Race Time

I know, I know... this blog has been quite lacking in the fitness department but I've finally committed to my first race.

Yes...I'll actually be running this one instead of volunteering, which also means I'm officially back into training. Dexter - Ann Arbor June 5th!

A huge thank-you goes out to Rose, whom I met last Friday...what are the odds there is a local blogger whose also into running, who dragged my un-motivated butt back into the game. It was refreshing...running with another person, not the hail we were pelted with and pic will come next time!

I'm trying out this new training plan a friend gave me.

Each week consists of 3 runs: a tempo, quality and long one.

First week consisted of:

1. 30 - 40 mins 15-30 secs faster than an easy run - totally overdid this one and ended with positive splits
2. 6-8 hill repeats - this was a first for me and unfortunately we dont have any crazy hills near me so I went to my local Metro park only to find out that the majority of the trails were flood. Insanity yo..I've never seen anything like it.
3. 5 - 6 miles easy

It feels good to have a plan again and believe it or not I feel like it's making me get my mojo back..

Trader Joe's Indian Food

I had always thought I wasn't a fan of Indian food and when last summer my dad suggested we eat at an Indian restaurant, I was hestitant but obliged since well, you know... my dad rarely ever made demands.

We ate at Indique in D.C. as it a) had good yelp reviews and b) was off of a Metro stop. Needless to say...it wasn't half bad, yet once back in Michigan, I never really went out of my way to find a local place. I'm somewhat terrified to try Namaste as the reviews frequently state that the restaurant utilizes paperplates and plastic silverware.

So, I've been relying on Trader Joe's to recreate Indian cuisine at home.

1. Panang Curry Sticks - not a fan. nothing really special about them
2. Masala Simmer Sauce - a staple in this house, delicious with both chicken or seafood.

       The directions call for you to dump the sauce and then add another full jar of water... it gets way to watery...instead I use half a jar of buttermilk. it adds a nice creaminess without all the fat of actual whipping cream!

3. Garlic Naan - love! and imo, much better than the garlic naan in their bread section. the stuff shown here is in the freeze section. if you do want the bread stuff go to Whole Foods instead and grab their naan...delish!

4. Punjaab Choley - love these chickpeas in tomato sauce... so delicious and spicy, however at $2.99 (maybe more?!) a pop, I'm on a quest to recreate this dish by hand!

5. Raita (unpictured above but you see the dollop on my plate below) - a cucumber yogurt sauce. it was alright.. a tad watery and I believe my tzatziki dip tastes better with it!

Anyone have any favorite Indian dishes they want/are trying to recreate?
Favorite Indian recipes? 
Favorite Indian dish?

I made it to an Indian grocer yesterday and picked up several spices so I can't wait to get cookin!

let there be cake!

Over a week later and I still haven't made it through all my birthday cakes... I had 4... yes crazy right?!

Thankfully this one, never made it home with us Sunday night!

Last Monday, my mom, bro and I went to lunch with a family friend and she surprised me with this cake...

Notice anything special about it?

The tiara is the Disney Princess Half-Marathon Tiara!! and my favorite Tiffany Blue frosting color to symbolize Ariel...

awesome, right?

But wait till you see the inside....

A 7 layer cake....yumm,,,, besides the pie, I think this has been the most eaten cake so far...my Boston Cream Cake is the sore 3rd loser...

I don't think my friend Debbie is taking orders yet, but I'll letcha know when she does!

excuse me...

I've been absent.

I've been lacking in the motivation with life department. I've wanted to talk about it but since family is involved, I never know how much to say or not say so I've just stayed away.

I'm slowly coming back to it...I need to learn how to deal with certain things that just may not change anytime soon. Eating my misery away isn't an option either, but that's a post for another day.

Back to regular posting tomorrow, promise!

29 - the new 30?

Happy Monday Tuesday Wednesday blends!

I've been a tad busy with birthday week!

Monday I had to recoup from the fun Sunday/emotional last week while still continuing on the birthday celebration.

Not sure what happened but I really dreaded this birthday. I don't think it's really the number but more of I didn't know what I wanted to do, what I wanted as presents, that my gf's whom I wanted to spend time with didn't/couldn't make the time for me, ya know... the peripheral bs.

Anywhoo...Sunday started off great...we played a game of Carcassonne

with the Dragon and Princess expansion pack that made the game really interesting and somewhat longer! Definitely not an additional 15 minutes...

Then it was time for kaffee und kuchen.

It was lovely and way too much! I think we each had 2 pieces before we were full! Yup.. we are still eating cake!

Some post coffee, pre-dinner refreshments...

I've been stalking this drink for over a year now...and according to the sales dude at Wine Castle, they sold out of 7 cases within 3 days.. they can't keep it on their shelf!

It's a little tart but me likey and at $15 a bottle not too badly priced. I may just buy it by the case wise for the summer!

Dinner was at 6:30 at Vincente's.. I swear, this place gets no-press but everyone has ben there and raves about it!

I started out with a caipirinha or two..

They had an amazing butter...the bread was just ok.

Nate and I shared a lobster bisque.

For dinner, we decided to go the tapas route..

tomato and goat cheese as well as patata fritas

fried plantains, chorizo with mushrooms and deep fried mash potatoes with meat in them

shrimp in a tomato sauce, a pulled beef with more plantains, and calamari

Vincente's was out of a few items since there busy nights are Friday and Saturday so that was a bummer because there were several things we would have liked to try!

For dessert, my sister-in-law (a cake decorator) made me this lovely cake!

and since we weren't quite ready to go home yet, we had a night cap... a raspberry mojito but it wasn't anything to write home about..

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon and evening. I was spoiled beyond belief by family and couldn't have asked for a better birthday!

Carcassonne

My family is currenty obsessed with this game.

Funny considering  my bro has had the original version since 2001 or 2002 and we've played it maybe once.

You basically have these memory type cards with pieces of  a village on them and your goal is to form village and pastures and your points are based on what you complete.

Nate saw some pictures of it on Facebook and remembered my brother had that game so we played the base version and quickly got bored by the same 15 tiles. Thanks to Amazon (because no store including Toys R Us seemed to carry Carcassonne) we had the deluxe versition that included 5 expansion sets. So far we are up to playing with 2 expansion sets. Each set typically adds on 15 minutes to the base game (15 mins also) and you have to learn all the ins and outs of earning points for each set.

It's fun that doesn't include the computer or TV.. I dunno, lately I've had to force myself to be on the computer. Feeling a major technological burnout.

Anyone own the game Carcassone?
Favorite game night game?

Busy Birthday weekend ahead...have a good one!

PR Fail

what a crazy busy week this has been. i thought i'd be able to enjoy some down time but it doesn't seem that way.

I didn't mention this last week because I wasn't sure how to address it but now that I've gotten to calm down. I think I can hopefully blog about it objectively.

I had my first negative PR experience with a major affiliate-sales fitness company.

I pride myself on my blog. I don't get paid to do it and 99.9 things I talk about on here are things I myself have purchased and love.

Said company found me because of this blog post, talking about their product. When I shared that post, I never even took into consideration that a) they would find my blog post and b) reach out to me.

Up until then I never realized I was advertising for them because truly, who hasn't heard of P90X or knows someone that's done it?!

Without boring you to tears, the condensed version fo what happened in a weeks worth of email is this: They asked me to write a post linking to their miscellanous products. By the wording of their emails, I understood it to be, they would let me try out some of their product I would then review. Because really, you think I'm going to endorse product I haven't used yet?

Obviously they did...because they would NEVER "want links to be "paid linking"" because why pay for the milk you can get for free? instead they flipped it around making it sound like i would be doing all of you a huge favor by linking to their product I hadn't tried before.

I'm still livid about the whole situation, and am ashamed about their business practice!
I know I'm not the only one whose had this happen to them but gosh darnit, it blows my mind that they would even have the audacity to ask for more unpaid PR.

Truth is, I should attach this post to the actual post so that when people find that post, they'll know exactly what they are getting themselves into!


Should I now label my P90X posts as "The workout we shall not name?"


Anyone else have any negative PR fails?

Pre-Chem Complete - CHECK!

afternoon blends!

I've been quite productive today...

1. blew my Chem final out of the water
2. hit up Costco 
3. made some important phone calls

now it's noon and I'm not sure what to do with myself!? i kid, i kid...  I actually still have 1 class that runs till May so I need to get on that..

If there was one thing that had been holding me back about returning back to school for a post-bac dietetics program is that math and science are not my strong suit. I struggle with it, it causes me anxiety but I have to admit I am somewhat sad that Chem is over. I was beginning to grasp it and enjoy that it wasn't a constant battle.

I'm taking a week off and then starting on another 90 project...one which hopefully wont be as stressful as going to school! I'm excited and nervous all at the same time!

on that note, must get some A&P done...have a good one!

blink of an eye

It's been a crazy busy week.. and this rainy weather is NOT helping!

I have a gazillion feelings running through me and i honestly don't know where to begin.

Source

if anything I wish I could drown them in a 20 pack of sour cream TimBits.

Source

I attended a job fair on Wednesday with only 1 job in mind. I was one of 45, at least and as I sat there chatting with the lady I felt perfect for this position. It was exactly one of things I see myself doing and that was the problem. I don't think my 5 year plan was what they are looking for.

As I left that day and as I sit here, I'm saddened I may not even be able to interview and show them that my overall goal is exactly what they are looking for, but I don't feel hopeless. I know where I am going and obviously something better must be on the horizon.

Source

My birthday is coming and a) I have no clue what to do for it and b) I don't know what I want.


What's on your wish list?


Plans for the weekend?

I'm studying for my first final, Chem..I can already tell it's going to be brutal and I can not wait for this class to be over!!!

Stay dry!

Red Smoke Barbeque, Greektown Detroit

seriously...how is it already Thursday?! this week has been long and draining.. I can NOT wait till the weekend.. I'm exhausted!

I'm not really sure what's up with Detroit becoming a mecca for barbeque restaurants but we have 3..count them 1.2.3 downtown.

We even have some pretty well-known restaurants... one of them being Slow's Barbeque, featured on Man vs Food!

Since we ran the Corktown 5K, we had hoped to grab a bite at Slow's since it's right there but none of us even thought how packed it would be, and it was packed.

It's tough to get into Slow's without a reservation so I don't really know what we were smoking thinking.

We grabbed our car and headed to Greektown which was dead..which meant we got a table right away.

I was somewhat surprised by how small the first floor was..maybe a total of 20 tables?!

our table was in the first row of tables, right next to the bar

Not sure how big the upstairs is..

I love the atmosphere, it's fun. I think that is missed sometimes here in the Metro area. The menu was decent although a tad pricier than Slow's, but the portions are pretty big.

The brisket was ok, the corn muffin was better and the mac n cheese... uh-maz-ing!!! oh my gawd.. i think truffle oil was in it...it was A-MAZ-ING!!

They also had a great selection of barbeque sauces..

Overall, it was a good meal and a good time but I dunno if I'll be back...

Ok, I totally would for the mac-n-cheese!

Anyone heard of Slow's?
Been to Slow's?
Red Smoke?

Weekend Shenanigans and the Martian Marathon

Happy Friday Monday blends!

It's rainy and dreary here today..what a great start eh?

How was your weekend?

Mine was busy..

Source

My nose was stuck in my Chem and A&P book most of Sunday.

My Chem class ends next Monday and I still have to take 1 Test and then the Final.. I sorta feel like this.

Source

Saturday was another bright and early one...

Ignore the check engine light..;)

I might need to rethink getting involved with races and running... =)

I didn't realize what a big deal the Martian Marathon is by the time I actually investigated it, I wasn't really prepared to run it, so instead I volunteered as a Course Marshall!

Got to Dearborn by 6, checked in, and got some nice swag..

T-Shirt and koozy, cozy?! I think the Martian even glows!

And took up my post as shortly before Mile 2...( <--- very important detail!!)

Some thoughts: as a runner, I have never considered the amount of manpower it takes to run a race. I'm not even talking about volunteers or those that put on the race, but the shutting down of roads, police in place to make sure no one gets hurt. Insanity.

I was on the corner of a main street, 3 lanes across, and it was shut down to one lane so that the runners could run on 2 of them and holy cow... mad props to the police department too. Just something to think about, I know we always thank the spectators for coming out, but we need to thank the police just as much!

Ooopppsssiiieeee moment ahead!

So yeah..remember how I said I was standing shortly before Mile 2...well... the lead C.M. at my position wasn't sure what mile we were actually at, and he couldn't figure it out from the material he had on him, but somehow we decided, figured out we were shortly before mile 3! So for the entire time we were there, we were telling peeps they were a quarter, or half way there (depending on the distance they were running!), we didn't realize until the very end we were at Mile 2. Uh oh... I felt so bad!

Anywhoo...I had a blast and my duties were over by 9:30, I had hoped to make it back to Ford Field to watch peeps finishing but seriously every street to get there was closed off so I went home instead!

The medals looked so cool (I dont have a pic but it's the shape of the alien ahead from my T-shirt ), that I have already decided that that race will be my first Half next Spring!

Time to hit the books again, have a great Monday everyone!!

How was your weekend?
Busy week ahead?
Already planning your races for next year?

Validation

Yesterday was one of those days that just consisted of a big ball of self-pity. I dunno why considering the week was pretty damn good.

Source

It all started when I started comparing myself to a good friend. There really was no need for that.

Then my run didn't go as planned. I was hoping for negatives and my mile was positive split. As I was cooling down, my head was having a negative self-talk party...I was down about it all when this lady comes hustling out of her house.

I didn't hear the first part of what she was saying because I had my earbuds in but I caught her say, "I've seen you running all Winter.... you look beautiful..." All I could muster was a Thank You. It was exactly what I needed to hear. Someone who knew/saw what I put myself through all winter. I don't feel beautiful or graceful when I run but someone did so maybe I'm not half bad?!

Source

Then last night at the adult 5k yoga clinic, one of the girls (she's only a few years younger than me) tells me that she'd be bummed I wouldn't be there today because she really liked me coaching her along last week. To say I was humbled would be an understatement.

Maybe what I have planned isn't a complete crock of sh!t and I may actually be good at it.

I wish I knew why I always believe a person can do what they set out to do but when it comes to myself, I'm constantly seconding guessing myself.

Either way today...the world is all flowers and butterflies!