A Case of the Runs

For Christmas, my sister S got me a Water Bobble . These BPA-free bottles intrigued me due to the fact that it has a built-in filter. They are normally $10 and are cute to boot. Look at the pet food in the back! Also, I'm wearing a running hoodie that I got from "The Ukrainian" for Christmas! (photo credit to Tea Time ) Here's an example of a replacement filter that sister K got me... near an old photo! Replacements cost about $7 and last about 2 months. Certainly cheap considering the cost of clean water sometimes! Overall, these are great for those on the go and drink from lots of water fountains. Being one of those people myself, I always worry about what I'm doing to my kidneys. I am usually having issues with my kidney health tests and am trying to keep my water intake as clean as possible (especially if I ever decide to have kids -- a must). The only con is that the water comes out a bit slow from the top, so I can't guzzle as quickly as I'd...

Must resist temptation to start going for "speed" and wind up injuring myself.  I pulled my right hamstring last May, and I'm finally at a point where I don't feel it while running anymore.  Very seldomly do I feel it while sitting (which actually happened more often than during running). I only have three really huge long runs left, this week containing one of them.  I have an 18 and 22 (or at least 20) left, and a 12 somewhere in that mix.  However, I consider any run longer than a half-marathon to be important enough to not snuff.  And what these runs have in common is a need for gels .  I'll start pumping the gels during runs of 15+.  And no, I don't drink sports drinks  very often... except sometimes after running for headache prevention . I've been inconsistent with stretching.  I'm calling myself out on this in this public forum so that I commit to it more often.  I blame it on the fact that when I come back home from a run, I...

All I can say about this peanut butter is that its addiction capability is extremely high. If you have any inkling of liking for peanut butter and/or chocolate, I'd suggest steering clear of this jar. Its texture is lighter than peanut butter but has a fulfilling peanut-y taste with an extra chocolate richness. Best of all, this peanut butter is vegan, natural, and not nutritionally unsound (when it comes to peanut butter, anyway!). I heard they make a white chocolate version, but I have not seen it in stores. Being a white chocolate LOVER, I fear the potential overdose finding it could cause. The untouched jar... didn't remain as such for long! It's now sitting in "The Ukrainian"'s fridge so that I can't get my hands on it very often. These retail between $5-6 a jar, giving me another incentive not to indulge too often. Totally worth it, though! ------ Link: http://www.ilovepeanutbutter.com/

I've been seeing a lot of vegetables become trendy. While I normally think that "trendy" things are not worth following most of the time, I am glad that the focus is on vegetables.  Why?  Well, it means that they become widely available! Case in point: kale , which was a base for a small meal I had recently. New vegetables are intimidating.  I usually stick to my favorites -- broccoli, cauliflower, etc. -- but I recently found that they sell frozen brussels sprouts.  Talk about accessibility! NOTE: I've been experimenting with picture sizes lately on the blog. Is this size adequate ? Above: Rounding up ingredients for a dinner side-dish: sea salt, olive oil, frozen brussels sprouts, tomatoes, balsalmic vinegar.  Above: ... Or is this size better???   I tossed the sprouts in 3 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp sea salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper.  I also did a leftover potato we had lying around.  Using the leftover oil, I mixed in a little balsalmic ...

This entry is supposed on be about running while on trips , and while it is, I am also including a lot of other miscellaneous details of my recent trip to Vegas to belatedly celebrate my sister's 21-dom (perhaps Tea Time will document the trip better than I did... HERE ). I was not planning on doing any real exercise while gone. After all, it's vacation... duh! But "The Ukrainian" was set on committing to his fitness goals this week and told me to pack some running clothes with me. We got into Sin City late Friday afternoon and proceeded to have dinner with my sisters and company. We went to the buffet at the Monte Carlo hotel . My eyes were bigger than my (hungry) stomach, and I filled my large plate! In fact, I was so hungry that I didn't capture photos of anyone else's plates. :$ Any buffet that serves brussel sprouts is a winner in my book! I wasn't purposely trying to to eat so many veggies, but those were the main items that appetized me. I fi...

This Week's Workouts: Saturday - 3 mi; 20 min weights In Vegas ... so not bad! Sunday - rest; stretching/"The Stick" Monday - 30 min strength; 1 mi intervals; 25 min various cardio (bike, Jacob's ladder, elliptical) Tuesday - 5 mi Wednesday - 30 min strength; 30 min Jacob's ladder w/lunges The ladder is tiring, so had to take brief breaks where I did twisting lunges and incline push-ups. Thursday - 6 mi Friday - 10 min strength, 20 min upright bike Weekly Mileage: 15

Since my last Random Photo Entry was long, I thought this next one can be short. One year ago, I started taking salsa. Not THIS kind of salsa. I'd never quit eating that unless I develop a severe tomato allergy! Anyway.... I had always wanted to learn to dance, and since I no longer had to coummute 35+ miles to get to work everyday, it seemed to suddenly fit into my schedule. So I went, almost every Wednesday evening and most Saturday afternoons (even after long runs). I was taking classes during this time period, yet somehow it worked. This lasted for 8 months. In fact, it pretty much went up until I did my first dissertation defense . Then, as the temperatures climbed, I backed out of my new fun hobby. I hated myself for this, because "The Ukrainian" attended a couple of classes after that and decided it was no fun without me. Yes, because we're partners in crime. And I hated having to switch partners all the time -- sweaty old men, old men who touched inappropriate...

You can read more about these shoes here , but here's my opinion about these running shoes. As I have said on this blog before , I have not yet found the "perfect" running shoe. Each one has its own quirks, which tend to injure me at some point or another. In fact, the last pair I got were so bad that I had to return them in a month. Fortunately, the place I get them from has a 60-day return period, regardless of wear. I was matched with these New Balance shoes and was excited to try out a new brand. At first, when I started running in these, I felt soreness in my foot arch the way it did in the previous pair. However, I soon realized that this was more of me not recovering than the shoe itself. So I've given this shoe another few months, including a marathon , and am finding that these will work for me. They aren't as cushiony as I'd hope, but perhaps cushioning isn't that critical to me, as I've been running pretty well lately. Most importan...

This is generally a place for games (e.g., skee ball, arcade games) and sports-watching, so you can imagine that reviewing a place like Dave & Buster's is definitely weird. But, to the few people who would consider eating a full-on meal here, this is some of what they have to offer: Above: Grilled chicken with greens, blue cheese, apples, raspberry vinaigrette, and candied pecans. I'm not a fan of blue cheese, so really I just liked the pecans. Above: Philly cheese-steak eggrolls. I didn't try these, so I don't know what it tastes like, but an interesting concept nonetheless. Above: Chicken tenders and fries with a chipotle sauce. Fries with dipping of most kinds are favored by me! Above: A cone of sweet potato fries with ranch/honey mustard/ketchup. I found these fries too sweet and not crispy enough. But anything dipped in ranch... = :$ I don't eat this type of food all that often, so it's nice once in a while! P.S. Happy birthday to my mom ...

I've only been to Las Vegas three times (one instance blogged about HERE and another HERE ), but I already have lots of special memories of that place. While I've had buffet, done the pool and lounge thing, I'm sort of a more mellow person who prefers to walk around, browse in stores, play penny slots, and watch TV in my hotel room. (Since I've never had cable TV, one of my weaknesses when I am away from home is that I tend to lose sleep over the hotel cable!) Still, one of those great memories is discovering La Creperie , which is located inside the Paris Hotel on the strip. "The Ukrainian" and I must have had about four of these $10 crepes during our first stay in Vegas. Above: One of these (from memory) an anjou pear with caramel and walnut crepe. The other one was savory (marinana-type)... and look at all that creamy sauce! And we made sure to pick up two more on our return trip : Above: Deja vu??? I seriously think that this is the SAME comb...

Thinking about LA Marathon and my past experiences with that race, I increasingly fixate on the following goals that I have for this race: 1. 4:30 or better (my PR is 4:19) 2. No injuries. 3. "The Ukrainian" getting 3:30 or better (he says he'll ideally hit 3:20, which is his PR) -- and yes, his goal has become my goal, because if he does not achieve it, I'll be hearing about it again My training has been admittedly less than it should be , but I have come to realize that "less is [probably] more." And frankly, I don't think I can handle any more than this. Last week, I fell victim to a mysterious case of extreme fatigue and lack of appetite toward the end of the week. Given that I HAVE been eating/sleeping better than usual and had no other symptoms, I figure I just ate something and got a bug of some sort. Combined with work/finding a job stress, begging people to participate in my dissertation research, vamping up for classes again (YUCK), a...

Just dropping in really quick to say that I decided to change the tagline of my blog. It seems as though nobody cares about taglines, but I do! "it causes painful cramps... and once it starts, you can't hold it in" is just a little bit, er, graphic. This new one is a little more light-hearted.

One area I haven't explored much is raw food. I did a review on a raw bar previously, but with all the " food in bar form " reviews that I do, I should dedicate some time trying these versions as well. And where to go for those? Whole Foods , of course. ***Rant Alert -- in this paragraph!*** Here's a picture of the actions of some self-indulgent person who thought that parking laws do not apply to them. Yes, I know you're at Whole Foods, shopping just like the rest of us. No, having a nice car does not exclude you from the law. If there's no more parking on the street, go into the parking structure like everyone else and don't squeeze in those who DID find street parking (i.e., me!). Sorry, this kind of entitlement enrages me. Anyway... First up in this "bar brigade" is NOT raw (though I thought it was when I picked it up)... this NuGo Go Free carrot-cake flavored bar. I found this disappointing. The bar was not that dense/filling and had a syru...

You don't need to use dairy to make a good pesto. Although I'm starting to tolerate my dairy better (I will probably blog about my new strategy soon... but it started from THIS post), I still try to avoid dairy that I think is "unnecessary." After all, I'm training for a couple of marathons in the first part of this year ( this one being the first), and I definitely want to try to eat right to help avoid the injuries I struggled with through MOST of last year. One "unnecessary" place I often find dairy is pesto. Pesto sneaks into pasta salads and sandwiches, and since I'm not as meticulous about the contents of my food as I should be, I often wind up "cheezed" (no pun intended; a phrase my brother-in-law likes to use). I was watching TV one day and saw this recipe that was thankfully also published on this website . Note that I subbed a few ingredients: chives for green onions and almonds for pumpkin seeds. The results were still great, ...

This marks the return of the "Weekly Workouts" series of posts that I was using to log my marathon training last year. Now that the Holiday Bootie-Buster Challenge (HBBC) is over, I decided to continue these posts if for no other reason than tracking mileage (you can see this at the BOTTOM/footer of this blog). ------ I started off last marathon's cycle with a mindset of desperation . I was coming back from a bad race and wanted to do everything I could to make the next one better. I did not implement everything I said I would try long-term, as I will outline here: - I totally didn't last with Pilates very long, and my yoga stint lasted maybe a few months. I will still do some of the moves or even the whole DVD once in a while, so I guess not all was lost. - And then there was ChiRunning , which did not work for me except to bring more awareness to myself when I was running blatantly in poor form. I figured out that my own stride (with awareness) worked best for m...

EVENT: Freeze Your Thorns Off 5k DATE: Saturday, January 8, 2011 LOCATION: streets & park near home RACE BEGAN: 06:50 am (approximately) FINISH TIME: 01:41:41 The Boring Runner hosted a virtual 5k that I thought I'd take part in since I have not done any of these virtual races in a while. I am currently training for LA Marathon on March 20. It will be my 8th marathon, but after my last race in November , I decided I needed to lay off the running for a little while. It was getting tiresome (beyond normal) and dreadful. But once the new year kicked into year, I ran 26 miles in the first week and felt a LOT better about running. Part of this week's mileage went into this 5k, except that I added another, oh, 6.9 miles to that distance. I had a training run of 10 miles to get done (I had 8 scheduled for New Years' weekend but did not end up doing it), so I finally dusted off my Garmin , woke up early on a Saturday, drank half a cup of water, did the whole sunscreen th...

Well, it's a new year, and with that comes more crowded gyms and diet ads everywhere. While I'm not a fan of this, I do hope that this means I get more coupons on things I like eating, like yogurt and vegan foods. Convenience foods are nice when you're lazy/busy, even though they aren't nearly as good as full-on cooking. With my dairy issues , I have long gone without them until realizing that Whole Foods sells them significantly cheaper than other mainstream markets. The first exhibit is this vegan mushroom soup. It is creamy and would probably be GREAT with potatoes and other veggies. I expect to use this as a casserole or soup base at some point. These retail for about $2.39 a box, which serves 2: Amy's is a brand I've reviewed before, and here they are again: Above: I didn't like this tamale pie at all. With only 150 calories, though, it is pretty filling and supplies protein. I just didn't think it tasted like tamale at all. Yes, I write my name ...