Nashville: Solo and 5K

We have been slow to post this week but we did make a nice run on Sunday morning and made it or 2.2 miles. Remember we are going from couch potato to half marathon in the matter of a few months so even these small distances help. Had to make solo runs on Tuesday morning, Caitlin keeps getting sick but I never seem too. We shall be running the Habitrot tomorrow morning before stuffing our faces with Thanksgiving goodness. This would be Caitlin's idea to make a run in the am before thanksgiving where flurries are predicted. My typical Thanksgiving consist of sleeping in until about 10 am, waking up to the smell of turkey or pie or stuffing. Getting some football info from ESPN and watching a game. That has now been destroyed by Caitlin on this fine Thanksgiving but I still love you anyway baby. Hope all have a wonderful Turkey Day.

Tunica: Five Words

12 miles this morning. Tired.

Tunica: BOR-ing.....

I am very boring today. Do you ever have those days? Days where you feel like you don't really contribute anything to the world? Well, that's me today. Except for I'm having a pretty good hair day. That's something.

Bex and I went to Batesville over the weekend to run with our friend Lauren. The plan was to do 8 miles, but I was out of my comfort zone and had new shoes so I only made it about 4 miles. Lame, I know. I have figured out it is never a great idea to run super-far in brand new shoes. I love my shoes, but needed to ease them into my ruthless training routine. Here are my lovely shoes I found for $15 off at Amazon.com:Then today our plan was to do 10 but I only did 8. What is up with me?! Guess I might be getting a tiny bit burned out. But no worries. I am not worried about getting to 13.1 miles by my half marathon on Janurary 9th.

Oooo-ooooo....one more thing I just thought of that I can contribute to the world today. A super-easy and super-healthy recipe for your Thanksgiving table. One pot, four ingredients, 20 mintues and voila! Very impressive Mashed Sweet Potatoes. I call this Weeknight Easy, Thanksgiving Potential. Tom says that sounds like a good name for a cook book! Maybe I'll make my cookbook my next project after this blog becomes wildly famous and popular.

Below is the recipe. Disclaimer: as far as I know, I totally made this up. If some of you sweet potato lovers out there recognize it as your own, I'm sorry, but I really did make this up in my own little kitchen with Tom's help.

Ingredients:

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 cup 2% milk

4 T. butter

4 T. brown sugar

Instructions: In a large pot, cook sweet potatoes and milk, covered, for about 15 minutes on medium to medium-high heat. Add butter and stir or mash with a potato masher. Cover and cook 5 more minutes. Add brown sugar and mash 'em up to desired consistancy. DONE!

Clearly the sweet potato is one of the best veggies out there nutritionally, and I like this recipe because it does not denote the nutrients with TONS of sugar and butter, but just enough to make it yummy and Thanksgiving-ish. If you wanted to go a little less-figure-friendly and take this to a dinner party or Thanksgiving at the in-laws, you could mash the potatoes ahead of time and refrigerate in a casserole dish. The day of, top with a few marshmellows, melted butter, and more brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, whatever. Bake at 350 for like 30 or 40 mintues to warm it through and toast the marshmellows. Easy, yummy, and impressive.

Tunica: Another 10 Miler

Well, I'm happy to report another successful 10-mile run update. Bex and I hit the road early Saturday morning for our weekly long run. It was another beautiful morning in the Delta and we set out to do six miles first before stopping for water. We finished the first six miles at a little over an hour (lovely 11.5-12 minute mile pace) and got water at my house. Then set out to do the remaining four. We finished the entire run in 1 hour 59 minutes and 10 seconds. I had hoped to finish in under 2 hours and there you go....I met my goal by 50 whole seconds. Love it.

I felt great when we finished....a little creeky in the knees but other than that I feel good. While doing those last four miles I started thinking about the half marathon. I did my first half in Nashville and it took me 2 hours and 37 minutes. That's about a 12 minute mile pace. My goal for running the half in January is to do it in 2 and a half hours. Making it a 11.5 minute mile pace. I hope I can do it, I really do. Wish I had some advice on increasing speed for long distance runs. Any avid veteran runners out there care to contribute some wisdom on running faster for longer? Any help or advice is welcome.

On a funny note....
I was at the Kroger on Sunday afternoon. I love a Sunday afternoon grocery store trip. I really have to plan my grocery shopping because the closest legitimate grocery store is about 30 minutes away from where we live. I love getting my recipes together and forming a long wonderful list of ingredients to buy. It's like my Sunday afternoon therapy. I relish in combing through the apple bins to find the perfect fruit, I love to compare prices & ingredients of all different salad dressings, I enjoy chatting with the butcher about the best cut of steak or pork for a new recipe I'm trying. Grocery Store Sunday is like my 'me' time. I love it. I take my time. I leave in a good mood.
So this past Sunday I rolled out of bed, threw on jeans and a T-shirt and made the trek to the Hernando Kroger with 1,589-item list in hand. Let me be clear that I was sans-makeup, sans-shower, and couldn't have cared less about what I looked like.
While in the dairy section perusing the newest Limited Edition Holiday Flavor CoffeeMate Creamers, I was approached by an unusual-looking man with wild red hair wearing a suit and tie situation that could or could not have been purchased at Big Don's Costume Shop. He looked harmless enough as he smiled at me and said,

"I would be unjust if I didn't tell you that you look really good."
Insert gooby pervy smile here.
He continued by saying,
"You look like you don't have a lot of fat on your body."
Okay, that's enough, Weird-O. Move on.

I politely said thank you and continued on my merry way down the Diet Coke aisle. After I finished being thoroughly creeped out by Wild Red Hair Man, I realized that although it was a weird compliment, I'd take it. I guess the 10-milers are paying off since strangers are telling me I 'look like I don't have a lot of fat on my body.' Niice.

Nashville: Enough of the Injuries!

Has this happened to anyone? You feel like you are so young but at the same time so old? I turned 27 back in September and I swear my body has fallen to pieces in the mean-time-the-in-between-time. This. Is. Whack.

For some reason unbeknownst to me, I woke up last weekend with an extreme pain in my lower back. When I stood up I felt a sharp jolt run down my right hind cheek, through my hamstring all the way to the arch of my foot. I winced in pain as my toes began to cramp and curl up. This continued to happen throughout the day and the entire week. It was hard for me to get in and out of the car, sit in my chair at class – even when I was lying down; I had to position myself just right so that I could fall asleep. It was all so painful that I didn’t run or workout. I did attempt some Yoga by one of my favorite Yogis Rodney Yee. But alas Rodney would be disappointed. The magical, mystical powers of my $8.99 Yoga DVD from Target, was no match for my body’s decision to fall apart.

To complement the right side of my body going to the can, two of my left toes decided to go numb and the bottom of my foot thought it was the perfect time to swell. I had to ice it just to relieve some of the pressure. What happened to me? Did I sleep walk into a jujitsu class? Did a merry band of magical muscle hurting elves come visit me during my hours of slumber? I can’t think of a single that happened in the waking days where I could gather such injuries. The other aspect that makes me feel like I am on a steady course straight to the nursing home is the fact that it took me all week to recover. Back in the diz-zay this #1) never would have happened and #2) wouldn’t have taken me an entire week of rest to make me feel better. And you know what else folks??? I’ve had enough. Enough I say!

I’m done with the foot injury, lower back pain, neck/shoulder injury and H1N1 (see blog entry 9/11). I have had enough and I am proclaiming to everyone out there. No more injuries for this girl! My plan is to continue to rest this weekend and workout with Erica on Monday morning then start running with Benjamin Jeffrey on Tuesday. Come hell or high water I am getting back in the routine! Ben and I have also decided to take Laura’s advice and sign up for a 5k. We are running in the Habitrot on Thanksgiving morning benefitting Habitat for Humanity. We hope to see you there!

Tunica: Sunshiney Day

Well, what a good blogger I am....posting two days in a row! I was just feeling thankful for this day and had some blog-worthy things to say so I decided to post again. That, combined with the fact that I am procrastinating getting back to work.

Bex and I had a great run this morning. We did 8 miles and the sun was high in the sky when we started at ten after six! I'm telling you this was one gorgeous morning. GAW-GOSS. Gotta love that. Having the sun in the sky certainly helps when that alarm goes off at 5:50am. It was a beautiful morning and this run just made me so thankful to live where I live. I need to post some pictures of our running route scenery. All you City Mice will be green with envy when you see what we Country Mice get to see as we go on our runs through the cotton and rice fields. Vast blue skies, miles of farm land, and plenty of fresh air.

I wanted to follow up to my blog post from yesterday. Caitlin, this one's for you. Now that you are up to about 2 or 2.5 miles, you need to sign up for a 5K. I bet Kathleen would do it with you. A 5K is 3.1 miles. Slow and steady finishes the race so just sign up, take your time, and run the whole way without stopping. It will be great for you to get some exposure to the race atmosphere because obviously it is very different than running on Tuesday morning with Ben and Sadie. Once you have done a 5K, find a 10K to sign up for. Meeting these short-term goals will make it easier for ya when you do the half-marathon. Think about it.

Tom and I were able to move back into our house last night PRAISE THE LORD. I do not do well when all of my personal belongings are in upheaval and disarray. Tom speant like 6 hours yesterday vacuuming the 1/2 inch of dust that covered every single surface of our house. Ridiculous. But well worth it...beautiful new floors, and it was so nice to sleep in my own bed and shower in my own shower! We got the master bedroom and bathroom done. Now just have to move the couch back into the TV room and a serious cleaning of the kitchen and we should be back in business on Kenny Hill Drive.

So I am pumped for another 10 miler for me this weekend! Wish me luck!

oh dang it I almost forgot!.....To send a shout-out to my sister Myra (okay she is my sister-in-law but I like to call my sis-in-laws 'Sister' because I don't have any real sisters). She is such a good blog follower, and such a good sister that she sent me an awesome birthday package! Guess what was in it.....that's right.....EMERGEN-C! Gotta love a loyal fan. Even if she is family. You can learn more about Sister by visiting her uber-witty (and uber-new) blog! She is fun and funny. You will love her.
While I'm on the subject of sister blogs, you can visit my OTHER sister's blog HERE (again, she is a sister-in-law but humor me here). Sara Whit's blog is about her unnaturally-cute-smart-and-talented daughter, Lilly. Granted Lilly is 9 months old but we are certain she is smarter and more talented than you average run-of-the-mill baby. You will love her, too.

Tunica: Race for the Cure

Well, we have had a crazy and pretty counter-productive week in Tunica since the famous 10-miler back on the 23rd. Tom and I were kicked out of our house (no we did not get evicted) to have our....wait for it.....hard wood floors RE-DONE! As lovely as it sounds, and I know as lovely as it will look, it has been a giant pain in the hiney to move out of the house for a week to have these floors re-done. That being said, I did not plan well and did not pack enough running clothes (God knows where all my sports bras are right now...probably in the freezer or something) and we have been moving from a friend's house here to a family member's house there in order to not wear out our welcome in anyone's home. But finally after 5 long nights away from home we are moving back in today. Well, Tom is moving everything back in today. I am at work. Blogging. So hopefully this coming week will be better and full of lovely long runs.

Sidebar: Has anyone noticed how much easier it is to run in the mornings these days since the time has changed? I hate having to run in the dark, wee small hours of the morning. Now I don't have to!

One productive thing I did this weekend was run in the Susan G. Koman Memphis Race for the Cure. It. Was. Awesome. Everyone was waiting with baited breath until Race Day (Saturday) because up until that point we had been having Biblical Rain in Memphis and the Mid-South area. You read that right. BIBLICAL RAIN people. Biblical rain as in, build yourself an ark, bring 'em in, two by two. Forty days and Forty nights. Okay maybe not that drastic but the news did call it Biblical rain. Well, God must have been smiling down on all those cancer survivors and racers for the cure, because it was a beautiful morning on Saturday with not a cloud in the sky! Over 16,000 people turned out for a record-setting race attendance. I ran in celebration of my mama who is a five-year survivor of breast cancer! Yaaaaaay for the surviving ta-tas! :) The race was an easy, breezy, 5K (about 3.1 miles) through some pretty Germantown neighborhoods. It was a great morning and an even greater cause. I hope everyone out there who is beginning a running routine will get on the 'net and find a good fund-raising race near them.

Here is Helen Frazier...isn't she lovely?

Speaking of 5K's...if any of your blog followers are super-motivated and inspired by reading tmobnashville and want to start running on your own, there is a great 5K training program. I know many girls who have used this program to train for a 5K, and to loose baby weight. Check it out and get started TODAY not tomorrow or Monday! The name says it all....Couch to 5K....how card can it be?