These shoes

These shoes have taken me to a lot of places and have been great for a lot of different activities.

Where have they been?  What have they done?

These shoes went skydiving

These shoes went to Philadelphia

These shoes helped train for a half marathon

These shoes RAN a half marathon

These shoes traveled to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore

These shoes trained for my first triathlon

And more that I can’t think of right this second

It’s also time for these shoes to be replaced.  Normally you should replace your running shoes every 300-500 miles, but these have gone waaaaaaaay past that limit (probably at least 1,000 miles).  You also are supposed to use your running shoes only for running and as you can see above, I did not do that.

What shoes did I replace them with?  Brooks Glycerin’s.  Aren’t they beautiful?  Love them!  I plan on keeping my old ones also, but these will help me train for my marathon in January.  I should be getting another pair between now and January, but we will see how it goes.

On the Go Oatmeal Packs

I will be traveling soon and instead of eating unhealthy for breakfast I decided to make my own breakfast on the go oatmeal packs.  I dislike instant oatmeal packs since they have so many preservatives and additives so I made these in less than 5 minutes.  When you are traveling you don’t have much room in your suitcase (carry on) or you tend to squish bananas or pastries making your breakfast mushy.  Plus when you get to your hotel, a lot of times they only have pastries or cereal which are not always good for healthy options.  Vote for On the Go Oatmeal Packs (and Pedro).

What you will need:

-Snack size Ziploc bags (or regular)

-1/2 cup of steel cut oats (regular oatmeal-not instant)

-Salt

-Cinnamon (or Pumpkin pie spice mix!!)

These travel packets will last for awhile and are easy to carry and don’t take up to much room in your suitcase.  When ready to eat them get a cup of hot water (ask a coffee shop or restaurant to give you a cup), add the oats, and let them soak for 5 minutes.  If you like to add peanut butter, coconut flakes, chia seeds, nuts, honey, etc. to your oatmeal, just add that to your baggie (honey might be hard to add, perhaps a travel container?).  Voila!  Done.  Easy to travel with breakfast.

Reese’s, Hershey’s, and Pretzel snacks

My work was having a Blend Season kickoff party at work last week and we were all encouraged to bring a dessert (they provided the pizza and drinks-Arnold Palmers at the ‘blending station’-a little oil and gas humor for you).  Anyway, I decided to make my usual dessert of that everyone loves and that doesn’t require a lot of time (15 minutes).  They are the pefect blend of salty and sweet.

I found this on Pinterest (follow me!) and I usually adapt it to whatever season

What you will need:

-1 bag of square pretzels (get the square, otherwise the chocolate will melt through)

-1 bag of Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses (you can use regular ones but these are prettier)

-1 bag of chocolate candies (Reese’s for Halloween/fall, Red/Pin M &M’s for Valentine’s day, Red/Green/White M&M’s for Christmas, ect.)

-Oven

-Baking Sheet

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Put wax paper on the cookie sheet and spread the pretzels out flat

Add Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses to each pretzel

Pop in the oven for 4 minutes (set timer-it goes by quicker htan you think).  Yes, only 4 minutes.

Immediately add candies to the top of the chocolates, pressing down

Let cool and add to a serving tray or Tupperware container

Eat!

Toughest 10K-Kemah Race Recap

This is my second year to do the Toughest 10K-Kemah and also my second 10K ever (read last years recap here).  The Toughest 10K Kemah is put on by Running Alliance Sports that also does the Texas Bridge Series (which I am doing!). 

I spoke with my friend Debra about running the 10K and she said that 10K’s hurt because of the speed.  I asked her to explain and she said that 5K’s hurt the worst, then 10K’s, then ½’s, then full marathons.  She said you should push your pace to get done faster.  I said I only have one speed-slow.  I wasn’t aware that you were supposed to have different paces for different lengths of a race. Haha.  Oh well.

This race is one part of a three part race in the Texas Bridge Series.  First you run Kemah (10K), then Galveston (10K), then you run LaPorte by the Bay Half Marathon, and once you complete all three you get a fourth medal.  I <3 race bling!

 Last year the Galveston race fell on the weekend of Homecoming (it does this year too) and I choose to attend Homecoming instead of going to that race.  Honestly, it was because last year the Galveston didn’t have any race bling and I wanted race bling (2012 all three races have bling, then you get a fourth medal if you complete all of them), so it wasn’t so much about the homecoming thing last year. Haha.

My Uncle Roger and my Aunt Laura are running all three races with me and I am super excited! 

I woke up at my usual time at 5:15 am via a bratty cat that wanted to be fed and I was out the door by 5:30 am to head to Pearland to meet up with my aunt and uncle.  I got to their house around 6:20 am and while I was driving I noticed all the changes in my old part of town (they lived 5 minutes from me).  A lot has changed in the 7 months since I have moved.  I got to their house and I picked up my race packet that had a maroon technical shirt race tee and a hat.  It was supposed to have some coupon for the Kemah Boardwalk and the Galveston Pleasure Peir, but it didn’t.  :/  Oh well.  We left their house in Pearland to drive to Kemah and looked for a parking spot.  The race director had emailed us and let us know that they expected to have a record turnout this year (1,575 people) and to get their early to find parking.  Did we? Nope!  Haha.  We made it to the starting line about 7:25 and I really had to go to the bathroom, but I knew that if I tried to make it to the porta pottys I would never get to the race on time.  I held it. (Sorry, TMI).

The race director started the race on time, but I was so far back (so  many people) I didn’t cross until about 3 minutes after the timer went off.  For the first mile or so I was going weaving around people (some people were walking in the first mile) then I settled in a steady pace.  When I hit the bridge I cringed for a second, then I started climbing up it, slowly but surely.  As I was coming down the first pass I looked over and saw all the people on the other side already and thought ‘I have three more of these bridges to go.’  Woe is me at this point, but then I got my head in the game and trudged ahead.  Also, as I was towards the top of the first bridge I saw really fast people run by me and I figured out they were almost done!  I hate fast people. Haha.  I stopped at the water station under the bridge and drank a Gatorade and hit the overpass again.  I also took a gummy block for extra energy at this point (throughout the entire race I ate a half a package). 

The next three bridge passes went by fairly quickly.  I kept looking for my aunt and uncle and I saw them behind me on the other side of the bridge.  I REALLY had to pee but I kept telling myself that if I stopped my time would be off and I wanted to run this one as a PR.  I only ran at the water stops so I wouldn’t get sick while I garbled down Gatorade and water.  I finished the course around 1:18 on the clock, but I knew that I didn’t start until 2 or 3 minutes later.  I knew I had PR’d but I would have to wait for my official time to be put up for my exact PR. 

My official time was 1:15.22 beating my previous time by just shy of 7 minutes!!!!  This 10K is the only 10K that I have ever ran, and it happens to be on a very hilly/bridgey course so I am not sure what my actual time would be if it were a flat course without 10 million 4 bridge passes. 

 

The bling for this race is awesome!!  It has glitter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, glitter you are the best.

See ya at the next race.