressed into 2 miles, which took what seemed forever until I felt comfortable. Part of my self limiting thoughts were right- I did miss out on time with friends and family, I did get sore often, and it was hard getting up an hour early some days just to get a run in.But I still did it, and I kept going.

When I crossed my first finish line, I felt invincible (and exhausted). Something inside of me said ‘take that, limiting thoughts. Go eff yourself. Mmmm a banana and coffee sounds great right now’

(Okay, so my brain was a little ADD post race)

That experience taught me that if you let your limiting thought control your future, you are letting them win without even putting up a fight. I could have walked a bit during that race, and I still would have won over my limiting thoughts. The fact that I stepped outside of my comfort zone only proved that 1. my comfort zone is a constantly growing space and 2. I am much more capable than what I realized

So for this beautiful Friday, wherever you are, I encourage you to think of one limiting thought you have fed yourself for too long that you want to change. It can be about anything. Even if it seems simple, if it’s held you back in any instance of your life, it is no laughing matter.The more that you show yourself what you can do, the more you will want to continue to do more. It’s time to show these limiting thoughts who’s boss, and what better time to start than now?

Talk to me:

What are some thoughts you’ve had that held you back (previously and currently)?

Did you challenge them? What happened?

If you have some you want to challenge now, and feel comfortable sharing, please do. My next post will be about mine (eek!)!