2010 February 05

Only a few more hours until my 5 day weekend! Woop Woop!

This morning I polished off my bag of Nature Valley Honey Roasted Peanut Granola Nut Clusters that were sent to me to review ages ago..

I still have a few bags left of all the other flavors, but this one was my favorite.

My fridge was pretty bare bones when it came to lunch today, but I think I did pretty good for what I had.

Mini Pickles

Roasted Broccoli and Carrots

And the star of the show was my left over tofu sandwich.

I had the other half of my WildWood Baked Tofu from the other night and topped it with bbq sauce and dried apple.

Is there a meal that dried fruit won’t make a great addition to? This combination of flavors was delicious!

Tomorrow I set off for NYC. Yippee!!

Thanks to FoodBuzz and Electrolux I will be participating in a blogger cake decorating competition that will be featured on Kelly-Confidential.com and will raise awareness for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

Check out the sneak peak coverage I found for the ‘Cake 4 a Cause’ event by clicking here.

I am really looking forward to meeting our hosts for the event – Kelly Ripa and Buddy from Cake Boss. Expect lots of photos!

The event doesn’t take place until Tuesday, February 9th, but in the spirit of celebrating my birthday my Mom and I are flying up a couple of days early to explore the city.

This will be my 4th time in NYC!

The first time I was 16 and it was just my parents and I. All my other siblings were at summer camp, so my parents and I took off on an impromtu trip.

The second time my parents took all of my siblings and I for Christmas one year when I was in college.

And the last time I was there was in August 2006 when a group of friends and I randomly decided it would be fun to take a trip together.

Look how young Derek looks in that photo!

This was my first ‘friends’ trip without my parents and we had a ball!

The best part was that my friend Emily’s Uncle lives just outside the city and was able to hook us up with one of his friends who just happened to be a multi-millionaire and own his own plane.

He took us around the statue of liberty and back.

Seriously this was one of my best memories of NYC. I mean how many people can say they have flown this close to the statue of liberty? Amazing!

So excited to see what adventures await us this time around!

Does anyone have any suggestions on what we could do in NYC this time around? Places to see? Things to do? Where to eat?

I would LOVE some suggestions!!

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With my impending travel plans I knew getting any decent training runs in this weekend would be tough. Instead of setting unrealistic expectations on when I could get runs in I tweaked my training schedule a tad to accommodate my trip.

My original plan

After a little tweaking

I put a hold on my 16-18 mile run that was originally scheduled for Sunday until next weekend. I also moved my easy day that was planned for today to tomorrow when I know I will have no chance at all to get a run in. Sunday I’ve registered for the NYRR Gridiron 4 Miler which I plan to run at a fun pace and happens to fit in perfectly with my revised plan.

I knew I still wanted to get a double digit run this weekend which is why I set my alarm extra early this morning to get a 10 miler in.

The 10 miles I ran this morning was actually the longest distance I have ever attempted to run before work. I only gave myself an hour and half to complete all 10 miles and putting the time constraint on the run was BIG encouragement to run faster. I came in under goal with an average 9:07 per mile pace.

After my shower the only thing I had time to prepare before work was a BIG bowl of cereal.

1/2 cup Meghann’s Fruity Crunch
1/2 cup Shredded Wheat
1/2 cup Granola
1 container Peach Chobani
1/2 Apple
Almond Butter

The big dollop of almond butter, extra granola, and extra yogurt made this bowl extra filling this morning. It was just what I needed after my long run.

Last Day of Q&A…

Question: What was the hardest part about when you started running?

Breathing.

Learning to breathe properly was very difficult for me when I started running.

I used to gasp for air on my runs. I would run with my mouth open and it would make me feel tired and weak. Over time I have taught myself to run with my mouth shut and breathe through my nose. I also had to learn to slow my breathing down so I was breathing on tempo with my feet hitting the payment.

Its sounds strange, but I had put a lot of effort into breathing properly and I think over time it has made a huge difference in my endurance and how I run.

Question Will Maddie ever get to meet Chooey?

I hope so!!! Is Chooey planning to visit anytime soon?!?!?

Question This is totally random but what is your opinion on online dating?

Hmmm… that is random.

I’ve never tried online dating, but I know its worked for tons of people out there.

Question: How do you make long distance work?

I think having this blog helps. I know Derek looks forward to reading it every day and its his way of knowing what is going on if we don’t happen to touch base that day.

We also live and breathe by g-chat. I am HORRIBLE at talking on the phone. I really don’t understand how people have phone conversations that last for hours at a time. I love to multitask and often find myself distracted or doing other things when I’m on the phone. It is much easier for me to talk via g-chat or video chat.

We also make it a point to see each other every weekend and take turns doing what the other likes to do. I think being away from each other so much makes the time we are together that much more special.

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