Check out Jeremy's commercials!

Thought you guys might be interested to see Jeremy's latest commercials for Under Armour!

Here is the 60 second version:

http://vimeo.com/25731276

and here's the 30 second version:

http://vimeo.com/25731457

I'd embed them but...I don't know how (since they're from Vimeo and not YouTube).

ok enjoy BYEEE!

Will Run For Chipwiches

Yesssssssss, I did my run last night. Yesssssssss, it blew.

I'm not sure if I was just not sufficiently recovered from my run on Sunday, or if the heat in Baltimore yesterday just zapped me (don't worry, I came to my senses and didn't try to run outside, I ran inside on the treadmill last night), but whatever it was, my run blew last night. I thought that after my 7 miles on Sunday, the 3 miles I had to do yesterday were going to be a piece of cake - not so much. My legs felt like lead as soon as I started the run. I thought I'd feel better as I ran further, sometimes it just takes me a mile or so to warm up (which is weird when you're only doing 3, but whatevs). Again...not so much. I got a mile in and then decided that it was imperative that I walk. So I walked for a minute or so. Then I started running again. The last two miles were a combination of running, sprinting, and walking. I thought about stopping multiple times, but I didn't (gold star, please). I probably

walked 2 minutes out of the 2nd mile, and 1 minute out of the last mile, but when I was running, I was running really quickly (I'm not sure if I'm trying to convince myself or you here, or if it really matters either way).

So, what did I learn:

1. Go out slowly after your long runs, even if you've rested the day before. It's not going to be pleasant. I hope this improves with time.
2. Stretch more. Stretch better.
3. Right quad still annoying me. Still not sure why.
4. Walking is not failing.

After my run, I went to dinner with some friends and treated myself to this:

Well hello, Mr. Beer! Aren't you JAUNTY? You're cold and you have carbs, I like you.

And some of this:

Because YES.

And then today Jeremy brought me one of these:

(NOTE: That is not my hand. Or my Chipwich. I downloaded that off the interwebs) which makes him awesome. It was delicious and by the end of it there was ice cream on my hands, my desk, my dress, and my arm. If you're going to eat it, enjoy it, don't be PRETTY about it.

So what else did I learn?

I'm one of those runners who thinks that when you run, you get to eat whatever you want without gaining weight. This is not in fact the case for two reasons:

1. Your calorie burn still has to outweigh (pun intended) your calorie intake or you will gain weight. That said, generally, you burn about 100 calories per mile run, so last week I burned an additional 1600 calories over the course of the week, this week I'll hopefully burn an additional 1500 calories, etc. Now, do I think I'm eating that many more calories (and then some, to cause me to gain weight, which I have)? No - but if I keep it up, it might get that way. In reality I think the TUB OF HOUSE DRESSING I ate while in Charlottesville a few weeks ago is just catching up to me (it was worth it).
2. You cannot eat whatever you want because it still needs to fuel you on your runs. You eat crap, you'll feel like crap. And you'll feel even more like crap because you're pushing your body to the limit and asking it to perform athletically.

I do not like either of the above lessons, but I'm forced to live with them if I want to accomplish my goal of running a marathon.

Am I going to run tonight, you ask? NO! Again, for two reasons:

1. Based on my performance last night, I think I need a little more time to recover, so I'll run on Friday after my half-day of work.
2. I GET TO SEE THIS PERSON TONIGHT!I just hope I won't stand that way or make that face...ever again. So excited to see you Smolls!

A couple of delicious recipes

I mentioned in a recent post that I'm in a book club. The last time we had book club, Beth (Walk, for Paul Soper's amusement) hosted and laid out a delicious spread for all of us, including the two below dishes. They were so great that we pestered her until she sent us the recipes, which I am including below. I highly recommend that you try them!

Chinese Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

Salad:

2 pkgs chicken ramen noodles, crushed

1 c sliced almonds

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 bags shredded cabbage (or cole slaw mix w/o dressing)

2 c cooked chicken, diced

1/2 stick butter

Dressing:

6 tbls sugar

2 tbls white vinegar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Dash of dry mustard

1 tsp garlic powder

1 c vegetable/canola oil

Brown noodles and nuts in butter until golden brown. Include 1 seasoning packet from ramen. Add onions and saute. Allow to cool.

Add remaining ingredients and mix with dressing.

This second recipe reminded me of Molly Laufer, mostly because I think it's kind of a combination between a (sweet) cheese ball and that cookie dough dip she told me about one time:

Kahlua Dip

Ingredients:

1 tub Cool Whip (8 oz)

1 bar of cream cheese, softened (8 oz)

1/3 c Kahlua

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 bag of mini chocolate chips

Vanilla wafers

Mix together first four ingredients thoroughly, then add chocolate chips and stir to distribute evenly. Chill. Serve with vanilla wafers (or animal crackers, pretzels, use your fingers, whatever you think would be delicious!)

Lucky 7

I successfully completed my first long training run for the marathon!

Woo-hoo!

Thanks to Molly Laufer for checking in on me and asking how it had gone. I waited until Sunday evening to attempt this run because the weather forecast indicated that the weather would be most conducive to running during this time.

Luckily I received my Garmin 305 in the mail yesterday afternoon and was able to fiddle around with it and figure out how to use it before the run today. Also luckily, Jeremy agreed to do part of the run with me. I ran the 2 miles to his house and then he came out with me for the next 3.5 miles. I dropped him back at his house and completed the last 1.5 miles back to my apartment alone (I had sort of run out of my way to get to his house on the way there in order to extend the distance). Having Jeremy with me for those middle miles was a HUGE help. It distracted me from the distance that I was facing and allowed me to break the run into smaller segments.

Having the Garmin really opened my eyes to how inconsistently I run! My pace was ALL OVER THE PLACE! Especially the first two miles prior to picking Jeremy up - I went out way too fast. I kept checking the watch and noticing that I was going too quickly but I had a hard time slowing down consistently. Don't worry - the miles eventually slowed me down and I finished the run just about on pace. The middle miles I ran with Jeremy were faster than I wanted them to be but he was slowing himself down for me so I was trying to keep up and meet him in the middle pace-wise. We stopped running to walk a few times. I had the Garmin set to automatically pause every time I STOPPED, but I think from now on I'll have it stop when I drop below a certain pace (and it's clear that I'm walking i/o running) because the setting it was on this time meant that my average pace per mile was 11:44, which I know is just significantly slowed down due to the segments that we walked.

I'm not really good at reading the Garmin information that was loaded onto my computer yet...but I'm hoping that over time I can learn to understand it better.

When I got home I was starving - it was about 8 pm - and I still needed to go to the grocery store to shop for dinner ingredients. I walked Mugsy, ran over to Whole Foods (it's 2 blocks away, love), and got some ingredients.

When I got back from WF I threw back a glass of chocolate milk (the fact that this is an awesome recovery drink is a huge bonus in my book) and showered quickly before making dinner. This is what I ate:

I know, I know. It looks DELICIOUS, right? Not at all, looks like vomit. Anyway, it's 1 whole tomato, 1/2 an avocado, about a cup of plain quinoa (thanks to the Whole Foods salad bar I didn't have to cook it myself which is the Yay), a few pieces of marinated mozzarella, and I'd guess 1/2 cup of plain chickpeas. I think it was full of protein and good fats (and some bad fats, whatevs), and the tomato would help re-hydrate me after my long run. I felt good eating it, at least! But lesson TOTALLY learned - in the future, make sure you've planned for dinner before heading out on your long run! In case there was any doubt - my motivation to train for this marathon comes 50% from the fact that I will be able to eat WAY MORE. I LOVE FOOD.

FOOD.

LOVE.

OK so I'm totally being verbose right now, maybe it's a post-run high, but all in all:

• I'm totally proud that I finished 7 miles tonight and did it without feeling bad at all during the run
• Having Jeremy with me for half of the run was a HUGE HELP and I hope I can bribe him to continue running with me
• Chocolate milk is The Awesome
• I need to hydrate better next time
• My right quad is The Pissed. I need to roll/ice it now.
• Garmin = also The Awesome

OK BYE THANKS FOR READING! :-D

Yeahhhhh!

I don't normally blog on the weekends but I just wanted to check in and let you know that I did my training run last night (well, yesterday afternoon prior to going out and getting le drunk...running is really good for drinking efficiency because you're already dehydrated and you get drunker faster) and it went really well! Yes, it was only 3 miles, it wasn't a long run, but it was a successful run, and that's all that matters in my opinion! :) So I'm feeling good. My Garmin should arrive in the mail today and I'm looking forward to using it when I attempt my 7 mile first-long-run tomorrow :) Wish me luck!

Lots of smiley faces in this post. Hmmm.

Well, that was the suck.

Did I do my run yesterday, you ask? I mean, I tried. Which I think counts for something. Right? I think you technically only "fail" at doing a training run when you don't even try to do it. I think given that I put my shoes on, trotted out the door, and ran a mile before I started walking (and then continued to run/walk the rest of the 3 miles fearing death if I tried to continue running the whole way)...I mean, I feel like that's something. A for effort, right?

This is where I was running:

Yes, that is what you get if you Google Image search "Surface of the Sun." It was 95* in Baltimore yesterday at 5 pm, but I decided, brilliant road warrior that I am, that I was going to tough it out. I was sufficiently hydrated, right? So my body would cool itself down with sweat, right?

I'm not entirely sure why this occasionally happens (maybe some of my running buddies can help explain) but my body started sweating...and then stopped. I think it was like "Well, this is clearly a losing battle so I'm just going to sit this one out and let you think about what you've done."

Why, body? I thought we were in this together.

Really, this is where I was running:

This is Fort McHenry which I'm sure is significant for many a historical and cool reason but really all I care about is the nice asphalt path along the water and the gorgeous views of the harbor it provides. Granted, yesterday I couldn't have cared less about either of those things because I was just thinking "don't die don't die don't die," but on most days it's a pretty nice view. One thing I should have thought about: not many trees along the path to provide me with any shade at all.

You know, maybe my body didn't stop sweating. Maybe it was just so hot that when I did sweat, it evaporated immediately. Uncool.

So anyway...it wasn't great. But not all of my training runs over the next few months are going to be great. I just. Want. To complete. The race.

In other news, I've started using Dove bar soap as my hand soap in my bathroom and suddenly my cuticles aren't dry and cracking anymore. Imagine that. Expensive, annoying cuticle creams be damned, Dove will do the job!

Don't worry, this won't last.

By "this" I mean the posting about running, not the actual running. I hope. Maybe both.

I did my first official training run last night on the treadmill at my apartment building. Highlights:

1. My french braid coming undone around 1.5 miles in and leaving me running with my hair loose like the female version of Fabio. I paused the treadmill and rectified that situation quite quickly.
2. Girl who got on the treadmill next to me when I had about 1 mile left who I'm pretty sure was trying to race me, although that may have just been the mid-run paranoia talking (don't act like you don't know about the mid-run paranoia).
3. My friend Katie calling to say she was on her way to pick me up for book club when I was about 0.2 miles away from the end of the run, and me answering the phone and panting into it with no explanation for her as to why I was breathing so heavily (that is, until I got into her car sweating (more than usual)).
4. Finishing!

Here's the thing people. This run was only 3 miles long and it made me SAD. Because when I finished, all I could think was "Only 23.2 miles to go! Yeah...I'm gonna take a nap."

Instead of taking a nap I went to book club, which was fun. We read Room by Emma Donahue (which I have yet to review on my book blog, sorry). I had a great time at book club (we had a picnic outdoors and I'm pretty sure I ate enough food for all the rest of the girls in the club, whatever, post-run metabolism high), but I did not have a great time reading Room. It's super depressing and slightly perverse.

So. Caveat emptor on the whole Room thing. But yeah, please keep pestering me about my runs.

New girl crush

So I e-mailed my friend Molly (I'd link to her blog but she HASN'T UPDATED IN A YEAR so I have decided not to in a passive-aggressive (heavy on the aggressive) attempt to get her to update it or start a new blog) earlier today asking for some of the blogs she read while training for the marathon she recently completed.

She sent me quite a few suggestions but I can already tell that my favorite is going to be Running off the Reese's. The author is awesome. Super snarky and hilarious.

Two of my favorite discoveries from her blog so far:

because I, like her, am the Good Luck Chuck of women.

And:

because, yes. Amazing. I don't care if you're a runner, watch the video. It's hilarious.

Also, I'm officially starting my training for the Baltimore Marathon today. It's in October. 10/16/2011 to be exact. I figured that since I get free registration through working for Under Armour, I could use the money I saved (plus other money that I have no reason to spend but I'm trying to rationalize here leave me alone) to buy a Garmin 305 and a hot pink iPod nano to keep me company on my long. Long. Long. Lonely runs.

Here we go!

Please make sure to ask me every time you talk to me from now on how my marathon training is going so that I am shamed into actually doing my runs. And after I answer you say "are you lying?"

Thanks.

Apparently I do this now

See mah puppeh on the interwebs.

He is the cute.

Huh.

Just a random thought - not much time to flesh this one out - but I'm wondering...

Are we only as mature as consequences demand in life? Is growing up a process of adapting to ones surroundings and becoming more mature in order to most likely guarantee success? Or is it a natural progression that results in the ability to confront more difficult situations and circumstances in life?

Does life whip us into shape or do we take on bigger challenges when we're stronger? Or both?

I'll be thinking about this for a while.