It’s ON…like Donkey Kong!

 Just picked up my race kit for the Sporting Life 10K on Sunday. I got my race bib, a t-shirt, and some other freebies that are nice but not worth writing about.  With my gift card (for entering the race) and 15% off from the store (good until Saturday), I bought two additional t-shirts and a running belt. I’ve never owned a running belt before and though I was not planning on bringing water to the race (just grabbing it from the water stations), it now makes sense because I need somewhere to store my phone! Seems like the best idea since finding my boyfriend at the finish line in a crowd of 22,000 people might be difficult!

Right now I think I’m pretty much ready. I don’t know how fast I’ll be able to run but I know that I’ll definitely be able to finish. I’m currently suffering from some minor pain in my right side/hip, my right knee and my left achilles tendon. The achilles tendon hurts the most and will probably brother me the most if it continues to pain during the race. Otherwise, I’m feeling strong!

See you later!

Where were we?

So it’s pouring right now and has been pretty much all day, which is fine because it could have been more like this:

Okay maybe not as extreme but they were calling for 2-4cm in addition to the rain and if things shifted slightly, upwards of 10cm of snow. I’m really hoping we don’t have a scare like this again. Spring is really trying hard to settle in! Plus I have the 10k race in 3 weeks and I really have no intention of running in cold weather!

Anyways, I didn’t let the soggy weather deter me from hitting gym. I got out of work 10 minutes early which made a world of difference, got to my gym and jumped on the treadmill and didn’t get off until 50 minutes later. I ran my little heart out. It was great!

Feeling spunky, I decided to check out my usual step class which had a substitute teacher today. As I started to get into it, all sweaty from my run, I thought “WTF am I doing? I just ran for almost an hour!” Plus I was hungry, so it just wasn’t going to happen.  BUT before I left the gym I remembered one thing: PLANK!

Err not that kind of plank….this kind:

I’m trying to plank more in an effort to get my abs in shape. There were no mats available so I roughed it on the dirty gym carpet and planked for over a minute. Felt like a beast! And then I left. Caught my bus with 30 seconds to spare and now all I have left to do tonight is RELAX!

What workout did you do today? 

Hunger Games and Burning Quads

I saw the Hunger Games on Saturday, along with many giddy teenagers. The verdict – It was a really great movie! I read the book and was eagerly anticipating seeing the movie. The boyfriend didn’t read the book but thoroughly enjoyed the movie as well and now he is planning to read the book. I still think the book was better than the movie but the movie itself was very well done. I won’t give anything away since it just opened but I recommend that you see it. It was well worth it!

 

In other news, this past week I have been running a lot. Why? Because I’m signed up for a 10k race!

I have never run a race before and a 10k will be a challenge. I have only ever run that distance once and it could have just been a fluke that I survived it.

On Tuesday, I ran around 6-7k with a friend. On Wednesday, I ran a crazy 7.5 k to the waterfront with another friend and then jogged/walked 7.5k to return. This friend must have not remembered that we are training for a 10k and not a half marathon! I will tell you that right in the middle of that adventure we did stop for a small bit of gelato so it wasn’t all that bad…hahaha. On Thursday, I joined the running group my brother leads and ran what was suppose to be 5k but ended up being a very fast 7k.

This week of running meant that my quads have been on FIIIIRRREEE. This occurs while walking in general, walking upstairs, walking downstairs, sitting…everything! I know it’s probably because I have done too much too fast so I hope it gets better as I continue to train.

Tomorrow the weather is dropping significantly so I’m going to do my own run on the treadmill and some Pilates afterwards to stretch myself out. I hope to run 3 times in total this week to keep up my endurance. Running and I have a love-hate relationship but I do enjoy a challenge!

 

Chips, anyone?

Wait! No, I didn’t trick you. Promise.

So just what are you looking at?

Kale Chips!

So Good!

Healthy, delicious and close enough to chips to make me happy!

Check out this video to learn how to make them or follow these easy-peasy instructions:

Preheat oven to 300. Wash kale thoroughly. Dry kale thoroughly. Tear kale up into pieces. In a bowl, mix kale with a little bit of oil (less than a tablespoon) and shake on a bit of sea salt.  Spread kale out on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes and Get Crunching!

It’s Saturday!

And I’m bored!

I ended up having no plans tonight. I’m also unmotivated to do anything but watch TV, veg and surf the net.

I’m such an exciting and interesting person right now. 

The rest of the night I’m going to continue watching this made for TV movie that’s pretending to take place in Australia but was clearly filmed in Toronto and later, continue reading the Hunger Games. It’s a fantastic book so far and I want to finish it before the movie comes out!

Peace out!

It wouldn’t be a holiday without..

DIE HARD

 I just cannot get enough of this movie.

 It’s one of those movies that you can watch anytime. A classical favourite. Just like Ghostbusters and Jurassic Park! I’m sure there are many more movies that I can add to this category but the commercial break is done, so I’m outta here!

Happy Family Day, Canadians!

Happy President’s Day, Americans!

Rest of the world: errr…Sorry you had to work today.

At this moment..

..I am munching on SPICY plantain chips that pretty much look like this.
My mouth is on FIRE! But they are oooh so good!

I am also watching this very teenage-y show.
I can’t explain why I’m so into it. I totally feel like I’m 17 again…haha.

How are you spending your Thursday night? 

Heavily Impressionable…Easily Influenced

I have noticed that more and more when I see something, I want it. This mainly has to do with food. I am an advertiser’s dream.

When I’m walking in the mall, for example, and see someone with coffee – suddenly I want coffee! It’s become so bad that my boyfriend only has to look around to see what I’m referencing to understand my sudden need for a, b or c.

Commercials are the worst. I see chocolate – I want chocolate. I see cake – I want cake. I see cupcakes – I want cupcakes. It’s mainly the bad things too…there are no sudden cravings for salad, unfortunately.

 

Blogs are another issue. I follow A LOT of food bloggers partly because I love food and partly because I want/need to learn how to cook.  However, I am easily influenced into thinking that chocolate fudge s’mores in a mug is exactly what I need right now! Or peach pie would be really awesome to dig into this afternoon. Or maybe I should make these chocolate peanut butter cups for my family…which really means two for them and the rest for me because I’m such a squirrel.

Anyone else like this?

 

 

Sunday Brunch and the S Bowl

Everything seems to feel better after brunch. I worked on the biscuits while the boyfriend made the eggs.

In other news and to follow-up with my last post, I did manage to go to the gym on Friday night after all. I also went again on Saturday morning. Not sure what got into me but I got some good workouts in and also my butt hurts a lot as result. It continued to hurt today while I went on a long walk after the above brunch. No pain, no gain, right? ha ha.

Did everyone enjoy the Super Bowl?  Whenever I actually try to watch football I’m distracted by the tights. All I see is the footballers butts in tights. Above anything else, it just looks hilarious! So, I really only tuned in for Madonna and friends. Did everyone like her performance?

Does this woman ever age? You know she is 53 years old, right?

A Return to Normalcy

My cold is finally disappearing…for good, I hope. I just came back from the doctor and he thinks I’m in the clear but also reports that I probably had three different infections going on during the course of last month. I’ve literally had a cold from Jan 4th – Jan 31st.

While I’ve been sick, my workouts have been obviously sporadic. Well really since before I left for Asia in mid-December my visits to the gym have been seriously lacking. In the process, I’ve lost a lot of my motivation. I use to be able to go to the gym 3-4 times a week, no problem. If I felt like doing something extra, I would get up early before work and crunch out some abs workouts or do Pilates. Now, I wake up and I head straight to the shower. Working out in the morning seems like a laughing matter now and thinking about the gym makes me anxious – like it’s forced.

Anyone know how to get me out of this funk?

I’m aiming to head to the gym tomorrow but I would not be surprised if I thought up an excuse not to go. Also, it’s a Friday, so that’s not working in my favour either. Haha.