My First Getting to Know You Sunday

I love reading other peoples getting to know you sundays questions so I thought I'd join in. 

1 - Why did you start blogging?

I've always been a really good journaler but after I got married I wasn't consistant in it.  So when I heard about blogging I figured it would be a really good way to keep journaling and to stay in touch with friends.  Plus I love reading other peoples blogs!
2 - Why are you always concerned with losing that "extra 10 pounds" when chances are your husband/boyfriend/friends tell you that you look just fine the way you are?
Even when I was in high school I always thought I needed to lose weight even though, looking back I see that I was a stick.  In college I gained the freshman 15 and so I really did need to lose at least 10 pounds.  Then I went to Ecuador and was chubby, went on a mission and gained more.  Finally, when I got home I started losing weight because I was so busy and training for a half marathon.  Now I'm at a good weight I think but I'm always scared of getting chubby again.  So I guess I figure if I lose 10 more then I won't have to worry about getting fat.  Plus, it sucks being chubby and knowing that you could look better and obsessing about how you look. 


3 - What was the best year of your life and why? Age 22.  I always knew it would be a good year cause it's my golden birthday (I turned 22 on the 22nd).  I got back from the mission and met and got engaged to my honey!!! But this year will be even better.  My mission president always said he didn't want any of us to say that our mission was the best time of our life because we need to be making each year better than the one before.

Runnin and Campin

This weeks workouts were on different days then normal but it all worked out really well.  Wednesday was a super busy day so it was perfect that we did our workouts on Tuesday and Thursday.  We went camping this weekend so we decided to do Saturday's long run on Friday after I got off work.  Work was soooo long on Friday and my head was killing and mentally I just wasn't feeling it.  But luckily I have a wonderful running partner who motivates me and so I went ahead and did the long run.  I thought I'd only make it like the first three miles but once I pushed through the first half it was easy breezy on the way back.  We had a strong head wind the first half that sucked and made us run about 9:30 miles but it helped us on the 2nd half to run 8:30 miles so it all evened out.  We ran 12 miles in 1:47. 

Monday: Jillian No More Trouble Zones with Thomas

Tuesday: 1 miles warm up, 6 miles tempo, 1 mile cool down

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: 6x1200 meters

Friday: 12 miles long run

It felt so great to have finished the 12 miler after thinking I totally couldn't do it. 

We went camping, like I said earlier, with a bunch of other couples.  There were 7 of us and we had a blast! We went to Camp Zarehemla Friday night and stayed up playing Balderdash and Catch Phrase.  There were 10 of us in a little cabin with 4 people on 2 bunk beds and the rest of us on air mattresses.  Two couples stayed in tents! So brave! It was still pretty darn chilly up there! In the morning we had pancakes and bacon. They guys were supposed to clean up breakfast cause they lost Catch Phrase the night before but us girls were niceys and did it ourselves. We played some frisbee in the afternoon, went on a canoe ride, and a little nature walk.  The walk/hike was cause the boys were looking for where the river was that emptied into the lake.  We found it and the boys had fun finding big boulders to push off the little cliff into the water.  It was a great start to my spring break! Wahoo! I love our friends! I wish I had pics but when I went to pull my camera out I realized that the battery was dead. 

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for 12 mile long run

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for 12 mile long run

I'm just trying this new thing out. My nifty little GPS watch lets me download my run info to the Garmin website and then shows all the details. Check it out!

4 weeks to go!!!

Only four more weeks until the half! Can't believe it! I'm getting pretty excited.  I really liked this weeks workouts, they were challenging but didn't kill me. 

Monday: Franklin Park, 1.41 mile warm up, 30 minute tempo run at a 8:40 pace, 1.23 mile cool down  =5.5 miles
Tuesday:  Jillian Michaels 30 day shred
Wednesday: 2 miles @ 8:30 pace, 2x1mile at 7:30 pace, and 2x800meters at 7:00 pace = 5.32 miles
Saturday: 11 miles @ 9:00 mile pace

I was a little worried that the 11 miles would be really tough since we didn't do a long run last weekend due to the 6K but Haley and I both ended up feeling really great.  We went on a new route and it was really fun.  I love being able to excercise and chat and have girl time all at the same time!

This weeks dinners:
Monday: New York Teriyaki (I'm not really a rice person and I ended up eating mostly just rice and not even eating the beef teriyaki. Weird.  I think running changes my eating habits. )
Tuesday:  Missionaries and mom came for dinner.  Sweet and Sour meatballs and rice, salad, and strawberry shortcake.
Wednesday:  Last weekend I had made this weird casserole that really wasnt very good with ground beef mixture on the bottom and noodles on the top.  We didn't want to waste the noodles so we scraped them off and made homemade mac and cheese.  I felt so inventive and thrifty saving those noodles from being tossed in the garbage.  lol
Thursday: My night to host BUNKO so we had what I litke to call Olive Garden salad, french bread, manicotti, and brownie bottoms with ice cream for dessert.
Friday: Leftover manicotti ( I made WAY too much.  I made 3 dishes and we only ate 1 at BUNKO.  So left some at the padres, and took some to grandma and grandpa.

Looking back, it was a very interesting week as far as meals.  Lol.  I don't know how it is with anyone else but I try to stretch it out as much as I can in between grocery store visits.  It's like a game I play, to see how long I can go without going to the grocery store.  Very weird I know.  But it seems like I'm saving money when I don't go for awhile.  But really it just makes it so when I do go I have to stock up and fill our empty fridge and cupboards.  And it's fun when you don't have much left in your fridge and cupboards seeing what you can scape together for a meal.  That kind of makes it sound like we are starving poor people, but I promise we aren't, at least not starving ;)

Rockin the Shamrock Cup

Today we ran the La Salle 6K Shamrock Cup.  It was a wonderful day for a run.  I was a little nervous earlier in the week cause it kept being rainy and windy.  This morning was a little chilly but nice and sunny and no wind.  I love the atmosphere of races.  Runners are some of the most hardworking, nice people you will ever meet.  We had lots of good friends running the race today.  Haley my running buddy and her hubby Alex of course, our other running buddy Justin (Haley's bro), Jeff and Danna, Jeff's sister Kelsey and her husband, and Cindy Jeff's mom. Everybody did so well and as far as I know ran their goal times. My goal time was 32 minutes and I finished in 31 minutes (unofficially).  Haley kicked booty and got first place overall in the women's 20-29 age group with a time of 28 minutes!! Alex got third in his age group.  And Thomas was right behind Haley and finished at about 28:30.  Oh and Justin ran it in 34 minutes! This was his first race and his goal was 36minutes! He killed it!
About a mile and a half of the race is uphill and I absolutely hate hills but I felt strong on the hills.  I noticed that I could pass people on the hills so I knew I had trained well for them.  It's the worst when you haven't trained on hills and the course is full of them.  Another thing I'm grateful for is that we ran the course a couple times.  That helps so much mentally to know what to expect and to know when to kick it into gear. 
I was very impressed with the way this race was organized.  It started exactly on time, they had our packets all ready for us with our numbers and shirts and other little goodies, and the awards ceremony started promptly after the last finisher crossed the finish line. 
The following picture is a guy who in the last 400 meters or so started gaining on me.  I could totally hear someone behind me and was determined to not let them pass me.  That's discouraging! Luckily he didn't and I never saw who it was until Haley pointed him out.  He made me laugh.  Cute little guy! I'm sersiously like a foot taller than him! And he just reminded me of a little St. Patty's day leprechaun! He got in the top three in his age group! Way to go!

A walk down (and up) Cowiche Canyon

For forever Thomas and I have been wanting to go back to Cowiche Canyon where he proposed.  On July 9th, 2009 5:24pm I recived the following text (I still have it saved on my phone :) "hey I was thinkin we could take a walk up that canyon you we talkin about. What do you think?" So we met for dinner after work at my parents house and then went for our hike up cowiche canyon.  The following photos were taken recently so kind of a difference in weather from July.

 As we got out of the car Thomas reached back to get something but I totally didn't think anything of it cause I didn't want to get my hopes up.  He had asked my dad on the 4th of July so I knew it was coming soon but like I said I didn't want to get my hopes up.  And even when he kept his hand in his pocket the whole way down the trail I tried not to think anything of it.

I had told Thomas about this bridge that the trail leads to and how I always wanted to have a picnic on it.  So we hiked down to the bridge holding hands and talking and laughing.  We sit down, talk some more, and then realize we better head back before they lock the gate to the parking lot.

(That's Thomas' green finger pointing to the bridge)

As we get off of the bridge.  Thomas stops to "tie his shoe"  but I noticed it wasn't untied.  So he looks up at me with this silly grin and I think "oh heck no! He's teasing me cause he's on one knee and wants to pretend he's proposing!"  But then he pulls a ring box out of his pocket and asks me to marry him.  I say "Oh my gosh!"  a hundred times and then say yes and he kiss and hug a ton.  And then remember the gates are about to close and hurry back up the trail. 

Another reason I was surprised is that we hadn't gone ring shopping.  So I didn't know how he'd know what size ring to get or what to get.  But the sneaky little guy waited for his sister to come into town and she went with him.  This is the ring he picked.  I love it and am so glad that he surprised me.  If I would have gone ring shopping it would have taken FOREVER! I'm so indecisive when there are a million decisions! He said he was in and out in like 30 minutes.

Here is the only pic we have of our actualy engagement day.  When we went home to tell me parents my wonderful mama had the commonsense to take a picture.

Quoteablity

"I don't wake up and run to give me that extra boost of energy. I don't spend hours at the gym to relieve stress. And I didn't start taking yoga classes to spend even more time with my friends. The truth? I want to look good naked. Doesn't everybody?" ~Nike


This quote just cracked me up!! Tell me it's not true!

Running, Food, and Thomas things I love!

I posted earlier that I got a new running toy, the Garmin Forerunner 305.  I am really loving it.  It tracks my heart rate, my distance, my split times, my pace, elevation, everything! It's so cool too because after you run you hook it up to your computer and it downloads all of your info and puts it into little charts.  It even Google Earths where you were running at so that you can see your route.  Oh ya and it also tells me how much calories I'm burning! I love it.  It's a little bit chunky looking on my wrist but it feels light. 
One of bloggers whose site I read does a little summary of her workouts each week when she's training for an event.  I want to try and do that. Okay so this week:

Monday: 1 mile warm up, 25 minute tempo run (3miles), and 1 mile cool down
Tuesday:  Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones (my fave of all the Jillian workouts)  Thomas joined me for some of this one.
Thursday: 7 x 1000m my splits were averaging about 4:42 which is what they were 2 weeks ago when we only did 5 of them and I absolutely died. And I didn't feel like dying this time so there has been improvement!
Friday: 30 minute easy.  I just did a 30 minute walk cause my quadricep was bugging and I figure I need to keep rested for the 10 miler on Saturday!
Saturday: 10 mile long run

Another thing I really like in blogs is when people post recipes and meal plans.  I love making a meal plan and then going and getting all the ingredients and feeling ultra organized.  So tonight because Thomas is working the weekend late shift and did the grocery shopping and meal planning.  I stopped by my parents to let the dog out and run over there and while I was at it I picked up some recipes.  I found an old church recipe book, those are the best cause you know they are tried and true.  Tonight I tried Cheese Stuffed Manicotti.  It was super easy and delicious! Here is the recipe:

4 cups spaghettic sauce ( I used one can of Prego Traditional sauce, it's the best).  Simmer for 10 minutes.
Cook manicotti shells by boiling for 6 minutes.
Filling:
1 1/2 cups mozzarella
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 cup grated parmesan
3 beaten eggs
1/4 cup parsley

Mix 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and all other cheeses, add eggs and parsley.  Stuff shells.  Pour 1/2 of sauce in bottom of 13x9 inch pan.  Lay sheels on top.  Cover with the rest of the sace.  Sprinkle mozzarella on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Thomas and I celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary today so I took him the manicotti to work for his lunch break and we had a romantic dinner eating it in the break room of the x-ray department.  ;)  Since our schedules were totally opposite today we met on my lunch break and went to this great little soup and sandwhich place right next to my work.  And like I said for dinner we met at his work. 
I love being married to Thomas.  He is my best friend ever.  Never before I met Thomas did I have a best friend who was a guy.  It's so wonderful having our lives totally intertwined.  I love having the same friends and the same plans for the weekend and weekdays.  Marriage is beautiful.

Hair

I got back from work the other day and Thomas who didn't have class that day told me he had went to get his hair cut but didn't want to wait.  So that reminded me that I've really been wanting to straighten his hair.  So right away I pulled out my straightner and we went to work.  It actually didn't take long at all.  He has a lot of hair so I had to do what I do with my hair when I staighten it which is pull some of it up with a ponytail so I can straighten the hair beneath first.  I wish I would have gotten a pic of him with the ponytails lol.  Anyways, Thomas thought I did a good enough job that he even wore it straight to his basketball games that night.  Hehe! We both laughed so hard we cried when he looked in the mirror.  He reminded me of a t.v. character from That 70's show or something.
Other news, training for the half marathon is going well.  I am up to running 10 miles for the long run and it actually feels pretty good.  We run our long runs on Saturday and each week we have increades the mileage by one mile.  Each week it is more and more bearable even though we are running more so that makes me happy.  I just got a new running toy that I'm so so so excited to try out.  It's the Garmin Forerunner 305 I just got it today! It has a GPS so it tells you how far you have run and a heartrate monitor and lots of other cool gizmos that I haven't explored yet but I'll give an update on it after I take it on it's first run on Monday.