Archive for February, 2012

Running for Margaritas

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Last night I discovered a new tactic to get through your run: margaritas.  Did I want to run last night? Not in the slightest.  It was cold, windy and it was my rest day.  I did however promise Gingerfoxxx and Keren I would meet them for a run at Chick’s Night.  Having friends is really cutting into my anti-social time.

I sat in my running clothes for a good hour before I left to make sure that I would in fact go. Once I arrived and saw the Gingerfoxxx my frown turned upside down and I was excited to run! We ran a good 6 miles and when I say a good 6 miles I mean much faster than I normally run and I hated them every minute for it. Having fast friends might actually make me a decent runner.  Or it might make me wear compression from head to toe from constantly being in pain. The good news is, after the run, we all agreed that staying for the complimentary yoga session would not be as good as a recovery tool as margaritas would be.

And to prove we did in fact run, we threw a Garmin in the picture. Actually that proves nothing, and if I were you I would also be weary as to whether or not we actually ran or just went right for margaritas AND THIS:

GUACAMOLE.  Man I love that stuff. I tried to make it clear that it was all for me but constantly yelling and slapping their hands as they went for some didn’t seem to work.  My advice: don’t be friends with runners if you want to actually get some food.

Please take note that Gingerfoxxx is eating all the guacamole with that big wooden spoon. It was quite rude and I’m still mad at her for eating all my guac.  After the run, margaritas and guacomole you know I have  a date with these today:

So give it a try, running for margaritas works. At least it did for us. That’s all the nonsense I have for now!

Don’t forget to enter my Svelte protein drink giveaway if you haven’t yet!

The Best Protein Drink & a GIVEAWAY!

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

Let’s start Tuesdayoff on the right foot.  I have got something real good for you in store.  See these bad boys?

I need to give you some.  But first I want to tell you about how awesomelydeliciousandIwantmorerightnow they are.  Ever heard of CalNaturale Svelte? If you haven’t look them up right now because they are about to be your new favorite company.  Svelte believes in making healthy drinks good: “Our goal is to improve health and wellness with the best-tasting, most nourishing foods possible. By combining the finest all-natural ingredients, we create drinks that are nutritious and delicious.”

And let me tell you, THEY DELIVER.  These protein drinks are honestly the best I have ever tasted.  So good, they don’t even taste like protein drinks.  These are good enough to drink right from the carton (which I may or may not have done on a regular basis) or perfect for a creamy, delicious and protein packed smoothie!  They became my favorite post-run refuel neccesity.

I promise that you too can look this beautiful after a 13 mile run if you drink these.  Let’s take a closer look at the nutrition specs of these drinks:

• 16 grams of protein from organic soy milk
• 20% of your daily fiber needs
• Only 9 grams of sugar

For someone like me that hardly eats any meat I have to be very conscious of my protein intake.  These shakes are an easy way for me to stuff my face with some protein and of course some goodness.  My personal favorites are the cappuccino and the spiced chia.  I’m not even exaggerating (and I tend to do that a lot) when I say those two flavors taste like a Starbucks drink.

This giveaway is now closed, thanks for all who entered!

Now’s your chance to win some! One lucky reader will win all four of these fabulous drinks and a visit from me late at night when I break into your house to steal your prize!

How to enter:

Leave a comment on this post answering the following question:

• Which flavor of Svelte are you dying to try??
• Extra entry for liking CalNaturale on Facebook! Make sure to leave me a separate comment letting me know ya did!

**Contest ends Sunday at midnight. Winners will be picked at random and announced on Monday.  Good luck!

Getting Started

Monday, February 27th, 2012

I got a message from my cousin last week saying that she really wanted to get into running but didn’t know how, what to do/wear or where to even begin.  I could not even tell you how excited I was to get this message! I of course wrote back about 2302 pages of information with 2390230 different links for her to check out.  Because no one in my life is safe from having their face plastered on this blog here is my beautiful family:

Seriously, how terrible is that picture?  Please notice how happy PartyDog looks to be in this picture and also please notice how short my brother is. He’s only 5’2.  The owl is my favorite family member, he goes everywhere with me.

Anyway- this conversation with my cousin (she’s the one holding the owl, how cute is she??) got me thinking about how you start to run.  I know a lot of people (myself included) are scared to begin running. Why? Simply because running is hard. Like really hard. Especially if you are new to running, the idea of running even 1 mile is daunting, scary and just plain terrifying.  Now that I’m in the midst of my marathon training I can honestly say that starting out was the absolute hardest, but once you get over that 3 mile hump, it gets better!

If you are interested in beginning to run (doooo it! follow my peer pressure!) but don’t know where to start, check out the Couch to 5K program.  I have some friends who have done this and had great success! It’s a combination of running and walking to get you up to those 3.1 miles before you know it.  Just don’t  do what I did- I just started running. I hopped on the treadmill and made myself run 3 miles 5 times a week for about a month.  I hated running and dreaded going to the gym.  Now that I’m on a training plan that maps everything out for me, I love it and actually crave my runs (well most of the time).

So I want to hear from YOU! Who’s just starting out? Who wants to give it a try? What advice do you experienced runners have for starting out?

Remember: anyone can run. if you can walk, you can run.  All you have to do is lace up your shoes AND GO (or if you’re like me, put on your compression sleeves, body glide your whole body, put on 12 layers of clothing, freak out for approximately 35 minutes and then go).

That’s all the nonsense I have for now!

You Know You’re a Runner When…

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

You are trying on dresses and honestly think “hmm these compression sleeves don’t look half bad with this dress….”

What is happening to me?  That’s all the nonsense I have for now!