beautyfoodnerdrunningshoptravel

September 25, 2012

"glutton for punishment" or "on a mission from god"

no, i do not actually think i'm on a mission from god, but i try to work in a steel magnolias quote when i can.

the half marathon high is pretty much over. i haven't run since and i'm feeling super sluggish. enter kadi and her suggestion to do a run in november. finally a reason to go out and run. i do enjoy running, but i don't exactly feel the nagging urge to run everyday, at least not until i get into a 4-days-a-week rhythm. then i want to run like - every day.

yesterday i registered for the san diego color run. it's a 5k where every mile ends in being color bombed. it's like tie die with fitness! in addition, i decided to make a 2013 plan with my lovely kiki to do the color run in nyc. the date hasn't been set, but it's looking like mid-august. job willing, i'll be back on the east coast by then (sorry west coasters).

September 9, 2012

"i'm so excited" ... "i'm so scared"

** i feel i should warn you, this is going to be a long one. i thought about doing 2 but, f it, you can come back and finish it later **

around 7pm last saturday night, i was having my own jessie spano moment; i was super excited about the 1/2 marathon i was going to run/walk the following day, but i was also super scared.


August 16, 2012

"why would you do that" or "i'm just a bit clumsy"

i've never been the most graceful; hell, i'm usually the one falling flat on my ass, except for that one time at level 5; that was all leigh. one time at uncw, i was sitting in the union living room waiting for some friends. this girl came out of the greek offices on the 2nd floor and began making her decent down the stairs. she noticed all of us sitting, passing by, what have you, and attempted to make the most graceful walk down the stairs, but toe of her rainbows ended up folding under her foot on the step and she went ass-over-tea-kettle down to the landing. i had to book it outta there before she saw/heard me snort back a giggle. i feel that i can laugh b/c it'd happened to me on many occasions.

last week, i twisted the ankle a bit trying to walk down 6 steps while talking to the person behind me. during the nba playoffs, i was so livid that the ref missed that obvious foul by battier that i gestured a bit too largely for the treadmill i was running on. gotta love the side rails, or i'd have been thrown off for sure. all my clumsiness only makes me notice the potential clumsiness of others, specifically when it comes to handling an iphone.

July 17, 2012

"secret's in the sauce" or "a little bit of chicken fried"

long before pinterest came along, recipes were passed around by hand. my mamma has a patchwork recipe box on her kitchen counter filled with mis-matched recipe cards from numerous family members and friends. most of the entries are titled after the giver of the recipe -- ex: nana brett's chicken casserole. as a kid i'd flip through them while mamma told me stories about the owner of the delishousness. i dreamed i'd one day have a box just like hers. let's face it, it's 2012. for the past 5 years i've managed to transpose those goodies into a self-built filemaker database (take that high school computer teacher with no imagination).

i sometimes take pride in the fact i can't cook very well. i can bake up a storm, but cooking requires a longer attention span then i can typically muster. the few things i can cook, i choose to cook because they are special to me. perhaps nothing is more special than the aforementioned nana brett's chicken casserole.

April 27, 2012

"crazy roommates" or "spoiled only child"

true story - my sofa is in here

i moved this weekend. it's the first time since i moved to wilmington that i've moved everything in 1 day, well, nearly everything. typically i have a week of overlap and i do the small things gradually. i could have done so here, but the back and forth is just too far to make it logical. as the title suggests, i'm not big on roommates. i've been an only child for most of my pre-college life. i have a half-sister, but she lives with her parents and we've never had to share a room.

when i went off to college, i attended community college my freshman year, no dorm room. i had my own one bedroom apartment, it was great. i didn't have my first roommate until my junior year in college when i moved in with a sorority sister. long story short, we weren't friends at the end of that year.

April 23, 2012

"carolina girl" or "hells belles"

taking a break from the running updates to talk about something that continues to surprise me, the surprise on west coasters faces when i can do something they don't expect.

some examples? change a tail light, drive an suv, drive an suv that's 4wd, drive an suv with 4wd that's also a stick shift. i haven't figured out where the shock comes from, the only thing i can figure is i'm a girl. this is pretty weird considering i see girls driving around in suvs all over la. i don't dress particularly girly, tho one of the tail light changes did occur while wearing heels after work but still, it's la, everyone wears heels.

friday i had the unfortunate task of venturing into what i can only assume is the atrium to the gate way to hell: the glendale dmv. after being pulled over in november for expired out of state tags and subjected to such witty banter as "nc huh? did you drive in today?" umm, no. "are you planning on driving back tonight?" umm, no. being threatened with impounding my vehicle i promised to take care of getting registered in ca. i got my extension notice warning me that if it were not taken care of and my "bail" paid by 3.26.12 i could have my license suspended and a warrant issued for my arrest. (already had one of those for a speeding ticket, mom hung it on the fridge) i should prob take care of this huh?

i arrived at the dmv at 7:30am, the line was already 7 people deep. i arrived with as much paperwork as i could find, having lost my expired registration paper months ago. i knew i had most of what i needed, i planned to talk my way around the rest. after about a 20 min wait, i went to see dmv worked #1. #1 looked at my papers and handled the drivers license form, dmv works #2 would have to do the registration. here we go, let the tap dancing begin.

March 19, 2012

"too much to do" or "too lazy to do"

i've fallen off the treadmill, not literally thank goodness. what started out as a solid 3 weeks of sticking to a training plan of 4 days a week, has become a mad scramble to try to go 2 times a week. why the drop in momentum, let's try to figure that out.

first there was the valentines week that totally threw off the sched. i swapped days due to date plans and then unexpected commitments popped up. i got back on track for a week and a half, then the beau moved apartments. i helped (meaning i packed everything) to get him moved out over the week so we could take some out of town friends to vegas last weekend. i did put my foot down at 10:30pm one night and stormed to the gym. that was the hardest 2 miles i've ever run.

2 miles? you ask, wasn't i on track to 3 miles just a week ago? why yes, yes i was. and like the weekend after valentines when i was a bit under the weather, missing the week to pack up an apt totally kicked my ass. i have to take responsibility, i could have told him to do it himself, even he admits i went above and beyond. i am taking responsibility for it and reminding myself that i have a 10k in may and if i have to spend the hour after it sprawled out on the ground, i'm gonna finish it.

i knew going into this that the physical strength wasn't going to be my biggest problem, it was my mental strength. that's part of the reason i ordered a giving key with "strength" on it, to remind myself to have it. i have an incredibly short attention span and running on that treadmill is damn boring. the weather should warm up soon and i can start changing up the scenery. until then i'll just have to search for additional inspiration. wouldn't you know it, every time i need a little, the tar heels give me a boost. (i'll try to keep this love fest short)

March 6, 2012

"finally making it" or "much to learn"

this past weekend my parents came to visit and totally tried to keep me on track with this whole "training" thing. i took a day off from work and went for my first outdoor run since i started. i figured out a 2 mile block around my neighborhood, started off and before i knew it, was a little tired and way further along than i had expected. while waiting for the stop light to change i looked at my handy dandy runkeeper app. i had finished 1.5 miles at a pace of a 10 minute mile, no wonder i was exhausted.

i've been varying my pace on the treadmill a bit, starting at 4.7 for a song, 4.9 for a song and 5.2 for the rest. i'm averaging a 12.5 minute mile. so what happened? clearly i have no idea what a 12.5 minute mile feels like. i've been working on a machine that does the ground moving for me so i just get in rhythm with it. now i have to figure out how to pace myself before i keel over on the side of vineland from exhaustion. as my ironman athlete lady friend told me as we watched unc tear down dook, when you're running a long distance, it's all about pacing. (yes, i had to give a unc shout out)

how will i learn to pace myself when the treadmill is not around? there are a few options; one is cheap the other is not. i have the handy dandy run keeper app on my phone: it tracks gps, keeps time and pace of each mile and easily saves to my online runkeeper account. the draw back? i don't run with my phone readily available when outdoors, i keep it in my little run bag with my house keys. i don't use my iphone as an ipod when i run outdoors, i have a shuffle for that and don't feel like moving to a bulkier arm band. i'm left with the following option, some heart rate monitor / pacer combo.

February 21, 2012

"earning it" or "deserving it"

there are 2 important things i learned this week: 1. no matter how tiny, always wear a sports bra. 2. taking a week off makes a huge difference. next time i feel under the weather, i'm running anyways.

this post is inspired by my valentines day, it's a little sad but don't worry, everyone is happy in the end.


all thru my youth i played soccer. i wasn't great, but i really enjoyed it. in high school i was on jv until senior year when i made varsity. my mom will argue, but the only reason i (along with 3 other girls) made varsity is b/c seniors weren't allowed to play jv. we hardly played.

the thing about playing soccer with old raleigh money in the 90's soccer craze was there were a lot of girls with a lot of their parents money and they all had name brand gear. adidas was stamped across everything. my gear was mostly from kmart or jc penny, my duffle was the bag my mom got for running (and completing!) the 5k cary road race. i was 12, what did i know about name brands, it all seemed to serve it's purpose. after 2 years of not making the junior high team and dealing with the new money cary mean girls, i knew.

February 13, 2012

"week 1" or "how out of shape am i really?"

i'm fully documenting this 1st week so there is proof i did at least 1 week fully.

here's the run plan i've mixed up for myself. there are 4 run days, 2 of them are 2 miles, then a 2.5 and a 3 mile day. i've decided to add the beginner instructions of run 3 minutes and walk 2 minutes until i can do a whole mile of running, after that i will attempt to ditch it.

so monday was supposed to be a 2 mile day. i say supposed to b/c i ended up only having time for just under 2 miles due to another miscommunication between myself and my new alarm app. i finally figured it out, this will not happen again.

tuesday was a rest day and i totally needed it. my legs were like "yesterday, what was that all about?" poor things, have no clue what they're in for.

wednesday started off a bit behind. i was supposed to do a morning run but the beau wasn't feeling well and i was up very late so i opted for an evening run after work and dinner. this also coincided with some rage at the outcome of the unc game. rage is good fuel, i was able to run for longer than the 3 min monday at a decent 5 mph pace. i tried 5.4 for the last half mile, got a little ahead of myself there.

February 1, 2012

i can't prove it, but i think i was hoodwinked



last weekend my friend and co-worker kadi (check out her blog) ran a half marathon at disney. this is not the first race i've heard her talk about but it was certainly the longest. it was also the first one she's run in a tutu, and minnie ears. well somehow the frilly accessories made the idea of the half marathon seem more appealing. suddenly i'm going "sure, i'll do one in september." see, hoodwinked.

welcome one and, well, quite possibly one

"nothing is impossible. the word itself says i'm possible," so said audrey hepburn, according to many internet sources. when searching for something profound/funny to name my blog, i tried many things. friends quotes, beastie boys lyrics, industrial solvents only sold on infomercials. after a few came up unavailable with suggestions like "it's moo-jen," i moved on to my 2nd fav blog-ish site pinterest (it's the stack of torn out magazine recipes and decor ideas but takes up way less space under my bed). there she was, audreys' face captioned "nothing is impossible," you know the rest. to my not so really surprise that name was also taken, but i chuckled at the suggestion "impossible-jen". let's face it, sometimes, i am. so here we are, we'll see how long we last.

i've had one other blog attempt, it's probably linked here somewhere. that page was mostly filled with loving tributes to the great love of my life, unc basketball. it was the 2007-2008 season, they were supposed to win it all, but they did not. i decided to let the 08-09 team live in a world free from my game day recaps and ya know what, they won it all!

this time i'm sticking to my 2nd fav topic, me. which is good for you b/c that's why you're still reading this, sucker!

enjoy, or move on, i won't know.